Coffee and chocolate

miggy

A few unscheduled spends this evening - coffee, bread and chocolate to take on my trip, a paper for mum (would normally go on her bill but I read it first!), a plant for her lovely cleaner and erm... some cheapy jaffa cakes to console myself if I get stranded away from home.

About £12 in all. I did womble a receipt with 70 points on it, so I suppose that makes up for it a bit . The wombling is really making me much more aware of what I spend: it would take a while to womble even the price of a bar of chocolate so I am less likely to buy it 'because it's only a small amount'.

miggy

I fell off the wagon a bit while away with having to pay over the odds for bread at the village shop (and then not using it, so it's in mum's freezer) and buying a coffee for £2.45 on the way home which was really unnecessry as I'd packed a drink. However, I enjoyed it a lot (until I managed to drip some down myself on the train and felt silly ) and for once I got points on my coffee card.

I also had an unplanned spend of £10 towards presents for my mum and sister - I saw something that would work well and decided now was the time to buy, rather than waiting and spending more in a flap later).

I had a lift to get there but had to get a train ticket home, which mum was paying for as I was there on her behalf, and which I've done countless times before. This time, however, the ticket office made a mistake and I ended up with a ticket to the wrong place. They couldn't refund on the spot so I had to buy another (:eek:) (total of both = £97) and now have a form to fill in to reclaim. I really hope they don't whack on too much in admin charge as this was totally their error.

Talking of errors, I dropped off a copy of the letter to the DCA at the shop where the bill originated, and next day went in and had a talk with the manager. He could show me the supposed bill on the computer but not what it was for and offered to write it off as I'd clearly gone to trouble to sort it out. I accepted and got a note from him with contact details in case there is any further problem, and I also asked him to close the account to make it harder for them to send any other bills. I don't entirely trust their system as I'd had what I was told was the final bill in January and paid it - so no-one knows what this other amount is from.

Mum's house so needs stuff done!

• damage to brick work and bay window roof which looks as though it might come to pieces any moment. A stem of ivy had been growing through it. The neighbour asked a builder to have a look and while the builder doesn't want the job himself, he reckons it isn't about to fall down. So I need to find a builder who will do it, and check the Buildings Insurance at the same time.
• three loose (very loose) bricks right at the top corner of the house.
• Loose slates on porch roof - next door's (other half of porch) is similar so we could share builders there.
• Blocked gutter at the back meaning water is cascading into the house in heavy rain!

I contacted a window cleaner who is happy to go over today to clear the gutter and offered to cut back a tree growing too near the house and which would be in the way of his ladders. I'm so glad the tree is going to be cut down to size, much as I love trees. I know mum would forbid it if she knew but it's far too close to the house for safety and is blocking out the light. Yes, the birds like it, but they have plenty of others to choose from and the shrubbery bit at the bottom of the tree remains.

I've done what I can where the water gets in: the neighbour had put down buckets so the floor was dry downstairs, and I've managed to put deep trays under where the surce of the problem was (upstairs- the water came in atthe top of an upstairs window and through the upstaris floor).

I can see from outside that the gutter is not only blocked but out of alignment, hence the spillage, so at some point that will need to be done. The falling water has started to rot the wooden windowsill on the first floor - another job at some point!

There's also a dripping tap that's getting worse indoors, and the drain it goes into is leaking. :eek::eek: You can actually see a tiny trickle of water coming out under a retaining wall. I am wondering if this counts as sewers in which case can it hold on till October when the Government will pay? I found what appears to be the right stopcock (MSE is trying to censure that!) but when I tried it I could hear it had been turned off and fresh water started flowing BEHIND the washing machine! I reckon it's better to have a tap dripping into a sink than water flowing onto the floor, so that's how I left it. I coudn't budge the washer to have a look behind... it seems ridiculous to get a plumber for a little job like that but I might have to.


That's it for structural jobs... will save the other stuff for another post.

Hovel_lady

Blimey you have been a busy bee
Hope you get your train fare refunded quickly, it's a lot of money.
Nice to have you back xx

miggy

I got a few other jobs done for Mum - some cleaning and collecting books and clothes that she wants with her.

I've also cleaned and inventoried the freezer. Some old and damaged stuff went in the bin as not fit for human consumption and that's not an issue. What's bothering me slightly is the good stuff that's left. I ate some while I was there and I'm keeping a tab so I can pay mum for it. I'm sure she'd insist on giving it to me if she knew but I would rather do this. It's not her fault she's not at home and in charge of it. There's a theoretical possibility that she could go back, in which case her freezer could be restocked but I would rather run supplies down and turn it off: it's old and the motor seems to be going a lot of the time.

