Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Greetings Sunbeams!
Well, I was up at 6am, intending to be out in the garden doing more cutting back by 7.30 when Mr F departed for work. However, I stepped into the pantry to check for something & almost fell into the big basket of tomatoes I picked yesterday, so I decided that kitchen witchery was more necessary than wielding the secateurs. Today's small positives for the budget:
*Fed sourdough jar for baking a loaf tomorrow.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did a couple of small financial admin tasks.
*Garden pickings: Basil
*Made a batch of tomato ketchup. Never made it before. It's much more tomatoey & tangy than the bought stuff, which I think just goes to show just how much sugar goes into the commercial stuff. Anyway, 5 jars of it made & I did the hot water bath treatment for sterilizing too, so that they will store for longer.
*Used another 800g tomatoes in tonight's meal  - Gigantes plakis - which is simmering away in the slow cooker. I intend to serve it with stir-fried tromboncino (a type of weird shape courgette - like a bendy cor anglais - but fewer seeds & firmer) & crusty bread. Also leftover blackberry & apple crumble from last night.
*More tomato efforts.....made a batch of Hairy Biker recipe basic curry sauce. It's one of those that is really useful for making a quick meal from leftovers. I didn't use fresh tomatoes for this as intended. Decided to use a couple of jars of the ones I bottled last September to free up a little shelf-space for this year's. They smelled & tasted absolutely fine. I hope I'm not speaking too soon when I say I do think I have now nailed it with bottled homegrown tomatoes. Also used our shallots & garlic (grown by Mr F). 8 portions now in freezer.
*Finished a pair of birthday present socks, darned in the ends (just 2 per sock which suits me fine  - one of the positives about knitting seamless socks on 4 needles) & popped them away in the presents bag. I've got out the yarn for the next pair - self-patterning called 'Autumn leaves' - ready to cast on tomorrow.
*Did a couple of surveys. 
*Mr F has just pinged me to say he did manage to call into the big supermarket near his workplace to make use of the £6 off voucher. I don't think it will be a particularly low spend as the list included a pantry re-stock of 3 types of sugar, vinegar & various other ingredients to facilitate the rest of the season's preserving - pears will be next. I've nobbled Mr F to help me pick them at the weekend.
Well, I think it's time to have a little tidy-round, then read a chapter of my book out on our shady coffee bench. 28 degrees here this afternoon. Too hot for me, for sure. Soot is so hot he's taken himself off for a snooze on my HQ chair. I left the curtains closed in there, but cracked the windows, so it must be cooler for him. He hasn't even appeared to demand his mid-afternoon treats!
F x

scandimore

Very productive foxgloves! Not quite on the same level but I got rid of some tomatoes today by making tomato and chilli jam - it tastes lovely and can imagine it on a cheeseboard. I think 800g tomatoes makes 500ml jar so could easily factor up. Looking forward to hearing about what you have planned for your pears. 

foxgloves

@scandimore - Good work! I have a recipe for tomato & chilli jam, but haven't made it yet. I'm not ruling it out with the way our tomato crop is going though, so good to know it is worth making.


@Cheery_Daff - Thanks, yes I know it is possible to select diaries as 'favourites' which then pop up on a list for ease of reading, but I have never managed to do it. I have tried various things, which look to me as intuitive routes to achieving this result, but nothing has worked, so I decided I must be missing something obvious & just dip in & out of diaries as I see them. 
F

Debsnewbudget

I keep all the diaries I want to read as bookmarks

On each diary you get the chance to bookmark it 

Then when I log on I just go to my bookmarks which is in my profile picture

foxgloves

@Debsnewbudget - Thanks, yes, I could do that. In fact, I think I did do that at one point, but then never looked at them. Perhaps I'm a 'dipper in & out-er' at heart.
F

PennysIntoPounds

Yes, it's my habit too to click on my profile then go to 'bookmarked', don't want to miss out on anyone's news! 

Baileys_Babe

foxgloves said:

@Cheery_Daff - Thanks, yes I know it is possible to select diaries as 'favourites' which then pop up on a list for ease of reading, but I have never managed to do it. I have tried various things, which look to me as intuitive routes to achieving this result, but nothing has worked, so I decided I must be missing something obvious & just dip in & out of diaries as I see them. 
F

The easiest way I have found @foxgloves to follow a diary or other thread is to use bookmarks.

1) Click on the bookmark icon at the top of the page next to the title, the bookmark icon will turn blue

2) To view which booked marked threads have had new posts click on the "Bookmarked Threads" button either to the right of the screen, if using a computer or at the bottom of the page on a mobile phone

3) This brings up a list of your bookmarked threads in the order of those with the newest post at the top. If a thread has had posts since you last read that thread the title will be in bold and a tilt saying new and a number, the number relates to the number of posts since you last read that thread.

4) To go to a thread from your bookmarks, just click on it and it will take you to your first unread post.

