Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hmmm, maybe a bit, but I do still buy unessential items, as we all do when there's a bit of flex in the budget. Nan was incredibly thrifty. I can still remember her Christmas paper..... she'd buy the cheapest possible, so thin it was transparent, iron it afterwards to use again next year, & her parcels were tied up with pieces of scrap yarn from her knitting! But she'd had to leave school at 14 to earn money to send home to help support her family & with living through two world wars & the Depression, she just could bear to see wastefulness. She once stood over me when I was making mince pies & made me take some of the mincemeat out! It was just how she'd lived growing up.
F x

foxgloves

Yes, that's a similar lesson, HHoD. The couple I knew had a great sense of entitlement, I think. It was just deeply built in to their psyches because of their affluent backgrounds. There just wasn't the understanding that they didn't have the necessary income to sustain it.
I guess they were able to take bigger risks so when they ran out of road in terms of robbing Peter to pay Paul, there was further to fall. It all comes down to the same issue though, doesn't it? The money we have coming into our household each month is 'our money'. There isn't any more. The bank's money belongs to somebody else, so if we use that, payback time will come & we will pay handsomely for the privilege.
Oh my days, I do prefer my post-LBM attitude.... How I used to be, well it was a bit like a kind of 'cash nerf gun' firing money around all over the place when if I'd saved just half of it, I'd have had some sort of emergency fund to help with horrible big car bills, replacing broken appliances, etc.
What a narna!
Not a narna any more though.
F x

foxgloves

Disappointed yesterday not to have our planned city centre trip. I woke up at 3.45am with a shocking headache. For some reason I'd slept with my head hanging over the edge of the bed & the resulting neck tension obviously caused a banger of a headache. We did set out, but I felt grotty & we turned back again. I spent the afternoon having a major knitting meltdown..... a bit of a saga, but hopefully sorted now with my trusty free trade union calculator & the power of logic. It's a bit of a saga, but the potted version is that there is a really fundamental error in the pattern I'm using to knit a large (& not cheap) present for a family member. I'd knitted half of it before a few niggles I had about it suddenly coalesced into realisation that something was very wrong. Googled pattern online to see if anyone had posted up similar concerns - they hadn't - but I found the exact same pattern on Ravelry, compared the two & discovered that my version, which I cut out of a knitting mag, contains two very major inaccuracies. I have had no option but to start it again. I've had to work out the maths of doing my own version because the yarn I bought (as cited in my pattern) was not the thickness of yarn actually required. I was so mad, as it was quite a lot of money plus a lot of my time, but at least I made this discovery before I'd knitted any more. So..... I'm doing a bit of baking this afternoon, but after that, I will be knitting like mad! I think I will need to set a daily quota of rows to knit. It's an old magazine, so that annoyed me too as I can't point out the massive error. Oh well, these things are sent to try us..... the air was temporarily blue, but I've calmed down now!
Onwards & upwards, with plenty of coffee breaks,
F x

foxgloves

Kantankrus - If you're reading...... My fish box has been delivered today so as promised I've checked the weight for you. OK, so this box was a bit more expensive because I chose one with sea bass instead of my usual smoked haddock for a change. Cost = £62.
This was for a total of 3kg of fresh fish. 1kg of haddock, just over 1kg of salmon (it pretty much looked like a big boned out side of salmon) & 9 sea bass fillets.
And I've managed to get it divvied up & it's all fitted in the freezer just fine.
Hope this is helpful,
F x

PurpleFairy26

Novice question here, does the salmon and haddock come boned and the sea bass whole or filleted. I do love fish but can’t be faffed with bones ( or heads :rotfl:) Mary b quick fish pie crumble in oven as we speak.

foxgloves

Hi Purps, Yes. Everything de-boned. Sea bass was individual fillets.
Actually, I'm pretty good at decapitating & gutting fish, but if somebody brought me a pheasant or rabbit which needed opening up & gutting, I wouldn't be able to do that, even with my zero food-waste policy.
But everything in my fish box arrives filleted, although the salmon is always one huge piece which I cut up into the portion size I require.
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

How infuriating about the mistake in the knitting pattern.

I hope your headache has gone today.

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
Today didn't go entirely as planned, as I posted my frugal task list up on the 'DFW daily small things' thread..... then apart from laundry & dealing with my fish delivery, I pretty much ignored it.
You see, I went outside to peg out the first load of washing & it was such a pleasant, warm, sunny morning, I thought it would be a real shame to waste it mouldering away indoors so I pottered around seeing if anything needed picking - chillies, peppers, grapes, courgettes, beans, blackberries & pears. Not huge quantities as it is the end of the season. I spent an hour in the greenhouse tipping spent chilli plants out for composting, watering winter salad seedlings & chopping all new top growth off the pepper plants. I don't want new fruits starting now. There are still 13 good sized fruits on them which need to get a little bigger, then I will pick them & compost the plants. The beans are still producing though need a bit of oomph to swell the final pickings so they & the peppers had a can full of home made liquid comfrey feed & thank goodness I didn't pour it all over my feet this time. It is truly the most revolting smell EVER!! It is also effective, organic & FREE!
Still had some energy & sun still shining so cleared another decent-sized patch of flower border. Uncovered more self-sown foxglove plants which I potted up ready for filling gaps after I've cleared & cut back all my borders.
Then all that picking led to a bit more autumn kitchen witchery, but only pear & blackberry compote today. Mr F doesn't really eat much fruit & initially viewed this concoction with suspicion, but since he tried it on his porridge a couple of weeks ago, he's now snarfing it down at every opportunity, & has been hinting that 'if a rice pudding got made.... just saying.... it' d probably be dead nice on that too'. The Chief Rice Pudding Maker, however, was at that time trying to wrangle a daddy long legs back out of the window & was therefore deaf to dairy based dessert suggestions.
It is now tipping down with rain & tomorrow is supposed to be worse, so I'm glad I made the most of the sunshine anyway.
Cheers all,
F x

foxgloves

HHoD - Thanks. Yes, no headache, but I have the beginnings of a sore throat so I think I'm maybe fighting off a lergy.
Yes, I was furious about the knitting pattern. The actual pattern is fine, but it gave the wrong weight of yarn & the wrong size circular needles. The yarn should have been twice as thick & the needles size 10 instead of size 5. So you see, there wasn't any way I could produce the item in the correct dimensions with such a fundamental difference in both tools & materials!! I was so mad. I have now adapted the pattern so it will work properly with what I've got. It is looking good but I just hope I have enough yarn. I'll have to deal with that problem if it arises. And I shall have to knit like crazy to get this & another present finished in time.
Oh well, better get a few rows in.
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's definitely a good idea to make the most of the sunshine as who knows how long the rain might last. We seem to be invaded by daddy long legs too at the moment!