Pay Off Before Lay Off!

Habibiboo

:wave:

Early post today as not sure how this evening will pan out! Think we're hoping to race the dogs out after tea whilst the sun still appears to be around. Hope everyone's had an OK Monday!

MFW actions:

* Squeezed, shuffled and tilly-tidied the accounts to the tune of £80 MOP, so AA day 17 / 100 = £ 480 / £ 2,000.

* Didn't achieve a NSD as I did an online shopping order but for £62 and in strict accordance with the menu plan for the month, as well as some winter stores extras (I'm trying to get a few each time I shop).
Also got my white wine vinegar at a bargainous price MWC, so all set for the crabs later in the week!
With an extra £10 a week for veg this should see us sticking to the £100 frugal food budget for the month. This week's meal plan for anyone who wants to play spot-the-garden glut, is:

Mon: Soup day = Cullen skink (except with smoked cod, not haddock as I had cod in the freezer)
Tues: Shepherdess pie; hot courgette and tomato salad; kale
Weds: Left over Shepherdess pie for me, Mr. Hbbb will be training and usually has beans on toast when he gets back
Thurs: Soup day = butterbean, carrot & kale soup
Fri: Chick pea curry (featuring kale and courgettes)
Sat: Fish pie; kale and courgettes
Sun: Lentil, courgette and cheese loaf, saute potatoes, kale

Grey Clouds:

Having a bit of a work crisis. Hmmm. Ponderment is the order of the day.

Silver Lining:

Working at the testing centre tomorrow with the visually impaired candidate again, I like doing that (although they haven't paid me for the last one yet)!

Daily Declutter:

15 in 15 into charity bag. Let's hope they pick it up this time! I won't count them out until gone so total still at 282 / 365.

Simple pleasures:

* Daft doggies. Gave them a treaty biscuit each today and they lined up at the back door, waiting patiently for me to open it, to take them outside in the sun to eat!
* Dozy Dora sat on my lap for 10 minutes up the hen house (multi-tasking as this was also ponderment time).
* Even though our hall is nowhere near finished yet (woodwork, floor, doors still to be done), I'm loving the light on it now that we've had a really sunny day. It's so much brighter, I wish I'd taken some before photos!

On that note, I hope you've all had sunshine in your day too!

Pushkin

Just wanted to say thank you - your post really cheered me up and made me think I need to be more positive as seem to be turning into a glass half empty person. We too have workmen in at the moment and I am stressed by the disruption when I should be focussing on the improvements we will see when they finish.


Anyway love the layout of your diary with the format for positive, sunny views of life!

tootallulah

Hiya HBBBO, sounds to me like you are doing brilliantly, hope the pondering brings forth good plans. I have an open fire in my living room, and a wood burner in the dining room, surely lighting a fire doesn't really count as heating? I lit one on Saturday - it was grey and horrible a fire was needed.

Sloe jam? I am off to Google.

Habibiboo

Pushkin wrote: »

Just wanted to say thank you - your post really cheered me up and made me think I need to be more positive as seem to be turning into a glass half empty person. We too have workmen in at the moment and I am stressed by the disruption when I should be focussing on the improvements we will see when they finish.


Anyway love the layout of your diary with the format for positive, sunny views of life!

:wave:

Thanks so much Pushkin, it's lovely to "meet" you!

I do agree though, having work meant in is a real trial (even when they're good, reliable ones) ... just keep in mind how great it will be when it's all done and the place is back to yourself to enjoy the lovely new changes!

Ours is a DIY effort and we're currently working up to asking my mum to have the dogs for a day one weekend soon so we can paint the floor ... it's a nightmare to do it when they're around!

Thanks for your comment about the diary. Although I'm basically a cheerful person I do get very anxious when it comes to all things money (and the reasons behind our need to be MF sooner rather than later) so I try to keep the positivity vibe a key part of this MFW venture, to stop me from getting too anxious about it all. And I do like sharing the simple things in life, so do feel free to join in, it's lovely to have you along! x

Habibiboo

tootallulah wrote: »

Hiya HBBBO, sounds to me like you are doing brilliantly, hope the pondering brings forth good plans. I have an open fire in my living room, and a wood burner in the dining room, surely lighting a fire doesn't really count as heating? I lit one on Saturday - it was grey and horrible a fire was needed.

