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

Irenadler

Skint_yet_Again said:

You did great ! Ignore others with overflowing trolleys they are probably buying on their credit cards !!

Aw, thanks Skinty me old china...(where did that come from? I am not now, nor never was, a Londoner...)

Doh! Why did that never even occur to me? Maybe because I have banned myself from using one, and stick to debit or cash... Now I am consoling myself with images of those shoppers trying to ignore their credit card statements....   

MovingForwards

You can make your own jams, chutney's, pickles and other delights. You don't need to buy overpriced jars with fancy label's 😁
-- do you have recipes? I can sort some out, if you need some.

We have the same onions, possibly the same garlic too! I think they are a great buy and easy to make new ones from 🤗 next year you will be thanking yourself as you smell that fresh sliced garlic, frying in a pan.

I'm so proud you resisted and knew you could. Somehow, having only cash means a lot more thought goes into buying things, using cards doesn't make the money real.

Irenadler

MovingForwards said:

You can make your own jams, chutney's, pickles and other delights. You don't need to buy overpriced jars with fancy label's 😁
-- do you have recipes? I can sort some out, if you need some.
Bless you, I actually do have a recipe book, which I have used in the past, and the equipment (to an extent); I haven't done any for a long time, just old associations/memories which have been too sad/painful... Silly old me, it would be better to use it all again properly, or, make the decision to get rid of it, just couldn't somehow...

If I get myself organised, I can make my own fanciful names 'Roasted to death garlic jam', or, 'Flamin' onions' or whatnot... he he he....Or even the dreaded 'Hot hot chilli jam'...
We have the same onions, possibly the same garlic too! I think they are a great buy and easy to make new ones from 🤗 next year you will be thanking yourself as you smell that fresh sliced garlic, frying in a pan.
Ha! Great minds and all that (wait a minute, there's something wrong with that saying...)
I'm so proud you resisted and knew you could. Somehow, having only cash means a lot more thought goes into buying things, using cards doesn't make the money real.

Ah thanks, I knew coming on here and asking for help, especially from yourself would help me get my brain in gear. It really does work, cash over card... I know, 'plastic' is so seductive, so quick, no messing about looking for the right amount, or waiting for change...., and then the money evaporates from your account equally quickly and what's worse, MINDLESSLY....

And that's when the trouble starts, where you are trying to remember what the heck this and that payment was for, racking your brains, surely you never spent that much, but then you dig out the receipts, and yes, it really was you spending that....argh!

MovingForwards

Oooh hot chili jam sounds good! Or you could put more chili in and call it 'ring of fire' I will get my coat now 😁

If I take cash I walk around shops roughly adding up prices, then I always underspend. Use a card and it is a free for all, which is why I suggested taking cash.

You wouldn't be too far wrong by saying great minds 😁

Irenadler

MovingForwards said:

Oooh hot chili jam sounds good! Or you could put more chili in and call it 'ring of fire' I will get my coat now 😁
I am resisting the obvious reply.... No, I can't resist, yes, I would have a ring of fire afterwards, lol....
If I take cash I walk around shops roughly adding up prices, then I always underspend. Use a card and it is a free for all, which is why I suggested taking cash.
Cash is Queen....plastic =    the devil's own worst invention ever, after payday loans, overdraft, (insert your worst weakness/temptation into debt here)....

You wouldn't be too far wrong by saying great minds 😁

He he, I do have some of the best laughs on here.... 

Irenadler

So, doing this diary is helping my sanity, else I would be endlessly revolving certain thoughts instead....
LONG RAMBLING POST ALERT:
Keep on having bad nights and not sleeping. Up before blackbirds beep, I think this is partly due to being in a semi, with older neighbours, the chap unashamedly sharing his enlarged prostate problems and 'night weeing' with me over the garden fence. I mean, he wasn't weeing at the time, this was in normal daylight hours and he was just saying he gets up in the early hours, never mind....TMI

Anyway, ahem, as I was saying, I was up before the chaffinch chirp, around 3.50 a.m. letting the dog out for a widdle. I took her back to bed, listened to her sleep bark, snore, and make peculiar noises, which as she likes to sleep on the pillow next to my head are quite loud. When she farted in my face, I got up at 4.17 a.m., dressed and took her out for a walk. Stars still out... dog duly walked, pooped, scooped, binned and walked back. Sadly she doesn't agree to being a hairy foot warmer at the bottom of the bed due to having fell off several times with a loud thump like a sack of spuds hitting the floor, Gawd knows what the neighbours thought.... this also doesn't help me sleep....

