Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@lucielle & @themadvix - Oh yes, I know mare's tail is a garden baddie. Thankfully not one we've ever had in our garden. Mr F has just remarked that there's hardly anything in the garden wheelie for next week's collection. I've assured him that it will soon be chocka with hawkweed root & bindweed!
F

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Yes, I like to add new recipes in regularly. One of the knock-ons of my recent recipe sorting & copying project was rediscovering old favourites I'd forgotten about. I was also surprised at how frugal some of them are. I know some of them do date back to the period immediately post-LBM when I was throwing myself into money-saving with all the zeal of the newly-converted.
F

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

@KajiKita - Yes, I like to add new recipes in regularly. One of the knock-ons of my recent recipe sorting & copying project was rediscovering old favourites I'd forgotten about. I was also surprised at how frugal some of them are. I know some of them do date back to the period immediately post-LBM when I was throwing myself into money-saving with all the zeal of the newly-converted.
F

that's reminded me to add " sort out recipes" to my To Do list. I thought about it a while ago, and then never got round to it.  Think its time for some variety, we seem to eat the same things on a fairly frequent rota basis.   

foxgloves

Good afternoon Tulips,
Just back from Waitbl00m & sitting on courtyard bench sharing an apple with a lovely shiny blackbird. Not a no-spend day but not a horrendously expensive grocery shop either. Any budget-friendly happenings?
*Transferred meal plans into my diary & wrote grocery shopping list, taking time to check the pantry properly. Doesn't it feel like a win when you write something on, then cross it off because a quick check shows you don't need it?
*Free parking at the hospital car park!!! I received a quite short notice breast screening appointment (I expect it was a cancellation). Set off early because of roadworks on the same road as the hospital & went in early in case the screening unit staff were ahead of schedule. And they were! It was top off & straight onto the boob sandwich machine. Under 30 mins so car park free!
*Stuck to grocery shopping list, put back an item we decided we didn't need & swapped a yellow sticker item for a similar one which was actually cheaper at full price. We were sensible about choosing Easter chocolate. Mr F can get the red mist at seasonal festivals but he was adament he didn't require the large size of gold chocolate bunny & that the smaller one would be absolutely ample. It would probably have been cheaper to share a larger one, but his preference is for white chocolate, & I don't consider that to be actual chocolate.
*Availed ourselves of the free supermarket coffee. Realised I'd been concentrating on the boob-squashing appt at the expense of my daily caffeine intake, so was well ready for one.
*Decluttered another pile of gardening mags to my friend's stash.
*Watered greenhouse plant babies, new strawberry runners & veg seed troughs.
*Wrote list for the market tomorrow as Easter lamb joints will be cheaper from the butcher, ditto fresh veg from local farm stall.
It's not my cooking night. Mr F has defrosted 2 portions of the turkey chilli he made the other week & is intending to serve it with homemade jacket wedges. I'm going to read & see if I can get any more clues solved on last Saturday's Guardian crossword. All but 6 done & I'm not giving up!
Soot loves to inspect the shopping & of course he soon spotted the (insert expensive brand) vacuum-packed cat tuna loin which will be their Easter Sunday treat. He was gutted to see it put away in the cupboard & to be told he'd have to wait. That boy has no respect for Spring festivals! 
So not a lot of garden productivity today, but I'm sure I shall make up for it over the weekend.
Love to all,
F x
Oh.....remember Mr F telling me he already had 'enough Easter beer'? Well, suddenly it was deemed 'not enough' after all. I don't actually think pantry beer goblins have started on it early. I think ignoring a 2 for 3.50 offer on Ghost Ship in the supermarket this afternoon was just more than he could handle.

Suffolk_lass

Oh dear, that reminded me I need to add beer to my list. We have a fridge full of it but one meeting last week with half a dozen chaps an the Doom Bar has gone (that always reminds me of Cormoran Strike, the JK Galbraith (aka JKR) character). Anyway, I shall add it.

Gardening mags - I popped out after my bee-day yesterday to buy eggs for supper and there was Gardener's World magazine, in it's bag as it has THE CARD in it. When did it become £9.99? Anyway, with good intentions to visit more gardens this year (if our fewer bees resolve lasts!) I bought it. It is nice to read a paper magazine once in a while. Having just skipped through the RHS jobs for the weekend email, I might actually have time, although I do need to read the book club book in the next fortnight too.

Have a good holiday weekend with Mr F

Cheery_Daff

I bought that magazine for The Card the other day - it was £9.50 last year which I thought was a racket then. I assumed last year that it was more expensive because it had the card in it, but is it that price every month?! 😱 I knew magazines were expensive but really?? Presumably they're trying to encourage ongoing subscriptions rather than one off purchases, but there must still be people buying them.

BrilliantButScary

I'm another that buys this issue of Gardener's World every year, but also think it is getting expensive at £9.99. However, if you use the card It can save you a lot of money. One garden local to us is £28.00 admission.

It is usually £7.99 an issue I think. It is full of adverts! I have a free subscription to Garden Answers, as part of a bank package, that is £5.50 an issue.

Cheery_Daff

We got 2 for 1 entry for Tatton Park last year which I think was £10, so it effectively paid for itself with that. I think I only went to a couple of other places, by myself, so just reduced entry not half price, but it was still worth it. 

kayannie

2 years ago, I took out a subscription to GW when it was on offer at a special price of £9.99 for 6 issues. It was at about this time of year, as the 2 for 1 card was enclosed with the first issue.
It might be worth looking for a similar offer this time next year.
KA

Four_Seasons

Have a lovely Easter 🐣 I made a gf simnel cake after seeing your gorgeous cake last year, definitely not up to your standard of decoration but it tastes delicious xx