Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

NSD.

Went for a run and the weather was beautiful, but I'm getting a pain in my foot after running which is a bit of a concern.

No decluttering achieved unless you count ousting a large spider that had taken up residence in the larder. Now I feel a bit bad abut that as it was very cold overnight last night and feels the same tonight and the spider was last seen trying to look invisible in a corner of a garden ornament.

I made a big pan of soup using a wonderful recipe DD gave me, which is as MS as I get today. I ran out of time to do any more on the garden but I have a day off tomorrow so I'm hoping to do gardening and Christmas cake baking. Of course I ought to do various admin-type things too but we'll see...

Cherryfudge

Late (and not very thorough) update for 19th:

DH had his hospital appointment and as far as we know all is okay - it's an annual check which we don't look forward to but at least we have access to health care.

I bought dehumidifiers as the cold nights are giving us a lot of condensation. It's to do with the design of the house and will be part of the pattern of things till spring.

I also bought baking stuff and made the Christmas cake - it's basically all right though rather well tanned - and has such dramatic cracks in the top that I think I'd better decorate it to resemble a skiing scene with chamois jumping from crag to crag and a few pine trees clinging to the perilous brink... Smells good, though.

Time I went to bed: I'll look out the receipts in the morning.

Honeysucklelou2

Christmas cake making is always one of my half term jobs. The smell through the house is wonderful!

Cherryfudge

I love the smell too, Honeysuckle .

I think I've worked out roughly what happened to the cake: firstly I used the oven that doesn't have a fan as it's an old recipe and the fan dries it out. However, I very rarely use that oven and the cake rose a lot more than usual so I had to move it down a shelf because the top was over-doing - hence 'tanned' effect. Secondly, and possibly also a contributing factor, I used a new cake tin which was slightly deeper than the old one. I'm wondering if it was a fraction smaller too? Thus the unexpected rise. Thirdly, I mixed using a food processor which I've never done before, but I doubt that had any effect.

Spending yesterday:
Housekeeping £11.29, including some of the ingredients for the cake, so maybe I should be counting it under 'entertainment'?
Household £8.98 (dehumidifiers and Christmas decs).
MS:
10th coin savings 40p
Confession time:
We didn't actually need decorations but they were only £6... says she, thinking 'and they're so cute'.
We now have 4 pots of mixed spice. I have to steel myself and throw out the well-out-of-date ones that don't smell of anything much any more.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Christmas decorations are tempting. We definitely don't need any so I should avoid Christmas shop displays!

Cherryfudge

Car boot season is over so I'll put that Saturday morning tradition to bed till spring. We went for a run instead (healthier and cheaper ), then this afternoon and evening I've been at work, followed by a quick trip to the supermarket when I discovered we didn't have any fruit that I liked. Kind of tired now (bedtimes are creeping later) so I'll summarise:

Spending:
Housekeeping £4.89
MS:
10th coin savings £2.00

No decluttering.

Cherryfudge

Late entry for 21/10/18:
Spending:
Housekeeping £0.64

Work hours have been juggled around a bit this week so I only did an hour and a half today for a meeting (which was productive ) and tomorrow I'm in during office hours which could be useful. I'm getting more of my 'proper' duties again as my fitness to work improves so I want to leave a lasting impression of the office work while it's been allocated to me.

I went to the shops for various bits today so I'm trying to sort what goes into which budget. There are items for the running of Mum's old house which I've immediately reclaimed from the estate - wonders never cease! As long as I remember they are reclaimed already, that should make things a lot easier than fondly assuming I'll have an inkling when I get to the end of the week.

This evening we have our meeting with the person who is going to fit our stove, so that's exciting! We are a little less well off than we were an hour ago, though, as I've just subbed DS2 £50 - he's very much the impoverished student!

Spending:
Mum's house £15.46
Housekeeping £5.10
Extra housekeeping for Mum's house (this felt complicated) £45.12 plus £2 delivery... less loyalty points at £44.50. Total for order £2.20! Not sure how they worked that out but I'm not complaining.
Household £4.10
Gift £50
MS:
Wombled 1p
Used an accumulation of loyalty points to get very cheap food. I saved them up because there were deals to be had but we never use them so rather than lose them, use them.
10th coin savings 40p
Confession time:
Discovered £9.00 worth of points are out of date and can no longer be claimed back, so I'm slightly annoyed with myself. There was a time when it would have made more of a difference but thankfully (due at least in part to this site) we have more than we used to.

Onebrokelady

Hope the meeting about your stove went well,I would love one but don't have a chimney in my house

Cherryfudge

The stove meeting seems to have been very successful, thanks. It's an older house so one of the (originally four) fireplaces is still in use and the stove will be quite straightforward by the look of things. We did add another £250 or so to the estimate by remembering we want downlighters in the inglenook... I know that's an indulgence but it will add so much to the final result... He's also fitted us in in a couple of weeks' time which means we won't have any excuse not to get on with the decorating before Christmas! The stove is the biggest part of the project, the wallpaper and paint is the cheapest but as we're altering the hearth and the existing carpet is very battered, there is a new carpet, curtains and sofas to find the money for at some point, too! It's all sounding very costly... we've limped along for many years with old and second hand things though so it will be nice to have a room that looks as though it was 'meant'. I also have two little wooden armchairs that I inherited which I keep meaning to re-varnish (I know paint is trendy it would be wrong for these). There is a firm that cuts the specialist cushions to fit them but I don't know how much that would be.

I'm working on Mum's old house for the next few days so I may not be around till the end of the week.

23/10/18 spending:
Housekeeping £5.29
Train fare £54.06 (reclaimed)
MS:
Saved £5.04 with split tickets
Wombled 25p
10th coin savings £1.15
£2 savings = £4

NoOneAround

Hi Cherry,
Haven't been around for a while and have just read a dozen or so posts back,. You seem as organised as ever, I wish I had been as diligent at keeping up diary, as i feel am not quite on top of finances as I should be, and posting does really help. Should catch up some more with diaries and guilt trip myself into getting act together with MSE food!

Have a lovely day.
NOA
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