Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Dear Readers, hello.

Doingstuffitis still in evidence, for which I was grateful as had hoped to deep-clean the kitchen, & I have indeed done that. Meal plans & grocery shopping list gained their finishing touches this morning, so Mr F decided to go & get the shopping in & I set about tackling grubby grime. Passed the time partly enjoying my audiobook & partly thinking. I have a large dresser in the kitchen which was a housewarming present from my parents when I bought my first little house. As I took everything off it for washing so that I could clean the shelves, I thought about how, back in the Spendaceous Era, I was always buying bits & pieces to go on this dresser, plus things to go in the 'dog kennel' bit & hippyfied stuff to hang from it, etc. I found contrasting that with what is displayed on there today really interesting. There are some things bought during my hugely frequent Spendy Era visits to Antique/Vintage fairs but all these are things which have stood the test of time. I still like them, they look nice, they are out on display rather than bundled into a cupboard....this defo doesn't apply to some of the other vintage stuff I bought. There are vintage family pieces too - my Nana's old faded 1930s Alfred Meakin plate, some items from the Midwinter tea set we had when I was growing up in the 1970s, an Emma Bridgwater mug I received as a present from my sister & one from my lovely friend who sadly died very unexpectedly a few years ago. My Nana's old Cornishware jug is there too & Mum's Poole jug which always held the cream for our Christmas puddings. All these things & others have some meaning to me in a way that going out & buying lots of things to 'create a look' can't provide. So when I wasn't cleaning along to my audiobook, I quite enjoyed the mindfulness of being in my own thoughts today.

I've washed down all the kitchen unit doors, cleaned the work surfaces & pretty much everything on them, refreshed my noticeboard, green-bleached the sink & dish drainer, vacuumed & mopped the floor. The ancient leftover bottle of hard floor cleaner which came with our old rubbish carpet cleaner worked well in my spray mop so that will now be on 'use-it-up'. Mr F offered to clean the kickboards so I jumped at that & they are now pristine. He's also going to clean the oven, window & service the coffee machine. I just have the pantry left to do but that always needs re-arranging this time of year to fit in all my kitchen witchery so I think I'll do it when I've made the pear chutney sometime soon.

Shopped a new tray from.home for the cats. It's more streamlined than their previous one so looks tidier. Soot's only concern was that his lunch would be placed upon it asap.

My hands feel stiff now from all the scrubbing (arthritis) so they will be getting lots of handcream & massage later when I am sitting on the sofa doing absolutely b*gger all. Big Budget Day tomorrow so I need to get my strength up!

F x

P.S Despite this morning's forecast of nigh-on gotterdammerung, we have had approximately 11 drops of rain here. Very disappointing indeed.

PennysIntoPounds

Not to go Four Yorkshiremen on you, but 11 drops of rain? We would've been glad of 11 drops of rain! I'd got mentally prepared to hunker down in a big jumper with books and snacks for a week after The Weather Warnings, my hatches were all battened down, braced I was, braced. It was one of the hottest days for ages 😂

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - I watched last night's & this morning's weather forecasts in good faith & am now seriously wondering from what alternative universe they were broadcast.