Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Bucket List:

1) Shop at Iceland on a Tuesday...

Cherryfudge

Today has been a patchwork day of all sorts and far too much food.

The morning was sodden, cold and grey. J delivered the dog to us first thing and I had a lovely time playing 'Catch the plastic banana'. At about lunch time the sun came out and it felt milder (8 degrees is now 'milder'), so I put the washer on and went out to my colleague's leaving do. Due to the timing of the morning rain, I didn't get to do a separate shop for a food contribution but that was all right because I had pizza and pasta from yesterday, which went down well. We all seemed to have a really nice time.

When I got back, I took the dog for a walk, then DH returned from work and we went to A and Hs for tea via the supermarket to contribute a pudding. On the way home DH dropped me off to buy bananas (and a few other things due to my having an inspiration about advent calendar fillers) and picked up a friend to go to his evening group.

All a bit complicated, especially not having had to make a meal for us for a couple of days but still having spent on food. I've tried to think ahead and get frozen fish for Saturday rather than chip shop fish, but other than that and a few yellow labelled discounts, I suspect it's been a bit expensive.

Spending:
Gifts £2.11 (dairy-free homemade sweets for H and A's Advent calendar: that will be fun if I'm organised enough to make them)
Housekeeping £24.92

Tonight, I'm thankful for a good leaving do for my colleague and a manager making a really nice speech about her which I think was needed. Also for a sunny afternoon and walking the dog. For time with A, H and baby N, who is now at the pushing a trolley stage of nearly walking. For a texted conversation with a colleague. For just getting in my 10,000 steps.

Sun_Addict

I'm 62 now, I really don't feel officially old either physically or mentally. I can't get the discount at Iceland as I don't have the required ID - I'm too young to have a bus pass, I don't have a driving licence and don't use trains often enough to get the use from a senior railcard. I'd feel like a fraud anyway as I'm still working full time.

badmemory

Won't they accept a passport - I know you must have one.

Cherryfudge

badmemory said:

Won't they accept a passport - I know you must have one.

It looks as though they do accept a passport - the proof of ID needs to have your date of birth, so that's definitely an option. I don't recall seeing Iceland on your shopping trips, @Sun_Addict, so perhaps it's not relevant to you anyway.

I don't plan to retire soon and I'm still (just!) under 60, but DH took a major drop in income when he left his old job, and he's just reached the magic number, so perhaps he should shop there on a Tuesday!

Sun_Addict

I don’t find them that cheap so don’t go very often which is a shame as we have a decent sized one on our local high street. 

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

I'm 62 now, I really don't feel officially old either physically or mentally.

I feel the same as you - not old enough for that! I'm a little less healthy since I had Covid, as I don't have quite the breath capacity I had, and I'm certainly less fit than I was, but I'm still active and working. I do know a couple of college friends who are now in much worse health than I am, though slightly younger, so I can see that through no one's fault, life is harder for some than others.

I'm torn between stretching the money a bit and leaving bargains for those less well off than I am, so my bargain shopping only gets fully unleashed late in the day - for instance marked down meats at Lidl which I know they throw out after closing. If it's near clearing up time in Lidl, I will swoop on bargains, but if there are still a couple of hours to go, I'll leave things for others. I know that store quite well, and the evenings are both quiet and understaffed, so things get cleared away early to allow the staff to finish in time.

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

I don’t find them that cheap so don’t go very often which is a shame as we have a decent sized one on our local high street. 

Oops, sorry, cross posted with you there.

I used Iceland a lot when the kids were little, then for years there wasn't one locally. When they came back, I found we had grown out of a lot of their lines, so I'm slowly rediscovering the shop as an adult. Our local one has some decent mark-downs on fruit, which is what made me aware again, but they also do a veggie lasagne for £1 which makes a good hot meal to take to work (I'm sure they do meat ones too), and some other £1 lines.

I don't know about the more expensive things as I don't look at them!  

Cherryfudge

Not much to report over the last couple of days: work, mostly. I spent £1 today to get a decent liquid soap for work as the stuff they supply is very harsh. I don't remember spending anything before that.

Thursday was DS2's birthday but last we heard he was in Iceland. He tried to arrange a meal with family which I couldn't attend due to work, but in the end, nothing came of it. I think I might have a try at finding a date we can all manage, but it's far from easy.

Today was my day off from church cleaning but I got our laundry done to make the most of a breezy and not-too-chilly day. DH had a dental appointment to try to rescue the implant that the dentist pulled out back in summer. He now has the base back in place and the dentist is pleased with the bone growth so perhaps this one will hold. DH also made me an appointment, which is long overdue. I sacked my previous dentist for carrying out and charging for work without agreeing it or even forewarning me. My last appointment could have been three or four years ago, and I have another couple of years to go on the waiting list for the NHS dentist. This appointment is private but with the NHS dentist. I'm not having any problems but that's not a guarantee everything's okay. We'll see.

I did some shift-swapping with a colleague who is affected by the December train strikes. It means a weekend shift which attracts a bonus, so I actually do okay from it financially. I've also offered some help to our sister-service which is short staffed. I hope I don't overstretch myself!

Well, I'm on an early shift tomorrow so I'd better go.

Things I'm thankful for tonight: free cakes at work, a colleague offering to do my write-ups as I was rushed, DH's dental work happening and okay so far.

Cherryfudge

I'm tired today. The morning shift was tight on staffing then one of the clients needed extra support, so I didn't get lunch till nearly when I was due home. Meanwhile staff are having difficulty getting to work due to train strikes so my colleague offered someone a lift home and I wrote up all the notes (she wrote them last night so that's fair).

I also had bad news of someone's work situation, so by the end of the day I needed to walk off some physical energy to counteract the mental energy. I took a back roads path that I used to run on so I know I did about 3km after which I was tired all through. Then I called into Ice1and in case they had any bargains, which they had! I love markdowns and special offers and got some fish and lots of fruit at half price. That said, I think I would have been paying these prices as the un-discounted norm a year ago. It was gratifying to get bags of four large oranges for £1.25: we get through lots of these at 50p an orange normally. Total spend £8.50 (housekeeping). The fish was nice and a lot cheaper than buying from the chip shop, besides being fewer calories, but I hadn't thought about cooking methods and ended up using the small oven.

Talking of fuel, I'm looking into briquettes for the log burner which could be expensive if I ever get round to ordering, but might save on using peak rate fuel, or substitute for gas/electric if we get a power cut.

Things to be thankful for: being able to make progress for the client needing support, being able to walk off tension, healthy food bargains after all the junk I've eaten recently, what seemed like a break in my glasses being easily repairable, only one more shift till days off!