Living on next to nought - is that the key?

beanielou

You must be a very very fast typist GP?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning :hello:

Just a quick post from me this morning.

Thank you Upsidedown Bear for your very kind and supportive post.

Beanie goodness - I wish I was a fast typist Technically I have been taught to type 2 handed, but I think any competent secretaries would have me thrown out of the typing pool in an instant Mind you, are there such things as typing pools in this day and age? What you are trying to say in a nice way is that I waffle on - a lot :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Oh, and it has just occurred to me, I get locked out of MSE a lot - I save this wiffle as I go along, rather than hit submit and loose it all. I learnt that the hard way

Right, up and at them today. I'll need to get to a s'market today otherwise we'll not have what is on the planner for dinner - not a good start to the month eh?

Thank you for popping in, commenting and generally being here. I do greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

7_week_wonder

Good morning!

First an apology for confusing Greying with a fish! That'll teach me to type whilst trying to do other things:o Mind you even that was an education - I never knew that Greylings were fish!

And second - well done Greying on saving 10% of your household budget! You might not think it is that much, but like you said - you've got yourself into the mindset and are trying various things. I reckon things will start to snowball and you *will* get that key fund knocked on the head (a bizarre mixed metaphor if every I had one). I, for one, am definitely looking forward to hearing more about your getting creative with your food, as I'm already getting plenty of inspiration from your recipes and meals!

I slightly went for glory last night and decided to try three new recipes at once. I don't think I'll try that again on a work night, we didn't end up eating until after 9pm! But on the plus side, I do have two rather nice cakes with me for our weekly cake club this afternoon.

Have a good day everyone.

Upsidedown_Bear

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Good morning!

First an apology for confusing Greying with a fish! That'll teach me to type whilst trying to do other things:o Mind you even that was an education - I never knew that Greylings were fish!
Have a good day everyone.

I thought greylings were birds :cool:

There was a character in the Inspector Morse books/TV series called Greyling and in my head I always read Greyling rather than Greying

7_week_wonder

Upsidedown_Bear wrote: »

I thought greylings were birds :cool:

There was a character in the Inspector Morse books/TV series called Greyling and in my head I always read Greyling rather than Greying

Reminds me of "A touch of Frost" where the superior officer is called "Mullet" and they discuss whether he is a Grey Mullet or a Red Mullet!

Pippilongstocking

Good morning all in greying towers.

I hope you're all well?

I think continuous coriander is certainly something to celebrate. And I'm bemused by Piq's cats preference for green basil. How cute.

As is a 10.5% saving is huge and good for the funds .

If you had a 10.5% pay rise you'd be pretty chuffed.

Well done!

I'm freezer surfing for most of the first three weeks of August until my charges return and would be most chuffed if I can save as much as you have last month! So I do hope the beans were happy to warm up for you!

I did laugh at typing pools those were the days.

Have a great weekend - are you doing anything fun?

I'm trying to stretch out the elderflower season and make some more cordial for my beloved.

Have a good un!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

I've had visitors, how nice.

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

If you had a 10.5% pay rise you'd be pretty chuffed.

I hadn't thought of it like that Pipster - Thank you

Mmmm, I think to be fair, the fish name is spelt 'Grayling', and I don't think it is that common - it is a UK fresh water fish though.

I never got into 'Frost' and have been having more success with 'Endeavour' than I ever did catching up with 'Morse'. Isn't the actor out of 'endeavour', Sean someone - in a new drama next week - with Rory Kinnear and I think it is the actress who was 'moaning myrtle' in the HP films, (but I could be mistaken about that).

Well. Today has been sweltering, that much I know. Still an all round good day.

Dinner this evening was a Madhur Jaffrey recipe which can be found on THIS website. Does anyone know if the website is the work of an MSE'er? The ingredients photo could of been my kitchen counter earlier - gotta love the value range I served it with rice, and added in some French green beans for extra crunch and interest.

I have done the supermarket run and I'm pleased to say that I have been able to buy some items to donate to our local foodbank. I have decided, that although cash is tight, there are always folk in a worse off situation than us. I decided that my '£3', far from being a 'forgone latte' would, instead, come back out of the 'Key' fund. I took the money that I saved by buying the alternative TV listing guide last month, which amounted to £3.38. In addition, I tweaked my shopping list and managed to have enough items on the list to have a £20 spend (£20.19 to be exact ), which meant that I could use a Mr T£2 off voucher that we would otherwise not of bothered with - since we rarely spend so much at Mr T's now. So I have bought £5.67 worth of goods to be donated to our local food bank. Those good at maths will notice a 29p discrepancy - well done. In truth, I couldn't resist grabbing a bottle of shower gel to add to the FB donation. It was 30p and actually, by purchasing a couple of 'own brand' Mr T items for myself, (shampoo and shower gel) I saved 30p on what I would of spent at H0me B*rgains. I've bought a total of 11 items, all of which were on our FB's 'most wanted' list. My selection is no where near as coherent as Jack Monroe's, but I'm hopeful that by sticking to the list, it will be no less useful.

I found 20p in 'roadkill' today too :j I thought the pennies had dried up in the heat, but was lucky today.

