Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Humdinger1 & @Blackcats - What a truly joyful little publication (not!) - despite perusing it with plenty of withering comments flowing, I still found it quite depressing to read & was pleased to add it to the recycling bin.
F

foxgloves

Morning Icicles,
Hmmm, I had only one goal for today - to get out into the garden & do something. Anything. I woke up looking forward to getting wrapped up, boots on, new secateurs clutched in my cold little mitts & cracking on with my first much-needed gardening session of the year.
Despite having seen the forecast, I didn't really factor it into my plans. Garden is iced completely white, pond frozen, soil rock solid. But I am utterly determined to get out there to do SOMETHING. 
Just a few little indoor tasks to do, then I shall be lacing my boots on.......
Take care in the ice m'dears. Even Mr F has gone off to work wearing 3 layers today. Couldn't persuade him to wear his scarf & gloves though.....they were obviously a step too far.
F x

P.S Cats on a protest today. Soot ate a tiny bit of his breakfast. Ash sat with his back to his & said "Wot, that gruel?'. I'm holding out though, as it's so wasteful throwing perfectly good cat food away.

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Sun shining now, sky beautifully blue, so I expect some of this ice at least should start to melt, at least until tonight.
Right, today's small wins:
*Free fitness  - 1.5 hours garden clearing. Activities limited as everywhere so very frozen & paths slippy, but I managed 3 big trugs of cut back overgrowth for the council garden waste bin collection tomorrow plus one for our compost bins. Enjoyed all the stretching & fresh cold air.
*Emptied out some spent pots in the greenhouse & checked autumn-sown sweet-peas - most growing quite well. I always sow them in recycled big yoghurt pots for a deep root-run.
*Did next week's meal plans including 2 meals with a big side salad, as have a whole grow-bag of rocket still to use.
*Quick easy meal tonight which I've been making since I was a student back in the Cretaceous Era. Tuna, pepper & peanut rice: Wok 1 finely chopped medium onion & 1 chopped green pepper, season with black pepper. Add 2 portions of cooked brown basmati rice & 1 tin of tuna, drained & flaked. Stir well to heat everything through, stir in 50g salted peanuts (these are left over from Christmas) & serve.
*Defrosted the last container of poached cinnamon pears for dessert.
*Rounded up all seed labels & rubbed off last year's writing ready to re-use this season. I re-use my stash of bought ones & increase supplies by cutting my own from old spread tubs.
*Did a couple of surveys.
Not the best night's sleep, so intend to have some leisure time this afternoon, but will also be progressing those big yarn stash hiking socks - they're a great use=it-up project for small balls of wool, but the cats are way too interested in them & keep 'helping'. The sooner they're finished & on Mr F's feet, the better (though Ash also plays with socks while there are feet inside them).
No post today, I was hoping for both our CC statements to arrive, but never mind, it's still over a week until my Big Budget Day.
Cheers all,
F x

EssexHebridean

Not sure if you recall Pippi who used to be a regular on here? Her dog Haggis used to be a complete demon for going after your socks while they were on your feet - you had to be mindful of even the tiniest bit of spare/loose fabric as he'd be straight onto it!  

Well done for getting into the garden - I honestly can't wait to have a garden to potter in! 

foxgloves

@EH - Yes, I do! Actually, I follow her on FB as she is so knowledgeable about gardening, so I have seen pics of her little characterful dogs.
It will be so exciting when you have a garden. Think of all those plans for laying it out & what to grow. I love making a garden from scratch.
F

Makingabobor2

Well not sure how I missed your new diary, but I have just caught up and made sure I have subscribed, love reading your adventures and tips. 
Poached cinnamon pears sounds lovely. Not had pears for a while. 

foxgloves

Hello @Makingabobor2 - We have an ancient pear tree in our garden (conference pear variety) & it usually alternates between a small manageable crop one year, & a crazy big one the next. I started poaching sliced pears in a light syrup with a bit of cinnamon so I could freeze some of the glut. They were fine, so I've made them most years since then. Useful as can eat cold, warm them up & eat with a scoop of ice-cream or tip them into an oven proof.dish, add topping & use for crumble.
We've had some years with a huge crop. A couple of years, I was regularly bagging up 7lb bags & anyone who came to visit us wasn't allowed to leave unless they took one!
F x

foxgloves

Grrrr, frozen solid again today. I know it's the appropriate weather for winter, but its arrival has coincided exactly with me feeling a burst of enthusiasm to get busy out in the garden. Useful clearing session yesterday, but realistically not a lot more I can be getting on with while the ground is so frozen.
I will have to throw my energy into doing something else. Think I'll take myself off to the kitchen, put my audiobook.on & see what transpires.
Take care in the ice, m'dears,
F x

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

Hello @Makingabobor2 - We have an ancient pear tree in our garden (conference pear variety) & it usually alternates between a small manageable crop one year, & a crazy big one the next. I started poaching sliced pears in a light syrup with a bit of cinnamon so I could freeze some of the glut. They were fine, so I've made them most years since then. Useful as can eat cold, warm them up & eat with a scoop of ice-cream or tip them into an oven proof.dish, add topping & use for crumble.
We've had some years with a huge crop. A couple of years, I was regularly bagging up 7lb bags & anyone who came to visit us wasn't allowed to leave unless they took one!
F x

How lucky you are to have a pear tree. We need a bigger garden...

marionmgcars

Glad I caught up with diary, as it reminded me to pay for my subscription for my garden waste this year.  We planted two apple trees and a pair last year, so hopefully get some fruit in years to come.   I’ve just had a full day having lots of electric rewiring done at home, so that will be a huge bill from savings pot.  I just remind myself that I do the best to budget well, but have to pay others to do highly skilled work.  I’ve realised that I’ve been planning on living on my retirement income, when maybe I can plan to save some money, even if it is a small amount.