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

EssexHebridean

I'm surprising myself with the drive I've got at the moment to get things done Cheery - I'm also making the most of it as I expect it will subside again in due course! 

Also surprising is that I already have a letter from Barclaycard confirming that the account is now closed. Allowing that last time it took a further reminder several months later to get them to act, that was a shocker! 

MrEH showered after training at the rugby club last night (good lad - that MSE training is kicking in!) and I bathed before bed using the hot water in the tank so no showers needed this morning. It's definitely a lot cheaper even allowing for the system needing to reheat a full tank - it does it overnight of course though so not that costly! Feels mad needing to think about electricity use so carefully again but I really think it's relevant at the moment - not just from an economic point of view, but environmental too. 

More cycling before work this morning - a fraction over 5 miles this time. Definitely making the most of the lighter traffic with it being half term although this morning was rather drizzly - I was very glad of a red traffic light or two so I could wipe my glasses! I'm loving finding the various segments on Strava too - including spotting one this morning that one additional ride along will earn me a "Local Legend" crown - so I'll be looking to do that as part of a loop after work I think -got to take the small wins! 

I have transferred over the Aldi money from Saturday to my own account - I'll need it for the weekend anyway and there is still a buffer in the joint account in case of anything unexpected coming out so that should be OK. 

Jobs for today:
- get that meal plan sorted for next week
- get a shopping list in place, will need to be done on the way home on Sunday (Maybe Morrisons in Norwich)
- decide what to do with the cauliflower tomorrow
- Load of washing through overnight - either darks or towels? 
- Charge phone at work
- charge Garmin at work (before lunchtime - it's on 17%!)
- get step count to 10,000 (tricky on a car/cycling day!)

savingholmes

Well done on the surveys and the DFW small things list. Even though you are DF it's still good to do. Cycling sounds positive...

EssexHebridean

I'm actually really enjoying the cycling SH - well, apart from the uphill bits, they're mostly a bit grim! Did another 4.5 miles again before work this morning, then it will be the quick, straight route back to the car at lunchtime to move it to nearer the office and that will be over 25 miles this week, which isn't bad. Also nabbed the "local legend" status on a segment last night, and rode it again this morning just to cement that! (I'm easily pleased!).

So - Got a cracking little Prolific survey last night - took me just under 20 minutes and ended up paying £4.19 with the bonus so that'll do. Now at £18.12 paid, so fingers crossed another couple of bits paid today and I'll get that cashed out and across to the 0% card.  Just done a Power of Opinions one - and OnePoll is now at 2010 points so still just a chance of hitting my weekly target but probably not. 

Meal plan for next week is done - and will mean food shopping is just the usual milk, fruit and veg, plus a pack of soft cheese. Also need washing liquid too - and annoyingly there's no decent special offers on that at the moment. (T's, bizarrely, are offering a "Clubcard Price Bundle" consisting of Bold 2 in 1 Liquid and Lenor fabric softener....which rather defeats the object of buying a 2in1 detergent! We won't be purchasing that!) *edit to add* also just remembered that we are currently dangerously close to being entirely out of any cheese aside from cheddar - so that will need rectifying ASAP. Cauliflower decision also made - I cooked it and some pasta last night and whipped up a quick cheese sauce and we will have cauli & pasta cheese bake tonight - just needs a quick blast in the microwave to heat through and then 15 minutes in a hot oven to brown the top. 

Washing (towels) went through and MrEH put that outside this morning - I'll need to decide whether to do another load tonight or to wait for after the weekend - probably will throw another load through though I think. Dishwasher will also need to run, but those will both be overnight on the cheap rate. 

Meals for next week then:
- Squash, mushroom & chorizo pasta with a soft cheese based sauce
- Couscous with roasted veg & halloumi
- Jackets, beans & cheese
- Ratatouille, Black pudding, eggs - which if it goes to plan should make a sort of variation on Shakshuka - "McShuka" allowing for the Stornoway Black Pudding, perhaps! 
- Friday we will probably convert the remaining Domino's voucher to use
- Saturday - burgers, probably with tortilla chips again
- Sunday - will be the last joint of lamb from the freezer

I'll need to set some time aside on Sunday to roast half the big squash that came in the veg box - that will then set us up for Monday and Tuesday with limited prep needed. 

MrEH should be paid tomorrow - and although I don't have entire faith in his payroll department having sorted out the new account details I do at least now know that things sent to the old account bounce on to the new one REALLY fast, so that's reassuring. 

EssexHebridean

Some notes for things to do tomorrow/next week:

- New box of breakfast cereal for work (From stores)
- New can of body spray for work (from stash)
- Check MrEH's pay has landed (Friday)
- Check DD's are going out OK (Monday)
- Shopping - over weekend
- Roast squash (Sunday)
- Cook chickpeas? (Sunday?)

I've used up a tube of toothpaste and a can of deodorant this week but both have been replaced from stash. 

EssexHebridean

Morning! No work for me today - I love my Fridays! MrEH started work early this morning too so we’ve not been out for our usual walk either, I am planning on heading to the gym in a bit though. It’s a really grim dreary day so I’ll drive to the gym and stop to do a couple of errands on the way back, I think, rather than get soaked somewhere along the way. (And as if to prove me right it has just started tipping it down again!)

So far today:
- washing from machine > airer
- dishwasher emptied
- porridge made - and consumed! 

- called U. Warehouse to alter the DD date as it had been set for the 29th for some reason which is just annoying! Now altered to be the 1st from December
- checked banking - MrEH’s pay has landed
- transferred last month’s surplus to savings 

We’re still just hanging on without the heating on - it’s hovering around 19°C in here at the moment which is fine - if it drops to 18° then that will be our trigger to get the heating on I think. 

