Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Purplefairy & Marionmgcars - Yes, I had read about 'Long Tall Sally' closing down. It isn't a chain I use as I am only 5' 3 & a half, but I can imagine it will be much missed by those who welcome being able to buy clothes in a decent length. I think very many retail chains were struggling before Covid19 with competition online, but the pandemic really has just put the tin lid on it for some of them. I have such good memories of going to Laura Ashley & Monsoon in the 1980s with my Mum & sister, & although I hadn't shopped at the former for many years, I still went to Monsoon regularly & love a lot of their stuff. I know they haven't completely closed down, but we have just lost our town branch plus the one in our nearest city centre. There is still one in the bigger city centre, but I am not able to get over there so often. We do have quite a few nice little indie shops in our local town centre which are trying their hardest to get up & running again, but if we lose many more national names, we will be extremely phone shop & cafe - heavy. Not that I dislike cafes/coffee shops - I love them, but I tend to pop in for a coffee when I'm out shopping for something else. I wouldn't go into town just to buy myself a coffee & cake. I think the whole retail scenario will look very different. I am going to be thinking even harder about which businesses I want to support, & they will be actual physical stores unless I can only source whatever it is online.
F x

foxgloves

Pixiehouse55 - Oh how annoying for you. I really dislike that sort of situation where you get told one thing by one party then another by somebody else & it all just starts to feel like passing the buck. Hope your phone call on Monday resolves it. Our chimney job is rescheduled (for the 3rd time) for this week, so I am really hoping it will get finished this time. The delay isn't anyone's fault, as Cancellation 1 was due to Lockdown & Cancellation 2 due to second nest of jackdaws inside our chimney pot! We are convinced the chicks have fledged because I definitely met a jackdaw chick face to face in our garden earlier this week. Fingers crossed for both your work & ours!
F x

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
A pleasant day chez Foxgloves on the whole. Despite heavy showers this afternoon, the morning was sunny & dry and we got some useful jobs done in the garden. Mr F is really cracking on with his project clearing the extra 5' of garden we acquired the other year. Now that council garden waste collections have resumed, he is able to get moving again, because a lot of what he is clearing can't be home composted. Today he's finished building a big log pile so we are hoping lots of interesting beetles & assorted critters will move in. Now his colossal heap of branches have been moved, I can access the raised bed at the very top of the veggie garden from all sides, which is a big plus for me as I have already filled it with celeriac & courgettes. He has one more big tangle to clear, then he reckons he can start painting the shed.
As for my own efforts......well, I asked Mr F to dig out a big oriental poppy to compost as it hasn't looked too happy this year. I cleared an area in one of my big flower borders which was full of April - June flowering plants, so that the next pretties actually get a chance to shine. Gaps were filled without a garden centre visit - I have used the verbascums I grew from a packet of seed found in Mum's understairs cupboard. I hoed the courgette & sweetcorns beds & raked up all the tiny apples which had fallen off (June drop) onto the celeriac bed , watered the greenhouse veg, cut off some pieces of overhanging hedge, cleared the radish trough ready for re-sowing next week & planted the dill I grew from some very ancient seed into my herb bed. Final task was putting the latest basket full of recycled yoghurt pots, plastic bottles (cut down into cloches), plant labels (cut from old spread tubs) away on my potting shelves in the shed. We've saved quite a bit of water tonight as the heavy showers earlier means that there was no need to water anythin other than the greenhouse plants which I'd already done. 
I've enjoyed getting into the library book I started the other day & will knit tonight as I think we are going to watch a film. Then I don't want to be too late in bed as will be setting the alarm for 4.15 am to see the live-streamed sunrise over Stonehenge,
Enjoy your evenings all,
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

I hope your chimney job gets done soon. Are you having a wood burner installed?

Your garden projects are coming along. I have a tiny pocket handkerchief garden but still can't seem to get on top of all the garden jobs. Mind you our council still aren't collecting garden waste which doesn't help.

