Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

PennysIntoPounds · 4 July at 4:44PM

Ooh thanks for the reminder about the Smoking Room, I loved that! Wonder if it's available anywhere to watch...

Sun_Addict · 4 July at 8:21PM

I hope you survived the emporium visit and had a nice catch up with your friend. It must be a long drive from your end as it’s miles away from ours.

Humdinger1 · 5 July at 10:42PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058234#Comment_82058234

But what about the Kendall's mint cake @foxgloves? No successful expedition sets off without it?! Love Humdinger xx

foxgloves · 6 July at 3:50PM

@PennysIntoPounds - We bought it on DVD when it first came out as we knew it was a series we'd watch again & again (& we have!). We also still quote from it, so fantastically incorrect attempts at crossword answers are known here as a 'Red Liverpool'. Hope you can find it showing somewhere, anyway.

@Sun_Addict - Yes, it does feel like a bit of a trawl. I used to live about 5 or 6 miles away & it was so easy to swing by after work when all the crowds had gone.It's not so much the distance, as both of us drive, it's that we have to cross the county diagonally & there are a couple of nuisance pinch-points for traffic. All fine this time though & lovely to see our friends afterwards. For 2 such chatty people, Mr F & I can be really pretty unsociable on the whole but we always enjoy seeing people when we make the effort.

@Humdinger1 - Yes, it did rather sound as though I was embarking on an epic quest, did it not? I don't much like Kendal mint cake actually. I'm not overly fond of mint as a flavour, though I don't doubt I'd be glad of it if I were to be stuck halfway up a fell with not a lot else! I'm quite good at foraging but I think I'd need an awful lot of plant material to provide Kendal mint cake levels of energy!

foxgloves · 6 July at 4:17PM

Hello Diary Readers,

Here we all are embarking on another new week. My Mum used to comment how the time seems to 'fly by' more quickly the older one gets & she wasn't wrong! As ever, am hoping for a productive time. Today, I've had my usual Monday, as I like to use it to set us (& Foxgloves Manor) up for the week ahead. Nothing exciting but it all contributes towards organised smooth running of the place.

Our trip to the Blue & Yellow Emporium was successful. There was only one item on the list that we didn't buy & that was some or other type of cable which Mr F was after, which turned out not to have quite the fitting he required. We spent £105-45 from the House & Garden Pot, which included 2 shelving units for the newly cleared out shed to replace a couple which were damaged beyond repair ages ago during Floodgate. The other £7 was from my Personal Spends, a cheery little seasonal thing for our front window which I couldn't resist…..but neither could I justify it from the House & Garden Pot! As our friends invited us for afternoon tea & cake, we only spent half of the amount I budgeted for nosebag so I will use the rest to subsidise our planned breakfast out this week on Mr F's day off (to make up for him not getting one last week….a day off, not a breakfast, he always has one of those!) My friend was really pleased with her big bag of magazines, which just goes to show how someone's declutterings can be someone else's treasure. She packed us up with a bag of gooseberries from her allotment & a tupperware of cake to go with our Sunday morning coffee & it was lovely to have a catch-up. Anyway, I am digressing so will move on to today's budget-friendly offerings:

*Did the rest of this week's laundry - did most of it yesterday as I can't resist a good line-drying opportunity.

*Watered all the veg.

*Grey water for all the front courtyard plants & containers and filled an extra 2 watering cans for anything that looks like it needs a drink later. Hot weather & wind is the worst combination for drying out plants.

*Today's garden pickings: Basil (lots of it) & an aubergine.

*Made 10 portions of pesto plus a tiny one for using to spread tomorrow's pizza base. 2 portions will be used with tonight's pasta & the others have been frozen.

*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.

*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates, including a House & Garden Pot transfer to cover the weekend's planned purchases.

*Checked for surveys but very little doing today. I did win 30 points on the Daily Spinner thingy on Ipsos which I suppose helped me get a little nearer to voucher cash-out time.

Oh & another thing this weekend….I finally managed to finish that pair of socks which were knitted in the last of the bargainaceous self-patterning socks yarns I bought in our local charity bookshop. Now put away in my drawer ready for Autumn.

I'm only intending to do a bit of tidying now, then I am calling time on jobs & will get my book out. Cat treat time first though. Ash started mithering for his lunch at 10.05a.m then when it was actually cat lunch time, there was no sign of him so he will be a hungry boy later. Soot is too hot & ready for winter. Things I have rescued from the conservatory today: a massive bumble bee (biggest one I've ever seen), a Peacock butterfly, followed by a white one & 2 Gatekeepers, a green thing with fat thighs (can't remember what it's called), a shield bug & a damselfly.

Till tomorrow,

F x