Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Pixiehouse55

For some strange unknown reason it won't let me put pics on here. Will look again tomorrow. Sorry x 

Tescodealqueen

So excited for you . Sometimes things are just meant to be so hope the survey goes well 

foxgloves

Oh, @Pixiehouse55, I have really loved reading your boaty news over my toast & coffee this morning. So exciting, & you've chosen a great name for it. If you ever call by our local marina, I'll bring you a cutting of one of my geraniums to grow on the roof. I love hearing about a bold plan coming together. 
F x

Pixiehouse55

pic of inside  and outside 

foxgloves

@Pixiehouse55 - Oooh, love it! How exciting! Hope the survey goes well. Good luck,
F x

Tescodealqueen

Pixiehouse55 gorgeous xx

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers,
I feel like one of those vintage puppets with their wooden joints articulated by strings today......but my strings (in my back & thighs) feel as though they have been tied into tough knots - I need someone to stand at each end of me & to pull! They are 'woman of a certain age' gardening knots. I had a really good session planting up autumn/winter tubs yesterday, the biggest ones underplanted with daffodils & hyacinths, and today I have had a calm & productive day in the greenhouse. The sky was pure blue at one point & I considered popping indoors to change into a t-shirt but it is all back to grey yuk now. My best friend on the other side of the county says they have had grey yuk & no sun all day, so we were lucky over on this side.  I've potted up all my geraniums so as to get them in before the first frosts & also finished planting Spring bulbs - 3 big pots of assorted narcissi (I just bought one of the 2kg cheapo mixes) & 3 of tulips - 'Princess Irene', which is my favourite tulip & also some white ones called 'Purissima'. I've also picked another bunch of grapes & a bundle of chard & topped up the wormery with kitchen scraps.
Although I am very grateful (& always will be) that my inheritance has facilitated all this much needed work on our house, I will freely admit that when the alarm went off this morning, it felt lovely not to have to rush about getting ready to greet workmen at 8 a.m. We are both early risers, awake at 5 am today, but after 10 days of workmen in the house every day, & probably another 4 or 5 days getting furniture moved, ornaments packed up, deciding what to sit on while we have no proper lounge furniture, etc, it was nice to slob around over breakfast & not get dressed until a massively late......7.45am! 
I haven't spent any money today. My only frugal activity, except for picking that bit of food from the garden, has been to re-pot all those geraniums to over-winter so I don't need to buy new ones next year & to eek out our supplies of bagged compost by mixing it with some of the used stuff from summer containers. A very frugal meal tonight - some of the spicy veg & chickpea stew I batch cooked a few weeks ago using mostly our home-grown produce, served with the last of a packet of giant couscous, plus the chard I've just picked, shredded & stir-fried with garlic & chilli. The freezer contents are barely reducing at all - & yes, we are grateful for that - I can't bear the idea of moaning about having too much in the freezer when so many people are dependent on food banks - but from a practical viewpoint, we have a fish box arriving on Monday - I had forgotten it was due - so I am going to have to create some space somehow. Mr F informs me that he's 'eating a big container' of something over the weekend. I don't know what it is & don't care, if it makes a space!
OK, well I must sign off & go & get the bread out of the oven. Then I must find my purple hoodie in case it drops chilly later, as I am not turning the thermostat up any time yet.
Love to all fellow frugalistas reading today,
F xx

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers, 
Haven't achieved as much as planned today as had an unexpected visit from S-in-L. We had a lovely long catch-up over coffee in the sunshine.
Cleaned all of downstairs this morning & did a good solid hour of piano practice. A no-spend day. Money saving efforts - well just a very few today:
*Put a laundry load on to make use of good pegging out weather. Everything dry for free, even big heavy bath towels. 
*Moved all my potted agapanthus plants into the greenhouse ready for first frosts so that they all survive the winter ready for next year. 
*Tidied the pantry & while I was in there........ 
*.... Checked stocks of store cupboard items & finished writing our A*di stock-up shopping list ready for tomorrow. 
*Picked more 🍐 🍐 & 🍇 🍇 from the garden. 
*Made a note in my diary to sort out home & contents renewal & muddly credit card statement on Monday. CC not muddled because of naughty spending, but because I had a credit for faulty coffee machine refund so have to use that in lieu of payments while making sure the money I would have paid is via'd to our Appliances Replacement Savings Pot. I realise this is about as clear as extremely muddy mud, but I know what I mean & just need to sit down with the relevant figures.
Well, it's not my cooking night, so I am going to unpiggle a mistake in my knitting. I was going to leave it but it's annoying me now so it's coming out. 
Cheers m'dears, 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers, 
Pleased to report some fairly good frugal behaviour today. We did our big pantry re-stock at A*di first thing (every 4 to 6 weeks) & I put it all away & refilled jars where necessary.
Other bits & pieces:
*Minimal fresh stuff bought from market. No fruit bought as we have heaps of home grown pears & grapes atm.
*Used discount chain for my hair colour & a small restock of the medicine box ready for colds, coughs etc.
*Mr F composted all the spent courgette plants but first removed small but usable fruits. I picked the last 200g of French beans.
*Rounded up more pears - I've eaten 3 today!
*Took pump top off foundation bottle so as to access the few days'worth stuck at the bottom with a coffee stirrer.
*Cut open conditioner tube to get a final use out of it.
*Freezer dive tonight. Home made jacket wedges with whatever we fancy from the freezer. I've chosen quorn curry. Needless to say Mr F has liberated a number of containers & is planning to construct Epic Man Stew.
*Left my hair to dry naturally. It does require straighteners once dry, but not for many minutes. Small electricity saving over a year of no hairdryer but it all adds up. 
*Thermostat set at 18 or 19 depending on time of day so it has been mostly too warm recently to trigger the heating to come on. That's fine by me, having read in the Guardian earlier that gas prices have increased by 250% & the only thing between us & that is the energy price cap.....set to rise again significantly next April. Made a note in my diary to finish my home energy audit next week as I have so far only done one room.
Hope you've all seen some sunshine today, 
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

hi foxgloves and friends

i have thick wavy hair and let it dry naturally then straignten it.  To straighten it takes me about 20 minutes as it's so thick!  I usually wash it at night and let it dry overnight.  My approach isn't based on frugalness but on saving my hair from too much heat!  I am very conscious of the increasing costs of energy though My energy bills are low as i was £00s in credit and have been using the credit to reduce my bills; my company went bust so i've been transferred to the tentacle company which i'm fine with.  I shall now be extra conscious of all my energy usage.
I have just walked to the PO (35 mins each way) and although the sky was blue it started to rain so i'm a bit damp now!
Quorn curry sounds nice; i'm using up pasta and various veg and going to bulk make lentil and red pepper soup - when i eat it i will be warm from the inside

pixiehouse - loved the pics of the narrowboat and you were not far from chez Deni!

Love Deni x