Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Seasidegal58

I spoke my friend last night. My other friend said that she was very down when she spoke to her before the consultants appointment but when I called her she sounded a lot more positive. The consultant had arranged for her to meet a lady of a similar age who had had the operation and a voice box fitted some years ago. This lady had a very positive outlook - years after the op she she is teaching keep fit to elderly people, involves herself in local community groups and has a full social life. I think meeting her has had a very uplifting effect on my friend. Her conversation with me suggested that she had decided to go through with the operation. She was still worried about speaking and how she would sound, but I said she would still be the person we all love. I'm over the moon that she's turned the corner.

Today was a NSD for ad Hoc spends. Just £6.35 at the greengrocer from the Food/Household Budget

In addition today I started the Clean and Clutter Your House in 31 Days challenge that I put off in November because of the kitchen refit.

Day 1 was - do you normal daily cleaning routine, sort out your spice rack and do the laundry. I go through the flat cleaning wise on a Saturday anyway and I do keep up with the laundry. So I cleaned out the washing machine dispenser instead and gave it and the inside of the compartment a good scrub! Re the spices - I sorted these out before the kitchen refit, but after watching the Marie Kondo series on Netflix I decided to take her advice and I've put the spices in a box so I can pull it out of the cupboard and quickly find the jar I want. I used the bottom half of a square biscuit tin!:D

Seasidegal58

brizzlegirl wrote: »

All sounding good SSG, apart from your friend. Horrible. So cruel.

Your savings are looking very healthy.

I am looking at the Keto diet and more exercise next...something to regulate my sugar crashes would be good and I am sure much better for me. But all good with the LP plan at the moment, onwards and upwards

Have a great eve x

Thanks brizzle. One would pay £4.15 in Pret for a latte and a pain au raisin each morning - £20.75 per working week!:eek: I didn't buy them every day but I felt myself going down that slippery route again. And the porridge and fruit are so much healthier.

Re the sugar crashes - have you looked at Dr Michael Moseley Blood Sugar Diet? It's had lots of positive reviews.

milann

Good news your friend is a more positive- I’m guessing she’ll be up and down....

Seasidegal58

Hi milann - yes I expect my friend will have lots of ups and downs. I understand that she'll be in hospital three weeks and then there's the life adjustments afterwards. All her family and friends will be there for her though.

Today I picked up some some organic eggs (£2.09). In the Co-op the Whole Earth organic crunchy peant butter was on offer for £2 so I bought a jar.

Cleaning/organising ProjectC - today's tasks were clean out the fridge, sort out the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink and in the bedroom: dust the tops of dressers and side tables, change sheets and give the room a good wall to wall cleaning.

So I cleaned the fridge (it wasn't too bad) and I'd already sorted out under the kitchen sink after the refit. I think I will carry on with the Marie Kondo method of organising via boxes. I'll be on the look out for some cheap plastic boxes for this area as it will be easier to get to things in cupboards. Re the bedroom, I dusted yesterday and change my sheets on a Sunday anyway. I did manage to pull out the dressers and side tables out and vacuumed.

This evening I'm off to the cinema to see 'The Favourite'. When I get back will get things ready for work tomorrow and try and catch up with a few diaries.

redofromstart

I have a spice drawer which is great, apart from the tubs that don't have the name on the lid. It eventually occurrred to me that writing it on with a permanent marker was the solution. Also numbering which one to use if you have multiple jars of the same thing.

Seasidegal58

That's a good idea redo on the marking and numbering.

Got back from the cinema - really enjoyed the film although a great deal of historical license was taken I fear!

Have had my soup and roll, made lunch for tomorrow and will catch up with "Vera" then bed!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Glad you enjoyed the film. I love Vera too .

I must watch Marie Kondo as everyone seems to be talking about it and I do feel inspired to declutter once my cold goes.

Good luck with the diet. I always feel so much more energetic if I cut down on sugar and booze, they seem to make me feel really tired and lethargic when I have them.

Seasidegal58

Thanks Hairy. I enjoyed the Marie Kondo series. She can be a bit airy-fairy but her tidying ideas are sound.

Yesterday I spent £10 from the Entertainments budget. It was my colleague's birthday yesterday so a few of us females had a lunchtime drink with her at the wine bar.

Today my friend and I had our Monday lunchtime coffees today - £5.10 (Pret's put the coffee price up!). Also had to buy my Clinique toner - £28! I've tried swapping it for something cheaper but I always come back to it and it's a big bottle that lasts a while.

Re. The cleaning project - I totally failed yesterday as I was shattered when I got in from work so had dinner and an early night. So tonight's cleaning task was the freezer but this had been done before the kitchen refit. I also had to organise the odds and end drawer in the kitchen but again I had sorted this already! Finally the maintenance bit was the bathroom but I do flylady's swish and swipe each morning and had given it a going over at the weekend! So a nice and easy one today'!:D

milann

Is Marie Kondo on tv - sounds interesting. I’m not bad on my decuttering but I despair with my dh - I help him organise his ‘junk’ (hobby stuff) and I turn round and things just find their way back to where they were..... I honestly don’t know how 4 of us lived in this house before we had an extension - now there are only two of us with a dining room and bigger kitchen thanks to an extension - I have a room for my crafty stuff and dh has his man cave in children’s old bedrooms and we’re bursting at the seams...shows how expectations change - we never had cash or time for indulgent hobbies when we first moved in here.

Girlie drinks sound good, as does the pret coffees :beer:

Seasidegal58

Yes she has a series on Netflix milann – "Tidying with Marie Kondo." It's harder to de-clutter though if not everyone in the household is on board. I think some people don't see clutter – it's perfectly normal to them and they're quite happy! I was brought up in a small flat and then a small prefab – both had two bedrooms – my sister and I had one and my grandmother had the other - my parents slept on a sofa bed in the living room until my nan passed away. But we were never surrounded with clutter! People like us had less money to spend and, in general, there wasn't the extreme consumer culture then that there is now. The real consumer bingeing didn't get going till the 80s. When I got married in the early 70s our own home wasn't cluttered either – my OH and I didn't have much money and so never had lots of things whether we wanted them or not!

END OF SCRIMPY WEEK 3!

Budgeted Spends Today: Today I've spend £11.25 on Odeon two-for -one tickets – we're off to see "Stand and Ollie" on Sunday. Tonight I have my nail appointment (£24). I won't be buying anything else today.


Non-Budgeted Spends Today: Nil

So final Scores on the Doors for the week is £46.85 to be winged over to Ad Hoc Savings!:j

I've been researching the coffee pods – I think I'll go with Aldi as their pods are £10.12 for 60 pods! They have also come out top on a Which review of best tasting coffee pods. I mentioned this to DD last night and she said that I had actually been drinking them when I was staying with her and OH over New Year! I thought they were very nice! Can't pick any up till the weekend though.

I received some John Lewis and M&S vouchers as Christmas presents – I've been mulling over buying a pouffe type footstool for some time – I had a look on the JL website but everything I like is out of stock! There was nothing on the M&S website. I'm going to wait as JL will have new stock in for spring and I'd like to use my vouchers then.

Oh and I forgot - I lost 6lb when I weighed myself on Monday morning!:j