Cherry takes the reins 3 March 2017 at 12:10AM edited 31 May 2017 at 9:21PM in Debt Free Diaries 2.8K replies 164.6K views

Cherryfudge

Thank you Honeysuckelou2, I think it was the one-to-one tuition and my friend's great patience that made the difference. It's one of those things that seems terribly complicated till suddenly you just find it falls into place. I made mistakes when I started talking, but also when I started to think too much about what I was doing: hence my friend needed a lot of patience!

Cherryfudge

A late entry for 20/7/18, which was a long day and I walked a lot and got tired, but I spent it in York where there's always something to discover, and I took a packed lunch so managed to avoid paying for food and drink. In the evening I sat up having a long talk with DS2 during which I discovered I've forgotten a lot of the things I learned on my degree. At least there is Wikipedia to refer to when I can't remember whether one thing happened before another.

My sister had a camera lens for DH which I offered to pay for as it's a good one, though not new. She reckoned she still owed me £60 for groceries from spring last year (I remember I'd done an online shop and she was going to pay me back but it faded into history), so we reckoned the two cancelled each other out.

I also bought some bits and bobs for my dolls' house - didn't go overboard as I haven't started work on it yet, but those miniature things are hard to resist!

Spending:
Travel £9.50
Hobbies £8.45 (+ £60.00)
Housekeeping £2.50 (alas, mostly chocolate!)
MS:
Met up with my sister who gave me a big pack of chocolate brownies!
Good lens for camera at a good price.
Packed lunch and water bottle saving me buying food and drink.
Helpful man on the railway station told me if I caught the TPE trains instead of just whichever came along, I could save £4.00 on my ticket. Those trains fitted in easily with my plans so that all worked out well.

Cherryfudge

We went car booting this morning, though many were packed up by the time we got there! I did, however, buy some odds and ends of wool for £1: some I think I can use and the rest of the bundle will go to my friend who makes knitted trinkets for charity, so they won't be wasted. On the way back we dropped off some pet food and bedding left over from the guinea pig so a friend's piggy can use it (and we can have a bit more space in the shed and the hall).

I decided to go to the market to see if the stall that sells cheap gammon was there: I couldn't find it but did get some pasta sauces, a large cauliflower and, from the greengrocer, two big bags of those long peppers for 40p each! A real bargain when they are usually about £1.80 for a smaller bag. Now I need to think how to use them: I might look for a preserved roasted pepper recipe.

On the way home I found a fiver! It was right by a bench opposite the Police Station so I handed it in. If it's unclaimed for 6 weeks, I can have it. Saturdays must be a good day for errant money as DH once found a tenner in a car park on a Saturday, and it was never claimed.

Returning home, I found J and L had arrived back from holiday with their washing! We had a catch-up and they brought us a fruit bread and cake from their holidays.

DH has been picking raspberries and blackcurrants from the garden. They are delicious.

Once again I feel I could just go to bed early! There are a few jobs to tie up first, though.
Spending:
Donation £1.00
Housekeeping £8.58
MS:
Fruit from the garden
Fruit bread and cake from J&L
947g peppers for 80p!
Cheap wool to trim a project
Posh pasta sauces 2 for £1
£2 coin to savings
10th coin savings 20p (now up to £27.26)
Wombled 9p

Decluttering:
Hay etc to friend's house
Progress in garden: J commented she can see I've been working on it, without me having to tell her!

Honeysucklelou2

York is such a lovely place, I can spend so much time just ambling along the Shambles and watching the river flowing by! My graduation was in the Minster, so I always think of it fondly!

Well done on the fruit harvest. I have used some of my blackcurrant harvest to make a blackcurrant meringue pie. The colour of the middle section is amazing!

Cherryfudge

Blackcurrant meringue pie sounds amazing! I'm not sure ours will last long enough for me to make a pie, but fruit and meringue is always a winner.

Onebrokelady

Well done on the crochet,I have tried several times to learn but I can't get the hang of it, I picked knitting up straight away though
I was looking at my dolls house this morning and thinking I really should do some more to it,the house itself is done but I'm on the furniture now,maybe I will have time this week while I'm on holiday

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent on Sunday, then yesterday I had two coffees 'out', my friend treated me to one and my FiL treated me to the other, so all in all a very enjoyable sociable day that didn't cost much apart from groceries for tea and some books that are on Kindle for 99p at the moment and I don't want to let pass the opportunity to have them.
24/7/18 Spending:
e-books £1.98
Housekeeping £1.40 + (lost receipt)
MS:
Friend bought me coffee and scone then had coffee with FiL later
Wombled 2p
10th coin savings £1
Decluttering:
Cut back lots of oxeye daisies so the path looks less straggly, but no progress in the house.

