We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
Comments
-
There were two branches of storms that went either side of us. We had light rain for c. 5 minutes at about 3am and that was it 🤷♀️🙄
Well done on the grocery underspend 😊👏
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 48 books of target 52 in 2026 as @ 7th 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.4 -
Well done on the underspend. We’ve got hair dryer wind here. Walked out of an air conditioned office at 2pm to be hit by a blast of intense heat. I thought the city centre was on fire 🤣
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 -
It's been 34.5° for us this afternoon though, so that explains the hair dryer effect..I'd been at my desk next to a fan with 2 windows open so didn't really notice how fierce the heat was until I went out to the garden bench.
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!3 -
Afternoon Sunbeams,
A cooler more normal summer temperature today of 24°, which is within tolerance of us heat wimps here at Foxgloves Manor.
Decided to bump our planned Swedish Emporium trip to next weekend as neither of us felt most like dragging over to the other side of the county to trail around after shelving. Popped into town so I could choose some dress fabric & thread, then had a day of leisure instead which Mr F very much needed after enduring his stupidly hot workplace all week.
The coming week will need to involve quite a lot of catching up, which we began this morning in the veg plot:
*Mr F harvested the shallots & garlic. Good crops. I think these are the best shallots he's ever grown. All lying out in the sun to dry.
*Other garden pickings: 2 more cucumbers (think that makes 22 now) & first 2 aubergines plus a bunch of baby carrots.
*Did outdoor tomato plants maintenance. They have defo enjoyed the heat as needed tying in again & heaps of sideshoots to remove. Also tied in the tromboncino.
*Moved a courgette plant to the small raised bed vacated by the garlic. It is smaller than the others because it drew the final & shortest straw at planting out time.
*I like bunches of sweetpeas for the house as they're such lovely free, sustainable room fragrance. They don't thrive in high heat so I've cut off every seed pod, tidied them up, will apply plenty of water & some worm tea this week & see if that encourages them into new growth.
*Mr F is busy roasting a chicken which I'm already eyeing for 3 further meals this week
*Will chat through our diaries at some point today as need to catch up on a few appts, dates, etc.
So enjoying this cooler, breezy sunshine. Intend to read the Sunday papers & build up the fortitude for a productive week ahead. I did make use of yesterday's heat to do 3 loads of laundry so at least that's one Monday task already out of the way.
Love to all diary reading money savers,
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!10 -
We also harvested garlic but left the shallots for another day as it got up to 27 here (a bit further south and east than you). One type of garlic has done really well but the other is single clove ping pong ball sized! They were closer to the edge and a bit sheltered by the old russet apple tree - I won't be putting them there again. I think the trees stopped the frost helping to split the clove.
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 -
Yes, I noticed on the weather map yesterday that East Anglia was showing as more of a nasty hot red colour than us. It's a lot better today - hope in your neck of the woods too. Re garlic - all ours has split into cloves but I have noticed on a couple of allotment/veg growing fb groups which I follow that quite a lot of people are reporting single, non-split bulbs, which are being put down to an insufficiently cold winter, so you could well be right about it being more sheltered near your apple tree. We did get a few nights of frost in a row, but not anywhere near the amount we would have had back when we first started growing garlic. It was obviously enough to result in individual cloves though.
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 -
Greetings Monday Money Savers,
Well, it is a lot cooler today & so I'm feeling back in the game! I would like to catch up on a lot of things this week & as Mr F has to work on his day off & will therefore have the wheels, I have a much-needed 5 day run of time to crack on with things. Today's budget-friendly activity:
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates plus emails, admin, etc. A couple of positives for the Regular bills/DDs spreadsheet as I input the £18 monthly reduction from the Cephalopods plus cancellation of Netty's Flicks as we tend to watch a lot less TV in summer & felt that as per last year, the £12-99 per month saving between now & probably December, could usefully be added to the Leisure & Entertainment Pot.
*Ordered extra deodorant refills as it occurred to me mid-order that it would make sense to order double - not because I am suddenly expecting particularly foetid 'pits, but because it will cut down on postage costs as this is the same whether I order 3 refills (which I usually do) or 6. Felt like a no-brainer.
*Baked bread.
*Garden pickings: Last few strawberries for my muesli, lettuce, spring onions & coriander.
*Divvied up yesterday's roast chicken leftovers & have achieved a good 's-t-r-e-t-c-h'. Enough for cold chicken with salad & spiced chilli new potatoes tonight, chicken & roast vegetable couscous tomorrow (think will go with a za'atar vibe for that), some for the Epic Man Stew which is apparently being made on Wednesday for his jacket potato, chicken dijonnaise sarnies for tomorrow's packed lunch & the carcass & gribbly bits have been frozen ready for making stock once I have a 2nd one. Ash who can smell a chicken being dismantled across 3 fields in a gale turned up & made short work of a few offerings. Soot wasn't bothered as soon as he realised it wasn't extra pouches of persian queen which were being dished up.
*Watered the front courtyard plants & sweetpeas with grey water & left an extra can to swish over the containers again tomorrow morning.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Biggest task today has been to prepare for my telephone appointment tomorrow morning with Pensionwise. I read through all the information again, made sure I have accurate relevant figures to hand & wrote down a few questions I want to clarify. I am hoping my situation will be quite straightforward so I will be surprised if it takes the hour I have been allotted.
Still to do this afternoon: Clean the bathroom, do some deadheading, knit some sock which still isn't finished. Mr F has requested a new up-to-date job list so I must get onto that too, particularly as it will help concentrate our minds on what will need including in the budget on the DIY front.
Talking of Mr F, he had mentioned a couple of times about this cute little bee living in a hole in one of our old railway sleepers. I asked what kind & he said he isn't that good at ID-ing bees, but that it was probably one of the solitary mining variety. I was out in the garden yesterday, saw the critter & it was a flippin' wasp! Then he felt sorry for it because it's a sad little billy-no-mates wasp living on its own in a dingy hole!
Right, I intend to have a last quick check for surveys (this has not been a good survey earnings month for me) & then get myself into bathroom cleaning mode.
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 -
Oh you did make me laugh about Ash! I once had a cat who would come in from next door’s garden if I took an unopened packet of ham out of the fridge!
4 -
Soon after we moved in to the flat, we had my aunt round. She and I were siting out on the (ground floor, for avoidance of doubt) balcony and I had HRH The Cat on a lead & harness which she'd always been fine on - it was to soon after moving in to allow her out to roam. suddenly I realised that the harness was empty - the little madam had slipped it. My Aunt was most amused when I said "that's fine, I can get her back" and proceeded to go and get a can of tuna and a tin opener. The very sound of the lid "pinging" as the tin opener completed its circuit and there was the cat, reappearing!
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her9 -
Aren’t they amazing! It must be in their dna as I never used a tin opener previously,but the first time I used it, mine came running!
5
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 355K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.7K Spending & Discounts
- 247.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.7K Life & Family
- 262.5K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards