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Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
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Despite being a news-junkie, I've stayed pretty much away from it today as I knew I'd find it so depressing. More time for productivity. Have done a bit more of my birthday present knitting project, baked bread, cleaned the bathroom & done some garden tasks. Re-edged & dug over the narrow bed alongside greenhouse & enriched the soil with a trug of 'chop & drop' comfrey. Sited 6 bottomless pots there ready to take 6 of our outdoor tomatoes.
Potted on the courgettes & Guatemalan Blue squash as they won't go in the ground until at least the end of the month, maybe 1st week of June depending on temperature. On that subject, I checked the Met Office for any really low overnight temps coming up & they have 2° for Sunday so still too cold for a lot of stuff.
With this in mind, I brought the still-to-germinate french beans into the greenhouse. I prefer to start them outside well wrapped-up as it's less of a shock to the system & I've had success doing it this way, but 2° just seems too low.
Garden pickings today will be some rocket. Still cutting quite a few leaves from that pot of surplus lettuce seedlings I took in for the kitchen windowsill.
Oh, & I also made a batch of Cranks' creamy onion soup for Mr F's work lunches to use up a surplus pint of skimmed milk. I seem to have developed a degree of lactose intolerance so while I am fine with small quantities, I now need to make sure it isn't more than that. Needless to say, the resident onion-loving soup hoover was pleased with a few more work lunches in the freezer.
Hope everyone's had a decent day today.
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!7 -
I’m really behind with seed sowing this year. I’ve only got tomatoes so far. I’ve usually got lots of October sown sweet peas but Mr SA moved them from the greenhouse and replanted them outside around November time and unsurprisingly they didn’t survive the winter.
I try to avoid the news apart from brief headlines and don’t buy newspapers any more. They’re too depressing and there’s a lot of scaremongering. The only newspaper I really like is the Times and it’s got ridiculously expensive. If I want to know more about something I just look at the BBC news website.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪6 -
What a shame about your sweet-peas @Sun_Addict. They can do really well from an October sowing. I suppose he thought he was helping. When Mr F & I moved here about a year after we married, he helped me by sowing some carrots. They were container carrots so I said just to follow the instructions on the seed packet.......which he did.......then came in to tell me he'd done exactly as it said & 'sown them successionally'. I wondered what he meant & it turned out he'd never heard of this, not being a gardener, so he assumed it meant sowing a layer of carrots at the bottom of the container, piling compost on them, then sowing another layer, more compost, then finally sowing the rest on top! He looked quite crestfallen when I explained it meant sowing the carrots throughout the season. We did at least get a few from his 3rd layer!
Re news, we have a weekend subscription so get the Saturday Guardian & the Observer. I like the news coverage & other stuff & since we've discovered we can do cryptic crosswords, we enjoy a couple of those too.
F
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 -
I used to have a brilliant subscription to The Times 7 days a week plus Spotify for £9.99 a month. I cancelled it because I didn’t have time to read the sheer amount of content in the paper. When I phoned to cancel the guy I spoke to said that’s a fantastic deal. It was but I just couldn’t justify all those papers I didn’t have time to read.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪6 -
Our son used to work for the Call Centre that The Times used for offers and renewals, but 9 months in they brought another CC in and the two could not see one another's systems and there was no "master record". The customers were consistently rude and abusive when a conversation held with one customer service agent in one company, was not visible to those in the other. Our Son had to leave because the abuse resurrected his school bullying experience and his mental health was not strong enough.
At the risk of revisiting the "frugal grannie" conversation, The British Heart Foundation published a Healthy Heart book a number of years ago (I have both a paper copy and a PDF copy - so could share via a google drive link if anyone wants it - PM me) I digress. Key in the advice and easy to remember is that a meat protein portion is about the size of a pack of playing cards - so a modest pork loin steak, to use a relevant illustration
Save £12k in 2026 #2 I have banked £9004.48 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 £1111.79 and most of my May 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 here6 -
Hope all is ok with you Mrs F, it's not like you to miss a few days.
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪3 -
Also wondering where you are and hoping all is okay x
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase/p1
'aggressive safety shot' Ken Doherty5 -
Hope all is well Foxgloves missing your updates xx
4 -
Good morning 🌞 Waving from over here too x
KK
As at 16.07.26:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £213,042
- OPs to mortgage = £19,809 Estd. interest saved = £10,180 to date
c. 16 months reduction in term
Fixed rate 3.85% ends October 2030
Read 59 books of target 52 in 2026 as @ 15th August.
Produce tracker: £200 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 -
I'm fine, thanks. Just been busy & my days have beem quite 'samey', but I haven't disappeared down a black hole & I'm perfectly well. Just off to do some garden tasks before the rain arrives.
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!14
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