Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Ellidee

I thought you meant me GP !

Greying_Pilgrim

Ellidee wrote: »

I thought you meant me GP !

Aw Elli - i'm sorry. I thought the non-gardening parental, excitedly phoning with the latest 'hot-deal' at mrM was in stark contrast to how we normally find out about stuff - ie over the net In fact, they snagged a bag of the cheap tatties (£2 for 12.5kg) last week and had planned on ringing to let me know - but by the time they were exiting the store the tatties were all sold! Prolly coz everyone got on their smartphones to the MSE 'grabbit' board or 'food and groceries' thread

Nope Ellidee - you come under the 'brilliantly supportive, encouraging, remindery, cheerleadery, blog highlighting, all ages welcome, member of the gang'...... moniker Hope it suits :D


Greying x

Ellidee

Aww I wasn't fishing - honest ! :kisses3:

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Well, my first grateful of the day has to be that we haven't woken up to snow..... Bet all the kids around don't feel the same way :D:rotfl:

Well, i'm going to aim for my last NSD today - but I have to admit the milk is all but gone. Not sure that DP has yet got the notion of stretching. Having said that, perhaps it is all a bit silly???? But I find concentrating spending to as few a days as poss, has helped me to contain my budgets better.......Which is turn is filling the emergency fund, is contributing to the holiday fund, is contributing to charity........ Mmmmm, difficult.

Dinner this evening is best described as 'stew'. I'm going 'off-planner' again, but there is a reason for it, plus it will utilise the 'leftover' butternut squash (yes, the last half of the ald* offerings ) and the last 2 sweet potatoes.

Right, well, snap bags to actually pack up. Best get a wiggle on.

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. And I hope you all understand how much I value your input, your support and your humour. This diary is a great place to be, on so many levels. THANK YOU

See y'all later.

Greying

Cheery_Daff

No snow?? Where on earth are you GP?? I've barely seen a snowflake all winter!

Funny to think we're all scattered all over the place and having different weather Foggy here today!

Piquant_2

Pouring with rain here!

My parentals are always on to the bargains. Mum will queue outside Ald* before it opens if the bargain necessitates it. Very much so the thrifty seniors!

The soup looks lovely Greying. I like the swirly bit very much. I ought to get going too, double shift Friday - woohoo....

Karmacat

Piquant wrote: »

The soup looks lovely Greying. I like the swirly bit very much.

Thats what I thought :j it looks beautiful, Greying!

I love what you do with your NSDs - you *use* them, you bring consciousness to your daily life by considering what you're doing and why - I love it.

As to the weather ... bright sunshine here!

dreaming

Wow - that soup and flatbread picture looks great -and nothing wrong with a good old honest tea-towel.
I couldn't sleep last night for worrying about having the drive work done as it is a chunk of money. Silly really as I know I have the cash but now I don't work I can't replace savings as quickly as before. Still, March's meal plan is done and have started planning the garden for the year. What I really need is to persuade the 2 cats to get paper rounds or something as I think their food is as much (if not more) than mine.

little_sweetie

I know just what you mean, dreaming, 'cos I feel the same if we have to spend money on repairs and such. Although we have some savings, our current income is such that we can't actually save anything out of it despite tight budgeting After retirement, that seems to be the main problem it seems, and don't start me on the savings interest :mad: rates :rotfl::rotfl:

Well, i'm going to aim for my last NSD today - but I have to admit the milk is all but gone. Not sure that DP has yet got the notion of stretching. Having said that, perhaps it is all a bit silly???? But I find concentrating spending to as few a days as poss, has helped me to contain my budgets better.......Which
is turn is filling the emergency fund, is contributing to the holiday fund, is contributing to charity........ Mmmmm, difficult.

I don't think it silly at all, greying, it certainly helps the mind and budget if you focus on certain challenges and there is great satisfaction in achieving goals. Well done, I say! :T
Lunch today was homemade veg soup with the frozen bread plait from my baking 'trial'. Refreshed in a warm oven, it passed the test beautifully. Crusty outside soft inside...truly yummy!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

'nother 'funny ole day here...... so I'll draw a line under it

________________________________________________

I didn't achieve my nsd Milk is actually needed, so rather than ruin a nsd for £1 - I looked at March's shopping list/meal planner and bought some items from mrA as I was that side of the metropolis. The money will come out of the March budget - and I figure I've ended February on £0 (for the food budget) as my remaining 36p bought a pint and a squeeze of milk (from the larger carton )

So 17/20 NSD's in February. Far more than I would have attained if I wasn't counting. A little disappointing, but I've kept in budget - which, if you recall, was reduced this month anyway, so, on the whole - a win I think

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Where on earth are you GP?? !

'Round the bend' - clearly! :rotfl: I must be the only person in the uk that listens to met office forecasts and believes that if the weather map shows a big snowflake over the top of my house, that there is a chance that I'll wake up to the white stuff. Especially since there are amber warnings accompanying it for 'rush hour disruption'...... Anyone else have to apply factor 50 sun cream today??? :rotfl:

dreaming wrote: »

What I really need is to persuade the 2 cats to get paper rounds or something as I think their food is as much (if not more) than mine.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Oh dreaming - that paints such a picture! I too know what you mean about spending the money - even though you have saved up for the work. Is the driveway completed now? Are you pleased with the work? Oh, and I'm glad that you took the time to do your meal planning for March. I did mine 'in time' and it came in useful today, as I could take advantage of being near to one of the supermarkets to pick up some things on the list. If I'd not been prepared, the opportunity would have been lost.

Piq - Thank you Hope your double-shift is going swimmingly and you're not far off calling 'time gentlemen, purleasee'

Karma - yes, I think you are right and mindfulness is the direction I want to go in/have to go in if I'm to maintain a good, balanced life on a budget. But just occasionally, it seems a little trivial and small-minded to be counting nsd's. Thing is, for me, it is effective

little_sweetie - they'll be inviting you to present GBBO with Mary next season - move over Paul.... what was 'is name again?? :rotfl:Bravo on the super bread making :T Shall we all put our orders in now for a harvest loaf - you know, full sheaf of corn, with wildflowers and obligatory dormouse

Dinner this evening was indeed stew. The butternut squash and sweet potatoes were accompanied by carrots and haricot beans with some chopped up French beans added in for colour. Also, I made some 'Navajo dumplings' (Jaymee O's 'America' book) to go with. Picture here;



I like those dumplings. They are made with half flour and half cornmeal and have such a lovely taste and texture

A cheap eat and used up leftovers/store ingredients - nothing new bought A good meal to end February on I think


Today I am grateful for these three things;

that one person's actions didn't b*gger up my day - it's taken three people.......:rotfl:

that kissjen posted today

that I've achieved more this February than I am possibly giving myself credit for - perhaps I need to take the time to analyse the things that worked, they probably outweigh the things that didn't

Thank you so very much for popping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

Today hasn't been brill, but I've not had to resort to a glass of red - or anything else. I've enjoyed reading your lovely comments and hearing about your successes on this thread and on others. So all in all, a good day Wonder what March has in store for us all??

See y'all later.

Greying