The renewal notice for one of the 'big' bills came in the post today Although I will hit the comparison sites and follow :money:guidance, I'm not so sure it can be lowered by a huge amount. And things are going to be sooooooo squeaky tight by the end of the month - but it's possible.....ish :rotfl: I'm keeping optimistic - DP is a bit down in the dumps about it all, but it's not the end of the world, so no use moping. Besides - we have lettuce to eat :D

Right, on that note, the 3 things I am grateful for today are;

'Cooking teachers' - I had the benefit of home ec. teaching in the curriculum at school, but actually really got into learning about cooking when I arrived at Uni. I'm grateful that I can cook, having learnt from other people, books, and latterly; the internet. I cannot imagine not being able to cook.

'money off coupons' - you can do more with them.

'a supportive DP' - who thinks a FB donation is a good idea - simply because I think it is a good idea.

Thank you all for stopping by, reading and commenting.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Just a quick note from me this morning, before I get 'up and at 'em'.

I'll drop the bags off at the food bank today, luckily they are open very convenient hours for donations - they must have some really devoted volunteers Perhaps I might get a better insight into other items that can be donated too - to work on for any future donation.

I've a few bits and pieces to pick up on the shopping list, so today will be a spend day.

We had thought about going out to an 'open garden' on Sunday. It's somewhere that really sounds interesting - think more 'good life' than pristine parks and gardens..... and has been on the calendar for months. But now that we know the size of one of the bills ahead of us, we're thinking about every penny - entrance fee and fuel costs to get there. I'm still torn, because of the 'not sack cloth and ashes' aspect - (which I heartily subscribe to btw ). We'll go and be happy with our choice, or not go and be happy with our choice. It'll work out I'm sure.

Thank you so much for stopping by, reading, perhaps commenting and for generally being here with me along the way. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Just a quick round up from me as I'm mid-preparation with dinner. The HM veggie lasagne is in the oven - hence why I'm on the computer where it is marginally cooler I've just hoiked the beetroot and chocolate (cocoa) buns out as they're cooked and are now cooling (? in this heat???). I'll put some new potatoes (last of the gifted ones) on just now and go and pick a 'mixed salad' as well (get me )

Well today was a 'spends' day, but I didn't buy anything that wasn't on the list. I also now automatically buy the slightly cheaper wine, so rather than add each £1 to the key fund, I'll add it all at the end. I only bought one bottle.

Oh, if anyone buys their eggs from Home Bargains - large, free range - they are 99p for 6 OR currently there is a special offer on 2 boxes for £1.80. Not half as good as having your own hens, but there you go.

Right, I think that is me for this evening.

The 3 things I am grateful for today are;

Volunteers - how many systems would grind to a halt without them?

'free food' - especially when it makes your HM lasagne (already made with bargaincious vegetables and value pasta sheets) look like something that you'd pay a fair whack for in a high street meditteranean style restaurant < smug smilie

'the invention of the egg-slicer' - I caved in and bought one* - for 85p from W*lkinsons. Now we can have chic, equitable and frugal boiled eggs adorning our food :rotfl:

Thank you for popping by, and reading. It is greatly appreciated.

Greying


* it had made it onto my list, so wasn't technically a splurge purchase

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:



This was dinner last night. I'm still not getting the food styling element right am I? (too eager to eat ). The lasagne was made from l*dl/Ald8 veg and value pasta sheets, the potatoes were gifted, the salad home grown, the beetroot was 1 of 2 left over from the cakes and the balsamic in the salad dressing (difficult to see) was from Appr Fds. All in all a pretty :money: meal, with 2 portions of lasagne put in the freezer for another day. :money:

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am awarding myself the 'turnip of the day' award. BoB if you are still reading - lob one over will you. I have run out of yoghurt starter, merrily munched my way through the last of the homemade for breakfast yesterday, and then went into H*ron F*ods to find they hadn't any natural yoghurt in stock. Doh! So adventures in yoghurt are temporarily suspended until I either get to a s'market or H foods have a new delivery. So stoopid

In other news, the parsley seed continues to confound me and has started to germinate. The warmer temperatures must of brought it into life, so we'll see what happens. The original pot has started to set true leaves (think that is what they are called).

We have decided not to go to the open garden tomorrow. Economists and ardent MSE'rs will know the concept of opportunity cost. Whilst it would be a lovely day out, and we could of kept costs low taking a picnic lunch to eat somewhere etc, it would of been a poor show if we couldn't of bought a plant that caught our eye, a clutch of eggs (there were chickens) or a cup of WI tea to aid the fundraising. Also, this is only 1 day out, we need to have money to pay a bill for something that we need 365 days of the year. Plus there is an outside chance - that if we could squeeze through this month, and the holiday place take the full amount of the caravan on arrival - rather than x weeks before - we may just still be able to go on holiday. That is a week of days out, not just 1. So there is my thinking. No sack cloth and ashes, and there is always the possibility that the garden will be open next year

Also, I have decided to put the £1 'saved' on wine into the 'key' fund. It will keep the fund ticking over and save me thinking that I have more in the budget than I, in fact, do.

Today should be a non-spend day.

Well, I'd better shuffle off and get the breakfast on the go.

Thank you for popping by and reading. It is appreciated.

Greying