Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

BrilliantButScary

Thank you for your reply @foxgloves, I might decide to buy a sewing machine, but it will be in the Autumn.
Do you crochet? I was taught to knit and crochet as a child, but always thought crochet was quite old-fashioned, but I bought a book at a charity shop on Monday and think I might have another go. I remember wearing a crochet dress and a poncho as child, can't imagine most of today's children wanting to wear something 'home made'. 

I hope Mr F gets well soon and that you don't succumb. Myself and Mr BBS have recently both had COVID, and full recovery has taken several weeks. 

Best Wishes
BBS

foxgloves

@BrilliantButScary - I can crochet granny squares & quite enjoy making pretty-coloured blanket squares, but I didn't take to crochet like I did to knitting, so my skills didn't develop. Handknitting became very trendy in the 1980s with all the bold geometric patterned & fancy intarsia-patterned jumpers....plus all the gothy black mohair, of course, so having learned to knit as a child, I came of age just at the right time to enjoy honing my skills. I also used to knit up jumpers for friends to supplement my student grant. 
F

foxgloves

Hello Frugalistas,
Not a lot to report today, but I shall show willing with budget-friendly bits & bobs:
*Mixed up a sourdough, now in its basket ready for baking first thing tomorrow.
*Took delivery of the online grocery order & put it all away. Took the opportunity while ferreting around in the pantry to fill up a few jars. Unfortunately, the sound of the cat biscuit caddy being filled raised expectations in Soot which were not met, which led to an earlier biscuit-pester even by his impressive standards.
*Got containers ready for tomorrow's visit to the eco-refill shop.
*Did an inventory of the medicine/first aid box & added items which need restocking to the town list. Shall of course be buying generic painkillers, etc, as it is such a saving on the branded stuff, I can't understand why they are actually still going! Probably because folk like my Mum still believe that an identical dose of paracetamol which arrives in an unbranded pack costing pence can't possibly be as effective as one in a fancier box with a brand name costing 3+ times as much.
*Continue taking linen dress to pieces for use as a pattern.
*Knit more of my socks which I cast on last night. A bit slower start than usual as decided to knit a twisted rib cuff but the main body of the socks will be plain stocking stitch as I want the lovely indie-dyed yarn to be the star of the show.
*Added my share of a small royalties payment from Dad's music to our Leisure/Entertainment Pot, where it will help to offset some recently purchased opera tickets.
*Next job will be to move the courgettes & squash back into the greenhouse for the night as I spotted that temperatures are set to drop to 3 degrees here tonight. I don't want to set them back unnecessarily.
*Free fitness simply going for a walk around the village. It was boring, but as I knew I hadn't planned many physical tasks for today, that I'd need a walk to keep up my absolute minimum of 5000 daily steps. I only saw one cat on my route who didn't want to speak to me, so tried to keep myself engaged by looking to see what people were growing in their gardens. 
I still don't have any Covid symptoms. I'm hoping that as Mr F was clearly infected on Friday's training course with symptoms beginning on Monday, that I'd have been symptomatic myself by now if I was going to get it. Hope I'm not tempting fate by saying so. The Lergyfied One says he's still not "feeling right" but is definitely improving. He drove into work first thing when he could be sure of access without running into any of his staff, collected his work laptop & has felt well enough to work from home today. Interestingly, a family member who is a nurse at a residential care home says that they are told not to test themselves because they are expected to come to work with covid unless they feel too poorly to do so. I was quite surprised to hear that with it being a vulnerable client group. I suppose with people having had more doses of vaccine & newer virus versions not being as severe that it is perhaps not seen as such a problem as it was, though this policy still surprised me. At Mr F's work, the policy is that staff can go to work after a positive covid test if they choose to do so, but the actual line taken in practice is more that they are better not coming in & infecting frontline colleagues if possible. A colder day today, but have still had plenty of windows & patio doors open to let the fresh air circulate. 
Nothing else to impart......Oh, hang on, I meant to tell you a very short conversation I overheard yesterday on our street:
Child (about 5) on way to school: Can I have an iphone?
Parent: Why would I buy you an iphone? They're very expensive.
Child: They're not. You can get 'em for 6p.
(I guess that's proof that you can't start the education about the reality of money too soon! And I'm sure that use of & counting actual CASH is the best way to do it).
Cheers all,
F x

Makingabobor2

This idea of not testing and going to work even with Covid, just makes me so cross. You never know who you may be infecting, or how vunerable they are.  Especially in a care home.  My nephew used to work for Mr S until recently, and they were told the same thing. Having time of sick was a sackable offence!  That sort of attitude is just so wrong. 
hope you stay virus free and Mr FG improves. 

rtandon27

Oh wow - Covid-policies are shocking!  I'd be livid if anyone showed up to the office knowingly infectious with the illness, there are so many people who are vulnerable if they become infected.

The one time I had Covid, I caught it on my discharge day from a hospital stay, from a nurse who should have stayed home! - My immune system was very weak at that point after a few weeks in a ward! It was the tail end of the pandemic in '22 and a horrible first week home.

ladyholly

The company my dd works for has had a policy that positive covid tests still mean you work unless you are feeling too ill. She works both front of house and in the kitchen of a restaurant. I do wonder how many customers the staff have managed to infect.

Makingabobor2

ladyholly said:

The company my dd works for has had a policy that positive covid tests still mean you work unless you are feeling too ill. She works both front of house and in the kitchen of a restaurant. I do wonder how many customers the staff have managed to infect.

Its just all so wrong, isn't it? 

Suffolk_lass

ladyholly said:

Coxy11 said:

I'd much rather have little mice eating my fat balls than having to fish a dead (drowned) rat out of a watering can - ask me how I know.....

Good decision on the sewing machine funding stream.

Better a watering can than the toaster as happened to friend.

...Or a mouse in the surface mounted electric socket where it arc'd between live and neutral, blowing the main fuse each time we tried to reset it. It took twenty seconds to remedy once found, but half a day for the electrician to track it down

ladyholly

Suffolk_lass said:

ladyholly said:

Coxy11 said:

I'd much rather have little mice eating my fat balls than having to fish a dead (drowned) rat out of a watering can - ask me how I know.....

Good decision on the sewing machine funding stream.

Better a watering can than the toaster as happened to friend.

...Or a mouse in the surface mounted electric socket where it arc'd between live and neutral, blowing the main fuse each time we tried to reset it. It took twenty seconds to remedy once found, but half a day for the electrician to track it down

Ooh nasty.

PennysIntoPounds

Aw poor Mr F, glad he's feeling a bit improved. Thank you to him and everyone who doesn't spread any lurgies around! Obviously with understanding that some people will not get paid or even lose their jobs if they try not to make others ill or even kill the vulnerable. What a world.
Fingers crossed you've avoided it @foxgloves, ventilation and space apart does seem to be key

The socks sound marvellous, pics when you're ready please, and it always brings a smile to my face to hear about your dad still contributing to you having a lovely cultural thing in your life 😊

If you see that child again get the details of his recommended retailer please. Will trade Freddo for latest version of Samsung 😁