Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Thanks for your comments. As @EssexHebridean often says, it's nice to check in to find one has had virtual visitors!

Semolina cake is very easy & perfect warm with a coffee. I think I have posted how to make it before, but if not, here it is. Old recipe so I only have it in imperial measurements:
Grease a single sandwich tin, line with baking parchment & set oven to Gas 4.
Sieve 4 oz self-raising flour into a bowl, stir in 4 oz semolina & rub in 4oz butter to the usual breadcrumb-type consistency. Stir in 4oz caster sugar.
Beat up 1 egg with a teaspoon of almond extract & stir into the dry ingredients, bringing it together to a stiff but workable ball of dough. If it seems absolutely too dry, then add a dessertspoonful of milk. It should be more like a biscuit dough than a cake mix.
Divide in half & press one half into the base of the prepared tin. Spread this generously with jam. (I think the original was raspberry but I use what I have in stock & this is often homemade blackberry & apple or sometimes the strawberry or blackberry which my friend makes from her allotment fruit).
Take the other half of the dough, flatten it & layer over the jam. I find it easiest to break bits off & do this in sections. It will not look beautiful but that's irrelevant here, as it will come together in the oven & it is not a la-di-dah fancypants cake. Just aim to cover all the jam.
Bake for 30 - 40 mins at Gas 4. I find 35 mins is usually ample, but I always check after 30 as our oven tends to run a bit hot. 
Leave to cool for a few mins before turning onto a wire rack. Serve in wedges with a little sieved icing sugar 'snow'. And make sure you have some fresh coffee brewing! 
F

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
A lazy day here at Foxgloves Manor. Have kept the faith though......
*Not a no-spend day but have only bought a newspaper plus the final grocery item from this week's list.
*Today's garden pickings: Mr F lifted a crate of potatoes - about 4 plants worth, which have provided plenty for forthcoming needs.
*He also fed & watered all the other veg.
*Baked a crusty loaf.
*2 baths from a single fill of hot water. Made sure I went in first, as I hadn't been digging potatoes!
*Still using a couple of full size toiletries I was sent to test from a survey site, which of course will make the products in my toiletries stash last longer.
*Wrote list for tomorrow's planned city centre trip & checked current balance of my Personal Spends. Unusually, I only have 2 x £1 vouchers to use this time, but £2 off our purchases is better than nothing so will take them.
*A bit more present knitting.
*Check for surveys - shall do next after signing out of here. Not expecting to find many, as they can be a bit on the scarce side at weekends, but I might strike lucky & it will be useful to see if I have received any outstanding payments.
Well, it's Mr F's cooking night & he is getting ready to skin & spice up a chicken ready for Madhur Jaffrey's Indian chicken recipe I mentioned the other day. It's not even in the oven yet & the leftovers are already in my sights for 2 more main meals & a couple of packed lunches!
Wishing everyone a pleasant day. Erratic weather here. Cold enough for long-sleeved dress & shawl earlier & have had some brisk showers, but now have patio doors open & there's a bit of blue sky trying. Windy though. Soot went out for a run but wasn't impressed with the wind buffeting his fur & spoiling his aerodynamic qualities. Ash was out all night & returned for breakfast soggy, covered in sticky goosegrass seeds but very pleased with himself. 
F x

Cheery_Daff

Ha, very sensible to go in the bath first as the cleaner person 😂😂 

Erratic weather here too. Got soaked in town earlier trying to share a single brolly with Mr Cheery (who is quite a bit taller, and who was wearing a handmade (by me) velvet hat he didn't want to get wet) 😂 Of course now I'm running a nice bath the sun has come out 🙄😂

BlueJ94

Hey @foxgloves! Long time no "see" I've been away busy with work, holiday and house.

Good to see you're still updating and posting daily for me to catch up on!

I managed to increase my debt since being offline which is a kick in my own teeth but I'll get back right back up and try and stay on board this timel! 

foxgloves

@Cheery_Daff - We have the same umbrella tribulations with Mr F being 5' 11" & me a mere tiny tad over 5' 3". Often he decides it's just easier to get wet!

