Coffee and chocolate

ani_26

miggy wrote: »

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

Still buying xmas presents?


Seriously, its a good idea spreading the cost across the year, so long as you remember where you put everything. The amount of times i've still had to go and buy, as i forget where i've put things. This defeats the object.


Don't forget my pressie

Hmmm, xmas is a long way off, i can't think that far in advance.

miggy

ani_26 wrote: »

Seriously, its a good idea spreading the cost across the year, so long as you remember where you put everything.

Of course I do. They're... they're... ummm. Yes, well, the point is it's a very good idea even if I say so myself.

ani_26 wrote: »

The amount of times i've still had to go and buy, as i forget where i've put things. This defeats the object.

No, no, the object is to spend unnecessary amounts of money on things people don't really want and cause maximum stress while doing so. Mind you, if you lose them, you can do this twice over.

ani_26 wrote: »

Don't forget my pressie

A humungous quantity of Earl Grey in a box like a classic car, using a large block of Bourneville as a gift tag. Oops, you didn't hear that did you? Just forget I said anything...

Oh.

Well, the wrapper from a large block of Bourneville anyway.

Nice stuff, Bourneville, isn't it?

ani_26 wrote: »

Hmmm, xmas is a long way off, i can't think that far in advance.

It's an illusion created to account for financial evaporation - same as holidays, gas and electricity bills, petrol, food, accommodation and assorted others. Myths, all of them. The seasonal element of some of these is the clue: money evaporates more readily in certain climatic conditions. Evaporation is so obvious, I can't understand why people don't give it more credence.

ani_26

Hmmm

Don't do / can't afford xmas presents, so this is at least one stress free area of my life, ( although i do get stressed when i don't receive any ).

Bourneville, not three bad choccie. Frys chocolate cream, even better. But my favoutite of all time i couldn't possibly divulge, as its a little confectioners from my homeland, the best chocolate in the world, and also the best bakers. Its been a lonnnnnng time. Too long.



I wish i could evaporate. Tips anyone? ( not pg ).

MatyMoo

Sorry, not been about much this week (again).
:j:j:j You sorted out the bill and got them to write it off :j:j:j

A huuuuuge well done you :T

Not sure how far it is from your's to Mum's but could you transport the freezer in a well packed coolbox or would it thaw out on route?

It sounds like there is a lot to do at her house More worry for you.

Love Corned Beef Hash, I put chopped tomatoes and mushrooms in mine too if I have any. I always seem to be a far frugaler (is that even a word?) cook during the winter months. It is so much easier to batch cook stews, soups and casseroles in the slow cooker and stock up the freezer. But I don't want to eat those in the warmer weather (if/when we ever get any :rotfl:) so I tend to eat a fair amount of pasta with various additions sauces at this time of year.

Didn't know you could still get Fry's chocolate cream, my Mum used to love that and Five Boys if anyone remembers that. She also kept a bar of bourneville in the best cutlery drawer so she could have a square or two on washing day. Some little horror used to sneak the odd square too..... until it got swapped with ExLax once :eek: I won't tell you the outcome of that one as it would be TMI :rotfl:

miggy

Haha Maty, you made me laugh and that helps!

Bourneville is the best English chocolate but I prefer French except I can't get it here. Fry's chocolate creme - fantabulous, but to me it doesn't count as chocolate. It's middle with chocolate round it which is Not The Same Thing. Middles are classified entirely differently, with coffee and raspberry coming top of the list. Fry's is still very nice though. When I was about 10 my absolute favourite was Fry's Five Centres. I don't think you can get it any more, can you? It's not the same thing as Five Boys, is it?

Don't evaporate, Ani, as we will miss you. The occasional melt down is, however, not only permisable but probably necessary to cope with all you have going on at the moment. Sending you virtual Fry's Choc creme as a fortifier in the meantime. Hope it helps.

Maty, thanks for the cheering on - I need to remind myself I've made progress because I'm having a wobble and getting panicy about all that's left to do. DH contacted the Federation of Master Builders yesterday and we've had a couple of people get back to us already to say they are interested in viewing the damage with a view to giving us a quote - which is a good thing. I am freaking out because I then realised I haven't got on to Mum's insurers to tell them officially that her circumstances have changed, and of course if I don't do that before making a claim, the insurance may not be valid. I suppose I have the weekend to get my head round that one as they probably work office hours.

On the plus side I had a funny chat on the phone to a neighbour of mum's this evening which was quite comforting and giggly. One of the things which threw me about the visit recently was coming across some sad press cuttings and I think I needed some happy reminiscences to counterbalance those - which I got this evening.

And would you believe there is a development about the frozen food? They had a longish power cut in the area, so it's just possible some if it may have spoiled. I'll have to remember to check before I eat any! If it's okay I think some items would be transportable. Stuff like icecream will get chucked out but it's things like frozen fish that I have my doubts about - there's quite a lot of it! Perhaps I should cook it all and freeze as casseroles - as you say Maty, they freeze well and also being a solid block they wouldn't defrost so easily. Thanks for that. :T:T:T

Phew, an answer to something at last - and one that doesn't challenge me! :rotfl: I needed that: I'm very practical so long as it involves throwing everything in a large pan and simmering slowly, which admitedly precludes bricklaying, especially 30 feet in the air.

miggy

I completely forgot to say anything about my spending.

