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

EssexHebridean

Nearly everyone seems to be in the same boat Scott - it's not just you! I guess it's still the summer holidays having an effect - they're not all settled back into Uni yet are they!

Mine cleared the £10 level yesterday anyway so I will be cashing out tomorrow.
Couple of small bits on OnePoll so far this morning.
Not much doing elsewhere - even YouGov has dried up!

Chased up ThaT supermarkeT on social media this morning to find out what is happening about them issuing new clubcards to those of us who are having our CC+ accounts closed. Apparently they are sending the new ones out "from this week" so they should all be through in the next 10 working days...well it *might* just about make it by the time the account is closed then! In any event I need to make sure that I'm geared up to transfer the money from that account over ahead of the 13th - the balance of this month's food budget will go to the "food" account and anything else over and above will go to the holiday fund. Also need to increase the food account transfer to take account of the CC+ DD amount. Diary note for that one I think. planning to shop at Mozza's this week anyway I think - although need to think that one through yet.

Gym tonight so I need to check I have £7 in my purse which I think I have. In fact with no specific weekend plans to think about I might not need a visit to the cashpoint this week either which would be handy.

Bank looks OK - the start of month DD's have all gone now by the look of it so I can see where we're at. it also reminds me that I need to check the electricity account with a view to increasing the DD slightly and also submit a gas reading.

EssexHebridean

Yay - £4 study on Prolific! :T:T#

And 15 points on Power of Opinions which hardly seems worthy of notice after that! :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

Right - I've decided I need some targets for October - it feels as though things are stagnating a little and I could do with a kick up the proverbial to get things going. I looked at the NST challenge as mentioned by T&K but not sure that level of to-the-penny accountability is for me these days, so I'll just stick some stuff in here and we'll see how it goes.

Groceries - budget as always is £150 but I'd like to see how much below this I can get it. Need to work through the freezer in any case, which will help, however, we've already made a start on doing so, which won't!
Meals need to continue in a healthy but filling fashion - but I'll be looking towards more "wintery" foods from here on.
Diesel - my car was filled up on Saturday when I found fuel at a bargain price. I'd like to keep it to no more than another tankful through the month - and this should be possible. I do have a couple of longer trips planned but should still be OK within that.
Clothes - I've still got odds and ends on my "needed" list and am holding off until 10th October to buy as that comes into the new CC month. I've got to buy the stuff - there's no question, but as always I will shop about a bit and try to buy "well" as it were.
Planned spends (Personal) - Gym once a week is £7. If I swim that's about another £5 if I remember rightly. Speedway on the 13th will be £16 admission but I'll probably not eat at the track this time - I'l get a meal deal from the supermarket or something. May well watch MrEH play rugby a couple of times in which case there will be a few drinks afterwards but the club is walkable these days so no extra travel costs. :T I may buy my social membership for the year this month - if so that will be £20 for the year but will get me 10% off on the prices over the bar. We're at a Beer Festival at the end of the month I think so there will be some cost associated with that.
Surveys - Hammer OnePoll as hard as I can as I'm less than £9 off cashout now. Similarly grab everything I can on Prolific. I'd like to cash out a good lump this month as I'd still like to get the amount paid off the 0% card by the end of the year to £700. If I see anything come through from Populus I need to jump on it as I'm a whisker away from payout there too.

Winter prep - The new windows & doors are to fitted as soon as Brian can do them.
The balcony needs a thorough tidy and sweep - I need to persuade MrEH to be a bit more ruthless with what gets kept, I think!
Start building slow cooker recipes into the meal plan. :T
My car service & MoT need booking for early November (due 29th)

There may be more to be added here...

beanielou

Blimey.You are so organised.
Shame on me.

EssexHebridean

beanielou wrote: »

Blimey.You are so organised.
Shame on me.

Nah Beanie - I just appear that way - in real life it's generally a lurch from one area of chaos to the next! :rotfl:

Positive start to today on the survey front albeit in a small way - 15p on Prolific as soon as I logged in and a 10p OnePoll as well. I'll hold off on cashing out PA until after lunch in the hope that the £4 study from yesterday might go to payable.

