Eager Elephant's Effective Everyday Excursion ...

Eager_Elephant

Forgot to say that I put on 1lb this week so up to 10st 12lb.


I blame the sneaky gluten free pizza I had on Friday when I should have been doing 5:2.


How can a pizza as thin a paper with hardly any cheese on be 600+ calories???


Oh and the sneaky crème eggs I had mid-week. I need to be good all the time.

Igamogam

I am thinking of doing 5:2 but waiting to get some other stuff sorted out first.So far lost 2lbs just by eating less although not been well for a few days so not thinking about what I was eating - stew and dumplings in front of TV tonight:rotfl:

Eager_Elephant

Igamogam wrote: »

I am thinking of doing 5:2 but waiting to get some other stuff sorted out first.So far lost 2lbs just by eating less although not been well for a few days so not thinking about what I was eating - stew and dumplings in front of TV tonight:rotfl:

I think stew and dumplings is fine especially in front of the TV.:D


We eat most of our meals in front of the TV nowadays otherwise we would never have time to watch the programmes we have recorded (mainly documentaries)

Eager_Elephant

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

12. DD's old Brownie uniform sold to a friend - £7.50.
13. A few of DD's clothes that no longer fit - to charity shop
14. A few pairs of my trousers that I no longer need - to charity



Nearly got rid of my tumble dryer - put it on Facebook tonight and someone wants it. Looking like we will deliver for petrol money.
I have moved it into the lounge and tidied the utility room - it looks tidy in there now. DH will paint it for me once the boiler has been serviced tomorrow.

15. Tumble dryer gone to new home - sold for £20 and £5 petrol (lady could only collect next weekend and I wanted it out of my lounge so took it round tonight).


Will pay money in to bank and transfer to household account as outside front light is playing up and I think we need a new one.

Skint_but_Optimistic

Hi EE nice to see someone else likes to eat in front of the TV too.

I am going to up my ebay game and get rid of some treasurey bits which are no longer attractive haha.

Its always the way though, money in one hand and out the other. My mobile phone has decided to stop working and I am not due an upgrade, so will be doing without!

Eager_Elephant

I have managed to lose the pesky 1lb I put on last week so back to 10st 11lb.
I went out with my friend on Friday night for her birthday and had a lovely 3 course meal - luckily not too many calories were consumed as I could not have chips with my meal as not gluten free.


My friend has lost loads of weight on 5:2, she has 500calories on 2 days and sticks to 1200 on her 5 days. I think this is classed more as the 5:2 restriction diet. Think I need to work out how many calories I have on my 5 days and go from there.


Not much money saving going on here as 5 days til payday and I am skinter than a skint thing. I had to borrow money from one of my savings pots to go out on Friday:eek:


Have sold something on Amazon, last Xmas (2013) DD was given 2 of the same present by relative. It has been sitting in my bedroom for ages waiting to be sold so a few weeks ago I stuck it on Amazon just a few pence cheaper than those selling with free p+p and it sold on Friday, the charges for selling are a minus amount so I at least have the postage costs to be able to cover postage. Only about £16 due to me but it all helps.
Quite why it took me so long to deal with I don't know - I must get more organised - Igamogam has pointed me the direction of KonMarie so will be looking to implement this. I have been reading some of the threads dedicated to it but what I really need to do is get on with it!!


Have also finally admitted to myself that even though we transfer £300 pm to the food account we spend way more than this. It is usually topped up from my account or the household account.
So this month we will transfer £350 in and see what happens and I will not fund extra from my account.
I have done a Sains shop which is being delivered this afternoon - the problem is it comes to £330:eek:
This should be enough to last us all month with visits to the greengrocers each weekend for veg etc needed for the following week.
I am fed up of buying bits and pieces in the week and wasting money.
I have emptied the 2 chest freezers (we were running it down in January anyway so not much left but all the extras are in the kitchen freezer to be used up) except 3 turkeys we have left over from Xmas.
I have also cleaned out the outside shed which will become the pantry - for this month the tinned things can sit on the floor in there until we measure up for the shelving and DH sorts the roof out.


All the books can go to charity and add to my declutter total (I used to run the book stall at DD's school and stored the excess books in my shed as they had no storage but we finished last year as DD left and the school took all the excess books to charity so they don't want the ones I am storing back - they ask for donations every time they have a fete anyway).


I have also done a meal plan - usually in the week it is something quick like Bolognese or chips with something but we eat the same things every week.
Got some great ideas from the grocery thread so will be using the slow cooker more and just doing potatoes and veg when I get in.


Lets see if I can keep this up.

