Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

I made the soup, then dozed off on the sofa after tea so of course I'm not really tired now.

A's scheme to keep kitchen surfaces clear is now in its third day: I think he is hoping he has finally reformed his parents! It's nice to have it spick and span, but I do miss having something nice to look at. I find lack of visual stimulus a problem just as many people find what I would consider normal to be overwhelming!

16/8/18
Spending:
Housekeeping £9.43
MS:
2 extra portions of soup in the freezer for another day - may help us avoid a takeaway?
Only 7 pieces of money in my purse so no 10th coin savings!
Decluttering:
Found a safe storage place for some diaries of Mum's that actually doesn't take up any extra room. She had a fireproof box which turned out to contain letters and early diaries of hers, and the diaries I'd rescued a while ago have joined these. I'm reading her account of the winter of 1960: some lovely days interspersed with bitter cold and damp, and a ginger cat that kept visiting them.

Honeysucklelou2

I like to see things on kitchen surfaces, hence chicken decorated pottery in my kitchen. I find the more minimalist look a little well, too empty!!

How lovely to discover your mum's accounts of the past.

The blackberry coulis sounds delicious.

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

I like to see things on kitchen surfaces, hence chicken decorated pottery in my kitchen. I find the more minimalist look a little well, too empty!!

Me too - I think I'm a relic of another time!

The work on Mum's house is likely to incur yet more expenses as the insurance have refused to compromise on the locks - all the doors have to have the ones they specify, even if the door is nailed shut! I've therefore got some decisions to make as there is a hefty exclusion being applied at present.

It's been a fairly uneventful day: work, mackerel for dinner, a walk in the evening. H is rather upset as a parcel was mistakenly delivered to her old address but when we went to ask about it, the occupant denied all knowledge. For various reasons we know things have gone there and not been returned to their intended recipient, which isn't nice.

I've read some more of Mum's 1960 diary: I wonder whether anyone will find these diaries one day and read our money adventures?! I somehow think it's less likely but that's a shame as there is some great reading!

Spending:
Housekeeping £2.56
Medical £0.45
MS:
Cut DH's hair for him (would it be cheating to call that dcluttering too? ).
10th coin savings 10p

Cherryfudge

We are away to see friends this afternoon, till Monday, so I need a bit of a list to get going as, despite a productive start, (two loads of laundry and the dishwasher have been run), I'm starting to slump.
11am update

• one more load of laundry DONE
• empty dishwasher DONE - and running cleaning cycle
• wash my hair DONE
• unpack from last weekend!! :eek: started
• pack for this weekend
• do at least some of the ironing
• pay credit cards

Then there are the things I'd like to do but probably won't get done:

• visit FiL
• put some plants into the bed by the fence

It's 10 past 10 now so I'm going to report back at 11. (Accountability, my weapon of choice today ).
Spending:
Housekeeping £0.95 (sweets on journey).

Sun_Addict

I've got some of my mum's old diaries from the 1950s. She seemed to either be at the cinema or at a dance! Certainly sounds like she enjoyed herself.

Hope you've had a great weekend away

Cherryfudge

Sun Addict, that sounds like a nice life! I've read some more of the 1960 diary over the past few days and it's still great reading.

It looks as though I never got any further with my list the other day but I just ran out of updating time. Lovely weekend away: I don't think I've ever visited so many tea shops, and while I did offer to buy ice cream, my friend beat me to it, and DH paid when it was our turn, so all in all it's cost me personally very little.

We did manage a car boot sale but it was a bit depleted by the time I was ready (:D) so I only spent 3x50p, though that has netted me some plant pot saucers, travel slippers and a top. Today was a small grocery shop and batteries for the remote - and a motorway coffee, which was far too expensive for what it was. I did debate it, but I was feeling in a coffee mood. I'm not sure which budget it comes out of so for now it's housekeeping.

19/8/18 Spending:
Clothing £1.00
Household £0.50
Donation £1.00
U]20/8/18 [/U]Spending:
Housekeeping £3.19 (coffee) + £1.88
Household £5.00
MS:
£2 coin for savings jar.

Cherryfudge

I was just too tired to record anything yesterday so I will try to sort it all now before it's all so much past history. Nothing really exciting, apart from using my 'bar' shampoo a couple of times, the first of which felt a failure but then I read about using a vinegar rinse, which I did on the second wash and the results are much better. I'm not sure yet about taking it all on holiday as a vinegar rinse might follow me about on the four days we'll be in humid countries!

And talking of holidays - less than ten days to go now! Just DH and me and some very long-haul flights. No qualms about leaving the children as they are all grown up and past the stage of being a danger to each other. As they'll be at home I'm not worried about security either.

