NST October Finding Your Inner ferret

greent

Catching up since Thurs eve:

Spent Thurs/ Fri and today - and will spend tomorrow! Thurs went out to pub with friends (monthly thing) and spent less than £5 so have carried forward the rest of that budget (£10). We were meant to be going to club for part of OH's bday last night but changed our minds, saving us £25 entry and petrol (120 miles return trip!) - instead we spent on a celebratory takeaway £25 for 5 of us and some left for DS1 tonight - child no 3 passed the grammar school entrance test and came in the top 150 (don't know actual rank) Over 2500 took the test - so we're very proud of him! We didn't get a tutor for it, just did 4 practice papers at home and that was it, so it was very much on his own merit. He was very laid back about it all - which is typical! The money spent on the takeaway was still within entertainment budget as it was instead of the night out.

Food spending - will update my sig shortly - have receipts next to me

Lunches - still things like HM soup/ leftovers.

Travel - journeys are being combined and we have saved by not doing 120 mile round trip last night!

Healthy eating - has generally been going well and have been achieving/ over achieving 5/ day and have been eating less sweet things. OH baked a cake yesterday (first time ever!) so that was consumed - and we had the takeaway - so yesterday was a bit of a fail!!

Food bank donation - finished getting it ready for Harvest this morning - includes 10 toothbrushes and 2 shower gels, along with several items of longlife food.

Exercise - didn't meet 10k steps yesterday. Avg so far for month is still (just) over 10k/ day, I think....

Have a lovely weekend everyone

xx

mothernerd

Week 2 Mini Challenge (don't worry if you are still working on 1, so am I)

Love the smell of Potting Compost?
The feel of it running through your hands. It's your inner ferret longing to dig.

This week is meant to be a fairly gentle challenge. Do as much or as little as you want.

You still have time to plant bulbs for indoor flowering in time for Christmas, either for yourself or as a gift. You will have to buy specially prepared bulbs. Not sure if it is worth it in cost terms. I have had more success with narcissi than with hyacinth (although once forget to check the cupboard and they were two feet tall. I plant them in a bowl (no need to buy special compost if you have normal in the shed) and put paper round them to make a tall collar (so the bulbs grow straight up towards the light) and put them in a cupboard or under the stairs.

You can just plant ordinary ones in a bowl and have indoor flowers in February or March when it is still dull and grey. Or make up a bowl/ planter to go outside your door, you can plant bulbs underneath and winter heather/ pansies on top so it will last for the next six months or more.

I am going to sow some marrowfat peas in a box (the ones you buy mushrooms in at the supermarket) to have pea shoots to add to my winter salads. may try lettuce (needs 20degrees to germinate) and a few herbs, spring onions and radish. Will also buy small lavender plants and some cyclamen for my Christmas windowsill. By buying early I can get more small plants for my money and grow them on myself (will be planted outside later on)

Easiest of all spend some time planning next year's garden, looking through seed and plant catalogues, making note of what you already have and reading up on pest control (preparation again). Companion planting is helpful and if you are short on space, square foot gardening is worth investigating.

Some community groups will be holding hanging basket and wreath making sessions (our town centre one gives a voucher for free plants). If it's something you would like to do, check now as sometimes places get booked up quickly.

If you don't do plants of any kind, think of something else that will remind you in the coming months that warmth and light will return (candles maybe).

I would like you all to get in touch with your playful side this week. Get outside and do something childlike or arty - jump in the leaves or shuffle thorugh like a train, splash in puddles, sit in the sunshine, look at the sky through the trees, gather some natural materiels for crafting. This morning I have gathered handfuls of red leaves to make 'poinsettia' pictures or cards at craft group - if everyone wants to do one, I will have to go back with a shovel and a sieve. When I can get to the woods or the canal bank, I will get some nuts and willow and look around for other bits.

Have fun - for free.

mothernerd

Not feeling great, mum has passed on her ailments and I had to go down for cough medicine last night. Woke with the alarm as I wanted to collect a parcel for DS1 from the sorting office. Dragged on my clothes and made it there - wobbly and slow but longest walk for a while. Collected some red leaves on the way.

P.O. wouldn't accept paper ID (DS3's bank statement) so sat at bus stop to drink my drink and ponder. Decided against bus home/ back and home again. Took bus to town centre and did shopping 'bits' - spread over several shops.

Spent loads, mostly planned, including shelf bracket, wallpaper samples (for crafts), paracetemol and a new bottle of cough medicine (good price), couldn't walk past the Big Issue seller, bits towards mum's Christmas present, a bit of food, sweets for my sore throat, tissues and a puzzle book.

Feeling better after a hot bath and warm and cosy in bed. Running a fever plus sore throat and cough. Will rest and maybe do stuff later (or start something crafty - still have two pom poms to finish and lots of Christmas trees to cut (from paper).

See you later turtles.

x_raphael_xx

greent wrote: »

Healthy eating - has generally been going well and have been achieving/ over achieving 5/ day and have been eating less sweet things. OH baked a cake yesterday (first time ever!) so that was consumed - and we had the takeaway - so yesterday was a bit of a fail!!

