Aim: Mortgage Free / Time For Me

Kantankrus_Mare · 2 February 2022 at 4:26PM

Thats really annoying about your knees. You must be so frustrated. I hate to say it but its probably more down to the running than anything else. My dad used to jog a lot when he was younger and eventually had to have both knees cleaned out. Something to do with loose cartilage. When they ease off I would concentrate on the walking. Still massive fitness benefits!!
We also have a company shop that we used to shop in regularly. Not been for a couple of years though. There are some right bargains to be had but found we were buying lots of crap like chocolate and biscuits so stopped. Might need to give it another try.
I started some seeds off a week last Saturday and nothing to be seen yet so am worrying the seeds were past it. Peppers and chillis though so will give them a while longer. Just took the last of my frozen courgette from last years crop out the freezer and made some courgette, potato and stilton soup. Just some frozen strawberries now to use up.
What podcasts do you listen to? I love a podcast whilst Im walking. I like Desert Island discs and Off Menu.

jennystarpepper · 2 February 2022 at 8:50PM

Sorry to hear about you knees I was near the front of the queue when the dodgy ones got handed out, have you asked the Dr for some of they prescription strength Voltarol, it sometimes helps?

Love hearing about your allotment, Mr Pepper has been making raised beds, which helps with my mobility, but also because of onion rot. We will runout of spuds this week, which is great as we started eating them mid June last year, Mr Pepper does not eat rice or pasta so this alone pays for the cost of our plot's (which are being put up in price by the council to a silly amount). We bought spuds from Wilc0 last year and they did very well, considering they cost much less than other companies we are buying from them again this year.

We have also noticed a number of friends ask for spuds when they find out you grow them, they just assume that you are just going to hand over a bag or two, (a bit like people knowing you make a good cake

) because home grown taste so much better, so Mr Pepper tells people they can have potatoes in exchange for XX time digging... they don't ask again!

I have grown Melon's in the past and was going to grow more this year, but have changed my mind and will grow more things for the freezer so chilli's peas and also growing onions from seed so I can pickle them, MFW thinking again.

I am still debating about buying new strawberry plants they are so nice but thinking about cost of the ones in the shops against growing price. I do grow flowers on the allotment, frowned upon by many, but they save me lot's and Mr Pepper enjoys bringing me a bunch home.

I need to keep a lookout for @ldi or lid! veg seeds being on sale to save a few more pennies, we grow pumpkins for children and they help fill in gaps for when the 'allotment' police are making inspections.

Kantankrus_Mare · 2 February 2022 at 9:42PM

jennystarpepper i love your husbands solution to people asking for spuds

my husband has a habit of giving away veg or fruit that I have grown while I am stood next to him and it would make me look really stingy by objecting. He's not the one that spends hours weeding and looking after the growth of everything!! Im very impressed with your potato growing. I thought I had done well last year to grow 8 rows of potatoes but they didnt last us any time at all......again down to him indoors being a greedy beggar lol

jennystarpepper · 2 February 2022 at 10:22PM

I think Mr pepper must be related to Mr Arkwright, he is not greedy but his way of working or sharing is a favour for a favour, must be a Yorkshire thing. He has done things for people in the past, one was for his local shop where he would buy his paper on the way to work, he suggested a free bacon butty in payment and they gave him one, but hated doing it.... if it had been a paid job it would have been billed the same rate per hour as a gas fitter or sparky and a half day minimum.

I've had a few people from our site talking about certain things on our plots in the hope of being 'offered things' my way of getting around this is to say them (especially the greedy ones).... 'yes XYZ are looking good this year, the homeless shelter tell me they go down well every year.... the old battle axe who has a plot with her son next to ours has been talking about my blackcurrants for some time... her teeth nearly fell out when I told her about the shelter and how they love them, she mentioned making jam, in an attempt to being offered them, no offer to me of making it and giving me a share or to make some for the shelter.

I'm laughing about him indoors and his love of the spuds, Mr pepper is a very proud owner of a mint plant collection, I've shown him how to re-root it from YS packets of mint from the supermarket, we have Spanish, Israeli, British and a couple of others in pots in the garden.... they are in peek production when the first earlies are ready. He loves his spuds,

.

postmenopause · 3 February 2022 at 8:12AM

@jennystarpepper about your strawberries… is there anyone who has any runners they can give you? Also Aldi usually do cheap strawberry plants in spring ready to plant. And onion white rot….i suffer on my plot terribly so i have just done the same as you and created a new raised bed in a new area….i must be very careful not to use the same tools on it that i use on the rest of my plot so i must buy myself another cheap trowel to use.