Igamogam

Lots of good plans EE I decided at the beginning of the year to stick to a £70 a week budget for food,cleaning products,pet food,toiletries.So far so good each week coming in under budget and includes a door step milk delivery - I have milk delivered on principle. We also have a fruit/veg box from local enterprise in the village. We are 2 adults and a late teen and 2 cats BTW. Granted our food stores are extensive - freezers and store/cleaning/bathroom cupboard but meal planning and no waste playing a big part too. I bought A Girl Called Jack book and have been pleasantly surprised- easy economical adaptable stuff During January I have using cash only for food shopping but I may well go back to free click and collect in February now I know we can easily live on £70 a week and I am going to reduce it to £65!

Konomarism is very addictive :rotfl:

Eager_Elephant

Hi Ig


We were shopping weekly but to be honest it took so much time out of our precious weekend that I grew to hate it so I am reverting to a monthly delivery.


£70 per week is great, good luck with getting to £65pw - we are 2 adults, 1 late teen, 1 just teen and 4 cats (possibly soon to add another cat and dog). I hope to get our spends down but first I am going to monitor it for a few months and log everything and then start setting myself the challenge of reducing it.


The only problem with home delivery is that you can't get the yellow stickered stuff - maybe in a few months I will keep some money back and pop in to Sains a few times a week when I am at work nearby.


Is the book any good for a complicated family? DH can't have onion or leek, I am vegetarian and don't eat gluten, the DC's are not too bad although DD won't eat carrot!!


I am just about to write my meal plan up neater to go on the fridge taking in to account evenings when we are out.


I used to meal plan but lost my way but I hope this will keep me focused.


Our Sains delivery has been - it filled half a van and once unloaded filled half the lounge!!
Now all in it's rightful place and I feel better now the cupboards are full.


Have been to the Post Office and posted the item I sold on Amazon, also returned some clothes I ordered from a catalogue that are not very nice and DH had sold one of his tools on ebay - the money he made will be taken to pay back the debt he ran up with them last week when he brought items and did not have the money in his account by the time the DD came out.
Hopefully he has learnt and won't do it again!!

Igamogam

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Is the book any good for a complicated family? DH can't have onion or leek, I am vegetarian and don't eat gluten, the DC's are not too bad although DD won't eat carrot!!

Err ...um. I think so - substitute gluten filled for gluten free. There are some veggie dishes, leave out the alliums I guess. We are family that eats anything and everything though..........:o

Eager_Elephant

I've had a PM from a dear friend and thought I best pop back.


I keep running out of time to come on here, all my favourite threads are set up to email me once a day with all the posts and I haven't even had time to read those.


As mentioned above we have acquired a and another


It's amazing how much time a dog takes up:rotfl:


I used to be able to pop on here in the mornings if it was not my morning for the field animals and in the evenings after tea but now if it is not my morning for the field animals I have to walk the dog (she is not yet used to chickens so can't run loose near them) and by the time I get back I have to go to work.
The evenings are taken up with cooking tea and then walking the dog, by the time I have done a bit of housework and made sure DD has had a bath it is time for my bath and bed.


I've since spoken to other dog owners and they seem to only walk their dogs once a day and sometimes only a few times a week and the rest of the time they roam the garden. Our village has loads of dogs and so far we have only met 4 of them (2 owners with 2 each)


The dog is lovely, she is a SBT X Choc Lab and she is very well behaved, despite us being told she wasn't. I think she just needed some love and attention. She is 6 months old and weighs about 4 stone already.
We have started puppy classes but we might change as the Trainer is anti SBT's.


She grew up with a cat so we have the cat as well - we now have 5 cats:eek:. Our cats are starting to adapt to a dog in the house so hopefully soon all will be calm!!!


Moneywise things are going well, I still need to claim for the pothole incident - I paid the bill this week so need to try and get my money back as the car has been back in for an MOT this week although apart from some new lights it passed so should only be a small bill.


Eon had increased our payments from £83 to £119 to clear a small debt - I didn't mind as I get cashback. Now they have done the yearly review, refunded me £30 and lowered the payments. I would rather they kept the credit and carried it forward.


DH has been a nightmare again and has bounced another Paypal direct debit:eek:. he did get better and if he wanted something off ebay he emailed me and I brought it. But obviously he couldn't help himself, when the letter from the bank arrived he did the silent, I am guilty thing and then said he would never buy from ebay again - I told him he had said that not more than 2 weeks ago. he claims ebay just take it by DD, I told him he could change the payment option but he chooses not to. I am not subsidising him and instead have transferred all his spare money to savings and if I buy petrol when it is his turn to buy I will transfer it over to my account.


Food is going well although I accidentally set foot in a supermarket and spent money on things we didn't really need - we are using the greengrocers as well.
I think the food I got delivered will last past a month although some things I did not buy enough of so I have made notes ready for next month. Things like butter and flour as I am now making cakes on Sunday ready for packed lunches in the week. It's all a learning curve.


Not done too much decluttering but need to get the books to the charity shop - I have ordered the Konmarie book so will have a read of that to get me in the swing of sorting everything out.


Think that's about it but no doubt I have forgotten loads of things:rotfl:


Hope you are all well and I should be caught up on diaries soon!!