Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Oh my goodness, @Alchemilla, what a way to spend Christmas, reading my ramblings! But thank-you for your nice comments & welcome.
F

crazy_cat_lady

My squares blanket is coming along, and I'm nothing if not determined. All of the squares are done and mostly sewn in - a few ends here and there but almost ready for the border now We will get them done...
Get yourself off to the dentist foxholes - it's not worth this level of pain over such a while.

foxgloves

@crazy_cat_lady - I've joined together half of my squares now, including sewing in the ends. I've sorted out the next 12 squares for joining together & arranged then in the right colour order, so will hopefully join those later today. I've also knitted a bit more of my cable wrap, which is an easy pattern for knitting while watching TV or a film. Next knitting projects will definitely be from my yarn stash, so no expenditure required. 
Re dentist, think am going to have to try & get in this coming week. I'm managing the pain as well as I can, but it doesn't seem as though it is planning to subside on its own. 
Bah! 
F x

foxgloves

Morning Sunday savers, 
Well I've just lined up a little 'shopping from home' opportunity for next Christmas. Like quite a few ex-fritterers on here, I've had quite a big scented candle habit. I was very lucky this Christmas to receive a very fragrant festive candle in a tin (which I've used daily since opening it), a beautiful spruce/green arty-looking pillar candle from my sister, a berry-fragrance one from friends & a big Christmas spice one in a jar from sis-in-law. Mr F was just about to return the decorations to the loft & was checking if I'd missed anything (yep, forlorn reindeer in conservatory) & asked if 'that big Christmas candle jar-thing on the dresser is supposed to be in the decorations box.' No', I said.... then 'Yes!' It can be this year's festive candle. So determined am I to shop this non-essential but lovely item from home, I've actually written in my diary in the last week of November, "Remember you have a big Christmas candle in the loft". No need to buy one. Though of course if Father Christmas wants to indulge me again with gifts in the scented candle line, he will of course be welcome!
I think where me & money saving are concerned, I'd have to put shopping from home up fairly close on the list to meal planning & batch cooking....... though there is nothing, of course, to touch the fundamental tool of having a realistic budget & sticking to it.
Time for some serious ☕now, I think. 
F x

Tescodealqueen

That’s brilliant idea about the candle Foxgloves. I have put away wax melts with a festive theme that my son bought me for my birthday ready for next December as I was using last years this December. And I am pleased that I resisted temptation this morning to buy some lovely rainbow themed craft storage by retrieving from the loft the more mundane but more solid steel drawers my husband rescued from a skip at the school where he used to work about ten years ago. They do the job and I am sure I can decorate them with some of my own crafty projects. 

foxgloves

Well that was a useful item for your craft stuff, @Tescodealqueen. My new craft box is also a shopped from home item as I swapped a type of box I didn't want with one Mr F had & wasn't using. Back in the Spendy Era, I'd have had to buy a new one, because having a brand new storage system would have been part of rationalising my craft supplies. I used to waste so much money in this way.
Since having the landing redecorated & making new curtains, I've been looking out for a suitable ornament for the windowsill & haven't seen anything I like. I think I will go through my cupboards & see if I can shop something from home. There might be a suitable item amongst the things I brought from Mum & Dad's house when we cleared it out & it'd be nice to choose something meaningful. 
F x

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Another Monday & another few days of toothache for me, as the earliest I can have an emergency appointment with my dentist is Friday......& only then if I manage to secure one in the 8.30 am phone scrum. After another bad night, I shall certainly be giving that my best shot! I didn't need any painkillers at all at bedtime, but was awake at 1am with the now familiar throbbing jaw.Did get back to sleep once codiene & orajel had been administered. Will plan painkillers better tonight. 
Otherwise, a useful day so far. Managed to get all of this week's laundry into just 2 loads, baked bread & did some more sewing-up of my blanket squares. The unidentified tub of edibles in the fridge turned out to be some leftovers saved by Mr F for tomorrow's packed lunch, so that's saved me a job - he's now as evangelical about zero food waste as I am, which is a win on both the financial & environmental front. Did my usual Monday morning budget updates & paid my just-for-points credit card bill in full. Noticed that I have accrued over £21 in points since the last pay-out, which will definitely be worth having to top up my voucher stash. All the batch cooking of festive leftovers seems to be having the desired effect on January's grocery budget, which will end the month with a surplus if we don't do anything ridiculous between now & the 27th, when my new budget cycle starts.
Oh, & I did manage to find an ornament for the landing windowsill - a big Denby vase which belonged to my parents & has so far spent most of its time with me at the back of a cupboard. I had always assumed it was 1960-ish in date, as I thought it was probably a wedding present, but I looked it up online & it dates from the 1930s & there was an identical one for sale on someone's vintage site for £42. It looks nice with the new curtains I sewed & it felt quite satisfying to put it out on display, the same sort of satisfaction I'd feel having bought something new. Also crossed 'buy small diary' off my town list - I have my regular diary for planning, etc, but I also like another one for recording the wildlife which visits our garden over the course of the year. I started this in first Lockdown & really enjoyed doing it. I don't resent paying the fiver or so it'd cost me, but suddenly remembered that I have a nice red polka dot notebook which I received as a gift a while back, so I have started using that instead by logging the EIGHT magpies who visited first thing & decided that their proffered porridge oats weren't worth bothering with! And my final freebie today, I went to wash out the candle tin from the lovely candle Mr F bought me & realised that although the wick had burned away, there was sufficient scented wax left for me to prise out for burning as a 'melt' so I did feel I'd been frugal saving that.....but why not? I've done this before with scented candles & the last bits of wax function perfectly well as melts, leaving zero waste.
Well, apart from making some prawn, pepper & red onion skewers & a bit of savoury giant couscous, I am not intending to do any further jobs tonight. I will sew-up, knit or read & nurse my sore jaw while cursing the devil tooth.
Hope everyone's got off to a good start to the week. If not, don't fret about it, just start the week again tomorrow.
F x

Alchemilla

I do hope your fangs stop playing up soon.
What do you get for eight magpies? I only know the rhyme up to 7.

Alchemilla

It's a wish or hell. I hope you get a wish x

foxgloves

Ummm, well in that case, I think I'll take the wish. And I shan't divulge what it is, in case it doesn't come true.
F