Lunch today will be wraps - probably tuna salad again at a guess. We’ll also use up the last of the fruit today which is good timing. Tea will be eaten out as we’ve got a weekend with a friend including heading to a beer festival tomorrow - fun! 

A couple of posts coming up with October review and November plans, plus longer term aims/goals for 2022 which will be here before we know it! 

EssexHebridean

October +’s & -‘s 

Positives: 
+ lots of physical activity - walking and cycling
+ starting to regain a good focus on meal planning
+ trips away, Cornwall, Edinburgh and Norwich to finish the month
+ good use of a 20% discount voucher to purchase needed items from the Land of Lakes
+ frogs eaten - Extracting savings money from Saffron, getting that Barclaycard closed
+ hydration has been mostly good particularly during the week

Less positives: 
- VERY heavy spending on “fun/entertainment” 
- Probably too much 🍻😆
- less gym time/strength work than ideal
- definitely not enoughYoga/mobility (Strava tells me just over 2 hours)
- sleep could have been better

The spendiness was a one off and in part a reflex against the previous 18 months having been VERY short on social interaction I think. We and our friends both had holiday time to burn, so the Cornwall trip got thrown in there and we definitely don’t regret it at all. November is looking a lot calmer which will give us a chance to regroup, although there is some juggling required for the next CC bill. The increased  drinking goes hand in hand with the nature of the time away too - we’re not during the week drinkers so overall I’m unconcerned about this hence the emojis! 

Reduced gym time was also as a direct result of being away - the rest of the month has been pretty consistent at twice a week. I’d ideally like to up that to three times most weeks in 2022 but it will need to wait until then for more flexibility around gyms to use. 

The yoga is purely down to laziness on my part. I feel generally better when I do more of it so I need to start making time for this a few nights a week. 

Sleep is easy enough to tackle - literally just focus on starting my night time routine a little earlier and aiming to be in bed for just after 10.30pm rather than starting to get ready then. Earlier than that would also be great. 

The biggest positive really is probably simply really getting my focus back on here - that’s proved very productive in terms of reminding myself about getting things done and tackling financial jobs rather than putting them off. 

EssexHebridean

Financial goals for November 

- start to build towards a 1 month buffer in the food account
- meal plan - always aim be a full week ahead 
- start to reduce use of CC - no personal stuff for example
- keep an eye on electric use particularly once the heating goes on! 

- surveys > my 0% card, cash out OnePoll, and cash out prolific at least twice…
- my 0% card to be sub-£230 by the end of the month (currently at £311 - monthly payment is £40)
- watch spends generally and apply MSE principles
- aim for zero food waste 
- use baths at night rather than showers first thing particularly once the clocks change and the cheap rate finishes earlier. I need to be in the shower before 6.55am on hair-wash days. 

Just realised - I’ve already scuppered myself slightly on the food account thing by forgetting and transferring the whole of the October surplus to savings - Doh! Oh well, all the more incentive to keep food spending down through the month then! 

EssexHebridean

Woop! Prolific cashed out at £23 (£3-odd pending) already landed in Paypal and now transferred across to the 0% card which is now sitting at £288.83. also just got another OnePoll survey and that has taken my balance there to 2105 so *just* scraped my weekly target! 

Had a good session at the gym this morning too making up for a rather “meh” one on Tuesday evening. (I’m suspecting that TOTM was a factor there). Swung by the chemist on the way back and collected my prescription so that’s another job dealt with.  

savingholmes

Well done on the survey £. Sounds a good month overall

EssexHebridean

Thanks SH - it was a really enjoyable month, no question, and of course there can be a financial trade-off to that. No regrets about doing any of it though! 

The trip to Norwich was fun too - a few pubs, a meet up with a couple of “friends of the friend we were with” - a nice couple albeit he used to be a bit of a “two-sheds” type - whatever you had done, he had done better. A couple of years and several lockdowns seem to have changed that a little though as it was a really pleasant evening. Saturday was the beer festival, plus an unexpected private tour of the Bell-tower st St Peter Mancroft Church and a look at the “Gaia” installation there - I’ll try to post a picture at the end of this, but Mr G00gle Will reveal all otherwise - it’s very beautiful though! Lots more catching up with various friends not seen for a couple of years too. Spend-wise actually not too bad in the end. A meal out on Friday evening, some rounds of drinks of course - MrEH paid for the beers at the festival yesterday but I will give him some money back in those. Our friend bought breakfasts yesterday as we paid for Friday’s meal. MrEH paid for snacks during the day yesterday. Breakfast this morning was in one of those pub chain outlets named after meteorological conditions and an eating utensil, and came to £12.40. The hotel was already paid for, and there was diesel in the car and I still have half a tank left now so no cost there either.

Stopped for shopping on the way back - just under £30 spent which was more than I was planning but having broken things down it’s not too bad really. 

- we had pretty much run out of interesting cheese, so £8 was on that, the four pieces we bought will last several weeks though, and we will try to start buying one piece a fortnight now to keep topped up. 

- we needed washing liquid, rubbish sacks and dishwasher rinse-aid - these totalled £9
- storecupboard items were £5.15 
- a few reduced bargains - tattie scones, a loaf of bread, and a pack of wraps - 63p! Those have all been stashed in the freezer.
- finally the week’s supplies, just £7 - mainly fruit, plus milk for MrEH and a tub of soft cheese. 

I’m happy with that, and the breakdown analysis was interesting to do so I might try to keep that up.

Right - bedtime now, tomorrow is a new money-saving month!