Put away your purse & become debt-averse

DawnW

I think it must be a bumper year generally for courgettes Foxgloves! Thanks for the recipe.

Blackcats

Even my terrible gardening skills have resulted in a lot of courgettes so I agree with Dawn that it must be a bumper year.

foxgloves

Yes, I think it has been a good year for them. Rhubarb, tomatoes & aubergines also done well.
F

teapot2

Think I'm the only person who had an epic fail with courgettes this year - not a one lol but pretty much everything else did well in the garden particularly rhubarb

Onebrokelady

Hi Foxgloves I've just caught up on you diary and have to agree with Humdingers comments, I love reading it and you motivate me to stay on the budgeting straight and narrow.......please can we have a photo of the cuddly wool as you have made it sound scrummy 😊

foxgloves

@teapot2 - Am sending over a virtual stone of courgettes. Seriously, if I got wind of anyone in our village needing some, I'd be packing up a sack of the fiends forthwith!

@Onebrokelady - Thanks for that nice encouraging comment. Still feels a bit weird that someone who was such a terrible fritterer back in the day is actually managing to motivate folk towards frugality now. Crazy!
F

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money Savers,
A fairly usual Monday here for me. Always a domesticated sort of day, getting on top of stuff for a good start to the week. Have got 2 loads of laundry pegged out, have changed bed linen, made a sourdough & done both my regular Monday morning budget updates & my mid-month budget check-in. No nasty surprises, I'm pleased to say. Grocery budget was underspent by £20 this last week, which puts us in a good position for finishing August with grocery spends in credit. That would please me, as I have a fish box to pay for next month & I can put any underspend towards that.
Well, my figures today showed £40 more than I reckon we should have. I did find 2 factors accounting for some of this extra, both concerning the milkman's bill......too pootling to go into either in detail, but combined, these took the surplus down to £28.99. I couldn't find anything we'd bought that came to this amount - it does sound like a purchase, doesn't it, but that would create a debit, not a surplus, so I am not going to waste any more time on it. If nothing has come to light by my next Big Budget Day on 27th, well, it can go towards that fish box or into a savings pot of my choosing.
Have had a look at Energy tariffs this morning. I quite like our provider, but we are at the end of a 12m fix & with the rises in energy bills also coming soon, the best new tariff from this provider works out at a rise of £17 per month to our current direct debit. That feels like quite a lot. However, we are currently £319 in credit & I think our energy use projections have been a little overestimated since we changed from night storage heating to gas central heating. I am going to sit tight for now, increase the monthly payment on our bills spreadsheet but keep a very close eye on monthly statements. They are not a difficult company from which to extract a refund if there's too much credit built up, but I think we may well get away with a reduced monthly amount if I can just prove my figures & gut feelings are right over the next few months.
Other money saving bits......2 more surveys done, am coming up to £90 earnings on PA atm, so my goal of cashing out £100 to treat myself in December looks very achievable. Haven't done today's garden pickings yet.....I spotted more courgettes (AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!) first thing, but will mostly be dealing with tomatoes today. The roasted tomato pasta sauce I made last week was lovely, on the pizza I made too, so I am going to whack a load of tomatoes in the oven with the appropriate sprinklings & get another batch of that done. Loaf will be ready to do in the oven any time now too, I think. Am up to the foot on B-in-L's 2nd sock, so that will soon be another item squirrelled away into the presents stash. @Onebrokelady - I will try to remember to post a pic of that scrummy yarn I bought with my birthday voucher - maybe I will do it at casting-on time.
Right, must hie me away to the greenhouse with my basket..........& maybe another coffee.
Cheers m'dears, 
F x

teapot2

foxgloves said:

@teapot2 - Am sending over a virtual stone of courgettes. Seriously, if I got wind of anyone in our village needing some, I'd be packing up a sack of the fiends forthwith!

Thanks Foxgloves although I didn't manage to grow any of the dreaded veg, I ordered a couple with my online shop as I like them raw or griddled in a salad.  The ones that arrived were mahoosive so I was considering making courgette jam though I really don't need any more jam.  However I was inspired by your pickled version so made that last night as I had all the ingredients in I used white wine vinegar as I had a bottle in the cupboard waiting for such an outing.  So, thanks for the idea 👍🏼

foxgloves

You're welcome, @teapot2. I used to make marrow & ginger jam with overblown courgettes but discontinued when we moved into our current house, which has an old apple tree. Marrow & ginger jam is really nice, but I like apple & ginger more & on heavy cropping years, use apples in as many recipes as possible.
F

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Another grey chilly day, but I've spent a lot of it in the kitchen or upstairs slaving over a hot iron, so no matter. I can't believe the comments I've seen on FB from people who either have, or are contemplating switching their heating on!! 
I didn't get the tomato pasta sauce made yesterday after all, as a quick trot down to the veggie garden showed that the rhubarb would be up for me harvesting another bundle (unusual this time of year) if I got down to it pretty promptly, so I spent my planned tomato time making & freezing rhubarb compote instead (or what my Mum & Nana would have called 'Stewed rhubarb!). So today, before I even got the horrid iron out to tackle the even more horrid ironing, I prepped a big roasting tray of halved tomatoes, plenty of flavourings & got it into the oven. We liked the tester batch so I made more this time - 3 cartons now frozen plus another small pot for topping a pizza base at some point. 
Today's garden pickings have been basil (for strewing over the tomatoes) & will also be chard & spring onions. We're trying to base as many of our meals around our home grown produce atm - it would be daft to be wasting that while buying in other stuff. And still on the frugal food side of things, I've managed to get 2 use-it-ups into Mr F's packed lunch box for tomorrow, as well as one in my own lunch today.
Other money saving wins? I've cancelled auto-renewal on a subscription which I shan't need for the next 5 months. It's only a temporary stoppage, but it will mean £85 back in my Personal Spends - no point paying for something I won't be using during this period. Just need to make sure I get my money's worth between now & the end of my subscription. I'm already on it! 
Right, I shall say bye for now & grab my basket to go down & pick that veg. Take care all,
F x
P.S And it has defo been a no-spend day for Mr F, as he went to work without his wallet this morning!