Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Happy St David's Day to all in the Principality

Right, first of March and the weather is as calm as..... a lamb... *gulp*.........

On to MS matters.... The NSD counter has been reset. As we're back to a 31 day month, I'll keep it at 20 for my target. I was thinking just now, that there are at least 6 days, in every month, that require £'s to be spent, by Greying Towers. So if I can make the other 5 days at least LSD's and make sure that the money is being spent......mm, well, mindfully, then at least I'm doing the best I can. I have to say, irrespective of whether you are a billionaire or a church mouse, it is the 'frittering' spending that gets ya. Without a doubt.

We're off shopping to mrT et al just in a while. That will get all the bulky staples for this month 'bought'. We have a £3 off a £20 spend voucher for mrT. As you know, I use this when I can to 'buy' extra provisions for the food bank. However, Dear Reader, my total required expenditure for mrT stood at something like £11.84 this morning (until I realised I'd forgotten coffee - so add another £2.99 to that), and for the first time, I was in danger of spending more in Ald* than mrT.........

I'll take the voucher along with us, just in case I end up going on a spending *frenzy* (:p), but it's not looking likely that it will be used.

Well, i'd better do a quick check that UHT milk is still on the FB 'wanted' list and then shake a tail feather and get the shopping bags ready.

I'm not totally sure what dinner will be tonight. I have done the 'long' list - ie 31 days, but not allocated it over the month yet. Dare I start off the month with *pot luck*??? That's usually what I end up doing :rotfl:

Have a great day one and all, whatever you are doing. Particularly thinking of Pippi and her RG, kissjen and Karma this morning.

Thank you for stopping by and reading. I continue to greatly appreciate your support. THANK YOU

See y'all in a bit.

Greying

Cheery_Daff

I'm very impressed with your February achievements, so yes, do give yourself a big pat on the back! Those dumplings sound VERY tasty

Tis indeed the frittering that gets ya, and I'm also impressed with your NSD target. I spent a long time wondering if they were worth it, especially as I seem no good at them :rotfl: but if they stop you just buying ONE thing (that you won't bother to go back for tomorrow) then they must be! :j

in_need_of_direction

Very well done for feb.

Karmacat

:hello::hello::hello:

Definitely agree on the frittering - and in my case, its also "just in case" stuff

However, my brain is churning over about your £3 Mr T voucher :rotfl: sorry! Is it worth spending more in Mr T so that you use the voucher? £3 off £20 is.... um .... 15%, yes? So if things are only 5% more expensive in there, you're still profiting, by 10%? Is that right? Its probably too late for this one, of course, but I'm wondering if thats right as a principle ... it *sounds* right, but this stuff is often counterintuitive

Enough! Sorry yesterday was pants, but I hope you have a great day today :j:j

dreaming

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

: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.
Greying

Unfortunately the work is not completed as it rained heavily yesterday. The guy in charge said he would come back this morning but so far he hasn't appeared and I can't get hold of him on his mobile. Added to that there are a couple of bits I'm not overly happy with (but more aesthetics), and someone from down the road reckons they did a bad job on his brother's drive (why is it always after the event that these people speak to you?) so I'm even more worried today. They haven't had any money yet so I know they will turn up again but feel a bit deflated. Still, as my daughter is fond of saying "it is such a first world problem" so I will see what transpires when they do arrive.
Anyway your stew looks amazing. The dumplings really finish it off. My copy of Jack Monroe's book arrived yesterday so have spent a pleasant hour this morning over a cuppa leafing through it. I have to say that it is very well done and I'm certainly going to have a go at several of her recipes (that's not something I can say for the other recipe books on my shelf).
I am trying really hard to not "fritter" my money away, but it is hard sometimes. It is easy (well, fairly easy) to think that something is "just a couple of quid", and in the grand scheme of things that wouldn't be a problem - after all, when you have saved on your car/house insurance etc. by using this site it seems a fitting reward for the effort. It's just that those "couple of quids" start to add up if you give in to temptation too often. And as Karmacat demonstrated it can be difficult to get your head round the smaller savings with all the discounts/money off offers/coupons etc. (or it might just be me).

Right, well now I have probably depressed everyone (sorry) I am going to give myself a good talking to and cheer up. After all, the sun is shining

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up again :hello:

Right, I've my first coffee of the day in hand, so I thought I'd take a breather in between rushing round like a mad thing

Cheery and In need of direction - thank you for your kind comments and support. Mucho mucho appreciated, believe me

Karma - ay up! As ever, my dear thing - you have made me think - and that I thank you for You are right to point out the potential for 'spending more to save more'. And it is something that I haven't really given true consideration to. However, in this instance, I can (now) say that it wouldn't have worked in my favour - but I didn't know that before I set out to shop, so thank you again for mentioning it, because it is important to make sure all avenues are explored I have just done a 'random sample' of items, passata, celery and bread flour. The cost difference in mrT was; 25%, 14% and 12% dearer respectively - in comparison to Ald* and L*dl.

