EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

Oh my - you lot! Massive hugs all round - thank you. It's funny - it only takes one comment like that one that got to me to make you question what you're doing and destroy your confidence - but by the same ticket as feeling that the other poster confirmed needs to realise that not everyone who's taking her to task can be wrong, I guess I also have to acknowledge that it was a single remark, almost certainly designed to be unpleasant, and generally, those are best shrugged off, tough as that is. You lot most definitely CAN'T all be wrong - and again, thank you for your lovely comments.

Beanie/HH Yes - I think you're right - I've felt for a while that the OP concerned there was the archetypal "playing at it" poster - perhaps debt-busting is the trendy middle class thing to do at the moment so she's joined in? No idea, but bearing in mind she's said that she doesn't actually care about being in debt (how on earth someone with several kids can feel like that I can't begin to imagine - surely you'd want to make sure you had security for them if nothing else?) I can't see her really having much success sadly - and less so if she refuses to listen to people trying to steer her on the right path.

Time to draw a line under it I think - what's the phrase - "You can't help them as won't help themselves" isn't it?!

So general update then:

Prolific - few odds and ends yesterday - £2.74 payable, £5.70 pending. Hoping for a few more oddments today/tomorrow to get me to £10 for Thursday, but we'll see.
OnePoll - sitting at £32.85
Got a YouGov survey yesterday - think I'm at 2750 there now - and losing the will!
Populus - quiet as a quiet thing.
Secret Surveys - £3 payable which I may log in and extract in a bid to remind them I'm here again!

3 months to the end of the year and looking at what I've already paid off the 0% card that suggests that I *ought* to be able to hit my £700 target. £184 to go to reach it, or £61 a month. £28 of that is achieved with the standard DD anyway so £33.33 from surveys etc - doable I reckon?

Last night's chicken stew was most tasty - and there is plenty of both the sauce and the chicken left for another night. In fact I think there is probably enough of the chicken left to do a lunch one day as well - will ask MrEH to factor that in I think. :T I'm currently thinking that I'll do the roast veggies tonight - MrEH has rugby training so it works well to have a meal that is easy to prepare separately for him. I can easily prep the squash for the risotto at the same time though to make life easier. That leaves the stew for tomorrow and risotto on Thursday. We do still have three eggs left but they've got enough left on the date that they'll wait until next week or the weekend to be used.

Thanks ES & Cumbria!

Silver the chicken stew does work nicely - I literally cook off onions, mushrooms and a couple of peppers sliced up until everything is soft, add garlic, lots of smoked paprika (I use the mild one) and a pinch of thyme (well OK usually too much thyme - one day I'll remember that "less is more" on this!) salt & pepper to taste. I either use a tin of toms or a carton of value passata for the sauce - or when I'm doing a double batch like the other night one of each - and add a half tsp of sugar to take the edge off the toms. I also throw in a tin of chickpeas or other beans if I want to bulk it out a bit. Then it's just a case of cooking it for a while to let the flavours meld together, and lobbing in the chicken at the last minute assuming it's already cooked. Very tasty and goes well with rice, couscous or even pasta. :T

Nice little flurry on OnePoll last thing yesterday - £33.55 on there now
Further nice little flurry on PA this morning - £4.64 payable and £7.55 pending there.
No change anywhere else.

So much for having an easy to prep meal for MrEH last night - he got caught up at work, didn't leave until well after 9pm, and so had to grab himself something on the way home as it was going to be too late to eat by the time he got here. Thankfully he was able to get a pasta salad on M&S so ate that on the train. He was out again well before 6 this morning too as he's had to go back to Oxford again, so goodness knows what time he'll make it home tonight.

This means that there is still a pile of roasted veg to get used somewhere - so I have prepped a smaller amount of butternut squash for tomorrow's risotto and will add the roasted veggies as well. There is also half a chunk of halloumi needing a home - I'm thinking my lunch on Friday will now be "squeaky cheese flavoured" :T Tonight is the rest of the chicken stew, probably with couscous again I think, don't mind it two nights on the trot.

Struggling with NSD's at the moment - needed "ladies supplies" yesterday, and have the gym tonight. Might make tomorrow a NSD? Not sure whether anything might scupper that plan though. I am going to start paying the Gym on a card rather than cash though as it occurs to me it'll stop me taking out £10 to cover the £7 gym cost - meaning the £3 change just disappears... I'll try using the card and see how that works.

A photo project I'm currently working on will have some cost associated with it in a week or so as I'm putting together a gift for someone that will need to be ordered. That'll come straight from my "presents" budget though and I will be searching around for codes ahead of ordering to reduce the cost as much as possible.