So:

• I can't transport the food over here - it would thaw.
• Things that get eaten I will replace/pay for, but this will take months at the rate I visit.
• Some of the stuff I just don't like - well, much of it isn't what I'd chose to eat.
• I can't afford too much.

I've filled some of the empty space with packing to make the freezer more efficient. Just don't have any solutions in the short term and I'm impatient.

Did I get anything else done? The cleaner's delighted with the new hoover and we made some inroads with the garden: next time I'll take a saw to some of the trees that are springing up and making it dark.

I think that's it for now.

DebtFree2012

miggy wrote: »

We have done well for frugal meals these last two days: yesterday I made a pasta bake using cheapy pasta and sauce, the remains of a tin of tomatoes, a fresh tomato, some odd sausages and smoked bacon from the fridge and some cheese on top. Everybody seemed keen though DH asked me not to tell him what I'd found in the fridge to put in it! Today's was corned beef hash which I haven't made in ever so long but I think it will make a come-back as it's cheap and popular.

Hope you don't mind me asking but how do you make your hash? We have pinaculty in my neck of the woods which is potatoes, onions and gravy with the corned beef. Is yours a fried type with beans?

Thanks and hope you don't mind me asking.

miggy

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind me asking but how do you make your hash? We have pinaculty in my neck of the woods which is potatoes, onions and gravy with the corned beef. Is yours a fried type with beans?

Thanks and hope you don't mind me asking.

No probs. Your version sounds nice.

I use about half a tin of corned beef, a medium onion and about five medium potatoes to two people because I am used to stretching things but all quantites are a matter of taste.

Chop and fry onion(s), make mashed potato and mix the two together with chopped up corned beef then return to the pan and fry lightly. Yes to the beans .

Any extra corned beef freezes okay so you aren't wasting any.

miggy

Apparently DS made (and paid for!) dinner last night, which I missed as I was on the train. They had peppers stuffed with cous cous and chicken and DH says it was delicious.

This is the same DS who used to pick all the peppers off pizzas, and the same DH who is risk-averse when it comes to new food and likes to have meat with his meals.

(Sigh). Why couldn't they have been like this twenty years ago?

P.S. Actually it would have been difficult - DS was less than a year old so is unlikely to have paid.

DebtFree2012

Fabulous - another one for the menu plan - Thank You

I am looking for frugal meals every day and it's difficult - mind you, a tin of corned beef has gone up in price lately too! But it stretches as you say so balances out in the end.

Keep up the good work

miggy

DebtFree2012 wrote: »

Fabulous - another one for the menu plan - Thank You

I am looking for frugal meals every day and it's difficult - mind you, a tin of corned beef has gone up in price lately too! But it stretches as you say so balances out in the end.

Keep up the good work

YW
DS2 had 'piglets' for tea last night - another frugal one, this time from the wartime. Use largeish potatoes and make several holes through them using an apple corer or potato peeler. Part bake in the microwave (to save time and fuel costs). Stuff the holes with thin sausages or sausage meat and bake in the oven till cooked through (about 20 minutes). The spare bits of potato can be baked too, to make a few dry chips.

Spent a bit too much at the shops yesterday though there is still money in the budget. The main culprits were cheese on BOGOF and tuna on offer - total £8.29 and as DH says, all very well but what are we going to eat later in the week? I told him tuna pasta. I got bread at half price and a pack of clementines for 39p which was pretty good. Also onions, tins of tomatoes, peppers, mozzarella and garlic puree - we had a huge pasta bake for tea (apart from the DS who had 'piglets') and have some peppers, onion and garlic puree to spare for another day so all in all yesterday's food was okay, in a subjective kind of way. I also finished some sausages and bacon as flavours in the pasta but they were a bit thin on the ground and the most useful (?) thing I learnt from that was that the same dish would be ever so good if I got some of the more expensive garlicy sausages and used those instead.

I am still struggling with the thought of all that needs to be done for Mum's house but today I should: see to her insurance, go to visit her, attend two 'Star' days for the kids and be at work for 4. Good job DH is at home today to share the running round!

DebtFree2012

Hiya

Thanks for the recipe - I'd love to hear more

I do lots of mix and match pasta dishes and doing my own white sauce now as trying to do most things from scratch. ALthough I did a white sauce last night and after it'd been in the oven on the lasagne it went doughy - must be too much flour. I did try to remember the amounts rather than check - lazy!!!

Love the idea of piglets - will give that a shot.

I hope today goes ok for you, it doesn't sound easy. You take care. xx