Put away your purse & become debt-averse

QueenJess

Ooh - just realised it looks weird posting at 2 in the morning! Was just doing a night feed for DD and have to wait 30 mins before I put her back due to reflux... A perfect time to catch up on posts since she's fast asleep!

foxgloves

Thanks for the courgette suggestions @Blackcats & @Pixiehouse55. I am going to saute a big panful tonight to serve with hot pork rolls & apple sauce. We do gradually get through all of our garden harvest & of course, the freezer is our friend!

@QueenJess - Some more good free 'shops' there. I wouldn't really think anything of people being up & about in the small hours because I have had long bouts of insomnia on & off all my adult life......well, starting with the run-up to my A-levels, really. I expect it can feel quite peaceful sitting with your Tiny & having a catch-up.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Frugalistas,
Oh my days, I need a good productive week. I seem to be a little behind on just about everything & there are only 2 weeks to go before the builders return, followed swiftly by the return of the decorator, then carpet fitters before we start planning the final phase of our home improvements. So, I have got off to a good start this morning. Already got a load of laundry done (am about to peg it out for free drying), bread dough proving & have had a swift look around the garden to see if I need to do any pickings (I definitely do......at least courgettes, tomatoes, jalapenos & lettuce & probably aubergines too). I also have a lot of Monday morning budget updating to do as we finally had our postponed city centre shopping trip on Saturday & were able to get a few of the items we'd had been waiting for. Also on the subject of budgeting, I need to do some financial projections this week regarding our home improvements fund. I know what we'll be paying the builders & decorator (carpets already paid for) & have a pretty good estimate from someone else for another external job. I need to know how much we can spend on the final phase of the work.....especially as I really do want some money left over for other savings pots. We may also change our car next month (saga) & have no intention of using credit if at all possible. 
Plenty to do on the home front too. Garden is an ongoing project for cutting back/deadheading/weeding, etc, as well as continuing to get all of our food picked & preserved/frozen if not being immediately eaten. At least that is good exercise, all the bending & stretching, hoeing, trotting up & down to the compost bins, etc (long garden!) And I intend to look in the Presents Stash to start a list in my notebook of what items I have for whom, as well as a page for present ideas as they come to me. I have a few Christmas gifts to knit too (already have the yarn) so must plan those in to make sure they are finished in time. This post feels like a bit of a brain dump, but I am really just organising myself for what I hope will be a really productive week.
I also want to put in some strong diet-adherence over the coming month. Another 0.7kg off at Saturday's weigh-in, making a total of 8.6kg in total. Next weigh-in scheduled in my diary for the end of August & I know will feel very motivated if I see another decent chunk off. 
Right......I'll stop yakking now.....I think you can tell that I am primed for plenty of money saving & waist whittling activity!
Take care all of you - still lots of horrid Covid around. I am thinking I need to spend less time wibbling around on the internet this week if I am to maximise my efforts but I will drop in as & when.
F xx

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Well, in brief, as I still plan to cut down part of a hedge before 5pm, I am keeping the faith with my old-style tightwaddery. We roasted an additional pork joint on Sunday as we had friends over for lunch so I decided to buy a 2nd one to cook at the same time to batch up for future meals. Am using some of it tonight for a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for using up leftover meat. Lots more of it frozen, including some chunked up for a slow cooker smoky chilli at some point. Still bringing in regular baskets of garden produce. Our veggie garden isn't anywhere near as big as an allotment, but it provides very well for the two of us. Have rounded up a small quantity of very uninspiring windfalls today, but have still managed to get a carton of apple sauce from them. Am thinking about meal plans a bit earlier too, so as really to maximise our own homegrown stuff. Lots of tomatoes ripening now, so will soon be making some of those into tomato soup & pasta sauces for the freezer, I'm sure. Have started a freezer bag for red chillies today, too. Other MSE related news - well, Mr F has managed to get a refund on an item we've exchanged twice but has still broken in exactly the same place. He has also procured an online valuation for our car, which gives us a rough ball-park figure so we can budget for changing it properly. Oh & I was putting the ironing away this morning when I found a pile of new undies at the back of a drawer I'd forgotten about! Honestly, it felt like FREE KNICKERS! Also a pretty lace bra which I only wore about twice because my additional lockdown poundage made it too tight, but I reckon it will fit now, so that's double shopping from home. Oh, here I go again, this was supposed to be a very quick post. I must go & fetch those secateurs now. I want to get this surplus section of hedge in the garden wheelie to get my money's worth tomorrow when it goes out for collection!
Cheers all,
F x

