Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

ladyholly

The biggest problem in this country with regard to being behind other countries  with technological advances is that our inventors are brilliant but industry, government etc do not support them in development and manufacture. It has been happening for many years and I could quote lots of instances but the one I am thinking of is a certain innovative company well known for vacuum cleaners who because he got no support from government took the manufacture of his products to the far east although the development is still in the UK. Another one is the recent demise of the company who wanted to manufacture microchips and needed support - Not forthcoming so went bankrupt and is now going to , I understand, an Australian company. Do they not realise that industry is desperate for said microchips.

There are two barrage schemes which have been on the cards for decades but is anything happening with them - No and yes before anyone jumps in I do understand there are wildlife implications in the Severn one ( I dont know enough about Morcombe Bay to comment) but no one is even looking at them. Why are we not using wind power more. In this area there is plenty of it and yes all new houses should have solar panels fitted as standard. However this government cant even get the dangerous cladding stripped off tower blocks so what hope is there. Pehaps if MPs and Councillors stopped going on jollys to conferences and such llike all over the world and having fancy banquets etc at taxpayers expense then there might be more money to spend on essentials. Have they never heard of the internet and webcams?

Sorry foxgloves to rant on your diary but it makes me wild that the cry is constantly there is no money but they spend a fortune on C***. It's like us saying sorry we cant afford the food this week because we went to a restaurant at the weekend.

marionmgcars

After sorting my freezers I decided to have a cooking frenzy today.  Made fish cakes (spare mash potatoes), chicken risotto (chicken stock from freezer) individual beef lasagne (mince and homemade tomatoe & garlic sauce from freezer). Baked potatoes while cooking lasagne.  Also used up reduced beetroot and made beetroot chutney.  Back to my knitting again now, to resist nibbling at my cooking 🤣

angela110660

Sorry to be late to the comments but the political scene in this country needs a breath of fresh air to get rid of all those stale, career politicians waiting for their pensions.  They are not in the real world.
re Housing- totally agree with all comments about big builders running the show in the UK and manipulating the prices - until councils/government take back the building of social housing rather than letting housebuilders dictate what is built and available then the waiting lists and housing quality will never improve in my opinion. 

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Thanks for all your comments, which I enjoyed reading.

@marionmgcars - Excellent batch cooking there, m'dear! Home made ready meals - tastier, healthier & cheaper.

@ladyholly - I agree that there is a massive set of missed business/science opportunities, especially in relation to the green industries we already need, but will be even more important in the future. Every time it sounds as though a progressive policy might be unfurling, it is watered down to keep donors & big industry happy (or rather their shareholders). Don't worry about ranting. I am a party-political person, which I know is self-evident on my diary - it's part of who I am, & has been since I was 17. I am not able to separate party politics from the scandalous levels of inequality in this country, which I understand is the 6th wealthiest nation, but has levels of poverty which speak not of progressiveness & modernity but of earlier eras altogether. Nimbyism doesn't help either. I was reading about a big battery development the other day which is fairly local to us (not in our village). The villagers don't want it. Don't want to look at it, don't want the trucks while it's being built, all sorts of 'safety risks' which, yes, there needs to be a thorough risk assessment, but they sounded like 'what iffery' to me. "We're not against green business, windfarms, solar farms, etc, etc.....we just don't want it hear near us". Then it doesn't happen because the powers that be want to keep rural votes. I love green spaces but we do have to get a balance with moving forwards in a sustainable way, especially with securing our energy supplies. 

@Makingabobor2 - I'm the same with reading - always have been. I like to know that after I've finished the book I'm currently reading, I have a whole pile of unread books waiting for me. We have a fab charity bookshop in town & I am also a big user of the library.
Re moss stitch: You simply alternate K1, P1, all along the row, then on your next row, you reverse it, which gives you a nice very simple textured pattern. 

F x

foxgloves

@angela110660 - I completely agree with you. The selling off of council homes has been a huge part of the problem - I don't mean the enabling of council tenants to buy their own homes, but rather the failure of successive governments to replace the sold stock with new housing, which I understand was the initial intention. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that a significant percentage of the council homes originally bought by the occupying tenants is now in the hands of private landlords, so rents can be anything from reasonable to downright extortionate. The waiting lists for council houses are out of control because this sold-off housing stock simply hasn't been replaced in anything like sufficient quantity. Before the last GE, a canvasser from the party I never vote for knocked at our door & showed me a clipboard with a list of issues which, as a voter, I might be concerned about. I scanned it (I like to keep such people talking for ages so that they have less time left for persuading floating voters) & 'Housing' wasn't even on the list!! So I said I'd like to discuss that. And we did. It was a bit of a one-way discussion but tied him up nicely for a good 20 mins or so. From homelessness at one end of the scale up to even many of those on good incomes being completely priced out of the market, I do think the UK has a housing crisis & feel desperately sorry for all the very many people who have no roof over their heads or are insecurely or riskily housed. And I won't forget that the government voted against a bill to introduce minimum standards for private rented accommodation. I have a long memory for that kind of thing.
F