@BlueJ94 - Welcome back. Good news on the house.....less so on the debt, but you know you can get back onto the debt-free path & you know you can do it when you put your mind to it. Despite now having been debt-free for many years, it's still less than all my previous Spendy Years carrying significant debt, & I can tell you which one I vastly prefer! 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Just come down to the reading bench at the far end of the veg garden to chat to you. Massive rhubarb trying to encroach into my sandals. Must harvest some soon.
Well, very definitely not a no-spend day as we had our planned city centre visit, but no.confession time needed as stuck to our list &/or used our Personal Spends. So today's bits & pieces:
*Decided to bump one of the shops on our list to the branch in pur local town next week to ensure we could confine our shopping to 3 hours of parking fee.
*My moisturiser at the shop you might go for a new body.was on a 3 for 2 offer so I stocked up. Also switched the other item on my list for a similar product which was in the sale & saved £7
*Had cappucinos & toasted teacakes for breakfast & our Personal Spends were assisted by Mr F having a voucher for a free coffee.
*Was very disciplined in the marine condiment shop. Tried on 2 nice tops in the sale. 1) Nice but not quite my colour & neckline felt too high for a summer top  2) Neckline too low this time! Not denying I like a bit of frontage on show but not to the extent of public fall-out! Fabulous print but rather too blue for me tbh as it's not really a colour I suit. So I left the shop with the Clothes Pot intact, & remembering all the money I wasted on so-so sale rail garments bavk.in the Spendy Era....I'm calling this a result!
*Vitamins & a herbal product I take (both on the shopping list) were on offer.
*Asked asst in the watery-sounding shop if the loyalty card holders' voucher packs are still being sent out as I haven't heard from them since May. I am apparently 'still on the system' so will see if anything turns up this month. 
*Was able to use both my £1 off vouchers, though wiped out the profit margin by putting £1 into a busker's hat, then giving the £2 coin in my pocket to a homeless woman.
*Stripped all the remaining meat from the spiced Indian chicken Mr F roasted last night. Enough to eat cold tonight with spicy chilli new potatoes & tomatoes, stir-fried with veg in wraps with salad tomorrow plus 2 days of sandwiches for Mr F's packed lunches.
*Chatted through our diaries. Couldn't see any shall we say 'S waiting to HTF' over the coming week, which I'm hoping is going to be fairly productive.
It's been nice sat down here in the sun chatting to you. 
Let's get our positive heads on as we move into the new week.
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Some excellent small-seeming but important mse decisions there. If your profit margin is going to be neutral then I think supporting a busker and helping a homeless person is the way to do it. Though if the busker was playing Ed Sheeran, go and get your pound back tomorrow!

foxgloves

lol @PennysIntoPounds - No it wasn't, it was a Radiohead song which I like, despite not being a big fan like Mr F.

Hello Monday Money Savers,
Another of those days which simply disappears up its own what-not. I just don't know where the time has gone. A very routine day which is quite usual for me on Mondays as I always take it as a day for setting us up for the week ahead.
Today's small budget-helping things such as they are:
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates, "Spend less on groceries than usual July" is going pretty well. I think if we can keep it up for the rest of the month, we could very well have £100 left over for a pantry stock-up at A*di.
*The 3 occasions for which I set separate little budgets ended up with an aggregate underspend of £15-40, which I have credited back to July's buffer zone.
*Baked a batch of bread rolls - most of them now frozen as I want to make sure we have some for a planned outing/picnic at the weekend.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Last of the leftover Indian spiced chicken tonight. I will stir-fry it with veg, chillies & stuff it in tortilla wraps with plenty of salad on the side. Have noted that we have fajhitas on July's meal plan so will make sure I freeze the leftover wraps for those.
*Garden pickings: lettuce, spring onions & coriander.
*Relocated another batch of snails to mollusc assault course behind a log pile. Too much munching going on for my liking.
*Thinned first trough of carrots which has produced sufficient littlies to add to tonight's stir-fry.
*Removed a couple of improperly pollinated courgettes from one of our plants as these won't get any bigger - will also be added to stir-fry.
*Did a YouGov survey.
*Postie brought £20 vouchers from credit card loyalty points. Card always paid off in full each month, so it really does seem like money for doing very little. Will put with the others. Had intended to use as Turkey Tokens again, but I am thinking that as they have a long date, I could also stash them up for 2 or 3 years to use towards a big purchase - TV or something like that, when it goes 'ker-puff'. 
*Changed bed linen & laundered. Also did another 2 loads to make use of the free line-drying weather. Tomorrow looks too wet for pegging out so thought I may as well make the most of it today.
*Still aiming to check rest of the veg & water the greenhouse stuff. Aubergines setting fruit nicely now. Got to look after our future food.
*Little bit of salvage - 2 nice big mayonnaise jar & button lids added to my shed stash of suitable jars for bottling & some lolly sticks added to the free homemade plant label pot, along with a couple more cut from the base of a spread tub.
I'm chatting to you from the coffee bench. Soot is by my side & is absolutely fascinated by the swift box above our courtyard because he can hear the swift chicks cheeping away to each other. Even more exciting is when one of the parent birds swoops in, fold their wings down & dive straight in through the hole. Usually Soot's ornithological pursuits are more concerned with chasing woodpigeons off the lawn.
Well, if I am going to get that watering done, I'd better go & crack on.
Wishing everyone a peaceful, productive week.
F x

KajiKita

Ummm … I hate to put a downer on your snail relocating but you do know they know how to get back to where they came from …? I think they need to moved some ridiculous distance like 1/4 mile before they can’t make it back ….

Well done on all the garden produce 😊 🥕
How do you know when courgettes haven’t been properly pollinated?

KK

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Yes, I do know that they like to make their way back. That's why I have chosen a relocation spot which is tough terraine for molluscs. Their easiest route would be up & over the fence to next door (no gardeners there) but assuming they prefer the path of most resistence back to our veg plot, then they have to put some proper effort in.

Re courgettes. Often amongst the earliest courgettes, there are some very small ones which only get to a certain size before starting to shrivel. This is usually because of incomplete pollination & is much less of a thing as the plants progress. These littlies can however be snipped off & added to frittatas, stir-fries, pasta, etc, should you wish.

F x