Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Aww, that's a shame, @Makingabobor2, as it's all blue sky & sunshine here & I'm just in a dress as got too hot working in an additional layer. Maybe it's because we're on the Eastern side of the region, idk. Perhaps it will warm up where you are this afternoon. 
F x

Twolabsandacat

What lovely news FG.  I know you will make good 'money sense' decisions with it.

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

Aww, that's a shame, @Makingabobor2, as it's all blue sky & sunshine here & I'm just in a dress as got too hot working in an additional layer. Maybe it's because we're on the Eastern side of the region, idk. Perhaps it will warm up where you are this afternoon. 
F x

Been sunny here, but such a chilly wind all day. Shouldn't complain though, as the washing dried. I just didn't feel like getting in the garden

foxgloves

Thanks, @Twolabsandacat, we certainly intend to be sensible.

Evening Friday Frugalistas,
A useful day in the garden, which has been both enjoyable & productive. Not a no-spend day, but have only been to market for our weekly veg & parked for free.
*Moved all geraniums into cold frame to harden them up for resuming outdoor life.
*Ditto big agapanthus pots which took more time as they required maintenance. Now outside hardening off. Decided one of them (brought from Mum & Dad's garden) is not an agapanthus but is actually an Unhappy Something Else. Am going to enlist Mr F to wrestle it out of its pot & try it in the ground (another free gap-filler).
*Filled further gaps with the rest of my plant freebies - 2 hollyhocks (saved seed), a penstemon (free seed) & 5 aquilegias (self-sown + 1 slightly naughty purloined seedling).
*Dismantled & moved a few bits of stuff for a change of look.
*Free workout for Mr F who decided to clean the greenhouse glass inside & out.
*Cheap & easy nosebag tonight - surplus sausages from freezer with poached eggs & home made jacket wedges.
Oh, meant to mention in case anyone goes near Waitbl00m....when Mr F was there yesterday, he found lots of their nice little boxes of chocolate caramel hearts & truffles for Mothering Sunday yellow-stickered at very affordable treat prices. Just saying, in case anyone's weekend cava might be too wet without a small chocolate treatette!
Right, well the chef is cutting up.potatoes, the cats have had their dinner (after being in full gut-lord mood all day) & I'm going to crack on with my doorstep of a book.
F x
P.S Despite thermostat showing between 16 & 17.5° all day, the sun on the windows has meant I haven't felt at all cold. And a big bonus of having switched the CH off on 31st March this year was seeing gas use in pence instead of pounds on the smart monitor when I came in from thw garden at 4.30pm. Credit re-building all the way now.

foxgloves

Morning Moneysavers,
Nothing much to report from Foxgloves Manor. Both of us busy in the garden yesterday....Mr F removing metres of poorly-laid black plastic inherited from previous occupants & another of the big railway sleepers as prep for our veg garden revamp. I got on with potting up cosmos & other seedlings. Spent a lot of time discussing exactly how & where to site the new raised beds but we want to get it right.
Off to garden centre later with my notebook & tape measure. 
Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
F x

Blackcats

And as a regular reader I know you will stick to your plan and your list when you visit the garden centre!  I think we have both spent some spendy Sundays in garden centres back in the day!

Suffolk_lass

Back from my weekend with my beekeeping friends and delighted to hear your news about your relative's bequest. Maybe your bench should feature a small brass plaque with a little thank you message, so that you remember them when you sit on it.

foxgloves

@Blackcats - I was well-behaved at the garden centre. Although we did only go to measure up for an additional couple of small wooden raised beds, we did actually buy them. They were exactly what I had in mind & were on offer so saving £10 on those, meant that we were able to offset the cost of a new string of solar lights, another item on our list. I tried on a fab dress, but didn't buy as it was sadly not up to coping with the Foxgloves boobs which very much have a mind of their own. It was a cracking print & fitted nicely everywhere except there. Ah well, money saved, I suppose.

@Suffolk_lass - Thanks. It was a nice surprise & will be allocated sensibly when I receive it. I think the brass plaques you mention can look nice & smart, but I have some lovely plants in the garden from my elderly relative who was a keen allotment holder, gardener & flower arranger - not just the unusual daffodils I mentioned, but also some fabulous Siberian bearded irises, which do make me think of her. Tbh, we don't even have a memorial stone for Mum & Dad. We talked about it, but felt we'd be unlikely to visit, as neither of us live nearby, & we decided we'd 'visit them' by enjoying the beach where they requested their ashes to be scattered, as we have happy memories of going there as a family.
F

foxgloves

And greetings Monday Money Savers,
I've been catching up with indoor chores today to make up for all the time spent in the garden over the last few days. Budget-friendly offerings as follows:
*A no-spend day as haven't been anywhere & I don't think Mr F has left his work building as he's covering sickness absence.
*3 loads of laundry done & pegged out for free drying in the sunshine.
*Yesterday's leftover roast pork divided up between tonight's stir-fry & some or other stew which Mr F is taking to work for late-shift lunch.
*Did next week's meal plans - earlier than usual, but we have a voucher for £10 off a £75 online shop + free delivery so need to be on top of that, ready to order tomorrow night.
*Baked bread.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Vacuumed the whole house, cleaned the bathroom & emptied bins - usual minimal products & washable cloths.
*Checked seedlings. Very cold night - garden frosted white this morning. Greenhouse plant babies had 3 layers of bubblewrap which I applied late yesterday afternoon so as to trap a bit of heat, but it really is too cold at night for the more tropical veg & I'll be glad when night time temperatures get nearer to double figures. Shall be popping out there to give everything a light watering shortly.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates. Grocery budget was well under target for Week 2's shop with just another tenner for fruit & veg from the market. 
*Entered a competition.
*Checked for surveys & acquired a massive 3p for being of the wrong demographic! No matter, as I wasn't really in the mood for surveys anyway.
*Decluttered another 2 magazines to my friend's box as will see her at the weekend. Magazines are so expensive now that I like to pass them on if possible.
Mr F is convinced that Soot has developed the intelligence & perseverance of velociraptor. He has spent the weekend working out various nefarious ways of acquiring more food. While we have managed to catch him red-handed in most of these attempts, this morning he managed to lift an upturned bowl off Ash's breakfast dish (Ash likes to eat his breakfast in 2 sittings) & gobble it up before I noticed. I had only just seen him in the garden as he stopped for a stroke, so can only assume he knew me being out there busily pegging out laundry would give him a viable window of time in which to work on removing the covering bowl undetected. Poor Ash was sad when he found his empty bowl, but he cheered up when I gave him a few little pieces of roast pork while I was cutting it up. And no, Soot did NOT get any! 
Right, must go & get the greenhouse plants watered, then I think I might read a couple of chapters. Hope you are managing to get off to at least a reasonably decent start to the week.
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Oh Soot! I think I've mentioned it before but it still makes me laugh that one of our previous cats worked out how to undo the zip on Mr PIP's rucksack so he could snaffle the shopping