So here's to you, Mrs R....

hypno06

Happy New Year Mrs R!

Snowmoredebt

Happy new year Mrs R, hope its a good un!

rtandon27

Happy New Year Mrs R!

Well yesterday I brought myself to to an OS declutter of the Holiday groceries - so made a pudding inspired by yours, but a whole lot meaner on the ingrediants! - stale bread, veg oil sprayed the pan, very lean on the butter as there was not much left, so added some melted olive oil spread, plenty of skim milk, the last handful of raisins from the baking stash, brown sugar as that was in the cupboard, 3 eggs as OH used the rest for his BIG breakfast earlier in the week & very generous on the Christmas spices! - Nowhere near as posh as yours but it was definately comfort food & had us remembering our grans!

mrs_robinson wrote: »

You can eat it hot from the oven, at room temparature or even cold the next day for breakfast (yes, I did).

...and yes I did too!...



RT

In_my_dreams

Happy New Year Mrs R!

mrs_robinson_3

Well, it's been a long, long, lonely time....

Well, actually, not (just showing my rock chick heritage there with a lyric tossed into the mix), as, having broken up on 10 Dec, my DSs finally returned to school on 12 Jan after snow stopped all forms of play here - so long, yes, but not lonely. Live on the south coast and it never ever ever snows here, so the huge deluge last week was a massive surprise - rather fun to start with, but am rather over it now, I must say.

Great on the moneysaving front though - well, so far as personal spends go - but probably disastrous on the fuel front as our heating was on continually for a week. Have just switched it off today. Goodness knows, paying £200 a month for combined fuel is enough, but can only see that going up. Chuh.

So here's the big news. My Tesco card balance is gone, a thing of history, consigned to memory etc. So hurrah for me and a little self restraint. Am sure this is the first time ever have actually paid one off, and either not been helped out by some kind of windfall, or rolled debt up into a remortgage, or something. So pretty chuffed with that. And now only £6035.96 to go, on other cards!! Will update my sig later, but that's my current balance (not counting my o/d, which sadly HAS grown, but am not dwelling on it as am paying it off as soon as my redundancy payment comes through. Which will be another first - not having an o/d I mean).

Have done some calcs and reckon that now am not working, can probably save another £100 a month, as won't use as much fuel, and can shop around more for groceries, so hoping will be able to bring DFD forward by a couple of months. Now Tesco is gone, am rolling that payment forward into my RBS, which is next on my list, and should pay that off in May. And then onto the big one, the hateful Egg. Which is 0%, but that runs out in May, so will need to switch that elsewhere. So that's my plan.

Gosh, this is quite a boring post. So let's turn our attention to my namesake, the Irish Mrs Robinson. In case you wondered, am not her, but way to go, lady. A 21 year old lover at 60? Bring it on! Though it has ended messily, it's true, so a salutary lesson there, but bet it was great while it lasted! Scurrilous, moi?

But enough of this, what really wanted to alert you to is the most fantastic book I got myself for Xmas, from Amazon, called Orchids On Your Budget. It's all about the need for economy, but how you must ensure your budget includes enough for little luxuries (ie. the epnonymous Orchids), or life will be so dull, so then you'll blow your budget anyway, as a form of rebellion. It was first published in the US in the 30s at the time of the depression, and the way it's written is so uncannily like our present national situation, that it's just the most fabulous read. Highly recommeded (but try your library first, unlike me, though this was one of the things I put a Lightspeed voucher to, so suppose in effect, had earned it)

Anyway, enough of this, have things to do (not least of which, is a fabulous pair of boots have my eye on, in suede, from Jones, and now a snip at £29, rather than the original £129 - but am only allowing myself to have them if can earn the money on eBay. So ought really to be listing, not posting.)

Will be sure to post more often from now - and well done RT on the frugal
pudding, loving the way you used up all the odds and ends - and have another recipe for a brilliantly simple cake that never ever fails, which made yesterday for when the DSs came home from first day back at school, to fulfill some fantasy of mine of being the type of mother that has a home made cake waiting when they get home. Whch actually, in truth I am, but just never had time to put into practice consistently, but now not working, have plenty of that most luxurious commodity in my mind, and that's time.

So, that's it for now, from a very happy

Mrs R

hypno06

Far from being a boring post, it was lovely to see how things are doing so well for you (or should that be "by you"?).

So, hurrah for paying off a credit card "properly", and here's to continued debtbusting, with an orchid or two along the way :T

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Mrs R.

That books sounds interesting. I have written the title down to get when monies are more available. I like good self development reading, anything like that. Well done on repaying your tesco card, and take care

In_my_dreams

Fantastic news on paying Mr T off - well done :j

mrs_robinson_3

So, today to my new role as a volunteer. It's great being a new girl again and everyone is so welcoming. I've a lot to learn but some of it is familar ground from years ago, so feel fairly at home already. Have been given a couple of projects of my own as well, so it's good to have that to keep me from spinning into full-on domestic goddessery - a foothold in the real world is a good thing for me!

No news on when to expect my redundancy payment - kind of need it for the end of the month, but the wheels of bureaucracy, they turneth ever so slowly, so will need to hatch a Plan B with Mr R, in case.

Pretty good MSE day - not a NSD though, as had to take back something was given for Xmas, and swapped it for more useful things instead - 2 bras from M&S! And had a measure/fitting whilst there, so feel confident am now in the right size, as despite steady weight, seem to fluctuate around bra sizes. Makes it tricky for Mr R at BD and Xmas time! Anyway, think two properly fiting bras for £5 is a bargain, so allowable. Also out tonight, first chance to let my hair down since Xmas. But we have vouchers!

Still not carved out the time for eBay/Green Metrop etc as whilst my Good Works only take 3 hours, there were forms to fill etc, and ended up not getting home til 2pm. Then it was let puppy out, feed puppy, school run, take puppy for walk with DS3, get DS2 and 3 ready for their football class, discuss DS3s "controlled assessment" for his GCSE Business Studies with him (one can actually help him with), sort washing etc - and bang, it's 530!

But tomorrow, as they say, is another day - aiming to get up early to get household up and running, leaving a clearer day for listing. Those suede boots are depending on it, after all.

And thanks for your posts Hypno, IMD and P&F. Just to say, P&F, that book is more of a fun read than an inspirational thing, though it is so interesting hearing that many of the things they were proposing in 1937 are the sorts of things you see on here all the time, on the OS board and in MSE Martin's advice. So rather than buy it, try the library or you could always borrow mine - happy to post.

Mrs R

In_my_dreams

Hope the redundancy cheque is on its way sharpish for you

I did the getting up early and being organised and it really worked - amazing!