I know I have a few last-minute bits to buy for travel but I have most of the things I think I'll need and as my Mum used to say: 'Passport, ticket, money, keys'. Anything else we can buy while there. Well, I'll add travel jabs and visa but those are already done. Oh, and insect repellent.

And my book on travelling light .

Note to self: make mortgage overpayment in the next few days ahead of rise in rates next month. And if I have time, have another go at that wretched bank account application. I still can't believe how much detail they wanted and how hard it was to find it all, but if it's sorted soon, it can go live in October.

So what have I spent recently?
21/8/18 Spending:
Housekeeping £9.87
Garden £0.60
Medical £8.50
Toiletries £1.25
22/8/18Spending:
Housekeeping £8.56
MS:
£2 coin in change for the £2 savings jar
10th coin savings £1.20
Picked more fruit from the garden - a great year so far!
Decluttering:
Made space in the fridge.
A has mowed the grass which really improves the garden!
Gave A permission to trim the younger greengage to a reachable height once we'd picked it.

Cherryfudge

Quite a productive day off: DD came round for lunch and I found pasta and sauce in the cupboards instead of going out for ingredients, then DH and I raided the freezer at dinner time and used up some curry and some Bolognese. I defrosted two curries so one will be my lunch tomorrow. This isn't down to my being super-organised: it's because I have used up my share of this week's food money! However, £30 out of our allowance of £80 was carried forward from last week due to being fed by our friends over the weekend - so all in all the food budget is doing well.

I've looked into having the piano tuned but decided to wait till we get home as the heating will be going on not long after that and it always puts the piano out. I suppose in a strange way the accident has saved me money as, between holiday and sick leave I will have missed about £170 worth of lessons, and saved around £80 on piano tuning! Rather too drastic a way of saving money, but a bit of a silver lining.

I had my last physio session before the holiday, and my last altogether with this particular lady, who is going off to be a specialist. She's been very helpful and she's very pleased with the progress my arm has made. I've now given myself a somewhat frozen shoulder, which is apparently not unusual for this kind of injury, but she's left it in better repair than it was and I have almost total movement in my elbow which she and I are both delighted with.

Other than that I had a couple of trips into town (shops/physio/post office): posted an item I'd sold (reminder to self to shift the money into the right accounts) and bought a plethora of bits and pieces for our trip. I am trying very hard not to buy for the sake of buying, honestly! I did treat myself to a new mascara as I had a bit of a poorly eye the other week and think it may be down to using old mascara. I also bought toiletries which are going on the travel budget as I wouldn't be paying over the odds for tiny bottles normally, especially as I have plenty in at home. I've also got a new charger cable as mine is getting a bit unreliable, and a couple of notebooks - a mini one to try to track expenses as holidays always throw a spanner in the works, and one that I just liked. Oh, and a creme egg (vintage ), and black dye to try to revitalise my faded but fantastically useful black combats.

Spending:
Housekeeping £0.25
Stationery £2.08
Toiletries £2.99
Clothing (dye) £6.50
Electronics £3.00
Holiday £13.70
Donation £2.90
MS:
Picked and cleaned blackberries from the garden - once they are dry they will go in the freezer.
Charger cable on sale price
Dye for combats and tee shirt - sort of new for old for £6.50.
Found travel-sized b!o oil on special offer after deciding not to buy it full price elsewhere.
Remembered to go to the £ shop for brown paper.
Store cupboard meals.
Confessions:
Didn't need one of those notebooks (but it was yellow so I bought it anyway).
Decluttering:
Have thrown out all three old mascaras. Admittedly this hasn't created a huge amount of space.

Onebrokelady

:rotfl:love the confession......it was yellow so I bought it anyway.......what other reason do you need

Cherryfudge

A few small buys today. Er… yesterday. Time I was off to bed really.

I spent longer at work than I have in a good while but finished a piece of work that's been waiting since May! I'm so glad it's done, although rather conscious it's long. It's the write-up of a meeting at which a lot of progress was made. Admittedly a lot has happened subsequently but at least this is all on record now.

DH and I had a chat about jobs still to be done before the holiday and it doesn't look insurmountable, much to my relief. I did decide it would be nice to take my knitting with me and a bit of research indicates it's not usually a problem, but I've invested in a circular bamboo needle so as not to set off metal detectors or prod my fellow travellers. This is the first thing I've ever made using circular needles and I'm a firm convert. For a start, it's so much harder to drop stitches!
24/8/18Spending:
Hobbies £2.58
Housekeeping (borrowed from DH's share!) £7.76
MS:
Enough meat to do another meal each next week.
YS bread