Sh*t creek - is now in my rear view mirror...!

savingwannabe

It is brilliant that you are thinking of all of these things as a tactic to help you turn your life around. So much progress in a very short period of time. I am so pleased for you. Have you also thought of doing surveys? Many people do them for vouchers. A few of those a week and that can fund treats for you too. 

MovingForwards

I would say put your ladders in a cupboard which has loads of spiders to stop you going in, but somehow I doubt you have any 😉

As a vegan you should be able to get your food down to £25 a week and have loads of good, hearty food for that. Would you be able to buy doggy food once a month, do a shopping trip just for that, then it splits your shopping off and may be easier to budget? 
Have you changed your loyalty card to annual payout in time for December? 

I cannot believe how far you have come in such a short space, to have one month living expenses already is remarkable. It's a huge achievement and one to be so proud of.

You've turned a corner and your new life awaits.

Irenadler

savingwannabe said:

It is brilliant that you are thinking of all of these things as a tactic to help you turn your life around. So much progress in a very short period of time. I am so pleased for you. Have you also thought of doing surveys? Many people do them for vouchers. A few of those a week and that can fund treats for you too. 

Hi Savingwannabe
Thank you. Coming on here and being accountable has really focused me in a way I haven't been for a long time. And it's thanks to the kindness of people like yourself and MF who have encouraged me to push myself out of my comfort zone....

I did try from a link, posted by another poster on the benefits thread, but it didn't work... Prolific Academic I think it was. Maybe they are inundated at the moment? I think I will try and see how I do...

  

Irenadler

MovingForwards said:

I would say put your ladders in a cupboard which has loads of spiders to stop you going in, but somehow I doubt you have any 😉

As a vegan you should be able to get your food down to £25 a week and have loads of good, hearty food for that. Would you be able to buy doggy food once a month, do a shopping trip just for that, then it splits your shopping off and may be easier to budget? 
Have you changed your loyalty card to annual payout in time for December? 

I cannot believe how far you have come in such a short space, to have one month living expenses already is remarkable. It's a huge achievement and one to be so proud of.

You've turned a corner and your new life awaits.

Ha! Yeah, even the steps are gleaming.... Spiders don't like disturbance, they move out!
£25 sounds like a good goal; still need to find a place that maybe does dog food in bigger sacks, so, could turn into a once a month delivery... 

December... soooooo far in the future I haven't even processed July yet.... I cannot believe it myself. Like getting that last letter and thinking they were asking for their money back!

I really am hoping this is a positive sign, that my brains, which seem to have gone on vacation like, 'the lights are on but nobody's home', have come home, unpacked the suitcase, done the washing and ironing, and getting sorted... I have spent so long looking backwards, so long and so sadly looking at the door which is closed, the past that is gone, not able to get going. Frankly, not even wanting to be here, but, something has finally clicked in my brain and I am hopefully getting past that now. Still getting used to that feeling. 
  
On a happier note, I picked some tomatoes today, still warm on the vine and they tasted good. The lettuce and herbs are growing happily, nasturtiums in bloom, and the root ginger has survived, although the lemon grass is looking dodgy. I think I have over-watered it... However, I have chilli's growing strongly, and just planted beetroot, carrots, mizuna, globe artichoke, sweet cicely, borage and poached egg plants....

Irenadler

So, yesterday went to L*dl but instead of spending £25, spent £40! Fail... 
On the positive side, got an unexpected cheque from old insurers £17, and new insurance schedule from new insurers in the same post!

Trying to be MSE, attempted 2 recipes from a vegan cookbook, I say attempted. Instead of chocolate gooey brownies, I produced what I can only describe as a shiny chocolate turd puddle. Instead of lightly brown lemon shortbread, I produced dark brown biscuit-cake things that crumble into dust as soon as I cut them... Hmm I don't think Mary Berry has any competition. Binned the brownies as they were burnt. The lemon shortbread is edible, but, can't travel as gifts anywhere, because I only have to look at it and it dissolves into dust... 

Now the place reeks of burnt chocolate, and vinegar (tried to scrape burnt brownie mix off bottom of oven). The damned brownies rose like the Quatermass experiment, all over the sides of the pan and everywhere... Doh!

Skint_yet_Again

Oh dear your gooey chocolate brownies sound like what my dog is producing at the moment 🐶 🤢 sorry if tmi. 

Can you maybe use the lemon shortbread as the base for a vegan cheesecake? (If there is such a thing) or as a crumbly topping on fruit and /or yoghurt ? 

Irenadler

Ha! What your dog is producing is probably slightly pleasanter! 

Erm, they could, potentially, except for the fact that half of them have already been scoffed.... 
I am not sure they will be around long enough to experiment with. I have gone back to the mixed nuts in a bag and fruit, feeling a bit of discouragement in the cooking. 

Focus, concentration and memory are dodgy. Brain doesn't cope with stress. Like looking at the bargain £1.50 veg box in L*dl, couldn't cope with figuring out what to do with it all. Focusing instead on the weekly reduced fresh stuff (didn't get lettuce as growing it), aubergine, spring onions, sweetheart cabbage, cherries, sweet peppers and what I could cook with them is much less stressful. The cherries I will eat, or add to porridge, which only leaves 4 other items to cope with. 

Just trying to adapt to what I can do, learning what I can cope with, limits... Going vegan was a relief. I can cut out whole aisles in the shops. Hate the massive supermarkets. Much prefer the small L*dl as its smaller than the small T*sco one. Just things that never used to bother me, do now. Too many choices really confuse and bewilder me; it makes me want to get out in a hurry. Hope that makes sense as I feel I am rambling...   

Cooking is only MS if its edible!

MovingForwards

Stick with the student recipes for now, get your confidence back and then venture into brownie territory. The biscuits I can highly recommend and never had them fail on me.

You're putting yourself under a lot of pressure. Do things like a Mediterranean veg roast, veg curry, veg soup, veg Bolognese etc.

What you are saying does make a lot of sense. Your world is a new one compared to a few months ago and already there has been a big change, stop trying to conquer the world in a day!

MovingForwards

I hope you are having loads of adventures at home and too busy enjoying yourself to tell us all about them!

savingwannabe

Hello irene, I hope you are well. I just caught up after my jaunt to the New Forest. If possible try to shop to a list. Only buy extras that are yellow stickered and vvvvv cheap. Take something out of your basket if you buy an equivalent in the yellow sticker aisle.