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Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
Comments
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Only supportive vibes from here, I'll save my clever trousers rations 😁
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase/p1
'aggressive safety shot' Ken Doherty5 -
I was about to, but it's a bit of a (soft) thorny issue
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 here4 -
@Suffolk_lass - Very thorny indeed. As I mostly like tunic dresses & footless tights/sandals for summer, I have to be careful of getting snagged on the blimmin' thing, but it's a fine statuesque plant & this particular one survived an assassination attempt by Mr F some years ago so I think it has character too!
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!4 -
Afternoon m'dears.
What a peculiar day we are having here. Heavy showers with the blackest sky & squall, then suddenly the sun is out, the sky is patched with blue….all until the next cloud moves in & undoes it all again. At least the garden is getting a free water. I haven't managed to do the garden tasks I'd planned for today because of the ongoing showers, so I got on with some kitchen witchery instead. Mr F is on one of his occasional very late shifts as he is managing an arts event so it will just be myself & the two monkeys tonight, one of whom has already been trying to score an early dinner (at 3.30pm). We still have Netty's flicks until the end of the month so I shall find something to watch, knit & read. Right, onto the budget-friendly stuff:
*Chose next week's meals from June's master meal plan & did a couple of tweaks to make it work better with particular days.
*Wrote grocery shopping list plus a list of everything I could usefully get done in town tomorrow, including dropping off a charity shop bag if I can just find & wash the other item I want to put in it.
*Wrote a letter to a friend so I can enclose it with her birthday card.
*Emailed a certain online book-trading emporium to say that yes, I HAVE sent my parcel of books. In fact, as the receipt proves, I dropped it off at 9am on 23rd May so it really should have trundled its merry way there by now.
*Garden pickings today: Coriander & redcurrants
*Made 5 jars of jalapeno sauce from some of last year's remaining crop of frozen chillies. Managed to scald myself while water-bathing the jars to sterilise but got my hands into cold water quickly enough for it not to have created a problem. I probably need to get one of those jar grabbers which bottlers use to get their jars out of large pans of boiling water.
*Trying a new recipe tonight - from one of the PON books - Sweet potato & butterbean tikka masala. It makes plenty so I will freeze half of it for us to eat at a later date plus make up a container of rice & the other spare portion to provide a work lunch at some points for Mr F.
*Still to do (while the current heavy shower is underway) is to set my swift up & get a skein of yarn wound into a ball so as to be able to cast on a pair of socks for Mr F for the presents bag before too long. Oh my goodness, the heavy shower is now a complete downpour, it's simply pounding on the windows. And according to Mr F, tomorrow is set to be worse.
Well, that's it for 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!8 -
The sweet potato and butterbean tikka masala sound good. Please let us know if it's as good as it sounds!
I've got a few of the PON books but that isn't in any of them - typically! Which book is it in please?
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Yes, as far as we can tell, the roots have emigrated to the southern hemisphere. We have been trying to kill one since 2012 and it just keeps coming back, and spreading
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 here4 -
@joedenise - I thought the recipe was pretty nice on the whole & it certainly made plenty. PON book - "Everyday Light".
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 -
Afternoon Diary Friends,
Am having a low-key pleasant enough day on the whole. Budget-friendly stuff:
*Labelled the jalapeno sauce I made yesterday & stashed it away in the pantry.
*Useful morning in town - a few treats - coffee, a book & magazine from my Personal Spends, so budget-neutral.
*Did grocery shopping - looks like wk 3's shop has come in under budget, I'll update my figures tomorrow or Fri. We were able to use a couple of loyalty vouchers & our latest 'Little Treat' was a free pot of Yeo V yoghurt, which was useful as it was an item on the shopping list. Also rinsed a £10 voucher through the grocery budget so as to be able to ping £10 to our Emergency Fund.
*Entered a competition.
*Borrowed HFW's newish cookbook on high fibre plants from the library so am looking forward to reading that.
*Mr F gave all the veg plants their weekly feed.
*Mr F found 20p in the car park machine & gave it to me for a free town loo visit, which made me smile, & yes, it did get used!
My step count has fallen behind so I am going to sneak a few on now while the top person on the leaderboard is sitting on the sofa firing at pretend aliens. 10 x up & downs of pur garden = 2000 steps. I'm on it.
Cheers, 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 -
Thank you @foxgloves. I'll have to see if our local library has it in stock when I get back from my holiday. It's available online but not keen on looking at cookery books online!
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I often find them difficult to follow a recipe if using my phone but useful for a quick browse to see if I'm interested in borrowing an actual copy of the book which occasionally leads to me adding the book to my wishlist so someone can buy me it as a present 😉
Fashion on a ration 2025 0/66 coupons spent
79.5 coupons rolled over 4/75.5 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases
One income, home educating family6
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