Carrot cake in the oven

supersaver1000

Have listed an item on eBay for £5 over the weekend and it is already selling for over £7! Yay
Also had an email from phones4u and the rebate has been approved. It will be paid in the next......wait for it.......56 days. Flaming Norah. I've got another 6 claims to do over the life of the contract. Note to self: take the lower amount cash back next time.

Feeling chirpy today despite spending day in work. Only 3 days left b4 the weekend may be.

Hopefully have turned a little corner.

in_need_of_direction

Baby steps, the only way to go. Well done

supersaver1000

Feeling ok but not great. My get up and go has definitely gone somewhere. Not sure if I'm coming down with DHs cold, my bad back or my cr!!!py job. (Or all 3). Plus keep going very 'hot'. I think I need to avoid alcohol and coffee, not that I drink loads but even a little seems to have an effect. I'm also starting to think that stress can't help either. Had my second visit to the osteopath which was great, then I twisted around in the car and almost went back to square one. Ouch! Trying to take care at moment and I have another osteopath session booked - I'll have spent £100 on appts then which is also ouch but not as painful as my back. I must start doing some free things to keep my back in shape - walking, running and exercising etc.

Good thing is that DH has been paid already and I made the month end without going over the £1000 free od limit. Was a little miffed to find a £5.50 interest charge on the account - of course that will be for last month. Oh well at least next month that will be saved. Which together with the cash back from the Santander account (about £10) means another £15 income this month for a loss of only a couple of quid interest on the ISA.

I also made £9.20 on an eBay item and should receive over £20 cash back on my phone contract this month. Annoying that I just as I am starting to feel very positive about becoming debt free, am now worried about my job/income. Although the increased salary is something to do with that. Ironic. Still fingers crossed.

I was just reading my old post about spending lots but this months wages will pay for those things and they were worth it. I also just found the receipt for the two cushions which I've hidden away. I want to re-cover my old cushions to match and get some new throws for the winter and then my sofas will look great. Something to look forward to. Plus I'm looking forward to more chair painting on bank hols and that's all paid for. Yayyyy, only one five day week and then a four day week!

So yesterday I went to Mr Ts and spent £109.58. However I also came away with a £7.20 off your next shop voucher. I printed off the Tesco discount vouchers from my cc account and bought quite a few things I wouldn't normally purchase, but will use, but that turned out to be very worth it as I think that's why I got the big voucher off my next spend. I wouldn't normally spend such a huge amount but I bought a second pork shoulder for the freezer. 30 cans of carlsberg for £16 (have hidden 26 cans so they will last for 6 weeks), 3 loaves, batteries, hair bands for school, a Hershey bar and pretzels for DD and a small bottle of brandy as a treat for DD. I wanted to buy 2 chickens for £8 but second week running only 1 on the shelf! I've still allowed another £50 a week for regular shopping this month which will be plenty. Especially as I have a week off booked soon. I must look again at Greying Pilgrim's thread for inspiration to spend far less than this.

I'm also getting inspired to start some training and will do that this afternoon after I've hoovered and dusted and had a second coffee (whoops!).

Feeling better after posting this, just helps to get it straight in my head.

supersaver1000

Planning to make these this week but will have to wait as will have to buy savers lemon curd when I buy some gf high juice in asda as am trying to have NSDs.

Originally posted by Shaz-mum-of-two.

Cut and pasted

"Moist Lemon Cake
Heres one of our family favourites i tend to doble up the amount and open freeze slices of the cake that way the teenager doesn't eat it all and i always have cake on hand for packed lunches last time i costed the recipe it was about 65p to make makes 8-10 slices

Ingredients

100g margarine
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 jar lemon curd(smartprice/value is fine )
1 level teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Grease a 2lb loaf tin

2. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together for about 5 minutes

3. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin level the top.

4. Bake for approximately 40 minutes until browned.

This cake gets moister the longer you leave it, if you can!!!

I have done a version using cocoa and marmalade as a chocolate orange cake too."

Apparently you can add sultanas and also mix icing sugar and lemon for top and icing sugar over.

supersaver1000

Been to MisterTs twice this week and it's only the 1st. DD wanted smoothie things and prawn stir fry. It ate into my budget but it's fruit and veg so I don't want to stop her.

