Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

house_elf

Good Morning,

Funny old day yesterday.......

We had an appointment at the bank to discuss renewing our insurance. We did not save any money, but feel it is good cover for the price. We were in there for 1 1/2 hours :eek:

Our champagne moment was lunch at The Indian Brewery. A trendy little independent bar which reminds us of our summer holiday. Lovely food. Authentic tasting chai, and a little discount using our Independent Birmingham card. :cool:

The rest of the day was taken up with lots of little jobs and errands, and we binge watched 2 episodes of Dublin Murders last night.

Have a lovely day

candygirl

Just had a £107 refund from EDF , n at the same time they've tried to increase my direct debit by £40 a month:eek: I think not :rotfl:
Also got half Zeus' vet's fees back after 7 months :cool:

gran3

LL who is the Author of A week to change my life? Cant find it. Thanks

lessonlearned

hi Gran3 - it's a year not a week. .

And I must apologise .......the full title of the book is "How I Changed My Life in a Year" not "A Year To Change My Life" (that was my challenge - I just pinched the idea). The author is Shelley Wilson. I have just double checked on Amazon - they have used copies starting at £2.80, including postage.

Shelly broke it down into monthly and weekly challenges, I was a bit more haphazard and less organised but I did manage to make some significant changes to my life.

Just waiting for my copy but I have decided to start my challenge tomorrow anyway.

I want to have achieved some fairly big changes by Christmas 2020.

I suppose top of the agenda will be to get the house completely finished. :eek: a trifle ambitious but it doesn't hurt to aim high. But I want more than that, much more. :rotfl:

Anyway here's my challenge for November.......a trimmer, fitter, less wasteful me - tbh my goals for November are pretty mundane. More about self improvement than anything particularly fun or new and exciting.

1. Finish the dining room.......barring anything unforeseen I am well on track. Should be doable.
2. Daily yoga.
3. 30 minute walk or if weather bad then dancing to some "bangin tunes".
4. Shop like a Frenchwoman. . Markets and local shops only.
The freezer and cupboards are full to bursting so no big supermarket stock ups. Just buy small amounts of fresh produce, dairy, fruit and veg as I need it. Slash the food budget.
5. No buying clothes, books, magazines. Library and CS bargains only. I don't need any more routine winter clothing, I'm all stocked up so it will have to be something really special that is just too good to pass up. A gorgeous dress or fabulous coat, or maybe something lovely for the house, nothing dull or "useful"

Have been working like a demon with the decorating. Making good progress and will have a full day on it tomorrow. Then have Friday off, lunch with my new friend. (The one I "picked up" in Sainsbury's).

Had to smile yesterday.

We have a lovely old fashioned ironmongers in our local parade of shops. He sells all sorts. I popped in there to buy organic farm eggs....as you do. Noticed he had big bags of firewood, mainly scrap offcuts and wood cut from clean reclaimed pallets. I decided I would get a bag to try. Did I want the £2 bags without nails, or the £1.25 bags that hadn't been denailed.

You can guess my answer.

Tested it today and it burns beautifully so I will get a bulk delivery. The open fire makes my dining kitchen super toasty.

lessonlearned

candygirl wrote: »

Just had a £107 refund from EDF , n at the same time they've tried to increase my direct debit by £40 a month:eek: I think not :rotfl:
Also got half Zeus' vet's fees back after 7 months :cool:

Well done, extra spends for your holiday??? :rotfl:

house_elf

Morning!

OK hands up who bought all the cheap copies of the Shelly Wilson book before I looked on Amazon :rotfl:

Thanks LL I shall look out for a copy.

Lots of champagne moments on our lemonade budget yesterday....

A trip out to Charlotte Park using our NT cards. A beautiful crisp autumn day. Enjoyed a wander around the house, a browse in the bookshop and watched the children following a Halloween trail to earn a pumpkin. Lovely idea, and most were dressed up in Halloween costumes. (I met the PR lady who organises these events for NT, recently, at a craft workshop. I hope she was pleased with it's success).

We had a picnic lunch in the courtyard. Leftovers from yesterday's lunch and fruit from the fruit bowl. Just bought tea for two.

Stopped at Caffè Nero on the way home for Free O2 hot chocolate and a cake. Then collected a pair of dining chairs won on the Bay. Perfect!

Home to collect DS1 and gf for cinema trip with comp tickets to see The Aeronauts. Enjoyed the film. Good story, beautiful scenery and costumes. DS1 ordered food from McDonalds app with £5 discount, so collected that on the way home!

A grand day out for minimum spend :rotfl:

The only disappointment was another EBay purchase. We bought a sofa for the new extension, which was delivered while we were out. Looks lovely, until we sat down. Investigating the springs inside the base, they were held together with gaffer tape and cable ties :eek: Spent the rest of the evening negotiating a resolution with the seller, ordering new springs on Amazon, and looking at YouTube videos about how to fit new springs :mad:

However, I am really pleased with the dining chairs.

Have a lovely day

lessonlearned

Good morning everyone

House Elf.....What a lovely day out and Wow!! Didn't you do well with the budget. Just goes to show how it can be done. That it is entirely possible to enjoy those champagne moments on a lemonade budget.

Shame about the sofa....hopefully you can sort it ok. But how cheeky of the seller, not to mention the springs need replacing. That is bad form.

Yes the Aeronauts look good and I fancy the Good Liar too. Rejoining the NT is on my list for next year too. If my family ask me I might request membership as a Christmas gift. I really don't need or want "stuff" now. I want to start getting rid of some of it.:D.

One of the challenges for next year is something called "Swedish Death Cleaning"......making sure all my affairs are in order and everything is easy for those I leave behind. Not that I have any intention of dying just yet.....but I think it's worth getting everything ship shape. I have done my will, POA (both Wealth and Health And Welfare) and my sons know my wishes about medical interventions but I do need to do some paperwork sorting.

It might sound morbid but I think it will be a job worth doing for the sake of peace of mind and clarity. Having had to deal with my parents estates and the aftermath of my dads hoarding I am determined that I will try and make things easier for my kids.

Then I can get on with living life to the max for another 30 years (at least :rotfl:).

Nice sunny day here, love these crispy autumn days. Although today it's more painting so I won't be able to enjoy it much. I will stretch my legs and grab some fresh air though, even though technically the daily walking programme doesn't start till tomorrow.

Happy Halloween Everyone.

Forgot to mention.....I think I've found a nice decorator. Going to try him out and if he's any good he can help me speed things up a bit. I can then concentrate on the finishing touches and "arty stuff". Lol.

grunnie

Tanks Lessonlearned about the book have just downloaded the ebook and she has a blog as well.motiveatemenow.co.uk

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday were going to the Silver Screen showing of the film Mrs Lowry and Son in the afternoon, then going to Karaoke in the evening.

I used my Odeon Limitless card to buy my ticket for the film. I really enjoyed Mrs Lowry and Son even though there were moments listening to the mother's cruelty and verbal abuse of her son that made me wince. Vanessa Redgrave as Lowry's mother and Timothy Spall as the renowned artist were both excellent. I would give this film 8/10

I had a great evening at Karaoke. I sang 3 of my usual songs: Hurt So Good, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Fever and I also sang I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Tom Jones for the 1st time in public. I did a lot of dancing as well which made me feel really happy inside.

House Elf you had a very good day on a budget yesterday.

gran3

Sorry, I did realise that, a day spent in a science centre with hundreds of kids on half term had addled my brain!