Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

Mmm I've not made Twinks in a long old while. I have the recipe copied into my book as it's one I've made so frequently in the past. I seem to recall I also have a recipe for choc-chip oat biscuits in there as well...all the discussion has made me want to bake, now! 

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments & contributions on the subject of those particular biscuits. The batch I made filled a nice big tin & they were very well-received by our guests. We still have a few left, so have added a couple to Mr F's packed lunch for tomorrow. 
F 

foxgloves

Good afternoon Campers,
We had a thoroughly lovely weekend with our guests (my sis & teenage nephew). My sister treated me to tickets for a knitting/afternoon tea event in a neighbouring county as part of my birthday present (I think not all that far from you, @ziggy2407) & we really enjoyed it. Mr F & neff explored the lovely gardens & enjoyed experimenting with their cameras. Was so glad I'd packed a picnic for them because the cafe was only small & all the tables were reserved. It saved a bit of money too, of course. I did buy 2 amazingly vivid hand-dyed yarn skeins to knit a couple of pairs of socks for Mr F's Christmas bag. As soon as I saw it, I knew he'd love those so I have paid from the Presents Pot & that will be a couple more things for the Presents Stash. They departed yesterday afternoon so I got on with the oodles of laundry that having guests always seems to create, as it was a good day for free line-drying. Anyway......enough yakk, on with today's small budget-helping efforts:
*Cut out & packed away a dress pattern which my sister (v good at sewing) took from my favourite lime green linen dress. She has written all the instructions on the pattern pieces & suggested I make up a sample using an old sheet to customise the size/length & get it right, so I am looking forward to trying that as a project. Then I will attempt a real one in black linen as I could wear that with an eclectic range of interesting footless tights. Will report on progress when I get started.
*Divided up leftover pork joint from the weekend. It did 4 servings of roast dinner, I've frozen a generous amount of slices in gravy, made a chilli in the slow cooker for tonight's meal & frozen the remaining meat for next time Mr F feels the urge to make an Epic Man Stew.
*Finished up other oddments of leftovers for my lunch.
*Today's garden pickings: 2 aubergines, 4 courgettes, 1 abnormally large chilli (& no, it isn't a pepper!), 250g french beans, 3.3kg tomatoes & a small bunch of coriander. 
*Beans added to some already in fridge, most blanched & frozen.
*Used 1 kg of the tomatoes to make a double batch of Crank's tomato soup. 7 portions frozen.
*Altered the next couple of days of meal plans to use up some surplus broccoli& carrots from the weekend & also a selection of the home grown stuff I picked today. ....which brings me onto.......
*Belated Monday morning budget updates. Grocery budget rather hammered & it's a 5-week month too. Mr F says he's 'well-up for the challenge' of using what we have in stock as well as our garden produce to keep August's overspend to an absolute minimum. I said that is good, as is exactly what we will be doing!
*Not a no-spend day as ordered a natural product for Soot to try & help with an itchy overgrooming problem. I did manage to get a very small discount on what I thought was quite an expensive product. Financially I justified it by comparing it with what we would doubtless be paying at the vet for a similar or allopathic product. If we don't think it makes a difference, we won't buy it again. Paid from the Meow Fund.
*Checked for surveys, but no good today as they were all 'full' or 'busy' when I tried to take part & as I don't have time to look for others, I've given up until tomorrow.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Washed hair & STILL using  stuff I was sent to test ages ago. Test products certainly help eek out one's toiletries stash.
*Mr F has put his hand up for watering & feeding the veg garden tonight. Got to keep those food supplies coming!
*Put some welly into finishing B-i-L's final sock for the presents stash. I am aiming at least to knit the heel flap & turn the heel tonight.
*Entered 2 prize draws. Someone's got to win, why not me? (Although it never is).
Right, onwards with my day. Hope everyone is ok & had a pleasant weekend,
F x

Makingabobor2

I love that you picked over 3kgs of tomatoes, I get excited to pick 1 or 2 at a time. You can tell I'm still a novice....lol.  Definitely planning the garden better for next year. I'm finding it so much fun and very therapeutic, even if not producing too much this year. I'm hoping DH will make the promised cold frame soon, with the gifted double glazing from his dad. Also trying to talk him into a greenhouse, as he moaned this year when I used the front bedroom as a sun room....lol. 

