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

EssexHebridean

redofromstart wrote: »

Not just you, I feel the same and just cash out once I am at £10.

Yes, it seems like the way forwards to me I must admit!

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

I did have a moment of thinking the same about Circle but then I thought of the extra few pence in the house fund and just gave all my details away :rotfl:

Did come through pretty quickly though :j

:rotfl::rotfl: You need every spare penny you can muster right now with impending shifting of all worldly goods to new palace scenario! :rotfl:

beanielou wrote: »

Best not to let the pennies to build up to much.
I lost out on the lucky phone draw that way.

Yep - exactly my thinking about the once a week cashout thing. :T

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

All looking good me dear.

Opens the diary........:P

And if you find a way to improvise bog sauce do let me know save me a lot of cooking

xoxoxo

Oopsy - yes, Diary. I'm on it - November. Will WA you later! xxx

redofromstart wrote: »

Improvising bog sauce - simples if you have lump and onion hating childrens. Mince, garlic powder, onion powder, mixed herbs, passata, beef stock cube, squirt of value katchup. No chopping, just tipping. I use the pressure cooker and give it half an hour.

Ooh sneaky improv there. Mine turned out to be even lazier I'm ashamed to say - unearthed a tub of HM tommy sauce (no mince) from the freezer, and the last 5 meatballs which I'll smash up and cook off as mince. Sure that'll work just fine!

EssexHebridean

Tesco done last night - pretty much to list albeit I think a couple of extras snuck in there. Some nectarines - I remember those leaping into the trolley for sure. Sneaky things nectarines. £17.31 spent though so none so bad. :T

We've decided that once the ClubCard Plus account closes down in October we're going to set up an additional monthly transfer for the £150 that usually goes there into our existing "foody stuff" account - then all spends can be made either using cash (local shops or farmers market) or on the CC for supermarkety stuff, and the money transferred over. Seems like as good a way as any of dealing with it - we'll miss the extra ClubCard points, but the bright side is definitely not feeling so "tied" to shopping at ThaT supermarkeT any more. During the summer months when it's busiest there is a good chance I still will as there is one of them over the roads to work which is irritatingly convenient - otherwise though there is Al's walkable from home, and Mozza's just a short drive away as alternatives to our town's ludicrous THREE T's stores! Anyway all that ramble was a precursor to saying that I must make a note in my journal that once the September DD comes out for the CC+ I can cancel the payment and notify T-Bank that I've done it.

I've also reluctantly come to the conclusion that I need to get brutal with my wardrobe. I had to chuck out another top this morning as on honest assessment it just wasn't wearable any more - and even my newer stuff is starting to look a bit on the big side. I know this is a good thing, but as previously mentioned I HATE shopping so it's also a pain in the proverbial! As things stand at the moment I've got two wearable pairs of work trousers (1 that fits properly and the other that's starting to get a bit big but is OK for now). Underwear is OK for the time being (the bras that were a little on the small side now fit!) Suspect I need to get new walking trousers before the winter. definitely need a new winter coat, and jumpers etc - the ones I wear for work are years old anyway and owe me nothing. Can potentially get away with existing shirts etc for work - have a few in the wardrobe that were previously a bit tight that I bet are now OK. I think I need a proper "pull it all out and review" and also to make a list of the stuff I need and when I need to buy it. Meh. This does NOT make me happy. Sigh. Grump.

EssexHebridean

OK I definitely need to get brutal with the wardrobe. Put a shirt that I was confident would fit on this morning - said to MrEH "is this OK or does it look too big?" - when he'd finished laughing we agreed that it was heading for the charity shop! Found another which I can get away with but again, on the big side. Hoping the other one hanging up in there will be OK as I seem to remember that being smaller to start with, and I know I have a couple of others waiting on ironing - things wait a LONG while on ironing in my house! Might try to set aside half an hour tomorrow to make a start on sorting clothes though - and start getting a list of what I need too.

On the MSE front there was 22p pints of skimmed milk in ThaT supermarkeT last night so I grabbed a couple and they're now frozen. Need to remember to save myself the pint bottles so I can freeze the surplus from the bigger bottles too. :T

Dinner last night was couscous salad with squeaky cheese. Why don't we eat squeaky cheese more often? It's lush! (I know - all cheese is lush, fact!) Dinner tonight will be the improvised bolognese sauce with baked sweet potatoes - yum!

PA is quiet again - and I've got stuff waiting to go to confirmed so I don't think I'll manage my cashout today. On the plus side though I got paid yesterday so the money shuffle is done, and MrEH's money should go in today.

All under control.

redofromstart

My OH calls those clothes my 'clown outfits' which was an effective way of making me get rid of them. Its a nice problem to have if its for positive reasons.


A ruthless clearing out session and then work out what you have and what you actually need? At least then you could do one nasty trip.

