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Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
Comments
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That fuel allowance has been way too low for years, @PennysIntoPounds - it's based on a petrol price which nobody has seen since about the 1990s, I reckon!
Hello Sunbeams,
Well I am wafting around in my swishy maxi-dress having had a cool shower & hairwash to get rid of the layer of soil & bindweed sap!
Useful day & pleasant enough, though the humidity is building up again so bah to that. And boooo. Bah & booo, I say! I wilt in the heat & would be perfectly happy for temperatures never to get above around 23 or 24°. I don't know how I used to lie out in it in the late 70s/80s 😱
*Did 2 surveys.
*Baked the sourdough I made yesterday.
*Did the ironing. I did that first before it became a 🐸. That's the problem with me & ironing. It can soon become a very 🐸🐸-y situation indeed.
*Garden pickings: Rapini. Will blanch & saute with garlic as a side-veg tonight.
*Cleared an area of flower border ready for some planting this weekend. It took me longer than anticipated as there was the usual bindweed to fork out, lilac to prune & I also Chelsea-chopped a few perennials so that they'll re-flower over summer. Moved a big dahlia pot to stand in a gap & replanted a freebie self-sown verbena bonariensis. Felt a bit bad about lobbing a couple of slugs under next door's fence but then I could see a fluttery shadow under the gap, then a beak & it was a blackbird who had obviously seen lunch being delivered so was tucking in! Lots of wildlife today inc goldfinches, both red & blue damselflies, mating damselflies (which were impressively acrobatic!), ladybird larvae (which fellow gardeners will know are top aphid scoffing machines), a bronze-coloured shield bug, a big green dragonfly & a small fat sort of a bee I didn't recognise though I do have a good ID chart somewhere.
*Lunch (for both of us) was the leftover cold Indonesian tofu rice I made last night. I had half a use-it-up sliced avocado on mine. Very nice. Mr F has requested we have it more often which is fine by me.
Builders tomorrow for part 2 of remedial work on the bedroom corner which is currently stripped back to brick.
Wishing everyone a pleasant Friday night,
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!11 -
Ooh swishy maxi dress 😍
Hope builder work all goes well, stripped back brick is a good look, love being able to see the actual housey bit of a house! My friends had it in their bedroom for years and it looked fabulously stylish
Happy Friday to you all including small fat bee 😊
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase/p1
'aggressive safety shot' Ken Doherty8 -
I love that you provided lunch for a blackbird, wonderful 😊 🐦⬛
My tolerance for heat is definitely declining as I am getting older …
KK
As at 18.06.26:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 - now £214,281
- 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 50 books of target 52 in 2026 as @ 12th July.
Produce tracker: £157 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.7 -
I discovered some bindweed trying to pass itself off as clematis - nice try 😐
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 -
Indonesian tofu rice sounds interesting, could you share your recipe?
I'm getting "Nasi Goreng" as a search but if there are any bits you recommend to add or ignore, that would be great. One I looked at specifically said you could keep for a few days for leftovers or freeze, but whenever I make a huge wok full of veg rice, we just scoff the lot!
I make bokembap which is lots of shredded cabbage fried, any other veg (including frozen mixed), teeny bit of sausage or bacon if you are lucky, garlic, and chilli, and then stir in rice to fry at the end, served with fried egg, mango chutney and piripiri sauce. Adapted from a simply cook recipe I tried.
9 -
I know what you mean, @Sun_Addict. I found a piece earlier trying to pretend it was a penstemon. Plucked forth & evicted!
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!5 -
I was just about to put my recipe notebook away after making pulled pork, then I remembered your recipe request @moginstein:
INDONESIAN TOFU RICE
1 pack firm tofu (the plain one not the smoked variety), drained well & cut into cubes.
250g white basmati rice
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red pepper, de-seeded & diced
6 spring onions , diagonally sliced
1 tbsp medium curry paste (I use Mr Huda's Universal Curry Paste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 eggs
50g salted peanuts, chopped
4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Cook the rice, rinse with boiling water & leave to drain. Meanwhile, heat oil in a wok & stir-fry the garlic, spring onions, red pepper & tofu cubes until the tofu is starting to turn golden. Stir in the curry paste & cook for 2 mins. Add the rice & soy sauce & mix well to combine.
Beat the eggs lightly then make a well in the centre of the rice, pour in the eggs & stir with a fork until just set, before mixing into the rice.
Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts & fresh coriander to serve.
Serves 4 as a main meal, more if part of a buffet, etc. It's really nice cold so is good for lunch the next day.
Enjoy! I have had this recipe since the 1990s. It was printed on the back of a tofu pack & I thought it sounded nice.....& it is!
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 -
Any budget-friendly doings today?
*A no-spend day as the builder couldn't make it so we haven't parted with any cash today. Mr F briefly contemplated a naughty little trippette to buy beer (there is some in the pantry) & ice cream (we have yoghurts) & I am glad he didn't as this would probably have activated the chocolate monster which sometimes takes up residence in my head. Spending AND calories averted. Builder (v apologetic) re-scheduled for next week.
*Planted up the area I cleared & weeded yesterday plus a small bed which had decided to start looking a bit feeble. All grown from free seed. Mr F cleaned the car & mowed the lawn while I was doing this.
*We planted out the courgettes & squash & Mr F watered all the veg, containers, new plantings, etc.
*Started hardening off the first sowing of french beans.
*Did pulled pork in the slow cooker. Didn't have any tomato ketchup, which is an ingredient in the sauce, so used my home made blackberry ketchup instead & we think that sharper, dark fruitiness improved it. Enough to use in 2 further days of meals plus a work lunch for Mr F at some point. The meat was part of that bargainaceous whole pork loin we got for £20, which we sliced into various joints plus pork steaks for freezing.
Plenty of reading in the garden too.
And now feels like it could actually maybe probably almost certainly be time for a gin & tonic.
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!13 -
Defo time to sneak in a cheeky G&T.
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 💪5 -
Ooh,I vouch for a G&T too!
4
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