Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen & @DawnW - Yes, it's interesting how available space ends up as additional storage. We don't often have guests to stay - probably only once a year, very occasionally twice, so our guest bed is a double futon in the spare bedroom. Probably unfortunately for guests (unless it is the nephews staying over), the primary purpose of the spare bedroom is the Official Man Cave. Mr F is a keen collector of various gubbins, which I shan't list, as I do like the anonymity on here, esp with all the past 'debtisodes' I have shared, so it isn't really a room I would associate with relaxing sleep! Nobody has complained though. I am happier with his stuff being confined to one room, even if it's a whole room, than I would be if it it was spread out throughout the entire house. I have told him that when he runs out of space in there, some of it will have to go. There was a bit of a shocked face, but I think he knows I mean it. Our house has 3 bedrooms. The smallest is 'mine' & is used for 'Foxgloves HQ'. The biggest is our bedroom. The spare bedroom is also a good size, much bigger than my little HQ room, so it isn't as though he has been allocated a titchy space. 

Re fireguards, DawnW, I bought one of those big metal 'cage'-type ones when my nephews were tiny as they weren't used to an open flames fire. Neither of them were remotely interested in the fire, never went near it, so I took it to pieces & now use the various-sized sheets of metal grid in the garden. They are so useful. I've used them to cover troughs of seedlings so the blackbirds can't dig them up, across part of the pond to discourage herons, as supports for growing peas & mange-touts, covered in recycled bubblewrap for makeshift coldframes, etc. At the moment, I have 4 pieces of it around my young perpetual spinach plants to keep off the woodpigeons. So while it turned out to be a waste of money where fireguarding was concerned, it has more than earned its keep as self-build modules in the veggie garden.

F x

foxgloves

Morning m'dears,
Another chilly day, although the wind seems to have dropped. No blue sky at all  - a solid bank of grey cloud, which I suppose might deign to lift as the day progresses.
I'd normally be doing my weekly Friday house clean today, but I can't see the point this week, as we will be continuing with loft clearing & furniture moving (ready for decorator next week) tomorrow, & will doubtless be raising a lot of dust. So, I've tidied the kitchen, done a little bit of admin, emails, etc, & wrapped my ebay sale ready for posting tomorrow. I've written a list of everything I could usefully get done in town tomorrow & done the one survey available this morning.
I think I will self-fortify with coffee, then head back down to the greenhouse to carry on the jobs I started yesterday. I would like to clear more space in there, as with sweetpeas having to come back in, plus other stuff not yet able to start daytime hardening off, I am finding it tricky to walk from one end to the other, & it isn't even a large greenhouse. So I am planning to do some general sorting & tidying in there to make better use of available space, then I will continue potting up seedlings - poached egg plants & hollyhocks today, I think. I also want to remove the bottle cloches from all the veggie babies to see how they are doing. Some of the tomatoes have just gone into stasis - they were the smaller ones & while they are alive, they are just not putting on any growth at all because of the unseasonally low temperatures. 
I am intending to put a bit of extra time into my bedspread squares over the next couple of weeks too. I have knitted all 14 of the pale blue ones (textured ridged pattern) & am on my last pale pink one (textured heart). I have found that psychologically, it feels as though I am making better progress to concentrate on finishing each colour/design, then moving onto the next. I think I will aim to get all the dark blue ones finished next - a sort of concentric squares design - I think I have done 7 or 8 of those, so will crack on & get the remaining ones done. There are 10 different colours. I am using all 10 colours in the King Cole 'Forest' yarn as they looked so nice all together in the shop & I like the fact that they are made from recycled materials such as plastic bottles & old jumpers. The idea was to have a nice new bed cover for when our bedroom refurb is finished. Decorating starts next week & will be followed by re-carpeting. My own efforts are making this bedspread & sewing some new curtains. I've had the fabric for ages, but couldn't see any point making them while there is still so much paint still to be sloshed around. 
Anyway, caffiene is calling.....that is how I intend to spend my day. I'm not missing my regular Friday cleaning at all!
F x

scandimore

Sounds like a good plan for today Foxgloves. Much better weather up here today. Good luck with your potting up. I must express disappointment so far at my sweet peas and cosmos. I don't usually do flowers but thought a few beds of cut flowers at the allotment might be nice. Didn't know anyone who might have spare seed so forked out almost £20 on various seeds and so far have 7 cosmos seedlings out of 75 sown and one sweet pea out of 23 luckily the dahlias are doing much better. Have not sown the remainder yet. Hopefully warmer climes ahead!

Baileys_Babe

I am looking forward to seeing your finished bedspread and I enjoy the regular updates.

I think the decision to postpone the cleaning was wise. This weekend we are going to have a good sort out and rearrange our bedroom as it often ends up as a dumping ground for various things, including things on their way to the present cupboard or the loft 😏 and we are getting a new bed in the near future, going from a king to a super king.

foxgloves

@scandimore - Shame about the cosmos seed, as they are not usually difficult to grow & will often grow from saved seed too. The only variety I just couldn't get to germinate was a shorter bright red one.

