Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

dustydigger

Dusty's Frugal Fortnight : 17th Sep - 30th Sep
income : £291 from Mr Dusty,£71 my pension,total £362

outlay:
P.O. savings (mixed bag) - £20
life insurance - £20
birthday fund - £20
passport fund - £10

asd* food shop - £53
xmas shop cards - £20

hair - £5
personal allowance - £20
HBB (home budget box - cash) - £141


total outlay - £309
surplus - £53
That looks good,but since I added saving for the USA trip I have to carry forward some cash from the easier fortnight to balance the next fortnight,which has big bills.So the surplus is £30. Since my ''float'',my CA balance, has dipped below the safety cushion of £200,down to £173,that surplus will bring it back to the £200 I feel comfortable with.

So thats the finances sorted for the next 2 weeks,now to sort all the big bills and Xmas finances!
Another post though,later. I was trying to do this when Mr Dusty came in,wanting tea and company,asking me to look up things online,and put maize he had brought in the oven to roast.Finally did all the details of this budget and the bills and xmas details in a post - and pressed the wrong button while distracted by Mr D and lost the whole post! :rotfl:
The passport fund is now complete,and the birthday fund will go back to £10 a month from next fortnight,so that will be £20 a month less burden. It will go towards xmas bonus card savings then into the USA trip fund - which stands at a rather measly £180/£1000 at the moment so every little helps!:D

GlendaSugarbean

I'm sorry you're having a tough time of it at the moment. What is the block with the family history? I have access to Ancestry at work sonof you need any checking at lunchtime let me know!

dustydigger

Hi Glenda,nice to see you.How kind of you to offer help!:T Actually I have Ancestry,Family Search at homeas well as Find My Past and Parish Registers and loads of local records at my family history group. Unfortunately once you get a long way back,back into the 1700s,info is sparse. I have an ancestor Thomas,born somewhere around1800-1805.,from 1841 census details.
Normally the situation is that you check the marriage info,and the father is given,so you get back one more generation.Then you search for the christening record In this case all the marriage record from the church says is ''Thomas Dobey married Ann Taylor''.Full stop. No ages,no fathers given. so though circumstantial evidence and speculation points to a certain person as his father,there is no concrete written evidence,no baptismal record,and presumably his father was dead before the earliest census in 1841,so no help there,though the woman whom I presume is his mother is still alive,but in a different residence,so no concrete link there either. .
Just one of those things,these oldtimer churchmen keeping records were very inconsiderate towards us genealogists by not putting down enough information!:DHow could they not know that 200 years later we need DETAILS? How unhelpful of them!:rotfl:

The frustrating thing is that in another of my family lines at a little church about 4 miles away,the local reverend was much more forthcoming. You get something like James Jones,born 24th Aug 1795,2nd son,and 3rd child of John Jones,miner,and his wife Mary,formerly Jackson, was baptized on 24th Sep 1795. Wish my ancestor had moved to that town,I wouldnt have so many headaches!:rotfl:
Once again,Glenda,many thanks for showing an interest.Have you done much family research?

GlendaSugarbean

My grandfather did a lot of his family tree (mostly prison wardens from what I can remember!) and DH got very interested in his as a teenager (old Scottish family so with a bit of creative family history his family tree goes back to Odin :eek:)

Most of my family history research has been on behalf of others as an archivist, there are a lot of dead ends I find. I'd love to find out more about my grandmother's family, but Irish records are much more patchy even than uncooperative church records!

It is fascinating, even if the results can be a bit uncomfortable. DH turns out to have some unapologetic slave-owning ancestors who had second illegitimate families on their plantations while being terribly respectable at home.

dustydigger

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

My grandfather did a lot of his family tree (mostly prison wardens from what I can remember!) and DH got very interested in his as a teenager (old Scottish family so with a bit of creative family history his family tree goes back to Odin :eek:)

Most of my family history research has been on behalf of others as an archivist, there are a lot of dead ends I find. I'd love to find out more about my grandmother's family, but Irish records are much more patchy even than uncooperative church records

Glenda,you should get together with Uncanny Scot and have a good rant about ancient nordic ancestors,but you go even one better,back to Odin himself:rotfl:
Uncanny Scot said

''As I have a lot of Irish ancestry I have hit many a dead end due to lack of records.
Also a nuisance is mad Americans messaging you saying that they've traced their family history right back to the Kings of Dalraida and the Kings of Norway and have found that they're apparently related to you... erm Naw, you're not, as NONE of my family went anywhere near America... ''

