EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

EssexHebridean

That's a good reminder DFD as I used to do that with the freezer audit too - make a list and cross off as I went along.

Ludlow food festival is lovely - we've been going for years and always thoroughly enjoy it - over the year we've dragged pals along with us to - there will be quite a group of us this year!

EssexHebridean

Freezer attack has started early as I realised I'd not planned a meal for tonight (wasn't originally sure whether we'd be in, or not) so I've got the frozen seafood and a couple of white fish fillets out and we'll have thai-style fish stew tonight with some of the bargainous Tilda "basmati rice & quinoa" I grabbed three packs of in ThaT supermarkeT last week. (it was nearly all "reduced" to £1.24 aside from a handful of boxes that showed at 24p instead. Guess which ones I grabbed three of... showed on the receipt as "choc lolly" so that will have been an error on someone's part then!) Anyway that will do - I'll be able to use up the last onion, and the rest of the bag of frozen mixed peppers too so something else out of the freezer as well! :T

Off to the gym after work - I'm still using the monthly pass from Hussle and currently have it on a 20% off deal as well so this month has cost me just under £27. Allowing that I *was* paying £7 a visit I'm absolutely quids in on this deal - and even better it means i can go whenever I fancy it so generally that's twice a week. Happy as anything with that. Not sure how long the deal will last but it's showing me the same price for next month's as well so fingers crossed I've got a bit longer on it yet. Even when it goes back to normal it's still only £33 odd which is definitely value for money.

Need to add the CC money shuffle to next week's to do list as the "month" finished yesterday. This also means that I booked our train tickets for travel to Cardiff next month earlier on - it will be reclaimable on expenses but I didn't want to be out of pocket on it for too long if I can avoid it - this way there is even half a chance I could get the money back before it's payable.

Ludlow weekend won't be massively cheap but is covered with a bit of a surplus in one of our savings pots so that works.; It'll be fun anyway - that's the main thing!

EssexHebridean

Ludlow weekend was indeed not massively cheap but it was superb fun so all good there and well worth its cost! :T Plotted some plans with the friends we were with for a bit of future fun as well, AND managed to sort out accommodation free of charge for a friend's wedding party which is in a couple of weeks time so that was handy as well!

Another friend is heading off to the US shortly and has asked whether I'd like him to grab a replacement iPad for me while he's there - it represents a good saving over the UK price, and I have the money saved - I think as long as I make sure that when I have the updated one I carry it with me and use it in place of the phone when I can, it's a sensible decision for me. It'll prolong the life of the phone as well which allowing that there is no sign of Apple releasing a replacement for it any time soon (I still have the SE which I LOVE!) might be a good thing. I need to double check the capacity of my current - very old - iPad first to make sure that the one I could justify buying will work for me, and then just do the final sums and pro's/cons, but currently, I'm leaning towards saying "yes please" to my friend.

With the above in mind I want to get back to doing surveys regularly again as this is the way I at least in part fund purchases like this. Dipped into onePoll yesterday and will pay a visit to Prolific later to see if there is anything there. I have a feeling I may have some credit to withdraw fro Pinecone as well so will get logged I there in a bit to have a look. I've been doing Power of Opinions fairly regularly anyway but that does take a while to mount up. Just need to get back to the routine of just cracking on and prioritising those each day I think though.

I'm planning a day of a fair amount of organising and sorting at home tomorrow
- I want to get that sort out of the freezer done properly, although I'm already started on making inroads into that. what I turn up in there to get used will make a different to a) what goes into the meal plan and shopping list for next week, and b) what I ask MrEH to buy at the farmer's Market on saturday morning.
- It's feeling like the time of year to start thinking about batch cooking stews and casseroles again though - which also has the trade-off of being an easy meal to throw together, stick in the slow cooker, and then provide meals for 2 days through that week at minimum effort plus probably a portion aside for my lunch when I'm at home solo too. :T
- I also want to batch cook some pulses, portion and then freeze I think as these are a great way to base a meal for me - MrEH isn't such a fan.

