Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Dottles1

I've had some good responses to selling on FB Welshspendthrift.  It is usually quick, no postage and no selling fees.  I give things a week and if they haven't sold I then either charity shop or find another means.  You've nothing to lose by trying FB first I suppose

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Oh my goodness, I'm glad to sit down at last. I was up at 5.50 this morning, builders arrived at 8.00 & I've been on the go ever since, with just half an hour at lunchtime to shove some food in the general direction of my face. I've also been trying to get to the bottom of a domestic mystery.... more of that later. Garden efforts all focused on getting food harvested. Today's pickings: 2.5kg of really good quality rhubarb & a big bunch of basil. Froze some of the rhubarb for a future crumble & cooked the rest to freeze as compote. Turned the basil into 4 pots of pesto & froze. Also did much needed triage of the tomatoes....the ripest ones have been skinned, blitzed & frozen. Tackled yesterday's leftover roast pork. Enough to make hot pork rolls with apple sauce tonight, a stir-fry & an epic man stew (tho I shall not be partaking of the latter). 
Oh... hang on, I shall have to pop back later to tell you about the Mystery of the Evil Black Fluff...... see you later. 
F x

welshspendthrift

Dottles1 said:

I've had some good responses to selling on FB Welshspendthrift.  It is usually quick, no postage and no selling fees.  I give things a week and if they haven't sold I then either charity shop or find another means.  You've nothing to lose by trying FB first I suppose

Thank you Dottles 😀

foxgloves

Stitchywitch - Isn't that just typical about that greenhouse? It reminded me of a couple of years ago, after my Dad died, when my Mum announced that she was giving me £200 to buy a bicycle. So I did, as I'd been wanting one for ages. I had owned if for less than a week when my sis-in-law said "Oh you could have had mine. It's absolutely like new & I wouldn't have wanted any money for it". But I had no idea she was looking to re-home an unwanted bike......in fact, I didn't know she even owned one! Can't be helped, I guess, but yes, your greenhouse story very much put me in mind of the bikes.
F x

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Didn't get round to posting yesterday, or telling you about the Evil Black Fluff (not that I think everyone is sitting waiting with bated breath to hear that one, lol) so I think I will post in smaller chunks tonight, rather than the usual longer ramble.
Useful day yesterday with a fair bit of frugal activity. The builders arrived early & got started & I'd planned an hour or two of gardening, but I saw immediately that there was a lot of food picking needed, so I did an about-turn for colanders & basket & got going with that:
3.8kg apples
1 kg tomatoes
400g french beans
700 g courgettes
2 x peppers
1 mug of blackberries
I was putting some of this away when I spotted 3 over-ripe bananas in the fruit baskets. I only like green & nearly-still-green bananas, once they are ripe I don't like them, but I won't waste food, so I mashed two of them & baked Mary Berry's banana loaf which looked kind of nice but a bit dull when it came out of the oven, but was actually a tasty moist cake, which went down well at coffee time! The 3rd banana came in useful later in the afternoon when I did actually manage a couple of hours of actual gardening - I decided to finish a few outdoor veggie plants - a courgette & squash which were pretty much over & 4 tomato plants which had been badly wind damaged & difficult to prop up. They were laden with big green tomatoes, so I picked them all, put them in a big brown paper carrier bag, popped in the over-ripe banana & pegged the top shut. That will help them to ripen. The bag looks funny though, as I wrote on it in thick purple marker pen "Remember to check in here regularly for yukky banana!" 
Did I do anything else of a vaguely frugal nature? Oh I did. I darned a sock. And topped up a nice vintage glass decanter (my Mum paid 50p for it at a church white elephant stall) with cheapo bubble bath. We also continued to eat up Sunday's roast pork leftovers.
I think that was yesterday.
I am now going to regale you with the tale of the Evil Black Fluff.
F x

ladyholly

I am confused. Does the over ripe banana help to ripen the tomatoes. I have a load on my window sill that are taking forever to ripen. I have never heard about this not that I am a gardener.