I agree with supporting bricks and mortar shops if you want to keep them, although I have no desire to shop at the moment due to queues and not wanting to spend money, so if everyone one feels like me then they may be doomed!

foxgloves

HHoD - We did intend to have a woodburner installed but when we started doing a bit of research, we found that there are gas stoves which look exactly like woodburners but without having to clean them out. It sounded too good to be true but as it is a knackered living flames gas fire in a hearth that we are replacing, we went to the local fireplace shop to have a look. And yes, they do look pretty much identical so we are having one of those. It involves all the same work - a chimney chop out, flue liner, nice new slate hearth & a beam fitted into the chimney breast in lieu of a mantlepiece. It was all set to make a nice cosy focal point, but first Covid, then jackdaws getting it on with one another (x 2 pairs!) but it will hopefully be finished this week. It's not as if we need the fire on at this time of year so it doesn't really matter. The room looks a mess but we have builders in August doing a number of dust-raising jobs, so it will be into Winter probably before we get straight.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers & solstice blessings to you all. We set the alarm for 4.15 this morning & came downstairs to watch the sunrise being live streamed from Stonehenge. The clouds obscured the sun, but it was lovely seeing it gradually getting lighter & very calming & peaceful. Mr F then disappeared off to make coffee & bacon rolls so it was a good start to the day. Because of 2 maybe 3 days of workmen (depending on when the plasterer can come) this week, I decided to use today to get myself organised for the new week ahead, so I've already set the overnight laundry on timer, made tomorrow's packed lunch, got tonight's meal in the slow cooker (pulled pork), done my Monday morning budget updates & banking, re-filled the bird feeders and had a tidy round. On the more leisurely front, I've yakked to my sister via Skype for an hour & a half and cut out the fabric pieces for re-covering my little vintage armchair. If this all goes according to plan & I don't need to re-cut anything, then I'll probably have sufficient fabric left over to re-cover 2 or 3 cushions (which go on our dining chairs) to match. But I mustn't get ahead of myself. I have never re-covered an armchair or indeed anything much, so will need to approach it slowly & cautiously. 
It has stopped raining now, so I'm going to sit outside with my book until the next shower drives me back inside.
I could do with a really good positive week ahead on all fronts - productivity, financials & healthy eating.
Let's see what can be achieved by this time next week.
F x

Narola1976

Solstice blessings to you too. I also was awake to watch the sunrise at Stonehenge. And also the sunset last night. Indeed very peaceful. I love reading your diary, very inspiring. 

foxgloves

Thank-you Narola. What a nice thing to say. If you told me 20 years ago that I'd be a reformed character with money & posting regularly about living simply & economically, I'd have fallen over from laughing...... as I set off to buy more stuff I didn't need! 
I am genuinely more at peace with myself than I have ever been & a simple lifestyle without the mental millstone of debt is a significant part of that. One of the lovliest things I've done recently was to sit on the grass & look at my garden plants at eye level. It gives a different view being down there with the bees & you sort of appreciate the flowers & all the different greens & textures from a new perspective. Effect on mental health = positive. Cost to our budget & the environment = now't! 
F x

foxgloves

Oooh, I do feel tired this morning.... it must be from that 4.15 start yesterday to watch the midsummer sunrise. I have fortified myself with coffee & breakfast however, waved Mr F off to work & reacquainted myself with yesterday's pledge to have a productive & healthy week. So I'm going to see how much I can get done before the chimney sweep arrives this afternoon. Talk to you later, hopefully.
F x

foxgloves

Right, I'm back to report a pleasant & useful day. Chimney sweep arrived & duly got rid of abandoned jackdaw nest..... apparently one of the smelliest nests he's dealt with for quite a while. That means the rest of the delayed chimney work/stove installation can go ahead tomorrow, which suits me just fine.
I've been productive today.... baked bread rolls, pegged out overnight laundry & did another couple of loads to make use of excellent free drying weather, fed veg plants, read energy meters & uploaded readings. Then I flung the conservatory doors open & started work on re-covering my vintage armchair. I wish I'd had the confidence to tackle it before because so far, it hasn't been as awful a job as I imagined. I've already got new fabric on the sides & back. I've stapled where necessary & sewn other bits. Tomorrow, I aim to sew the back on properly & cover the seat. Then it will mostly just be a case of adding the braid, which I will do if we have the right sort of glue in the shed. I don't intend to do much tonight. I might knit but would be equally happy just to read my book.
Hope everyone is well & getting off to a decent start to the week.
F x