@Baileys_Babe - I will maybe put up a photo of my completed bedspread. I have so far knitted 81 squares & should have a dark blue one finished tonight. I cast it on over my lunch break.
F x

foxgloves

Really useful greenhouse session x 2 achieved! Everything watered. Potted up limanthes & hollyhocks as planned & sowed lettuce seed (Variety "Lettony"). Also re-potted 3 agapanthus & top-dressed the remaining ones. Then it was a sad goodbye to a tropical plant my Mum gave to me about 4 years ago. She suggested a race to see which of us could get it to flower first. Well, of course she won! She was so green-fingered  I reckon she could have got leaves out of a brick! Mine never did flower. What it did was get bigger & bigger. I re-potted it twice but it continued its march to triffidhood & as I could no longer properly fit in into the conservatory, it had to over-winter in the greenhouse, which it didn't like at all & turned up its toes. So it has gone to the great compost bin in the sky. As I administered the final chomp of the secateurs, I said 'Sorry Mum' & felt pleased that all her other plants are doing well in our garden - one of her lovely hellebores is still flowering & her winter iris has been a star, cheering us up during the gloomy weather with its purple loveliness. 
Anyway.... a big sweep of the greenhouse paving after all that grubby work, just need to pop overnight covers on, then that's me done for the day. 
F x

Pixiehouse55

Back in 2013 we had a Dorma loft conversion done. Hubby made the 3 bedrooms and bathroom slightly smaller so that the stairs would go up between the 2 large bedrooms, so we didn't loose the 3rd bedroom which is how all the other houses around here had the stairs going up through. Its made us a 5 bed house, plus a small cloakroom. Largest room is my very own craft room.  
I  took some cuttings today from one of my fuchsias and hubby planted radish spring onions and lettuce seeds and runner beans. Lots of sweet peas poppy and goodness knows how many other flower seeds we have to plant over the next few days, plus more painting of the fencing. Dont you just love it when we get nice weather and we can get out in the garden everyone? 
Done loads of washing again. Brushed through kitchen hallway and lounge. 
Still feeling OK after our vaccine on Wednesday night. 

Sounds like you have lots to keep you busy Mrs F? I love reading what you've been doing everyday😊  We are all busy bees aren't we ladies?
Off to read now. Good night and keep safe xx

foxgloves

@Pixiehouse55 - Yes, I do love it when we can all get cracking on our Spring garden jobs. I just wish these freezing night time temperatures would improve a bit.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
A busy day here. I've just been out to put my plant babies to bed, stopped to talk to the tadpoles on the way down & I'm so tired, that was about my level!
We've been to town to buy all our fresh fruit & veg, bird food & storage boxes for the loft. I've also posted my ebay sale, baked bread & made a tamale pie base for the freezer.
The Big Massive Job of the Day, however, has been thoroughly clearing out & sorting the loft.  Oh my days, we have worked sooooo hard on it.... naturally it turned out to be way more of a saga than we anticipated. Anyway, I shall maybe tell you about that another day, because I just want to collapse on the sofa in a heap with my book at the moment.
Loft does look fab now, but ohhhhh, the crud that was up there! 
Night all, 
F xx 

foxgloves

Loft Saga Chapter 1
Hello frugalistas, another knackering day today dismantling our bedroom, but I shall try not to sidetrack. So yesterday, we cleared out our loft. It was one big mess as we have only ventured up there on rare occasions in all the years we've lived here.
I sourced some plastic storage boxes in Wilk*'s. I chose 3 large ones - for craft equipment, some inherited family china, vintage books & my Easter decorations. It went something like this:
Me: How many of these boxes will you need for your stored stuff?
Mr F: None.
Me: What, you have nothing at all to store in the loft that wouldn't be better off in a sealed plastic box?
Mr F: No, I shan't be using any.
Well, I asked him again at the till & again on the way to the car but he was adament that he didn't require ANY boxes at all
So we made steady progress on the loft & I got my stuff stored in the new boxes as planned (along with a few little silica gel sachets.... thanks for that tip..HHoD, I think it was your idea). Well stuff my old boots if Mr F didn't then shin down the ladder & spot my boxes:
Mr F: They look good.
Me: Thanks. 
Mr F: Is there any way at all that you could possibly squeeze some of my stuff into one of those boxes?
Me: Hang on, you told me AT LEAST 3 times that you didn't want any boxes. Why didn't you get an extra one while we were in bloody Wilk*'s??
Mr F: I don' t know.
Me: What are the items?
Mr F: Some bits of old tech. 
Me: Well no, then because as you can see, all these boxes are labelled & none of them say 'Old bits of tech'!! 
He is now intending to go back & buy himself a couple of the boxes he absolutely definitely 100% didn't need! 
Grrrrrr! 
F x