Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

PennysIntoPounds

Well done on all the things but mostly sending hugs and support for your ongoing medical doodahs. Even if they've not been particularly painful or traumatising, remember that you're still human and entitled to a wee bit of slack time as compensation for energy and worry for every appointment x  

foxgloves

Thanks for your comments, which were as always, read & appreciated. 
Quite a useful day here on the whole - rain most of this morning, so I didn't get my bargainaceous £1 per tray pansies planted out, but I will hopefully do them tomorrow. I could do them next, but by the time I've trogged down to the shed to gather the necessary gardening gear, dusk will be almost upon us, so they may as well wait.
Today's small budget-helping positives:
*Sorted clean laundry & tried out new iron. Didn't require the steam function, but was pleased to discover it is a lighter model than Lord Gunk, as our previous model has now become known. Sped through the half dozen items which required pressing, anyway. Glad I didn't buy a more expensive brand.
*Needed to use up the last big chunk of the huge guatemalan blue squash we grew. Cut into chunks & roasted along with red onion, garlic, 2 small chunked up tronomboncino courgettes, rosemary, salt & pepper & a dash of oil. Then made soup by dumping it in a pan with a vegetable stock cube, a bit more seasoning, a cubed potato & some water, simmered for 20 mins before blitzing it into soup. And you know what? It was scrummy! We both had a bowl for lunch with a slice of sourdough toast & two further portions frozen. Not at all bad for a use-it-up.
*Started a bag of library returns.
*Entered a prize draw & did a survey.
*Asked Mr F to retrieve my basket of piano music & check it for spiders before I look in there. I am starting to want new stuff to play, but this can be shopped from home as I have lots of music, I just need to sort out some new pieces to learn.
*Rejuvenated my anniversary bouquet received 13 days ago - removed dead ones, re-cut stems, added flower food & re-arranged & I think they will be good for another 2 or 3 days - want to make the most of the cost of them.
*Had a good look at the Christmas present list, double-checking & ticking things off that are already bought. Was pleased to find that the only outstanding items are 2 things for Mr F (one of which is on order), 1 thing each for 2 friends (on order, paid for, just waiting for delivery) & 2 bottles of good local beer each to add to both my & Mr F's brother-in-laws' present bags. And that is it. Everything except Mr F's presents is wrapped, although I do need to label everybody's bag. 
*After the above, moved onto the financial side.....printed a list of credit card transactions & went through them, marking off in red & green (oh, the motivation provided by coloured pencils!) which gifts had already been paid off That left me with a list of all those awaiting a transfer from the Presents Pot before paying across to the credit card. And the totals matched, which is always a good thing, so I did the transfer, updated the Presents Pot spreadsheet & am confident that nothing present-expenditure wise is going to drag into January. That is in the past. I couldn't go back to that again - horrible January bills/statements & even more grimly awful in February when I'd also be maxed out on the evil flexi-loan, so even that couldn't help me back in the day! 
*A bit of sock knitting tonight while watching 'Shetland'.
Not my cooking night, so I am destined for some leisure time now. I've just started a new charity book shop find - a Karen Maitland novel - I thought I'd read pretty much all of hers, so it was nice to happen upon a title I didn't know. It's about the Black Death - one of my favourite subjects back when I was a student. Oh, & a magazine I bought at the beginning of last month & forgot about. It hasn't even been opened, so it will feel like I have had a free one.
I hope everyone has managed to have at least a reasonably decent Wednesday,
Off to put the fairy lights on now, as it is so dull.
F x

Suffolk_lass

I have retained a string of fairy lights, strung across the ceiling, which I often use in the early mornings or evenings, in my study - it's a softer, prettier light.

foxgloves

Yes, I have 3 strings of them up all year, @Suffolk_lass - an older set in the conservatory & 2 sets bought for 50p each a couple of years ago from dear old Wilko's January sale. One of those strings is draped across the top of my big pine dresser in the kitchen, the other is scrunched into a mystery purple glass pot thing which is on a bookshelf in the living room & looks very pretty. I say 'mystery' because I spotted it in a grubby state in Mum's conservatory - full of dead spiders & old plant labels. I remarked what a nice colour it was & she gave it to me. She couldn't remember where she'd got it from or what it was, but filled with a string of fairy lights, it's made a stylish free ornament.
I think fairy lights lift my mood during these darker months.
F

EssexHebridean

I've got several pretty gin bottles which have been thriftily emptied of their contents and now contain strings of lights - currently two are in the living room and one in the front room, but I may well transfer them all to the front room as it probably suits them more in there, being generally "cosier". It is a nice way of creating a nice ornament for a low spend though. At the flat we did also have a set of lights up all year along the fireplace - we've not done that in the house because of course now the "fire" is a real one, and we didn't think the lights would like it! 

