Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Well, the sun is shining now, though perhaps not for long. We've had some really big showers today & I could hear thunder in the distance too. As I watched the weather forecast while drinking my ginger tea 1st thing, I decided it made sense to get out in the garden early to do my planned greenhouse jobs, so I was out there for 7.30 & I just got them finished by 9am when the rain arrived. Quite a useful day on the whole. Budget-friendly stuff as follows:
*Picked all the tomatoes (both red & green) from the greenhouse then pulled up the plants. Tomatoes sorted into red enough for using & those which need to be on the ripening tray. I always have this in the sunny conservatory window & just use them as they turn red. 
*The aubergine plants are finished now, last fruits went in Mr F's ratatouille yesterday so I chopped those down for the compost & will re-use the growbag for some winter salads.
*Watered the peppers & chillies.
*Garden pickings: All the greenhouse tomatoes as above, ripe outdoor ones, courgettes, basil, pears & grapes.
*Lots of lovely ripe tomatoes used in tonight's meal, gigantes plakis, currently in the slow cooker. I intend to serve it with cheesy courgettes & sourdough toast. There'll be 2 portions for the freezer too.
*Have been slowly decluttering my little HQ room (it's a combination of a craft/hobby room & home office) & decided to sort out my vast collection of knitting needles & related gizmos. Why did I think this would be about a 10 minute job? No idea, because it wasn't! However, am very satisfied with the results. Have moved all my sets of straight needles into a storage case my friend made for me a couple of years ago. My old knitting bag will be washed & then used for storing sets of DPNs, circular needles, stitch holders, cable needles, etc. I've decluttered various bits & 10 pairs of needles to the charity bag. Hopefully they will be a nice find for someone just taking up or return to knitting. Also found 2 rug hooks which belonged to my Mum. It's over 2 decades since I made a rug, but have added to my box of random craft supplies just in case, as they are nice ones with wooden handles. I remember my Mum making rugs with them when I was little & we lived on the RAF camp.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast. 
You know how I always say that being organised always saves us money one way or another? Well, a perfect example of that today.....only a small one, but I think it's a good illustration. Recently, I bought a set of 2 new cable needles because my old one got irretrievably wedged between 2 veranda planks in deepest Suffolk a couple of years ago. Today I have tipped out & sorted my knitting needle stash & I found those nice new cable needles still in their unopened packaging. I also found another pack of new unopened cable needles which I must have bought on an earlier occasion. This was followed by an older pair......then a single one.....followed by another one (they are only used in '1s', not a pair). So at the time I was at the till paying for those 2 new ones, I actually had SIX perfectly good cable needles at home in my knitting stash, but just too much stuff in there to keep track of what I'd actually got. Only a little spend, but I think a good example of how not having my knitting gear carefully organised meant that I spent money completely unnecessarily. Anyway, have had a big sort out & can now see exactly what I've got. Another little find was some miniature wooden knitting needles which were gifted to me & it occurred to me that I could use these to make some Christmas tree decorations.....as in use the teeny-tiny needles to knit part of a jumper or little scarf or mitten then put a loop on for hanging a decoration which is a mini-piece of festive knitting. I might have a go when I'm in between projects & see if I can make it work well enough to add to the presents stash.
Right, the rain is back.....nice to see that bit of sunshine though. Time for a tidy-up & a couple of chapters of my book. I hear that the newest Washington Poe novel is waiting for me at the library so I must up my reading time.
Stay dry all, some of these showers have been really brisk.
F x

Makingabobor2

We have loads of tomatoes that are quite clearly not going to ripen outside now as well.  Think I will bring some in and put in window and see what happens, and maybe try the brown paper bag with a banana trick that I read about as well. There's far too many to waste, by leaving them out. Hoping next year will be better once I get a green house going. 

joedenise

I usually make green tomato chutney with the ones which don’t ripen.   My DH loves it.

rtandon27

It's been a long time since I've seen a green tomato, but used in place of tomatillos in salsa verde is my favorite trick! Also works with mid winter supermarket offerings which are often sour even when red.

foxgloves

Yes, I've made green tomato chutney before & it's nice. My Nan used to make it, so that's when I first tried it.
However, I'm confident my tomatoes will ripen. Most will ripen on their tray in sunny conservatory window & any that don't will be put in a large paper bag with a ripe one, pegged shut & left until they are red. This weekend looks quite sunny, which will ripen a few more outdoor ones. There's not really any big hurry, except that we are going away earlier than usual & I'd like to do another bottling session before then.
F

Suffolk_lass

She doesn't mention leopard print, but she was very keen on purple, the late, great Jenny Joseph. Personally, I always think of this, when purple clothing, of any sort is mentioned. And I am firmly of the belief that the omission of leopard print, was only because it wasn't a thing in 1962, when she wrote it. Although I do have a picture of my grandma in her pomp, wearing a (hopefully fake) ocelot collar, turned up on her winter coat (posing for the camera in a very 1950s couture model kind of way). Practising early then, @foxgloves! 

