Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

themadvix

Morning all,

Not a lot to report. Americans still haven't paid, although they're now getting antsy for me to do more work, so here's hoping pressure is applied where necessary to get things moving. I'm never impressed (this happens fairly often) but unfortunately their work forms a large chunk of my income (and I enjoy the projects they send me), so I'm not really in a position to tell them where to go.

I *must* pay myself today - problem is, I tend to prioritise work.... which only goes so far toward paying the bills!

MS things:
* Work blah blah blah
* Clicks (and SBs survey again)
* DH had free dinner at work (and probably eating at a work colleague's tonight - he's a Syrian refugee and is desperate to have DH round to experience their culture's hospitality! )

Gratitudes:
* Good visit to zero-waste shop yesterday
* Tested the Morrison 'bring your container' promise and got plastic-free fish pie mix
* Had a nice evening with Dad (even if he didn't offer me any dinner )

Have a good day all!

Karmacat

themadvix wrote: »

their work forms a large chunk of my income (and I enjoy the projects they send me), so I'm not really in a position to tell them where to go.

Sigh ... at least you can come on here, but its not good, is it.

I *must* pay myself today - problem is, I tend to prioritise work.... which only goes so far toward paying the bills!

Erm, please pay yourself

* Clicks (and SBs survey again)

I've suddenly hit a few days where I get a decent survey that means I get to the first goal. Didn't think that would ever happen again.

* DH had free dinner at work (and probably eating at a work colleague's tonight - he's a Syrian refugee and is desperate to have DH round to experience their culture's hospitality! )

Awww. Very good idea to take him up on it, good for DH. My only experience of Syrian refugees is when I went private at my NHS dentist a few years ago, just for a one-off hygiene appointment - the hygienist was a Syrian refugee, a dentist working under his qualification levels to get his feet under the table, so to speak. He didn't last long as a hygienist because he went back to being a dentist :beer: he was brilliant.
And I keep thinking of Syria as it was shown on Top Gear, the Iraq special, where Syria was the wonderful place where they were mobbed with fans and had lots of fun

* Tested the Morrison 'bring your container' promise and got plastic-free fish pie mix

Have a good day all!

That Morrison's offer sounds *excellent*!

You have a good day too

themadvix

Hey Karma,

Ditto re SBs - it makes such a difference to get a quick and easy survey. Must be bonus points collection day today, surely? *goes off to look* Nothing there yet

The Syrian guy is a chef, but working fixing vehicles.... the mind boggles, but the food should be good! (Maybe he'll bring me a goody bag home ) I'm not really sure DH had a choice in the matter - the colleague's accent was so thick and he was speaking so fast that DH had agreed to it before he knew what was going on. Tbh, he'd rather come home I think as he's been working so much recently, but this guy has been bugging him about dinner for a while, so I think it'll be good to go. I really feel for him and his wife - it must be so difficult to just have to up and leave (and he was here for some time without her too). I can't imagine what it must be like.

Crumpets

Hi vix,

I keep meaning to take a container to Morrisons but keep forgetting *sigh* I only buy sausages and salmon for the children once every few weeks but it would be nice to get it without packaging! I need to keep some tubs with my shopping bags. It's great the they offer the service though :T

Fingers crossed for a goody bag from the Syrian chef

themadvix

It was great Crumpets - no weird looks, no questions, no anxiety that they'd feel the need to wrap my food in random sheets of plastic - bliss! And there's a Morrisons in the town where the zero-waste shop is, so I'm already thinking about containers etc. (Morrisons offers 3 hours free parking too )

Crumpets

I wish we had a nearby zero waste shop! how do you find the prices there? We have a new farm shop opened that sells porridge oats, dried fruit and granola in your own container. It's quite pricey though, and I always buy oats in a cardboard box anyway...Will definitely take my containers shopping next week

themadvix

They're not bad. To be honest, I've been buying as plastic-free/organic as possible for a long time, so I stopped looking at prices (to some extent) as it just wasn't as important to me (should I be admitting this here?!). It's a new shop and they keep reducing prices as they get better deals on things, which is brilliant. Their organic porridge oats are now cheaper than I can get non-organic from the supermarket that DH works for even when they're on offer (frequently) and including staff discount. Rice is same price as Uncle Ben's (plastic free and expensive!) - it may have gone down in price too, but I didn't check. Tea is much pricier though, so I've stuck to loose PG, which, in fairness is almost plastic free (cardboard box with a dubious plastic/papery end on each end of thebox - no plastic film).

Crumpets

Thanks for the info, one has opened up in a nearby city that I visit once a month so I'll take a look next time I go. That's great that the prices aren't too bad :T Hopefully ours will be the same.

We use the pg tips loose tee too...it's as close as we can get plastic free locally

themadvix

*Creeps back in*

Whoops.... work and life have got in the way rather in the last two weeks.... anyway, big project now handed back, so hopefully a better work/life/moneysaving balance is to be had!

Thursday DH and I went up to London for the day - we had a voucher for a brewery tour in the evening, so we thought we'd make the most of it. In the end it was a very cheap day - train and Tube costs and then £2.90 of real money on lunch (Cafe Rouge, but meerkat movies and LVs from S&S combined ). We started with a cuppa and biscuits in the Virgin money lounge on Haymarket (free as we have VM credit cards) and then had a cuppa in Starbucks in the afternoon using the credit earned on SBs and we got 3 halves of beer each with our tour. We would have grabbed something to eat at the station in the evening, but there was a fast train about to depart, so we just had some cereal when we got in!

Saturday the Brownies and I visited the fire station and then had a pub lunch and then in the afternoon I met an old school friend for a cuppa and catch up (she lives on an island so we only see each other very rarely!). Yesterday I braved the rain briefly to go to the garden centre as they'd sent me another £5 no minimum spend voucher - bought some cabbage plants and some organic, wool-based slug repellant, which is supposed to be really good. In the afternoon I made mincemeat, which was surprisingly easy and smelt delicious! (Thanks Mary Berry!) It used some of the unopened bottle of rum we found lurking in the back of a kitchen cupboard when we moved in! It's good to have a use for it at last!

This morning, I have finally managed to do some surveys - they've just been being binned as I've not had time. I have managed to keep up with clicks/SBs/VB poll though as these provide a quick bit of light relief!

MS things:
* Food has largely been from stores - we have lots in and a vague meal plan, so shouldn't need to spend much
* Veg box cancelled this week as we still have plenty
* Very cheap day out in London (unintentionally!)
* No heating yet and it's not even been hard to keep to this

Gratitudes:
* Great day out in London
* That I don't work or live in London :rotfl:
* For a warm, dry house yesterday and today (and garage roof doesn't leak either!)
* For a gentle day yesterday

Right, I'll try to come back tomorrow (and have stuff to report!)!

try_harder

Good to see you back