Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

Glad you managed to finally get your inheritence where it should be. DH is always saying that one day we will get a good inheritence from both hos parents and my dad, but I keep telling him that nothing in life is guaranteed and we can't live our lives relying on that.   Any one of them could end up in a care home. My mum spent 10 years in a nursing home, so nothing in life is simple.  

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - My Mum used to say that too. I'd be talking about how I'd love to live on the Suffolk coast one day (I'm the first generation of my family never to have lived in Suffolk, my family tree there goes back into the mists of time) & Mum would say that after her death, the money inherited would help me achieve that. I used to say that would be lovely, but we'd need to see how things went, as any care she needed would be more important. As it happened, Mum's death happened due to an unexpected medical emergency & so care home fees were never required. You are so right though that we just don't know what the future will bring re care needs of our elderly relatives.
F

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
First day of sandals & my feet are freezing! The sun made a rather desultory attempt earlier but soon gave up in favour of grey chill. I feel stiff in what my Grandad would have called my 'beam end' today (he was a boat builder) as I got a bit carried away with the bindweed digging yesterday, so I'm doing different activities today to use a few different muscles. On the budget-friendly front, I have.....
*Mixed up a sourdough ready for baking tomorrow.
*Weighed out ingredients for making pizza dough shortly - pizza is for dinner tonight (I think I will make a tuna & pepper one) & I'll freeze the 6 rolls which I always make at the same time as a pizza base.
*Froze 2 spare portions of the gigantes plakis I made yesterday.
*Mr F informed me of a spare hot cross bun in the freezer of which I was unaware. Now defrosting for lunch!
*Cleared lots of emails.
*Checked various accounts to make sure that all the money I moved has ended up in the correct place. 
*Wrote a cheque for the amount I am paying into the ISA tomorrow morning when I visit the building society & wrote a short town list to make best use of the time & parking.
*Ordered a birthday present for BiL. Out of stock when I checked yesterday so ordered from elsewhere & was pleased to see that they were on free delivery.
*Entered a competition.
*Added a birthday £10 off Sparks offer to my card, but as I only have 6 days in which to use it & won't be going anywhere near a branch selling the categories covered in the offer until quite a bit later than that, I doubt I shall be able to make use of it. I don't buy clothes online as I like to try things on so that's not an option.
*Checked greenhouse plant babies- really need some consistent temperatures & longer periods of decent sunlight now as many of this year's plantlets are struggling to grow, despite being dosed with seaweed & bubblewrapped at night. Compost seems decent so I think it is down to extremes of temperature. Well they need to have a word with themselves because I'm running out of patience!
Still to do (apart from make the pizza):
*Pick some lettuce leaves.
*Major triage of the carrots! I simply don't know why there are so many! I am thinking we maybe changed something on last week's meal plans, or somebody got the carrot red mist (a bit weird, as usually only happens with steaks & beer!) & overbought. Anyway, I shall make some carrot mayonnaise to accompany tonight's pizza & salad & the rest will be prepped, blanched & frozen while they're still in good nick.
*Remind Mr F to go through his CC bill which has arrived this morning as it's Big Budget Day tomorrow so I shall need to know which items are covered from his Personal Spends as opposed to petrol & the planned spending we use this card for. Apart from that, I have everything ready to tackle Budget Day & set Foxgloves Manor up ready for May. 
And that will be it for tasks....I intend to have a bath & hairwash, read a couple more chapters of the Barbara Vine novel I've just started & sort out some family history notes. And if my toes haven't actually frozen off my feet by then, I will also paint my toenails for Spring.
Onwards.....
F x

themadvix

You're brave, getting your toes out today Foxgloves - it's too chilly here for that and we're further south than you.

We like this recipe for a carrot glut, although I'm intrigued by carrot mayonnaise? Is that just grated carrot swirled into the mayo?

foxgloves

@themadvix - Thanks for the link. Recipe looks yum.
Yes, carrot mayo based on the Cranks recipe. I usually grate the carrots, add sultanas, pumpkin seeds & parsley or coriander, then bind with mayo.
F

Cheery_Daff

Definitely too cold for bare feet here, I've got a hot water bottle and just resoted to putting the heating on! 🥶

foxgloves

Oh dear, @Cheery_Daff. Well I will shortly be resorting to warmer footwear, but the heating is defo not going back on. I'm liking April's daily figures on the smart monitor too much for that!
F

Cheery_Daff

I wouldn't have bothered if I was pottering around, but I'm sat at a desk today and I refuse to put on fingerless gloves to type in April 🥶😂 thermostat was showing 13 degrees which is rather chilly for sitting still, I've only whacked it up to 16 so hopefully it won't take too much! (We're not on mains gas so no smart monitor for that, probably fortunate in this case 😂)

themadvix

foxgloves said:

@themadvix - Thanks for the link. Recipe looks yum.
Yes, carrot mayo based on the Cranks recipe. I usually grate the carrots, add sultanas, pumpkin seeds & parsley or coriander, then bind with mayo.
F

Ooh, will check that out - sounds lovely (I rebought the book after you'd mentioned it - I had a copy from my mum several years ago but in my minimalist period got rid - in fairness at the time I hadn't used it at all - but now refer to it regularly for soup, rock buns and country biscuits - all of which you've mentioned!)

foxgloves

@themadvix - If you make up their chickpea croquette recipe, alter spicing to however you like it & roll into balls instead of sausage-shapes, it makes good falafels x