Giving every £ a job

savingholmes

Nice when you grow your own food.

The house before this was 100% mortgage when that was still a thing. Then at another point we used it like a cash machine and took equity out. Crazy!!!

lashie

Hi Blackcats
Long timer lurker here 👋 just popping on to offer a tip with regards to simply cook. We have been using them for many years now and love them. If you have had it a few months then it is worth trying to ‘cancel’ it as when I did I was offered a deal to stay and the box price was reduced to £7.99 instead of £10. This was over a year ago but I would guess they still do it.  It is easier to do on the website rather than the app. Hope it works for you. 😀
PS - Mexican one pot pork is a nice and very cheap one of theirs to try if you haven’t already. 

QueenJess

Sun_Addict said:

I hate one up-manship chatter at gatherings. It doesn’t take much for that sort of materialistic world to come crashing down. It doesn’t impress me either, they could be up to their eyeballs in debt.

I totally agree with this. I am currently pondering whether kids naturally like stuff or if DS has been too spoilt (mainly by grandparents, but partially our fault) as he is too materialistic. I am trying to work on that with him!

Weirdly I just read an article about people using pawnbrokers more due to the cost of living crisis. One person was borrowing every month to keep on top of their bills, but they won £1m on a scratch card a few years ago. They did buy a house with it, but clearly can’t have been living within their means. A bit sad really as they could have set themselves up nicely. 

lucielle

My shopping is quite restricted at the moment until we move.  I'm just dealing with it on a week to week basis whereas if I saw something I could use later, I would get it and freeze it.
Personally never been into having the latest gadget or gizmo.  I think my chaps are pretty grounded (they are all in their 20's how did that happen?) the youngest DD loves a charity shop and uses vinted quite a bit.
L

Blackcats

Ah yes SH - I frequently increased my borrowing on my mortgage - ostensibly for home improvements but in reality I frittered a lot of it.  Seems ridiculous now but I always aimed to borrow the absolute maximum I could. 🤦‍♀️

Thank you for de-lurking Lashie and for that tip which I'm going to try.  I'll get the Mexican one pot pork next time.  I really like the spicy bean chilli - again it's very inexpensive but delicious.

Queen Jess - tricky to know with children and material possessions - we want them to be happy and enjoy themselves but they are so bombarded by "stuff" that its probably hard for them to discern what they really want.  Eek to the lottery winners ... what a wasted opportunity to have a comfortable life.

Lucielle - good luck with the house move - I'm so pleased for you.

a nice week so far which started with a couple of days away visiting family in a beautiful part of the country.  2 meals out were a bit pricey but it was nice to relax, chat and enjoy good company.  Car will need filling up too as it was a bit of a journey! 

I'm due to revive a payment of £240 next week and I've decided to split it as follows 
£25 - premium bond for the grandkids communal premium bond kitty
£100 - holiday pot to help replenish after my mini break
£100 - flipping council tax bill
£15 - Christmas pot (or I might buy an actual gift to get ahead)

feeling very excited to use this money sensibly.  Of course previously I would probably have gone out for dinner and bought some v expensive make up or skincare product. 

savingholmes

Progress indeed. Nice use of the money - especially replenishing the holiday pot...

Blackcats

 Thanks SH - just about to book a holiday to mark the start of my part time working so the holiday pot requires some quite urgent attention.  

A nice day at work - massively helped by a relatively quiet calendar, drama diva 1 being on leave, drama diva 2 probably having a relaxed (skivving) I day and manic boss being on leave.  I actually got through a lot of work and found time to read a paper I had drafted a while ago - I was surprisingly impressed by what I'd written 😵‍💫 and it probably passes the corporate jargon minimum standards - over-arching, under-pinning, strategic, iterative and granularity all appear.

this evening we struck lucky on olio - 2 chicken Caesar baguettes, a massive superfood salad with falafels, fruit salad and scones and cream and jam.  So we ditched our planned meal which can stay in the freezer and had a very quick, delicious and free dinner sitting in the evening sun.  Oh yes, might have opened the Cava too.

we will need to shop on Tuesday but have plenty to last us until then particularly as we are going for a bbq on Sunday and have been asked to "just bring ourselves".  They aren't drinkers so I think we will take a nice box of chocolates to have with coffee and some treats for their children.

Cheery_Daff

Excellent corporate jargon there, well done!

Blackcats

Thanks CheeryDaff - glad that you can see how my values are aligning with the mid to long term horizon scanning strategic direction 🤨

had a nice relaxing day today - a very short walk this morning and enjoying a jug of sangria in the garden now.  

Doing well on grocery spends - £213 left for the month.  Need to do a fairly big shop on Monday - will need a thorough list. 

savingholmes

Gotta love a big of jargon.