PennysIntoPounds

Might be you who wins, won't be if you're not in the comp!
Hope the remedy helps Soot. Do you think he may have hayfever? That often presents as overgrooming in cats 

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Well, tbf, I do have 21 tomato plants this year! I grew extra as had a few problems at the potting on stage last year so was able to give 8 to my sister & still have more than I intended for our own garden.

@PiP - No, I can't see that it could be hayfever, as no other compatible symptoms. When we first adopted him, he had a little bare patch on his undercarriage ....which became 2 patches, then one big one, then a fairly bald tummy & chewed inner leg. He seems perfectly ok in himself & the 3 different vets who have seen him haven't flagged up any worries. He had some valerian tablets from the vet in case it was the stress of living in a new home with a cat he didn't previously know (Ash can be quite feisty for no good reason), but he seems perfectly calm. We tried a bit of the steroid cream we were prescribed too, but it is too big an area to cover safely - I know from occasional use of similar stuff myself for nuclear-level insect bites, etc, that it shouldn't be used for big areas - & none of the vets could see any sign of skin problem, parasites, etc. He is kept up to date with flea treatments, so the last vet we saw says she thinks it probably began as a little bit of a stress reaction but it then became a habit. I expect that new fur when it comes through feels a bit prickly too. Anyway, he is perfectly happy in himself & we will see what this natural treatment is like. He says thank-you for thinking about him & he is sending a special meow because I know you will be missing those terribly atm.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Oh, actually, it is no longer morning! Where on earth did THAT time go? I don't seem to have achieved much yet other than a big horrid pile of ironing, breakfast & a small amount of admin. Anyway, the day is still relatively young & I intend to crack on after lunch. The budget-helping bits today will be:
*Crediting £19-99 back to my Personal Spends. This is for a subscription on which I intended to pay for a 2nd month, but as it doesn't expire for another week, I decided I don't actually need to do this. It's a genealogy one which I temporarily renewed to try & help my sister with tracing some of the people who have been left various objects in our elderly relative's will. I've done all I can with that, so will unsubscribe until I have another big family history project on the go......which is not going to be any time yet, so I may as well save the money!
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Round-up of veg which needs using - will add to some homegrown beans & make a stir-fry to go with tonight's meal.
*Start preparations for chutney making. Need to find suitable jars, check I have all the ingredients (I think we will only need to buy some red peppers) & weigh out sufficient tomatoes to put aside for it. I always add a jar or two of home made preserves to festive gift boxes/bags so that's another benefit as well as providing nice tasty things to eat for us.
*On the same subject...I must tidy out the pantry this afternoon. I need to make space for all the jars which will be incoming over the next few weeks, as well as round up all the little odds & sods of things which are hanging around annoying me. I can then work them into meals over the rest of the month.
*Do next week's meal plans. Grocery budget is low. Freezer however is bulging at the seams. Mr F suggested making a list of all the protein in there -the meat from that big butcher deal, the last fish box, etc, & we do need to do that or we will be writing more items on the shopping list than we need. Am going to suggest we do this tonight.
*Write the (hopefully very parsimonious!) grocery shopping list.
*Finish sock shaping as spent half of yesterday evening outside watching the swifts & didn't do nearly as much knitting as planned.
*Did a couple of surveys.
There may be other things too. I have spent a while this morning researching a necklace which our elderly relative left to me. It's gold, on quite a long chain, with a rock crystal intaglio cat set with an opal & what I am pretty sure is a diamond. It isn't antique, but I would defo describe it as 'vintage'. I do live in quite an 'antiquey' town, so I might pop in & ask someone to cast an eye over it at some point for my own interest, as I have no intention of selling it. I would however like to know if it's valuable, so as to look after it appropriately.
Well, shall sign out now as Soot has come to tell me that lunchtime cat biscuit service in this house is proving very much below par today!
Love to all,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

foxgloves said:

