<<<out of cheese error>>>

redofromstart

Thanks for all the suggestions re perfume. Greenbee I had a sample squirt of the Paul Smith one and know I like it. It was a ridiculously low price on allbeauty but I dithered because I hadn't heard of them and missed it! Thanks Seaside, its good to know someone has used them, and I will not dither next time.

Busy week, lots of travel. Lots of petrol spends but I get it all back. Hoping for a calmer project this week, with more time at home but the nature of what I do is very reactive.

Spending this morning, or investing more accurately. Still trying to sort the utilities issue out and whilst looking for some emails found one from the last interim pension scheme so I registered and logged on. My c£250 contributions are now £950 with growth and employer contributions so that was good to see. I am checking to see if I can use it as a personal pension and make direct debit contributions, but if not I need to set another fund up. I'm still grateful to Seasidegal for making me see that the best returns are via the pension, I might just have opted out otherwise. Its dangerous to put all of our eggs into OHs pension, time to look after me. I have a two tiny pots final salary schemes but nothing of any substance and that needs to change.

I've also had a look at the paperwork for the boys junior isas, these simply have the cash from the government in, so one boy got 2 x £250 and the other one £250 as the rules had changed by then. I am going to make a one off payment in DS2s to make it fair, and then do a small monthly standing order into both while I have cash available. Must just check that the interest rate isn't better on a childs monthly saver though.

Foodwise, made a nice humus yesterday using equal amounts of chickpeas and cooked green lentils, blitzed with oil, lemon juice, turmeric, smoked paprika and cumin. Little tub of that and some carrot sticks gives me an easy portable lunch. I'm not keen on garlic or tahini so I don't use them. The green lentils I cooked in veg stock with a bay leaf.

Beef joint out for pot roasting later, should be enough left for packed lunches. I might make some eccles cakes with the gluten free flour, the texture seems more suitable to shortbread/pastry than cakes. It made a nice jam and coconut slice but it still set me off itching sadly so not a simple solution. Mind you courgette plants set me off itching too which is a new one. Perhaps I am allergic to cats :rotfl:

doingitanyway

The good thing about buying an extra special perfume as an 'I am debt free' treat is you link the smell with a memory, so Jo Malone Grapefruit is what debt free smells like to me

Interesting you mention pensions as this is something I really need to review. I'm even starting to wonder if I should increase my work contributions now.

I hope you share your cleaner journey as I am interested in how people employ cleaners (agency vs private etc) I know Homegrown0 was lucky as she knew someone.

You are doing really well juggling work and home and family and still producing lovely recipes. I thought you had been here much longer so great that you have achieved all this in just a year

Have a calm day

greenbee

I need to do pensions and ISAs too - have to work out how much is going into my S&S ISA and how much more I can put in to use up my annual allowance (taking my cash ISA into account) and also check the funds and work out whether they need changing. Also need to work out how much more I can afford to put into my personal pension (I should at least put in enough to cover the 3 months when I had no company pension) and again, check the funds making sure I'm not investing twice in the same ones.

As for perfume - I might see whether I can get into the bottle. It's HUGE and I don't use it that often, in which case I could decant some for you... Either way, I need to start using it!

And book an appointment with an allergy specialist!

Homegrown0

DIA is right, I do have a cleaner come every fortnight to do a big clean of the kitchen, living room, stairs, downstairs loo and backroom. Two hours per fortnight and she charges £9 per hour. I had wanted one for a while as I was struggling to keep up and I kept asking around for recommendations but finally my mum's friend at work recommended an old friend of hers and it was a great recommendation. She's fantastic.

All the best with working out your pension. Mine is quite decent for now (I'm in my early 30s so I have plenty of savings time but want to get ahead) and I pay 5% which is matched by my employer then there's tax relief on top of that. I'm actually meeting with a pensions advisor later as my workplace gives us one hour appointment free per year with the company that administers our pension. It's good to get some advice as I'm pretty clueless when it comes to pensions.

redofromstart

I have been looking at cleaners but wasn't about much to get them in to look and quote. The business/agency types seem to charge £12.50 an hour here, minimum 2 hour slots so £100 a month gets me two hours a week. I don't want to direct employ, I deliver enough bad news for a living without having to come home and give the cleaner notice too once this interim finishes My neighbour uses Molly Maid who she rates but the rates are high and the reviews are terrible. The plan is get someone in to do a deep clean, and then make a decision based on the quality of that service. Going forward I have a set day at home each week so I should be able to sort something for that day.

This project is all consuming, and when I am not working I'm trying to keep on top of everything else like boys homework and the essential cat cuddling.

Had a MrW delivery today so the pressure is off on a food shop at least, even if they only brought half of what was ordered :cool:

HairyHandofDartmoor

It sounds like agreat idea to have a temporary cleaner so you have more time for cat cuddling and boy homework.

Seasidegal58

The initial deep clean is an excellent idea and will get you off to a good start whatever you decide.

Essential cat cuddling is of mega importance too!:D

What a palaver though with MrW!:mad:

redofromstart

HHOD if I don't do the cat cuddling it they all have their charming little ways of making their unhappiness known.

Seaside it is what puts me off online groceries. MrW generally does the best job here but not this time.

MrW did manage to bring some more vegetable based dip things which I'm eating with carrot sticks. I'd already adapted their turmeric humus, so this time I tried a beetroot smash and a sweetcorn smash thing. Both are nice so I will be working out how to recreate them, Its one way to try out new things when I haven't got a lot of time.

I have also been experimenting with recreating a cheese, bean and chipotle wrap that I tried from the co-op and I think I have cracked that now. I serve mine in a romaine lettuce shell rather than add the stomach ache inducing wheat but the mix of flavours is nice. Not a recipe as such, but it makes me feel like I am still putting some care into lunch.

Seasidegal58

I like your plan of the wrap dissection......perhaps I should dissect some Pret wraps, sandwiches etc for some lunch ideas.......

redofromstart

I've started taking a photo of the ingredients list when I like bought things Seaside, they usually give a rough idea of the proportions. The bean wrap in the co-op is £2.90 which seems like a lot to me. I did wrap (8 for £1), spread with mayo, round a lettuce leaf shell, filled with mixed beans (42p for a tin, used quarter - but kidney beans would be cheaper) in some tom ketchup mixed with chipotle flakes (MrM 60p jar), half a diced pepper (8 for £1.09 in Aldee today) and then topped with a little grated cheese. I'm guessing about 50p all in for something that felt like a treat, rather than a tired cheese sandwich which was the alternative.

I went food shopping first thing today, was hideous. Not doing that again, it was so full I didn't get near to the shelves for half the things I went in for.

Lots of ripe apples in the garden so I made some stewed apples with dried fruit for me to eat as a snack. OH wanted 'one of those french style apple tarts' so I did a sweet pastry/egg custard and sliced apple tart which turned out really well. Used the vanilla sugar which was a nice touch. That vanilla pod must be years old and is still going strong. Expensive to replace so its staying in the sugar jar for the foreseeable future.

Apple Tart
Pastry - 3.5oz flour, 0.5 oz icing sugar, 2oz butter, egg yolk and enough water to bind, this fits a small round baking tin rather than a big flan dish
Blind baked then fill with peeled sliced apples in nice patterns, and topped with a custard made from an egg, the egg white, a good scoop of vanilla sugar (depends how tart your apples are. may need to sprinkle a little over the apples too) and the dregs of a tub of cream - maybe 100ml. Baked it for half an hour at 180. V nice, and could be varied with nutmeg or cinnamon rather than the vanilla. A keeper for me.