5) If you decide you no longer wish to follow a thread you just click on the bookmark icon again and it will go back to being just an outline and will no longer be on your bookmarked threads list.

foxgloves

Morning Sunbeams,
Well, I shall have to move in a minute. I'm sitting at our dining table in the conservatory with my coffee & the sun is pounding down through the open doors. I can definitely hear the shady courtyard bench calling my name.
Mr F is on a very long shift today & won't be back until bedtime, so it's just me & the cats until then. Ash has clearly had a night on the tiles & is fast asleep on a cosy corner of carpet. Soot is wondering all the usual Soot things....why he only had one breakfast, why he didn't get double biscuits, why cats don't have lunch, why there was nothing edible on the kitchen work surface when he had a sneaky jump up there earlier when he saw me go out the front to water the plants & why he isn't allowed in the pantry. Can you spot the theme here?
Anyway, I'd decided to do my big clean a day early but just as he was going out of the door this morning, Mr F asked me to leave the vacuuming for him to do tomorrow. Well, I wasn't going to argue with that on such a sticky hot day, was I? Apparently his daily steps are lower at weekends so vacuuming the whole house will boost them up!
Today's small budget-helping positives:
*Updated grocery budget. Despite all the extra preserving ingredients, last night's shop (assisted by relevant nectar prices & the£6 off voucher) only came to just over £60 which means we should come in roughly on budget after we've picked up veg & bacon on the market tomorrow..
*Transferred funds from House & Garden Savings Pot to cover the new frying pan picked up yesterday from above shop. We have needed one for a while & this was half price.......while on this subject.......
*There was loads of household stuff in the sale yesterday while Mr F was at the supermarket & he sent me several pings with photos of stuff to see if I wanted him to get it. Two of these were things we do need, but the colours weren't at all what I wanted (bath sheets) & I couldn't assess the freezer containers properly from a little photo so I said I'd rather wait until we've looked at the Swedish Emporium where we are hoping to go at the weekend for those & support our local market for the towels as we've had some excellent ones from there. These are EXACTLY the sort of impulse buys I used to be so bad for in the Spendy Era. Nothing is a bargain if it isn't really what I want. I just used to re-buy a little bit later so v wasteful from both a financial & environmental viewpoint. How much cashola I'd have saved if I'd adopted that mantra about 35 years ago!
*Cleaned bathroom, kitchen & surfaces using usual minimal products & microfibre cloths.
*Changed bed linen to make best use of the hot weather for line-drying, including thick quilted mattress cover & 2 pillows. 
*Zero effort required for tonight's nosebag. Mr F has taken his with him & I will heat up a leftover portion of the gigantes plakis I made in the slow cooker yesterday & eat it with a buttered roll. Mr F ear-marked the other spare portion for a future work lunch, added some leftover sauteed courgettes to it & bunged it in the freezer. There is also one last portion of blackberry & apple crumble left so I will eat that tonight. We have done well with 'Cook once, eat twice' this week. Crumble did 6 portions.
*Started a list of everything I can usefully do in town tomorrow.so as to make best use of the parking charge.
*Did a couple of surveys.
I may do other tasks as the day progresses, but I also intend to sit somewhere shady & cast on the next pair of birthday present socks, finish my book & probably start another. Will also find something interesting to watch tonight when I shall be in sole charge of the TV remote control. Oh yes!
Enjoy the sunshine if that's your thing.....find some nice shade if not.
Love F x
Ohhhh - I think Soot has just eaten a cricket. I think it was maybe crunchy like a cat biscuit. What a baddie!

foxgloves

@Baileys_Babe - Thanks for that, as I can see from your post that I was only doing half a job. I have been happy to dip in & out of various diaries, but I can't see me remembering to make too many forays across to the MFWs & I do want to follow @EssexHebridean's progress, especially as that long-awaited garden develops. So I have subscribed to that as a tester & as it worked perfectly (as doubtlessly my other past bookmarked sites did, had I then actually looked for them in the saved list!), I will also subscribe to others. 
Hope you are having a good day. I think you are on the other side of the country to us. Do you have this very hot weather? Top temperature here today forecast as 29 degrees, which is 4 more than I am comfortable. Don't know how I used to lie out in it back in the late 1970s/early 80s, but we all did. Couldn't do it now!
F x

Baileys_Babe

Glad that you were able to follow my rambling instructions.

Yes, it is sunny and warm here, I'm north of you but nearer the middle of the country (east to west). I would prefer it if the temperature was 25° max but I am grateful for the light. I've shut the window, blinds and curtains in the bedroom and once the sun sets I will open it all up again to keep the bedroom cool so we can get some sleep.

I did our bedding on Monday, pillowcases, pillow protectors, sheets, mattress protector, duvet cover plus dd bedding and towels it took 3 loads but dried in no time and smell gorgeous.