Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Morning Campers, rise & shine!
Have been sitting with a mug of ginger tea deciding how to beat the weather, which looks less rainy than yesterday, but still wet at times. Think I will aim to pop out & do (bite-size if necessary) garden tasks throughout the day, as that is where my time is most needed atm, but also have a selection of useful indoor stuff to do when showers appear. I have started the day feeling I'd like to be both productive & moving about more than I did yesterday. I did have a lot of desk stuff to do, but really my steps were shockingly low. 
Also need to research walking sandals as have decided I'd like a pair - naturally the only pair I have so far seen which have taken my fancy have sold out. 
Right.....8am, it is currently dry. I think I can get a tray of bedding planted out on the way down to open up the greenhouse & coldframe.
Have a good day, frugal folks,
F x

Baileys_Babe

Thanks for your feedback on your first try at vegetable crisps. Good luck with your second attempt.

You might of started a new trend with carrot charcoal, added to smoothies, crushed and sprinkled on salads, I sure it will be the next super food 😁 

PennysIntoPounds

You've mistaken me for a significantly more sober person @Blackcats 😁
Of course, when I win a million on the PB and an Omaze house, I hope Foxgloves' Manor (TM) crisps will be abundant at the Team Tuppence party 

foxgloves

@Baileys_Babe - Yes, I expect if I were an 'Influencer', I would be able to attract a following of the gullible ready to take a daily shot of carrot charcoal smoothie, lol.
F

foxgloves

Hello again, Wednesday Pence-Wranglers,
Today has been quite productive. Showers persisted all morning, so I got on with indoor tasks, but this afternoon has been dry so have made progress in the garden. Today's unexciting (but honestly, I am well aware nobody follows my diary for excitement!) budget-helping bits & bobs as follows:
*Finished meal plans for next week.
*Wrote grocery shopping list.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Wrapped B-i-L's birthday presents  - paper & giftbag from my recycled stash, homemade gift tag. Family meet-up imminent, so I was determined to have it ready early to save on parcel postage.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Planted out another tray of homegrown summer bedding. Moved all remaining bedding plants up onto wheelbarrow which I have netted to keep unhelpful beaks at bay. Some are still a little on the small side, others are ready when I am, so will prioritise those & have everything planted out by the end of the month.
*Weeded strip of bed along side of greenhouse & set up bottomless pots for 6 of our outdoor tomato plants. Got them planted in a mix of our home made compost & bagged, as well of course as a bit of garden soil as these are pots which have had the bases punched out by Mr F (as an alternative a few years ago to buying those tomato growing pot rings, which I think are a bit on the expensive side). Staked, tied them in & did my usual anchoring of the canes with string tied to each end of the greenhouse. Watered all the thirstiest-looking veg.
*Took in my new knitted phone sock at the side as it needed to be tighter. A small bit of extra faff, but the last case I bought was very plain & boring & cost £15, so I have saved some ££ for a while at least.
*Cheapo nosebag tonight as it is jacket potato night. I am having tuna & cheese salad with sliced avocado on mine. Mr F has taken a large container out of the freezer which is labelled 'lamb stuff', also a pot of lamb stock & has purloined the carrots with which I had intended to have a 2nd attempt at vegetables crisps. I think this is pointing towards Epic Man Stew creation when he gets in. 
Well, it's turned cloudy again & there's quite a wind getting up. I think I will get the patio doors shut & think about a nice hot bubble bath after my tomato wrestling.
Hope everyone has managed at least a reasonably decent day.
F x
P.S The Ga*min watch I received for my birthday is really nice, but I think it hates me! 

PennysIntoPounds

Always such a win being prepared so you can jump on a seeing-people-in-person opportunity for gifts and cards. The miles my family's gifts and cards travel before Christmas being handed from one person to another to another is hilarious.
Why do you think your Ga*min watch hates you?!

