Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
It's been a pottering around morning & is going to be a garden bench afternoon of knitting & reading. .....at least until the rain comes. I hope we do get some of this promised rain. So far today, we've had barely 2 mins of frankly cba raindrops & the garden needs way more than that.
Anyway, on with today's small wins:
*Mr F cooked sufficient chicken on the BBQ last night to feed us tonight too, ditto new potatoes. We have olives & coleslaw left so will only need to add a bit of salad. Also enough for tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Meat which was surplus to bbq requirements has again been frozen uncooked, so will be useful for next time or added to meal plans going forward.
*Mr F lifted his October-planted garlic - now drying. Very good sized bulbs. He is now confident that the mesh is keeping out the onion leaf miner pest which was devastating our alium crops a few years ago & says that he will resume growing double the quantity for next year.
"General pottering around garden jobs for me - planted up a new summer container using an old enamel bread bin. A no-spend project as used a geranium I already had, ditto houseleeks & a penstemon I grew from seed last year. A few pebbles on the top & it will look pretty when in flower, I think.
*Picked another cucumber....to add to the two I picked yesterday.
*Misted greenhouse veg.
*Wrapped rest of B-in-L's bday present & dug a big recycled paddibag out of my wrappings stash for posting. I never buy those.
"Fed sourdough jar ready for baking tomorrow.
*Picked another bunch of sweetpeas. They do make the room smell lovely.
Right.....that's today's minor wins. Off to my reading bench now for 2 or 3 chapters, then on with the next section of my shawl. 
Hope I won't have to do a rain dance.
F x

Elisheba

foxgloves said:

Hello Diary Readers & thanks for all your comments, which I have enjoyed reading. Re cat flap ingress by baddies....I'm not sure we could have a microchip scanning flap as our cat door is a little tunnel through the wall. We are a bit limited in terms of what fitments we can have. 
Re the political stuff - Well, I had a big grin on my face when I read '90 days'. 90 years would not me enough for me where this lot are concerned. SO unprofessional - I'm referring not just to the main perpetrator, but to the MPs who are openly defending him & using the linguistic tropes of conspiracy theory. Having worked for the public sector for many years, there is no way any of us would have got away with such unprofessional behaviour. We'd have been on a disciplinary for bringing the council into disrepute. The rules by which we had to abide around the whole issue of shooting our mouths off were very much stricter than those applying to MPs. And as for Ms D throwing a tantrum because she didn't get a seat in the Lords......it is just embarrassing. I would just want to gather the last vestiges of my self-respect & go. Thank goodness the House of Lords looks set to be reformed (I'd prefer abolishment as it is so undemocratic) - Maybe one day we can have a written constitution too, so all of us can have access to the rules, rather than rely on 'gentlemen's agreements' which probably never were fit for purpose, but certainly are not now.
Re the Pandemic investigations - I think the findings here are going to continue being very interesting, but also enraging. I don't think any government could have got everything absolutely right, as they were very difficult times, but some of the errors are staggering - that's without the door that was opened to cronies when huge contracts were being given out - or corruption as it would be known in more lowly public sector settings. I remember sitting on the sofa with Mr F watching the scenes from Italy - a modern country overwhelmed by Covid, people queueing for food & being locked down apart from essentials. I said 'It's coming. We can't avoid it. Why isn't there massive visible planning happening here?', but the Government was !!!!!!-a-hoop about lovely Brexit & we heard more about that then the danger we were in from pandemic spread. Then I read about Operation Cygnus - a trial run 'exercise' which had been done a couple of years earlier to see if the UK could withstand a bad flu pandemic. The findings were that no, it could not as there was a shortage of ventilators, ICU beds, etc. Recommendations were ignored though, meaning we got off on a bad foot as soon as cases started spreading. Neither did it help having a cabal of Tory MPs vocalising their opposition to Lockdown, as this just fed the conspiracy theory brigade. At the end of this enquiry, somebody will say 'Lessons must be learned'. And this MUST happen. We will probably have another pandemic in my lifetime, probably flu, maybe a mutation of the avian strains. It has to be managed better. I am utterly convinced there were way more covid deaths than their needed to be, especially if the UK had been locked down earlier. Even just a week or two would have made a difference, but it was well & truly out of the bag before there was a sufficiently radical plan in place. Then Track & Trace was hopelessly inadequate. I think we as citizens certainly learned lessons. If I heard there was a pandemic flu on an East - West trajectory, there are things I would definitely do to plan, but Government missed too many early opportunities - perhaps their esteemed leader thought that we are an island so hopefully the virus couldn't swim, I don't know, but I do remember how scary it was at the time watching the TV News & thinking 'Why is so little being put in place here, when we can see what is happening in Europe?'
One of the things I learned on the domestic financial front is that we did spend more, as items weren't always available & with not knowing how long Lockdown or indeed the Pandemic would last, we were buying extras of things when we saw them & stocking up. It took a long while for our grocery budget to get back to normality. Also, having had covid (albeit one of the later less serious varieties), I have a better idea of what I need in stock in terms of medicines, which are the most comfortable facemasks......only small things, I know, but it was all new to us, wasn't it, at a time when people were understandably frightened & stressed.
I will be following the Enquiry with interest.
F

