Elite 11+ shopping and chat thread

Serendipitious wrote: »

Good morning

I've said this before. I hate Fridays

Morning all, got up early to bake. One day I'll learn :rotfl:

TrulyMadly wrote: »

Can you downgrade?

Not sure I will check later on

oh had spread out on the dining room table last night the contents of some of his little ikea drawer boxes (these were bought for decorative purposes, not as man drawers for the storage of a random collection of metal)

there was a vast array of various small metal bits, he insists I don't touch them. I said do these honestly give you joy and he said yes it was all tied up with memories which is fair enough - at this point I ran off before he started to tell me which bit of metal had come off what engine from 19** and where that engine had driven and where it was scrapped etc ...

he also produced three thin slithers of metal and asked what he should do with them, compounants of some long dead computer.
so in OHs head he has filled his commitment to downsizing and decluttering by putting these 3 thin bits of metal in the bin (and saving the other 60 bits of random metal)

I am trying to lead by example but obviously it's not working

this week having emptied, rearranged and done the 1st cull of the downstairs under stairs cupboard this is my list - it didn't all come out of this cupboard but once you tidied one area it has a knock on effect and you end up culling several areas

shredded my Jiffy bag collection (or at least OH did for me)
filled the recycle wheely with cardboard
filled 2 baskets of plastcs for the recycling centre
put 3 rucksacks into the Oxfam bag
parted with 2 coats into the cloth recycling
plus another random cloth bag
got a clothing bag ready to take to charity shop
added more bits to the Christmas show boxes ready for filling
got 2 bags together for the food bank
culled newspaper and mags into the paper waste basket
chap from Streetlife came for a load of gardening mags
lady from streetlife today coming for plant pots and cranesbill

every time the subject of moving comes up Oh says we need to downsize - one of us is taking this seriously :rotfl:

mhoc wrote: »

yes I had to have some exact figures so that if the worst happened sooner rather than later and Oh had to retire earlier than expected than I had to know what was the minimum we could live on.
I had figures for monthly bills and annual bills but not much of a clue about the everyday spending which is where the excel chart came in

we never get any yellow labels or end of the day reductions here and with so few MOCs as well our groceries work out at about £40 a week or £120 a month for 2 of us, mostly Aldi.
the pet food bill is about £30 a month so I've started doing some bulk ordering from Amazon so I've got a stockpile starting

despite having a house full of assorted soft drinks, sparkling water, cider and wine OH has gone back to drinking Pepsi and he has to have biscuits, crisps, nuts, chocolate etc every day - yes he is an expensive man to keep

not many stamps these days apart from what's needed to post the odd ebay or Amazon item off.

clothing I tend to get when the sales are on but I tend to be always looking for good offers to replace the basics - underwear, socks, leggings, white t shirts, jeans that fit, winter boots etc - I tend now to replace something and then wardrobe downsize - say a good white t shirt in a sale and then 6 t shirts past their best go in the charity bag.

groupon and livingsocial are good for days out but mainly when we are away - I would be quite happy walking all day, doing a circular route but Oh would hate it, soon get bored.
love picnics on the rare days it's dry - mostly eating out is the odd fish and chips supper now unless we are away and then its groupon/ livingsocial or whatever vouchers we have

house includes things like bleach, most other cleaners I've got loads of. I do spend a lot on the garden - reduced plants from B& Q and Morrisons, bulbs to plant - always got a back log of things to plant up.

My motive would be to stop spending money as the boys all came home for a short period. We recently had spoke of ways that I could stop working sooner. OH had a plan which meant living off very little money, we had a weekend of doing this... by the Sunday I had had enough. It is really hard to live with someone who wants unrealistic things (beer, hobbies etc) on a tight budget, and whose sense of enjoyment is to just lay in the sun (it was sunny that weekend!)... You have all of my sympathy... x