Daffy's 'patchwork dreams' diary

DedicatedDFW

Hi Cheery and everyone

i've been reading but not had much chance for posting replies of late - but had to say your lunch today does indeed sound yummy! And this has inspired me to look at buying things like bags of salad, veggies etc. as the breakdown cost i.e. opening a bag but getting it to cover 4 lunches is really affordable :T For some reason i always tend to think a bag of salad = £1 (at least) ooh that'll be used on day 1 and i'll need more with it so its then too expensive This has resulted in me eating sandwiches alot which isn't great

Have seen across a few threads too that people are looking at budgets - something i need to do :think: - though i think more of a priority for me is increasing my income :cool: I agree with what others have said too though Cheery - budgeting is easier when its essential / a necessity and you have done so well and work so hard so it is nice to read when you have treated yourself to something too I guess its what i keep thinking about things is that its all about achieving a balance

Hope everyone is well

Karmacat

Cheery, loving your thoughts on the driving vs train and the lunches - putting bits together (especially when they're reduced!) is a great way forward. Though I'm with DDFW in needing to increase my income, we all need to keep an eye on the expenses.

Ooh, and good luck for the big day today.

Cheery_Daff

A balance indeed DDFW and thanks to both of you!

Event went well and wasn't half as scary as imagined (of course ) Although we did invite about 96 people originally, only 11 signed up (understandably considering what it was and who they were), and 4 dropped out either yesterday afternoon or this morning, and a further 2 just didn't turn up! So 5 outside people :rotfl: Glad we cancelled the lecture theatre and booked a meeting room instead :rotfl: :rotfl:

Advantage of half the people not turning up is, of course, twice the lunch Didn't buy anything at all today :T :T (apart from bus fare home from the station - which doesn't count). Does that mean I actually had a NSD??? Not sure I've ever knowingly had one of those before! :T :T :T Am thinking a little challenge for myself might be coming on :T :T :T

So.... 37 days of the year left - I think :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Christmas day I won't be able to spend anything :rotfl: And I'll be in hospital 28th-30th, so that rules out another 3 days :rotfl: so I should be able to manage at least another 4 NSDs before the end of the year :T :T :T :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

What's say we aim for, er, 10 in total?? Actually, that's a bit weedy considering 15

(going to pop and do a big shop tomorrow I think - sick of dashing about and shopping every day, living on toast, buying lunch at work, need to pull my finger out!)

Having tomorrow OFF WORK - am tired and worn down a little this week with organising this event and having been full of cold for the last couple of weeks. Very much looking forward to it - might go for a nice bike ride :T :T :T :T (that doesn't end in a cafe :rotfl: :rotfl:)

Karmacat

I'm glad you're giving yourself a long weekend - have a nice one - take a thermos on that bike ride!

Cheery_Daff

Thanks KC

Glorious day here - and we have absolutely NOTHING in the house that's remotely breakfast-like so I have resorted to some chocolate guinness cake from the freezer :rotfl: :rotfl: Really is time to go shopping!

Cheery_Daff

Right, shopping didn't materialise yesterday (well, not food shopping anyway - went Christmas shopping instead - eek! Did get a few things which is a good start, hoping I can do the rest without going into town!)

Ran very fast (for me) at hte park run this morning - 36 mins and 12 secs :j :j :j :j Might seem slow, but it's over a minute faster than my previous best time, so I'm well chuffed

Off to do scary big shop in Morrissons now. Never do this, but needs must right now... T*sco is closer, but I do pop in there occasionally and I really can't abide it - time for a change I think!

Repeat after me - buying salad may feel extravagant but is cheaper than having to pay for sandwiches at work! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

RubySewSew

We must have our cake habits fully synced because I'm eating chocolate guiness cake I made for my sister's birthday!

With the work/salad thing can you try thinking of it the other way round? Instead of thinking about it in terms of spending the bare minimum (which you no longer need to do) start at the top with what you can afford to spend. Then look at how you could make a step towards reducing that spend. So starting of at £3.50 per day for example on sandwiches and choc and reducing to £2 per day on bagged salads and chiller cabinet soups. Then, should you need to or desire to budget further you can step down again. A bit like the brand exchange principle I suppose - if you usually buy Heinz beans try Tesco beans, if you usually buy Tesco, try value and see if you notice the difference. I might have a think about this myself and see if I can apply it to my shopping/spending habits as I am still massively overspending on groceries per month - £358 pm does seem tight for a family of 4 taking into account the increased cost of food!

Not sure if that makes any sense because I am soooooo tired zzzzzzzzzzz

Cheery_Daff

Does indeed make sense Ruby (but my own head is a little befuddled so may have to return with a sensible response! :rotfl: :rotfl:)

Spent £94 in Morrisons :eek: :eek: :eek: Don't think I've EVER spent that much on food shopping in one go! But then I generally never go to a big supermarket (clearly a good thing! :rotfl:), and it's not as bad as it sounds....

I mostly bought 'ingredients' - fruit, veg, lots of tinned tomatoes and pulses, lentils (oops, we've already got a HUGE bag!), several bags of flour, sugar, dried fruit, seeds etc. Everything that came in a packet was value brand (beans, tomatoes, museli, natural yogurt etc). The only 'extravagant' things I splashed out on were:

- a small bottle of sesame oil (which I LOVE and which we don't have very often - £1.49)
- some goats cheese (which I'd buy occasionally anyway - £1.12)

Er, does it count that I bought value cottage cheese AND quark?? :rotfl: :rotfl: Or that I also bought a bottle of ginger wine (3.20 as opposed to the £5 ish we'd usually pay?) Did stuff like loo rolls and replacing toothbrushes etc too...

Anyway, so the challenge is to go as long as we can without buying food Obviously we'll need milk, and fruit at least (veg should last us a little while), but everything else should last a good while longer, and absolutely NO buying food OF ANY KIND at work! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Have also batch cooked enough rice for 5 dinners for the 2 of us, 2 lots of home made oven chips (otherwise known as chopped boiled potatoes ), a load of parsnips ready for roasting, some chilli, and a big pile of cake, so should be all set for dinners this week at least! :T :T :T

So - you heard it here first - NO buying of food this week AT ALL (unless it's milk, or fruit for Mr Daffs - he gets through about 6 apples a day and I wasn't going to buy a month's worth at once! :rotfl: :rotfl:)

Lula-Hula

Well done on your bulk shopping Cheery,

I've been stocking up on household items & 'ingredients' for a while now, I plan to do another BIG shop this week (payday) & all this with a view to being superfrugal in January & February next year & only having to buy fresh stuff ... that's the idea anyway

I've never tried sesame oil, may have to investigate.

I'm an apple fiend too & they keep for a good week to 10 days in the fridge, just depends how much fridge space you can give them

Karmacat

Toasted sesame oil is fantastic! Put that with balsamic vinegar and even on its own you have a really tasty, VERY quick salad dressing.

Your shopping sounds really good, Cheery, very good value - except, I don't think I'd be buying tins of beans (apart from baked beans sometimes, you can't get that flavour sauce yourself). Can you not soak them and cook them - butterbeans and mung beans only take half an hour or so even on the hob, and you can have the slow cooker for the rest - 2.5 hours on the hob steams the kitchen up good and proper.