@PiP - No, I can't see that it could be hayfever, as no other compatible symptoms. When we first adopted him, he had a little bare patch on his undercarriage ....which became 2 patches, then one big one, then a fairly bald tummy & chewed inner leg. He seems perfectly ok in himself & the 3 different vets who have seen him haven't flagged up any worries. He had some valerian tablets from the vet in case it was the stress of living in a new home with a cat he didn't previously know (Ash can be quite feisty for no good reason), but he seems perfectly calm. We tried a bit of the steroid cream we were prescribed too, but it is too big an area to cover safely - I know from occasional use of similar stuff myself for nuclear-level insect bites, etc, that it shouldn't be used for big areas - & none of the vets could see any sign of skin problem, parasites, etc. He is kept up to date with flea treatments, so the last vet we saw says she thinks it probably began as a little bit of a stress reaction but it then became a habit. I expect that new fur when it comes through feels a bit prickly too. Anyway, he is perfectly happy in himself & we will see what this natural treatment is like. He says thank-you for thinking about him & he is sending a special meow because I know you will be missing those terribly atm.
F x

Thank you Soot, that's made me cry, but with a smile ❤

milann

The necklace sounds very nice.
Glad you had a lovely visit from the family and the biscuits were appreciated.

foxgloves

Hello Thursday Savers,
Well, despite a poor night for sleep, I began today with all sorts of plans for jobs I was going to do, but unfortunately, I left the outdoor ones till this afternoon & now it's raining, so apart from veg picking, I haven't done any of those. Ah well, some of my activities have been helpful from a budget point of view:
*Tidied up the freezer list which we did as a team effort last night with Mr F rifling through frozen innards & calling finds out to me for writing down. We certainly do have a lot of food in & with the useful amounts coming in from the garden too, plus last month's pantry stock-up, I am feeling more confident about the parlous state of our grocery budget. Yes, I could call in money from various savings pots or August's buffer zone - we are not broke, not remotely, but of course I'd like to be able to do something else with at least some of the buffer zone money if possible, hence the inventory of how much scran is currently lurking at Foxgloves Manor.
*Did meal plans for next week, then tweaked when Mr F mentioned that if we included a jacket potato night (involving an Epic Man Stew for himself (eye-roll) then that would mean a decent sized box, maybe two, coming out of the freezer & making some space. 
*Wrote grocery shopping list & pinged it to Mr F to pick up later. He apparently has vouchers for at least a couple of items on the list & (always!) his cup for a free coffee!
*Sorted out ingredients for next 2 preserving sessions - virtually nothing to buy, just peppers, as everything else in stock.
*Easy meal tonight - vegetable crumble. Base made yesterday when I was dealing with a basket of veg. Just need to make the cheesy crumble. Will include some pumpkin seeds in that too as am trying to use small annoying amounts of things which have been hanging around in the pantry.
*Today's garden pickings: Coriander, carrots & first few leaves of cavolo nero. 
*Sorted out my huge recipe file which is a big lever-arch one. It was very full & I am finding it too heavy to keep hoisting around, as I use it very often. Last edited in 2020 when I dithered over keeping some recipes & have not made them since, so they have gone in the recycling bin. I think I will buy a nice book & copy our old favourites into that. Have been strict. If there is a very similar recipe in one of our cookbooks, then I don't need another & it has gone. Found quite a few economical recipes I had forgotten about so will get them onto weekly meal plans too.
*Did a few surveys.
*Added a couple more titles to my library wish-list. Just started 'The Long water' (Stef Penney). I like her books so was pleased to discover today that there are another 2 that I haven't read. 
*STILL haven't turned the heel & done the shaping on B-i-L's sock. I will defo do it tonight. I have enjoyed the satisfaction of getting a few things finished today.....my book, an audiobook, etc, so will add this blimming sock-shaping to the list.
NOT money saving.......Soot refusing to eat the natural anti-itch skin supplement I have just bought for him. He was certainly interested in the smell of them, but wouldn't eat them as treats or mixed up with his lunchtime biscuits (when I cut them up & he ate half a one by mistake!). Will be crumbling them into his meat tonight. Me & Mr F versus Soot will be like that old saying about the 'Unmoveable object meeting the unstoppable force'. He is a VERY stubborn cat, though lovely with it.
Right, I am hoping this rain shower stops soon as I need to go outside & bury a woodpigeon (Oh, the relentless glamour of my life.....). I hope someone amongst our moneysaving number has done something exciting today, but as usual, that person is not me!
F x