My lunch tomorrow will be a jacket potato with cheese I've decided - I currently have some very nice tatties which were bought from Al's when I shopped on Monday which are almost TOO big for jacketing (but somehow, I'll cope... ) and as ever we have plenty of cheese so quick, easy, cheap. I'll be buying food out on Saturday lunchtime as I'm at Duxford airshow - I'll have my breakfast before I leave though to avoid the temptation of what would undoubtedly end up being a disappointing bacon butty. Tomorrow evening we'll be having a fry-up featuring some of the rather fabulous bacon & sausages bought from our favourite butcher at Ludlow last weekend, and some of the stornoway puddings from the freezer. Yum. Saturday tea & Sunday meals are yet to be decided.

Need to complete the Credit card money shuffle to get everything squared away there and then I'll know where we stand in terms of joint account surplus this month. It was a high spend month as there were a fair number of accommodation bookings on there. Still got a few further bits of accommodation for things to book as well - although one is already done and we managed to get our Premier Inn of choice for that trip for a good price too. Saturday will be my last airshow of the season but I am hoping to spend a bit of time before things fully wrap up at Coningsby doing some more photography stuff - currently looking at next friday as the first of those trips I think. I also have some airshow accommodation still to book so will need to give that some thought too - I've identified at least one hotel booking where I'll be able to make a small saving by making the payment for it now so that could be worth doing as I have the money ready in my savings account.

The MSE Energy club tells me that our Gas tariff is due to expire at the end of next month but that will be a simple switch to the same supplier's current zero standing charge tariff. Because of our stupidly low gas usage it's a no brainer for us to stick with them - we pay £2 a month currently (only use gas for cooking) whereas even the cheapest option with a standing charge would be over £100 a year! The energy club also confirms for me that Bulb are still our best option for electricity too which I'm pleased about.

All ticking over I think - I'm feeling slightly as though I'm in the mood for a financial challenge of some sort but can't quite identify exactly what that might be at the moment.

*update* actually just logged in to Prolific and found £18 there to claim - it'll come to slightly less than that when fees are accounted for but hurrah for cash you didn't know you had! I've requested that for payout now too so will withdraw when it hits my PayPal. :T

teapot2

No charges any more using Paypal to cash out of Prolific :money::j. Its been free since Circle stopped offering cash outs. Also once you've used it a couple of times it seems to be an instant cash out :cool:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I need to get back into the habit of doing surveys too as I seem to have stopped doing them over the summer. They are a good way of bringing in some extra cash so it's silly to neglect them.

Your social life sounds good as ever .

EssexHebridean

teapot2 wrote: »

No charges any more using Paypal to cash out of Prolific :money::j. Its been free since Circle stopped offering cash outs. Also once you've used it a couple of times it seems to be an instant cash out :cool:.

Ahh now I was wondering if this was the case as I noticed I had no fees stopped from my payout - and yes, also that it was quicker. I think I saw something saying that they pay out twice a week now.

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I need to get back into the habit of doing surveys too as I seem to have stopped doing them over the summer. They are a good way of bringing in some extra cash so it's silly to neglect them.

Your social life sounds good as ever .

You're right, it's getting back into the habit, isn't it!

Yes, there still seems to be a fair amount of fun stuff being factored in!

EssexHebridean

Small wins: MrEH got sent a £2.01 voucher from his old Shell Driver's club card which as we understand it they have closed. (I had one too but they've sent me Nada - bar-stewards!) He stuck 20 litres of shell fuel in the car last night bringing it down to a little cheaper per litre than we would have paid for Tesco fuel. As Shell is also directly on the way home it saved us the few miles extra to get to/from Tesco as well.

I nipped into Peacocks near work yesterday lunchtime as I caught a glimpse as I passed of what looked like a rather nice dress. It was, it fitted like a glove, and it was only £12 - bargain! A nice drapey jersey, v-necked, some ruching design on the sleeves and three little buttons on the front and very comfortable indeed!

beanielou

Dress sounds just fab.

