The Quest - 2

Shoe_Gal

Hi Lula

Glad you've kept the holiday vibe (including the wine drinking :rolleyes:) - try to hang onto it for as long as you can

Only buying food you can walk to sounds like a fab plan :j

Lula-Hula

Ugh, have felt hideous for most of today & have no one to blame other than myself :rolleyes:.

I have managed not to spend any money though so that's a step in the right direction & a bit of practice for the September NSD challenge.

Visited my Grandmother who was delighted with her presents, & also my Dad who was pleased with his too. He's having a clear out so I came home with a bag of books to read through as well as a tummy full of tea & donuts.

I've pledged to give up biscuits for the whole of September :eek: & having read back through my old diaries I've realised that while there have been some major changes in my life during the last year, some things havent changed at all :rolleyes:.

One curious thing is that the amount of money I spent during August both last year & this year is almost the same. I cant recall what the total amount of debt was a year ago but I am determined that this time next year it will be significantly less than it is now.

Off to watch Slumdog Millionaire now,

G'night

lula
xx

Shoe_Gal

Hi Lula

Good luck with the biccie challenge A few of us have big plans for September, we need to keep each other on track :A

Numpty_Monkey

Don't worry hun I can't recall most things
old age is a !!!!!!:p

Lula-Hula

Well, here we are almost at the end of The Quest 2 & also very close to the beginning of Carry On Questing

I should probably do some big calculation of all the overspending that I've done in the last year but frankly I cant be bothered to wade through all those receipts & what's gone before is no longer relevant. I'm not one for living in the past, it cant be changed & as long as lessons have been learned then it's served its purpose .

I've started my new weekly Food Acquisition Programme already with a trip to the local co op. My budget for food is £35 a week & I've done half of it already :eek:. I like fresh food & am rubbish at meal planning so if I'm only shopping for 2 or 3 days at a time then I should have a fighting chance of actually sticking to this budget. We havent actually done a big re stocking of the cupboards since holiday & I can see that we still have plenty of meals. DD has tended to be bit fussy in the past but since staying with my aunt has eaten all sorts of things that she previously turned her nose up at & I used to let her get away with it :doh:. Meals are so much easier during the hols & I'm dreading the annoyance of having to plan around the school day.

I did another load of washing today ( another term time annoyance is having to get washing done at certain times) & we spent most of the afternoon in the garden tackling the bramble invaders with a large dose of roundup & cutting back everything else.

I've continued with decluttering & have fillled another bag for the charity shop. I'm really longing for simplicity at home now & have to keep up this attitude so that we remain people who do stuff rather than people who have stuff .

I've eaten my last biscuit for the next 30 days :eek: & now only have about 2 weeks of nasty cheap coffee left before I can start on the real stuff again. Sounds a bit whimsical but I think that hol was very useful in helping me to determine what I can live without & also the sacrifices that make me so miserable that I end up spending on other unnecessary stuff to make up for it :rolleyes:.

I have so enjoyed not having to work & hence having time to spend with DD, time to deal with paperwork, meals, chores, gardening & family. the only thing I havent done is go the allotment, but I'll be working that into my routine again soon. Was going to go on wednesday but have just seen the weather forecast . Dreading having to start work again, not because of the time as obviously DD will be back at school, but the fact that it clutters up my home, so with only another 2 years before DD starts at secondary school, I wont have to do this for much longer & will start thinking about what I am going to do then.

Need to get these debts cleared by this date in 2011.

Horace

We were very good and didn't hijack your thread Lula. Am so glad you had a sooper time in Portugal:D

Not much going on here - him from darn sarf came to stay last week, he turned up on Tuesday night and cleared off on Thursday morning - all thoughts of going camping in Dorset were dashed as he announced that he was sailing as he couldnt be bothered to drive to Birmingham to pick me up and drive back again...silly man:rolleyes: Anyway I have been very productive as I have realised that the wedding fair I have booked takes place on 27 September so I have been sorting out prizes and printing prize draw sheets.

I can now see as I picked up my new glasses on Friday:j I did have a bad time getting them as I had a massive dizzy spell and had to hang onto a wall for support (it was the only thing that wasn't moving:eek:). My car battery is as dead as a dodo again and not one of my miserable neighbours will jump start my car - so that's it now if they want a parcel to be taken in then I won't be accepting it for them:mad:

One thing that I have discovered tonight - I don't like gnocchi (tesco's reduced price from the whoopsie shelf) nor do I like ragu original sauce (I found a jar in the cupboard that hadnt been bought by me:rolleyes:), the sauce had a sell by date of July 09:eek: but to be honest it was a bit tart for me and I much prefer making my own sauce. I followed it with some strawberries and a dollop of icey strawberry ice cream from the fridge:D I am on a diet now and need to shift 2 stone:eek:

Well I am off to bed now - I am looking forward to Carry on Questing.

Ciao
Horace