Bricks Not Books

Greying_Pilgrim

Sorry to hijack your thread (again) VintageHistorian - I just wanted to say thank you to Ladysummerisle for the bean and feta recipe that was posted upthread. I made a version of it for our tea tonight. It was fab, and definitely a keeper of a recipe - with a few tweeks to make it with what I had/the addition of a vinagrette. I've put a pic on my thread.

Greying X

VintageHistorian

Hijacking not a problem at all @Greying_Pilgrim it's good to share these things, wherever the discussion starts! ❤️

Unfortunately salads aren't something I can indulge in as I'm one of those hideous fussy eating adults that "never grew up" 😅 I suspect I have a touch of ARFID, just without the neurodiversity that it often goes hand-in-hand with, as much of it is a texture issue rather than a taste issue (although in the case of peas and sweetcorn it's also definitely a taste issue). It does make summer eating a bit harder than it should be, but I muddle along as best I can.

VintageHistorian

April OP total - £29.94. Wish I'd realised how close I was to £30 as I would have found £1.06 from somewhere.

New month, so going to have a little money reset. We're out of the birthday season in my family, there's just Father's Day next month and that can wait, and then the next birthday isn't until September. I might put £20 to one side for Christmas present buying, if I spot anything exceptionally good in the shops.

Haven't done the money shuffle yet as the mortgage won't go out until Tuesday. But I did pay council tax and EDF last night, paid £150 into my S&S ISA and sent the CB money to DS's JISA so some shuffling has taken place.

Swapped some more of DS's things for £10 yesterday, that's gone in the Disney jar. I have £11 sitting in PA so must remember to cash that out this month, and I have £3.66 sitting in TCB so I'll try to remember some more Waitrose giftcards this month and then cash out that.

Still haven't totted up the holiday spends so must do that this weekend so Mr VH can do his own money shuffle and send me his share.

This month I would like to underspend on the food/groceries budget by £10. Not much but it's better than overspending by £10, which is what normally happens. Looking at the meal plan there's no major costs except perhaps a picky dinner for Eurovision night, but I already have two (possibly 3) contributions towards that sitting in the freezer and plenty of time to get more yellowstickered bits if I see anything nice.

Me and DS had our first car boot trip of the season this morning. I managed to keep my purse firmly shut despite beind tempted by some vintage books and a large bright green pie dish. DS spotted a small slide and pointed it out but I think he would already be a bit too big for it. I also don't think he realised it was for sale and just wanted to play on it next to a strangers car 🤣 The purse did open in M&S on our way home though as I needed some ciabatta rolls and a loaf of farmhouse bread, and treated myself to a freshly baked bloomer and some paprika crisps, and got some tortillas for Mr VH. But the bread was definitely needed so swings and roundabouts.

I am off work on Tuesday as I'm doing my £25 talk and didn't see the point of working half a day when I also have Wednesday off. DS will still go to my parents so I'm going to use the morning to sort out stock in my online shop. It's gotten quite messy, lots of things needed to be redesigned and reordered, and it needs a thorough tidy up. I also need to order more packaging as I'm running low on padded envelopes and other bits. I think it actually needs a full day rather than 3 hours in a morning but I'll do what I can for now.

DS was up at 5:30 this morning and went to his nap a bit late so I'll get him up in about 10 minutes. Dinner tonight is chicken and parma ham pasta 🤤 Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

Money has been shuffled. OPs over just over £25 have been made. Bills have been paid and savings have been plumped up.

This week I am £5 under on the food budget. Long may that continue! This is despite me purchasing a bunch of yellowstickers in Waitrose (I arrived just as 50% off reductions were being processed so go 2 packs of chipolatas for 90p each, ham and cheese kievs for £2.50, cheesecake slices for £2.50, and a packet of frites for tonight's dinner), and then deciding to splurge on a 3 items for £12 deal that I don't normally pay attention to but that actually served me well this time. I needed southern fried chicken fillets for tomorrow and they're included in that offer. So I also got some chimichurri steaks for this evening (delicious with the reduced frites), and a pack of pork fillets which will go in the freezer for a future dinner.