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - Well it tells the truth about my steps, which are certainly lower than they used to be - haven't been too happy to see that. Also parts of the algorithm it uses to present 'body battery' statistics seem a little contradictory in that almost everyday I am flagged as not having taken sufficient rest (not just sleep, but periods of rest in the day) & being on the go all day......yet my step-count shows I am not walking enough to meet my modest target. I think part of this is that I can be physically busy - i e Yesterday I was planting out big tomato plants which involved dragging a compost sack, bending & stretching, & planting out summer bedding, so a bit of weeding, trugging stuff off to compost & garden waste wheelie, digging holes, watering in, etc. So obviously this is picked up in higher heart rate (as in.....I did quite a long gardening session without a rest) but it didn't involve a huge amount of steps. This is why I can be quite busy, but still get a reminder "Foxgloves, it's time to move".
Mostly, I think I'm just getting used to a new system, which seems to offer quite a lot more info than my last one, so some of it is probably me. Love the watch, as looks like a watch, which I also needed, rather than one of those big plasticky lumps.
Anyway.....off to do my daily early morning kitchen sort-out, so Thursday's steps begin!
F x

themadvix

foxgloves said:

@PennysIntoPounds - Well it tells the truth about my steps, which are certainly lower than they used to be - haven't been too happy to see that. Also parts of the algorithm it uses to present 'body battery' statistics seem a little contradictory in that almost everyday I am flagged as not having taken sufficient rest (not just sleep, but periods of rest in the day) & being on the go all day......yet my step-count shows I am not walking enough to meet my modest target. I think part of this is that I can be physically busy - i e Yesterday I was planting out big tomato plants which involved dragging a compost sack, bending & stretching, & planting out summer bedding, so a bit of weeding, trugging stuff off to compost & garden waste wheelie, digging holes, watering in, etc. So obviously this is picked up in higher heart rate (as in.....I did quite a long gardening session without a rest) but it didn't involve a huge amount of steps. This is why I can be quite busy, but still get a reminder "Foxgloves, it's time to move".
Mostly, I think I'm just getting used to a new system, which seems to offer quite a lot more info than my last one, so some of it is probably me. Love the watch, as looks like a watch, which I also needed, rather than one of those big plasticky lumps.
Anyway.....off to do my daily early morning kitchen sort-out, so Thursday's steps begin!
F x

I will be purchasing one of those too as my F1tb1t is on its way out battery-wise after just two years - which just isn't good enough as far as I'm concerned. Mr MV has a G*rmin and there's definitely stuff I'm not going to appreciate about it but needs must. Given my days can be like yours, i.e. lots of activity without necessarily lots of movement, it will be interesting to see what it says. 

badmemory

I am certainly thinking garmn.  I am on my third fb & the first 2 were great.  Unfortunately it took it for granted nothing had changed & of course it had.  They had been taken over by google & every update goes from bad to worse.

foxgloves

@themadvix - Yes, that is exactly what happened to my old bitness of fitness device. Mine was newer than Mr F's, but wasn't holding charge. I was having to remember to charge it every day, but only once I'd sat down for the evening, otherwise I missed out on counting steps during those parts of the day when I was busy moving about. If it couldn't even hold charge for 24 hours, then I could no longer see the point of it. I have swapped my phone with Mr F (as already mentioned due to the car infotainment screen connectivity issue). He re-set it once it came into his possession so now, of course, it won't work with his tracker as the phone is no longer supported. This always drives me mad because it feels as though tech companies are calling the shots as to when it is time for customers to buy new devices, when it should be down to personal choice esp re sustainability issues & one's financial circumstances. I would be fine with it were it an ancient old phone, but it isn't. Anyway, I am getting on well with my new one - just a bit of a shock how much my step count has fallen off over the last year or so & feeling miffed at being told simultaneously by a gadget that I don't rest enough, but don't move enough either! 
It will be interesting to hear how you get on with yours when you get it.
F