Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello diary readers, 
I'm enjoying today because it's felt almost normal.... well, as long as I avoid the news, & that's difficult for a confirmed news junkie. 
Been in to town this morning for an outdoor craft market. Treated myself to some tiny silver sleepers as I no longer have anything suitable for my 3rd ear piercing. Also some hand made wax melts. I love having monthly Personal Spends money, because it keeps a lid on my spending, but also means we can have guilt-free treats. I also bought a small item for the presents bag, & most unexpectedly...... a lamp!! We asked the electricians to remove two large (nice, but space-limiting) wall lights & I've been trying to find a stylish but quirky lamp instead. I did find 2 I liked online & one in a local shop, but they were £89, £295 (!!!) & £95 respectively. There was a stall today with a really quirky selection of lamps made from upcycled vintage items. I chose a perfect one.... a vintage silver plated coffee pot with a fitting on top for one of those large funky-looking bulbs & I was delighted to find it was £45. It's a one-off creation & about half the price of the cheapest of the shop ones I'd seen.
Mr F has been raking up leaves & is now watching something involving shouty awks. I'm in the kitchen listening to my audiobook. I've a chilli on the hob. It needs long slow cooking. A new recipe for me - it uses beef chunks rather than mince & is cooked in beer. At the moment, it's simmering away in a bottle of 'H*bgoblin' & is starting to smell very autumnal.
I also bought a few balls of yarn in town to knit a gift. There will be enough left to knit something else, I think, hopefully something for one of those winter birthdays or maybe something I can sell for the local cat rescue. 
Ok, coffee time ☕ ☕, 
Take care all, 
F x

teapot2

sounds like a lovely day Foxgloves, made all the better by finding your lamp 💡💡

foxgloves

I've got the lamp on now, Teapot2, & it's casting a really nice mellow light which is making me feel quite peaceful. I'm going to cast on my new knitting in a minute to capitalize on this positive mood.
F

Blackcats

The new lamp sounds lovely and so nice to have something original.  You will get plenty of use of the light over the autumn and winter.  I've got a table lamp that is fluffy and feathery and very unusual.  I love it and everyone who sees it admires it.  I bought it in a small independent shop - although I can't remember exactly I'm pretty sure it was expensive.  Obviously it wasn't my money and it went straight on the magic credit card .  I've got it in the front window and it looks lovely from outside and inside.  

I'm glad you had a nice day.  Your days always sound good. 

ziggy2407

Sounds like a fabulous day @foxgloves, love the sound of your new lamp.  

foxgloves

Blackcats - Oooh, feathers! That sounds like an interesting lamp. I love unusual home things - that was a big part of my past debt situation, really.

Ziggy2407 - Yes, it was nice to have a more normal day. I do like your signature "2020 - Banish the clutter". We've been doing a lot of that too. Having got a few large items of crud down from the loft & off to the tip, Mr F is now keen to get on with the rest of it. That's music to my ears!
F x

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Hope everyone's managed to kick the new week off to a decent start - if not, don't get down about it, the week is young, just start again tomorrow. I wish I'd got something wildly exciting to tell you (when do I ever?!) but it's been a really routine day here. I've done two loads of laundry, now on the heated airer. Unfortunately, I interpreted the local weather forecast this morning ("Shortlived showers") as there'd maybe be a couple of showers of rain, but they wouldn't last long at all. And they didn't last, but there were considerably more than a couple of them. So although they WERE shortlived, each one was so swiftly followed by another one, that the forecast may as well have said "Rain all morning", grrrr. 
Baked bread rolls - tried a different recipe, one which uses mostly white flour with a little bit of wholemeal & is mixed to a dough using beer. I thought they'd be a little bigger, but the recipe said to make 14 & I would usually only make 10 from that amount of dough. Hope they are nice. Serving with cheese & french onion soup later.  Also stewed up another big pan of apples as Mr F was asking why there wasn't any left........um, that would be because you've scoffed it all, my love, but I don't mind, as his newfound liking for homegrown stewed fruit is defo saving on buying yoghurts, etc.
Other tasks: I updated the grocery budget - I want everything straight for tomorrow which is my Big Budget Day. I paid the final food shop of October's budget off our 'just for points' credit card & had a look at the figures. While I am still budgeting more than I was pre-Covid, it is good to see that this month we have come in at £39 under budget, so I think things may be settling down. We are making deliberate efforts to plan meals around what we have in the freezer, particularly our home grown fruit & veg & it has obviously made a difference. I intend to have a look tomorrow at the best use for that £39 as well as a small amount of backpay Mr F is expecting this month. I think everyone who reads my diary will know that back in the Spendy Years, that would have been blown before it even hit my bank account.....& probably again once it did arrive! I updated our Personal Spends spreadsheet too while I was at it, as I shall need accurate figures for tomorrow's budget. Both of us still have money left, I'm pleased to say, but of course like everyone else, we are only going out a fraction of how much we used to pre-Covid, so there's no mystery there. My parcel of yarn arrived today, so I now have everything needed to knit the 3 planned items for Christmas presents. Two are on the needles already, but I may possibly save one of them for an Easter gift, as I think it is quite 'chickenny'. I've also had a little walk down to the greenhouse to water the spinach & mizuna seedlings. The sweetpeas & parsley are coming up too, so they also had a drink.
Oh, & I've booked the plasterer to come & give us a quote later this week - I don't want to lose momentum on the home improvements just because we're concentrating on some bits of the project we can do ourselves. 
I think that's it.....I did say it wasn't exciting, didn't I? 
Tier 3 from Wednesday, but it is looking like we've dodged it here, as we are a bit further out. I'm not complacent about this, though, as we have had quite a lot of local cases. 
Anyway, stay safe,
F x

Pixiehouse55

Good evening to you all. Well poor John is back in hospital, I phoned and spoke to his doctor and she agreed its not on they need to sort him out once and for all!!!  I had been to the shops this morning and brought loads of cans of the soup he likes and yoghurts. Oh well they have got November 9th date on them.We were going to do our tax returns today, that didn't happen and I was going to make our Christmas Cake.. oh well, there is always tomorrow.  Short and sweet tonight, I'm in bed already. Keep safe x 
. 

foxgloves

Oh dear, Pixiehouse55, what a day! Sounds like he is in the right place & will hopefully get sorted out properly this time. Hope it's good news soon & that you have a better day tomorrow.
F x

Onebrokelady

The the new lamp sounds lovely, I do like a nice quirky lamp 😊I'm with Mr F on the stewed Apple, I absolutely love it and now you've mentioned it I think I'm going to have to make some. I bought some weird apples before I got ill called Kissabel and I gotta shock when I bit into it because it was a deep pink colour inside,anyway I didn't eat them fast enough so decided to chuck them in a crumble instead 😊