Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Oh they were shockingly bad, 1LL. I have been baking since I was 11 years old & rarely have a failure. Last doozy was a genoese sponge which was ruined by an inconsistent fan oven, but that was 2 or 3 years ago. Thankfully our ever-hungry magpie came & finished off the hockey pucks - his beak was big enough to cope with them!
Glorious sunshine today plus a £5 voucher in the post plus good news from the solicitor so am in a good mood. Have mopped the floor in the back lobby & am now giving the conservatory (dining room) a spruce up. Funny how just a good clean, tidy & moving a few things around brightens almost any room up for free, isn't it? Was thinking we need new flooring in the lobby, but what it actually required was a mop & bucket! Off to finish it now, then a sourdough loaf to mix up for baking tomorrow. Not going out tonight - decided to be cheapskates. I'm cooking Malaysian prawn curry (had everything in for that) then chocolate, candles & a film. I'm last of the big spenders these days, but having BEEN a big spender in the past, I much prefer how I am now. Not frittering money away endlessly fits in much better with my political & environmental beliefs too.
Right.....before mr f comes home, I have a date with the Dyson. Go me!
F x

foxgloves

Well, mr f got in from work early & said 'Right, I've still got my boots & coat on, is there any job I can do in the garden that would make you happy?'
I wasn't going to turn that down, was I? 20 minutes later, he'd pruned the Elder 'Black Lace,' removed a rogue bramble & packed it all into the garden waste wheelie bin ready for tomorrow's collection.
Then he said, "You can write me a job list if you like".
And that task, dear readers, has gone straight on my own job list for tomorrow!
F x

foxgloves

Tried a classic toddler distraction tactic on mr f this morning in the supermarket, & it worked!
We had pretty much stuck to our list & I thought there was a good chance we'd come out on, or very close to, budget. We had survived the beer aisle but it wasn't our usual branch & when we couldn't find loo roll, I was not happy to discover it tucked away on a back wall, which meant walking through the beer section again. I couldn't see the budget coming out unscathed a 2nd time. He was really wavering.......then I spotted some little packs of beef jerky. I picked one up & rattled it in his direction, while still keeping the trolley moving in a general loo roll trajectory, saying cheerfully 'Ooh look, you love this, why don't you have some?' And he was still busy reading the bag while I was chucking a 9-pack of recycled loo rolls in! Result! Been home 2 hours & as yet, not one mention that he's got no beer. Might be a different story tonight though, lol.
F x

Onebrokelady

:rotfl:I have a vision of Mr F trotting excitably up the aisle after the bag of jerky :T
Poor Mr Robbin,I hope his choice of eatery didn't put off the new girlfriend:eek:
I am off outside in a minute to give the chickens a quick clean out,I would like to do some more clearing but next door pd kids are out in their garden and I can't stand listening to them crying and screaming the whole time :mad:

foxgloves

Lol, I have not seen his new girlfriend since the hockey puck muffins were proffered. I think she may have dumped him!

foxgloves

Hi Debtbusters,
I am on such a roll with getting annoying jobs done today. I haven't stopped yet....I was even phoning our breakdown provider to change our policy during my coffee break with my coffee in one hand & phone tucked under my chin as I needed my other hand to stop cat helpfully sitting on all the paperwork. So loads of updates done today.....budget things, car things, insurance things, a rather involved task concerning dealing with my Mum's estate, managing to get myself a Dr's appointment to see what else I can do for my poorly hand, etc, & then it occurred to me to see how much of my February Personal Spends I have left. Ohhhhhh, that took the wind out of my sales a bit. I don't intend to spend anything today as I'm not intending to go out, so not counting today, there are 7 days left until Pay Day, which is when our new budget begins.......& I have £5.40 left. Hmmmm. Now, before anyone thinks I'm going to be upending myself in the bins at the back of Waitrose, I'm not talking about our food or any other budget, simply my own Personal Spends, so it is just a case of only the most minimal treats, or a better idea, not spending anything at all if possible. I don't need anything, but I do like that feeling of having a bit of money in my purse. A quick run through the week ahead.......mr f is giving me a lift to the Dr's so I shan't need bus fare (I love to cycle but my hand is a bit dodgy for braking safely, so I haven't been using my bike much recently), I don't need to go anywhere tomorrow......I may have to send a legal letter by return of post, but unless it's huge, I do have 2 stamps which should cover the cost & I can easily walk to the village post box. I've ear marked Thursday & Friday for some (one-handed) gardening and on Saturday, we are busy doing some more sorting & clearing at Mum's house, so will take a packed lunch & coffee supplies with us. I would like to go for a walk on Sunday, but we can use our NT membership passes to get into a nice reasonably local place for free & can take a flask & a snack with us. That just leaves Monday & Tuesday, when there is as yet nothing in my diary. So after I'd thought it all through, that £5.40 didn't seem as lowly. I will be fine. New Personal Spends dished out each month as part of my Big Budget Day. We can spend it on absolutely whatever we like, the only proviso being that when it's gone, it's gone. It works for us, anyway!
Hope everyone i enjoying some of this lovely late winter sunshine. My washing is blowing dry beautifully outside. As it's a much milder month (so far) than February often is, I am now working on getting our electricity & gas use down so that next quarter's bill is lower.
Anyway, I must away to the kitchen & sort out my lunch.
Have a good day all,
F x

foxgloves

Just a quick one, as the sun has appeared & I'm going to fit in another hour or two of garden tidying. Not spendy, as I intend dividing up a few things to fill gaps.
Finished Project #2 of my 2019 Stash Knitting Challenge - a pair of socks for B-in-L's birthday. Used up leftover self-patterning sock yarn - two different ones, which have worked really well together. Have had a couple of ideas for my next project, so must decide.
Anyway......out with the long-handled fork & gardening gloves now. Mustn't waste this sunshine.....or the opportunity to burn off a few extra calories.

foxgloves

A cheeky bit of knitting while catching up with a TV programme before going out for my X-ray saw the completion of 2019's Stash Knitting Project #3: a rather upmarket-looking dishcloth knitted in pale green & cream stripes. I think these cotton yarn leftovers must have been given to me at some point as I can't recall knitting anything made of this before, but however I got it, it was just sitting in my big yarn stash doing sweet bug*er all. Now it is a useful new dishcloth, so when I next need a new one, I can shop from home for free.
Stash Knitting Project #4 will be a pretty blanket square in leftover lime green d.k with a big fuchsia coloured flower on it. I will add other squares to it this year as I continue to knit up my stash & they will form the basis of a new blanket.
It's such a nice feeling being resourceful, isn't it? I love that I am making useful new stuff from leftovers.
Hope everyone is doing ok & keeping the frugal faith.
Love F x

joedenise

How do you do your dishcloths foxgloves? I have some cotton yarn which I got when I got some other wool at a boot fair (I bought the wool I wanted and the cotton was thrown in free:money:). It's quite thin so suspect it'll probably need to be used double.

Denise

foxgloves

Hi Joedenise,
I usually knit them diagonally. So cast on one stitch then increase to three, knit that row, then increase one stitch at each end of every alternate row. When it's as big as you want it, start to decrease one st at each end of each alternate row all the way down to your final stitch which you cast off.
I like knitting mitred squares best but I don't bother just for dishcloths. They do seem to last longer than bought ones & can be funky colours too, depending on what cotton yarn leftovers you have hanging around.