EssexHebridean

Thanks Beanie - it is, rather, and coincidentally is being worn as I type this! It's turned into a proper Monday favourite - I'm a big fan of clothes for a monday being both something easy to throw on, and super comfy, and this dress just ticks all the boxes.

So - I think "ticking along" would still be the correct way to summarise the last few weeks. We've agreed to make a conscious effort to keep spends low for the final few months of the year, so aside from things that are planned, we're keeping any other activities to free, or at the very least cheap. This weekend we used a lot of time for pottering, routine sorting things out, and aside from the usual weekly shop type stuff our only trip out was to an RSPB reserve (no cost there as we're members) where we took lunch with us. I'm fully intending that the next weekend will follow a broadly similar pattern, too. The weekly shop was a little higher than usual but included a couple of "occasional buy" items, and I picked up a bottle of washing up liquid in Al's to try - I usually use the one with the mild green liquidised fairies in it but the Als one is less than half the price and I have heard good things about it. Of course it may well be that I'd heard good things from people who are not in hard-water areas, we'll see though. If it's dreadful I've only lost 49p.

I took a pair of well used but still basically sound ankle boots in for re-heeling last week - they are a chunky heel so it was £10.50 but that's a lot cheaper than new boots. I'll stick some polish on them tonight and they'll essentially be good as new for the winter then. I've a second pair of ankle boots at home that are more suedey and are looking a bit tired - I'll need to decide whether they will do another year or not, I think. I want to get another couple of skirts for winter work-wear with thick tights I think, but that will also be covered from my clothing account. Could ideally do with a slightly thicker jumper for wearing to work in the winter as well but will have to see what is out there on that front I think.

Upcoming plans -
- A beer festival team meeting in Cardiff in a few weeks - accommodation is already paid, train tickets are booked and they will be reclaimable on expenses also. Spending will be food and drink, plus travel into/out of London.
- I'm planning on going to Coningsby for the final Typhoon Team practise of the season there, next week. I had holiday time to use so I have taken two days which should mean that even if he drops it back a day I can still get to see it. I'm also intending to enquire of a friend who is based there on the Battle of Britain flight if he's about for a brew and a catch up.
- On the same day I am also aiming to head up to Scampton and catch up with another pal who was posted back there (to the Reds) a couple of months ago but has been away on their fabulous US/Canada tour ever since. He *might* suggest dinner at the pub - and if he does I will agree because that's always awesome.
- My main camera needs a service. I emailed Canon last week to check prices and was delighted to find that it will come in at around £110 as I expected a lot more. A bit more digging around also revealed that if I complete my Canon Professional Services Membership that then earns me not only the faster turnaround time on the service (5 days rather than 10) but also a 10% discount on the cost AND a free courier return of the camera once the work is complete. bargain. Needless to say my CPS registration is now complete! All being well I'll take the camera in next week while I'm off work.
- A friend messaged last week to say she was going to be down in London the weekend after next and did I fancy going to the RAF Museum at Hendon with her on the Friday - why yes, I very definitely do, so that is also now in the diary! Museum entry is free although I'll make a donation, and I can combine the travel into London by going in with MrEH in the morning as usual then lingering about until the off-peak travel rates kick in. Just the cost of food to think about then and that will come from my regular weekly spends.

I've been thinking for a while that I fancied a new financial challenge of some description, and now I have the cost established for the camera service that will be a nice round figure that seems to lend itself to seeing how fast I can make the value back in surveys - I've just logged into Pinecone today to discover that I have £9 worth of points sitting there so those are now requested, and I've got PA open o the desktop again to watch for surveys there. OnePoll is currently at £8.80 and again, is sitting open so I can keep my eye for stuff appearing.

savingholmes

Sounds like you're having fun, staying on budget and preparing for the future. All good. What do you do with your photos? Do you sell any of them?