Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@Whatlifeis - I've already tidied up the carpet by snipping off the loose threads & fluff-clawings with my sharp dressmaking scissors & you're right, some remedial attention has made a difference. Coincidentally re scratching post....we don't have one of those but I remembered that when we first adopted Soot & Ash, we did buy a toy, which is part scratcher & part ball-chasing thing & it is just sitting upstairs in a corner doing nothing. Last night, I stood my stair bag in front of part of a stair which takes the brunt of the attacks & brought the scratcher toy downstairs to put in the hall. They ignored it until this morning, when Ash (main culprit) ran in, spent a good while stropping his claws on it, then sat on top of it for 10 mins! I was still upstairs, but Mr F said he didn't claw the stairs at all. I'm hoping this is a good start. Naturally there was precious little interest in the scratcher when it lived upstairs. This pair, like most cats, make up the rules as they go along!

@Jellytotts - Yes, I am amazed by the cost of many beauty products, treatments & brands. Ages ago, I remember reading an article about the cost of luxury face moisturisers. It was quite revealing. The theory behind the growth of very expensive top-end moisturisers according to this article was that the major high end beauty brands at the time (I'm going back some years here) priced their face creams at around £40 - £50. This was expensive, aspirational & they were bought by those who could afford them. Then, (I wonder if this was connected to the boom in consumer credit?), people from all walks of life also began buying them, which meant that the perception of the brand as 'expensive', 'luxury', 'exclusive', etc, was challenged. The brands' solution to this was to bring out much more expensive ranges of creams £90 - £120 price point (bound to be higher now) so that their wealthy customers could continue with the feeling of exclusivity by being able to afford something out of reach of the plebs. These are my words & probably not explained very well, but that was the gist of the article, which I remember finding interesting. My favourite moisturiser costs a lot less. Nevertheless. it's just gone up to £28 for a 50ml pot. It used to be £26. I haven't bought any for ages. In the Foxgloves household economy, toiletries are bought from our monthly Personal Spends & so I've been trying cheaper ranges. I'd buy it as a treat or put it on my Christmas or birthday list, but I think there does come a point when a product price has just risen too much.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Got off to a good start with the pence-wrangling this morning, as we cancelled our plan to pop to the village farm shop cafe for breakfast. Our Personal Spends have taken a bit of a bashing from coffee shop visits lately, while Mr F was on leave, so we had breakfast at home from stores. This also meant we could get cracking with jobs earlier as we didn't have to wait around till 10 am for the farm shop to open. 
Mr F has filled the ominous hole in the corner of the wall, having first investigated it for mouse ingress possibilities. He said he couldn't feel a hole through to anywhere else, although of course the thing with mice, is that if you can fit the end of a pencil in a hole or gap, then a mouse will be able to squeeze through. Anyway, it's now filled. He also gave the mouse trap a service, checked the batteries, baited it with peanut butter & set it. We wish this wasn't necessary, but mice are a problem for us most years when the weather cools & some years are particularly bad - 2021 was one of those years & we don't want a repeat performance. He also finished off a small area of our front courtyard which needed filling with pebbles - no cost to this as we had pebbles leftover from a previous project. 
I've picked the rest of the tomatoes in various states of ripeness inc lots of green ones. Now added to my 2 tomato-ripening stations. Also picked 3 lovely red peppers (I grew the posh long pointy ones this year), the last 2 big bunches of grapes. a courgette, a few more blackberries & Mr F went up the ladder to help me pick another big colander of pears. I took down the remaining tomato plants & packed all the canes, clips & pot rings away for next year and thoroughly weeded the greenhouse border to make use of the invading nettles as they are a good compost heap activator. Then my jobs kind of morphed into kitchen witchery - I've baked bread, sliced & frozen a couple of the peppers, poached a big pan of cinnamon pears & prepped a rice pudding to use up a surplus pint of milk I froze ages ago before it could go past its date. Mr F fancied rice pudding topped with cinnamon pears, which seemed a very easy win as we had everything in. It's his cooking night tonight, so he's taken over the kitchen & I've been sorting out a new book list from the library. Tomorrow, we intend to harvest our apples. We've been rounding up windfalls for a while, but as you'll know, the ones which drop off first, are usually those with nibbles, codling moth grub, etc, - perfectly useable for cooking, but they won't store. Tomorrow we'll be using the apple pole & ladder to pick the best ones, as I store those & use them for as long as they will keep. I'm quite looking forward to it, actually, as I love seasonal activities - think they tap into my inner pagan. 
I treated myself to a double magazine pack yesterday (love having Personal Spends....it's guilt-free spending, but it's always capped, so I can't be tempted into my bad old ways) & I intend to enjoy one of those in a minute - must get a cardi on first though - always worth getting a layer on before the chill has spread too far.
Wishing everyone a peaceful evening,
F x

