End of September Financial etc. Round-Up

Well, that's ¾ of the year done and dusted, I'm sure September has less than 30 days as it's whizzed by. The shops have been gradually filling with Christmas stuff as the month progressed..............
The Christmas magazines, the boxes of biscuits and the chocolate oranges are all there already. None of those have been brought home and won't be. The Christmas magazines in my opinion (and lots of people wouldn't agree!) are the biggest waste of money.....variations on the same every year and not even edible!
Apart from making things for the hampers I'm not thinking about  the 12 days yet.

 Looking back and my month has consisted of lots of inexpensive visiting.....WI centenary fair, Heritage Open Day in Ipswich. Car boot sales, a rural bygones auction, archaeological dig, book sale, village garage sales, churches and family.

Preserving has been done namely Chilli Jelly, Beetroot and Ginger Chutney, Rosemary and Redcurrant Jelly and my "Branston" pickle which I'm still waiting to test for accuracy on BiL.

The Great Autumn Garden Tidy-up has begun......slowly......... I shelled and stored this years saved climbing French beans seeds and chucked out some that were 4 years old and I've looked in the seed tin to see what I need for next year although as I didn't actually write anything down I'll need to look again! and the garden catalogues have arrived. Most of the greenhouse has been cleared and I've cut back lots of stuff outside. I daren't write a list of what still needs doing....it would be too long.


 The frugal bits

• Eating from the garden and greenhouse.......beetroot, potatoes, butternut squash, last courgette, peppers, tomatoes, last cucumbers. Autumn raspberries, few cooking apples, few figs, very  few eating apples and pears. Hazelnuts.
• Beetroot from BiL for making chutney
• More boxes of roast vegetables put in freezer, homegrown except for carrots
• Things for presents for Grandchildren from boot sales
• Books from car boot sale
• Still mixing milk half and half with water
• Still using bread-maker for my bread
• Made home made play-dough for Florence

If you have children or grandchildren and buy play-dough this recipe could save you a few pennies. It's probably 25 or more years since I made any but thank goodness the recipe was still in my folder.

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 Tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 cups water

Food colouring

 Cook the mixture in a pan over low-medium heat, stirring all the time to prevent sticking

Stir like mad as the mixture starts to thicken and remove from heat when the mixture comes away from the side of the pan.

Tip out onto a hard surface and knead well as soon as its cool enough to handle. Leave to cool. Store airtight in a plastic bag. Keeps very well.

The Financial Ins................
Nothing except the County Council spouses pension and some bits of interest and repayments from family. Lots of savings were needed this month.


The Financial Outs............
The usual food for me and the cat, diesel for the car, direct debits for phones and charity.
A big expense this month was my dentist visit. I had the big tooth rebuilt with a massive filling and  a check-up, scale and polish. An hour in the dentist chair - horrible!
Also spent on peanuts etc. for bird feeding, DiL Birthday, paid for the WI birthday meal, the window cleaner, firebricks for the wood-burner, hair cut and boiler service.
 And Gates ............ I'm having some gates to make everywhere safer, to better define the boundaries and to stop everyone driving up the lane, round the oak tree and out again. My next-door-but-one neighbour runs his own garden maintenance company and is doing the gates and fencing, fitting them in with other work as I said there was no hurry. He had one gate that he could use already so that's saved some money. I've paid for the other gates, hinges and catches and will pay for his time when he's finished. Suffolk County Council Public Rights of Way have sent me some new little Footpath arrows ready for when the small gate is fixed. It's going to have one of those spring things so it will just push open and close again.

I kept the (easy for me) pledge to buy no new clothes in September - actually didn't buy any secondhand either.

And clearing right out of the house continues.............
21 books to charity shop to make up for several that came in
2 items of clothes ditto
1 jigsaw puzzle ditto
Some children's books to grandchildren

Looking forward.........
 October might be a  good financial month,  chimney sweep and the septic-tank emptying are the only definites ...............unless I go on a world cruise!!

And looking forward to six more weeks of the new BBC programme World on Fire . I thought it was very good but why am I and so many other people still so fascinated by WWII?

And last but definitely not least Hello and Welcome to new some followers who've clicked the button. Hope you enjoy reading.

Back Tomorrow
Sue