Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

Onebrokelady

Hi Dusty,ive seen you leave thankyous on my diary so thought I would investigate and see if you had one and here you are,I will be subscribing and reading along,I do slimming world too,Im at my goal weight now but I'm being naughty and haven't been for weeks so I might need to find the slimming world support thing on here

dustydigger

Hi OB Lady,and welcome!Thanks for subscribing:hello:

I am having a sort of sabbatical from weight loss at the moment,too much stress and problems in life to add the stress of dieting too!:D
I did go to Slimming World,but I have some serious doubts about their future .Although in theory they can accommodate a variety of eating styles,they subscribe to low fat,which is falling out of style today.
I loved the old Green and Red days,where you could vary the type of diet. Red was quite similar to Atkins or low carb,but I didnt do so well on this Extra Easy business. Add the diabetes where the Green days are out because of the high starch levels,and I just couldnt progress. Of course I didnt know about the thyroid business which has thrown a spanner in the works.:mad:
What worried me about SW was the constant emphasis in class to doing fakeaways,striving to reproduce those high calorie meals.. So many of their ideas used highly processed items.
I seem to be able to do SW and lose about 2 stone,then it all grinds to a halt!:D
I hope your IBS etc are a bit in abeyance at the moment. You have had a pretty rough year what with the debt,your mother's health problems,and your own.Pain is SOOO wearing,isnt it? Your problems and your positive approach to dealing with the brickbats of life puts my puny problems in perspective,and should shame me into moaning a bit less but I enjoy my rants,raves and ruminations,so thats rather unlikely!:rotfl:
Feel free to rant here whenever you want to - and that goes for all the Lurkers. Come out of the shadows and say hello,I dont bite!;);)

dustydigger

I am being a troglodyte at the moment,hiding in my ''cave'' away from the sun. I was delighted when it clouded over yesterday and then started drizzling. I took a 10 minute bus ride,with my trusty shopping trolley. Its a 10 minute walk from there to a tiny shopping area comprising of an Icel@nd and a small Asd@.Uphill! Perfect for my exercise.:j
I went for a walk on Sunday and it nearly killed me,even though I waited till evening. Monday I hid in the house,because my head was burning when I hung out washing at 10 am,22C:eek:. Yesterday I enjoyed my walk up the hill under grey skies and a light drizzle on my bare arms.And I walked back downhill to get the bus home. I think I may do this more often. I used to go there occasionally because halfway up the hill was a branch of the city library. Sometimes if I didnt want go to the city I could return books there. Sadly they closed the library down in 2016,so I havent been back. But its a nice little spot of exercise,and I can do a top-up shop much cheaper than at my corner shop,the prices there are horrendous
I have an Icel@nd bonus card.If I make 3 visits within the next 3 weeks,spending at least a tenner each time,I will get a fiver off my next shop. Cant be bad,and it's items Mr Dusty would be getting from the Icel@nd in the city anyway,so its all good.
frugal living AND exercise combined. Got to be good:D

dustydigger

Sorry to say no progress for Mr Dusty. Still no sight of the ruling.:( They are now claiming there were ''errors'' in the ruling,not sure what they mean,typing or the ruling itself. Now the courts are in recess for the summer its all stalled,surprise surprise.
Life is pretty dire at the moment,Mr D is so worked up and we have had more quarrels etc the last few weeks than in years before. He is particularly incensed when he sees me online,saying I spend too much time on useless things while not doing my household tasks.He keeps pointing out tasks I havent done,or that I havent washed up within 2 minutes of eating dinner etc:( I am getting very stressed,so I have deliberately cut down on my online activities,only doing it while he is away in town. He seems to need constant reassurance and comforting. As he is so strong,healthy and active for his age (late 70s) I tend to take it for granted,but I know his son was very worried about his stress levels when he visited us,and that was before the latest bombshells sent Mr D into the stratosphere. For the first time his blood tests are showing up something or other,we are waiting for an appointment with the doc.Worrying.:(

dustydigger

Late as ever with my frugal fortnight budget Since we arrange our finances fortnightly whilst the direct debits come out per calendar month,the figures change regularly,sometimes there are savings,sometimes not:)
Dusty's Frugal Fortnight : 23rd July - 5th August
income: £291 from Mr Dusty,£71 my pension - total £362
outlay:

Save the Children DD - £3
Water Aid DD - £3
Asd@ online shop - £60
Birthday Fund - £20
Passport Fund - £10 (now £70)
NS&I (USAtrip) - £50

PO Savings (mixed bag) - £20
Asd@ delivery charge - £5
Xmas bonus cards savings - £5
personal allowance - £20

Home Budget box (cash) - £141

---

total outlay - £337


so,to savings - £25.That will go to my Xmas fund,now totalling £475:j
I have allocated myself £20,that is for spending on my family history certificates,vitamin supplements etc.
£20 has come in from Circle for Prolific surveys.I am transferring it straight to Amaz*n vouchers for books,so it hasnt appeared on the budget . That makes £23 available for books as required.:j
From next fortnight I will allocate more to my Tesc*,Asd@,Icel@nd savings cards. Only get 1% interest putting it in the bank,it works out about 5% interest putting it on the cards once I reach minimum levels,usually about £25,so it makes sense to put it there instead of the bank when its for Xmas food anyway. Every little helps:D:D

dustydigger

Yay! completed my Beauteous B challenge at last!:j:j:j

Dusty's Bold Beautiful,Breathtaking B Challenge

1. Read a book where a word in the title starts with the letter B : Kathy Reichs - The Bone Collection
2. Read a book where at least one of the author's initials is B;. Earl Derr Biggers - The Chinese Parrot
3. Read a book with something starting with the letter B shown on the cover: Jasper Fforde - Lost in a Good Book (bookshelves)