foxgloves

And now for today's post.....
Another frozen morning, so had already decided to abandon garden plans & to carry on with clearing out. I've done 3 more drawers this morning with the bin very much on hand, but am also using/repurposing potentially useful resources as I go:
*3 mini-photo frames found - will ask Mr F to size photos of each of our 3 past lovely cats to fit them.
*Sorted pile of assorted greetings cards received over past couple of years. Those with sentimental value moved to my keepsake box, some cut up for shopping lists, pretty bookmarks (I use lots of these, not just because I read a lot, but for bookmarking cookbooks when meal planning, etc) & also made a couple of gift-tags to add to wrappings stash.
*Sheet of unused craft magnets moved to craft box.
*An odd 50p added to purse!
*Unused hand-gel added to handbag.
*Two packs of new post-it notes moved to front of drawer so I don't go buying new ones when I am in a shop with nice stationery.
*Bag of handknitted Christmas decorations found, which I'd forgotten about. Have put with Christmas presents stash as I can gift some of them & maybe donate the rest to charity.
*Found my stretchy fitness band thingy which I thought I had thrown in the bin ages ago.
*2 bottles of ink doing nothing, so have taken my fountain pen apart, washed it with warm soapy water to unblock it, re-filled & will use it for writing my journal, letters, etc. Greener than plastic biros, anyway, though I do have some cardboard ones which are perfectly good.
Other money saving wins:
*Bagged up some coppers & swapped an empty tin for the over-large jar which we've been using for small change.
*Paid a couple of transactions off my credit card. I've sufficient loyalty points atm for a £10 voucher, when they next sent them out. Mr F received another £6 from his yesterday, making a total of £27's worth for that store, which will help the clothing pot.
*Shall only need half a tin of coconut milk for tonight's meal (Malaysian prawn curry) so will freeze the rest for next time I make it.
*Have only managed a couple of surveys - not a lot of them coming my way at the moment, but am managing some each day & it does all add up.
*Write next week's meal plans - I haven't got these on paper yet, but I I do have a week's worth of meals in my head so I'm counting that as a job done.
*Will be casting on 2nd sock of Mr F's pair for the presents stash. I might get my friend's wrap finished tonight as I think I only need about another 7 or 8 cms.
OK, that's my money saving efforts for today. 
Hope everyone else having a decent day.
Love F x

Makingabobor2

Thanks for the moss stitch tip, think even I can manage to do that...lol.  Think sometimes I just make things up as I go along. The current square I am knitting is 2 plain, 2 purl, for 2 rows and the reverse for 2 rows. Not sure what you'd call that, but it works for me...lol.  

foxgloves

Oooh, apparently Mr F is (after some deliberation) once again slowly collecting together some stuff to see if he can raise sufficient for a Ziff*t trade. I must remember to have a look through my books at some point to see if I've anything to add. He says anything he raises from his stuff will be for sending to the savings pots, & I will of course do the same. I must say that since I have been banging on about needing to pull our horns in this year while the economy is so volatile & bills are shooting up all over the place, he has been absolutely 100% on board. It does make it so much easier to tackle household economies with both of us singing from the same hymn sheet & I know I am fortunate that this is the case. When I took VR, it was part of the decision that I would take over complete management of the household finances (apart from re-negotiating mobile phone & broadband contracts, which bore me senseless) & I do put lots of time in to set & monitor our budget to the best of my ability, but we do always discuss things & make decisions together. I think it must be a lot harder when the finances are pretty much left to one person without any teamwork. The News is so relentlessly awful atm that I am making sure I think of the positives in my life too.
Off to zizz up some curry paste.
F x

Suffolk_lass

I was wondering, do you use the Kitchener stitch for your socks? I was watching TV (yesterday, early evening) and Ruth whatshername, the domestic historian did a little trial and explained the removal of seams was to reduce the possibility of trench-foot resulting from blisters, caused by the under-toe seams in WW1 socks. Nobody could actually find if he had anything to do with the invention but it is attributed to His Lordship.

You see, your mention of Denby jugs - I have just popped a few in my Bay watch pile now. I have always loved the two in my Auntie's hearth

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Hi. no I don't use Kitchener stitch for finishing off my handknitted socks, even if the pattern recommends it. I loathe Kitchener stitch as I find it fiddly, over-complicated & my past attempts have never looked as neat as I expected. I know some sock knitters swear by it (whereas I just swear at it!). I knit the final round of the sock pattern up to the point where I have the correct amount of stitches in front of the marker, then divide them equally between two needles at that point. So a pair for Mr F would end up with 36 sts after the toe decreases - that's 18 on each of 2 needles. Then, I simply do a double cast off, just as I would for the tops of mittens. I always use this method. It's quick, easy & I've never been aware of a ridge inside my socks when I've worn them. I think I also heard that Kitchener stitch originated as a means of avoiding a ridge when people were knitting for soldiers in WW1. I don't know if that story is true or apocryphal either. Apart from an occasion when my hiking boots split in 10cms of snow at Fountains Abbey, I'm fortunate never to have been in any likely 'trench foot' scenarios!
F x
P.S Re my Denby vase. I can't remember a time when Mum didn't have this on display somewhere at home. It's one of those tall, slightly curved bisque pale green ones with the white swirl. My parents married in 1960, so it may well have been a wedding present. It's useful for longer stemmed bunches of flowers. You reminded me that I also need to look at 'the Bay' to see if it's worth me trying to sell my Wedgewood tankards. They are sitting there doing nothing - the Viking one which is from 1979 - might sell, I suppose as hairy bearded northmen in leather trousers are quite popular.....or is that just me? I don't much fancy wrapping pottery for posting, but plenty of people do it. My other option is to take them to a local antiques centre or market (we are quite an 'antiquey' town) & see if I can swap them for something else. Will give them a wash anyway, hopefully ready for pastures new.