Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Alchemilla

Sending calming vibes to the moglets.

BlueJ94

Wanted to pop along and say hello to you @foxgloves and your supportive diary followers!

Sainsburys has gotten back to me about my temp contract, aslong as I meet the IPH of 174.5 I'll get a permanent contract after March 5th, I currently sit at around 190/200 so that's a plus.

Anyway, I plan on clearing up the garden within the next half hour and get some of my seeds sown. Hopefully they'll be alright, I also need to tie down my baby greenhouse as it blew over with the winds we've been having recently!

I also hope your mouth isn't hurting as much and hope you well with a speedy recovery! 

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments, which as always, I enjoyed reading.
@Sun_Addict & @Elisheba - Yes, plenty of regrets about past silly spending, but there's no point dwelling on it. At least we all saw the light in the end.
@Sun_Addict - Re your query about implants - Yes, I think I will need a bit of restorative dentistry on that side. It's not straightforward, but I did clarify from my own dentist that none of the cheaper options are viable for me, so I'd rather plan to get the funds in place than succumb to our old foe the credit card.

@Alchemilla - Cats calm today, despite roofers' racket coming from next door. 
@jadewest94 - Good luck with the garden clearing, it can be a good workout. Makes sure you check the seed sowing dates on the packets though, as it's early to be sowing much outdoors at the moment. Good news on the job.
F

foxgloves

Greetings m'dears,
Has anyone managed a truly splendid day today? It's been fairly dull here....with calm cats & everyday tasks. Quite a useful day, despite its non-sparkliness. I was out in the garden by 8.20 this morning. I weeded & dug over the chard bed & cut the 200g required as a spinach substitute for tonight's curry. Also dug out some more planty freebies - 9 sturdy foxgloves, an aquilegia & a verbena bonariensis. All now re-planted to fill gaps in our flower borders. Decided not to go & fetch my kneeler but to do a bit more bending & stretching, as lack of gardening activity this winter has made me feel stiffer than usual & I don't much like it. It's a slow cooker curry, so is just simmering away & only needs the shredded chard greens adding half an hour or so from serving time, & some home made garlic flatbreads warmed up to have with it.
My main MSE task today has been sitting at my desk pulling together all the info required for our annual money summit, which we've scheduled for Sunday morning over plenty of coffee. I've noted balances of all our accounts, plus our 10 regular savings pots, have looked up interest rates (which are, as we all know, pathetic, but we might as well know, & tbh, I'm just grateful in these times that we are actually able to save a bit each month) & have also finalised the maths & have a proposal for discussion re what to do with the last bit of my inheritance. I still wish I could invite Mum & Dad over to see all the work we've had done on our house & how nice it looks - it's sad that I only came into that money from losing both of them barely a year apart & they never got to see all the improvements. Mum in particular would have loved to see the front garden/drive renovation (happening this year) & Dad's favourite would have been the pantry with all my home made jars of jam, chutney, etc, & the fact that we've got a lot more heating than we did when they used to visit. Ah well, I do say 'Thank-you' to them regularly. I think the most important thing is that I've used that money wisely. I have kept full accounts of everything I've done with it, from paying off the mortgage, setting up savings accounts & all the building work, etc. I absolutely dread to think how much of it I'd have wasted if I had not transformed my terrible attitude to money. I think I'd have needed an extension building just to store all the scented candles!! And I'd doubtless have had more pairs of boots than I could possible wear, whether I could walk in them or not, lol!
So.......with our belated money summit due to happen this weekend, we will be able to focus on this year's goals. I'm also hoping to include a discussion about food prices & effect on our grocery budget & energy bills - Martin Lewis' newsletter was very helpful on the latter this morning. I think overall, we are wanting to have a sensible year, as there are a lot of variables out there over which we have very little control.
OK, well I can hear a small black paw having a go at the biscuit cupboard again, so I had better go & have a look.
Take care all,
F x

BlueJ94

Morning @foxgloves can I ask, where do you get your seeds for sowing? I want a bright and beautiful garden this summer as it always look boring and drab! I've got some fencing to put up and I want to add some chicken wire to make it dog friendly as there's about a 6ft drop! 

foxgloves

@jadewest94 - Garden centres usually.
F

Alchemilla

So sweet that you know whose paw is trying the biscuit tin!

foxgloves

@Alchemilla - I did indeed, just one guilty little fur friend where persistent attempts to access extra food are concerned. Caught him in the pantry today with his head in the big open box of cat meat pouches. I fear it's only a matter of time before he learns how to winkle one out & convey it in our direction with a volley of fake starving meows!
F

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
A pleasant enough day today, although I wish I'd not believed the inaccurate weather forecast & put in some much needed gardening time. I had hoped for a gardening day but when I mentioned my plans to Mr F (who is a great follower of The Weather) this morning, he informed me that there was quite a lot of rain in the forecast & I might find I had to keep nipping indoors during showers. Well, that's no use for any jobs outside of the shed or greenhouse & I need to be digging, clearing, weeding, etc, so I decided not to bother. Hmmmm! Cue a beautifully bright sunny day with oodles of blue sky!! But I was busy with indoor tasks by then, so I didn't bother venturing forth. I've vacuumed all of upstairs while Ash & Soot were sleeping off their mad morning, baked a sourdough loaf & a pear cake and put a chilli in the slow cooker. This is a recipe I've adapted. The original is made with fresh stewing pork chunks, but I've found it works fine with leftover roast pork. I just chunk it up & freeze it, then it's ready for a chilli when I want an easy cheap meal. I've only got some rice to cook to go with that, maybe a bit of salad, so nothing too onerous. Mr F has taken the shopping list & is getting the groceries tonight as he passes v close to the supermarket on his way home. I've also finished the 'use-it-up' pair of socks I cast on last week for Mr F from my yarn stash. He loves them.....says they are like 'festival socks'.......hope he isn't getting any ideas about festivals, as I haven't thought about budgeting for any of those anytime soon! I have sufficient leftover sock yarn still to knit at least another pair, so will probably cast those on later. I'm not much good at sitting watching TV without something to do. Knobbled Mr F this morning about booking a holiday cottage for 2023 - a long way off, I know, but since we became reformed characters, holidays do not go on credit, so I like to know what I need to save into our Holiday Pot & how long I've got to do it. We haven't been to Cornwall for a few years but when we looked at some of our favourite cottages, we could not BELIEVE the mark-up on them since we last stayed......cottages/apartments which were in our price range if we went off season now costing more than we are prepared to pay, even in really off-season months like November. I reckon there's more than a degree of pandemic greed in this pricing. People booked in the UK because travelling abroad was difficult, Cornwall tends to attract the affluent middle classes & everywhere was quickly booking up. I reckon people thought they could charge pretty much whatever they liked as folk would pay it rather than go without a hoilday I wonder if the squeeze on living standards & poor state of the economy, people tightening their belts, etc, will mean that some of these insane rentals will need to drop. It will be interesting to see. Meanwhile, we will plan to head north in 2023. Not as far to travel either.
Well, I think I had better go & see if anyone has stealth-mined the litter trays, then shut the curtains to keep the heat in. It's set to be a frosty night.
Stay cosy,
F x

BlueJ94

foxgloves said:

@jadewest94 - Garden centres usually.
F

Okay, I'm off work Monday so that's where I'm off