Put away your purse & become debt-averse

marionmgcars

I had a lovely day out with a thrifty friend yesterday at car boot sale and then a few charity shops followed by lunch.  It as a lovely local Italian restaurant and we had lunchtime special - pasta with chicken and mushroom.  I noted that if I’d made it at home it would have had four times the chicken in !  But realised that is where I am going wrong, as the dish was delicious.  Also noted portion size much smaller than mine.  Going to try and make more of an effort on portion size and meat allowance.  Thankfully cooler here today.  Take care everyone.  

foxgloves

Years ago, I bought a set of Rosemary Conley's portion pots, @marionmgcars.....let's just say they were a revelation on pasta!
I love a good charity shop hunt. Hoping to go in a few tomorrow when I'm in town.
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi foxgloves
I hope you have a successful trawl in the CSs.  We have some good ones where i live and also where i work.
Agree re portion sizes - i weigh out rice and pasta now - it always looks really small but is quite fine - an elegant sufficiency I once heard someone say
My favourite subjects on your diary are cat food and sourdough bread and i had some recent wins - my colleague gave me some sachets that his cat won't eat - my cats enjoyed them (whiskers) and i'm sure they are cheaper than the Queen food they usually eat I went to the c00p after my exercise class last night and got 2 loaves of reduced sourdough for less than 90p - very happy !
love Deni x

foxgloves

@kayannie - Oh dear, are these people for real? But seriously, yes, that's the level of some of the complaints we have had from our neighbour. The ones either side of us are great. The moaners live in a property at the back, thankfully behind quite a tall fence!

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer - Our C**p used to have some cracking yellow stickered bread right before closing time - 10 or 20p per loaf occasionally. I am never in shops so late in the evening though, so probably miss a lot of bargains. I bake my own sourdough.....I started off my sourdough culture (which lives in a kilner jar) at the beginning of July 2017 & have managed to keep it alive ever since. I feed it once a week before baking the following day. They turn out all sorts of shapes & sizes but always taste good. Re cat food, I read yesterday in the UK economics news that pet food is one of the range of goods currently driving inflation - I think the other ones cited were fuel & dairy. Soot & Ash are thankfully still eating their way through the two big boxes of pouches we bought earlier in the month while they were on offer, so cat meat didn't feature in this week's shopping list, although we did need to buy them another bag of biscuits. There'd be a riot in our house if we ran out of cat biscuits!
F 

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers!
Had intended to go off to a local-ish park today for a walk around the woods & lake, but when I woke up, I felt rather devoid of energy. I am putting it down to those 2 horribly hot days & then yesterday when the heat inside our house was very slow to dissipate & I made myself even hotter doing all that batch-cooking. So it's been a pottering around at home day instead - we've cleaned the house between us & placed an online order for this week's groceries......which is why I can confidently state that we will have come in under budget this week. We just have a few fresh items to buy from the market tomorrow, which even with a couple of items (hopefully) from the new eco shop, shouldn't come to more than an additional £20. 
Today's garden pickings: Courgettes (I reckon there are goblins sneaking into our veg patch at night & sticking the b*ggers on!!), coriander & spring onions.
Other useful activity: Did a service clean of washing machine by running a 90 deg cycle with a cupful of white vinegar chucked in. When we bought the machine, the assistant who served us said "This is the point at which I'm supposed to try & sell you an extended warranty, but you're not going to need one of those, are you, because you're going to run a very hot wash cycle containing a cup of vinegar every month or two to keep everything clean & free of scale, & you're going to check the filters regularly". So that's what we do, but admittedly not quite as often as he recommended.
Saved a bit of energy getting 2 baths from 1 fill of hot water, which really has to be a saver as we go into the winter. Oh & I have done some surveys, as I realised that my July cash-out is going to be pathetically low if I don't get my finger out. Thankfully, the 2nd one which popped up was a decent payment plus I think I am going to get some bonus payments for not making a total show of myself on what was a disturbingly (for me!) maths-based survey.
Monthly energy bill statement from the cephalopods arrived today. Still paying more then we are using & credit still building. I mentioned it to Mr F & said that we mustn't get complacent, because once the heating goes on & that price cap increases again, I suspect it will be swallowed up relatively quickly. Our monthly dd hasn't been increased yet this year, so I'm thinking we might get to the next but one cap-rise in Jan before it does, but we know it's coming. I am not going to mention this again, as I am finding myself feeling guilty that we have so much credit when many people are really struggling.......I know that might sound silly, as we only have a decent credit balance because we've been overpaying since October 2020.
Honestly, these times. We won't forget them, will we? And it's not done yet....... with the economy teetering, headbangers in charge & global climate emergency. Good job we're all normal! (as an old boss of mine used to say.....I personally thought she was anything but, but there you go!)
F x

 

DawnW

I think those courgette goblins must belong to a national franchise @foxgloves, because they definitely call round here!

Cheery_Daff

No, we certainly will not forget these times in a hurry! 🙄 I'm looking forward to some nice, mildly pleasant, easily forgettable times soon 🙄

What's the difference between a hot wash with vinegar, and one with soda crystals? I recently did my first ever hot wash, using soda crystals (because I think someone on here suggested that), but above also seen vinegar suggested, or both. Any idea why? 

2Scratters

Well we popped to the butchers shop we have used for over 30 years - it is in our old town and we were doing a round of errands. I go periodically and make a grand purchase. I did mention that this visit would be on damage limitation, really  trying very hard to stick to our budget. The look on his face when the order was just 3 items and was less than £15. To say this is a 5 week month for us and we still have £80 left till the 27th is impressive. Hoping there can be some left over for our cash stash. 

2 Scratters xx

Sun_Addict

I still haven’t had a courgette out of my plants although they have produced a staggering amount of flowers. I didn’t plant the seeds until mid May though as we were on holiday. Same with the tomatoes, plenty of them but no ripe ones yet. 

foxgloves

@Cheery_Daff - Soda crystals are great for de-greasing & shifting general gunk. Vinegar is effective against limescale, which is why it's often recommended to lob a cupful into the washing machine.

@2Scratters - Our monthly budget cycle runs from 27th to 27th, so I also dislike '5-week months'. Sometimes if the 5th week starts on 25th or 26th, Mr F will suggest we just take it as Week 1 of the new cycle, but it doesn't work like that.....it'd just make the new month into a 5-week one instead! I go through my calendar now & write in all the grocery shopping weeks, then I don't get caught out when there's a gap between the end of Week 4's food & payday.

@Sun_Addict - The first flowers are usually the male ones - I'm sure you'll get some female ones soon. You'll know because they'll usually have teensy fruits forming behind them which will continue to swell as long as they get pollinated.  Sorry, I'm sure you know how courgette biology works without my explanations!
F x