Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

And I've just found out the hard way that I can only edit a post once, so I will continue with nothing to repot.
That will probably be a small but significant difference for the future of these forums as you used to be able to dip in any number of times and add, alter or delete bits of posts.

VelvetFreak

Congrats to your DH on the new job and to your DS for passing the probation period. 

Sorry for the strange weather. I’d offer to send you mine instead but I think it might be worse  

Cherryfudge

Thank you Velvet .
Another sunny, breezy day and so far no miserable interludes. Shame I did all that washing yesterday, in a way, as today would have been perfect drying weather. All I've managed so far, apart from reading various threads on here, has been setting the dishwasher going and rescuing a huge coffee mug from the back of the top shelf as all the decent-sized ordinary ones were being washed.  I must measure the capacity of this huge ones some time - it looks like a pint to me!

I have managed to get washed and dressed (Okay... 'I should hope so too') but no hoovering as DS2 asked not to be disturbed and I think he's earned it. For some reason I'm not looking forward to tonight's leaving do though the colleague it's for is so nice, we had lots of goodbye hugs already. I think it's actually petty me: why do we always have to go to the same place?! Isn't that daft? I don't have to order the same thing, do I? It's also banquet night so four courses for a tenner which is pretty good.

Before that I have a shopping list and I might just go to work and sign the leaving card. It's far too sunny to stay in even if I would rather hibernate.

Cherryfudge

I managed to sign the card at work and added a bit to the collection for the colleague, then went into town and found it's market day. I used to go to the market regularly, but I think that petered out once I started working, or maybe some other time: having more income and less time definitely stopped me shopping round as much but with hindsight I probably buy more healthily now. That is partly because I don't visit the stall which does cheap groceries, particularly OOD biscuits and cakes.

Well, I've been back to it. Also to a greengrocer's stall that was selling bagged up fruit and veg for £1 a go. After that I went down the High Street armed with my shopping list and got distracted by discovering the £ shop is closing. This isn't as major as it sounds, as the shop next door is run by the same people and there have always been some of the same things in both. It will reduce choice, I suppose. I'll list the purchases with notes as to where bought in case it helps me make good decisions in future.

I've also set aside £11 for tonight's meal and as I'm just getting water with it... will try not to spend more.

Spending
Gift £3
Housekeeping £7.46
Household £2.98
Toiletries £5.56
Medical £1.49
Household (to reclaim from Mum's estate) 7.98 (I think that was 4p cheaper than down the road)
Entertainment (meal out tonight) budgeted £11
House keeping as below:
Fruit stall 685g tomatoes £1, 439g red peppers £1, Braeburn apples £1
Cheap grocery stall 2 packs of flapjacks £1 (saved 44p as against Mr T), Wag0n Wheels x 8 £1 (same as when on promotion at supermarket), Sundried tomato sauce 2 for £1 (E4.50 each online!)
Wilk0s Cotton wool  90p, cheaper by 10p than elsewhere
£ Shop Hair mousse £1, large Epsom salts £1.99
Cheap toiletries shop Shampoo for DH 99p (we'll see if he likes it!), extra large sticking plasters £1.49 (can't get the big packs for £1 that I used to buy from the £ shop), tissues 69p (cheaper than other brands but possibly not cheapest)
Mr T cappuccinos on offer
Eco shop I didn't note price per 100g but a jar of basil for 14p and a small amount of crushed chillies 16p! Also brazil nuts and almonds.

Sun_Addict

Well done to DH getting the job, that’s brilliant 🎉 🥂 Plus good news DS passed his probation period 👍

Cherryfudge

I'm really happy about both, SA.   And further positive news in that our older children have made up.
The meal out was fun - I have some 'lively' colleagues - but as so often, something in it is disagreeing with me. I've come to the conclusion it's something about naan bread, as I'm not brilliant with white flour. Last time I had an Indian meal I skipped the naans and was okay. This time someone handed me some and although I only had a bit, I suspect that's what makes me feel unwell. Someone bought me a drink, so I didn't stick to my water-only plan, but I did manage not to eat everything just because it was there. I also walked there and back - I've been really short of exercise recently so I needed to and it gave me a chance to catch up with someone who lives near me.
I forgot to allow for a tip so I've spent £12.
I didn't work out my money saving for the day but I think just about everything was a bit of a bargain. I need to get back into that mindset and somehow get DH into it too. He has taken to getting YS items over the past few years which is good, especially as he doesn't buy them just because of the yellow sticker. He goes for items we will use, which is an art form in itself.
Not much decluttering again - a couple of bits of paper, that's all.

Tonight I'm thankful for proper daylight at 4 o'clock, children making up, some shopping bargains and the fact the £ shop staff aren't losing their jobs (they're being redeployed);

Cherryfudge

Today looks like being an NSD. I'm off to work shortly and staying after my shift to do the sleep in.
I've reclaimed the money for the timers for Mum's old house and added it to my spreadsheet.
The downside of this is I forgot to get a Valentine's card yesterday and I won't have time today. Oh dear. I'll have a quick look around at home as I have some lovely cards stashed for special people but I'm not sure there will be anything Valentines-ish! However by the time I get home from work in the morning, DH will already have left for work so I might be able to buy one.

Onebrokelady

Excellent news on your DH getting a new job and it sounds less stressful so that's a bonus, also hooray to the children making up, life feels so much better when all is calm and no one has anything to moan about 😀 I feel your pain re the naann bread,I love it and would be very upset if I couldn't eat it again, I have to be careful with takeaways,I no longer eat Chinese because of the high levels of MSG they normally contain, my pain levels go through the roof if I eat MSG

just out of interest what happens if you try to edit your post more than once 

Cherryfudge

Hiya OBL,
Thanks for the nice comments. I only tried once to edit my post a second time and the edit thing simply wasn't there.
 I might try again some time as the new format forum may still be in Beta, who knows.
So... I did the sleep at work last night and it was okay. Six hours of kip, passable. I'm back on shift this afternoon. Came home to a Valentine's card propped on the computer (DH knows where to find me, LOL) and a letter from a PPI attempt to say they hadn't found anything. To be honest I sent in a few claims and some have just timed out because I got too stressed to look at them. This is the main reason I'm not a financial wizard!  
This morning I spotted Martin (we don't have the sainted Martin emoji any more - this is definitely a retrograde step ) or someone else at MSE has put an article about expiring Clubc@rd vouchers. I got anxious just opening my account (why? I mean, why? But that's what happens) and discovered I have plenty of in-date loyalty points and none about to expire, so that's okay. I noticed I could use them for D£nby which is worth knowing as we have a set and one bowl is chipped. They are so expensive, but super-durable. I also collect vintage D£nby: there's a range called Homestead which my parents had but which ceased production in the 1980s. However they are so super-strong that you can still pick up pieces (at near current prices sometimes, LOL) on 3bay. I doubt loyalty points will buy those though.
Anyway I don't have to spend them yet, so one source of stress deferred.
The new rota is out at work so I've picked up a couple of extra shifts but I haven't gone mad... I also had some annual leave granted so I will get days off when I wouldn't normally. DH and I have booked a couple of London days in March: split tickets to save money and a hotel further out which is also lots cheaper. I'm planning coffee and snacks to take to save cash. I hope to take my trusty travel kettle with me as a belt-and-braces approach.
I noticed I didn't do my MS list the other day, so here's goes:
10th coins into savings = 25p
£2 coin into savings
I also decluttered 7 pieces of paper from my bag.

Sun_Addict

I always spend my Tesco Clubcard vouchers on magazine subscriptions, saves me a fair bit 👍