Busy Mee's Last Leg

shangaijimmy

Lovely updates to catch up on. I love a challenge so will be following with interest! Good luck.

Busy_Mee1

A quick update as I am waiting for someone to come and measure up for a new pane of glass in our double glazing. We came home one day last week to find it had completely shattered... due to the heat we think.

We have been quoted £335 to have it repaired :eek: I don't want to go through the insurance because we have already had to buy specialist contents insurance this year because we have had three claims in five years. One of them has just dropped out of the five year period so I don't want to add another in.

I think we are also going to bite the bullet and replace the window that got damaged in an attempted burglary last year (insurance already paid out )but the money may have been sucked up elsewhere:whistle:

It is THIS that worries me about retirement, the random costs that you just can't predict that the universe decides to spring on you. We need to have a decent sized emergency pot for such eventualities.

In other news £12.00 Barclays reward added to the SSS challenge. Total now £22.70.

Busy_Mee1

Gosh I am here again, this SSS challenge is keeping me focused and driving me to post more.
This morning's shuffles into the Challenge are £12.55 topcashback and 4x £7.29 = £29.16 (Tesco interest).

Total into SSS challenge £64.41

Last day at work as I have a long weekend away with relatives. I am hoping to keep costs down. I am taking the cooler box with us full of drinks and I am going to pack sandwiches rather than spend £10 on the always disappointing offerings at motorway services. I am taking a bottle of pink gin (£13 Asda) and some wine as we are going to a party while we are there. Other than that the main expense will be diesel and I will get Mr Mee to fill up at Sainsbreeze so that we can at least get the Nectar points :T

Busy_Mee1

We are back from our long weekend away with relatives ....I am feeling very shattered but I am working from home today so at least I don't need to make myself look human :rotfl:

The weekend was nice but spent a lot of time sorting out services and support for my elderly parents who are struggling. I am hoping this is going to work as they live 5 hours away from us and it is really difficult to support at such a distance. We will need to go back in a few weeks to check up on how things are going.

On a positive note the weather was fantastic and where my parents live is on the coast and it felt like being abroad. I invested £10.35 in a round of drinks sat in a cafe overlooking the sea, which was just idyllic.

Mum and I had a cream tea and champagne with some friends in the garden whilst the football was on...it was lovely to hear all the cheering from all the gardens all around. A fab result that has lifted everyone's mood.

It was really hot here last night so I was up early and got my washing pegged out before I started work at 7.30. I have been through the cupboards and freezer to meal plan for this week. I am hoping to get through to the weekend without any further shopping. I am planning on cooking Nigella Spanish Chicken tonight, and a veggie chilli for tomorrow and maybe Wednesday.

Spending over the weekend was minimal, just £20 ....a plant for Mum, some sweets for Mr Mee and Dad for watching the football, a round of drinks and an extortionate sandwich from the motorway services that we shared on the journey home. I was really pleased that we took sandwiches, drinks and snacks for the journey down but in future I will make sandwiches for the journey back at my parents. Even Mr Mee agrees. I think he is finally getting it :T

In other financial news I did a £2.00 TT into the SSS challenge, so the total is now £66.41

I also spent a very tedious teleconference this morning, counting and bagging up our change jars ( multitasking dontcha know :rotfl:) The total bagged up ready to take to the bank tomorrow is £31, which will be making its way to the SSS challenge as soon as it hits the bank.

Busy_Mee1

No further funds added to the SSS challenge today, but I feel I have been quite productively frugal over the last couple of days. Both Monday and Tuesday were NSDs and I have been cooking using up what we have in.

Last night I made Jamie's Sweet Potato and White Bean chilli. This was a real winner and will become a regular in our repertoire of meals. I just substituted a tin of mixed beans for the white beans ( all I had in ) and added extra chopped tomatoes to make it go further:D. We had it last night and there were two portions with rice leftover for lunches.

Tonight we are having Nigellas Spanish Chicken, using a pack of YS chicken thighs out of the freezer, the last of the new potatoes, and chorizo, a wizened red pointed pepper and some sliced green pepper I chucked in the freezer some time ago.

I have also peeled and boiled some sprouty potatoes to make mash. I was thinking sausage and mash tomorrow, but it is still really warm. I will just chuck it in the freezer if we don't end up having it.

I used up the last of the lettuce supplemented with grated carrot and sweet corn to make a salad with some piri piri chicken and mini pita bread for DDs lunch tomorrow.

I love having a using up session and I quite like the 2nd week of a two week shop that drives you to be a bit inventive.

On the finances I applied to link my MasterCard to ICE and claim the £10 voucher from the MSE email ( thanks to Eatingtheelephant for pointing this out). I won't add this to the SSS challenge until it is spent though :T

themadvix

It sounds like the SSS challenge is going well!

I too like getting inventive and eking things out.... but we're out of garlic now, so might have to invest in some of that!

Busy_Mee1

Well real life has conspired against me over the last week. A sudden family illness meant that I had to travel the length and breath of England sorting out elderly parents. I must have travelled around 1000 miles over the last week by car and train and this has blown my budgets out of the water. Work has also been manic, so thank goodness for the technology that has enabled me to work from anywhere.

I am back home now and everyone is thankfully back on the mend, but this has left me feeling shattered and rather grey and cardboardy. I am trying to practice a bit of self care this weekend to get myself back on an even keel. I had a lovely walk yesterday and spent much of the day just pottering in the garden. Luckily Mr Mee has been an absolute rock and made sure all our jobs at home were done.

I haven't been really focusing on finances other to add up what I have spent over the last week :eek:. This has mainly been fuel and train tickets and just one cold drink purchased in a very hot London station. Mr Mee also took himself and DS off to the pub one evening for a meal whilst I was MIA.

The boiler was finally repaired this week at the cost of £265, but I have now knocked the wing mirror off my car (in my rushing about) which is going to cost £140 to repair... ..sigh.

This has all impacted on my emergency fund, which if you remember I was trying to build back up during our saving holiday in July.

I am really pleased that I have resisted getting into " s@d it" mode, which I could have easily done this week. You know that feeling when you have overspent anyway, and I am feeling a bit sorry for myself, therefore I must treat myself......

I have been reading Frugalwoods this week ( thanks to MadVix I signed up for UFM) and once I got over the Americanism, I have found it very interesting. Liz Frugalwoods advocates starting by setting your own priorities for your spending ( or being frugal ) and how being frugal just gives you choices.

This has really helped me this week because I have three main financial priorities and goals:

My family
Early retirement
Travel

Being frugal has meant that I had the money this week to drop everything, and go and support my parents when they needed it, so in effect gave me that choice. I think it is really helpful to be clear in your own mind why you are being frugal as it helps keep you in the straight and narrow when life gets tough.

My SSS challenge continues and I paid £36 into my O&S account before the crisis started and have made a few TTs too. As you might have guessed there has been no eb@ying but let's be honest that was unlikely to happen crisis or no crisis :rotfl:

I need to go grocery shopping today...the cupboards are bare as it is 9 days since we last shopped. But other than that I don't have much planned ...bliss :T

beanielou

Take care.

greent

I hope the poorly person is better now. Sounds like a crazy week xx

themadvix

Sorry to hear that things have been mad and elderly parental hasn't been well. Hope things calm down now. Well done for not succumbing to 's0d it' mode - it's so easily done when everything seems to be falling apart! Glad UFM has been useful - I definitely am finding the prioritisation and analysis of *everything* useful.

Hope this week is a better one! x