Sun_Addict

We were late sowing our seeds this year so we’re only just seeing produce appearing and Mr SA forgot to sow the aubergine seeds but the less said about that the better 🙄 Have vowed to be more on the ball in future. 

marionmgcars

delighted to get an Al*i fruit and veg box today, lots of tasty fruit I would not normally buy.  Its such a nice change.  Also three loads of washing out, so feel like I got free drying today.

amber03

Found a pair of jeans in my wardrobe I forgot about. Think last time I wore them they were a bit tight but fit perfect now I’ve lost a couple of pounds. Don’t know why but I seem to lose weight when I’m not trying to. Probably because I’m not always thinking of food then.x

scandimore

Hi Foxgloves haven't posted for a while but have been keeping up with your diary from time to time. Your veg garden sounds to be very productive, we've had a bit of a lull as things seem quite late here this year and no doubt haven't had all the love they should have done! Had our first tomato today.

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - Lots of veg can be sown a bit later, salads, beans, sweetcorn, etc. It's mostly the more tropical stuff that requires a longer growing season. I usually sow my aubergines in February, but indoors in my little heated propagator, then they live on a windowsill until I feel the nights are not too cold for them to be transferred out to the greenhouse. They can be a fussy crop, but when they do fruit, they do seem nicer than shop ones, which I expect have hung around for a while.

@marionmgcars - Yay to free drying! And to good veg boxes!

@amber03 - Oooh, well done on the jeans! I'd class that as having shopped a new item from home! I found a pair of black jeggings among my not-worn clothes earlier this year. I bought them when I was a size smaller & they were tight then, so I still can't get in them, but I will do if I carry on with the dieting. It would be nice to have them for this winter without spending any money.

@scandimore - I think crops can vary in terms of when they produce, even when in the same garden. We have a sunny & not-so-sunny side to our veggie plot & even that makes a difference. We are doing quite well for produce so far this year, but we only have half the amount of bean plants we'd normally have, as only 50% germinated because of that very cold snap in Spring. Ditto the sweetcorn seed, which just rotted in the cold. Only 3 plants even bothered to sprout so I composted them & have used that space for other things. I think all veggie growers find that there are things which flourish & some that don't each year.
F

foxgloves

Greetings Frugalistas, After a physically busy gardening day yesterday - picked & dealt with a full veggie basket, planted out another tray of lettuce plugs, cleared out old spinach bed, replanted with new and cut back shrubs at front of house & a section of hedge overhanging the new spinach - I decided to be a bit more restful today, but to progress a few things which have been hanging around. So I've finished a small knitting project & cast on B-in-L's Christmas socks, almost finished the book I'm reading, I've cashed out £20 of JL vouchers from a survey site (to add to the stash I'm saving for aforementioned festive C-word), I've cleared out umpteen emails which I no longer require & ordered some scrummy yarn with the voucher I received as a birthday gift earlier this year. I've also got a bag of stuff together to go back to the library.
I didn't intend to do any garden pickings today, but the rhubarb is still so good (unusual for Aug) that I pulled about a kilo on the way past & have cooked it into compote. I'm a bit low on fresh fruit atm, so that will do me a few lunches with some skyr. Also did next week's meal plans, prioritising what we already have in the freezer & our own home grown produce, & wrote shopping lists - one is a pantry re-stock list for A*di, which we postponed from last month.
Last night, I tried a new recipe - from one of the 'Pinch of Nom' books. It's like a sort of spanakopita, but uses thinly sliced potatoes instead of filo pastry. I also substituted the spinach with chard from our garden. It was really nice & fresh tasting. Mr F said "I could eat that again"......which is good, as I made enough for tonight too, so all I need to do is slice up plenty of courgettes to stir-fry with some of our garlic for the double-win of dinner already being made AND getting shot of some courgettes. I originally had another meal planned for tonight, but it can save a few pence & defer itself to another week!
OK, well that's me. Piano practice next, then a bit more sock knitting. I have a big queue of projects to do.
Take care m'dears,
F xx