Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Kantankrus - I am going to try & do an hour in the garden today & also get my seed box out. I can't WAIT to get started this year, after having to abandon everything 2/3 of the way through last year.
OBL - I think composting worms escape when they are not happy, so I expect they had eaten all their scraps & set forth to search for more food.
Homegrown- Thank-you for your nice comments. Yes, that dress was a perfect example of why you should never impulse buy from the sale rail without trying on.......& especially not if you are technically spending the bank's money! I do laugh about some of the Debtisodes myself, but it's also annoying & a bit embarrassing to have been so silly with money for so many years. I'm gearing up to posting some new Debtisodes about my two & a half decade long love affair with antique & collectors fairs. I have frittered some serious cash at those over the years.
F x

foxgloves

Well here I am, with a rosy glow of virtue about my person, having just completed my mid-month budget check-in. For someone who never used to budget at all, or employ self-restraint in the spending department, I sometimes find it hard to get my head around how much I have changed. I have my Big Budget Day on (or as close as possible) to pay-day, then around the 14th or 15th, I print off an up to date statement & check through the figures. Although I put a lot of work into the original monthly budget, doing this mid-month check-in just helps me feel confident that everything is on track. It's a chance to spot anything I might have missed first time around & to see how the 'cushion' of monthly emergency money I leave in the account each time is doing. Pleased to report no nasty surprises today, although I did spot something that needs investigating. Virgin Media have taken £10 more than usual this month. I am pretty sure we haven't used an additional £10 of services, as we hardly ever use our landline & apart from that we only have broadband. This is making me think that the improved terms mr f negotiated for us a while ago may have come to an end. He deals with this provider, so I've made a note of the payment discrepancy & I'm sure it will wind him up sufficiently to dig a bit deeper. I certainly have no intention to pay £47 a month for broadband & a landline we only use once in a blue moon.
Everything else looks to be on target. Tedious task, but worth it! The rest of the time, I just do a quick little Monday morning session to update budget pots & do any banking that's arisen.
And now, it's got to be coffee time, I reckon.
Until next time, Debtbusters x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Kantankrus - I am going to try & do an hour in the garden today & also get my seed box out. I can't WAIT to get started this year, after having to abandon everything 2/3 of the way through last year.
OBL - I think composting worms escape when they are not happy, so I expect they had eaten all their scraps & set forth to search for more food.
Homegrown- Thank-you for your nice comments. Yes, that dress was a perfect example of why you should never impulse buy from the sale rail without trying on.......& especially not if you are technically spending the bank's money! I do laugh about some of the Debtisodes myself, but it's also annoying & a bit embarrassing to have been so silly with money for so many years. I'm gearing up to posting some new Debtisodes about my two & a half decade long love affair with antique & collectors fairs. I have frittered some serious cash at those over the years.
F x

I'm a bad worm owner

foxgloves

OBL - Lol, you so are!

foxgloves

Evening my little woolly vests,
Ooooh, it's cold out there. I wrapped up & went for a walk earlier & could barely feel my nose when I got back home!
Thursday - so that"s my usual day for meal planning. It didn't take long today because I'd already jotted some ideas down in my diary based on a recent rummage in the freezer. I enjoy the shopping from home element of compiling my shopping list - I was able to cross off mayonnaise (unopened jar found in pantry) & a choice of sandwich filling as found something I'd forgotten about. Also crossed off baked beans.....when I found where mr f had moved them to. So that, plus using some batch cooked meals from the freezer (turkey curry & spicy chickpea burgers) felt like a good start.
On meal planning day, I also like to do a bit of a triage session on the fridge & vegetable baskets, so as to spot anything that needs using up. We really do aim to be a zero food waste household here. Found quite a lot of broccoli leftover from.something I cooked earlier this week. Had everything else in stock to make a batch of cream of broccoli soup from my ancient falling to bits Cranks book, so made it there & then. 1 portion saved for a 'free' lunch tomorrow & 3 for the freezer. I was on a roll then, so made up a new jar of fajhita spice too, as I've put veggie fajhitas on the menu for next week to use up some of those bargainaceous peppers I bought the other week.
All this woffle about food is making me hungry! Time to sign off & think about feeding my face.
Stay warm all.
Love F x

foxgloves

P.S I haven't forgotten I promised to include a Debtisode about my past very spendy passion for antique fairs. Coming soon.....
F x