@Kantankrus_Mare i think you are right about my knees, i think when they are better i will stick to brisk walking and cycling. I have found peppers can take approx10 days to germinate ( more sometimes depending on temperature)….’i would give them a few more days and then have a little root round your compost to see if they have rotted or just sitting there doing nothing….its so frustrating when seeds dont germinate isnt it. By the way i saw some cheap seeds in the company shop yesterday but tried hard not to look at them too closely so not sure what veg and flower seeds they were.

Anyway, i loved hearing from you both today @jennystarpepper and @Kantankrus_Mare ❤️

Kantankrus_Mare · 3 February 2022 at 9:00AM

@jennystarpepper .......if you lived anywhere near me, I could give you as many strawberry plants as you like. (Im in Lincolnshire) I potted on lots of runners from my 4 strawberry beds last year and they are in my greenhouse at the moment. The plan was to sell them at a car boot sale to fund new seeds and wood thats needed to spruce up my plot, though how Im going to get them all to a car boot is another matter!

@postmenopause.....Will give my seeds till this time next week and then will have to admit defeat. They arent on a heat mat but sat on my dining table where it gets lots of light and warmth when the sun shines. I shouldnt have been so tight and bought some new seeds,

postmenopause · 3 February 2022 at 9:53AM

Kantankrus_Mare said:

@postmenopause.....Will give my seeds till this time next week and then will have to admit defeat. They arent on a heat mat but sat on my dining table where it gets lots of light and warmth when the sun shines. I shouldnt have been so tight and bought some new seeds,

@Kantankrus_Mare pepper seeds should last up to 5 years, so hopefully they will still germinate. I’ve just checked my hugh tin of seeds to see if i have any i could post to you (due to me being a seed hoarder) but unfortunately peppers are one of the only veg i haven't got any spares of….really sorry. Keeping fingers crossed they germinate.

postmenopause · 3 February 2022 at 4:26PM

Today’s quote:

“Keep going…. You never know how strong you are until you look back at everything you’ve overcome”

Money / household savings:

Oh my goodness the energy price cap is rising by 54% 😱😱😱. I did some calculations and it means we will be paying approximately £150 extra per month based on our usage last year but at the increased prices. This is money we won’t be able to use towards over paying our kitchen mortgage, but at least we have the money…. I can’t imagine how this will affect some people, I think for once i’m counting my blessings.

I’m very pleased to say the £130 joining fee from First Direct was paid into our bank account today, so that will go towards the mortgage. I did have to message the manager i spoke to before to ask again where it was, but it did arrive in our account about an hour later so that is good.

My dh says he has the chance to be paid for 5 days of his holiday instead of taking it…. he will be taxed on the money but we have decided that we could use it towards the mortgage when we get it instead of him wasting it, by trying to use it up before the end of March (he has a new project on at work so he says he would rather not take the holiday as he will be busy). He will still have three days holiday on top of this left for emergencies so that is good. Im not sure when he will get the money though.

So national insurance is going up soon too so this will affect us again, so i am going to have to really go into frugal mode to get our kitchen mortgage paid off by the end of December. I have decided to try to spend as little as possible. I am starting by cancelling our Tesco delivery on Sunday and i will visit the store instead using our ‘love to shop’ voucher ( you cant use it on line annoyingly). This will save a weeks worth of our food budget.

Yesterday I was given four ‘day passes’ for the company shop to use before the end of March, so i will definitely use these another week to stock up on any good offers (only things we will definitely use- not luxuries).

My washing went out on the line again to dry today. I love seeing my washing on my washing line…..lol i must be weird, as it makes me feel like all is right in the world when my washing is blowing in the wind.

Tonight is pasta and salad. Last year my daughter asked me to buy jars of tomato pasta sauce ready for when she went back to university, so i stocked up ready for her…..and you guessed it….she went off them and wont eat them now (though ive got to say they arent very nice). I’m trying to use them up and ive found if i mix them with my homemade pasta sauce then they are ok….so thats what i will do tonight. It also means i will have an extra portion to freeze for another meal next week….another cheap meal.

Wellbeing:

Day 5 of my healthy eating diet and it is going well 👏👏👏

I walked the dog a bit further today. I did walk slowly but my knees felt a bit better than they have the last few days, so that is good.

During my dog walk in the park the sun was shining, the birds were singing and it felt like we are over the worst of winter….. whether we actually are remains to be seen. Anyway i saw my first crocus of the year on the park today and it was beautiful.

Anyway that’s it for today

XXXX

jennystarpepper · 3 February 2022 at 4:58PM

Thank you will keep a lookout for the strawberry plants at Aldi.

@Kantankrus_Mare , thank you for the offer

- Do you have anyone you could do a boot sale with, you could split the costs?

Bills - I'm just shocked by how much everything is going up, I'm waiting for the new CT bill as I can't see it staying the same.

Lovely to see the Crocus, I've noticed the evenings are getting lighter, saves me a few pennies putting the lights on later in the evening.