Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Nice to hear from you, Marionmgcars. Hope you are ok. Always good to see people chipping in, if only so I don't think I'm waffling on to myself, lol! I always read comments that are left & appreciate the opinions of this lovely little community of readers. 
F x

Blackcats

I agree with Marion - this is such a lovely diary.  I hope you are enjoying your new piano.  You asked for shopping from home or similar type success stories.   Yesterday I had a sort out of my rather muddled collection of place mats and put together a set that look really nice with a long forgotten table runner that I washed and ironed.  My kitchen table now looks fresh and I'm enjoying sitting there.  

foxgloves

Evening Blackcats! Great example of shopping from home there, m'dear! I really enjoy re-discovering things I already own & fetching them out for a bit of a 'no-spend' new look to a room, table setting or shelves. Like you, I've been a spender in the past, which usually means there's a fair amount of stuff kicking around. I recenrly planted some hyacinth bulbs in a 60-year old purple glass container my parents received as a wedding present. It had sat in my house for years doing not a lot, or had been stuffed in a cupboard. It's in a cupboard now of course, but only because the bulbs need to be in the dark until the shoots poke through. Then I'll have an unusual 'new' decorative item to enjoy...... & I think I'll enjoy the fact that it was free (except 3 x 60p for the bulbs) almost as much as I will enjoy the hyacinths!
I am wanting a bit of a refreshed look for my big kitchen dresser, so must have a proper sort through the shopping from home possibilities before I even think about trottting out to the local flea/vintage market or googling pottery websites.
F x

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
I was determined finally to get around to cutting out another batch of face masks today, but yet again, it dropped off the list. I am going to get the fabric out after I've posted this, then I will see it tomorrow morning & it will be a lot harder to ignore.
Quite a useful day. I spent quite a bit of it putting displaced items away. I am finding these days I have low tolerance of random items knocking around. I like everything to have a 'home' & if an item doesn't, or a suitable place can't be found, then I find myself querying if I actually need to keep it. Of course there are still lots of things out of place here since the builders, electricians, painting, etc, has been going on, & I've found it really motivating today just putting stuff away & making more space. 
I've baked a sourdough, stewed more of our apple crop & liaised with the electricians over a new little problem I thought they'd caused, but it was actually us being a proper pair of prize divs, I've had a phone meeting with our building society to see if they could give us a better deal on our home & contents insurance than our current provider's renewal quote - they couldn't. Unusually, our provider's quote is only increasing by 43p a month - unheard of - I usually ring them to cancel then inform them I am now going straight online to buy exactly the same policy from them as a new customer to avoid a rip-off renewal price. I was happy to renew with such a small increase this year. I've done a small amount of admin, two loads of laundry (on heated airer sadly due to rain, but that's what we bought it for, after all). I like to bake a little bit of something for GBBO telly night or we find we both sit there fancying cake (!), so I made a quick batch of cinnamon rock cakes. That set some very autumnal smells wafting from the oven. Oh & I did a Prolific survey to get me a little nearer my goal of a £50 cash-out in time for Christmas.
Finally, I had a round-up of veg that needed using to make sure it all went into tonight's leftover pork noodle stir-fry instead of being ignored for another day then having to go on the compost instead. My friend rang midday - she's just lost her Mum, so it was nice to be able to talk with her for an hour or so & share experience of loss of a parent & the aftermath. But those blimming face masks - no, the fabric didn't make it out of the bag, my sewing machine stayed put & so an afternoon of me swearing at my sewing was avoided yet again.
Tomorrow however is another day.......in which I will endeavour to be bright eyed & bushy-tailed, & hopefully not too carbed out on cinnamon rock cakes to be able to function in an astute & productive manner!
Cheers m'dears,
F xx

foxgloves

FINALLY... the face masks have been cut out, pressed & I've started on the sewing. 
Evening m'dears, on a day where I don't think it has once stopped raining. I squidged down to the veggie garden for a few spring onions to put in tonight's fish cakes. I've carried on with the 'use-it-up' theme today & completely bottomed out the veg drawer in the fridge.
Mr F remarked yesterday that even HE (freezer tetris king) is struggling to free up any space in there at all atm, so I've done next week's meal plans which heavily prioritise stuff from the freezer. This will free up some grocery budget to buy a few things to stock up the pantry, which will be useful.
I also contacted our village butcher to enquire when their Christmas order forms will be available & they emailed a copy straight over to me. That's useful because it will assist with budgeting, so I'll look at it over the next fortnight.
I've been waiting in for a parcel all day. Tracking useless as has just said 'In transit - Delay' since mid-morning. Grrrr. I had access to the car this morning & could have gone out.
The Covid situation seems to be getting worse by the day. South Yorkshire has gone up a tier, so I reckon we'll be next.
Stay safe all of you, well as much as you can. Staying away from idiots seems to be a good additional rule. 
F x

Baileys_Babe

I was surprised that Nottingham city didn't go to into Tier 3 at the same time as South Yorkshire.

Keep safe and away from idiots.

Dottles1

Yes I think we'll be there soon as discussions are already taking place.  I do love the response from the council leader in Hartlepool that was repeated to Boris in last nights questions, "He can sod off if he thinks he's doing that to us".  I do like a bit of northern bluntness.

foxgloves

Yep, I think we'll soon be there, for sure. I'm sure those extra supplies of masks I'm making are going to come in useful. Am convinced there should have been a fortnight 'circuit breaker' & probably a further series of them to hammer the infection rate until a there's a viable vaccine. I know there are a lot of selfish idiots out there flouting the rules, but we are also in this mess because the Track & Trace system is such an ineffective mess. 
F

Pixiehouse55

Hellooooo Foxgloves and Gang.. How are you all? Well so far North Somerset in the area that we live is not too bad ive heard of a few cases where we live so I'm staying indoors unless its necessary to go out. Like pay day yesterday and the monthly food shop. Loo rolls nearly empty, so couldn't get my normal make. No Chickens and a few odd things missing. Iceland tomorrow and Farmfoods then thats me done for 4 weeks. Hubby will go out for fruit veg milk and bread if we run out. John has only done 1 week of sloppy diet and I can tell he is getting bored of it bless him, 5 weeks to go. I started the C Shopping yesterday. Easy to get things for John but our lady Sylvia is hard work. Not bothered about clothes. All she does is wordsearch or colouring. Brought her a kindle for games etc she has used it twice,.. Anyway, enough of me, sounds like you've been busy making your masks Mrs F? I struggle with them, my glasses get steamed up 🤣😂. We brought a bandascarf ish thing instead lol. Like a snood and pull up over your mouth/nose. Wintery days are here, are you all getting ready for the dark cold nights curled up in the chair knitting or watching telly or something? Off i go up the wooden steps. Keep safe everyone x 

foxgloves

Hi Pixiehouse55,
Yes, we are still keeping well chez Foxgloves.... just waiting to hear if we are to go into Tier 3 on Monday.
Yes, there are gaps appearing on supermarket shelves again. Hoping folk will be sensible, but time will tell, eh?
Your poor live-in chap on his enforced sloppy diet, I wouldn't fancy that for too long!
F x