Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

What a lovely story @Suffolk_lass. 

rtandon27

Oh what a lovely Singer memory!  OH rescued his Mom's sewing table and we use it as a side table in the living room.  Once upon a time she was a seamstress for the (at the time) young princesses and made their overcoats.  When we cleared her house, after her passing, I squirreled away as many sewing supplies as I could, they kept showing up in every corner!

foxgloves

Enjoyed the sewing machine nostalgia, @Suffolk_lass & @rtandon27. Haven't even unboxed my newbie yet. It fell off my list yesterday, is very likely to do so today & tomorrow has very much been earmarked as a gardening day. Soot tried to unbox it for me earlier, but his was exactly the kind of help (ie Cat Help)I DIDN'T need, so he was distracted with a flake of tuna.

@BrilliantButScary - It's SESI All Purpose cleaner (Lavender & rosemary) & I get it refilled at our local eco-refill shop. It can be used neat on tougher muck, but I mostly use it diluted in a spray bottle. Previously, particularly when we were debt-busting, I used the standard Stardrops liquid....don't know if it is still made.....again, diluted & used in a spray bottle I'd salvaged from something else. It used to last a long time. Also, you probably know this already, but don't overlook how useful simple washing-up liquid can be for all sorts of cleaning jobs, I rub it neat into stains on clothing & it's great used neat on a scrubby cloth to lift baked on gunk off the hob. A squirt in a bowl of warm water with a splash of vinegar is great for cleaning windows too.
F

foxgloves

Hi Diary Readers,
Lots of rhubarb activity been going on here. Isn't it nice to be picking a few bits from the garden again? Yesterday, I picked rhubarb, rocket, chard & lettuce. This pic is 3lbs rhubarb macerating with sugar overnight ready to make rhubarb & ginger jam, which I did first thing this morning. The jars are now labelled & sitting on the dresser wearing their frilly toppers. I must add one to my sis's box for when we see her this weekend. I've made various rhubarb & ginger jam recipes over the years & I like this one the best as it uses both root & crystallized ginger, plus plenty of lemon which is good for both flavour & setting. It's not my recipe, it's one I found on the watery kitchen equipment people's website, but I can defo recommend it on toast & as a more unusual Victoria sponge filling. According to my sister, it is also good swirled through freshly whipped double cream & served with home made meringues, but I think that's one I need to be avoiding for a while! 
Instead of snarfing the leftover crystallized ginger, I have frozen it for this year's Christmas cake so that's an ingredient I shan't need to buy at an expensive time of year. Anyway, I am going to post another pic .....
F  

joedenise

Star drops is still made but definitely getting harder to find since Wilco closed down.  Still have quite a bit left nut ought to start looking for some sooner rather than later so I don’t run out (unfortunately we don’t have an eco refill shop anywhere locally).

foxgloves

.....And the rest of the rhubarb went into a batch of rhubarb & date chutney, which we both really like. I pretty much make this every year now. Again, I think this is from the aforementioned website, if I remember correctly. It has a tablespoon of curry powder in it, which gives it the perfect vibe for serving with spicy foods, although Mr F really likes it in a cheese sarnie too. Anyway, nice to have got this year's supply made & squirrelled away in the pantry. It's an easy one to make....not that any chutney is difficult, being very much a 'bung it in & simmer' kind of a thing, but the dates seem to help it get to that perfect 'thick & sticky' stage for bottling so it seems to me to be a bit quicker than some of the chutneys I make.....although of course quantities make a difference too. 
F

foxgloves

@joedenise,
I really do miss Wilko's. It was so good for this kind of purchase. I think Boyes still stock it, but I am not sure of the southernmost reach of their stores - they may well be only Midlands & North-based. Have heard that our branch is going to move into the old empty Wilko's shop, which is bigger so they expect to be able to carry a wider range of products. Hope their useful haberdashery is still as good (or better!) & that stocking of classic products like the one mentioned & cheap unbranded soda crystals continues.
F

sarah_diamond

I've bought Star Drops white vinegar spray in Home Bargains before, I'm sure. Not sure what else might be stocked by them from that brand.