Cherryfudge

A long day today, but a productive one - and it looks as though I'll be back to work tomorrow! The break in my arm isn't completely healed but it's good enough for me to do some work so long as it's in the office.

Lots of spending, though I also resisted lots of things I would have bought in the past, and didn't find what I was looking for (sandals for holiday - though I probably have enough if I'm honest. I only have the two feet, after all).

Spending:
Housekeeping including lunch while out £13.69
Medical £5.95
Gifts £11.00
Clothing £5.50
Donation £2.00
Toiletries £3.49
Travel £9.30
MS:
Took plenty of water (didn't stop me buying coffee, but limited myself to just one)
Didn't buy a travel organiser, a nice pair of trousers, a long dress, slippers, sandals, some makeup remover and possibly other things I didn't need).
10th coin savings 5p
Confessions:
Bought coffee and sandwich instead of bringing my own.
Decluttering:
Nothing - but I successfully didn't add nearly as much to the house as I usually do.

Cherryfudge

Popped in to work this morning and arranged a back-to-work meeting for tomorrow. Not quite sure what my hours or duties will be but we'll see.

I also did some freezer clearance and am pleased with the result. There's now half a drawer free! I decided to use up the sausages, with mixed success: the fatter sausages were delicious but the thin ones looked dried out and got horribly charred so some people ended up with chicken instead. Still, it all helps achieve freezer space. We had mash with it which was about 3/4 of a bag reduced from £2 to 80p, and fed five of us. Oh, and beans and onions.
A letter has arrived to say one of the banks we use is reducing its reward system (again). I am waiting to change accounts now as I have to give enough notice to my employer to ensure my pay goes to the right place, and since I lost all the work I'd done on the application form when it timed out, I've missed the window and if I start it again now, the first payments will go out on the first day of our holiday so if anything goes wrong, I may not find out in time to sort it. Frustrating but hey ho. I think if I send a form off early in August I should be all right to start the DDs off for the beginning of October - it seems ridiculous to have to wait so long!

A nice little piece of news: DS2 and I heard a sort of coughing sound outside the back door tonight. I thought it might be next door's cat being sick! however, when we investigated, there were two hedgehogs right by the door!

I seem to be getting through this week's housekeeping rather too fast and might have to borrow from DH's share!

I've also been wondering if anybody actually fills in those customer surveys on till receipts. They offer prizes anywhere from £100 to £1000 as far as I can see, so yesterday I did three from my busy day of shopping. No indication of my having won anything yet though.

Spending:
Housekeeping: £3.86
MS:
Sausages from freezer, ditto cake and a burger.
Surveys filled in - which may not profit me at all but we'll see.
All shopping was either on offer or YS.
Confessions:
Threw out 8 very blackened sausages!

Cherryfudge

Weary again this evening though I haven't walked far. I had my meeting with work and we've got a scheme to get me slowly up to my contracted hours. Next week I'm doing three lots of three hours, so not too bad at all.

Thunderstorms morning and evening, particularly evening, and a good dose of rain! Not as much as last time but still real rain, absolutely torrential for a short while. Otherwise incredibly muggy. DD came over and we had lunch in the garden, admiring clouds of butterflies on a very big buddleia next door. One to remember in the dark days of winter! The weather has knocked out East Coast trains and led to the cancellation of H's walk tomorrow - a huge venture expected to last most of the day and involve summits which were deemed not to be a good idea because of the risk of lightening.

I had plans to do housework but really? In this heat?! Instead I cleaned kitchen surfaces and the dishwasher, did a bit of ironing and watched a box set then suddenly realised it was time to get to the shop then make tea. Didn't spend much as H bought milk for us all. I'm back on painkillers this evening as the arm is sore and hot. I don't know if this is from physio yesterday or the heat today but it will be better in the morning.

Spending:
Housekeeping 93p
MS:
Too low a supermarket spend to be worth using a loyalty card.
YS bread - big loaf for 36p
10th coin savings 6p
Decluttering:
Progress on the back garden, though nothing very noticeable.
Finished up smoothie mix and liver from the freezer but put a box of leftovers in.