£1.74 on burgers for DS (otherwise we ate from storecupboard stuff) and £10 onto my phone which should last me till September at least as there is a free £20 included which lasts a month or until spent.

I had a free posh coffee courtesy of work: asked for soya milk and am fairly sure it wasn't, then although the chocolate on top was delish, the coffee was a bit bitter. I wonder has the brand changed recently? That's the second of theirs I've had in a few days, and both times I've felt I've had a caffeine overdose. Oh well, free coffee, not complaining really.

We went for walk this evening: the air is clear and the colours are deep and vivid after all this rain. The paths across the fields haven't got the idea, though. You can see they have been rained on but they are still a mass of cracks. No interesting animals apart from a tough-looking dog who turned out to be a big softy and looked longingly at DH who obviously gives of stick-throwing vibes. I probably spoilt the walk a bit by unloading thoughts about work to DH! Most of us seem to be on the lookout for other jobs due to the pay and I've heard from two colleagues today who are struggling financially.

Budgetting is going well this week in that I haven't spent much recently and DD asked to borrow £20 for her driving lesson which she'snot yet returned. When she does I will still have over £20 housekeeping left. I think DH has less as most of the buying has fallen to him. Sure there will be more demands on it before the budgetting week is over.

I'm on nights tomorrow and the day after and have picked up a couple of extras over the next few weeks, which will help the OD. My line manager is also talking about us getting back to work on my NVQ, which will give me an increment. Not a huge one, but more is more. She thinks we could be finished by September, though I'm making no promises as even if all else is equal (ha!), it's experience-based so the difficulty will be snagging the odds and ends.

ani_26

Miggy, if there has been a longish power cut in the area, its worth ringing the electricity supplier and your mum's insurance company, i think you said she had one? After so many hours, you can claim off the household insurance for the contents of the freezer.

I did this a few years ago, ( when i had a freezer ), as i had a longish power cut, ( i was always getting power cuts ), which i've a feeling lasted over 8 hours, but don't take it on hearsay. Try and find out from the neighbour, leccy company, how long the power cut lasted, and find out how long her insurance company states the power cut has to last, and this could be your problem re the freezer, solved. Dispose of the contents and get paid for it.


Just make sure you add a tincy bit to the total to compensate for the loss of the excess.

miggy

Thanks Ani, I'm looking into it. I think it was 8 or 9 hours: the neighbour on one side, right next to the comapny's maintenance, was affected and I'm going to ask the other one soon (other side of semi).
There may be problems as the electricity company notified the outage and looking at the policy this may mean it's not covered - depends how you read it.
Still, worth a try!
I'm amazed this happened only three days after I'd cleaned out and inventoried the freezer! No, it didn't occur to me at the time as although I'd seen the letter about the power cut, I didn't expect it to last so long.

ani_26

Its certainly worth a call to the insurance companythen, if it was over 8 hours? I may be wrong though, it may have been 12 hours.

I don't recall the insurance company coming to inspect the contents of my freezer. I was honest about the contents of my freezer, but i think one always has to bear in mind the excess.

I once had a mate who never insured his house / contents, at all, ( they passed away as have most people i knew ). I don't want it to sound like i'm totally socially defunct.


I would definitely give it a try.

miggy

NSD.
Absolutely wrecked by the end of work and slept like a log when I got home. It wasn't a tiring shift, I am just short of sleep. However, I'm not working again till the end of the week.

I really ought to do more with the garden so I read up on care of asparagus and found I am doing everything wrong and no wonder the plant I grew from seed a few years ago hasn't flourished. It's in a pot so I may risk transplanting it soon even if it should be done in April. Meanwhile I've weeded it and I need to find a sunny spot to put it in. There are plenty of those: mostly above the tree canopy.

Money has - on paper - gone well last week as we have about £6 left in the food kitty. However as we paid £42 for a meal out to celebrate a birthday (entertainment budget) we aren't really that well off. I did some calculations as I've had lots of extra hours this month and if I'm right there will be about £300 extra in my August wages. Spent already so I'm paying off some of the overdraft.

Dh has got the currency for hols - booked last year - we had some saved up in another account so that's where it's come from. Accommodation is free thanks to a relative and we got the flights months ago at a good rate. The week's food money goes towards the spending while there but I think we will need more for that as the cost of living is higher and we won't have food stores. I will have to resist the temptation to buy more food as we can't cart all that much back on the plane!

AND... I've posted the letter to Mum's insurers, so one less on the Dreaded List. I have to celebrate each small triumph there as I'm getting anxiety attacks again. Not full-blown ones but enough to spoil things. Dh has contacted builders so we may get some estimates soon for the work on her house, and I'm trying hard to focus on one thing at a time.