Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Good job I don't live anywhere near you then, Dawn. I mostly avoid fairs now as it is the one area left where I know a bit of the old spendyness could jump out. I have always liked old & interesting things & have collected many things over the years. Have spent a load of money though.
F x

foxgloves

Busy, busy today, as decided to continue blitzing my little HQ room. Turned up more useful resources - a nice pack of dividers I never knew I even had, so I can use them for another project I have in mind, instead of buying new. I've gone through all my big lever arch files today.....you know the ones.....all the household financial paperwork, tax, pension statements, insurance, you name it.....I've found so many A4 plastic wallets (do they actually breed?) that I don't think I'll ever need to buy any ever again!
I also turned up a project I did a few years ago - an energy audit of our home. I had totally forgotten about this, although as soon as I found it, I remembered going around each room with a clipboard, noting what we could do better to save on energy costs.
Well, I'd just made coffee & so I had 5 mins while I read through it & instantly counted 6 things I identified which we could do, which have lapsed. I had to get back to my clearing out as could barely see the floor, but I will definitely be revisiting that document & chucking a bit of bright pink marker pen on the good habits we seem to have abandoned over the last few years.
Apart from that, & a quick break for lunch & to do next week's meal plans, I have been Mrs Binbags all day.
Defo time for some sofa/backside interface this evening!
F x

foxgloves

P.S Dug out an old recipe tonight which I hadn't made for years! Lentil & mushroom gratin. It made 2 good portions plus one for the freezer & it costs very little in terms of ingredients. It's inspired me to go through my cookery books & recipe cuttings box, etc, & make a list of other cheap but healthy meals to make for some variety. I did find a couple quickly to put on next week's meal plans.
F x

DawnW

I love looking through the old recipes too Foxgloves, both my own collection and older ones belonging to other people. I have one belonging to a deceased great aunt, and have picked up a few more over the years, either rescued from bins or bought for pennies (literally, the last one, found a few weeks ago, was 20p). It breaks my heart seeing these collections, some hand written and others clipped out of 1950s and 60s (or older) magazines or newspapers, just consigned to the house clearance when the owner dies or goes into care They often contain snippets of personal info, such as appointments etc and household tips, even photos sometimes, a real little bit of social history. And sometimes the recipes are quite good, too! I can't help rescuing them when I see them

Onebrokelady

I went through my cookery books when I last had a clear out and copied out the recipes I liked,I put them in my recipe folder then gave the books to charity,it condensed my recipes down quite nicely as I had quite a few books that I only used a few recipes from

There must be something in the air because everyone seems to having a clear out at the moment

foxgloves

I am a sucker for the old cookbooks in charity shops, Dawn. I like historical ones too, you know, the ones where recipes begin 'Take 14 eggs & a quart of ale, etc'. I have Ruth Mott's 'Victorian kitchen' on DVD & love all the old ways in it.
OBL - It's such a good time of year for clearing out, isn't it? I've just done another bin bag of shredding. Mr f is at it too & is talking about blitzing the shed. That would result in a massive 'Yay!' from me!
F

DawnW

Good luck with the shed! Ours aren't too bad, or at least the garage isn't,though there are some things in there that I would really like to see the back of - OH has a huge shearing machine engine thingy taking up one corner, I have no idea why, and he never looks at it, but won't get rid, despite my nagging. He has loads of carp in his workshop too, but does clear that up a bit fairly regularly, or there wouldn't be room for him to do anything in there :cool:

The weather (here at least) is really good for clearing / tidying outside atm. We have just completed a garden project (replaced old timber on a large raised bed and constructed another, smaller raised bed). OH used scrap materials from these jobs to make a large raised trough thing, a bit like those expensive 'veg trugs' I have seen advertised. I spent this afternoon giving this a couple of coats of wood preservative, and my next job will be to acquire something to line it, as cheaply as possible. I think it will become a strawberry bed

I have also finished gathering up old wood, new wood, tools etc and sweeping up. I managed to sell 8 concrete slabs that we took up and didn't have another use for, only £8 but it all helps, and they are now gone

foxgloves

Evening Penny-Wranglers,
Well, I've been quite resourceful today. We've planned a city centre trip tomorrow. I would like to buy a pot of my favourite moisturiser as I haven't had any for ages & have been making do with very much cheaper brands. My elixir of choice costs £26. As a luxury item, it has to come out of my Personal Spends & I don't have a spare £26. Hmmmm, what to do, I was thinking. I do have enough loyalty points for £5 off, but still £21 left to find. What I DO have is £25 in Amazon vouchers (earned from surveys) which I haven't earmarked for anything, so I nonchalantly offered them to mr f at a £4 discount. That way, he gets £4 'free' & I get the remaining £21 I want for my scrummy moisturiser.
And he jumped at it! Result!
Enjoy your Friday nights, everyone.
F x

foxgloves

Wow, Dawn! That's such a productive start to the year. I long to catch up in the garden. I'm so behind because I've been trying to rest my poorly tendon, but have come to the conclusion that resting it doesn't have any effect, so we have a gardening day planned for Sunday x

DawnW

This post seems to be on multiple threads?