22 Foxhole East

Moneywhizz

Hi, thought I should say hello since I recommended your diary to thriftyish. I enjoy reading your diary but haven't commented because you are so on top of everything that I don't think I have had anything useful to add. I did say that you were quite inspirational and you really are. You have so many skills and I am sure you easily save your family the equivalent that you could make working outside of the home during school hours without the stress of balancing work and a busy home life. I will pop in from time to time now that I have made contact. 

crazy_cat_lady

Moneywhizz said:

Hi, thought I should say hello since I recommended your diary to thriftyish. I enjoy reading your diary but haven't commented because you are so on top of everything that I don't think I have had anything useful to add. I did say that you were quite inspirational and you really are. You have so many skills and I am sure you easily save your family the equivalent that you could make working outside of the home during school hours without the stress of balancing work and a busy home life. I will pop in from time to time now that I have made contact. 

This

apple_muncher

Moneywhizz - I have nothing useful to add either - but that doesn't stop me!

f0xh0les

oooh now I'm blushing and my ears are burning! 

Re the best time for  Y/S bargains - well,  round by us:

Mr Alidi reduce theirs for opening time at 8am, so on a normal school day I will drop the kids at the gate and head on over and hoover up the stuff, but they only reduce to half price.

Mr Lidli put out their £1.50 mixed fruit and veg boxes around 10.30-11.00 and two of those will feed us main meals for around 5 days (for £3!!) and fruit snacks, and fruit for baking, but you never have any idea what is going to be in there until you have a rootle about in them.

The Son of Morris are just plain odd and tend to reduce their fruit and veg at 3pm,their bread at 5pm and their baked savory goods and chilled items  around 6pm. 

Sainsbobs reduce throughout the day but 5pm is a good time to swoop in and nab a proper bargain

Mr T's reduce everything around 7pm, so you can do veg / chilled / bread all in one go, or on a Sunday from 2pm onwards.

I don't shop in Ar$eda since they got bought out by Walmart who are evil and I would not darken their door without an incendiary device.

Best place for loo roll is Farm F00ds - I swear my kids must eat the stuff.   They do a duck one and a kitten one. The kitten one lasts longer but  has not been on offer for a while, the duck one is a fair substitute and is on offer 4 x 18 rolls for £10  but you need a cupboard to store the stuff! It does us for around 5-6 weeks.

I don't know where in the country you are (will pop over in a bit) but if you have a Herr Ron or  Fult0ns F00ds they are brilliant and you can buy 'proper brands' for 1/4 the price in a 'proper' supermarket and once you leave the shop nobody knows you did not buy full price - I know people who would not set foot in the place.   They tend to be the ones complaining they have no money and how their kids only eat 'branded food's.

f0xh0les

Well I went out again this morning for a run and it was fine for the first 1km but the second one was very stop start - at the end I was running to one lamp post, walking  one lamp post/ running one.  Anyway, I was out of the house by 6.30am and home again 15 minutes later.   And for my efforts, I woke up 2lbs heavier   Who knows what tomorrow shall bring?

Anyway, did volunteering, will go back tonight, then hit the y/s at MR T's on the way home and try not to lock my keys in the boot this time. Then football.

Going to catch up on t'other pages.

Hazelnutty

Hey foxholes - I often run/walk when I'm getting back into running, or after I've been ill. It's a bone fide approach to training - you're doing grand!

crazy_cat_lady

Water retention for muscle recovery f0xh0les. Hydrate more, eat well and piddle it all out again in no time. I have awful cramps in the weirdest places from decorating (forearms, shins, flank) but I am a good 3 stone heavier than you and much less fit. And I'm trying very hard to diet.
I have a Herr L1dl in my town and have never, ever managed to get one of their £1.50 boxes. I don't go often but have never tried 1030 - supposed that they would be good to go for 8am. I know they are supposed to get taken off again at lunchtime for donating somewhere else.

yogavibes

Planning to run/walk is the best way to get into going out regularly without losing motivation.  Most people try to run too fast then get a bit fed up at not having got very far.  I used to live near Gr0by Road and would challenge myself to run/walk between two roundabouts about a mile apart.  Within a few weeks of doing that 3 times a week I could run over 2 miles at a comfortable pace.  And always remember, any run is better than no run. 

f0xh0les

Very true yogavibes, it does not matter how slow I go, I am still faster than if I were sat on a sofa.

CCL - Oh those crazy painting muscles!  I swear you don't use those muscles at any other time unless you are an Orangutan.   You would only have been a stone heavier than me when I started then.  It has taken me 6 months to get this far, but I am half way. I was absolutely livid when I weighed myself, honestly if there was an address to write to someone to complain, I would have used it and paid for postage!  

Went off to Mr T's shopping emporium after a very quiet f/bank session, got masses of ys veg and chilled stuff and a few things we buy regularly that were on special offer - which means supermarkets are doing offers again! Should not have to shop again until next Monday. If all the shops were to close for a fortnight, I think I could shop  from the cupboards easily and not feel deprived.  The freezer is rammed, the fridge is well stocked and I got some bits and bobs  on y/s that we usually buy  (gravy granules for 40p) when it is colder weather.  They can sit in the pantry until it is a rainy day and the kids want sausage and mash.  The only thing I don't have much of is  fruit - by not much I mean I only have about a kilo of berries in the freezer, 6 nectarines, a punnet of blackberries, a punnet of gooseberries and a punnet of grapes.  Come to think of it, I spoil my kids something rotten.   That is a perfectly acceptable low-level  background  amount of fruit. 

This week's  food, cleaning and toiletries bill has come to £63.79.  I have 8 different types of breakfast cereal and over 20 litres of soya milk. i can't decide if I am awesome or awful.

Baileys_Babe

In our house that wouldn't be much fruit either but we seem to have a fruit bat nit a son.
Before lockdown, he used to started to get on edge if the fresh fruit and vegetables were low, but after I talked to him about the empty shelves, limits on the quantities you could buy, the queues to get into the shops, his anxiety has calmed down or he is better at hiding it.

He, in  particular, is wishing our apple trees would ripen soon.