Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Suffolk_lass

I think the decisions re greenhouses are also impacted by the size of your greenhouse (mine is 8x12 feet) - I put my second batch of tomato seedlings out in my unheated G/H as soon as the seed leaves started to look leggy. They are in a propagator that I could plug in, but haven't, and started with a cover so their daytime heat was preserved overnight. No more. Despite being tiny, they are no longer covered and I am surprised if Mr Sl does remember to close the door overnight now. He means well but he might be the biggest hazard to our productivity with young plants.

I plan to plant my squash seeds now I am back from my family and beekeeping convention - doing so before would just have been a waste of seed

foxgloves

Yes, it would have made more work when you returned probably having to revive them all, @Suffolk_lass. I am doing the same with our beans. I'm waiting a few extra days until we get back from our mini-break. It's enough of a faff as it is, having to prepare everything for being left to its own devices. We have neighbours who would be perfectly willing to come in & water stuff for us but the only route to our back garden is through the house & Mr F simply won't trust anyone with a key. It isn't worth having the discussion again as despite being easy-going on most things, he will not budge on this issue.

Hello Diary Readers,

A gentle day of random tasks so far. Money-helping stuff included doing some budget updates from the weekend which involved a couple of Pot transfers, catching up on a few surveys, making a sourdough for baking tomorrow morning & revisiting my planning lists for our mini-break. Grocery budget lower than I'd like for April Week 5, but remembered I have a £10 Waitbl00m voucher from a recent survey cash-out. We have roughly planned out our meals (self-catering plus a night out for my birthday) & will be taking a selection of stuff with us from stores. I have budgeted additional holiday expenses money too & if we want extra treaty things in addition to that, we both have some Personal Spends left & could technically dip into May's because we will be away for my usual Big Budget Day - that bit of numberwang will be waiting for me when we get back!

Random tasks will continue this afternoon - clean laundry to sort out, a bit of ironing & mending a pair of trousers - NOT on this occasion a case of rather too much Foxgloves & not enough trouser, but more that I appear to have caught the fabric on something. It's only a little hole though & I can easily repair it. A cheapo use-it-up for tonight's meal - golden lentil soup which I shall make with a container of ham stock from the freezer & add shredded ham. It will be tasty & filling with a slice of toast. Still have a couple of spare rhubarb muffins which will do for dessert. We are very much in using-up mode atm.

Then I am aiming to do an hour of weeding in the garden ready for garden waste wheelie collection day on Thurs, as I do like to think I've had my money's worth. I have a specific area of garden border in mind for today's clearing efforts as it is where I intend to site my birthday windmill when it has officially been gifted to me 😊. As for now, well I had better go & do cat lunches because Soot has been on a major pester since 10.10 a.m. As noon is the earliest they ever get their lunch, it has been a trying morning with a lot of chuntering, pacing the floor & coming to find me so as to administer headbutts to the shins. I wouldn't want anyone on here to think he's fading away to a wraithe…..he's quite a chunk, & while not yet quite overweight, the vet said "we don't want him getting any bigger". Hmmmm. I found him in the pantry early investigating a new bag of biscuits belonging to Ash which Mr F had wedged behind a heavy vegetable basket to prevent just this sort of crafty activity.

Wishing you all a productive day. I was just going to add it's been another no-spend day, but it hasn't as I have paid the wheelie-bin cleaner. Still just a little spend though.

F x

Makingabobor2

Thanks for that FG, very useful info. I will start to get mine into greenhouse this week, as it looks to be getting a lot warmer here. My peppers….first time growing them, are very small, but looking healthy and from what I have read, are big enough to move into bigger pots, so will try and do that this week as well.

foxgloves

My peppers are still tiny. They didn't like their seed compost this year. In fact, I wasn't keen on it either. The multi-purpose peat-free we bought is much better & much more friable than the seed compost, despite the purpose of seed compost being that it is fine enough for small seeds & seedlings.

Anyway, they are starting to put on some new growth now so I shall continue to boost them with seaweed & hopefully they'll be ok. It's usually aubergines which sulk & have hissy fits if they don't like the conditions but so far, this year's have been angelic.

Just taken out 2 trugs of thug weeds & 1 of comfrey - I'll use the comfrey for 'chop & drop' on the veg beds.

Oh, I could murder a walnut whip atm. A proper one with a nut on not a no-nut rip-off. Mr F reckons they are no longer available at all, so if anyone sees any, do let me know!

F x

Makingabobor2

OOh yes, I love Walnut Whips. Have seen them in the "cheapie sell everything" shop in our village in packs of 3. Also think the Laand of £ sell them.

rtandon27

Marksandspensive do their own WW with a nut on top. I quite like them but I have no clue if they measure up to the original!

Jellytotts

B n M sells WW, I gaze longingly at them - since having my gallbladder removed I can’t tolerate them, probably just as well.

Suffolk_lass

Sainsbugs claim to sell them in 6 packs

foxgloves

Ah, well thanks everyone for that. I definitely have a few walnut whip sources to investigate.

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Diary Friends,

A useful couple of days - shall update the relevant bits.

*Almost all bedding plants now moved outside for hardening off with mesh shelters rigged up to protect from naughty beaks & cold nights.

*Divided Mum's shaving brush plant in two so as to be able to gift one to my sister.

*Mr F appears to have mended broken hose reel so we are glad we didn't buy a new one. He has also mended my garden kneeler stool with a piece of foam & duct tape.

*Divided up large raised bed using old CDs (pigeons don't like the reflection) & sowed maincrop carrots & lilia spring onions. Left space to add 2 courgette plants when the time comes.

*Took advantage of the warm sunny breeze to get a couple of loads of laundry dry.

*We seem to have moved the damaged wall saga forward following visits from builders, roofer & neighbours. Mr F has been particularly low about all of this but seems to have perked up today.

*Can see from a brief look at latest bill from the Cephalopods that we have now moved into the period where we are paying more than we are using so have finished the expensive colder months £300 in credit. Will leave it there & build it up to offset the nasty Autumn energy price shock caused by senseless unnecessary war.

*Put a colour on my roots - I know I keep saying it, but a nice £13 cut followed by a £7 home colour - it's way below what I used to spend on hair salon colour, cut & styling back in the Spendaceous Era.

*Oh....& a BIG thing. My requested work pension figures arrived today. We talked them through over lunch & I am minded to take my pension this summer. There is one thing I want to check first & that is the figures cited for my AVCs. I understand the amount in my AVC fund (relatively small as only paid them for a short time) & all the figures as cited in the forecast add up. I don't really understand how my modest AVC amount seems to be affecting my pension so positively. I intend to book a telephone appt with PensionWise to drill down into how the formula has been applied & to ensure I absolutely understand it so that I select the correct option when I fill in my Deferred Pension Request Form, which I have also received. I must admit that with the backlog in this dept, I didn't really expect to receive these figures/info pack/form until mid-May so I went a bit giddy kipper afterwards & my job list came to a bit of a halt. With mini-break on the horizon though, I'm shelving this until we get back & I can apply full numberwang capabilities.

*Some sock knitting later....this cable pair has fallen by the wayside.

Not my cooking night (Mr F is on leave) so I've brought my book out to the sunny reading bench until it's time to water the veg.

F x