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

EssexHebridean

Updates for today then :

Prolific £1.38 paid/£3.04 pending
OnePoll 2470
NSDs 5/18
Overnight electricity £1.33 (storage heaters, water, dishwasher)

Today wasn’t a NSD - we made our planned trip to Al’s this morning for more storecupboard items - I wanted to get that done as otherwise we wouldn’t have porridge oats for next Friday morning’s breakfast. £10.87 total spend. Food spend this week £44.62 - but that includes the veg box which lasts longer than a week, and £15.58 of storecupboard items too. 

Had a little cooking session this evening - a big pan of bolognese sauce made, planned to be two double portions but actually stretched to three. Cheaty Aubergine Parmigiana made ready for tomorrow night - that will just need reheating and probably a pack of mixed grains added. There is still a bit of the tomato sauce from that left too, plus a bit of mozzarella- need to think how I can work that into a plan, the sauce has been frozen.  A tray of squash chunks roasted - that’s prepping ahead for Tuesday night’s tea. Also two individual gooseberry crumbles assembled and baked (and now eaten) using both fruit and topping from the freezer. The freezer has also benefited from leftovers from lunchtime’s lamb as well - with some more going in the fridge for use later in the week. 

Also managed to get in a couple of short walks today, collected MrEH’s car from the rugby club where he left it after the match yesterday, got a bit of housework and some garden tidying out of the way, and a few other odds and ends. Nice mix of productive and relaxing.

savingholmes

Food spends sound good as does your cooking. I need to work on the food spends some more. 

Thanks for your comments re flexibility. I did have fun demonstrating floating half moon complete with near face plant yesterday and airplane mode which was more successful. My mum and sis enjoyed it too LOL.

EssexHebridean

The single leg stuff is far more challenging than you would imagine until you try it isn't it - if you want to add an added aspect of difficulty then try closing your eyes too - it blew my mind how much harder it was to balance with eyes closed! 


So, today/this week then. 
Prolific is same as last night but I will continue to check at lunchtime and potentially on the way home too. 
OnePoll - got another 10 points this morning and it is now staying resolutely at that irritating "You're all caught up!" screen. Should be able to cash out this week though unless they really decide to take the P...
TCB payment is apparently on the way and should be in the bank shortly. No idea why they can't use faster payments like 90% of the rest of the world but there you go.
NSD's 5/18 right now, but aiming for several more this week - no reason why I can't add at least another 4, possibly 5 or even more...

I expected the DD for the 0% card to come out today but so far it hasn't, I've paid (well) over the minimum this month already  though so not too worried about it being late. I suspect they are just going to take it on the actual due date - tomorrow - rather than the day or two early that they have been.

Food is all planned and I have even prepped ahead for some of it - future me will thank past me for that I suspect. 

Nothing much planned for the week - usual 4 days in the office, probably commute sharing with MrEH for two of those. Suspect he will need to top up his Oyster card on Wednesday if not tonight, would be useful if he could just scrape it through. We'll also need to put fuel in his car this evening too - again I was hoping to get past the end of the Credit Card month (10th) but he used it for travel to the away rugby match on Saturday. Need to make sure that next time there's an away match he doesn't even take his car to the club - otherwise it will always end up being him driving and us paying! Gym for me tomorrow night while MrEH is rugby training and will plan to go again on Friday morning...and other than that and a home rugby match on Saturday (which I might go and photograph) a quiet week.

Just did a tot up of the month's food spends - looking like just over £141.00 which as that includes a fair bit of storecupboard stocking up I'm happy with - that will be a £30 balance remaining in the food account once the transfer to the card is made. Aiming for lower next month! (for this purpose the "month" is, again, the "credit card month" as that is when my accounting runs.)

Also been doing some thinking about @greenbee 's idea about doing one thing each day that makes life easier - I really like the idea of this, although expanding it to also include "make life easier or more pleasant" - it's so simple, most of the "things" would be quite quick to do as well and could really improve quality of life. I'm keen to try to pick up on this one as I think it's a really valuable idea. Today the plan is to finish clearing and dust off the top of my dressing table - in "MSE flylady" speak it's a hotspot - things tend to end up there that have no business being there as it is convenient - but it's so much more pleasant when it's clear. Over the weekend I put my bike lock back in my backpack and also brought a Northern Irish paper £5 note which has been sitting on there reproaching me (for being silly enough to accept it!) for several years into the office to put in the collecting tin for the British Legion. Yes I could have taken it to a Sant-and-Er branch and cashed it now (this was always the downside of banking only with NW - they don't do some of the usual "banky" things) but I haven't done anything about sorting it for so long, it can do the charity some good instead. 

girlatplay

Just caught up.  All is sounding good.  Your meal planning is going really well.