Hopefully can go a bit easier for the rest of the month. I'd like to try some of A girl called Jacks recipes.

Oh well managed to get my two chickens for £8 so we are well set up for week

Zzzzzz

Divingmad

Hey Super,

Keep at it, you're doing great so far. That recipe for lemon cake looks lovely, I may have to give that a try for my work mates, will make a change from bread pudding (although it's mighty fine bread pudding, even if I must say so myself.)

I'm subscribing to your diary so that I can keep up and provide motivation (and the occasional kick in the pants if needed )

Look forward to hearing more of your journey,

TTFN

DM

supersaver1000

Thanks Diving Mad I need all the support I can get. Although I'm feeling very undermined at work, wondering whether I've bitten off more than I can chew, been deceived about the situation before I took the job etc. I am trying to focus on the positives the move has brought to me and trying to take the situation as a learning opportunity.

That said I am really miserable there. I feel really undermined by the bosses, have a couple of really vindictive miserable staff and am really not fussed about quite a bit of my day to day work especially as it's just not do-able in the hours. I am just so tired, not sleeping etc it's becoming more clear just typing this. I have another job in mind at the moment and will know about that by the end of May when I also have a weeks holiday. So I'm trying to put everything out of my mind, learn as much as I can, not take everything too seriously and just keep going until my holiday comes. Then I'll take another look at things. So only 15 more working days, then a break and then I'll review.

15 days to go :T

Which is also really good as at the end of June I'll be able to pay off my gas bill and be able to start the transfer to Dalligas and save a few more pennies and update my signature. July and August I am due a small windfall so can use that wisely (hopefully to reduce my debts, but we'll see how the job goes).

in_need_of_direction

At least there are still potential positives out there for you. Hang in there.

giblet1979

Really sorry to hear that things are so difficult at the moment hang in there - fingers crossed for the new job, and the lovely holiday will be here before you know it x

supersaver1000

Thank you Giblet, Diving Mad and INOD. I have been such a Miz lately but am slowly coming out of it, the support I'm receiving from MSE'ers is my lifeline. Thank you all.

I've not been fantastic with money lately but nor have I gone crazy. The debt is coming down by £700+ a month at the moment. I'd like to get that to a £1000 so need to try a little harder really.

However I have another osteopath appt this month which will help and a much needed hair appt so I really need to get motivated and sort out the food and social shopping budget. Week off from work/school will be great and I should save at least £20 on fuel from that. Looking forward to receiving my Girl Called Jack cooking book and meantime will keep up with Greying Pilgrims Frugal Living thread and the amazing meals.

I've also found out my old copy of 'Natural Highs' which aims to help 'increase your energy, sharpen your mind, improve your mood and beat stress'. I followed some of it a couple of years ago and I definitely felt loads better. Have to almost cut out coffee and limit tea to 2 cups a day! But I'll try anything. Someone on the threads was talking about sleeplessness (must be quite high amongst us MSEers) and this book recommends 5-HTP. Which I think is also a mood enhancer. All natural though I think.

Anyhow the things I am going to put into action from the book so far are:

Have 2 pints water as a minimum daily
This can include squash and I will buy more of the grapefruit high juice squash from Asda - delish and is has vitC - also good!
Take a multivitamin with Bs esp B5
Avoid sugar and stimulants
Only 2 cups of very weak tea allowed each day
Limit coffee to occasional treat
Have 3 servings of protein a day and combine them with carbs
Eat fish 3 times a week - I actually started blending sardines with lemon and mayo for my sandwich lunch - must find the recipe and start that again as also good for bones
Have a tablespoon of seeds each day - grind them up on porridge in the morning ( another thing I stopped from simple laziness)
Eat regularly and eat low GI foods

Also recommended: breathing exercises, Pilates, Exercise, meditation. aromatherapy - especially in bath oils, talk to someone - connect, put some music on, go outside and get some sunshine/fresh air.

Seems a lot but can be done quite MSE so I've no excuses. You can also try chromium 200mcg, Lecithin, Gingko Bilbao but I didn't last time as the above had a great effect. All common sense stuff really.

Apols for long post but I wanted to put this somewhere as a reminder and this seems like the best place.