Put away your purse & become debt-averse

crazy_cat_lady

Great news about the car Foxgloves - I bet you're pleased about that

foxgloves

Too right, CCL, I was well pleased with it! That service plans has been a bit of a mixed blessing & we've both said we're not sure that we'd have another one, but at least this time there was no bill & that felt good.

Well, I've just done my usual mid-month budget check-in. How can it be that time again already? I guess I know why, really....because the last month has passed in a haze of hospital visiting, long drives, stressing about poor Mum, all of which is still ongoing. I did feel I needed to touch base with the budget this morning, though, because I think it's important during difficult times to stay in control of those things where one still has some influence. So that's what I've been doing this morning. Findings?
We're solvent. Grocery budget is on track. Mr f volunteered to get the grocery shopping yesterday (we were at the hospital all day on Saturday) & as we'd done that meal plan concentrating greatly on eating through our freezer contents, he came in nicely under budget by £10, even though he needed an extra bag of coffee (for work) & I had a couple of preserving oddments. Half of the remaining September grocery budget is in the petty cash purse, so I shall withdraw the rest of it & have a cash shop next time. Have you spotted the potential spendy pitfall I'm avoiding by doing that? £25 of the budget in cash form, £30 of it in bank........what has happened a few times is that the shopping will come to more than the £25 so it will go on visa debit for the full amount (rather than faffing about at the till) leaving that nice little £25 cash sum sitting in the petty cash purse calling 'Spend me, spend me, you know you want to, I could be a lovely pizza or a pair of pretty cappucinos & panninis, etc, etc'. This doesn't always happen.....sometimes as it's so near the end of the month, I simply take the cash out, pop it on my desk ready to use towards the next month's Savings Piggies payments. Anyway, temptation averted this time. The rest of the grocery budget will simply be withdrawn as cash & added to it. Sounds like something of nothing, really, but I do find it can be better to cut temptation off at the pass! If I've spent it on groceries, it can't then be wasted on something not in the budget (or on the diet!)
Was pleased to see that everything was on course, anyway. In fact, I was only 43p out! I shall consider that a result!
F x

maryb

Good morning Foxgloves

I usually hang out on the Old Style threads and I’m not sure how I came across your diary- must have been through following some links. Anyway I love your writing style and have read the whole diary. I admire all your growing and preserving - how did you ever find time when you were working.

As regards freezer Tetris - have you ever considered bottling? Or canning as it increasingly seems to be called. You don’t need a pressure canner if you are doing acid fruits and tomatoes Just check the ph with a testing strip for tomatoes as they are lower in acid with modern varieties and add some lemon juice if needed. Any jar lid with a dimple will do so you can check if it has sealed. This is good for jars of spaghetti sauce and is much lower in salt and sugar than bought pasta sauces.

Wishing you strength and comfort for what you are facing with your mum

foxgloves

Hello Maryb,
Glad you enjoyed reading my diary - yes, I did do lots of baking, preserving, etc, when I was working full time. I used to stay up a lot later then, so I would sometimes get in, eat dinner, watch TV or whatever, then around 9pm, I'd have a burst of energy so would often decamp to the kitchen to bake, paint a cupboard door or stick some blackberries on to cook for jam.
I haven't tried bottling, except for sun dried cherry tomatoes in oil & they were one big mouldy mess! I do have bottling instructions in several books, so maybe I will give it a go sometime. A Labour Party comrade was desperate to teach me a few years back, but I stuck to my jam & chutney making. I make sauces too, which last quite well in jars, & have made cordials & elderberry vinegar plus pickles. Pickled courgettes go down very well in our house. I adapted an old recipe for 'bread & butter pickles'. This week"s meal plans are hugely based on using freezer stores. I've taken 2 containers of roasted aubergine curry out for tonight & that's freed up a whole corner of a drawer!
When I first discovered the MSE forums, I did post on the Old-style threads but I moved to DFW daily small things thread because I love a daily task list! I started my dfw diary more recently to show people just beginning their debt-busting, that it is truly possible to change even very longstanding bad money habits.
F x

maryb

Good luck if you do try bottling. I have got into it to the extent I have a proper pressure canner bought when the dollar exchange rate was a LOT more favourable, which means I can do meat as well. Mainly use it for chicken stock, chilli con carne and curry base but it has saved me so often when I would otherwise think it would take too long to defrost something

foxgloves

That's really interesting, maryb. I know bottling (or 'canning') has always been big in America. I love that scene in Garrison Keillor's novel 'Lake Woebegon days' when everyone is doing so much bottling, they are sneaking out at night & leaving bottled fruit & veg on people's doorsteps just to get rid of it! I never get anything that good left on my doorstep!
F

foxgloves

A moment's true satisfaction earlier when I removed another container from the freezer for tomorrow's meal. The space didn't last long. I popped down to the greenhouse to see how my strings of chillies are drying & decided to cut the rest of this year's basil plants. So now I'm just having a coffee and a pear (which fell off the tree as I went past with the basil!) & then I shall make pesto. And yes, it will be going in the freezer. We are nowhere near being able to defrost it yet!
I love pesto making. The smell is so redolent of summertime.....a taste of summer to enjoy during the colder months. When I sold my previous house, the person who bought it was the one who came for a viewing when I was halfway through making some pesto. I wondered afterwards if he was influenced by that hit of summer fragrance.......he certainly didn't seem too overly bothered by the damp kitchen & two rotting skirting boards, so maybe so!
F x

crazy_cat_lady

I LOVE pesto. Bet home made is amazing.

foxgloves

Me too, CCL. And it's easy peasy! Basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, little bit of salt, pine nuts (I sometimes like to use walnuts or almonds) - blitz up in a blender, then stir in the cheese. That's it!
I save little plastic pots with lids for freezing it.
You need a lot of basil to provide sufficient leaves, but it did well this summer because if the heat.
F x

DawnW

Yes,super easy, no cooking involved, and you can freeze it, what is not to like? Basil (and tomatoes) did brilliantly this year here too, loving the Mediterranean weather.

You can make pesto with other things than basil btw - I grew lots of rocket and made rocket pesto as well, and read somewhere that you can also use carrot foliage - haven't tried that one yet though! I hardly ever use pine nuts as they are so expensive; others, as Foxgloves says, substitute quite well. But do use proper Italian hard cheese, even if it is the Sainsbugs basics one, and buy a piece of cheese and grate it yourself, avoid the ready grated stuff as it is usually horrid