Life is a minestrone as the song says - my new diary

teapot2

Busy and full on day at work yesterday and then took me ages to get to the station. Not sure what was going on with the buses but the display said bus was 'due' for about 15 minutes before it turned up and then because the Fringe has started, the city centre was mega busy. Anyhoo missed my usual train so got a later one and was really surprised but pleased to get a seat.

Sat in the garden having my tea and enjoyed the calm, the bees and insects being busy and the warm evening. Slightly alarmed by a large seagull that kept making eye contact while it was peering from the roof eyeing up my plate :eek:

Early night as I was tired, still a bit sleepy this morning but will need to get a move on at some point. I have done a T@sco online shop to be delivered on Monday evening, have a £6 off voucher to use :T. However am very low on veg and have no fruit so will meal plan for the weekend and buy just enough to tide me over. Also need to buy plasters and print a photo so will go to @sda for that and the PO to pay in some work cash.

Washing to be done as well as to be wet out tomorrow. Need to look at finances and organise what will go where. Some CCs not due to be paid till later in the month but I'll move the money out of my business acct which gets no interest to another account where it will.

teapot2

Washed all the towels and bedding etc and got everything dried outside so smelling loverly Have even re-made the bed as I have a habit of forgetting that and then going to bed late and realising its got no bedding on it

Did all the errands I'd planned, bought some bananas and instead of veg I got a stir fry pack. Not something I'd usually buy but it will do 2 meals and at £1 its cheaper than various individual veg. Had some extra brown rice cooked from curry earlier in the week so had that fried with prawns, some stir fry veg and few extra bits from the fridge bottom :cool:

Got a few things for the local food bank collection bin while I was at @sda. I got extra as someone was kind to me this week and helped me out so I wanted to pay it forward.

Watered the garden, I know its meant to rain tomorrow but its been very warm for the last 2 days and I was too tired to do any watering last night. Going to chill out with the big old furry boy before bed. He is looking quite frail these days but he is an old boy so we'll have cuddles.

beanielou

I also washed my sheet & my mattress & they smell lovely
How lovely to pay it forward

beanielou

Oh & enjoy lovely cat cuddles

teapot2

Didn't venture out yesterday as the weather wasn't great. Some torrential rain and thunder and lightening overhead several times. Must have been heavy as a nearby road was flooded and that hasn't happened for a few years. Still thundering in the distance though when I went to bed and I think it rained for most of the night. Still this morning it is dry and mild at the moment and the sun is trying to come out though some dark skies as well.

The window cleaners have just been so I'll need to transfer some money for that. I'll send meter readings today as well, been worth doing it every month as my direct debit has come down :j

I listed a few things online yesterday so hopefully something will sell. Planning to venture out later as I have a money off kitchen roll voucher which I'm hoping to spend. I don't use a lot of it but its handy for mopping up cat sick of which there is a fair bit at the moment - extra grooming going on because of the hot weather :eek:

I think tea will be a prawn linguine so need to make a tomato sauce this morning. I might roast some rhubarb as well to have with remaining Greek yoghurt.

T@sco order coming tonight. I spent ages yesterday evening editing my order and doing grocery tetris - putting stuff in the basket and taking other bits out and reducing/adding quantities. Stuff seems to have gone up in price again - even seasonal produce I managed to get it close to the £40 mark and had a £6 off voucher which is a help.

Order cat food and litter yesterday, his cat food has gone up in price too but as he's on a special diet I can't change what he has.

Karmacat

I think I'd be using disposables like kitchen roll if I had to deal with cat sick :rotfl: :eek:

teapot2

JULY/AUGUST FINANCES

Spent £114 on food, toiletries and household supplies. Almost the same as last month - just £6 less.

It was a big spending month on the credit card that I pay off in full. I renewed my passport, bought train tickets for my holiday, bought tickets for the book festival and bought 2 new bras, 2 tops and a waterproof jacket [last 2 were in the sales]. So I owe almost £700 on that card and will attempt to pay off as much of it as I can. Its not due until later this month.

August will also be squeaky as the house and contents insurance is due and I pay it annually. Big old furry boy is due his jags this month as well. As I've taken a holiday that will be a week with no income - joys of self employment.

So for this month I have £750 to allocate to the debt. More will come in during the next couple of weeks but for now my plan is;

£150 to family for roof mending loan and £150 to pay off a bit more than the minimum on the 3 CCs. That leaves £450 for the card to pay off in full so I'll have a grub around and try to make up the rest from other pots. Don't think I'll be able to put anything in the emergency fund this month though.

teapot2

Karmacat wrote: »

I think I'd be using disposables like kitchen roll if I had to deal with cat sick :rotfl: :eek:

Yes definitely, poor wee soul has very long fur and a lot of it and so it gets ingested and then expelled :eek: I spend a lot of time checking I'm not about to step in anything on the floor

beanielou

teapot2 wrote: »

Yes definitely, poor wee soul has very long fur and a lot of it and so it gets ingested and then expelled :eek: I spend a lot of time checking I'm not about to step in anything on the floor

:eek::eek:
The joys of our furry friends:(

teapot2

Submitted my meter readings and while I was online, checked how much the reduction in my DD is going to be after they reviewed my usage. The summer months DD is reducing to £51 from £56.25 and the winter months one from £93.75 to £85 :j I'm quite surprised it went down as I was at home all day off work for months after my surgery and we had a cold Spring here.

I went out as planned and got some kitchen roll for 90p with my 50p off voucher. Also bought an aubergine as they were unavailable with my online shop. They only had mahoosive ones so I'll use half of it in my roast veg and I'll make some ratatouille with the other half as I also have courgette etc.

Before work tomorrow I'll do a tray of roast veg and also roast some rhubarb while the oven is on - saw a recipe for roasting it with orange zest, juice and honey which sounds yum :cool:

Had an online sale today so will look that out in a mo and get it posted tomorrow. Sadly its not my item but one I'd listed for a friend but good for her

The birds seem to still be getting through lots of seed and fat balls and I noticed there are still some babies being fed though they are giant babies and look as big as the parents. Saw something I hadn't seen before, a magpie on top of the wall between me and the neighbours. The wall has coping stones along the top and the snails gather under there presumably as its in the shade. The magpie was reaching down and grabbing the snails from the overhang and extracting them from the shells!