As it was, mrT got £14.30 of my money today. And I am annoyed with Ald* because their celery was unpriced on the shelf and turned out to be 20p dearer than it is showing on meesupermarket - so I am not a happy bunny. And you know what a palaver it is to complain in Ald* so we didn't..... However, taking into consideration the size of store differential, I would say that aldi was heaving in comparison to mrT.

I've printed off the post I made at the start of February, so that I can see how I've fared compared to what I intended to achieve!

So NSD's - as reported 17/20.

Charitable donation - I set out to donate £11 to CRUK and I sent the cheque off (and it has now been cashed ). In addition, all 'decluttering' donations have either gone to the CRUK shop this month or our local hospice shop. We have still to make a 'good karma' donation for DP's gratis glasses repair. I shall ask DP about his preferred beneficiary and get that sorted this week - I suspect CRUK/our hospice will be the likely recipients.

Five Firsts - this was to cook five new recipes in the month. I achieved 4 out of 5 - the last one was the meal I dispensed with because I was missing too many ingredients, and only had £1 of the food budget left. So, that recipe has gone onto March's planner and of the 4 new recipes I tried, 3 are keepers; parsnip risotto, Bengali butternut squash curry (thanks MWC ) and Pumpkin Goulash. However, 'baked eggs' will NEVER, EVER be made by me again.......... :rotfl:

'Freshers Fun' - this was the week of food from my veggie student cookbook. A harmless bit of fun. We had had a couple of the dishes before, a couple were new. The highlight was the cheese and tomato pizza - that was really tasty, very simple and very frugal (as it makes 8 pieces).

Bank £10 to the emergency fund - I achieved this :j And actually put £11 into the CU emergency fund this morning at the PO. It comprised £7 left out of the 'social' fund and £4 out of 'non-food' grocery. As you know, I spent all of the food budget - which was £69 for February (3 days less food and £3 normally allocated to the FB). i'm super chuffed that I had money left out of the 'booze' budget, as I bought some beer for us to have whilst watching the rugger, and in addition, I bought a bottle of wine, and some beer for March's matches against Italy and Wales respectively. I should point out that DP bought some beer with his own money - which was his choice. I think he spent in the region of £15 - but as it is not from my household budget, it is not included in the challenge. I'm hopeful that we will achieve another 'no-buying alcohol' month in March, as I'd like to earmark the money for our hols

So, I said I was :DCLEARLY BONKERS:D to set myself this challenge, but I think it is fair to say that I have achieved most of the challenges with some degree of completion However, if I had no choice, and had to live like this every month - I think it would be very, very difficult indeed.

March challenges are;

- 20 NSD's

- 2 new recipes cooked

- no buying alcohol month

Thank you if you have read this far! I'm sort of setting this down as a marker for myself as much as anything - to show myself what can be achieved when I set my mind to it

Right, off to update my CU siggie fig. Oh, and I've not yet drawn out March's emergency fund sum to put into the CU account, so hopefully the figure will go up again at least once this month

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

dreaming wrote: »

Right, well now I have probably depressed everyone (sorry) I am going to give myself a good talking to and cheer up. After all, the sun is shining

Now dreaming - don't you go thinking like that - you're good to have around on this thread - I appreciate your visits

And yes, I see your daughter's POV about 'first world' problems, but I also know and have experienced the stomach churning wrench when you wonder, 'have I done the right thing?' And let's face it, us humans love to big up the disaster element of a story - so a 'bad job on me brother's drive' is a subjective statement. And who is to say that his brother was the model client? The chap will return, and I'm hopeful that the job will end up looking splendid when they've finished off

Oh, that is ace that you think Jack's book has been well produced. Bravo to her and her publishing team :T One in the eye for all her detractors!

Enjoy the sunshine today - and keep coming back to us here - love to hear your news & views

Greying

beanielou

Do you not have the CU in your sig now?

little_sweetie

This is just a quick post as I need to retrieve DH from work soon but



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

[/QUOTE]

Oh, Greying, I think it was in 'Call The Midwife' where one of the nuns was trying to make the very same thing. My effort would be exactly like her first one! :rotfl::rotfl:

My copy of Jack's book arrived yesterday too and I love it. I am planning on trying several of her recipes this month.

PS your dinner last night was, once again, amazing GP

See you all again later....

kem10

I think you've done exceptionally well with your challenges!
I entirely agree about frittering away money - it is a habit I'm trying to break. Long term reward is better than short term gain....

Hope everyone has had a nice day... I did a bungee jump off a bridge with a voucher I got a couple of months ago