The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Smurphington

Hi Greying, may I ask regarding budgets how you organise your spending and if you track it? I have lost my way a little recently and seem to either micro manage my finances or just impulse spend and I'm not sure how to get out of this funk

Greying_Pilgrim

Smurphington wrote: »

Hi Greying, may I ask regarding budgets how you organise your spending and if you track it? I have lost my way a little recently and seem to either micro manage my finances or just impulse spend and I'm not sure how to get out of this funk

Oh, Smurphington - i am soooooo not the person to ask about budgets. I am NOT a utiliser of spreadsheets, or apps, or even ledgers I set myself an amount of cash per month and try - oh how I try - to stay within it each month. But......... it's very difficult to do, and I have found it moreso since having BG. I know that when I tracked every penny with a spending diary (i've lost my way on more than one occasion) I began to resent the jotting down of everything, so spending diaries are effective, but......... a little soul destroying [speaking personally]????



I am naturally....... [STRIKE]tight[/STRIKE] careful with money, so I'm less likely to spend, spend, spend with reckless abandon - I just can't bring myself to do it - but do I fritter cash away? You bet I do. You bet I do And I always find that I spend money on 'stuff' that has no budget - crafting supplies have been coming out of the food budget - like that's a good idea........... But then I don't buy crafting stuff every month........


So I have a broad idea of spending categories, and I know when I've gone over budget a bit, and when I've busted it This month, Matthew, I have busted it


I know I have So any money that was winging to savings, has been depleted Because I can't be bothered to write every transaction down And was ill And needed a bit of help And ran out of energy But not excuses, it seems :cool: .....................


Greying X

Smurphington

Haha I think we are similar in that then as I have tried numerous times to track and don't ever stick to it. I should perhaps admit I'm not a tracker and have done with it. I think a bit of good old fashioned willpower is whst I need

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:


Although it's not started well. I've been awake since I don't know when, and I've just tried to report a fault on the line with my Blooming Tiresome telecoms company. Gee, they don't make it easy, do they? And they don't rush to repair owt when it's their equipment that is at fault And it is their fault apparently


In other news, we've bought a new phone that we don't need But probably will keep now, as we've got to reconfigure the phone placement anyway, as BG loves nowt better than to play with it :eek:



We tried to buy something from a shop for BG, for Christmas. Who knew, you can no longer walk into a shop, lay your money on the table and walk away with your desired purchase. DH had to 'place an order' and will have to wait until midweek for it to come in - which will entail another trip to the shop to collect it Good job we didn't leave it until the last minute before Christmas or anything............... And before you ask, no, t'ain't bespoke, artisanally crafted, nor unique.. just boring, mass-produced, everyday ordinary



BG was playing nicely with kitchen utensils, but has ended up cracking my goodgripps salad spinner It should still be useable, but I don't know where to store it now, as it will be weakend and anymore rough play will probably break it It was a bargain from a chazzer, but I don't really want to have to replace it.


This too shall pass......


Pizza and wedges were scoffed last night. Some sort of curry is on the cards for tonight.


Right, best get busy and get out of this grump. Not productive.


Greying X

rtandon27

Morning GP :j:j:j

:D:D

That's as much as I can manage until the coffee sets in :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

apple_muncher

Enjoy today's rugby, if you get a chance to watch it.

Smurphington

Greying can you recommend a good pizza recipe?

Cheery_Daff

Aw Greying, you sound down in the dumps, have a hug (((((((()))))))))

I am in solidarity here if it's any consolation Did a long overnight "race" on Saturday and haven't got back on track since. Car went into the garage on Tuesday and didn't come out til Thursday. Tried to get home Tuesday night & the last bus to the middle of nowhere didn't turn up :eek: fortunately stayed at a friend's, but didn't sleep well, and it's been late nights and early mornings all week. Plumbers have been here replacing radiators - yesterday one of the bits of ceiling cladding they didn't fit back properly fell down & smacked Mr Cherry in the face - he stepped back into a leak they'd created & fell down the hole in the floor that used to be the chimney :eek: thought we'd fixed leak but it was still going at 3am so we disconnected the pipe which sorted the leak, but now we have no heating :eek:

Mr Cheery is in the attic now trying to put temporary sealant on the leak, but in the process has tripped the attic lights so is doing it all by torchlight.

I am SO tired

Planning on a nice lazy day if we ever get the heating back on!

Hope your day improves and your salad spinner is safe :kisses3:

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 wrote: »

Morning GP :j:j:j

:D:D

That's as much as I can manage until the coffee sets in :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That's a dang sight cheerier post than I managed - and I was on my 2nd - or was it 3rd coffee by that point............ :rotfl:

apple_muncher wrote: »

Enjoy today's rugby, if you get a chance to watch it.

I won't have the chance to watch the England game, as we don't have satellite, but will try to see if I can nick in and catch the Scotland and/or Wales games.

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Aw Greying, you sound down in the dumps, have a hug (((((((()))))))))

I am in solidarity here if it's any consolation Did a long overnight "race" on Saturday and haven't got back on track since. Car went into the garage on Tuesday and didn't come out til Thursday. Tried to get home Tuesday night & the last bus to the middle of nowhere didn't turn up :eek: fortunately stayed at a friend's, but didn't sleep well, and it's been late nights and early mornings all week. Plumbers have been here replacing radiators - yesterday one of the bits of ceiling cladding they didn't fit back properly fell down & smacked Mr Cherry in the face - he stepped back into a leak they'd created & fell down the hole in the floor that used to be the chimney :eek: thought we'd fixed leak but it was still going at 3am so we disconnected the pipe which sorted the leak, but now we have no heating :eek:

Mr Cheery is in the attic now trying to put temporary sealant on the leak, but in the process has tripped the attic lights so is doing it all by torchlight.

I am SO tired

Planning on a nice lazy day if we ever get the heating back on!

Hope your day improves and your salad spinner is safe :kisses3:

OK, you definitely got the worserer week - I'm grateful for my lot now and won't complain no more :D:rotfl::T Hope Mr Cheery is OK? Have you had any snow? Have a hug back, dearest - I think you're having a much harder time of it than 'Grumpbucket Greying'



Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Smurphington wrote: »

Greying can you recommend a good pizza recipe?

You mean the dough? I would always recommend Leanne Brown's method (either work well - depends if you have time for the overnight rise).


But I generally stick to a version of Richard Bertinet's Olive dough - from his baking book dough (simply because I've learnt it off by heart). A version of it is HERE, but I tend to go for 300g bread flour, 1 sachet (7g) of yeast, a tsp of salt, a tsp of sugar and 150g of water and 20g of olive oil. I do weigh my water and oil.



Both recipes make sufficient for our pizza, which is oblong, not round, and I'd say was about 12" x 15" - there or there abouts. I won't say 'never fail', but it usually comes together wonderfully each time. I use mrL bread flour - it's good enough.



HTH


Greying X