Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Baileys_Babe

Marmite on toast with eggs 😋

I've never heard of squashed eggs, but I thought it was because I only like my eggs scrambled.

Suffolk_lass

Humdinger1 said:

Knitting bees; a metaphor for so many things.  Bees seem to attract many fascinating legends and sayings.   Was it @Suffolk_lass who came up with the priceless expression 'bees too angry to sell'? I find myself using it a lot.  Love to all Humdinger xx 

Yes, that was me! Only mine did not involve needles and wool!

I also make my tomato sauce for pasta using the method of frying 2 med cloves of garlic in olive oil (so not too hot) then adding half a kilo of chopped fresh (or a 440g tin of chopped) tomatoes (slightly sad work well), salt, pepper, half a teaspoon of sugar and some herbs (oregano, basil, mint and thyme here, (premixed) and simmer while the pasta cooks. It freezes well or also stores well if you pop it in a couple of hot pop top jars and make sure the tops pop. And no electricity involved in the latter method of storage

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Thanks for your comments, which I always enjoy reading. It wouldn't be much fun coming on here & talking to myself, would it?!
Really busy day yesterday getting the new raised beds finished....there'll be a little bit of gravel to do at some point & Mr F has some old railway sleepers to move into a functional position, but the time-pressured stuff is all done & the new solar lights are up around the archway. I can pop the summer bunting up when I remember to take the steps down the garden with me. Mr F absolutely worked his socks off lugging 20 full size sacks of compost into the car & out again at our end (3 trips) then he had to carry them to the end of our 130' garden. He defo deserved a BBQ after that. Meanwhile I set about sieving gravel out of topsoil ('The gravel' is a long-running saga from previous owner's unhelpful garden habits) until after 10 big trugfuls my shoulder said it would like to do a different job. It was lovely to get some plantings done in the new raised beds - courgettes - 2 in each of the small beds & 1 in the corner of the large one. Tomatoes added to 'hardening-off' area. Their bottomless pots are all in situe ready for planting out day.
Today's efforts:
*Changed bed linen.
*Did 3 loads of laundry. Free drying as it's warm & v windy here today.
*Baked a batch of bread rolls.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Picked cucumber no.2.
*Potted up 2 cyclamen salvaged from winter courtyard containers. They should be fine for Autumn planting.
*Sowed more lettuce seed - 2 varieties. 1st sowing halfway to full-size out in their bed so I want to be able to cut one, then replace with a plug plant newbie.
*Relocated some small slugs to area where they are most likely to be eaten by our blackbirds instead of hiding near our food plants.
*Watered greenhouse & veg. Mr F fed the strawberries, courgettes & cucumbers.
*Made a free notepad from halved clean-on-one-side A4 paper & a big bulldog clip.
*Put all pending admin/financials out on my desk ready to tackle tomorrow.
*Very low-effort meal tonight as Mr F cooked extra chicken on the BBQ last night with tonight's food in mind. The coals were still red-hot so seemed a shame not to use them, then pay to use the oven tonight. Also leftover olives, salad & coleslaw so job done.
Also some leisure time. We did the 'Everyman' crossword, I filled in my food journal, read the newspaper, had a much needed bubble bath & hairwash (I was coated in a film of sieved topsoil!) & will be spending this evening on the sofa with my very pink sock knitting & some TV.
I'm up for a productive week ahead. Anyone else fancy one of those? 
See you there,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Fabulous lugging and sieving work the pair of you!
Glad you made time for some Sunday nice chill things too 😊
We've started a summer being productive thread today if you're in a getting things done mood and fancy joining in, and everyone else most welcome too!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6610222/summertime/p1?new=1

KajiKita

You always impress me with how early you pick your cucumbers 😊
New raised beads are like a fresh, clean page aren’t they. I hope the courgettes appreciate them and romp away 😊
Mr F sounds like he’s worked hard this weekend, he’ll be looking forward to going back to work for a rest! 😉

No Soot or Ash antics. Hoping the felines are in fine fettle! 😊

KK

Suffolk_lass

I haven't even potted my cucumbers into their final places yet! mind you, he's still in hospital as I type, so two people's tasks fall to me at the moment (and he has already given notice that I shall have the cat's letter tray for the foreseeable future while the drain hole heals )

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - You can't expect to be as on top of things as normal. Time will come for your cukes....as long as they are watered & fed, I think they should be grateful for that with all you've had going on recently.
F

foxgloves

@KajiKita - I do often get lucky with early cukes, but have cheated this time & bought a couple of young grafted plants following the demise of all four of my nice little homegrown ones. It's been a really weird Spring in my greenhouse, that's for sure!
F

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money Savers,
Seem to have been busy today & have now plonked myself out on the reading bench because I have done with jobs for the day. 
*A no-spend day.
*Sorted yesterday's 3 loads of line-dried laundry, ironed what needed it & put away.
*Dinner in slow cooker - a turkey, sweet potato & sweetcorn chilli from the "I ❤️ my slow cooker" book - another one I borrowed first from the library to check there were sufficient promising recipes to buy it (there were). I shall only need to cook some rice.
*Vacuumed all of downstairs. Am still a bit short on my daily minimum steps so shall do some purposeful marching up & down our long garden when I've finished on here.
*Did my usual Monday morning budget updates which involved the grocery budget, Personal Spends & the kitchen garden refurb pot. Had forgotten I'd included the cost of our recent watery-kitchen-shop order in June's budget so it was nice to spot it & not have to raid the House & Garden Pot. 
*Shopped a new notebook & skincare products from home - all lovely things I received a couple of months ago for my birthday, which of course, would normally be paid for from my Personal Spends. A bit of useful info transferred from my old notebook before ripping it up & adding to the compost.
*Fed the wormery a tasty concoction of pineapple & potato peelings & used filter coffee papers. Nomnomnommettynom!
*Checked to see how the veggie plants in "Hardening-Off Corner" are doing. They look fine.
*Our Grimsby 🐟 order arrived nice & early so I got that portioned up & into the freezer. The salmon was a whole side & bigger than usual. I wonder if they perhaps made up my order last & it wasn't worth cutting into it so they bunged it all in. Freezer now v full as also has a leg of lamb in it & a brisket. Mr F did mention after his last rummage among its icy depths, that he thought we wouldn't need to buy much food this month & that would obviously be good, because I can always find 'new homes' for money.
Right, that's today's budget-friendly tasks shared. Time to get my steps up to par.
F x

Makingabobor2

More good " buying from home". I have quite a few note books & shouldn't need to buy one for a while. 
I am also trying to use up food this budget period & not buy too much. We seem to have quite a bit, so going to see how far I can stretch it.