Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Elisheba

Ha ha, I've finally managed to catch up with your posts after getting all behind 😊.

Crepuscular is a great word, although not very pretty, especially for such a pretty time as twilight. The Scots word for twilight is gloaming, also not hugely pretty, but it does help make sense of that oft repeated song line 'roaming in the gloaming' 😆

foxgloves

@Elisheba - Thanks for your recommendation on flasks. I think we will replace the broken one at some stage & I think we will most likely go for the brand/type you mentioned. Yes, 'gloaming' is also a good word. I think it sounds a bit sort of 'dreamier' than 'crepuscular' which is more evocative of night as something maybe to fear. Mr F reckons I am good at 'Scrabble' because of my love of old words as this widens my vocabulary, but I think I just love history & have always read a lot. Catching up with my diary must have been a bit of a trial. I can certainly rattle on.....& on.......

@Makingabobor2 - Re your OH & the yellow stickered maybe-not-bargains because you didn't need them.....I can tell you that before we properly started budgeting, Mr F was particularly bad with this. I remember one Christmas, we'd done our food shopping but you know how when it gets to around the 28th or so, someone usually needs to pop out for a bit of fresh stuff, etc. Well, he went off to the supermarket & came home with bulging shopping bags, absolutely as pleased as punch with all the amazing reductions he'd got as they were selling off all their festive stuff. He then proceeded to unpack loads more fancy cheese (the stuff we'd already bought at full price & still had some left), a box of chocolates, after-dinner mints, another jar of marrons glace (one of my favourites but I had already had a jar for Christmas) & several other things which, yes, they were good prices, some of them 50% off, but we had already bought our festive food & simply didn't need them. I don't deny that he is good at seeking out supermarket bargains but 2 bags of unnecessary food & more chocs is not a good use of money. It wasn't too long after that incident that I was struck by the LBM & began debt-busting, so in subsequent years, I set him on a mission to go & hunt down the best big yellow stickered joint of meat he can find, knowing that it will provide a large number of meals going into the New Year. And he's done this ever since.  Tbh, I think it channels his inner caveman!
F

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence-Wranglers,
I thought I'd pop a picture on today of the hamper we are gifting to our hosts this Christmas. It has been a frugal project & enjoyable to make it look pretty without spending silly money on crafty bits & pieces. I didn't want to buy a basket, so the container visible in the background is just a cardboard box covered in some of the gold, green & red rolls of paper which Mr F rescued from work where they were just about to head for the skip. The raffia 'straw' was saved from a box of beauty products I was gifted last year. I spent some of this morning tying the jars with the toppers I cut from that old waxed paper festive tablecloth & because I didn't want to buy ribbons either, I used some of the annoyingly shorter lengths from my wrappings stash, which are insufficiently long to tie a parcel. I really enjoyed gussying up the jars while playing a CD of Christmas carols & singing along - I did used to sing back in the day, but only kitchen karaoke these days! The finished hamper contains 2 blackberry & apple jam, 2 strawberry & rhubarb jam, 2 smoky blackberry ketchup, 1 tomato ketchup, 1 hot mango & chilli sauce, 1 rhubarb & date chutney, 1 hot pineapple chutney & a smoky tomato chutney. They are all the sort of things my family like to eat, so I am hoping they will be pleased to receive them.
Other activities this morning which are budget-friendly one way or another:
*The enormous pile of clean laundry turned out to be pleasantly low on stuff requiring ironing, so not a lot of electricity used there.....or my time, for that matter.
*Did a bit of darning. 
*Sorted out meal plans up to the 23rd, including a tweak to a couple of original thoughts to make better use of stuff we already have in stock.
*Wrote grocery shopping list & added to it everything we need food & drink-wise before Christmas. Then wrote a 2nd list of stuff we will need to buy when we get back as we will be entertaining friends with a full Christmas lunch on the 29th. The idea is that Mr F will collect the cats then target supermarket shopping while I knock out January's budget....at least in basic form - I may go back to the more discretionary elements later so as to be able to apply a bit more thought relating to our 2025 budget challenge/project/not quite sure what to call it yet!
*Dealt with a bottle of Autumn penstemon cuttings on windowsill to see if any had rooted. Yep, 2 with good roots so changed the water & popped them back to get a bit stronger. Love free plants. Composted the others - they've had their chance & blew it.
*Did a few budget updates & shifted some funds around to keep different budget categories straight.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Easy-peasy nosebag tonight, especially as Mr F says he'll do it. Home made chicken soup from the freezer, followed by scrambled eggs on toast.
*Oh & I did cast on a TV knitting project last night.....one of the half price sock yarns in my stash is self-patterning shades of grey, neutral & blues, so I think that will be a decent addition to the Presents Stash for gifting to B-i-L at some point - probably Christmas 2025.
Right, that is quite enough yakk from me. I think I will wrap the house up & put the fairy lights on, then have an hour with my current book - 'Starve Acre'. It's very good, I think the genre would be described as 'Folk horror' but it is folklore-based, the sort of thing us old pagan-types tend to enjoy. It's the sort of prose where no words seem wasted. How I'd love to write something like that. Mr F put the film on his Christmas wish list but doesn't know that I have bought it for him, so I will be able to compare properly, having read the book first, as I always prefer to do.
Friends, I am STILL yakking.
Enjoy your evenings,
F x

EssexHebridean

Those look very festive Foxgloves!

I have no issue buying "extra" bits of christmas stuff Y/S'd as long as it will keep, and get used - This year's mince pies are going to have some VERY nice mincemeat in them as a result of this! 

rtandon27

@foxgloves - what an amazing stash of jams/jellies/chutneys!  I'd be happy to have a jar in my stocking! 🤶🎅

foxgloves

Thank-you. I did wonder if the photo was actually going to post properly as I did have issues with part of my post going AWOL & so I added the text later. Full post & photo both there now though so it clearly righted itself.
@EssexHebridean - Yes, that's exactly the point, isn't it? There are certain things which are well worth looking for at a post-Christmas reduced price, but it defo pays to know what they are & what sort of things to look for. If I didn't make my own mincemeat (though I haven't this year), I would defo look to buy an expensive jar at a reduced price, as that stuff keeps for ages!

@rtandon27 - Awww, how nice you'd be pleased with one of my jars in your stocking. Shame I can only send you a virtual jar, but it is nevertheless sent with all good wishes.
F

Makingabobor2

Aww, your jars look amazing. I wish someone would give me that for Christmas.  What recipe do you use for your tomato ketchup and also your smokey blackberry ketchup?   I'd love to try that next year.  In  fact I want to try all sorts of new things next year.  Maybe I should have a new diary and call it How to be more like Foxgloves. You truly are an inspiration. 

DawnW

I didn't make mincemeat this year either, as I thought I had some of last year's left. Most annoying, as it is too late now, as it needs to mature a bit before use. I must remember next year, but in the meantime am hoping that Wa*trose have some decent stuff!

PennysIntoPounds

How beautiful! Very fortunate recipients indeed 😊

foxgloves

@DawnW - I'm sure they will. I wibbled over mincemeat this year & decided that as we will be away & also pastry isn't the best thing for my dodgy gallbladder, I wouldn't bake any mince pies. Like you, I'm rather regretting it now as I could have bought some filo & made mincemeat twigs. Ah well, we will have plenty of yummy Christmas cake & other stuff though. I will defo make sure I make some mincemeat next Autumn though.
F