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Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
Comments
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How is the furry patient? Hoping all is well x
KK
As at 17.04.26:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £216,847
- OPs to mortgage = £17,793 Estd. interest saved = £9,021 to date
c. 16 months reduction in term
Fixed rate 3.85% ends October 2030
Read 28 books of target 52 in 2026 as @ 23rd April.
Produce tracker: £78 of £400 in 2026
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.Watch your actions, they become your reality.3 -
Awww, thanks for the good wishes & enquiries about Ash. He's fine. They removed the root which unknowingly got left behind when he had the tooth extracted. It was much quicker than the previous procedure so he didn't have as much anaesthetic & came round much quicker, experimenting with a few jumps before demanding his dinner. Check-up tomorrow pm. He was supposed to stay indoors until he's been seen, but he was getting so visibly stressed by being kept in that after 24hrs had passed with no visible ill-effects, I let him out. It didn't help that he could see Soot outside enjoying the sunshine.
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!10 -
Hello Daffodils,
Pleasant & useful day. Not a no-spend day as we realised we needed more cat meat with Ash not being allowed any biscuits for a few days. Have kept the faith....
*Made a sourdough, now proving in its basket ready for baking tomorrow morning.
*Turkey chilli defrosted for tonight's nosebag - that big post-Christmas batch-cook has done us proud & was well worth doing.
*Pruned all the conservatory plants, watered & fed them. Geraniums have all over-wintered fine so I shan't need to buy any for tubs & baskets......
*Washed conservatory window sills & frames. Can't believe I used to buy a specialist cleaning product for this back in the day! What nonsense! Dilute multi-surface cleaner from the eco-refill shop in a spray bottle & a piece of cut-up towelling from the ragbag did a fine job without having to resort to anything stronger like green bleach. Decluttered 2 items to the charity shop bag.
*Checked veggie plant babies, all of which survived their 1st night in our unheated greenhouse. Got to look after that future food!
*Checked spices in case any refills required while we are at the shop tomorrow but we had only run out of fajhita spice & tandoori powder which I make up myself so I mixed up a small jar of each.
*Free exercise clearing & forking over another section of garden. As I'm walking around, looking at which areas to clear next, I'm seeing quite a few self-seeded freebies. This weekend, I'll aim to do my annual 'freebie plant hunt', gathering them temporarily in trays ready for planting out in suitable gaps.
*Mended a necklace - quite an old one with a smoky quartz set in silver from an elderly relative. The clasp no longer functioned properly so I've replaced it with a new one at very low cost, rather than risk losing the necklace if I didn't notice it falling off.
And that's it for today. Just need to pop down & bubblewrap the vegelets, then I intend to start on another book.
Hope everyone's seen some sunshine today. I see we are to be beset by the charms of Storm Dave over the weekend, which if I recall the map correctly, looked to be focused on the North West. We've planned an outing for Sat - about a 70-mile round trip, outdoor venue, so with the price of petrol, we may postpone if it is raining. Not a lot of point wasting the fuel if it's too wet for a walk when we get there.
F x
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!9 -
Great news about Ash 😻
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping)4 -
Glad to hear Ash has bounced back so well ❤️
I was thinking of you today when smiling at my volunteer sweet rocket plants 😊
KK
As at 17.04.26:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £216,847
- OPs to mortgage = £17,793 Estd. interest saved = £9,021 to date
c. 16 months reduction in term
Fixed rate 3.85% ends October 2030
Read 28 books of target 52 in 2026 as @ 23rd April.
Produce tracker: £78 of £400 in 2026
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.Watch your actions, they become your reality.5 -
great to read the Ash update.
4 -
Good that Ash is recovering well. It's chaors here, with a beekeeping friend's dog here for the week. Our dog is doing his lap-warming duty as I type, asleep across my legs at my desk. He's 4 and a half and quite the responsible one of the pair. Lodger is also a cat chaser, so stealth cat has temporarily moved upstairs. She is fine and still a purry old thing
Save £12k in 2026 #2 I have banked £2870.61 so far, against a £10k target The 2026 Save £12k in 2026 thread is here
OS Grocery Challenge in 2026 I am sticking with a £3000 annual budget for 2026 - currently £568.34 and most of my March purchasing made
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the grow your own in 2026 discussion thread
My keep within our budget diary is here8 -
So glad to read that Ash has recovered well! Hope you have a lovely weekend even if the weather is not entirely cooperative.
4 -
Thank-you. Yes, Ash is doing well & passed his post-op vet check-up at the vet yesterday with flying colours. This is this morning's bargain - florist on our local market was selling these lovely lemon yellow aquilegias for £1 each so treated myself to three. Variety = "Spring magic yellow". Soot should have been in this photo as was sitting next to the plants but he heard Mr F with a bag of coffee beans, which sounded like cat biscuits, so he hastened off with all speed.
I am going to bake our Easter cake this afternoon & make some apricot & coriander stuffing for tomorrow's roast so I shall enjoy that. Mr F has asked me to write him a Spring job list as he found it "really useful" last year. Let's just say I'll be on it like an Easter bonnet!
Oh & the builder's quote arrived for repairing the awful wall - £450, so very much lower than we were anticipating.
F x
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!15 -
Very pretty colour and what a bargain! Glad the builder’s quote was better than you expected, sounds very reasonable to me.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping)7
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