And so it begins: The Pig Vs The Mortgage

pinkypig

It is sooooo cold. We've only had little flurries of snow but it's bitterly cold. The heating and the wood burner have been on so the house is toasty but I dread to think what my gas bill will be:eek:
My fleece lined curtains are lovely so I'm going to order a few more and do the front door curtain and the hall, stairs and landing windows as its really chilly in there.
Money news is I've had three payouts (two free ciders and a try for £1.50 posh coffee which is destined for a hamper) from Shopium and have qualified for my free chocolate santas so I must get those tomorrow before the offer ends. I'm going to put them in ds's stocking.
I've had a small grocery spend on frozen veg, cardamon, cloves and smoked paprika but that's it which is just as well after my spendy day yesterday ( £35 on Christmas presents and food bits, £10 Cs and £10 on two bottles of foundation as it was on offer:eek:). Glad I don't have many days like that anymore.
To try and redress the balance, thrifty things I've done today include;

Made a cake from stores for work to say happy Christmas rather than buying a box of chocs or biccies.

Made 6 jars of chutney using foraged fruit from the freezer and adapted the recipe to use what I had rather than buying additional ingredients.

Made dinner for us, mum and dad and dd's bf. Had ys sausage toad in the hole rather than a full roast dinner. Still had all the trimmings but the meat element was 26p and there are three portions left for lunches

Made a cs basket, some cs dvds , free Shopium cider, foraged jams and chutneys and some poundland chocs into a lovely looking hamper for my dad. Cost very little and looks great. He'll also love it:)

Dried laundry on the airer

Sewed the button back on my coat and repaired ds's school trousers - again. Also turned his scuffed, mud caked shoes back into respectable footwear.

Talked ds out of making a very expensive food tech dish and replaced it with a cheaper, healthier one which also shows more skill. Win/win/win :j

Off to bed to try and get my target number of hours sleep

PP xx

CathT

Our heating been on all day too! We definitely needed it to thaw out after sledging and snowball fights. I plan to assess where I'm up to with Christmas shopping on Wednesday when I have a day off to myself. I always leave stockings until last minute so need to get creative.

pinkypig

CathT wrote: »

Our heating been on all day too! We definitely needed it to thaw out after sledging and snowball fights. I plan to assess where I'm up to with Christmas shopping on Wednesday when I have a day off to myself. I always leave stockings until last minute so need to get creative.

Hiya Cath :wave: it's a case of needs must with the heating isn't it? I'm trying to be thriftier in all areas of life but being cold is miserable and I need to be in this for the long haul so a bit of comfort goes a long way. I also don't want the kids to mutiny:rotfl:

Good luck with sorting out your Christmas stuff. Creativity is good when assembling stockings as is Poundland!!xx

pinkypig

Blinked and today seems to have gone. Work was good, lots of excited little people which is always nice to see:). Things are busy but my marking load is low so on the whole it's easier than usual. Lots of lovely things coming up - Nativity, carol service,panto and a visit from the man himself. Reminds me what a lucky piggy I am

No real money news other than it was a nsd apart from my Christmas bonus chocs from Shopium which were £2 but I'll get it back. Got my claim in just in time:eek:
Other mfw successes included;

A good nights sleep, drank 1.75 litres of water and did my first exercise class since my brush with the lurgy. Not money saving I know but key to my wellbeing and its a fit,healthy and happy piggy that's going to see this through to the end. Must develop good habits

Cheap, healthy eats (porridge for breakfast, lo for lunch and cheats low fat carbonara for dinner using 1/2 pack of cooking bacon,essentials spaghetti and hm garlic bread using 10p ys ciabatta. Fed four of us for about a £1.25 :money:

Daily cleaning routine done.

Feeling really weary so I'm going to read for an hour and then get an early night. Its nice to be tucked up in bed with the leccy blanket on - it is b****y freezing here:eek:

PP xx

pinkypig

The bitterly cold weather has given way to pouring rain over thick ice - lovely:eek: Really hoping the roads are better to drive on in the morning.

I've no real money news except a £4.77 grocery spend on loo roll,onions, rice and milk. There was nothing to TT and my two Shopium claims are still pending.
Work was good as we had a day of lovely, creative activities and baking. We spend so much time prepping for SATs that they don't get enough of this so it felt like a treat for us all:). Must confess to being knackered by the time we'd finished and I'd got cleaned up though!

Successful steps towards my goals included;

An early night, drinking 2 litres of water and a spin class done.

Cheap, healthy eats (porridge for breakfast, hm minestrone soup and ys roll from the freezer for lunch for me,lo toad in the hole for dd and packed lunch for ds , pressure cooker chicken and mushroom risotto and salad for dinner. This is done in 12 minutes which is fab and there is enough leftover for lunch tomorrow and there's four portions in the freezer).