foxgloves

OK, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin this tale of how my clean laundry was struck by an attack of Evil Black Fluff. If forensic levels of detail about the domestic laundry nightmare of somebody you have never met understandably fails to float your boat, please do feel free to exit stage left. I shan't be offended! This is weird. Laundry isn't usually a source of weirdness, is it.....the occasional colour run, may be an odd rogue tissue left in a pocket......you know the kind of thing. Well, the Mystery of the Evil Black Fluff has absolutely defied all my attempts to solve it. I shall lay before you the facts:
Earlier this week, I did a fairly small load of mixed laundry. This is what it contained: 1 white work shirt belonging to Mr F, 1 purple cotton & linen mix dress, 5 cotton face masks, 5 cotton mask liners, 2 bath towels (1 green, 1 green & white), 1 kitchen towel (purple & white), 1 hand knitted cotton dish cloth (pale blue) & 3 tea towels (lemon & white checked cotton). When I went to peg these items outside to dry, I noticed that everything has acquired a very noticeable coating of black woolly fluff. I thought perhaps I had picked something up with the washing by mistake & it had suffered in the washing machine, but a good look through the just washed load contained nothing black & nothing woolly. I checked the pockets on my dress, but there was nothing in either of those & I'd mostly just pop a tissue in a dress pocked anyway. When I picked up the white cotton shirt - quite a new one, only worn twice, I simply couldn't BELIEVE what it looked like! It was so coated in this black fluff that from a distance, if you didn't know it was plain white cotton, you'd have almost thought it had a paisley pattern! It was slarmed in the stuff! Well, I decided to wash the shirt again, so I first checked the washing machine drum by carefully wiping around a piece of kitchen roll & as this came away clean, I assumed there was none of this fluff left in the machine, so I put the shirt on a short wash to try & lift it off. When it came out......if anything it was WORSE!! Bizarre! I realised my previous load had been predominantly pale cottons, as had washed bed linen, which was still upstairs waiting to be ironed. I checked it, but all was completely normal. There was no sign of any of this black fluff, so that kind of ruled out the possibility of there being a build up of something black & fibrous in the filter. I rinsed the shirt in 3 changes of water to try & float some of it off. We have one of those metal plughole strainers in our kitchen sink to prevent blockages & I was able to remove all the stuff that collected in there for analysis. It was definitely some type of woolly fibre & it was definitely black. I'd started wondering if I'd worn a hand knitted item over my dress which had shedded, but I had to rule this possibility out straight away because I don't have any that are black & this fluff was deepest darkest black. I re-pegged the shirt & managed to pick off remaining clumps when it was dry. I still intend to go over it with some sticky tape before I iron it to remove the last of it. I still have not the first clue from whence it came. I shall need to do another load before too long & I am hoping it won't be a repeat performance. So there we have it - The Mystery of the Evil Black Fluff & the Spoiled Laundry - it sounds like an Enid Blyton - I probably need to set 5 posh kids & a dog onto it!
Any ideas welcome!
F x

foxgloves

Ladyholly - Yes! If you want to ripen green tomatoes, the best way to do it is to pop them in a paper bag with a ripe banana or if you haven't got one, just chuck in an already ripe tomato. Fold or peg the bag shut. The banana gives off gasses which assist with ripening. I have managed to ripen some tomatoes on a tray in our sunny conservatory in the past, but have always needed to resort to the paper bag method for the reluctant greenest ones.
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

