The march to financial freedom

liltdiddylilt

Kale is amazing! Trendy as it may be, that does not detract from the fact that with a sprinkle of salt and nutmeg, it is delicious on its own just steamed, and SO full to the brim with vitamins, and calcium. In our house calcium is harder to come by, what with milk protein allergies so Kale is brilliant. Contains shedloads of Vit C too

I think supermarket walking can count as exercise heaven knows, some weeks it is the only exercise I seem to get :rotfl:

Ali-OK

Ald!'s a bit small for decent exercise with only 4 aisles :rotfl: but every little counts, I'll take that

The kale has gone down well and I think I prefer it to broccoli now which is our usual greens of choice.

Wasn't sure what to do with it, but Lilty your 'sprinkling' inspired an idea and we've just wolfed down what turned out to be a lovely dish, either that or I've got weird taste buds :rotfl:

Boiled the kale in small amount of water for a few mins until wilted, used that water (to keep the goodness) to soak into a packet of plain dry noodles, chopped and threw in the LO re-heated pork, chopped dried apricots and chopped walnuts. Mix up. Sprinkled the kale over the top - we went without a dressing to see what we thought and it was delicious as was, especially the apricot coming through. Yum yum A really cheap and quick but filling and healthy meal. :j

Have plenty left, so will try it a different way on Thursday (tomorrow I'm in London and late home so it's microwaved something :rotfl:)

I had a splurge in Sbugs this afternoon though and bought 2 lovely tops that will be great for work and casual for £21 plus a few Basics products to top up the stocks - blue loo equivalents, coffee and tumble dryer sheets for the towels. Spend was £23.80, plus had £2 off TU voucher - so £21.80. Used a 400 points bonus voucher, got an 8p a litre off fuel in return and the clothes money is technically from my Christmas money as haven't done anything with that other than bank it. £1.80 to add to food budget.

Financials:
- bank account checked. £200 went to the Reg Saver today, that's now at £2,600 and CC payment showing from yesterday :T
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar card is up at £25.48
- Inbox Pounds is up at £4.22
- Qmee still at 35p

Hope everyone is prepared for snow followed by rain and gales tomorrow - fingers crossd the trains will be running ok here.

Staying in tonight and getting on the exercise bike - aiming for 10 miles :eek: then tv whilst nibbling on the fresh mango.

supersaver1000

Thanks Ali, will check out the mango myself.

Love all the well thought out spending - great bargains.

Ali-OK

8 miles and 24 minutes on the bike- am shattered :rotfl: Can now have my treat of some fresh mango and put my feet up

Off to catch up on diaries.

liltdiddylilt

Mango is another amazing vitamin boost. So much better than an orange for VitC. When Jelly was a baby I fed her pureed mango everytime she started with the sniffles :rotfl:

Your dinner sounds lush! And I am rather jealous. I rarely get pork as when Him is not here I tend to go meat free, and when he is he doesn't like pork so even though it is one of the cheapest meats we never have it. Same with Roast chicken. Due to his parents inability to cook more than 4 different meals he won't eat spaghetti bolognese, roast chicken, pork (chops or joint) or fishcakes... :rotfl:

Well done on the bargains in Mr S. My local one has the best clothes bargains. I never buy anything full price as a few weeks later it goes on sale, and then they do a 25% off sale on top

P.S well done on the exercise... well deserved rest indeed. Does a mooch around town count as exercise? I barely got out of breath so no.. lol

AlexLK

Ali-OK wrote: »

But you're a fellow car enthusiast Alex so I remain in esteemed company

Always good to plan ahead. I have the half price napkins and table cloths for the "big Christmas lunch" stashed away too. All about keeping spends down.

I agree, I shall be discussing whether the fee can be waived given the laptop seems to be a similar issue and so soon since they fixed it.

Delighted you are very soon to be debt free - that's a magnificent achievement :T Just make sure you put a stamp on the envelope :rotfl: and no cancelling the cheque after!

I've given the exercise bike a miss today and have ended up eating lots of snacky things - Pringles, peanuts, few choc biscuits, bit of christmas cake, few chocs :eek: Must keep a saying in mind I heard recently Finger pickers wear big knickers :rotfl:

Thanks, Ali.


