Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

PennysIntoPounds

Big gardening push with beer and ice cream sounds an ideal weekend.
Poor starving Soot, you temptress, you 

KajiKita

I will be doing a big gardening push this weekend too! 🤞for the weather …. 😊

KK

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears, 
Looking forward to the 'Big push' gardening weekend. I might get ahead of myself by popping down to the greenhouse & potting up a few chard seedlings later, I'll see. I wasn't going to grow any this year, but decided to do just a small sowing as it is useful in stir-fry & as curry greens & I can fit 3 plants or so in my herb bed.
Today's budget-helping bits & pieces:
*Checked newly planted out beans for overnight chomping. They look ok.
*Dig up self-sown lemon balm & vervain to add to herb bed as both parent plants succumbed to the endless wet weather.
*Bake a sourdough. Not completed yet, but will have one by the end of the day. Just about to go into its basket.
*Made labels for my rhubarb & ginger gin using some salvaged pearly card & curly ribbon from my wrappings stash.
*Provided details to Pensions Forum for help with my NI query.
*Cleaned downstairs & changed household linens. Minimal products & washable cloths as usual.
*Bit of basic bathroom sink maintenance as it is just starting to run slowly again. Large kettle of boiling water applied.
*Did a few surveys, no big payers, but it all adds up (that's pretty much our group mantra on here, isn't it?)
*Start new library book - a Benjamin Myers novel. 
*Continue present knitting.
Soot started morning biscuit pester at 8.21am & has been around my feet, as well as on & under than at every opportunity. It doesn't matter what I've been doing, he even thought dusting the piano might just have something to do with him getting his biscuits. Now it IS actually time for them, so I am going to sign off & go & dish them up. They used to have their biscuits mid-morning, but then when he saw me having my lunch, Soot wondered why cats don't get lunch too, so biscuit time was changed to lunchtime. When we adopted him, the notes from his fosterer said, "Soot likes biscuits throughout the day". And that's the problem, left to regulate his own intake of said stinky little brown pellets, he would simply have no brake on his consumption. I can hear him grumbling in the kitchen, so will go & serve up & Ash will no doubt appear for his too.
Wishing everyone a decent Friday,
F x

Sun_Addict

Soot does make me laugh 😆 Can’t blame him for trying. My older cat likes to swipe faces on Teams when I’m WFH in a meeting and she wants feeding 🤣

marionmgcars

Just catching up with the comments.  I’ve had a little 3 day stay in Brussels with a friend, which was great, but shockingly expensive.  I just think I loose track on how much things are when I don’t go out for meals and coffees that much.  However I had a holiday fund which covered the expenses.  Now I’m back I’m going to tighten the belt (money and calories 🤣) and enjoy being home.  

I love the photo of the bean poles, shopping from home - brilliant. 

I’m busy making a pair of socks for a friend from small leftover balls of wool in purple shades.  I had two knit to nearly the toes but did not like the mix, so pulled out and had a rethink.  As my Mother used to say “if anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly”.  Hopefully they will be pretty enough to go in my gifts collection ready for Christmas. 

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - Yes, our 2 are not averse to photo-bombing teams meetings, little devils!
@marionmgcars - Glad you enjoyed your trip. I'm sure the purple socks will be a lovely addition to the presents bag.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Well here we are on Day 1 of our big gardening push. Just finished for the day. Lots achieved - much of it involving plants grown for free therefore avoiding spending from the House & Garden Pot & growing food, which definitely helps the grocery budget:
*Picked 2 more cucumbers.
*Repotted 'Teddy bear' sunflowers (plant swap from.my sis)
*Potted up chard seedlings.
*Potted on Tuscan kale as their survival rate will be better if they are a bit bigger before I plant them out.
*Found a forgotten ceramic container for 2 geraniums I grew from cuttings (in bottle of water - v easy method).
*Planted out basil in greenhouse border in front of tomatoes. It finally decided to grow after over a month of sulking.
*Planted out courgettes, Guatemalan blue squashes & pumpkins & remembered Monty Don's tip of sinking a flowerpot next to each one for more targeted watering.
*Planted out baby evening primrose plants into big pot to add to those around the pond. Suspect they may not flower till next year but new variety to me so I'll see how they go.
*Re-arranged courtyard pots (my heucherella collection & geraniums) & solar butterfly for a bit of a free new look.
*Relocated self-sown lemon balm & vervain to the herb bed. Got to love a free plant that isn't bindweed, hawkweed or bloody white briony!)
*Weeded large raised bed (Mr F)
*Cleared & dug over horrendously compacted, weed infested part of veg plot we left fallow last year (Mr F). He was yanking out huge elder roots as he went along, which required sawing off. Honestly, if he hadn't already got the 'Big Garden Push' beer & crisps in, I'd seriously be sending him off to the shop with a £20 note! 
*Wrote list of tomorrow's target jobs & made sure there is tonic water in the fridge.
For the moment, I have a big glass of water & am going to relax with the Guardian wordwheel puzzle. Weird selection of letters today but as I take it personally if I don't score 'Excellent', I shall attempt to hone the little grey cells, which will hopefully help for the crossword later.
Looking forward to a film & a gin later.
F x

PennysIntoPounds

That sounds like a great day, well done both. Enjoy your film and gin, and beer and crisps!

foxgloves

Thanks @PiP. I received a rather nice bottle of elderflower gin for my birthday, so with all the other botanicals, I think we can safely say that's about 15 of my 5-a-day & pretty much a health drink!
F x

KajiKita

Mr F sounds like a hero to have alongside you 😊👏🥳🎉

My big push went well today too - feeling it now! 😉

KK