Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Oh dear, I've caused Drain Weasel Envy.
CCL - Is that chemical you mention the stuff that is sold as 'caustic soda'? If so, its one of those old fashioned things which everyone probably would have known about 50 years ago. It was my Dad's 'go to' solution for blocked drains back in the day. I did buy some years ago to unblock a drain at my old house, but the pack was so festooned with safety warnings, I wondered how user friendly it was. If it's the same stuff & I'd just need to flush it well with water afterwards, I will use it next time our outside drain backs up, as we'd need a very fat drain ferret for that one.
F x

carrielovesfanta

I've not heard it called a drain weasel, but facebook has been advertising a similar product at me and I confess that that it has almost been bought several times!

I'm now thinking that if it's good enough for Foxgloves, it's def good enough for me! I have a hubby that thinks his beard dissolves in the plughole like a berrocca :cool:

crazy_cat_lady

foxgloves wrote: »

CCL - Is that chemical you mention the stuff that is sold as 'caustic soda'? If so, its one of those old fashioned things which everyone probably would have known about 50 years ago. It was my Dad's 'go to' solution for blocked drains back in the day. I did buy some years ago to unblock a drain at my old house, but the pack was so festooned with safety warnings, I wondered how user friendly it was. If it's the same stuff & I'd just need to flush it well with water afterwards, I will use it next time our outside drain backs up, as we'd need a very fat drain ferret for that one.
F x

It is caustic soda foxgloves - yes. And it is quite nasty in its concentrated form - very corrosive indeed, but you need it that strong to react with whatever is blocking the drains. Warm/hot water and plenty of flushing. Happy days and happy drains.

foxgloves

CCL - Thanks for the clarification. I thought it might be the same stuff. I will bear it in mind next time our shonky old kitchen outside drain snarls up.

CLF - Yes, we sometimes have the 'dissolving beard shavings' issue here too. It may partly be my fault as I prefer a nice bit of stubble on blokes to full beards.
F x

foxgloves

Well, we needed a wet weather plan for today, as it was too soggy for our planned walk somewhere scenic. So we went off to a big local garden centre we've never been to before. I took my list of veg seeds I needed to buy & Mr F was hoping to buy a new stronger pruning saw as his old one has become an accidental finger amputation waiting to happen. Anyway.... a useful morning. I also bought a big bottle of organic seaweed solution which worked out much better value than the small size. Oh, & a small bag of seed compost, as I will be sowing a few seeds this week. We got to the till & it came to about £60. Well, it was paid for using our 'Just for points' credit card (I will be paying the funds in from our Home & Garden spreadsheet pot tomorrow) & on the way out, Mr F said "£60.£60!! I can't believe we've just spent £60!" I said (as the chief household accountant) that was fine as it was all stuff we needed for the new gardening season, including a much safer looking saw.
The thing is..... back when I was Queen Spendy of the Spendy People, I frequently spent between £40 & £60 at the garden centre on most visits.... which were probably weekly, if I'm honest, & of course it could be more depending on what I was buying. This quite new very big garden centre we visited this morning was crammed with stuff from many of my old spendy 'problem areas' - kitchen equipment, upmarket toiletries, tableware & china, candles, fancy lights, a farm shop/deli.... & that's without the actual gardening departments. But although I enjoyed looking, I wasn't tempted. And it wasn't so much the cost that was putting me off this morning as the fact that it was more 'stuff' & I think I'm experiencing a bit of inner resistance to more 'stuff' at the moment......... except drain weasels of course!
Loved putting my new seed packets away into my seed box when we got home - sweetcorn, lemon chillies, tomatoes, purple radishes, celeriac, courgette/summer squash & cucumber. It will soon be time to make a start.
Hoping for a productive week ahead,
F x