dustydigger

Getting to grips with intermittent fasting,and starting to follow a sort of Slimming World SP regime,just protein and speed foods. Already after a few days I feel the benefits,with less cravings,and much less bloating,with a loss on the scales of 3 lbs since Monday. Obviously no fat loss,just water,but that extra half stone weight the last two weeks has made me be panting when walking,more pain climbing the stairs,backache when standing cooking.Right back to what I was in the old days.Got to get back in the frame,I like the little phrase,NO GPS! i.e. No gluten,potatoes or sugar. I know just how badly gluten affects me,when I eat a lot of bread I bloatup and my nose starts running. This week is the first time in a year that I am back to that. I love bread,my all time fave food,but its a problem for me.It sets off cravings,stomach problems,that running nose etc.
Last year drastically cut down on potatoes and that helped enormously with the weight loss,4 stone no muss no fuss. Gradually I have been making extra potatoes when I cook for Mr Dusty,and have been eating far too many. So I have now cut down the number I cook,so that should help.As for the sugar I have been been eating some sweets during the stressful times lately,but on the whole I try to keep away from sugar because of the risk of returning diabetes. I need to get back to healthy eating,at least that helps even when I am very stressed. So NO GPS
Seeing my miserable status of weight loss on my signature,from 4 stone down to 2st 4lbs,was so depressing. I am deleting that for the moment,replacing it with a new mini target. I know that there is a level below which I stop panting when walking,dont feel tired when doing chores,and feel OK.Thats about a stone below where I am now,and one and ahalf stone below my best weight loss.I am going to set mini targets of 7 lbs at a time,baby steps. The thyroid mess doesnt help either.:(
So,first target of half a stone,3lbs gone already,so that looks encouraging!:DWish me luck.

dustydigger

Whew,its really blowing a gale out there,we've had some real downpours today.Lovely sunshine now,which will probably change again in five minutes.
Hectic morning cooking and cleaning,and tried for 45minutes to get a survey on 3 different sites,but didnt succeed. :mad:

After dinner did masses of washing up (I detest washing up!)bagged up £10 worth of copper for the credit union.and looked over some family history stuff.packed my bag ready to go to the fam. his. group.
Now all ready to go in 10 mins. Want to do a bit reading,but I know me,I'll read for a while and look up and I'm 20 mins late for the group:D.So I'm spending a few minutes catching up on posts on MSE,and doing a few ''thanks'' clicks.
Oldest granddaughter's 28th birthday today. Cant be right,I'm only 26 - and a bit - myself ;)One down,and 3 more to go before the end of this month,then only 3 more birthdays the rest of the year:j
Right,off to the group now,carrying the big bag of papers,10 lbs of copper,and my small lemon juice bottle for the tea break in the group.
At least the heavy weight will stop me blowing away down the hill!:rotfl:

lonelyrat

I'm going to be 28 10 days later than your oldest granddaughter! September is the best month Weather was crazy here!! Poor woman upstairs garden was like a tornado had hit...

Chair swing - knocked over
Bird bath - knocked over
Wicker arch - knocked over
Kids play table - knocked over
Shed - roof blew away in the wind

!! She's been out today tidying it up but I fear it won't be long before everything is all topsy turvy again.

Intermittent fasting sounds solid. I started a wee while ago and was really enjoying it. It worked around work quite well for me. Just need to get myself back into it... Made totties with our dinner last night and was good and resisted them! You can be strong too, I believe

dustydigger

Hi Lonelyrat! I was doing quite well with the intermittent fasting for a few days,but I sometimes forget and nibble while making Mr Dusty's breakfast,which apparently ruins the process. And yesterday's family gathering celebrating birthdays certainly didnt help either.......chocolate.......(eek!):D Isnt it annoying the way you really struggle and work hard to lose one pound,but can put on 2 or 3 in a single day without even trying?:rotfl:
More celebrations for daughter and Mr D next weekend,so I had better be good during the week.
But I am still 2lb down on last Monday's scale reading.I will be happy with a pound a month after the disastrous 8lb gain last month!
Am sleeping a little better,usually managing a 2 hr and 4 hour session now,big improvement on getting about 4 one hour sleep sessions like I wasa few months ago.But despite more sleep I am feeling more tired and lethargic,panting when walking,getting more joint pain. I'm sure that 16 extra pounds weight I'm newly carrying,never mind the other 10 lbs I was hoping to lose to get out of the obese range altogether,are the culprits . Totally miserable now that I'm back to a BMI of 35,from 31.:(
But there's always a silver lining somewhere. The thyroid deficiency that is causing so many problems (fatigue,weight gain,brittle hair and nails,memory problems and depression,) has had one good side effect - hair loss! I no longer have a single hair on my armpits,and none on my legs.So no shaving necessary.That feels so weird,but helpful,I used to hate shaving:D

dustydigger

Wow,a full week since I was on here. One reason is my computer keeps crashing,every few minutes sometimes.I am wondering if my microfilters are no longer working,I've had them since 2012. Or if its something to do with firefox itself.I am trying out Opera right now,certainly seems faster than fire fox,but I'm not comfortable with the layout yet,and then there are all my dozens of bookmarks on fire fox which need moving across. All very tedious,there may be some quick method but I am still new here on Opera and havent a clue where to look for things. I have been on here for 20 minutes without crashing,which is the longest for many days. I was on the point of earning £4 on Prolific when I crashed and couldnt complete.Not amused.:mad:
Also Mr Dusty has been dogging my footsteps all week. He starts on the court case stuff at breakfast,and is still ranting at supper. I am apparently a traitor,cant support my husband etc etc. Now he has taken against the girls in Africa,that they are not carrying out his wishes or lodging an appeal,or doing anything. He says he is on the point of cutting them off altogether he will get our son in America to do it all instead.He has spent £112 on his mobile phone calls this month.:eek: He never checks carefully if he is on whatsapp before phoning,and just goes on his general contacts list instead of going onto the whatsapp site.My family have tried repeatedly to teach him how to use the smartphone but he is just hopeless,he forgets again and again.My son has now capped his phone to not allow international calls at all,he has to use phone cards on the landline