EssexHebridean

redofromstart wrote: »

My OH calls those clothes my 'clown outfits' which was an effective way of making me get rid of them. Its a nice problem to have if its for positive reasons.


A ruthless clearing out session and then work out what you have and what you actually need? At least then you could do one nasty trip.

Ha - have you been reading my bullet(ish) journal?! plan is pretty much exactly that. weed out the wardrobe first - ditch anything that's unwearable in the direction of the charity shop unless it's past that stage in which case > rubbish. Continue with the chest of drawers - same. List what is required and then prioritise. It occurred to me last night I'm undoubtedly going to need a new winter coat. Ugh.

Clown outfits though - love it! :T:rotfl:

30p from OnePoll today but still nothing from PA. Flipping lazy students.

redofromstart

Its more likely to be absent academics than lazy students, can't get sign off if your supervisor is away

Bullet journals are on my mental list of things to look at, but I get put off by the pretty pictures. I need clear instructions!

EssexHebridean

Ahh my Bullet-ish journal doesn't have pretty pictures - I'm not an artistic type in that way at all. I went for pretty colours instead! I think the best bit of information I found about the version I use was to treat the rules with a degree of flexibility. I choose to use a sectioned notebook as my stuff fits under headings - Finances, To-Do's, Plans and lists - I run a weekly sheet with stuff that needs doing, the meal plan and also diary stuff in it. I also start each month with a similar sheet but that only lists the vital stuff to do, and adds in notable dates - birthdays and anniversaries etc. In the planning and financial sections I do follow the "just use the next available page, and number the pages" rule - that's by far the most practical way of doing things I've found. I do use it for noting all sorts of stuff though and have found it incredibly helpful.

So the Northern Ireland weekend was great fun and not as expensive as I'd feared. I paid for food for me and my pal for Friday night and he bought beers so that worked well. The accommodation on base is amazing - a three bedroom house (basic furnishings but that's military stuff for you!) for £20 a night so that worked brilliantly. Hotel for Saturday was more expensive but that was already planned and budgeted. There was quite a bit of beer on Saturday night but that and the meal in the hotel I covered on cash - and the cash I got out before I went covered my spends fine. :T I did manage to bring back a Northern Ireland paper fiver though which was rather annoying - I'll either take it back over when we go back in November or I'll post it to my pal.

Next stop now is Scampton Airshow this weekend - that's just got a bit more expensive than I was hoping as my friend who I normally stay with stuff up there has got chicken pox! I have had it before, but then so has she, and yet she still caught this strain, so I'm not chancing it. Thankfully I've managed to book accommodation that will work well enough for not a horrendous amount of money AND there was enough slack left in my airshow account that the extra will be covered. That's the last one of the season for me, then - amazing how fast it's come round!

Still nothing on Prolific and just oddments on OnePoll this week so far.

Food all under control - shopping done yesterday and £23.49 spent so that's fine - there was just under £5 spent at Lidl on Friday too if I remember rightly. I desperately need to get the chance to go through the freezer and sort out what we have there to use as it's looking terribly full...

EssexHebridean

Woo - little survey on Prolific this morning earned £1.10 and 25p worth done on OnePoll too - it is distinctly slow at the moment though - typical when I've got renewed motivation to crack on with it!

£5.50 yesterday posting a "cheer up and go away spots" parcel to my friend with the Chicken Pox - honestly the price of postage these days is mad, but I wanted it to get to her ASAP so 1st class it had to be. :mad: presents budget will cover it though at least.

Actually got the chance to cook a recipe last night as well - something I pretty much never get the chance to do midweek as time rarely allows - this one looked straightforward and quick though. ThaT supermarkeT's free magazine - "Spiced chicken and cauliflower traybake" - dead simple and incredibly tasty - and for a change for a "serves 4" recipe it actually did make enough that we will have the other half of it tomorrow night! :T definitely a keeper and one I will do again - Recipe is HERE if anyone wants a look. The changes I made were to just use coriander in the dressing in place of the parsley as well, to use a mixed pack of chicken thighs and drumsticks, and I threw in a couple of peppers cut into large pieces as well as they needed using up. I used Kashmiri chilli for the "mild chilli powder" and also substitued that for the whole red chilli in the dressing, and the dressing was just mixed together with the coriander finely chopped rather than being blitzed so it was a bit more lumpy. I served it up with couscous and it was utterly delicious! :T

Tonight will be frittata I think - I've got a pack of sugarsnap peas to use that I forgot about so those will get blanched and go in, plus mushrooms. Also got the remains of the spinach from that recipe and the last few cherry toms from Monday night's salad too. Yum!

redofromstart

I like the look of the chicken and cauliflower thing, have bookmarked it for later. Frittata sounds good too but haven't got enough eggs for that and for cake. mm cake.

redofromstart

Also the bullet-ish info helped my head so thanks for that. I've got a couple of pukka project books that might work so will have a look at this tomorrow.