The Adventures of a Debt Defying Diva

RainbowBridgeReturns

Thanks for the encouragement and company INOD, I appreciate it.

January did seem to go on for ever and ever. Here's to a short, sweet and successful February.

RainbowBridgeReturns

I dropped DH off at the airport yesterday, as he is away on a course all week, then went and did my 12 shops. That has got my £7.00 a day challenge off to a flying start at £87.00/£210.00.

Other areas were not as organised. I broke into my £10.00 for a bag of sweets for me and a Yorkie bar for DS. last week I had made a batch of iced cup cakes which DS munched his way through, that saved on the sweet spends, so today I will make a lemon drizzle cake.

We have already run out of milk, so I think that I will need to buy 12 pints a week, at least, and stick another 4 pints in the freezer.

Today will, therefore, be a small spend day and then my purse will be firmly shut until Friday!

I plan on a body pump class tonight and my decluttering task is to finish sorting the store cupboard out and throw away any out of date items. I will use up anything that has been lurking, for a while, at the back of the cupboard, over the course of the month.

RainbowBridgeReturns

As part of the 'NSK 28 days Later challenge', I have agreed to sorting my cupboards out, one room at a time, starting with the kitchen.

I have finished the main storecupboard and the 'Armageddon' cupboard in the garage, and had to throw out 35 items that were severely out of date, one jar of the spice, mace, was dated 2003.

We have been tasked with using up all the stuff that has been skulking at the back of the cupboards, unloved and unappreciated.

Once I had thrown out all the out of date items (I can't understand, why I have never done this before?), I was just left with, 7 tins of potatoes, 4 tins of carrots, a tin of prunes and a bag of semolina, that qualified as unloved and unappreciated.

I managed to disguise four of the tins of potatoes and two of the tins of carrots, in my lamb dishes and soup over the weekend. Sliced tinned potatoes actually made a pleasant enough topping for the lamb hot-pot, though I covered them in tons of cheese and seasoning.

So I am off to have a look for a nice recipe that includes semolina. I can't imagine what possessed me to buy a bag of it, I always hated it at school. After that I will spend 30 minutes seeing what is skulking under the sink...........

in_need_of_direction

Is semolina really fine? If so, you can roll parboiled potatoes in it prior to roasting to up the crunchiness.

RainbowBridgeReturns

It is really fine. That sounds like a lovely idea. I will do some roast potatoes, that way, with my chicken at the weekend. Thanks INOD.

sassychick2014

Hi Rainbow!

How inspiring is your thread, so good to hear someone doing so well with both money and fitness.

Now that I've found you I've subscribed and will be keeping updated on how you're getting on.

RainbowBridgeReturns

Thanks Sassy, for your encouraging words. It will be lovely having your company too.

I had a faffy sort of day, Tuesday. I had been in the 'zone' for a couple of weeks, where exercising, eating well, and penny watching seemed to come easily, but I felt a bit flat and can't be ars*d instead.

I rebelled and ruined a perfectly good NSD, by buying juicy cakes for DS and I, from the bakery. This used to be a daily occurrence, but was studiously avoided throughout the whole of January in favour of home baking, which DS and DH actually prefer!

I still have £4.83 of my £10.00 though, which means that I have only spent £5.17 on top of my weekly shops, in 14 days, averaging only 0.37 p a day, which is incredible for me.

I went to another body pump class yesterday too, and have secured some more regular, mystery shopping, audit work, which will start in April, with paid training in March. If my blip was just a cake, I have decided to be very grateful for that, and put my best foot forward today.

I am beginning to recognise that my enthusiasm comes in waves and I just have to learn to surf them.

(P.S. I only tried surfing once, when a teenager in Wales, and I had to be rescued. My board caught a current that pulled me out to sea, and I couldn't get myself back to shore!!!! - must think of another metaphor)

sassychick2014

Morning Rainbow

The surfing story made me giggle!! I think if the only thing you've bought is cakes in 14 days you're doing brilliant!

Who do you do your mystery shopping with and what's an audit? I tried MS before but couldn't find anywhere that did anything near me so I either looked at the wrong places or live in the wrong place!

Hope today goes well for you! xx

RainbowBridgeReturns

Hi Sassy,

I have mystery shopped, sporadically, for about five years and average about £150.00 a month. The vast majority of the work comes from three companies, Grassr**ts, Assoc*a and ESA.

Cinema audits involve checking adverts and the regular audit work, that is starting in April, requires dressing up in a white coat and hat and checking cleanliness standards in a supermarket chain.

I spent all day with dear uncle and aunt yesterday, and I think that uncle only has a few days to live now. He was given one month in July, but has defied the odds. Now he is totally bed bound, catheterised and slipping in and out of consciousness.

I have said to dear aunt that I will stay from Friday night until Monday morning, so I am going to need to be super organised and focused to keep on top of things. I will be picking up DH from the airport Friday evening and heading straight off, such is life.

So I have a sheet of paper in front of me and I am off to make a another plan ........

sassychick2014

Morning hon

So sorry to hear about your uncle but he's clearly defied the odds if he's still here nearly 6 months later. Sending you a big hug.

I think I'm going to take a look at the mystery shopper sites you've mentioned and see if there's anything around here. I've always wanted to do them since I worked for a pub chain that had regular mystery shoppers. I usually spotted them a mile away so it'd be nice to see if I could do it unnoticed!

Good luck with your plan! x