Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Sun_Addict

Your amorous blackbirds story made me chuckle 😆 We have a tree full of them in our garden, they can be very naughty, caught them stealing newts out of the pond on a few occasions and had to shoo them off.

foxgloves

Ooooh, the naughty things, Sun_Addict, I know they can gobble quite a bit of frog spawn if they are in the mood for tadpoley caviar, but I haven't known one to steal a newt! Our poor sparrows are having to find a new way of accessing pond water for their drinks now, as the frogspawn is all amassed right where they like to have a dip in the shallow end. The taddies are nearly hatched though, another couple of days & I think they will be out, then the Sparrow Lido will be back ready for business.
F 

foxgloves

Hello Nearly-Easter Bunnies,
It's been a useful day so far, but I am not intending to do much more. No gardening today as am waiting in for a parcel, but I can hear the door from the coffee bench, so I might take a drink out there & have 15 mins of fresh air. Anyway, today's achievements:
Mixed up a sourdough, cleaned all of downstairs, watered & fed houseplants & changed bed linen. Did 2 surveys & FINALLY got round to listing the item on ebay which I photographed in July!! Also returned to April's budget, following arrival of energy rebate, so as to make a better informed decision about what sort of surplus is available for paying into savings. April is a tighter month, but I am determined to pay something extra into general savings every month, so the figures needed a closer look & a bit of jiggling. Seven out of our ten Savings Pots are at the maximum amount we agreed back in January when we had our annual money meeting. I paid a sum to the remaining three......clothes, presents (this includes our Christmas Fund) & dentist/optician & updated the Savings Pots spreadsheet accordingly. Leaving monthly buffer zone at the agreed amount, I found I am still able to divert £100 surplus into the ISA. We have a Regular Saver account too, which is paid into monthly by standing order, but when we had our January money summit, Mr F & I felt that it made more financial sense to set realistic maximum amounts for the Savings Pots, in favour of adding a bit more to general savings, so that is what I have been doing so far this year. The amounts available vary by quite a lot, depending on other expenditure that month & also how heavy a month it is for regular bills. Anyway, returning to do this means that my April budget is complete & ready to see what the month throws at us! (Mr F already making noises about his mobile phone  behaving distinctly weirdly.......)
OK, not much more to do today so my book is beckoning. I just need to make a list of everything I can usefully do in town tomorrow. Am making kedgeree tonight - a good way of stretching a single piece of smoked haddock into a tasty filling meal for two. Everything else pretty much store cupboard ingredients - frozen peas, curry powder, onions, turmeric, brown basmati & a hard-boiled egg! Plus a good dollop of home made apple & ginger chutney (Crank's chutney recipe one of my favourites) on the side. but for now, time to crank up the coffee machine......
F x
Oh, & it was Weigh-Day this morning - another 0.9kg off, so that is 5.2kg in total since the end of January. I will continue with this as there is NO WAY I am going to buy new summer clothes if last year's stuff doesn't fit. Am allowing myself Easter treats, then my halo will be re-polished & put back in place first thing on Tuesday.

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

That's great progress with losing weight foxgloves, well done i started eating seasonal treats last weekend when my DD1 brought me cheese and marmite flavoured hot cross buns!!  I need to start better eating habits next week - after i've finished my bag of mini eggs (& other choccies...) Deni x

foxgloves

Thanks Deni-dfd - I have lost loads of weight in the past, from a size 26 down to a 16, but I have yo-yo'd ever since & have re-gained quite a lot since Lockdown 1 (too much baking!) so I am taking my naughty self in hand this year. I am very traditional wirh hot cross buns, so I think cheese & marmite might be too 'out there' for me, lol.
F

Paspatur

Foxgloves I need to delurk urgently. You say cheese and marmite hot cross buns might be too 'out there' for you, I have never had a hot cross bun of any description, just not a bun/cake person. But I find the thought of home made apple & ginger chutney with smoked haddock too 'out there' for me. I eat lots of smoked haddock - in cheese sauce with cauli and broccoli, in macaroni cheese, fishcakes, cullen skink, kedgeree etc. but just cannot imagine this!!! Did discover that an edamame bean dip went well with fishcakes though

foxgloves

Lol, Paspatur...I wouldn't fancy chutney with smoked haddock at all, except for when the smoked haddock is an ingredient in kedgeree. I like a good waft of curry powder in my kedgeree & as I think 'chutney' may even derive from an Indian word (?) - think pickle & poppadom tray - certain cutneys do go well with Indian spiced food. So yes, it was really nice. 
But I still couldn't fancy a cheese & marmite hot cross bun! A lad in my 6th form used to have beetroot & marmalade sandwiches for his packed lunch every day - I never tried that, despite his assurances that it was the best sandwich filling combination ever!
F

Baileys_Babe

My son enjoys toast with honey and marmite, he butters both sides and has honey on the top and marmite on the bottom (marmite is less prone to dripping). No idea why he tried this combination years ago but it is something he often chooses.

I_Love_comps

    I have thoroughly enjoyed your diary @foxgloves.   Where are you watching 'Deutschland'?.  I remember watching this years back, I think on a Sunday evening and enjoyed it.
      We have had have had issues with mice and the checking to see if they have taken the bait. We have 2 cats.  One of them is very good at catching the mice.
       We have a garden.  I enjoy the colourful plants, rather than having a lot of green bushes.
      

foxgloves

Hello I-Love-Comps & welcome. I'm pleased you enjoyed my diary. We are all capable of changing bad money habits, aren't we, & that is really what I set out to share.
We are watching 'Deutschland 89' on 4OD, having enjoyed the first two series '83' & '86'. This current one begins with the Berlin Wall coming down.
Yes, I like a colourful garden too, particularly sharing it with wildlife. We lost our beloved cat to cancer last summer & still miss him dreadfully.
I think I am now on top of the mouse problem. I hate using bait but once there is a sizeable infestation, it's really the only solution, I think.
F