Daily cleaning routine done - this is such a productive 10 minutes. Its literally wipe down the bathroom and kitchen sinks, sweep kitchen floor and put anything visible away. It makes such a difference! No more getting stressy and grumpy when I get home from work because the place looks a mess:)

Load of laundry in

This week's to dos

Batch cook Thai red curry with the rest of the chicken
Hang laundry on airer
Make ds's packed lunches
Daily cleaning routine
Empty indoor bins and put dustbin out for collection
Sort out recycling
Wrap Xmas pressie that arrived in the post today
Menu plan for next week and write shopping list
Make tray bakes for my class and wrap in gift bags
Deliver Xmas pressies and cards to a friend whose going to be away over Xmas
Change beds

Off to try and get another early night - I'm such a light weight:rotfl:

PP xx

Cicatriz_2

Best of luck!

Nice to see another batch cooking enthusiast. I sometimes think about setting up an occasional Indian Takeaway with the amount of made in bulk curry in my freezer...

The cold weather has ruined my gas consumption stats for the year, too.

pinkypig

Cicatriz wrote: »

Best of luck!

Nice to see another batch cooking enthusiast. I sometimes think about setting up an occasional Indian Takeaway with the amount of made in bulk curry in my freezer...

The cold weather has ruined my gas consumption stats for the year, too.

Hiya Cicatriz, :wave: thanks for popping in:)

My utility DD has just gone up:eek: Needs must though...

Batch cooking has changed my life (sad I know:o). It saves so much time not to mention money. It's taken so much stress away when I get home from work tired and uninspired. I'm terrible for vast quantities of soup. Maybe we could do some trading, I love curry:rotfl: xx

pinkypig

Today has been a good day. I'm definitely feeling more like my old self and its nice to have some energy back.
I've not made huge progress on my to do list but I have managed to;

Drink 1.5 litres of water so need to try harder.

Do a weights class

Batch cooked Thai curry - one for tonight with rice and hm flatbread, one for the freezer and two lunch portions.

DD hoovered:j so I didn't need to sweep.

Folded laundry and put away.

Whites wash is in

Dustbins sorted but not the recycling

Visited mum and dad.

In money news (must remember that this is what my diary is about:o) today was Nsd and Shopium have confirmed my payout of £5:)

Tomorrow I would like to;

Visit friend and drop off pressure

Shop for and make tray bakes

Do the ironing

Reboil chutney and add more sugar - its a bit vinegary

Off to have a bit of R&R in front of the telly

PP xx

pinkypig

I do love Friday nights, especially after a manic week. I'm of to bed very soon and no alarms will be set as I intend to sleep until I wake up naturally -bliss:)

Today has gone very quickly as I've been really busy at work. It has however been productive as I've sorted out my classroom which had become a festive tip and I've done my planning for the first couple of weeks of the spring term. I've got a bit of assessment stuff to catch up on over the holidays but that will be all. Only 1 3/4 days left to go:j

Today was a bit spendy but was necessary. £25 on petrol for the week and £26.97 on the weekly food shop. Most of this week's meals are from the freezer but we were very low on fresh stuff so most of that was on fruit, veg and dairy. We may need milk midweek but that should be it.

Shopium paid out today so £5 was transfered to the os account which was a nice feeling as there's been very little happening since pay day.

Other successes included;

Sorted out chutney - tastes yummy now:)

Packaged up Christmas puddings and cakes to be given as gifts.

Cleaned the fridge prior to food shopping

Did meal plan and shopping list for Christmas week

Sorted out the recycling

Fails

No exercise and only drank 1 litre of water:o

Tomorrow's to dos will hopefully be;

Have a slow, Saturday start

Make mince pies

Write a Christmas to do list for my last few jobs

Get out for a long walk

Read for an hour

Clean the house

Find something interesting to do with seabass

Decant sloe gin and make gift labels

Way past my bedtime so I'd best get a wriggle on:)

Hope everyone has a happy, thrifty weekend.

PP xx

pinkypig

I am having a seriously chilled weekend, its so lovely I think I might do it more often:D
Yesterday was spent walking, reading and lounging! I did get the house cleaned (a bit) and made mince pies (laced last year's mincemeat with Aldi amaretto and they were lush) but that was the sum total of my achievement:o
In money news I managed a small TT and yesterday was a nsd. Today will be a nsd too as lunch and dinner are sorted and this afternoon will be a run (once the downpour stops) and a curl up on the sofa catching up on some tv:)
My only other plans are to bottle the sloe gin that's for gifts and to make some labels for them. I'm not sure what to do with the sloes. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe jam. Hope everyone has a happy rest of the weekend.

PP xx