Coffee and chocolate

miggy

Miggy has been comfort shopping again.:o
Two pairs of socks and some gloves to the sum of £3.50...
On the plus side:
Cheapy tea: nice fat sausages on offer so bought two lots and have organised all the spares into the freezer which can no longer do up its jeans. We had some (sausages not jeans) for tea as Toad in the Hole. Savings about 50p when all said and done - an offer but not a stunning one.
Also spent £7.20 on pet food, 50p on tissues and £3.98 on dishwasher tablets, which were half price so saved us £3.98. However, finances being what they are, this isn't going to overpay the mortgage yet.
It's clear, looking at the past month's spends courtesy of DH's spreadsheet, that it's the money mum owes me that's tipped the scales against us this past few weeks. I haven't been able to ask her for the cheque recently - she had a bad fall at the weekend and has been struggling to hear me on the phone subsequently. Tonight she seemed better, though, and gave a shriek when I mentioned it! The cheque is written but if it doesn't come to light she'll send me a new one.
I'm working again tomorrow night, another long shift but it's all money. I'm thinking of asking to be taken off these shifts though as they're so tiring. I think I only ended up doing them by accident, as most people have opted into them and I said when they were first introduced that I wasn't interested.
I've done a little bit more decluttering (not so's a casual observer would notice!) and bought raisins for the Christmas cake. Other people (or squirrels) seem to have got there first as the dried fruit was a bit scarce but I'll try again in a day or so. Every year I plan to make the Christmas cake in September/October, and ever year it's about the second week of December. Maybe this time...!

miggy

I seem to have dome nothing but work, though in fact I had Sunday off. Back again this afternoon till tomorrow but am going to see my line manager this afternoon and request I don't do my hours in such big blocks. My rota after Wednesday is a lot easier for a couple of weeks, anyway.
An advantage of work is less spending and more money! Not doing too badly recently.
DH has borrowed ladders and had a look at the gutters, and yes, they need to be replaced, though he thinks he and the boys can do it themselves (they have more of a head for heights than I have!) Would you believe the reason the gutter was leaking over our window was that the bracket had sagged and the lowest point of the gutter was right there instead of by the down-pipe! Do we fibreglass it and wait for spring to repair, or try to tackle it now? Weather's lovely, if cold...
DS, DH and I tackled an untidy patch by our main entrance and it looks 100% better. It was overgrown with mint which was running riot!
Oh, and we had a mad electricity bill! DH queried it - why would our payments suddenly go down by £60 a month?! Anyway, they're sending us a revised version so we don't get a nasty surprise later!
And things with mum - rolling on... no crises this week though she has bad bruising from a fall a week ago. She has accepted absolute minimum care for all of a week, so we'll see how that goes. By care I mean she'll allow someone to call in and check she's all right.
And it's sunny, and I have heaps of bread mix from the BB4L order, so life's not too bad eh?

miggy

Weyhey! No more work for days and days and days! I've done it all till next week!
Maybe tomorrow I'll have a lie-in? I used to be so good at those and I've almost completely lost the art. However, it's half term, I'm not in work and, as of this afternoon, mum's okay - so a lie-in sounds really good.
Money: £1.29 on some cake to take on a picnic with work (a hard life but it's not all picnics!)
This month's wages are in the bank now, but DH's aren't due yet - nevertheless I have halved the growing overdraft. Now I have to keep it that way, so tomorrow, with a guest to dinner, it will be HM chicken soup and rolls, followed by crumble. Tonight it's 'piglets' for the boys, a wartime recipe. Basically small potatoes with holes through them (apple corer) and stuffed with sausage meat, then baked. All ingredients we had already. Dh and I are having baked potatoes with southern fried chicken to stop it cluttering up the freezer!

SouthernBellE*

Hi Miggy!

'Piglets' sound yummy, not heard of that one before but sounds like something my DS would enjoy so one for me to try, thanks!

Sorry to hear of your Mum's fall, hope she's doing better & good luck with the cheque and with your DD's EMA.

Bread flour was mentioned on MG's thread at 50/60p but not 100% which store, Sainsburys I think.

Bah to guttering, I have a 'leak' right near my front door that absolutely pours when it's raining, you have to see which way the wind is blowing fore putting the key in the door! lol

Sounds as though you've been really busy with work, enjoy your days off honey!

talk again soon, take care

SB
X

miggy

Hi SB,
Nice to hear from you again! How's life treating you?
Mum has been doing well the last few days, thanks. She has bad bruising from the fall but won't see a doctor and wouldn't let the ambulance crew examine her properly but I suspect she has a cracked bone somewhere... I might try to speak to the District Nurses about it and get their opinion, but if she refuses to allow people to look, it can't be forced on her. However, she's chatty and 'with it' which is great.
I didn't manage the lie in, LOL. Woke up out of habit. Ah well. Never mind, I got to watch back-to-back 'Biggest Loser' over lunch and cooked dinner for 7 tonight, er, sure there's some irony there! But those are both things I enjoy!
As for the guttering, it's quite likely we'll just put filler on it this side of the winter, and try to do a complete replacement in about May! You get a sympathetic grin off me for your guttering and having to check which way the wind's blowing! I can well imagine!