Definitely put a stamp on the envelope (Recorded, actually ) and certainly no cancelling of the cheque. :rotfl:



There's planning ahead (as in a week or two) and having your Christmas shopping done by January.


I hadn't realised you were sat in your sitting room cycling, Ali. I thought you were doing miles out and about! On the subject of that I've still got to teach my son how to ride the bike he got for Christmas.

Ali-OK

Afternoon Diary,

Apologies for neglecting my fellow MSErs and diaries - been a busy time with a very late night last night - train journey back from the capital was delayed due to a person being hit by a train and an early start again today. But I've given myself an early finish today too to keep the equilibrium and maybe one tomorrow - after all it's Friday and work is steady and I'm on top of it.

Well done Alex on that cheque and congratulations on debt freedom :T:T

So, what's new....

- saw GP who confirmed my referral to King's went off. Renewed my HRT and weight checked (I've gained 2lbs since November :eek: but then I'm only 8st ish/52 kgs with it - but it's all on the hips :eek:). Blood pressure 109/68 - so that's all good. Still feeling pretty well aside from skull and ear are giving my head a 'tight' feeling.

- Keeping up healthy eating with the higher fruit intake and munching through the kale . Tonight I'm cooking those little pasta tubes, mixing in salmon (which has chilli lime and ginger on it) and more kale :rotfl: Another fresh mango to chop and nibble on.

- Missed the exercise bike yesterday - yes Alex, can't be dealing with dodging traffic, cold weather and mostly I don't own a proper bike anymore :rotfl:. Like doing it indoors though . Should get some miles in tonight.

Financials:
- bank account checked
- freepostcodelottery checked
- Nectar card up at £28.07
- Inbox Pounds up at £4.30
- P!necone - completely the preliminary surveys so fingers crossed will get some £3 ones to do soon

Think that's all there is to report. I've got to soon book an appointment for doglet No.2's boosters (for early Feb) and the 12 month deal for gas finishes in March so will be looking at that next month.

Hope everyone is safe in these high winds and bad weather. We've had nothing apart from a windy day today - no heavy rain or snow much to DS's annoyance as he lives in hope of school closures and getting a day off :rotfl:

AlexLK

Thank you, Ali.


As for the cycling, I can't imagine it's all that fun around your part of the world. It's nice here but hard work (lots of hills). My wife wants to get out of the cycling with our son by riding her motorbike slowly, :rotfl: I've told her she can forget that.


Your dinner sounds nice.


We've had high winds and snow (not enough to settle though).

Ali-OK

:eek: at Mrs K's idea for cycling with Little K. We're on the edge of rural and some picturesque villages to cycle through, no big hills mostly (apart from the one I live at the bottom of :rotfl:).

Dinner was very tasty, though if the salmon hadn't had the kick from the chilli and lime, the kale would have overpowered it - it's quite a meaty flavour for a delicate fish. I added some lemon juice and light mayo as a dressing and it was great. Enough left over to have for my lunch tomorrow too.

Got some duck strips from the freezer defrosting for tomorrow night so am thinking cous cous, kale, duck, mushrooms and probably apricots again - need to come up with a dressing for it - or shake a bit of whatever is left in a bottle in the fridge over it :rotfl:. Quite enjoying experimenting, usually I'm a fairly boring meat and 3 veg type of cook

I've just watched W@tchdog with Jack from 'A Girl Called Jack' - how to save £1,000 - why has it taken 9 years for all the pointers we know and so many came from MSE back in the early 2000s to get to the tv? It is frustrating, or perhaps the BBC didn't think joe public would need or want such information. :mad:

Quick cuppa and must get on the exercise bike - time is running away tonight :eek:

AlexLK

My son and I would soon catch my wife up when the bike has broken down as it inevitably does. Her fault for buying a BSA because apparently a Triumph is "obvious"?? Silly girl.


Your dinner sounds delicious, as does your plan for tomorrow.


As we don't have a TV, what were the MSE pointers?