Sloe jam? I am off to Google.

:wave:

Hi Toots! Hope things are Ok with you! Glad to hear the home fires are burning and nope I don't count it as heating, it's just a bit of warmth to save putting the heating on! :rotfl:

But on Saturday, really? I guess it's a lot colder oop north than darn sarf 'ere! Sometimes you just need that glow to cheer things up a bit.

You can always check the River Cottage link for sloe jam too! X

hanging_on_in_there...

Habibiboo wrote: »

:wave:

My mum doesn't want them for the boot sale either, she says she's still struggling to offload the last lot I have her! Hmmm, a sign of the times, has the world gone Kindle crazy do you think?

Hope all's well with you! x

It's been harder and harder to offload books for a long time now! Most are 'as new' so guess the charity shop will benefit! Though some of them have said they've enough to be going on with!

Been feeling under the weather for a couple of days...seems to be alot of it about up here! Just one of those things I Guess. Hope you are feeling ok now,

We are on a Damson wine making mission tomorrow. Got some gin brewing nicely and some lovely jam, but don't want to waste the last of them!

All the best to you and yours, and all on here
Bo xx

Habibiboo

hanging_on_in_there... wrote: »

It's been harder and harder to offload books for a long time now! Most are 'as new' so guess the charity shop will benefit! Though some of them have said they've enough to be going on with!

Been feeling under the weather for a couple of days...seems to be alot of it about up here! Just one of those things I Guess. Hope you are feeling ok now,

We are on a Damson wine making mission tomorrow. Got some gin brewing nicely and some lovely jam, but don't want to waste the last of them!

All the best to you and yours, and all on here
Bo xx

:wave:

Thanks Bo, I went to suss the damson tree in the little park near us today as I fancied getting a few more so I could step plums in brandy ready to make my Christmas pud next month, but the tree has now been picked clear! Will have to keep my eyes out for another!

Sorry you're feeling grot too, hope you'll get the chance to take things easy? X

Habibiboo

:wave:

I hope everyone is Ok ... I wrote an update last night that seems to have disappeared ... mind you, I was very tired at the time of writing so it could have vanished as a result of muppet action on my part!

In brief, what I covered ...

MFW actions:

* NSD
* More frugal fooding, including cupboard sorting. Think we are going to be on a pulses use up campaign for quite a while!

AA day 18 (as of yesterday) = £ 480 / £ 2,000

Grey clouds:

Leery, louty street drinkers with their dogs (who were all off leads yesterday) in little park when I popped the dogs across. This is really starting to spoil what was a pleasant work break dog walk. I try not to be intimidated, even if they do get lairy when I try to use the dog bin, but I also don't want to put my dogs in danger from theirs so end up walking the really long way round to avoid them (usually complete with a bag of poo which I have to hang on to until I can reach the poo bin at the park entrance).

Silver lining:

Work yesterday at testing centre was good, nice walk home in sunshine, then popped dogs out, achieved my 10,000 steps for the day.

Daily declutter:

Just a few things during cupboard sort, charity bag not yet picked up, pile of Mr Hbbb's papers recycled up to hen house so counting 3 although it was probably more, total of 285 / 365.

Simple pleasures:

* Robin has reappeared at back door (where do they go in the summer)?
* I bought two sale price shower curtains a couple of weeks ago and have now cut one down to act as a window curtain (bath is under window) as my old curtain was starting to get very drab (even though I wash it weekly). This one should last longer being waterproof and looks pretty OK ... in fact, I am ridiculously happy with my labours there!
* Dahlias ... in the garden means a house full of flowers all summer, without paying for costly bunches!

Right then, let's crack on and see what hump day brings ...!

apple_muncher

Hope your work crisis resolves. Did the ponderment produce any solutions?

Boo hiss to lairy louts (whispered from a distance to ensure they don't hear me!). Maybe they are the ones who picked the tree of all its fruit??

Are you sleeping any better now? Take care x

Alchemilla

Habi. Quiet word with the dog warden?

I thought sloes were supposed to be left on the bush until first frost?