Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Yes, I think productivity almost certainly reduces in poor summer weather.....at least in terms of economics, @PiP. I think a lot less summer clothing is sold, then once it gets to the end of July, it barely seems worth buying it - might as well wait & have something nice for Autumn. Then there's all the 'outdoor lifestyley' stuff - BBQs, seating, sunshades - Mr F is an avid BBQ-er & it's been lit just once this year so far. I'm sure destinations with a big outdoor offer also notice a drop-off. We have postponed several outings waiting for better weather. Neither of us like very hot weather - 25° is our limit, pref a little cooler, but if we are buying fuel, say for a trip up to North Yorkshire or to the North Norfolk coast, we want to be able to have a decent walk or beachcombing session & picnic when we get there. I wouldn't mind betting sales of camping gear stall as well, although Mr F & I have camped in some pretty grotty weather in the past.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Most of the budget-friendly stuff here at Foxgloves Manor today has been garden-related but I feel we've been productive:
*A no-spend day
*Today's garden pickings: Basil, 2 cucumbers & Mr F dug the rest of the potatoes & lifted the shallots.
*Weeded around the french beans, courgettes & squash.
*Tied in the tomatoes again & tidied up the cucumber plants.
*Mr F fed & watered all the veg & mowed the lawn. (See note below).....
*Performed extended mollusc patrol. Something had eaten 18 baby lettuces & a whole tray of parsley seedlings in the coldframe & I couldn't find the culprit. Finally found an enormous fat slug hiding underneath a black plastic module tray, tucked right up high so barely visible. Was so cross about my plants, he didn't even get relocated to jungle assault course area but was flung into council garden waste wheelie. If it's greenery-chomping he's after, he can damn well tuck into the contents of the garden bin lorry. Rounded up 9 snails for a trip to the jungle.
*Sowed more lettuces. 
*Emptied out 1st strawberry trough. Composted the plants as they have done their 3 years. Soil still in good heart so used to sow more lettuces which are now in one of Mr F's Fort Knox areas. 
*Netted another bucket of annoying duckweed out of the pond. Added to compost as I imagine it will have at least some nutritional value from tadpole poo.
*Poached freezer container of assorted fish (small fillets, trimmings, etc from last fish box & the last handful of prawns ready for making a fish pie tomorrow. 
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Chatted through our diaries for the week ahead.
Leisure time since then. We've done yesterday's Guardian quick crypic crossword, I've finished reading Nina Stibbe & am now catching up with a nice pile of magazines. Jacket potatoes tonight will be replaced with homegrown new potatoes. I've cooked some prawns with basil & garlic to go with mine together with some leftover coleslaw. There are boxes defrosting in the kitchen which indicate that Mr F is planning to construct an Epic Man Stew, doubtless while catching up on geeky podcasts. Soot has been pestering for his dinner since 11.30am despute having had his lunch biscuits & a Licky-Lix. 
Enjoy your evenings all,
F x
*The ancient petrol mower which carked it last month has seemingly risen Lazarus-like & is now working!! And we paid out for that new battery one, grrrrr. Mr F reckons it's only a matter of time though.

foxgloves

Hello Frugalistas,
Today's budget-helping stuff:
*Managed to get 3 loads of laundry dry out on the line before the showers started.
*Baked a loaf.
*Made a fish pie.
*Garden pickings: Large bunch of basil
*Made pesto & froze.
*Did 3 surveys
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast
*Changed milkman order - I'd rather have 1 slightly more expensive pint from him in a returnable glass bottle than end up calling into a shop weekly to pick one up when we run low.....that way no little temptations can sneak in for a bit of a top-up shop while there.
F 

EssexHebridean

Annoying about that slug - MrEH went into the garden last night after it had rained to stage a raid on ours - and apparently there were masses of them all over the beans, chomping away - Grrr! Needless to say, they weren't allowed to stay long, and I think he went out again later on too in case they'd got any cousins hiding away in the wings!

themadvix

We seem to have a slug problem here too - last night and this morning we removed nearly 30 from the lawn - big horrible ugly ones. They have a new home (and some wilty lettuce leaves) in our garden waste bin, which at least they can't escape from. I've yet to see what's happened at the allotment with all the rain last night...

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean & @themadvix - Yes, the mollusc population seems to have rocketed during all the wet weather this year. Winter also insufficiently cold to kill many of them off, I should think. And we have no thrushes this year which hasn't helped as they do stirling work in keeping the population down.

