January budget review

Welcome to new follower - knittynutter.

It is the last day of the month so I totaled up the spending on food for the month.  It works out as £5.24 per day to feed the two of us (plus 1 visitor for 2 days).  Of this 40p per day has been spent on fruit and veg that we could potentially  grow and store in future years.  The freezer is one third empty but the store cupboards are not too bad.  Will be thinking hard about February menu before shopping on Wednesday for the next fortnight.

Did you do the RSPB great bird watch count?  Its been a grey and damp day and not a very exciting day and all our usual bird visitors seemed to have disappeared! It was very mundane - tree sparrows, magpies, a single starling, collard dove, pigeon, great tits.  Where were the blackbirds, robins, wrens, kestrels, pallid harrier, curlews when you wanted to count them?  Not even seagulls in the fields today.

We also reviewed out fuel situation. Not too much oil has been used as we have not had the heating on too much, especially last week when we were outside most of the day time and 17C indoors felt warm in contrast. We have gone through a lot of logs for the wood burner in the evenings but as the sheds are improved quite a lot of scrap wood is coming out and is suitable for the fire. Some 4 in by 4 in beams are quite solid in places and in others the previous owners horses almost chewed through - not sure that was good for them?  Electric bill is up £10 partially the use of power tools and lights in the workshop but mostly the propagator and greenhouse heater.  As the greenhouse has 30+ geranium plants, several standard fuchsias, baby delphiniums and foxgloves and a couple of dozen early veg plants.  I think they are worth more than spending so far but it is a balance.

Real shame about Terry Wogan - we were remembering, with a giggle, his "Janet and John" stories.