I also ended up getting an extra large whole chicken as all the large ones had a use by date for tomorrow 😒 But that also worked out quite well as they're currently 20% off so per kg were quite a bit cheaper than the large ones, so I spent less than I would have done. I'll see how much extra meat I get off it, I can always have some additional chicken sandwiches and freeze some more meat for future roast dinners for both us and DS.

I'm trying not to feel too smug about it all, clearly some food stars were very well aligned today. I really didn't need the cheesecake slices and although they were nice enough for a reduction they're not something I would buy again. I like cheesecake but we've had a very indulgent April so I need to move a bit more before I consume excessive sugar.

Yesterday I did my shop stock tidy, popped to town to pay in the cheque from my pre-holiday talk, and then did my cheaper talk in the afternoon. It was a new one so they were my guinea pigs. I might need to swap the content round a bit as I think it started off a bit weak, but they enjoyed it and some of the members were having a thorough chat about it all as I left so I consider that a victory! The £25 cash is my purse for car boot season and I've just moved £25 from my account into my ISA, saves me paying it in and then taking it back out again in a few weeks.

DS is continuing to be a small hurricane of emotions. He's resisting naps a lot at the moment and I'd consider dropping them if he didn't look so wiped out at lunch time. Today he resisted for over an hour until I took him into mine and Mr VH's room, a couple of minutes later he was fast asleep on the bed next to me and slept soundly for an hour. Silly little thing. How does one small little body contain so much person?

Breakfast and lunch have been made for tomorrow. I'm getting the post-day-off doom again. Oh how I wish I could be a lady of leisure, if only for a few weeks before I get bored and need to start doing things again 😅

Have a good week everyone!

Greying_Pilgrim

Those MrW spends-4-saves sound fantastic VH! You got some really nice foodstuffs, that you quickly made into 'meals' (for now, and for later). The juggling with the ex.large chicken is a masterclass in on-the-spot decision making, rolling into a plan of action. Well done you. £5 under budget is not to be sniffed at! Especially with all those 'future meals/meal components' stored away too 👍

Greying X

VintageHistorian

Thank you Greying! It was an alignment of the stars, come back next week for me complaining about how there were no good reductions next time round 🤣

Actually the stars were less aligned today. Mr VH is working today so after we had breakfast I took DS out. I had a voucher to try a free frittata from Higgidy (spotted an ad on Instagram), walked up and down the chiller aisles several times but couldn't spot it at all. And no useful reductions either. Then popped to the nearby M&S and got my favourite bread, but no good yellowstickers there either. But I did record some content for the new project so it wasn't a completely wasted trip.

The planned £20 spend on Christmas gifts has turned into £20 on clothes for DS. Although I had got some things for him for the warmer weather he needs more as he tends to come home from nursery covered in dirt and food. I'm not fussed about it, I have a washing machine and I never send him there in "best" things. But it does mean a t-shirt doesn't last longer than 24 hours and coupled with needing a few spares etc, I need a bigger stock than I currently have. So I've bought some shorts and t-shirts off Vinted and got some more shorts in Sainsburys earlier.

I also finally bit the bullet and bought the label printer. Or rather, Mr VH bought it as it was about £20 cheaper if you had a Prime account. So he ordered it and I told him to take the money off the holiday spends he owed me so I don't need to transfer anything back. It has arrived but I haven't set it up yet. Now I can start listing things on eBay again, they're clearly discouraging you from physically going to the Post Office to buy postage yourself.

Me and Mr VH had a chat last weekend and have tentatively decided that we'll look to move house in 2029. Next year is our 10th wedding anniversary and even if we decide against Disney (got to see what the cost will be when they release booking spaces in September) I'd still like us to have a bit more of a treat holiday, so that will be our main 2027 cost. DS will also be starting school so I'd like to give him an academic year to get settled and see how he does, rather than disrupt him further by moving house as well. And by the end of 2028 we should have tipped until the £100k mark on the mortgage, so we should have a solid amount paid off that can be used towards a new place.

It also gives us plenty of time to finish off the things we want to do (replace the kitchen white goods, get some new blinds etc), overpay the mortgage more and save more towards all the moving costs. My original aim for my "share" was £5k but I calculated that a few years ago and will definitely be more by now. The car is still my focus for the time being, but I think eBay sales (especially decluttering ones that aren't DS's belongings) will be sent to the house move costs pot. I currently have about £3.5k saved for that purpose but I think I'll need closer to £7k or even £8k, depending on various factors.