foxgloves

Greetings Snowdrops!
Well, here we all are at the start of a new week again. Quite a productive day here on the whole & more mini irises flowering now, which is cheery. My most frugal activities today have been doing my regular Monday morning budget updates, including transfer of funds, paying transactions off our 'just for points' credit card & sharing out survey earnings - £50 of it to Mr F from Ugov & £48 for me from Prolific. Mine will go in my little secret tin until there is something I really want. I don't have to start frittering instantly like I used to in the Spendassic Era.
And my other frugal thing? Making a tamale pie. As I was making it, I was thinking what a good meal it is for using up, rolling ingredients forward, etc. Today, I included 100g mince we put aside from something else & froze for my next tamale pie. I'd got half a tin each of tomatoes & kidney beans in the freezer leftover from the last one, & I used a tub of chopped frozen peppers which I add to on an ongoing basis by slicing the top off each time I use a pepper, chopping it & paying it forward to go into something else when there's enough. The cornbread topping is as cheap as chips, as one bag of cornmeal seems to last for ages. Anyway, despite the original recipe coming from a diet plan - I've since tinkered with it as I almost always do - it is very filling & tasty. Since the LBM & getting into a regular cycle of meal planning, I've really noticed the benefits of paying ingredients forward towards another meal.......& this pie thing in particular amuses me in that it's actually an occasion when Mr F is satisfied with only 50g of meat on his plate!
Stay cosy all,
F x

foxgloves

Morning Icicles!
Oooh, it's a chilly one this morning. Mr F has just set off to work, but not before he'd popped back inside for a couple of jugs of water to thaw the windscreen. I was hoping to go for a bike ride nice & early, but I think the gutters will be quite icy, so I'll leave it for another day.
Aiming to get my first seeds of the year sown today. Will pop back later. Am feeling in the zone for good frugal behaviour & ready to burn a couple of calories too.
Chat soon,
F x

foxgloves

When I typed 'Will pop back later', I didnt mean on a different day! I did have a really useful morning in the garden. I thoroughly sorted my half of the shed. All my seed trays, pots & recycled stuff in neat piles ready to go. Had an empty compost sack at the ready for decluttering, & had a good sweep up afterwards, so it all looks loads better.
Plugged my little propagator in to check it still worked & it seems fine. I bought it years ago for £15. It was reduced because the box was damaged & it's been a good buy. Anyway, we're off the blocks!! The first seeds of the new season have been sown! Chillies, of course, as it's still too early for most veg, but I shall be doing a bit more sowing towards the end of the month. I've sown a long red cayenne type - the sort which are good for drying & a hot lemon variety I haven't grown before. I bought a jar of lemon drop chilli jam from an artisan food fair last Autumn & it was yum, so I thought I'd source some seeds & create my own version of the lovely jam. 
So a lovely productive morning, but Oh my days, it was cold! I very much prefer crisp cold bright winter days to endless grey murk & mizzle but by the time I'd topped up the bird feeders (5 mins!) I already couldn't feel my hands despite having gloves on. I needed two pairs for tackling the shed. The grass remained crunchy white pretty much all morning & I had to break the ice on the pond twice, as the first hole had frozen over again after an hour. But I had a Robin singing to me from high in the old apple tree & was happy to be outside. 
Am hoping Mr F will be so blown away by my tidy section of shed, that he'll be inspired to tackle the rest of it next week while he's on leave......Oh & then he might fancy cleaning the conservatory roof & guttering. If not, I'll threaten to go up the ladder.... that should do it! 
Cheers all & stay cosy, 
F x

moving_forward

Oh so Jealous of you getting a head start on the gardening. Im sneaking on whilst at work to read your post! The most I have managed so far is collecting toilet rolls ready to sow my sweet peas.

foxgloves

Don't worry, Moving Forward, as it is still too early to sow most edible things. It's way too cold in my unheated greenhouse at the moment. I do aim to sow my chillies end of Jan/beg Feb but they are tucked up in my electric propagator & probably won't be off to the greenhouse until end of March at the earliest.
Good luck with your sweet peas!
F x