Put away your purse & become debt-averse

DawnW

Too wet for gardening here unfortunately, but I did sow some chilli seeds in a pot yesterday. The pot is now covered with a plastic bag (which will come off once they appear) and placed in the little antique terrarium thing I use as a propagator for things that like to be kept warm, on one end of our big old dining room table near the window

Tescodealqueen

We had a brief dry and sunny spell late yesterday morning and it was lovely to have a while in the garden just generally tidying and clipping lots of dead growth. Everything looks tidy, bulbs are coming up and I am so looking forward to spring. It really cheered my mood. I had planted some bulbs indoors as an experiment but it didn't work as a tulip grew but flowered just on the surface of the soil with no stem at all. Will see what happens to the others indoors

foxgloves

DawnW - I'm looking forward to sowing my chilli seeds. Am hoping my little trusty electric propagator hasn't carked it in our latest shed roof deluge. Will soon find out.

Tescodealqueen - I know what you mean with that indoor tulip 🌷 problem. I have had a similar thing with hyacinths. I think it is when conditions aren't quite right & they are sort of driven by their biology to kick out a flower.
F

foxgloves

Evening all - hope you are all cosy. It is set to drop cold tonight. I'm toasting my toes by the stove with my new scented candle (from Father Christmas.... he's not a bad lad, is he) burning on the mantlepiece. I had better finish a blanket square in a minute. 
Nothing of interest to impart..... except for us both nearly needing to send for the town defibrillator when our bill for this week's fresh fruit & veg on the market this morning was £50 !! Mr F kept saying '50 quid! FIFTY QUID!! But you know? I'd budgeted  £85 for this week's groceries & because we have stepped up the healthy eating & there was a lot of fresh produce on the list, the supermarket part of the shopping was about £30. Well, we should be healthy bunnies this week, shouldn't we, & that will be good. I am feeling very committed to 'Project Stop Looking Like a Sofa' & a knock-on effect will be feeling as though I've got a whole new wardrobe, as stuff that is currently tight will be ready & waiting to wear. 😇 😇 😇 
Ok, I shall wish you all a pleasant evening & get my needles clacking. 
F x

foxgloves

Morning all!
Big cup of coffee then out onto our frozen courtyard to fill up the bird feeders. A no-spend day as going precisely nowhere! All free activities planned:
Big Garden Bird Watch 
2nd half of our games challenge (1 game of 'Scrabble' & 3 of 'Yahtze' to go)
Knit a blanket square
Read
Piano practice
I have plenty of jobs to do but am firmly of the mind that they can all wait until tomorrow. 
Stay safe, stay warm, 
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

I never tire of reading about your amusing yet horrific historic spendy habits Foxgloves 😃 and it does remind me of myself and DH. As you can see from my signature we had the staggering debt of £58,000 at one point 😱😱😱 and I couldn't sleep at night for worrying about it. This was due to a combination of a low salary and a lack of budgeting. We used to spend ten pounds here and twenty pounds there, not realising that over time this added up to hundreds of pounds 🙄. As you can imagine we also paid out a fortune in interest and in penalties for going over our credit limit and for late payments 😣. We also used to see the available credit on our credit cards as 'our' money and lived in dread of transactions being refused at the till. This did actually happen to me a few times too and it was so humiliating 😩. I'm so thankful that our debts are paid off 🎉🎉🎉 (even though we had to sacrifice DH's pension to do it) and I completely agree that no purchase can ever give as much pleasure as being debt free with some savings 😃. Now we have no credit cards and no overdraft facilities, so if we can't afford it then we don't buy it. 

I empathise with your low lock down mood. This lock down feels much harder than the first one, partly because the novelty has worn off and partly due to dark days and rainy cold weather. I've been feeling a bit miserable and had low energy for the whole of January. It's a combination of the Christmas fun being over, bad weather and seemingly nothing to look forward to, not even a coffee out. However I hope February will feel more cheerful. All my elderly relative have been vaccinated 🙂 and I hope that DH will be jabbed before too long as he's over 55 and has diabetes. I'm a key worker, am over 55 and have asthma, so I hope I'll get the jab before too long too.

Reading about your activities in the home and garden is wonderfully soothing to me though, so I always enjoy reading your diary. I hope you enjoy a relaxing Sunday 🙂.

Four_Seasons

Hi, I think I hit the lock-down wall last week when they announced 8th March review for schools, I started to self isolate 17th March as I am vulnerable and to think for almost a year (apart from op in JuIy)  haven't been out for a coffee/garden centre wander/shopping etc., I was totally feeling sorry for myself then into my head popped "head, shoulders knees and toes" the advert that ends with "cheese on toast" and that gorgeous young boy with the lovely smile and had a quick count of my blessings which are numerous.  Just waiting for my phone call for my jab, not that it will make a great deal of difference for a few weeks but it would be so lovely to see family at Easter!! here's hoping x

Pixiehouse55

I think the lockdown mood is getting  everywhere now. Our people are fed up. J back in hospital on Wednesday for another Dialation. Our lady doesn't understand what's going on she misses her mum but we can't visit her mum in the care home, I'm sat in the lounge watching something or just listening on the telly and knitting squares. I think I might get some fabrics out and cut out some shapes. I seen on someone's blog a heart shaped patchwork, I fancy doing it for my Granddaughters bedroom.  My fuchsias are looking good in the greenhouse. Birds are back and taking food again, the pigeons had scared them off.  I ended up buying  aheated airer the other day as my tumbler dryer packed up, man coming out to see it on Wednesday.everyThing is happening on Wednesday lol. New windows being fitted,  
J having his procedure and hopefully tumble dryer will, be fixed, Thursday we are picking up my motorbility car, can't believec its been 3 years already!! 
Roast Pork tonight, will, go and start on it in a minute.  Enjoy the rest of your day. Keep Safe  X 

foxgloves

HHoD - Well, I'm glad you get something positive from reading my DFW diary. You have done well to pay off such a big scary sum of debt. I agree it is frightening to think about the interest we all must have paid over the years. Re having cards stopped, yes, it was humiliating, but at the time, I always blamed the bank for being horrible mean b*stards, never myself for my failure to budget, my constant overspending & financial irresponsibility. Honestly, what a long way I've come (& I'm never going back!)
I think you are exactly right about the reasons this Lockdown seems harder than the previous ones. It is hard to cling on to definite things we can look forward to. I am such a planner these days.....well, I always was in my professional life, it was just my personal finances which never saw any planning......& I find it really quite discombobulating not to be able to plan anything. It is making the days seem very sort of samey & as though nothing is moving forwards. I think my mood will improve a lot when I can get out into the garden, as growing things & being out in nature puts my head in a good space.
F x

foxgloves

Four_Seasons - I don't take much notice of TV ads, but I do know the one you mean & yes, that little boy has a beautiful smile. It must be very difficult for you to have been shielding for nearly a year. I have very little family, but haven't seen them (my only sister & her boys) since Christmas 2019. We would like to be able to meet up for a picnic (even a chilly one) or just a garden centre lunch or coffee somewhere half-way (we live 120 miles apart) at Easter. I am not going to plan anything though, as it just gets our hopes up. If it is safe to meet up, I am sure we will find a way to make it happen, if not, then everyone else will be in the same boat, won't they? 
We just have to keep going.
Take care,
F x