OK, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin this tale of how my clean laundry was struck by an attack of Evil Black Fluff. If forensic levels of detail about the domestic laundry nightmare of somebody you have never met understandably fails to float your boat, please do feel free to exit stage left. I shan't be offended! This is weird. Laundry isn't usually a source of weirdness, is it.....the occasional colour run, may be an odd rogue tissue left in a pocket......you know the kind of thing. Well, the Mystery of the Evil Black Fluff has absolutely defied all my attempts to solve it. I shall lay before you the facts:
Earlier this week, I did a fairly small load of mixed laundry. This is what it contained: 1 white work shirt belonging to Mr F, 1 purple cotton & linen mix dress, 5 cotton face masks, 5 cotton mask liners, 2 bath towels (1 green, 1 green & white), 1 kitchen towel (purple & white), 1 hand knitted cotton dish cloth (pale blue) & 3 tea towels (lemon & white checked cotton). When I went to peg these items outside to dry, I noticed that everything has acquired a very noticeable coating of black woolly fluff. I thought perhaps I had picked something up with the washing by mistake & it had suffered in the washing machine, but a good look through the just washed load contained nothing black & nothing woolly. I checked the pockets on my dress, but there was nothing in either of those & I'd mostly just pop a tissue in a dress pocked anyway. When I picked up the white cotton shirt - quite a new one, only worn twice, I simply couldn't BELIEVE what it looked like! It was so coated in this black fluff that from a distance, if you didn't know it was plain white cotton, you'd have almost thought it had a paisley pattern! It was slarmed in the stuff! Well, I decided to wash the shirt again, so I first checked the washing machine drum by carefully wiping around a piece of kitchen roll & as this came away clean, I assumed there was none of this fluff left in the machine, so I put the shirt on a short wash to try & lift it off. When it came out......if anything it was WORSE!! Bizarre! I realised my previous load had been predominantly pale cottons, as had washed bed linen, which was still upstairs waiting to be ironed. I checked it, but all was completely normal. There was no sign of any of this black fluff, so that kind of ruled out the possibility of there being a build up of something black & fibrous in the filter. I rinsed the shirt in 3 changes of water to try & float some of it off. We have one of those metal plughole strainers in our kitchen sink to prevent blockages & I was able to remove all the stuff that collected in there for analysis. It was definitely some type of woolly fibre & it was definitely black. I'd started wondering if I'd worn a hand knitted item over my dress which had shedded, but I had to rule this possibility out straight away because I don't have any that are black & this fluff was deepest darkest black. I re-pegged the shirt & managed to pick off remaining clumps when it was dry. I still intend to go over it with some sticky tape before I iron it to remove the last of it. I still have not the first clue from whence it came. I shall need to do another load before too long & I am hoping it won't be a repeat performance. So there we have it - The Mystery of the Evil Black Fluff & the Spoiled Laundry - it sounds like an Enid Blyton - I probably need to set 5 posh kids & a dog onto it!
Any ideas welcome!
F x

I've been waiting all day with bated breath to find out what this was about 😂 what colour are the face masks and filters or the inside of the dress 🤷‍♀️

foxgloves

And so to today.......builders arrived early. I managed to get some time at my desk to sort out a number of budget updates, including moving funds from our Holiday Savings Pot to our current account ready to pay the balance on our holiday. I started thinking that if we end up back in full Lockdown, we won't be going, but there is no point fretting about it. If it happen, so be it. There is absolutely nothing I can do to influence that outcome one way or the other. With all these cases of people being asked to travel to the other end of the country for a Covid test, I should think many won't bother, & the concept of social distancing seems utterly beyond the understanding or capabilities of others. Ah well, we can only be responsible for our own behaviour.
Wrote to two friends & had a little trot to the post box, then enjoyed an afternoon sitting in the garden reading my book. Made a stir-fry with the last of the rubber pork tonight. Discussed meal plans for next week but didn't get round to putting them on paper, so that will need doing tomorrow. Oh & received an order for a couple of small knitted items, so I must see if I have any suitable yarn (& can find the pattern) before I commit to fulfilling it.
I also started getting a few jam jars out of my stash as I could do with using up some of our apple glut so am thinking a batch of apple & ginger jam would be nice. 
Not a no-spend day as I ordered a bedroom blind.
And that's my scintillating life up to date,
Take care,
F x