Absolutely agree with everything you say. As another public sector worker there is no way in heck we could have gotten away with the nonsense they were all up to. And the former PM just takes us all for fools and lies and lies and lies. Ms D is utterly ridiculous with this temper tantrum she is throwing over her lack of peerage, and mistakes that were made with planning, lockdown and contracts border on criminal. 

foxgloves

@Elisheba - I completely agree. This is just a zombie government now - nothing seems to be happening at all, apart from factional in-fighting & trying to stoke up culture wars. 
We can't as a 21st century country go on with this backward-looking, time-wasting nonsense.
F

Tescodealqueen

I would find it interesting to know exactly what useful legislation has been passed since 2016 as since the  Brexit referendum all I have seen is arguments about Brexit CoVid who should be leader of the parliamentary parties and the aftermath of all these things. How are we moving the country forward for ordinary folk?

badmemory

If this shower get in again we will be having a repeat of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.  You know that phrase about not being able to organise a booze up in a brewery.  I have never agreed with a tory but it is only the last few years I think of them with contempt.  I may have hated Maggie with a vengance & still do but never with contempt.

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen & @badmemory - I totally agree. I can't think of any meaningful legislation that has been passed. Unfortunately this is a group of people who believe they are born to rule and thus the survival of their Party has been the driving objective for a long time, even more so now. I know we have had the pandemic (lots of shocking findings still to emerge on that, I'm sure) & the war in Ukraine & I am factoring those in, but I simply can't think of any government legislation, introduction or change which has affected my life positively in any way.....& many people are a lot worse off. What I wouldn't give for a General Election next week. It may come to an earlier one if they can't get it together & the parliamentary party implodes.
I'm sure most people who are struggling are not bothered about being fabulously wealthy - they would just like sufficient income to feed, clothe & house their families, have a week's holiday most years & to drive a modest reliable vehicle. It doesn't seem much to ask, really, but is out of reach for so many. 
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Cooler today, following some lovely rain yesterday evening - not much of a storm here though, a few rumbles & the occasional flash & that was it, but it was the rain I wanted & we did finally get some.
Monday is generally quite a productive, old-style sort of a day for me, as I like to get set up for the week ahead, get organised, etc. I did have a bit of a wobble late morning as the Consultant phoned to discuss my CT results. They have decided to give the gynae issue another 6 weeks, then to recall me for a follow-up CT scan to see if there are any developments. This will then inform whether they go ahead with surgery. The wobble came because the scan also revealed another unrelated problem which is going to require more hospital tests. It did rather confirm a suspicion I had, but worried me nevertheless. Mr F is of the opinion that if I hadn't had had the CT scan for one thing, they wouldn't have diagnosed the other thing & it's much better to know & deal with stuff. I shall probably agree with him by this evening, but for the moment, I would rather just get on with having my wobble.
Anyway, enough of that, which is of no relevance to my small positive money-saving wins today:
*Have made a sourdough, which is just on its 2nd proving & will shortly be tipped out of its basket & baked.
*Another dough on 1st proving for tonight's pizza base & a batch of bread rolls.
*Defrosted the last piece of gammon I slow-cooked a while back when I bought that bargainaceous pack of gammon 'ends' for £5 for a pack of 4. Intend to use some of it on the pizza with sweetcorn & other bits & pieces, then the rest of it will be added to tomorrow's frittata. 
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates - grocery budget will be lower than I like for the final shop of the month, but we have plenty in. 
*Did a couple more surveys - am up to £35-77 on my June PA earnings so far, so will keep checking daily.
*Checked veg garden after last night's rain - all looking fine - greenhouse too, will pop in & mist the cukes later.
*Mr F posted B-in-L's birthday present on his lunch hour as he goes past the post office on his walk - I try to get things wrapped & addressed nice & early so that they can be sent 2nd class to keep postage costs down.
*Did 3 loads of laundry - all pegged out on the whirlygig & blow-drying for free.
There may be other bits & pieces as the day progresses, but I also intend to do some shawl knitting.
Hope everyone's got off to a decent start to the week.
F x

Cheery_Daff

A nicely productive day there. Here are so cushions so you don't injure yourself as you wobble xxx

Sun_Addict

Not surprised you want a wobble, I think you're allowed. Hopefully something that can be dealt with easily. 

Elisheba

Sending you hugs for your wobble, @foxgloves That is never what you want to hear. Hopefully it won't be anything too bad.