Everyone knows calories consumed on a birthday don't count

Been into town today to collect our race numbers for tomorrows 10k. Only spends were what I had planned for, and a jar of Vicks that I suddenly realised the medicine drawer was short of after my blocked nose yesterday.
BF paid for the Vicks, and some lightbulbs to restock the cupboard.

NSDs -Not a NSD today, but it was just postage for an eb@y parcel and a gift card for my brothers birthday, so nothing unbudgeted.
No cafes/Takeaways -BF commented on the nice smell as we walked past the pasty shop, but I dragged him home for yesterdays dinner leftovers for lunch.
Exercise -Walked into, around, and home from town. Fitbit claims 8,125 steps

Toni'sfriend

8 October

Hi Everyone

Just back from my holiday in beautiful Northumberland. Ate and drank far too much but enjoyed every minute.

Back to normality. I have been steadilly gaining weight and am feeling dreadful about the way I look so I'm going to use this month's challenges to make me do something about and make me feel better about myself physically and mentally.

Healthy eating – I'm going to eat at least three portions of fruit per day to replace all the biscuits, chocolate and crisps

.Learn something new – I'm going to try new recipes using more (and different) vegetables and less meat. That should help the budget a bit too. Have to go food shopping tommorow (within budget) and then menu plan for next week.

I won't buy any takeaways and if C takes me for lunch I will choose something healthy (no chips). Personal challenge – I'm giving up alcohol. It's calorie laden and has no nutritional value.

Exercise - I will walk every day

As we are retired and have free bus travel budgeting for travel isn't really and issue but I will plan healthy lunches.

Started donating to food bank as part of the September challenge so will keep that up.

Strarting a bit late for 15 NSD but I'll try my best.

Might try surveys again to make some extra cash but I don't seem to fit the profile the're looking for.


Hope I can achieve all this.

Have a good weekend.

Eager_Elephant

Been busy this week and not been able to post.


Weds was a NSD. Took fruit in to work but ended up giving 2 pieces to a client who came in and felt faint. She has a relative in intensive care and has been rushing about and had not had breakfast before she came to see me so I gave her my banana and an apple.
Just left me with a clementine.


Thurs was a spend day but can't remember on what.
Fri was another spend day - forgot lunch so brought some rice which I didn't even eat as too busy.
Today has been a spend day as went to a jumble sale, managed to get some clothes for me which were much needed. previously I would just grab anything in my size but now I know roughly what I need before we go so today I managed to get some lightweight denim trousers with adjustable waist (my last pair from a jumble sale have just split on the thigh - maybe need to trim the thighs!!), a black vest top (I always need vest tops) and a crochet jumper style top which will be ideal to wear a vest top under in the office in winter when the heating goes on and I can no longer wear winter jumpers.
Managed to DH a pair of black trousers for work (his pockets have split on his only pair) and a pair of brand new M&S PJ's.
Also got some books and a couple of cuddly toys for the dogs to play/rip - probably spent about £2.50 in total. I love jumble sales.


Made a roasted vegetable and cashew puff pastry thing so I had that with salad last night - must have been more than 5 portions in that.


Today I will have the same with salad.


Also been out every day walking the dogs/doing the animals and today we spent 4hrs on the allotments helping clear some of the empty plots which are overgrown.

nannygladys

Hi everyone,
Fmess - that's really good going with the debt busting.
Mothernerd - hope you feel better soon, and love the gardening challenge, I'm OK with veggies but ignore flowers but having said that I have just planted some bulbs at the lottie .
EE - I wished we had good old fashioned jumble sales where I live but I haven't heard of any for years.
Today I had dd3 for lunch and we yesterday's cottage pie with extra veggies, she's used to my leftover stretches!!!!! And then I picked up dgd for an overnight stay and took some stuff down the lottie ready for Monday. And that's me now just waiting for Strictly to come on and do my victory dance with professionals!!!!!well it'll make dgd laugh!!!!!
Nannyg

crazy_cat_lady

Evening all :wave:
Hope everyone is doing ok - I've been catching up after a couple of days offline. This general feeling of tired and rubbish is really starting to get to me now - I can't believe how little I feel like doing, and how long it takes me to get the littlest things done.
I absolutely detest gardening and anything plant related, so I'm going to politely decline this week's challenge - it will only stress me out making myself do something else I don't really want to. I might knit or crochet some flowers, or make a summery wreath or something.

Siebrie

Exercise/outdoors I spent the whole day outside: hanging the laundry, cutting the vine, cycling with dd to and from horseriding class (I cycled there twice, to drop off and pick up, dd cycles her own bike, she's 8). The class ran a bit late, so I got to watch her for 20 minutes while enjoying the sunshine. We had visitors and sat on the terrace, lovely! While everyone went to the playground, I enjoyed a cuppa and a new library book. I've been thinking about bulbs, and need to find a good spot for them. Last year they were too far from the kitchen window and we hardly saw them.

I've repotted a basil plant I bought on Wednesday, does that count?

greent

I did a lot of planting of pansies, violas and some other things earlier in the week. My mum did bring me 4 cyclamens on Thurs though - so I need to plant those up, which is on my to-do list for tomorrow. I also need to move some irises from back to front garden (back garden patch has grown too big for where it is, so they need splitting) and will also dig some up for my mum - she gave me them originally but has lost some of hers so she can have some of my excess back

I may buy some more bulbs to plant if I find any at a good price this week
x