miggy

Spending today (extra due to more mouths to feed):

Washing up brush 18p from Wilkos! Barrrrr -gin! Probably saved about 18p.
Kitchen towels also from Wilkos, 97p. I think that's 13p cheaper than Tesco.
Oh dear, I must confess... Wilkos had Pepsi Max at two for £2. That more than wipes out the savings, though I justify it on the grounds it keeps me hydrated! Also it's not something I buy all the time.

Then off to the supermarket for the foodstuffs (can't find the receipt so will have to go on memory):
burgers BOGOF £2.50 (so three portions on freezer)
lean mince two for £5 (used most of one, rest in freezer)
dried basil - 83p? - oops, already had some but it will get used
3 tins tomatoes, and not the plum ones either (so I spent an extra 6p rather than spend ages boiling the sauce down!) Used two but the other will get used soon.
chicken liver - 2x47p? - used most of one and am always afraid the supermarket will stop stocking it so got a spare.
Bacon - got the 'cooking bacon' which makes me laugh. What else do they think we're going to do with it?
red wine - £1.48 for a small tin. Didn't use much - must freeze for next time!
salad - £2.48 - must use up the baby spinach tomorrow, or freeze it.
mozzarella 47p
tomato puree 25p
Lasagne sheets ? About £1.80 I think but there are loads left over.
Other things - potatoes for DS, garlic puree, onions, oil, bread mix for buns, peaches and frozen fruit and ingredients for crumble topping, custard powder and white sauce for lasagne - were all in the store cupboard.
So I think not too bad when you consider I fed seven of us, had some left over and loads of extra meat for the freezer. Oh, I love cooking!

miggy

Oh dear, I haven't updated this for a few days. Actually I think I've done okay with the spending since Friday when I last wrote. I haven't been to the shops all that much and today has been a NSD.
Yesterday I used sausages from the freezer to feed six and was all proud of myself for planning and defrosting them in time, but then found some marked down at the supermarket so froze those instead... seemed a bit of an all-round-the-houses but never mind. It also gave me the opportunity to use up some potatoes, of which we had lots.
I am feeling slightly guilty for not doing anything today, which is daft because I've done various things, just not posted a letter to mum or mixed the Christmas cake, both of which I'd planned to do.
Perhaps I can make progress on those tomorrow.

On a very positive note: Mum's cheque has arrived!:T:T:T Phew!

That will help the bank balance.
I'm working tomorrow but not for long, so should be able to get on with life around it. (Christmas cake, maybe?)

Some not-so-goods:
still haven't cleaned out the poor goldfish
was fairly rubbish at my piano lesson this morning - head all blurry!
hve been eating rubbish
have to chuck out lots of chicken that's been in the fridge too long
didn't get any laundry done
broke a favourite mug

Some more positives:
Retyped our emergency phone numbers list
Put the smaller rabbit and the guinea pig in their new hutch (not really keen on keeping guineas with rabbits but these two are bonded)
set up a medical file for the family as part of decluttering
laminated some of the children's certificates to show them we're proud of them
a good night's sleep
a new piece of piano music
tidied up the kitchen notice board
recycled more paper
finished drying yesterday's laundry and did some ironing
tidied up after myself!

And am off to do a spot of piano practice so even if I don't manage any more this week, at least I've done some!

miggy

Very little 'real life' shopping over the last few days but I've sent off two orders to Big Brands for Less as they had a 100% extra free offer.
Oh my goodness I am going to have so much bread mix!

miggy

I lay in bed last night dreaming up fillings for bread 'swirls'! Then today I was too tired to cook any...
I have, however, made 'store cupboard fish bake' for tea and only bought veg from the greengrocer's, which is better than supermarket veg, and cheaper too. (Onions, carrots, peppers and apples - £2.18). Apart from that I had to sub DS2 but he assures me that will be refunded, and make a donation to get into the firework display, but that was well worth it.

miggy

Oh, and...
I haven't received any of my BBFL goods yet but as they are inundated, I shalln't expect them till next week. I did notice that a couple of items are now out of stock so that's a little less to accommodate, even if it means a smaller stockpile of work lunches.
Plus, on the money-saving front - this week I've been staying up late and putting the dishwasher and washing machine on using economy-rate electricty, but I mustn't make a habit of it as I need the sleep.
And another freebie read from Project Gutenburg: this time I've gone for a childhood favourite, 'A Little Princess'. I think this is slightly expanded from what I remember... maybe the original?