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - lol, I just love purple. My Mum did too. Her church friends called her 'the purple lady'. I like that poem. My Grandma loved poetry so I sent her a copy as I thought she'd enjoy it. In fact, she utterly missed the point of it & threw it in the bin! I asked her why & she said it was a horrible list of things she hoped she would never find herself doing as she aged. She was about 93 at the time.
F

badmemory

That may have something to do with the fact that at one time older ladies used to wear either black or purple.

My grandmother born late 1800s was very much the odd one out & was only seen in dark colours at funerals, my other grandmother was always in dark colours.

foxgloves

Hello Readers,
Thought I'd pop today's post on while I have my laptop on. Quite useful in terms of moving a few things on. Budget-friendly activity as follows:
*Baked a loaf. 
*Another use-it-up/quest to make freezer space meal tonight - have defrosted some BBQ pulled brisket & will serve it with rice & homegrown roast veg (thus ensuring 2 or 3 courgettes also get used).
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast, as unfortunately Mr F has to work all weekend to cover staff absence. He says it will pay off next week when he adds those 2 days to the annual leave he'd already put in for later in the week. He's defo popping out way fewer times on work days for coffees since I bought him a big thermos travel beaker for Christmas, as apparently it stays hot for ages.
*Sorted out the linen cupboard which was in danger of entering glory-hole territory. Couldn't work out why stuff that normally fits in there perfectly well hasn't done so for the past year. Well, if it hadn't been so obscured with stuff I hadn't put away properly, I'd have spotted the issue. Our big crate of camping stuff which lives in there, which we took out to access some bits & pieces when we stayed in the en-suite hostel rooms at our fave campsite last September had been put back in the wrong place. This had a domino effect on all the other stuff not fitting. Now back to normal & so tidy. Took the opportunity to get out luggage, picnic bag, cool bag & various other bits & bobs we will be needing shortly.
*Found a cushion cover which my sister made for me over 20 years ago. Apart from a tiny repair to the seam, which I have done, it was in perfect condition. Was able to shop a cushion pad from home for it. Result = a 'new' cushion sitting on the sofa, well, not new, obviously, but a little change of look for zero spend, which is the beauty of shopping from home.
*Swapped my seasonal clothes over. Shall leave the storage bag out for a little while as I know there are will still be a few summer items to round up from next laundry.
[Both of the above tasks resulted in quite a lot more items being added to the charity bag. A nice find for somebody as am donating a 'M*ns**n' dress I think I only wore about twice. Realistically, it was too long & should not have been bought, but not a style I can easily turn up without affecting how it hangs. I also knew I needed a stone off my mid-section for it to fit better. Well, guess what?! Typical!! Now I have over a stone off, the damn thing is too big in other places! What a waste of money. I can't be bothered faffing around with online sales atm, so am chalking this one up to experience & donating it. Someone who is both tall & curvy will hopefully pounce on it & think they've found some charity shop treasure.
*Moved 2 crochet blankets downstairs in case of chilly evenings to ensure that the CH stays off until the end of the month.
*A couple of bits of financial admin, including checking for a DD which should have been cancelled but was showing on our online statement on Monday. Now sorted. It was showing because it was due to be paid that day, but the payee didn't collect it so no refund to chase. It was only a 'thing' because Mr F cancelled a professional membership thinking the dd went out mid-month, but it actually went out that same day. Have credited September's budget with the money.
*Today's garden pickings: Grapes
Well, I am still a little way off my daily minimum steps despite having a busy productive morning, so I shall take myself off for a walk round the garden & see if I can see Ash, who was playing silly b*ggers at breakfast time, sulking at lunch (tbf, that was my fault), & has therefore barely eaten anything all day. Soot will doubtless appear & claim he didn't eat his breakfast or lunch either, but I shall tell him to stop being a pants-on-fire!
Hope everyone is off to a good start with September's budget. I can't imagine not having a monthly budget now.....this from someone who was one of the world's worst fritterers!
F x 

Debsnewbudget

Was listening to Gardeners question time from Eden project in the car this afternoon.
they had a good segment on compost and how best to use it or mix your own.  Following from the discussions on here about compost earlier this year quite a few people might find it interesting. You can catch up via Radio 4 BBC SOUNDS