2015 - the penultimate year!

cazmanian_minx

Oh good grief! Most of my clothes come from eBay! (Best bargain to date, a pair of Joules jeans and two Abercrombie & Fitch tops, all from the same seller, at their starting auction price of 99p each - I don't think she was very happy...)

DebtFree2012

I was talking to DH about it last night and it just amazes me the crazy ideas people have. Also I've just seen on the news the b0mbing in Bru$$els airport. I use that when I go for work and it's awful to be so close but thankfully so far, really scary. Another reason why I "do" people less and less!


Right I am off to check my accounts and see if I have any info on the bonus amount yet!


Today I must get the next 2/3 weeks menu plan noted and ordered online for them coming on Thursday.


I could also do with a pair of knee length type short things.....maybe I will find those on eBay too!

DebtFree2012

Right bonus numbers are in and it turns out last year I got a record amount, which I didn't know, and this year I have a normal amount! It's around what I thought it would be when using 'brag a lots' figures however after tax etc it's leaving me around £300 under what I got last year. In turn that means I am apx £1300 short for paying family back.
Oh well, it's not like I've not been here and managed through this before! After all I am grateful I even got a bonus


In other news, I have lots of strong looking seeds, which I hope last night's frost didn't kill off and the veg plot is looking tidier by the week. Lots of happy days in DF land.

Cwtchie

When I go shopping, my first port of call is charity shops! My rugs are tied together with baling twine, my current feed buckets are £1.99 each in HB thin rubber but they are well used and trod on all night, still looking exactly as DD bought them three months on . I don't feel like I've achieved unless I got a bargain.
Hope you are settling in well and are well prepared for a summer of fence repairs, poo picking, hay stashing and generally battening down the hatches for next winter. Don't forget to pick the blackberries and enjoy the long evenings just staring at your fields, thinking wow is this really mine!?

DebtFree2012

That is excellent advice Cwtchie, thank you. I couldn't be happier there.


Back into the land of the workers today, just one day before the weekend, I can handle that. I need to check accounts and see what's what and move money from the housekeeping to the farm account and so on as it's all a bit muddled up with being off.


I am sat in the office thinking how different life at home is and how much I love it. I can ever so slightly smell the stockholm tar left on my hands, despite being washed multiple times and under this light can notice how much they need moisturising. Speaking of which I have ran out of cream for my face, I just used a cheap Nivea one however now I am wondering if I should give my skin a treat or not, it isn't getting younger after all.


Any recommendations on moisturisers, face ones?

sugarcube84

The ald1 ones are good, I like the serums for a light moisturiser, my dh uses the rich night cream as his skin is dry and he likes it (even if it is a lady one!!)


https://www.aldi.co.uk/multi-intensive-serum---renew/p/002099013888102


https://www.aldi.co.uk/q10-anti-wrinkle-night-cream/p/045573003554400

DebtFree2012

Thank you - I think I will be heading to Ald1 next weekend (I can use the kids Aveeno until then!) so I will have a look to see what they have.


It must be the day of contemplating as I am thinking about giving up the alcohol. I am increasingly aware that I seem to be having more and more to relax. Starting off a celebratory drinking with people visiting us in our new home has turned into 1 or 2 most nights. This obviously has an effect on the grocery budget too with £23 being spent over Easter.


I am not saying I won't drink full stop, ie if we go to a party or such, but maybe not in the house any more. (I am saying that with 2 bottles of wine sat in the pantry hmm.)

ScattySkewbald

Body shop hemp fac protector is amazing, especially when you're outdoors so much. It's been the only one that works for me. It's about £8 a tub (which lasts for ages - I probably only get through 4 a year max), but they've always got 40% off offers on line x

cazmanian_minx

I just slap on the thick layer of the old blue Nivea every morning - works a treat and cheap as chips (I use about two pots a year, total under £10).

DebtFree2012

Thanks for the replies. I have quite a combination skin and I don't treat it very well to be fair. I use soap to wash it (all be it a very mild one) and the last tube of Nivea i had was a lighter one so it didn't feel to heavy on my skin. I've been quite concious lately that I'm making less and less effort with how I look. I know we have so many more exciting things to be doing at home now with all the animals and so on, but really I should take time out to look a bit better every now and then.
I think I will do my eyebrows, some other girly things and maybe dig out the false tan that I used to spray on for special occasions. I need to get back into washing my haor more often (I sound terrible!) as it goes oily after a day so I basically tie it up every day and then just leave it until it's really too bad. So that's on the cards for tonight. Cream wise, I will pop to Bo0ts tomorrow lunch time as I will need to break the day up and that's the closest shop that sells that type of stuff. Or T£sco actually? Thanks again!


In grocery news, the 2 weeks delivery is going well, I think we will stick with that for a while. However I have noticed a few things on the back of all of this analysis! We grab food on the go when we're out. For example, we picked some animals up this weekend and it was 3 hours all in but we had to collect them over lunch so we had something to eat whilst we were out, costing £18 for the 4 of us. The next day we needed to do that same (I like to get all all travel chores out the way on one weekend) so I made some food and we took it with us. However DH was hungry later and had a few jobs to do when out, so he picked something up as there was nothing quick snack wise in the house.


I have realised I am no where near as good as I thought I would be at staying on top of the home cooking. I have always cooked most things from scracth but since moving I spend more time doing jobs outside and the cooking front has suffered. Therefore we're eating later on a night as I've not prepared it ahead of time or we've had take out as mentioned. I am not beating myself up about it but I'm starting to mentally list out the things that I'm not too good at, so that I can make an effort to stay on top. This list also includes washing, ironing and most importantly putting them away rather than leaving in a pile in the "owners" bedroom and then just using the pile.


So tonight there are 2 chicken breasts that need using up so I will pop that on when I go in (not yet decided what to do with them, the menu plan says something else!), then I will go out and do the jobs and when we come in tea should be ready, instead of putting tea on after jobs are done.


I've been giving some thought to my working hours too as I am struggling with some of the late finishes I do however I think for now I will keep them the same as the lighter nights are here and I can be out enjoying them before I start my 8pm 2 hour stint. Maybe I could quickly shower and change into PJ's before starting work, although working in PJ's may not be the basis for a good night's work .


Sorry, this is more of a brain dump than anything else, feel free to smile, nod and move on!


Debt wise, everything on track (had to be MSE a bit!).