We too have taken advantage of various cheapy strings of lights over the years in post-christmas sales. We've also got a number of sets from the Land of Pounds from back when their lights were actually really good quality and those tend to come out each year too - I'm quite looking forward to working out places for all our decorations this year, plus for the first time in a long while we will have a suitable space for a tree! 

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean - Yes, gin bottles can make very nice ornaments when filled with fairy lights. I have done that with a tiny set of lights & an Adn*ms gin bottle. It puts me in holiday mode & looks so pretty lit up.
How nice that you now have space for a Christmas tree. Until a couple of years ago, we always brought in a potted tree from our garden, but as the current one just got too big for Mr F to get it under the doorframes, we decided to buy an artificial one (going against my huge preference for all things natural). We specifically chose one of the exact height to stand up on the bow windowsill in our front room. It's the best place for it, as it doesn't take up any floor space & gives us a nice well-dressed festive window from inside & out.
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
I don't know where today has disappeared to. It seems only an hour or so since I was sitting having breakfast & coffee and planning my day.......& yes, I was up at my normal early time, just in case anyone thought they might lob in a quip about me having been in bed all day!
Anyway, I've achieved a few things on the budget-helping front:
*Baked a batch of bread rolls.
*Good free bending & stretching session weeding a front border & planting out my bargainaceous pansies (£1 per tray of 6). Also filled in a few gaps using homegrown foxgloves, aquilegias, penstemons, purple toadflax & primroses.
*Cheap & cheerful nosebag tonight - tuna rice, which I've been making since I was a student back in the cretaceous era - brown basmati rice, tuna, peppers, onion & salted peanuts).
*Used some online initial letter templates to add a festive bright red or green initial to the Christmas present bags I've packed so they don't get muddled up. Two people do have the same initial, but are going to different families, so shouldn't cause a problem because I have stood them separately. Card & ribbons shopped from home, so no cost.
*Added another task to the Christmas presents list I wrote yesterday. I forgot that I need to make up a hamper of home made preserves, etc. I must make sure I do that next week in time for imminent family meet-up. Postage is expensive these days, especially for parcels, so it really is worth conveying gifts to family members who we know will see other family members who live a long way from us.
*Checked online credit card account to make sure that yesterday's large payment had gone in correctly. It had, making a nil balance as expected.
*Did a few surveys. November's PA earnings sitting around £17 atm, so must keep checking for those.
And that was my lot for today.
Hope you have all had a decent day,
F x

Moorviews

It’s lovely to read of your creativity with the gifts and wrapping; it’s making me feel more Christmassy! I too enjoy the fairy lights being around and start switching them on as soon as the clocks go back, when the day feels like it is shutting down far too early. Being a lover of gin will hopefully not lead me into getting the bottles emptied too quickly because I do rather like that idea of filling them with fairy lights 😀

foxgloves

Thanks all @Moorviews. We always crafted things for Christmas as children - my Mum was very arty-crafty & made fabulous stuff - I've just carried it on through my adult life. My favourite festive effort this year is the origami stars. I have always been hopeless at origami & found it too maths-y, but I can make these. Absolutely free, as each one is folded from a pentagon cut from recycled Christmas wrapping paper I saved from last year. I was looking for a sustainable alternative for trimming presents, instead of the shiny plastic ribbon bows & these will work. Now I shall look for an origami flower I can make for decorating birthday presents.
F x

Suffolk_lass

One of DH's former colleagues made some origami stars out of fabric and sent us two for Christmas. They are fab, hung between the vertical timbers above the low wall that originally separated the reading area from the lounge