£7 spent yesterday as I went to the Gym - frankly that's money well spent for me at the moment.
There will be a groceries spend today as I plan to walk to the Turkish Supermarket at lunchtime - we need Tahini, flatbreads and Pitta breads.

Need to work on next week's meal-plan ahead of shopping tomorrow and then get my list written. I was tempted to drive to Mozzas for shopping this week but I think I'll keep it local instead and stick to ThaT supermarkeT plus a bit of shopping about. That means that meat-wise I will probably buy one of the packs of FR chicken drumsticks & thighs and do a spanish-style chicken stew with those - that can be slow-cookered.
I note that Lil's POTW includes mixed peppers and butternut squash so I will call in there tomorrow for those I think. Might actually pop to the farm shop straight from swimming as well - I'm half way there at that stage and seeing what they have on offer might prompt a few more ideas. Sorry - lots of rambling thoughts there - the main bones of the meal plan will stay the same but the associated veg bits might vary!

This evening is thai-style fish stew - I even remembered to defrost the fish overnight!
Need to think about lunch for myself tomorrow/saturday. Will probably be soup or something couscous based. Also still got eggs to use.
Tomorrow night we will have the curry leftovers that were frozen from the other week - might venture into making some form of Onion Bhaji's to go with, we'll see. (Got all the component parts including yogurt and mint for raita).
Saturday night tea - thinking along the lines of a meze type meal - got frozen falafels bought YS'd last week, got chickpeas so I can make houmous (If I remember the tahini at lunchtime!) and can get some halloumi and maybe make something else as well...
Sunday: Hmmm....if I was to buy a whole chicken rather than the portions this would do a roast on Sunday and then the remains would turn into Spanish chicken...got potatoes to be used, and also at least one YS'd stuffing mix that needs using as well...might be a plan.
Sunday tea can either be cheese & crackers or crumpets depending on what we fancy. Personally I'm guessing that cheese will get the nod, but we'll see!

OK - while we're talking about food, a grumble. Butter. Not that long ago I was paying 98p a block for it. Then T's stopped doing their "Value" option and the price started increasing. Just in the course of the past few weeks I've watched it go from £1.29 a block, to £1.30, and now £1.45 - this is for perfectly standard British Salted Butter. :mad: From MySupermarket it looks as though Al's may have a slightly cheaper option - so I may walk there either this evening or tomorrow so see if it's in stock, and if it is I will be buying a few blocks of it to guard against further ludicrous price-increases. Anyone else spotted anything that seems to be increasing in price weekly at the moment? Greying - I know you're good on this stuff? And before anyone suggests "I can't believe it's not butter" or a similar product, thanks, but no - I CAN perfectly well believe it's not butter as it doesn't look, smell, melt or TASTE like butter - plus I want to put butter on my toast, not chemical type ingredients half of which I have NO idea what they are, thanks! :rotfl:

OK - I'm done...! Have a great day, all!

Tea&Kittens

Oh I'm so with you on the butter!

beanielou

With you on the butter.
I bought a cheaper product which was a truely false economy as it is truely dire & will be going in the bin.
Who would think that butter would be such a luxury :mad:

EssexHebridean

I'll report back on the butter situation from Aldi this evening then!

£5.36 spent at the Turkish Supermarket - pack of pittas, pack of flatbreads, jar of tahini and chunk of squeaky-cheese! :T

redofromstart

MrL has british butter on the shelf for £1.35 but it went through the till at £1.20

EssexHebridean

That's good to know Redo - thank you!

Spoilt for choice for British stuff in Al's and all cheaper than the T's offering. I grabbed a couple of packs of "Everyday Essentials stuff at £1.23 a pack, and then picked up a third pack of a standard British butter for £1.33 mainly because I was curious to see if it tasted any different! (Obviously it won't - in fact I bet it's the self-same stuff in posher wrapping!)

Anyway while there I did the sensible thing and got a pot of my favourite yogurt, and another chunk of halloumi as a) we like halloumi and b) it was £1.39 which is the sort of bargain price I won't be turning my back on any time soon!