NST: September: the Turtles go Wombling

Fmess

Evening all,


Thank you so much for your replies louise, apple, misstara, academia, syn and dolly.


Apple you made me burst out crying! Thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement and love, it really means a lot. I think I am still a little sad deep down as I was striving to be debt free by this December and after all the extra work, it could have been as early as October. But as you rightly say, the big increase in my debt has set me back. I need to learn to accept this, I know I made the right decision about splitting from my ex but its like a double hit financially, I have more debt and am now paying 100% of the bills and expenses.


Syn - Thank you for your advice. How do you keep your utility bills so low in the winter? I'm at around £30/35 a month in the summer. I'm hoping that, as you say, being on my own, there will be less usage this winter - one set of lights, one laptop, one tv etc. You are right, I have a big car for my dogs, however when I chose it, I picked a tiny engine to make it fuel efficient/cheap and to keep insurance and tax low. It means its slow when laden down with dogs and their stuff, but its fine when its just me, which is 90% of the time.


Today has been a good day - a walk with a good friend, her daughter and the dogs, lunch with my parents and an evening on the sofa. I need to remember how lucky I am to have these people and you turtles (and my animals) in my life. I collected loads of cooking apples from my parents' house and I have recycled an old tv unit that they had going to a charity shop. I currently have a sleek black glass one, but it isn't really me, and the new one is old and wooden with quirky handles.


Thank you again for your turtles, you are an amazing bunch

luckystarr

Hello everyone.

Hope you are all well.

Today has been a spend day and I have been very busy.
So I have had to pack all of mine an OH belongings that we put in the spare room at MIL house back into the garage as the house is too cluttered. Annoyed is an understatement I have a bit of OCD and the situation was stressing me, So I decided whilst they were out and OH was in bed to pack everything up and put it back in the garage. Feel better now it's done. I am really struggling to adjust at the minute. We are living in one room and I am really homesick.

I have been filling in an application and seem have lost all of my English skills as my spelling and grammar are awful does not bode well for my TA role does it !!.

apologies for the moaning post need to give my head a shake.

hugs to anyone that needs them.

Night all xx

The_Only_Girl

Fmess wrote: »

I keep toying with posting a soa as my budget is so tight at the moment, however I know the area that I could save the most money, my dogs, and I can't part with them, so then there doesn't seem any point.

Just re-read your post and I was just thinking. How about your mobile tariff? Are you on a contract? Is it about to end? I just finished my 24-month contract and decided not to upgrade. Since my phone still has plenty of life in it, I changed to sim only plan with minutes, Internet, etc allowance similar to my usual usage and I only pay £11/month instead of the previous £34.

apple_muncher

luckystarr - it must be so hard trying to live in just one room. Chin up and lots of hugs.

fmess - sending tissues your way x

Dinner tonight was a tin of tuna (in oil), spring onions, courgette, tin of tomatoes, mushrooms, cauli. All bunged in a pan on simmer for about 45 mins. Served with a dollop of pl yog on top. Yum!

Fmess

The_Only_Girl wrote: »

Just re-read your post and I was just thinking. How about your mobile tariff? Are you on a contract? Is it about to end? I just finished my 24-month contract and decided not to upgrade. Since my phone still has plenty of life in it, I changed to sim only plan with minutes, Internet, etc allowance similar to my usual usage and I only pay £11/month instead of the previous £34.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will do an soa later in the week so hopefully you turtles can spot some areas for improvement. It doesn't end until July unfortunately but a sim only plan is my plan for when it does. The contract isn't too bad, £23.99 for unlimited everything. I'm not bothered about having the latest handset, but do like iPhones, so I went for one that had been out a while to get a better deal.

Fmess

apple_muncher wrote: »

luckystarr - it must be so hard trying to live in just one room. Chin up and lots of hugs.

fmess - sending tissues your way x

Dinner tonight was a tin of tuna (in oil), spring onions, courgette, tin of tomatoes, mushrooms, cauli. All bunged in a pan on simmer for about 45 mins. Served with a dollop of pl yog on top. Yum!

Thank you! You are very a very creative chef!

I had burgers from the freezer (I keep some in stock in the summer in case I go to a BBQ), sweet potato wedges and salad, with blackberry and apple crumble for pudding

Hugs luckystarr, that does sound like such a tough situation to be in and being in one room is obviously going to be testing.

The_Only_Girl

Since we are on the subject of meals and recipes, can you suggest a nice yummy recipe for courgettes? I have about 12 pcs of courgettes which I bought last week as per my brother's request for a vegetarian barbecue which never materialised because of the weather. I don't want them to go to waste so suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

The_Only_Girl

I did a bit of top up shopping this afternoon and spent £8. Not much YS goodies left as it was nearly closing time when I got there but I managed to get £2.70 cash back on my hubby's shopitize account, £0.50 on mine and 8p on clicksnap. £3.28 cash back from £8 shopping is not bad. I wombled some receipts but yielded nothing on the APG. Better luck next time.

apple_muncher

Courgettes, eh? Hmmm.

Grated with lemon juice and sultanas.

Or cut in half, brush with oil, put in a baking tray and cover with a mix of mince + whatever you want to mix the mince with (spices, herbs, other veghies), and bake on gas 5 ish for 30mins ish.

Or chop them up and freeze for another day.

Bobarella

Hi TOG
I do courgette ribbons as one of our house salads at work whilst they are in season. You need to slice them horizontally using a veg peeler so they come out like tagliatelle. If you dress them with lemon,chilli flakes and something light like olive oil or balsamic a tiny amount they make a delicious salad. Go great with home made hummus.

Or what about courgette and mint soup? That is lovely and light. Super easy too. Just need garlic, mint, potato and onion.

Or do you like ratatouille? Aubergines and tomatoes are both cheap at the moment so you can have a wonderful filling veg stew for pennies. Do you have rosemary in your garden? That is a key ingredient. Ratatouille lends itself well to batch cooking as well, makes a great topping for jacket potato or as a main dish in its own right.

Courgette also goes into chocolate cake well and makes it less sinful

Bob