Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

Allowing for the rough area you are Mrs F I shall be MOST unhappy if any predictions for a dump of snow up your way prove accurate for the 9th allowing that is exactly the day I have just postponed a planned photography trip to!  

I confess I slightly wished I'd picked up a scarf this morning, although I did warm up fast enough once I got walking. 

PennysIntoPounds

I did not read 'rough' as 'approximate' @EssexHebridean and thought blimey, how posh has EH gone that foxgloves' area sounds rough 😂

Cheery_Daff

PennysIntoPounds said:

I did not read 'rough' as 'approximate' @EssexHebridean and thought blimey, how posh has EH gone that foxgloves' area sounds rough 😂

🤭🤭

Our local weather page (which has a reputation for accuracy and a lack of drama) is still saying there are some models showing colder weather next week, but this is by NO means definite yet, so all fingers crossed that planned photography and hairdressing trips will be able to go ahead!

milann

‘Hooray’ to the HMRC being finally sorted. We ended up getting passports for the photo ID as we both used to have the paper driving licenses . We’ve never used them to go abroad. Not very cost effective but we were so cheesed off. I couldn’t even hire a carpet cleaner from a place I’ve used lots of times without the photo  😱 Don’t even get me going on the problems my mil had because she didn’t even have a bank card - this was a few years ago - just before she passed away. She paid with a cheque or got her dd to pay and she paid dd the cash.
We have had heavy rain this afternoon…..much heavier than I thought it was. I realised this after I’d decided to walk to the shop instead of driving. I did appreciate the warm house once back in though.

Suffolk_lass

My weather app showed the perceived temperature a full five degrees lower than the actual temperature here. I am about two hours drive from you, I think. Not today though. Much warmer. "The boys" (DH and friend gardener) are thoroughly enjoying themselves putting up my fruit cage. I had to dry the slightly soggy instructions on the top of the hob before putting them in a clear plastic sleeve.

Personally, I am hoping for a really nasty cold snap at some point in Feb. This is after another person with a holiday home in France brought home yet another Asian Hornet in the footwell of their car, took its picture and reported it then let the b-thing go. An act of environmental terrorism as far as I am concerned!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Oh for goodness sake! Fancy reporting the damn thing then letting it go! Mr F & I are looking out for Asian hornets. Our garden is visited by lots of bees of varying types & we wouldn't like these baddies to move in locally. 
@milann - Yes, it is very difficult & frustrating when elderly people won't engage with even the basics of technology like bank card & cash points, etc. Mind you, someone I know discovered after her father died that her Mum didn't know how to write a cheque or pay a bill, so I should think bank cards must have been the magic of the Wookey Hole witch!
@EssexHebridean - Well I am quite cynical about these weather predictions but there are a lot of them, mostly from local media outlets around the country. On the other hand, it is February & I have always thought this to be the month most likely to produce a snowy snap in the UK. We tend to avoid snow if it is mostly coming in from the Peak District, but if it's coming down the North East corridor then we can fall under that forecast, it depends. I can't see any snow in the near future on the BBC weather app so will just see what happens. I feel better about Mr F's rather cross-country route to work in grim weather now that we have a 4-wheel drive.

And hello to everyone else! Pleasant day today, have been reasonably productive but at a leisurely pace. Money-saving positives as follows:
*Found 3 nice blank cards in my stash which will do perfectly for March's birthdays.
*Recycled a pile of empty spread tubs into free plant labels.
*Good minor green gym session this morning in the garden. Went around with the rubbish sack & grabber collecting up stray plant labels & crocks (for re-use) plus all the bits of crud that had blown in during the storms. Then progressed clearing & lightly forking over one of the big flower borders. Time-consuming because of needing to fork out our ever-present problem weeds - bindweed (both types), hawkweed & alkanet. Also created a few new plants as I went along by dividing up clumps of Mum's pink primroses & replanting to fill gaps at the front of the border. Heaps of these still to do. I had 2 trugs this morning - one for baddies to go in the brown garden waste wheelie & the other for adding to our compost bins. Takes longer separating stuff out, but too many useful resources for composting to be hurling it all in one trug.
*Mr F is picking up a modest grocery shop on his way home this afternoon. He has loyalty vouchers for £1 off coffee & £3 off cat meat, both of which are on the list, so we are hoping they won't have run out.
*Shall be having a check around the veg baskets later to see if there are any use-it-ups I can add to the cannellini bean crumble I am making later.
*Armhole knitting on my cardi progressing well. I am getting used to the edge to edge pattern. I am creating the first armhole, so the next section will be knitting across the back until I get to where the other armhole needs to be. That shouldn't require too much concentration.
BTW, as garden season is stepping up, you must let me know if you think my posts are becoming too garden-heavy. I do include a lot of garden activity in my diary because firstly we grow a fair bit of food, which is a positive thing for the grocery budget, but also because back in the Spendy Era, I spent serious amounts of (the bank's) money at garden centres & since the LBM, I have really enjoyed the change to more sustainable methods. I re-use everything that I can to avoid buying new plastic, make compost & worm compost & grow most stuff from seed, I save seed each year, swap plants & fill my borders with stuff I have divided up or grown from cuttings. I do still visit garden centres & enjoy doing so, but only spend a fraction of my past planty blow-outs. So when I include what I'm doing in the garden, it is usually very much from the point of view of demonstrating that high levels of spend are not necessary & can often be replaced by a bit of gardening knowledge & being prepared to wait just a little longer for whatever it is to grow to £15 garden centre size. Just saying that if anyone wants to ignore the garden bits of my diary, I shan't be offended!
Right, better get cat treat time sorted out as Soot can't believe they are an hour late (in my defence, he has been in the garden for the past hour so he can't have been THAT hungry!)
F x

EssexHebridean

Please keep all garden heavy content coming as far as I am concerned Mrs F - I will no doubt be leaning heavily on you and Pippi for all manner of advice here as it's been so many years before we've had a "garden" bigger than a modestly sized pocket handkerchief! 

(And I can categorically assure all readers that I most certainly do not think that Foxgloves are is "rough" and that comment really made me chuckle PiP as I can see exactly how it reads") 

Makingabobor2

Well I for one,  love reading your garden exploits and tips. As a fairly new veg grower, I need all the tips I can get. Been doing flowers for many years, but can't really say as I know much about them, I just know what I like....lol

Cheery_Daff

Please do keep all gardening content for my benefit too! I have far more garden than I can manage and get quite overwhelmed so seeing other people doing things is encouraging 😊

In return I shall keep you informed of all relevant Peak District weather - apologies in advance for the trouble it causes 🤭

ladyholly

Another one that loves your garden news. I only have a small garden much of which is in permanent shade and we have a pond but have started to grow some veg In pots and wehave to leave some space for the dog.