2015 - the penultimate year!

DebtFree2012

I love it I wish I didn't have to work so I could spend longer there! xx

DebtFree2012

Happy Wednesday


The weather here has been awful. Last night the wind was SO loud. I think the new place is a lot more open and exposed than we've had before so I am just getting used to it. I couldn't decide if it was a normal noise for a windy night or not. Everything was still standing this morning so I am guessing it was normal!


Tonight I am going to go through DD's room. Her clothes need organising and some ironing (I don't do ironing, but these are terribly creased from being stored). We will get her books organised and hoover through.


Tea is shepherd's pie with frozen veg so I will report back to say what it's like. If I can, I want to make a couple of small ones for the freezer to give the kids at laster dates.


Also I'd like to get some more seeds sown and my journal updated.


Today I have work to do, menu plan to finalise for the 2 week master plan and a budget to check.


I do love this new lifestyle, I feel so lucky. It takes me away from the turmoil of the modern world for a while in our own little space. In work tomorrow then off with kids on Friday

crunch_time

Lovely. Yes let us know how frozen veg went xx

DebtFree2012

I have ordered a tesco shop which comes to £218. That sounds like a lot but what I've ended up doing is ordering enough to last us 4 weeks for most items and a lot of them will last us longer than the month but I am still stocking up. This won't be arriving until end Feb on pay day.

What I am finding difficult is the mental swap from shopping as I need it, like I used to, to planning ahead and ordering in. I used to think I didn't spend much in Aldi but I literally had enough for the next few days and nothing extra. I don't have enough time to easily go to Aldi every week at the moment so this is going to help in the long run as it means more time at home when I'm not working and less fuel to pay for. Any tips from anyone who shops fortnightly or monthly?

So I have a 2 week menu plan which I have shopped for, plus the usual requirements. Then I can monitor when they run out compared to when I planned for them to run out. Some of the items, for example ground ginger, will last months but has to be bought once. There's quite a few of those on this shop.

Also as I said before, I refuse to scrimp on food when we don't need to. Frugal and organised, yes, but not unhealthy and/or processed as that's what I am moving away from in this new lifestyle.


I haven't included wine or my Aldi baileys though. I'm doing battle with that thought.


Also, I'm going to work out how much I spend on fruit/veg every month and compare to how much I spent on seeds for the same fruit and veg (where possible) when I manage to grow them (PMA!) and have no spend F&V days.

Cwtchie

Go you! Great ideas! 😀

DebtFree2012

Thanks


Happy Monday. Right so a few things to get sorted. I need to finalise the 2 week plan. It's almost done.
I need to start revising for my exam which my head is not wanting to do (not a good combination) and then I need to discuss the coming year with my boss, what exactly do they want me to be doing as it's all still up in the air. For now, I won't complain as I have plenty on at home and don't need the stress but in the next week or 2, I need to get it sorted.
Money wise, everything is on track as best it can be however I have a vet bill (annual boosters) and an old "get out of contract" bill from the other house to pay which I've put off for as long as I can but it's around £150 so not cheap. Robbing ********. So they both need paying with this month's pay, plus we need a new hay order and bedding. Now the bedding I won't need as much this order as last month was getting set up. Hay though I will order the same again, big bales and they are very good hay. Although maybe too good as little welshy is possible a bit footy. Farrier said looks ok but would be a few weeks before anything showed in feet if he's just starting now. I need to look into the whole laminitis thing again and will get him tested for cushings I think. Also might look at happy hoof type feed, though he's only ever been on hay so maybe need to get a lesser quality hay or just soak the stuff we have.


Anyway, what a lovely weekend, seeds are in, more to go in, animals are doing well, no spends from me and generally just enjoyed life.
I've check my accounts and as long as no more spends for this week, all is well.

Baldybear

Hello,

Glad to see you are settling in well, saw your note on my diary about fields and thought best to reply here.

We have limited grazing (e.g. very small fields lol) and at the moment have 3 big horses and little pony in the field. Its not big, full of poo (cos no one does it apart from me but thats another story and I am clearing it by myself, think of the exercise I tell myself lol). We have daily turnout 365 days a year, out during the day and in at night. The grass is very short (quote non existent) but ok for now.

At the moment feed my hoss (15.3 cobxfrench trotter) half scoop hi-fi am and pm, handful nuts (economy cheap ones) in evening and couple of handfuls in the morning. She also has approx 3 sections of hay in the evening. She is coming in hungry at the moment as the grass isnt growing, so give her at weekends about half section hay in the morning to "top her up" but dont do that during the day as dont have time (bar frosty days where chuck some out for all the hosses).

In an ideal world I think better for all horses to be out every day for grazing, general play and exercise as natural.

Not sure how much space you have but if you could rotate your fields every 6 months (or 3 even) then it does give the grazing a good chance and recovers well. Also keep on top of poo picking, not exciting but it does help again).

Whoa that turned into a long one but hope that helps Cazmanian minx may be able to offer some more advice too as she seems to keep her hossies out all the time

DebtFree2012

Thanks for the advice hun - very much appreciated. My only worry re 365 turn out is for the ponies prone to laminitis. We have one big field, I say big, big enough for ours but just the one. We have a smaller paddock that we're clearing which I'm hoping will grow back quite rough grass which would be better for lami pony however that's a 'wait and see'. We are definitely going to stay on top of poo picking and tbh it doesn't bother me at the moment as the dogs keep me company lol.


I agree re turn out though - my preference would be all day every day in ideal world too. Our ground is too wet at the moment for all day but they are getting a few hours at least every other day (horses, ponies are restictred ).

cazmanian_minx

What's your yard/outbuildings area like? Could you set up a track system around the buildings with hay and water areas all round it? That way they still get to wander around, your fields stay untrashed and lami-prone ponies have a controlled diet.

(My WhatsApp has stopped working after I tried to download the last update, so if you've sent me anything since Monday, I haven't got it )

DebtFree2012

I have WhatApp'd you actually caz, just about ulcers and nothing urgent. Picking brains etc.


Re the track system, we have kind of gone down this path. We can't do it textbook style but more our way. Hoping to get it sorted this weekend when work's done for the week.