foxgloves

Morning Freezy Folk,
It is blimming cold. Thawed the birdbath because 3 little thirsty sparrows were looking so pathetically at me through the kitchen window, & broke the ice on the pond to help the frogs breathe. Have got a hand knitted purple shawl around my shoulders today, as well as a big poncho & felt like an ancient crone picking my way down our long garden on icy stepping stones & chatting to the blackbirds as I went. And my hair is well witchy today!
Have managed finally to sort & index my recipe box where I keep all the various recipes I snip out of magazines, leaflets, etc. It's been well worth doing as I found heaps of tasty looking recipes for meals I've not yet tried. I've already made one this week - a Malaysian fish curry. It was fab & we had everything in stock, as I like a good store cupboard. I froze the rest of the coconut milk to make it again. Mr f has earmarked a couple of dishes he'd like to make & we've rediscovered things we used to make which we'd forgotten about. And because it is me doing the recipe collecting, there are none in there which are expensive, because if anything says '500g fillet steak' or calls for langoustines raised in the lap of a mermaid, I leave them firmly where they are. I only snip out recipes I think we are likely to make, that are not humongously calorific & that will not send us crashing through our monthly grocery budget.
Anyway....an enjoyable task, free to do having found an unused set of dividers while clearing out, & already proving useful. Mr f has already asked for the Malaysian fish curry again, & said it was like 'from a restaurant'. Blimey! Go me & my little box of magazine snippings!
And now time for a bath & pamper. Need to transform from ancient shawl wearing crone to half decent woman of a certain age instead. I may be some time!!
F x

foxgloves

Chilly again here, birds chomping their berry fat block like mad, blackbirds scrapping over old porridge oats.
Successful grocery shop this morning. Went to Al*i for the first time in a few weeks & it was noticeable how much more we seemed to get for our money. Went a little over budget, but only because I bought a large box of washing powder this month rather than next, upgraded cat to some skin conditioning biscuits & bought a kilo of seville oranges ready for my annual marmalade making session. No spending this afternoon, as I intend to sit by the fire while getting my jumper finished. I only need to transfer the neckline onto circular needles to finish it off, then sew it up & give it a gentle press, then it's done & I will be sourcing my next knitting project from my yarn stash. In fact I'm only going to knit yarn stash items for the first half of this year, then I shall cast on the gorgeous yarn I received (along with a great book of patterns) for Christmas. So no need to be tempted by yarn shops for a considerable amount of time, I'm pleased to say. I should be able to knit at least a couple of gifts from my stash too, maybe more.
Ok, am off to get my circular needle out & shall get clacking while I toast my toes - might have to fight cat for the fireside though!
Stay warm all,
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Morning Freezy Folk,
It is blimming cold. Thawed the birdbath because 3 little thirsty sparrows were looking so pathetically at me through the kitchen window, & broke the ice on the pond to help the frogs breathe. Have got a hand knitted purple shawl around my shoulders today, as well as a big poncho & felt like an ancient crone picking my way down our long garden on icy stepping stones & chatting to the blackbirds as I went. And my hair is well witchy today!
Have managed finally to sort & index my recipe box where I keep all the various recipes I snip out of magazines, leaflets, etc. It's been well worth doing as I found heaps of tasty looking recipes for meals I've not yet tried. I've already made one this week - a Malaysian fish curry. It was fab & we had everything in stock, as I like a good store cupboard. I froze the rest of the coconut milk to make it again. Mr f has earmarked a couple of dishes he'd like to make & we've rediscovered things we used to make which we'd forgotten about. And because it is me doing the recipe collecting, there are none in there which are expensive, because if anything says '500g fillet steak' or calls for langoustines raised in the lap of a mermaid, I leave them firmly where they are. I only snip out recipes I think we are likely to make, that are not humongously calorific & that will not send us crashing through our monthly grocery budget.
Anyway....an enjoyable task, free to do having found an unused set of dividers while clearing out, & already proving useful. Mr f has already asked for the Malaysian fish curry again, & said it was like 'from a restaurant'. Blimey! Go me & my little box of magazine snippings!
And now time for a bath & pamper. Need to transform from ancient shawl wearing crone to half decent woman of a certain age instead. I may be some time!!
F x

:rotfl: hope the Bath rejuvenated you, have tired floating a ball on you pond to stop it from freezing,I'm not sure how well it works but it might just make a hole,I float a plastic ping pong ball in my chickens water dispenser so it doesn't freeze whe it's icy

Kantankrus_Mare

The curry sounds wonderful Foxgloves!!

Having grown butternut squash for the first time last year, I hunted down a recipe for a curry and we have made it twice since as it was so good. (And cheap!)

Recipe asks for one and a half packs of coconut milk so I am left with half a pack going to waste. Thought about freezing it but didnt think it froze well. I see you freeze yours. I hate the thought of wasting it so will have a go next time I have some left over.