Dinner tonight is oven pizzas. DS will be trying an M&S salmon fishcake for his dinner. He likes salmon when at my parent's house but he's never tried it in fishcake form. I do need him to have a bit more variety, frankly, so I'm hoping this will be a success.

Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

£1.43 TT sent to the mortgage. £5 from selling DS's outgrown toys put in the Disney jar.

The stars aligned again on Wednesday! Came home with reduced macaroni bites (for picky tea tomorrow night), a packet of duck legs (for under £2.50!?), a pack of duck breasts, some lamb meatballs (I'm sure I have a recipe for lamb meatballs with orzo somewhere) and some tempura battered chicken. All in the freezer and meal plan partially adjusted. Some things, like the meatballs, need to be a weekend cook so I can concentrate on them but I have some favourites I cook at weekends too. A stuffed freezer is a lovely problem to have so it's not a complaint!

Currently at £9 under the food budget this week but I need some more bread and possibly one extra item for tomorrow's picky tea so that might push it back to £5.

Tonight I have cooked myself spaghetti carbonara. First time I've made it. I love carbonara but in this country it's always cooked with cream and I wanted something closer to the Italian experience. It was saltier than it should have been and I know a few other mistakes I made as I went. But it was edible, which means I can build on it. If it was inedible I wouldn't try again (because I know if I've mucked something up that bad and can't see it then I'll make the same mistake again).

No big plans this weekend. Might take DS to the car boot sale tomorrow. Going to make bolognese ready for Monday (it tastes better when it's had time to rest). Really need to do some baking so might make cookies if I can keep DS out the kitchen long enough.

Have a good weekend everyone!

beanielou

I’ve made carbonara with crème fresh before and it was nice.

VintageHistorian

Oh I've never considered that beanie! Might be one option to keep up my sleeve.

£5.07 TT sent as an OP. I am well under the budget for food shopping this week but I need to get hot dog rolls and a loaf of bread on Sunday so that will change slightly. I've used up some more things from the cupboard including a bag of Maltesers I got back in November, and I'm now working my way through some Ferrero Rocher my in-laws kindly gifted me back in December.

Had a few yellowstickers again on Wednesday, the biggest bargain being punnet of strawberries reduced from £4 to £1! DS is firmly in his berry phase as a toddler so for £1 it didn't matter if they went mouldy by the weekend, he's already munched his way through half the pack. Also got a bag of easy peelers for 60 pence (I think) which he's less interested in, but Mr VH can eat those.

The big bargain though was a mirror I bought at the car boot sale! A seller was packing up their van to leave but some larger things were still out, all vintage-style. There was a nice sized rectangular mirror with a carved gold-colour frame (I'm sure you can all image the style I mean). I asked the price thinking "If they say £10 then I'll take it", I was stunned when the woman said £5! Clearly they just didn't want to have to transport it home. So I bought it and transporting it became my problem 😅 Luckily it wasn't too heavy so I managed to heave it under one arm and push DS in his pushchair with the other.

It's a bit mucky so needs a clean, and I have spotted one small chip on the frame, but for the sake of £5 I can live with a chip and the time needed for a proper wipe down. But me and Mr VH have been looking for a mirror for 9 years and have never seen one we liked enough to spend proper money on. If we decide we don't like the colour of the frame then we'll just repaint it. If we muck up the paint job then we give the mirror away. For how little it cost it was worth a punt. Now Mr VH just needs to see if he can find a large enough screw for the hallway wall.

I am not looking forward to this heatwave but I'll get some laundry done (maybe bedsheets?) to at least make it useful. Dinner this weekend will be toad in the hole, which is not conducive to the heat. I should also do some batch cooking for DS this weekend, might save that for Sunday. DS also wants to bake a cake this weekend so we'll do a lemon drizzle. Dinner tonight was leftover roast pork belly from the freezer, with gravy and a yorkshire pud also from the freezer, and some potatoes.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you VH you've prompted me to wash all the brushed cotton duvet covers and sheets this morning. Far too hot now for them. But DH is going into work this morning, so I wouldn't be able to get all his workwear done anyway. Doing the bedding is by far the next best option to take advantage of the weather 😁

Bargain strawberries - how fab 🥰

Have a great weekend!

Greying X