Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Well I enjoyed my bit of baking this morning, @Makingabobor2. Why not bake something if that's what you fancy doing? 
Victoria sponge filled with vanilla buttercream & home made blackberry & apple jam. I squidged a few fresh blackberries through the sieve to dye the icing. 
F x 

foxgloves

Ash the expensive vet bill cat out enjoying the sunshine earlier before it started tipping down with rain.
F

Sun_Addict

Both the cake and the cat look splendid. What beautiful markings expensive Ash has 😻

CRANKY40

Oh but he's so handsome! Absolutely worth every penny of the vet's bill. Our cat is grey too but she's all grey like a mini bad tempered raincloud. 

We had the rain in the early hours of this morning here so the bottom of my garden will be like a duckpond. It's sunny now so I may yet manage to do the planned garden maintenance later. Your cake looks good too but happily I've just had my late Saturday lunch of blueberry sourdough pancakes so I'm not tempted to start baking. I may make some blueberry muffins with the rest of the blueberries though. 

Blackcats

The cake looks delicious.  I'm sure your friend will have really enjoyed it.
Ash is a real beauty.  

Tescodealqueen

Ash is beautiful (and I a not a cat person!) and your cake looks delicious and very pretty

weenancyinAmerica

Love the pictures. Ash is a beautiful cat. The cake looks delicious. Great combination for the filling.

marionmgcars

Lucky friend, having a piece of that cake.  Home baking is always a lovely treat.  

foxgloves

Thanks all - Yes, our friend did enjoy the cake (as did we!) & she took a piece home with her wrapped in a pretty paper napkin, so she felt as though she'd been to a birthday party! She brought me some books, pretty vintage bed linen & plants as she's having a massive declutter while her hoarder partner is away. Always lovely to have a catch-up natter.
Yes, Ash does have lovely markings. The photo doesn't really do them or his colouring justice. He's a silver tabby....though not a fully one, as he has a white bib & paws, but he is very stripy - something my photo didn't show because of the sunshine & the way he was reclining.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Nice relaxed start to the day as we went to the village farm shop for breakfast & for Mr F FINALLY to buy the water butt needed to finish his major shed refurbishment project. The main money saving activity has been me tackling my Big Budget Day. All now finished, apart from a filing session which I am about to begin as soon as I've signed off my laptop. No nasty surprises. Not as much money available for savings pots this month because September's regular bills/DD spreadsheet figure included our annual breakdown cover renewal (I'm letting it auto-renew as it has only gone up by about £4, which isn't the p*ss-taking amount I've heard some of the car insurance providers are asking for atm). Also, it occurred to me the other day, when I was thinking about whether I needed to do anything specific for autumn/winter prep that our boiler & gas fire haven't been serviced this year. Usually, I receive a reminder letter around May & I book for someone to come & do them both together. I haven't heard anything from them, so intend to drop them a line to enquire whether they have somehow left me off their list or have ceased to do servicing, Having realised this, I have put the money aside in September's budget to cover it. As I always leave a monthly 'buffer zone' in our current account of around £220, I had less available for pots, but did still manage to pay across £116, divided between holidays, presents & clothes pots. I have paid into the Car Fund as usual, as well as our regular savings account. I also paid for the new water butt directly from September's budget rather than dipping into our House & Garden Pot, so I can't complain. I have still managed to squirrel some money away. 
On the food front, Mr F has been bashing ice out of the freezer this afternoon in lieu of the proper defrosting he says it needs when there's a bit less in it. Dinner is in the slow cooker - I've used 600g of our lovely ripe homegrown tomatoes in the smoky black bean chilli recipe I like to make this time of year. We will eat it in tortilla wraps rolled up with some grated cheese & with some wokked courgettes on the side. There is trifle left from yesterday so that's dessert done. 
All my jobs are done for today, so I will be reading out on the coffee bench as soon as I've finished my filing pile. I did get one survey done earlier, so my PA earnings are now over £44. That will be a useful addition to my September Personal Spends. 
All set up & ready to go for tomorrow's kitchen witchery. Jars & lids waiting to be sterilised, cauldron reached down from on high, bottling instructions/water bath timings at the ready - tomato bottling day! Only did this for the first time last year, so I hope I get through it without any mishaps or explosions. Time will tell!
Bye for now,
F x