Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Moorviews

Reading your dental ordeal brought back memories of an agonising night following the extraction of a broken molar when I was young. It’s very difficult to get away from mouth or ear pain so I’m glad to hear that it is easing off. I hope each day brings you some improvement. I can only say that you are very brave!

It’s great to know that home made pesto can be frozen as I wasn’t sure about freezing basil. I often keep basil growing through cuttings in water. They root easily and can be potted on for anyone interested in that aspect. Thank you for detailing your bottling method too. I can hopefully make use of that information next year. I was too late catching my last tomatoes outside as the blight struck quickly and unexpectedly. They were extras as I ran out of space in the greenhouse but produced an enormous crop of cherry tomatoes. It was a real eye opener to me that pollination and growth is so much better outdoors. I typically grow using the cordon system in the greenhouse but these got to romp away as they chose. Every year the garden teaches me something new. 

Avoiding feeding the cats two meals made me laugh 😂 Those humorous and cheeky traits are some of the lovely things about our pets and make us smile. Hope you have a lovely day x

EssexHebridean

Oh yay you DO sound like you're on the mend - I'm very glad to hear it and log may it continue feeling better. The stitches do sound super irritating though.

I like sunflower seeds in pesto - they seem to work well and have a similar sort of texture to pine nuts when blitzed I think. 

foxgloves

@Moorviews - Tomato plants can be so variable. This year, I grew 9 plants in the greenhouse (6 in the bed & 3 in a growbag up on the bench) & 9 outdoors in bottomless pots (not the expensive bought ones.....these were just old pots I gave to Mr F a few years ago & asked him to punch the bases out of them). I grew a few 'Oh happy day' as they were so prolific last year, but they didn't produce as many fruits this time. I liked a blight-free variety so I can get a crop even if other varieties go down with the wretched plague, & 'Oh happy Day' were my replacement blight-free variety when 'Ferline' became unavailable. Overall, we had a big tomato harvest this year though, so I am glad I was feeling more confident with the bottling process. One of my jars of home bottled tomatoes contains a little more than a tin of bought ones, so if I want a tin's worth for say, a spag bol or a chilli, I know I can leave a little bit in the fridge towards a pizza topping, soup or whatever else happens to be on the menu.
@EssexHebridean - Yes, I only required painkillers at bedtime last night & haven't had any today either. I am more comfortable when I don't talk......a difficult thing for me, as I am chatty by nature.
F

foxgloves

Greetings Tuesday Savers,
Oh the rain this morning! We had to go into town under our monster umbrella as we had early appointments for our flu jabs. Mr F is working afternoon until late tonight so I shall be snuggling up with the cats & the TV remote later. Anyway, a few budget-helping positives today:
*Did a thorough budget update. Tomorrow is my Big Budget Day & I really don't like to begin the process with a load of transactions hanging around not fully dealt with. So I've had a useful couple of hours up in Foxgloves HQ transferring funds where they need to go, looking at how bad September's grocery budget overspend has been (£11-39), revisiting the bill for my dental work, all that kind of jazz. I transferred the total amount of money from our dentist/optician pot to our current account ready to settle the bill, but the implants need to 'bed in' for 3 months before the porcelain teeth are fitted, so I'm thinking that now interest rates on our bank savings account is 4.75%, it makes sense to pop the funds for the final instalment of the work back there to mop up what bit of interest it can. It's been that kind of afternoon.....looking at various transactions/commitments & wondering whether to squeeze them out of September's budget or bung them into October's. Honestly, NOBODY except us lot on here could find this sort of stuff interesting, could we?!
*Mr F's flu jab was free as he is classed as a frontline worker, so we only had to pay for mine. I did note that it had gone up to £19.95 from the £15 or so I have paid in the past. However, I was so pleased to be able to get an appointment in good time & on a day where we could go in together to save on parking, etc, that I was in no mind to shop around.
*Called into a popular chain of coffee shop to buy a gift card for our friend's birthday. We were gagging for a coffee & sticky bun by then, but decided to compromise by buying a little pack of 2 choccy biscuits to take home & have with a free coffee from our own machine. As it was still pelting down with rain & my trousers were soggy, we felt proper virtuous for doing this!
*Use-it-ups for food today. Mr F has taken a sandwich made from some rather elderly (but still ok) bread & something from the freezer & I am intending to have a baked sweet potato tonight with whatever I fancy from the fridge. I have managed to eat some toast today.....but only white bought bread, not my own crusty sourdough, & I do have to cut it into little pieces & eat it on the non-operated on side of my mouth.
*Started reading a book from my charity bookshop pile - from the blurb, it appears to combine crime & archaeology, so as I enjoyed the Elly Griffiths series, I thought it was worth a go for 99p.
*Sock knitting planned for tonight too. I have 3 pairs already in the presents bag & another one & a half pairs to go. 
I am feeling in the mood for a bit of a renewed crackdown on spending as October rolls in. It's one of my favourite months of the year, but I'd just like it to be a month, where apart from sorting out presents in good time, I don't spend too much on other things. I am feeling up for a bit of shopping from home & solutions which are cosy, attractive, effective & free.
Well, it is all sounding suspiciously silent downstairs, so as Soot & Ash have not come to ask me for their afternoon treats, I am wondering quite what they are up to. I shall go & investigate & start shutting the house up for the night.
Love F x

EssexHebridean

Your comment about being a chatty sort of person made me smile - I am too, and if there is nobody else about to chat to, I'll quite happily talk away to myself!

Good work on the toast - and sourdough avoidance definitely comes under the heading of discretion being the better part of valour, I think! Very sensible! 

themadvix

You are definitely sounding much more yourself Foxgloves, if not IRL, then at least here!

EH, I too will chat away to myself, so it's so good to know I'm not alone!

Cheery_Daff

Yeo, me too - I find it REALLY hard working in an open plan office 😬

Sun_Addict

You sound a lot perkier today, great news. 

I love to chat too and in my old team I was appointed the resident meet and greeter for people coming for interviews where I would basically talk nervous candidates to death while they were waiting for their time slot. Quite a few people thanked me afterwards for taking their mind off things. The interviewers used to ask me what I thought of the person so it was useful for them too. I did have one tell me to stop talking, he was a right misery, and no he didn’t get the job! 

PennysIntoPounds

What a productive day with a lot of wins- I am particularly impressed with your soggy-trousered resistance! Good to hear you sounding much better. Will Mr F be offered the covid jab as well for winter or does the recent tightening of who gets it not include people in his role?

milann

Pleased to hear your mouth is getting a little better. 

I’m another who likes a general plan for the week…..life and my spontaneity gets in the way of rigid lists and I end up beating myself up for under achieving.