teapot2

Hoping I can get some jam saving advice Foxgloves and co.  This concerns last year's rhubarb and strawberry jam which although yummy is also runny.  I've still got a few jars in the fridge and wondered if its feasible after all this time to empty them and re-boil with a bit of added lemon juice in the hope the jam will set?  I now have a jam thermometer which I didn't at the time I made it which might help.

I would also wash out and sterilise the jars again before refilling.  I tend to give away most of the jam I make so don't want to do anyone a poorly.

Has anyone else done this after such a long time or is it a no no?  TIA 

foxgloves

@teapot2 - I think what you suggest is feasible fairly soon after the runny jam has been made, but I've never done it. I really don't know if it's possible after a year, so am.unable to advise.
Strawberries & rhubarb can both be difficult to set because of being low in pectin - you're right that lemon juice & even a few of the pips & or even apple cores added to the initial cooking stage in a muslin bag can be a help. 
F 

foxgloves

Evening Frugalistas,
Peaceful day. Attempted free line-drying, but no breeze today, so half of it dried & the other half has gone on the airer overnight (I'm not switching it on though). Further little bit of energy saving by getting 2 baths from a single fill of hot water. Recent fault on washing machine seems to have righted itself today, so fingers crossed on that.
Harvested our apples today - Mr F up ladder wielding apple pole & me filling baskets & a bucket. I've had lots of windfalls already, but wanted to pick lots of good undamaged ones to store. Must sort through them & do that tomorrow. Baked Norwegian apple cake to celebrate getting our harvest in. I've been baking it since I was about 14 years old! It was one of my Dad's absolute favourites & Mr F loves it too.
No effort required for tomorrow's packed lunch. There was leftover spicy vegetable & chickpea stew tonight so that will do the job, along with a piece of apple cake.
Well, all the fresh air today has properly knocked me out! I shall have to knit to keep awake through TV quizzes tonight, but at least the means my friend's birthday socks will be finished quicker.
Love to all,
F x

DawnW

I have often reboiled runny jam the day after it was made, and it works fine. Not sure after a year though. If it runs off your toast, I think I would find different ways to use it, in a jam sponge pudding (super quick made in the microwave - yum, but beware as not diet food!) or as a sauce for ice cream for example.

foxgloves

I think that's what I'd do too, @DawnW, use the runny jam in different ways. Can remember having pourable red  jam sauce over sponge pudding for school dinners!
F

milann

The Norwegian apple cake sounds delicious. I’ve heard of Dutch apple cake but not Norwegian. The Dutch apple cake is on my to try very soon list with some apples gifted from a neighbour 😄

Baileys_Babe

@foxgloves and @milann please can you share your apple cake recipes we have done well for apples this year so I would like to make the most of them. I also plan to have a go at making apple scrap vinegar.

milann

I haven’t actually made the Dutch apple cake yet but it’s a Mary Berry Dutch apple cake I intend to try. Think it might have been recommended on this post…..certainly on somebody’s diary👍