Hello Tuesday Readers,
Would have liked both a walk & a gardening session today but tbh, they were never on the cards as the forecast said heavy rain from last night into most of today & that's just what we got. Looked to be drying up early afternoon, but it didn't last. Have planned some outdoor time tomorrow. So....confined to barracks, but have been reasonably useful on the money saving front. Not a no-spend day as I ordered our next fish box, although with some judicious CC juggling (which won't lead to any interest being paid), I can hold off actual payment until next month's or even September's budget if necessary. So, a few useful things:
*Did budget updates from the weekend. If we can manage a final good low grocery shop this week, then we will have achieved that planned underspend of £100 for a pantry stock-up. Must remember have already spent £15 of this week's grocery money as we picked up an extra box of Persian Queen for the cats when we saw it at a lower than usual price.
*Did my regular mid-month budget check-in. No nasty surprises lurking. I was £3-67 out, but in my favour.
*This month's CC bill landed, so I reconciled that against receipts & my CC payment log sheet. Again, nothing untoward lurking & bill will be paid in full by the deadline as usual. 
*Garden pickings: None. Too soggy. I did rescue a basket of shallots though as discovered a minor leak in the conservatory roof which was undoing all our good work at drying them. Reckon it's repairable with a combination of Mr F, stepladder & some sealant.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Dinner sorted as made sufficient fish pie yesterday to feed us for two days. Shall only need to cook a bit of veg.
*Minor bit of make-do & mend.
*Added to ongoing library wishlist.
*Sorted large pile of yesterday's clean laundry & was delighted to discover only 5 items required actual contact with the iron. Result! For both me & our energy use. Our energy account has credit building now, but it won't be nearly as much as we had to go into Winter 2022 & 2023, as our monthly dd was reduced significantly for a few months.
Wasted over an hour trying to locate the mouse which either Soot or Ash have clearly brought into the house overnight. I could hear it squeaking behind the freezer & it was obviously running between there & behind the back of the dresser as Soot was showing an unusual amount of interest in furniture, rather than his primary interest which is of course extra biscuit-procurement. They also trotted out of the bathroom first thing this morning trying (& failing) to look innocent. Moved the electric trap from the pantry to the side of the freezer. No entrapment so far. Mr F says he will check the batteries tonight to make sure it is actually working as if not, Mousey will doubtless have nipped in, scoffed the peanut butter & scarpered. 
Ah well, that's my day. Looking forward to seeing Mr F (covering a later shift tonight), some TV, knitting & another magazine from the nice big pile I was given by a neighbour.
F x

KajiKita

So impressed by your groceries management. I can do it for a week or so but struggle to maintain it for a whole month 😊 
Yup, lots of slugs and too few butterflies here. 

Hope the conservatory fix is as easy as it looks. 

KK

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence-Wranglers,
Productive day on the whole. Made such a nice change to open the curtains at 5.30 this morning to be greeted by actual sunshine! Today's budget-helping activities:
*Watered greenhouse veg & tied in outdoor tomatoes again.
*Made sure we get our money's worth from council garden bin collection tomorrow - cut back more crazy overgrown border & kept at it till I could no longer get the bin lid down properly.
*Planted out some teddybear sunflowers which were given to me.
*Potted on the late-sown extra tromboncino plants & treated them to a drink of seaweed.
*Cut back triffiddy bits of grapevine so as to get max energy going into grapes rather than foliage.
*Today's garden pickings: Lettuce, spring onions, tomatoes (1st bowlful this year!) & a ripe red chilli.
*Made dough for tonight's pizza & a batch of rolls for the freezer.
*Pizza looks nice - they are such good opportunities for using up bits & pieces - This one has chopped red spring onions leftover from making a big salad bowl, the last slightly squishy supermarket tomato, a little pot of chopped pepper from the freezer & half a tin of tuna. I spread the base with some surplus pesto from the batch I made earlier this week. The thing with pizza is that all the toppings are 'pulled together' by the bread base & the cheese so pretty much anything goes really.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Bath & hairwash - still using 2 products I was sent to test so they have been eeking out my toiletries stash.
*Selected next week's meals from our July masterplan.
*Wrote grocery shopping list.
Neither sight nor sound of the mouse today. Soot is no longer interested in what's going on under the dresser. If it managed to get behind the kitchen units, it may have exited via an airbrick or pipe. I did have to deal with a decapitated rodent on the lawn though, which while unpleasant, was a better option than leaving it there for Soot to bring indoors. 
Feel quite tired now. Looking forward to 'Sewing Bee' & the lovely Mr F has brought me some chocolate.
Take care now,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Cor that's a productive day. Congratulations on your first bowlful of tomatoes, enjoy your well earnt chocolate!

Makingabobor2

That was a busy day. I find the sunshine helps me to be more productive. 
BTW, FG, can I ask your expert advice.....I bought 5 tomato plants this year, but only one has actually produced any tomoatoes, and only a few. What am I doing wrong? Is it the soil? Not enough sun? Too much rain?  I bought different varieties as well. Very dissapointed