@savingholmes I am at the opposite end of the scale from you in the weight department (this is not a good thing) and I am the least flexible person that I know. I've thought about doing stretching classes but never got past the thought of it yet.

Cheery_Daff

I too liked the 'one thing a day that makes life easier thing. Yesterday we put new hinges on the door to the chicken house (meaning we can just open it to check they're all cosy at night,rather than disturbing them by taking the door off), and also fitted a catch on the inside of the chicken run door, meaning when we're in there with them, we can actually keep the door closed, rather than having to jam something in it. Both very simple things that have been annoying us for a while! 

greenbee

I'm glad the 'one thing' idea is being so helpful. I realised I was focused on the HUGE impossible tasks, and not the small manageable ones. Yesterday I had a visitor and was tired, so all I did was make soup for the week, but it takes pressure off now I know I have something I can quickly heat up after work. I also got the ironing board and iron out, which means I've made a start on the ironing (today is a conference day, so I can do it while watching presentations) rather than putting it off again, and then it won't bug me. 

savingholmes

Like the one thing per day idea - pleasanter or easier

Yesterday I batch cooked - making things easier
Today I took doggy for a walk in the park - pleasanter for both of us. I also tackled a few items on my to do list - easier than expected - mostly.

EssexHebridean

Hurrah - LOVING how many of us are now on the "One thing" train - great work @greenbee ! And yes, absolutely get that thing of finding you're focused on the large impossible feeling stuff as well - yet so often a few small more manageable things can pave the way to the larger thing feeling (or actually becoming!) easier, too! 

Update:
Prolific £3.65 paid/£2.09 pending
OnePoll - 95 points - yes, I cashed out yesterday!
NSD's 5/18 - MrEH's car needed fuel last night

Overnight electricity was £1.38 - 2 storage heaters, water from almost cold, WM (MrEH announced that he "needed" to do rugby kit...) and the dehumidifier running. MrEH is WFH today so will leave the dehumidifier running in the bedroom for half the day - the damp wall in there was looking grim last night. The WM will NOT be going on tonight - not least as we'l struggle to get anything else dry at the moment!

TCB payment has arrived, and been transferred from my bank account to the 0% card - the card now stands at -£253.92 - annoyingly though the regular payment still hasn't gone - I'm hoping this isn't because the OP's mean it's showing as nothing due, but the DD is set to be a regular amount rather than a minimum so I don't think that should have happened. I'll keep an eye on it and if it's not gone across in a couple of days I'll do it manually. My own bank account seems to be saying it is still due today, I'm just surprised it's not gone yet. 

MrEH tells me that he doesn't think he will need to top his Oyster card up tomorrow, and if he does run short for the home journey he'll just use the CC instead - it doesn't cost any extra as he pays individual fare prices anyway. That means technically I could start doing some money shuffling for that today - and indeed, I might well as I already know amounts to come from some pots. Might make the overall sums easier and more straightforward. 

We have a bit of a plan with the likely massively increased electricity spending for the winter. I'm reluctant to drop any more credit Utility Warehouse's way - so far we have paid 2 DD's, and also transferred over the credit that came back from Bulb, but as I have no way of actually seeing what the balance is on the account, I have no idea if those have all actually arrived where they should or now. We *should* have over £200 credit there at the moment though, less whatever the charges for this month are. Rather than either increasing the DD or paying more across to the account, we're going to siphon off an amount from the joint account surplus for the next few months into an unused savings account ready to use if we need to top up. I have to say so far I'm seriously unimpressed with UW, and we'll be leaving them pretty much as soon as that becomes an option, I think. Their billing is also largely impenetrable - I've never come across a utility company before that takes the 5% vat off the amount you pay them, for a start...! 

Today should be an NSD, I'll go to the gym after work but that's all paid for of course, and nothing else is needed. Fingers crossed for a third of the way to the target by the end of the day! Meals are from the plan. All good. 

Sunshine_girl2

EH I have started a little savings pot for the gas and electric going up as well , I am in credit by about £147 so if it's not needed will just transfer to other pots at the end of winter. I have had no surveys from PA for months now so have emailed to see what the problem is . 

Have a good day . 

greenbee

Clearly I've started something, so now I'll have to keep it up... this week I'm doing a bit of ironing every day as it has been bugging me. As I've got an online conference to attend, I think it should be done today and then I'll have another look at the list(s) and find a few indoor and outdoor jobs to get done.