Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hey....just got to report a useful bit of shopping from home last night. Had to go out to a meeting where I felt I needed to look at least 'smart casual'. You know those occasions where you try on 3 outfits & nothing is quite right? Well there I stood in half of one outfit & half of another when I suddenly realised how nice a particular summer top looked with an older black linen maxi-skirt. Then I remembered a nice short black linen jacket which I bought a couple of years ago & have barely worn. Tried them all together & yay!!! New outfit. And free! Added heels (also rarely worn as am DM girl), some strong lipstick & put my hair up & felt quite pleased with myself. Sounds ridiculous, but it felt like I'd bought a new outfit! It's made me think I should put an hour or so into having a trying-on session to see if there are any other new combinations I can come up with. Gotta love shopping from home for its zero effect on the bank balance!
Have a good day, all x

wishingthemortgaheaway

Go you. Sounds fantastic.

foxgloves

Good news & bad news today.
Bad news is that I DID have to pay that legal bill using money from our Loan Pay Down Fund. Grrrrr....been so busy building it up again after last year's unexpected expenses & now it's dropped by a big chunk.

But good news is that at least we did have the money. It's acted as a kind of 'first line of defence' so that we didn't have to dip into our emergency fund or worse still, stick it on credit. So we paid using a CC which gives loyalty points towards vouchers (so we felt we'd at least got something!) & I have transferred the money across & paid it off in full this morning. I'd been fretting about a couple of things regarding our wills for a long time (it's a bit complicated & involves a major family rift which I won't bore you all with....actually, it's quite interesting simply because of how daft some people can be,but I think some 'dirty laundry' is best left un-aired, even anonymously online.....if it was over a coffee I'd have no problems sharing the whole ridiculous story & watching jaws drop!!) Anyway......all the legal stuff has now been done. The bill has been paid & so that's two fewer things to worry about.

I do hope you're all seeing some of this fab sunshine! I did loads of garden jobs yesterday, just pottering around, but really enjoyed it.....productive too, as picked enough rhubarb to make a large crumble base for the freezer & blanched & froze another 500g as it's bound to come in useful. Also did first pick of our strawberries, first mini-cucumber & more lettuce. Picked a couple of tiny courgettes too, as it was clear they hadn't pollinated properly & weren't going to get any bigger, so I just sliced them & added them to my tamale pies.....no waste here! The brambles are poking through our hedge from next door again, more than ever. I've trimmed them back a bit (I'm the only gardener between two non-gardening households) but have deliberately left all the flowering canes as we got a good pick of blackberries off them last year.
The only garden jobs on today's list involved watering, so I have whizzed through all my other tasks so as to have some me-time this afternoon. Garden - Chair - Factor 30 - Book! Shall have to write a shopping list at some point, but have done meal plans so that shouldn't be too tedious a task.
Have a good Friday everyone. And if it hasn't been a brilliant week for your debt-busting, try not to worry too much. Just pull in the reins for this weekend & start again on Monday.
Cheers all,
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

How have your strawberries got on this year Foxgloves? We've had two tiny ones at hole and took Pickle to the Pick your own today whet ethe crop is a disaster. I really feel for the farmer who relies on the crazy strawberry season for a massive boost to annual income. They are all tiny, and many of the plants have failed. It so sad.

Sorry to hear you had to pay the legal bill, but pleased it's all sorted for you. Remember, it's a completely unavoidable expense, so don't beat yourself up about it.

foxgloves

WTMA - My strawberries have done better than last year. The Evil Weevil grubs ate my main strawberry plants two years ago but luckily I'd pegged down lots of runners so I started a new bed last year. I've picked 2 bowlfuls tjis week & there are more to come, so I must keep feeding them.
Yes, I feel for the farmers as they are so at the mercy of the weather. I think the cold weather hung around for much longer than usual so maybe some crops just didn't catch up. I've also read that some farmers are struggling to find workers to pick their soft fruit as many EU citizens have returned home pre-Brexit. I used to love going to pick your own places when I was a child, esp gooseberries as my Nan turned them into awesome jam!

foxgloves

Hi Saturday debtbusters,
Grocery shopping a bit over budget today, but am totally shameless about the fact that I fancied a bottle of wine, & I also bought a number of ingredients for some charity baking I offered to do.
Well, common sense saved me from myself in the supermarket today. We've just booked (subject to confirmation) a few nights away camping (which we love) & so I was feeling very 'tenty'. And the big superstore we visited today just happened to have a big display of outdoor gear!! Ooooh!! I have to 'fess up that I ALMOST bought a string of pink flamingo lights. Little fuchsia-coloured plastic one-legged birds all arranged in a wonky line on a wire. What tent anywhere in the known universe wouldn't benefit from the addition of those? Or a big candle shaped like a cactus? Or a plastic pineapple ice-pack? I'm pleased to say that the latter two did quickly lose their initial appeal, but I got all the way to the yoghurt aisle before the voice of doubt started dissing the flamingos. Thankfully by the time we were choosing crisps, common sense had taken over & I was proudly saying to myself 'What kind of numpty moans constantly about needing to pay off a pesky last chunk of loan then buys a set of blimmin' flamingo lights.....for a tent?!"
A tent, I should add, which has been so thoroughly shabby-chic'd by Yours Truly that with all the bunting, vintage blankets, cushions, little curtain, etc, that there's barely room for us! AND it already has fairy lights!! So the light-up plastic flamingo-conga really wasn't needed. During the Spendy Decades, I'd have had the bloody wax cactus & daft pineapple as well, of course, as well as half the other stuff on display!
LOVE going off in our tent & I know we'll be paying at least £500 less than if we'd gone for a holiday cottage.
Some money saving ideas re our forthcoming kitchen tart-up too, but that can wait for another day.
Have a good Saturday night, all.
F xx

foxgloves

Don't you just love being able to brighten something up for free? Today I swept the back courtyard, moved a few pots around & dug out my 'outdoor' tablecloth to put over our ancient patio table. Next thing.......mr f heading purposefully down the garden wielding brushes & a tin of exterior paint. He announced that as I was cheering up the courtyard, he was going to do his bit by painting the render. So he cracked on with that & it looks great, so fresh & bright! Just some leftover paint from the shed. Think I will plant up some vintage terracotta pots tomorrow, to add another little new feature. No garden centre visit though, promise, as I intend to divide up stuff I already have, mostly sempervivums.
Loving the whole shopping from home thing.
F x

foxgloves

P.S I should add that the tablecloth plus a string of bunting were both made a couple of years ago from a duvet cover bought from a charity shop for about £3. Oooh, I wonder where the bunting is.....

wishingthemortgaheaway

Another amazing example to us all Foxgloves. I must crack on with our back yard (should call it the courtyard to make it sound better than it is) need to hunt out the terractta tiles to create my 'outdoor bar'.

foxgloves

Ooooh, outdoor bar, WTMA, soynds ideal as we move into this hot spell of weather.
Lol at 'courtyard' sounding posh. I just can't bring myself to call this area of our garden a 'patio'. Patio to me means a bright sunny area for sitting out. Our courtyard is enclosed on 3 sides (by our house, neighbour's house & our conservatory & only really gets the sun early in the morning. After that, it's very cool & shady. It also has a high wall, so 'courtyard' is a more accurate description.
Though 28 degrees today & I'm not in the south....will be grateful for dank shade later on, I teckon!