I've never seen Boyes in Wales, keep meaning to check it out as have trekked to Stafford and Warrington in the last couple of years for yarn-y events so will add it to my plan for a possible weekend away in October at Stafford Wool Gathering, if only for a nose about and see what us Welshies are missing out on!

I had thought Wilko was back online though? Maybe I'm mistaken, I get so much spam in emails every day now I should really put a day aside for life admin at some point.

joedenise

No Boyes in the south where I am.  We only really have places like B&M, £land and Home Bargains.

foxgloves

I'm posting in dribs & drabs today, aren't I?
Didn't get round to posting yesterday & only got one of my 3 target garden jobs done. And the culprit? An email from the Cephalopods which I decided required pretty instant attention. The facts: Our energy account came through the winter with the same amount of credit balance as last year (about £5 more, to be exact) & our energy use is reasonably stable. I keep a log of what we are charged each month, balances, stuff like that, so I can track what we use in financial terms & look back a couple of years to compare. Yesterday, a tentacled email pinged into my box informing me that from next month, I'd need to increase monthly payments by a LOT. The calculator was fired up & showed it as a 53% increase being required to ensure our account doesn't fall into debt, you know the standard clauses on these things. I am all for annual account reviews. Very useful. I just couldn't find any rationale whatsoever for such a large increase. Decided to log into my account & use the Balance Forecaster Tool which I use quite regularly & have found helpful in the past. And that's where it got a bit odd. This stated that I was currently paying the very high amount per month which they had just told me would start next month & that......get this.......the recommended amount I SHOULD be paying was £2 more per month that I am paying now, so a 2% increase instead of a 53% one. Had a look through their forecast for what we are likely to use over the coming months (based on our usage algorithm) & couldn't see anything which would appear to necessitate such a large increase out of the blue. So I sent off an email & am pleased to say I received a very prompt response from a named person, which makes getting back in contact that much easier. Well, I still couldn't understand that any account review could throw up such an inflated new monthly payment figure but further down the slightly contradictory reply, I was told that the only amount due to be collected from my account was the monthly amount we are currently paying. I have requested that this be increased by £10 (a fraction of their original suggested figure) as that will cover the current underpayment of £2 plus add a little to the credit balance. 
Today I logged back into the Balance Forecaster Tool & that erroneous line stating that we are currently paying the huge new amount suggested in the email has disappeared. I think there's been some kind of a blip. As I said in my email, I have no intention of paying a 53% increased figure each month when THEIR OWN FIGURES recommend a 2% larger payment. So that has taken up more of my time than I'd like. Just a thought, has anyone else received a similar email from them? Oh & here I am droning on about it to all of you & spending even MORE of my time on it! Enough! I've requested confirmation that they have made the changes as requested by me so I can just have a quick login & check all is correct & in place.
Other budget-friendly stuff today:
*Baked a batch of bread rolls & a base for tonight's pizza.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast. Apparently Mr F's lunch sarnie today was too big for his mouth!! Although I gather this was a broadly positive thing, lol!
*Froze two spare portions of the potato & pea pav bhaji I made last night. As I shall freezer most of the rolls I've just baked, that's a whole extra meal sitting in there rtg.
*Did a minor budget update.
*Transferred next week's meal plans to the food planning section of my diary (one of the reasons I love the Emma Bridgewater diaries is getting a monthly planner, which I always use for meal plans).
*Wrote grocery shopping list. Not too big at all, so added a couple of pantry stock-up items.
*Picked lettuce & rocket to go in a salad bowl tonight.
*Oh & I made the rhubarb & ginger jam (already mentioned) today too.
The day has simply flown by. I sat down for breakfast & had a quick catch-up on the News, then again for my lunch & solved another crossword clue, & that's been it for leisure time today, really. Obviously there has been quite a bit energy account-based number crunching, which takes up time. I have decided that tomorrow, I will clean the bathroom & kitchen before breakfast, then aim to have a really decent day of garden tasks. In the last couple of days, all I have managed to do out there is tip out this year's daffodil tubs, divide & replant the bulbs & remove another half-trug of the combined pestilence that is hawkweed & bindweed. Need a proper greenhouse day tomorrow.
Right, I think I will sort out toppings for that pizza now & see if I have any time left before the shopping arrives to unbox my new sewing machine.
Enjoy your evenings all, 
F