I am now off to sort out reads for the ''C'' challenge.Think I will have to prioritise those books,everyone else in my Librarything group finished ages ago! Not good when you are the admin /owner of the group:rotfl:Oh well,I did finally reach double figures for books read,but its a long way down from the time when I used to read 18 books a month.:o
That reminds me,I need to renew my library books online before I get huge fines!
Bye for now,off to make the salmon. Yep I am making roasties,I am as hot as they are,the kitchen is a furnace. The seal around my oven has loosened and heat escapes. Add the blazing sun shining straight in, and my kitchen bears a distinct resemblance to the infernal regions.:rotfl::rotfl:

Onebrokelady

dustydigger wrote: »

Hi OB Lady,and welcome!Thanks for subscribing:hello:

I am having a sort of sabbatical from weight loss at the moment,too much stress and problems in life to add the stress of dieting too!:D
I did go to Slimming World,but I have some serious doubts about their future .Although in theory they can accommodate a variety of eating styles,they subscribe to low fat,which is falling out of style today.
I loved the old Green and Red days,where you could vary the type of diet. Red was quite similar to Atkins or low carb,but I didnt do so well on this Extra Easy business. Add the diabetes where the Green days are out because of the high starch levels,and I just couldnt progress. Of course I didnt know about the thyroid business which has thrown a spanner in the works.:mad:
What worried me about SW was the constant emphasis in class to doing fakeaways,striving to reproduce those high calorie meals.. So many of their ideas used highly processed items.
I seem to be able to do SW and lose about 2 stone,then it all grinds to a halt!:D
I hope your IBS etc are a bit in abeyance at the moment. You have had a pretty rough year what with the debt,your mother's health problems,and your own.Pain is SOOO wearing,isnt it? Your problems and your positive approach to dealing with the brickbats of life puts my puny problems in perspective,and should shame me into moaning a bit less but I enjoy my rants,raves and ruminations,so thats rather unlikely!:rotfl:
Feel free to rant here whenever you want to - and that goes for all the Lurkers. Come out of the shadows and say hello,I dont bite!;);)

Hi Dusty,I know what you mean about SW and I think that's why I get on with it so well, I can eat really healthy food or I can fake something and still get away with it,for someone like me who normally lives on junk and processed food it's great, being a vegetarian helps too as most of the things I eat are actually free or very low in syns ,I previously did WW and did well on that but found too restricting,I feel like I can eat lots more on SW and I can eat for England so that's a bonus for me,I'm 2lbs over my goal weight at the moment so not too bad but I don't want it to start going the wrong way,I've gone off the rails abut this week though so need to rein it in
My digestive system seems to be working ok at the moment I'm paying attention and noticing what plays me up,salad is always a problem if I eat it too often and large amounts of bread,I'm a real bread addict as well so it's annoying
My pain levels are not too bad at the moment either, did you read about the app I am trying that teaches you to manage or stop pain with the way you think,I'm reading the book it's based on at the moment and it's amazing,the ideas in it are just what I've been wondering about for the last year or two,how the stress of life and how you deal with it can cause physical symptoms in the body,they give you techniques to use to get rid of pain and it sounds bonkers but it's actually working, my use of painkillers has gone from using them everyday to once or twice in the the last few weeks

I think everyone should be able to moan and rant as much as they want,in fact I now believe it's actually good for us rather than simmering away quietly,you carry on ranting raving and ruminating, I love a good rant myself a:rotfl:

Onebrokelady

Omg I am loving reading your diary and I'm humbled that you think your problems are trivial compared to mine, you have had to cope with soooo much over the last year (Im about to start page 17 ) and you have real pain from a real illness too,not something fabricated by your brain like mine
You take it all in your stride whenever things go wrong whereas I would be having a nervous breakdown at the slightest thing
I am feeling inspired to restart doing some jobs on my house after reading of your mammoth dercorating sessions,if you can do it in your 70s with arthritis the I can do it in my 50s and I have to say I admire your patience with Mr Dusty over the whole decorating thing I'm afraid the hole in the garden would have been dug and filled by now if I was you ( this is why I am single:rotfl:)
I've always done most of my own diy but lately I just can't muster up the energy,I will be planning and doing some now though:)

dustydigger

Yeah,it was a close run thing when Mr D ''helped'' me in the kitchen,he was a hairsbreadth away from that hole in the garden. Now saving up for the USA trip gives me a nice excuse not to do decorating for a while.:T
As for you ''fabricating''pain - nonsense. All pain comes from the brain in a way,and whatever the cause it HURTS,so we are equal.:D:D
Actually I am much better off in that regard now since the knee ops. I look back and cant believe just how much pain I accepted as a normal situation,or how debilitated I was by the diabetes,stroke etc.Now all I have to contend with are the stiff knees,tender feet and of course the persistent dull ache (interspersed with painful flareups) of the arthritis in my hands particularly,unfortunately, my dominant right hand.But I am doing without painkillers altogether and just ignore the aches for the most part. After all,I've had it since I was 17,its an old ''friend'' :rotfl:

beanielou

Pain is pain.
I have CP & most of my pain is because of the way I move & from falls.
Well done in being off the painkillers.
They are my friend!