I have lost my OS ways, help!

tatabubbly

Hi all!! Me and OH are on full out spreadsheet mode here!! We heard a house is going for auction stupid cheap in his home housing estate and we are gonna try to see if we can stretch our budget to see if we can afford it!!

Caterina

Good luck with house auction tatabubbly!

ginnyknit

Doing well here, saved so much we have just booked budget 2 night break in Southport - ner enough for Oh to not be exhausted by the travel. Its beautiful Victorian hotel and we get a buffet evening meal the first night, breakfast both mornings and a bottle of wine in the room. Not the most exciting plce but we really need a break - planned for the end of October.

Made fab hm tomato soup today and using up leftovers this evening. Have successfully cut our electricity usage and am now waiting for £235 back from our provider.

All in all a really good September.

Caterina

Good morning,

Ginny I hope you will have a great time during your break. I reflected on your sentence "Not the most exciting place..." Thinking back of yesterday, talking to the two boys I look after, age 9 and 7. I told them of the wonderment I felt at seeing an otter in the river and dolphins in the sea during my recent trip to Scotland. They replied very excitedly about the seals they saw when they were in San Francisco, some other creature or the other when in Portugal, then they started telling me about how they are off to New Zealand for the month of December (fair enough, their father is from there).

They said all this very innocently, it was very sweet to hear their excited little voices. But it made me think, how will these children feel in their lives, if all their needs and stimulations of fun have been fed to such high standards? Will they still find beauty in a flowering tree in their London street, joy in a camping trip to the coast a few miles from home, marvel in a rainstorm in their local park?

As it happens, I know the family well and I think that the answer to the above questions is probably yes, because in spite of being rather well-off, they also do simple things, love the outdoors in the UK and don't live the grand life.

But there are so many children like these two, who are being bred to be high flyers and managers, fed high technology from infancy, whose parents only believe in more, who hothouse them to become "successful". The extracurricular activities these poor babies have thrown at them, the high expectations of masses of homework, will they be happy with a trip to Scotland, or Southport, or the Isle of Wight?

Just reflecting....

Anyway, here's the OS plan for the day:

Porridge for breakfast! Not made it for a long time because without a kitchen it was a bit messy, but really getting a craving for it now, with chopped nuts, cinnamon and a topping of HG rhubarb and gifted quince compote.

Packed lunch for DH then off to tai chi in the park, missed it yesterday because it was drizzly with rain.

Then buy silicone to finish the bath, as the one we had at home was dry. Finish bath including cleaning, then a bit more decluttering in readiness for the CS people to pick it up. I called them yesterday after emailing but was told that the person dealing with collection was off and will be in today. Will call again to get a firm date, hopefully.

Then after lunch some more time with the little boys, then tonight dinner out with a friend. It might go very frugal if she pays or not so frugal if I do, I don't remember if I have paid last time, we tend to take turns. Or just ok if we go 50/50.

Have a good OS day.

IrisViolet

Hello everyone.
Ginny well done you all sounds wonderful. Any tips on how you have brought your electricity usage down? Its definitely something I need to tackle!

Caterina sounds like you have been achieving lots, how excellent, hooe you enjoy your day and your evening out.


Im feeling very positive. Payday today (well hubbys payday but sane thing! ), ive prepared a spreadsheet and budget and feel veey organised and hopeful for the month ahead.
ive paid some bills this morning and had an online shop delivered. Ive been cooking for the freezer recently and will do some more today and tomorrow, absolutely loads in which feels fantastic so hoping to get through the next two weeks with only a little top up at Aldi.

now if only I could stop my 4 year olds tantrums life would be pretty easy!

Caterina

Good evening,

Update for the day:

Building works wise, a very expensive day, builder's daily wages plus purchase of very tall ladder (investment purchase, will pay itself in a couple of years).

Grocery wise, nil, so I am very pleased.

Budgets wise, entertainment budget has a £20 hole, had meal with friend but it had been on the cards well before I started again on my OS path.

Glad to be in bed, about to crash into sleep. Good night all x

IrisViolet

Good morning all.

I've been busy this morning cleaning, managed to do a wash and get it outside while its nice, done some banking and updated spreadsheets.

Lunch is chicken soup i had already made on monday, and im hoping to do some more cooking today.

Caterina sounds like you had a busy but lovely day yesterday.

Could do with doing a holland and barrett order later for some bits, trying to eat cleaner again, could do with some cacao and more coconut oil for raw baking, some nuts, and some spirulina for my smoothies, need vit D drops for kiddes too, but I really dont wnat to spend so im umming and ahhing about it!

I did get started on the xmas shopping yesterday so thats good, cutting down massively this year but feeling positive
Hope everyone is having a nice day

ailz95

IrisViolet wrote: »

Good morning all.

Could do with doing a holland and barrett order later for some bits, trying to eat cleaner again, could do with some cacao and more coconut oil for raw baking, some nuts, and some spirulina for my smoothies, need vit D drops for kiddes too, but I really dont wnat to spend so im umming and ahhing about it!

I did get started on the xmas shopping yesterday so thats good, cutting down massively this year but feeling positive
Hope everyone is having a nice day

Have you looked at prices online rather than H & B which I always find expensive. Ama*on are pretty good and e*bay may even have an H & B clearance. I put what I want in the search line and then see where I can buy it cheapest - including p&p of course. I've bought some good stuff from some odd places over the last couple of years.

Cheers
Ailz

IrisViolet

Thanks Ailz will do! I do use amzon a lot actually, I managed to get epsom salts and probiotics much cheaper there not long ago! H&B can be good value when they do the sales and i usually have a rewards voucher or two to use but ill have a good look first!

Caterina

Good afternoon all,

Hope your OS ways are making you feel happy and in control of your budgets.

Today I have started the October GC and am well happy, did a mahoosive shopping at W8Rose using the quick-check machine so I exceeded the planned £40 spend by 44p, but used a 2% cashback card so recouped it. And used a £10 off £40 spend voucher, bought a lot of stuff that was on offer, or YS (actually it should be RS because their reduced stickers are red!). We are stocked to the gills!

We will need a bit of fresh food now and then but I have enough for DH's packed lunches at least for this week, cheese for a good couple of weeks if we use it wisely, froze some of the milk and got DS's posh orange juices, even got a couple of YS pizzas that can be shared among the 3 of us.

I pondered whether to get flowers, I love fresh flowers in the house, but even YSd they are a dent on the budget. Should they be budgeted under entertainment? As I pondered and looked through the reduced bunches I noticed that there were a few cyclamen plants with stickers on them on a shelf. I got a lovely mid-sized one, in a very nice grey ceramic pot which matches my kitchen colours very well, for the grand total of £1.79! This is a great find because I love cyclamen and they keep flowering, so I won't have to buy cut flowers for several weeks, hopefully this plant will give us a lot of joy and cheerfulness for a long time. And I got it with the grocery budget as I had enough. Am happy!

Now that I am thinking in GC terms, I need to figure how to serve breakfast lunch and dinner for £3 each, leaving a £1 per day for extras, for a total of £300 for the month. October is a 31 day month but it will be ok because we have cat food for a couple of months at least and enough loo rolls, tinned tomatoes and dry goods to see us for a good few weeks.

Off to the allotment to see if we have any last cucumbers, they are so delicious, I shall grow more next year.

Then walk with DS to the guitar shop then if there is time I need to do a bit of tidying in the bedroom, then cook dinner.

Babysitting tonight until 8:45 then cinema (Orange Weds) with DH afterwards, if we are not too sleepy.

Have a good evening.