I cooked up breakfast (porridge, soya milk, frozen fruit plus nana, tea, supplement), and fed her, despite her scoffling something God awful in the dark, I can only guess.... Duly washed up, dried and put away pots, sorted out kitchen compost, checked for 'presents' from the dog in the garden (or the neighbours cats), checked and completed surveys, e-mails, and somehow found myself on here again.... this site is addictive, still, it is better than spending....

I would be getting the hoover out, but, the same neighbours said pointedly that they like to sleep late now they are retired, until about 10 a.m..... I will clean the bathroom first, and then, even if it's before 10 a.m., pointedly bash it about in the bedroom mwhah hah.... - the design in these places has the adjoining semi bedrooms backing onto each other.... Trouble is, they seem to be able to go back to sleep, even the dog goes back to sleep, and I lay there thinking stupid thoughts and can't go back to sleep....

On the MSE side, I am working out that usually I have 6 out of 7 no spend days, which isn't bad, except I can go a tad over-board when I am allowing myself out....

Learning to curb that, thanks Babs and the gang!

On my savings plan (cunning plan?) of £50/pm it will take me a maximum of 12 months to save £600 for the EF. Unless I up this to scraping the leftovers into my EF at end of month, raising the spectre of overdraft hell... hmmmm. This means I will have about 1.5 months of expenses at the current rate I am spending in a years time. And some of that has to be designated into annual costs like H&C (around £99 this year), green waste (£40), doggy stuff (Vaccination/flea&worm). Okay. I would end up with only a month's worth of expenses....

I have joined PA and i-S; and have the princely sum of 50p 'pending'.

This success is slightly tarnished by the £5 dip in the EF.... the siren call of the garden centre....sigh...

Right, bum in gear, getting the marigolds on, and bathroom is getting done!

MovingForwards

How nice your neighbours like a lie-in, you can't fit your life around their schedule. It's not as if you vacuum in the middle of the night.

Sorry for laughing about your dog farting, they always do it at the wrong time, or in the wrong place. Look at it as a sign of affection 😬

Do you have any nighttime meds? If not, it may be worth mentioning to your Dr. Sleep deprivation doesn't help with the body trying to repair itself.

Your cunning plan sounds good. The only time 'leftovers' go into savings is the night before payday. That way there's less of a risk. Only works if you have online banking though. The other way to do it is phone banking when you get up and see your new money has gone in.

With saving expenses, that isn't an overnight thing and does take months to build up. Don't be so hard on yourself!

Irenadler

MovingForwards said:

How nice your neighbours like a lie-in, you can't fit your life around their schedule. It's not as if you vacuum in the middle of the night.
I know, they are lovely people, but, I was hoovering a little bit early, like 7amish, or 8amish....cough...
Sorry for laughing about your dog farting, they always do it at the wrong time, or in the wrong place. Look at it as a sign of affection 😬
Sign of her being over-fed, methinks... or, a sign of her being relaxed...ha! 
Do you have any nighttime meds? If not, it may be worth mentioning to your Dr. Sleep deprivation doesn't help with the body trying to repair itself.
I have been prescribed sleeping pills, however, due to certain issues, I am not comfortable with being 'out of it' especially at night. Which makes makes it difficult for me to relax. Or sleep, or, come to think of it, this is where we started....It's like I have to be constantly on guard/on edge is the only way I can describe it. Not good...
Your cunning plan sounds good. The only time 'leftovers' go into savings is the night before payday. That way there's less of a risk. Only works if you have online banking though. The other way to do it is phone banking when you get up and see your new money has gone in.
Thanks Babs, my brain is clicking into gear, why the heck I don't think of this myself I don't know. Automating it is only a partial solution....
With saving expenses, that isn't an overnight thing and does take months to build up. Don't be so hard on yourself!

Yes, definitely trying to run before I can walk... I can't help it. Seeing you all achieving decent savings is making my attempts seem feeble.... It will work! And now the beckoning call of the rubber marigolds is turning into a compulsive scream for attention....

MovingForwards

Ren, step back and think for a second about our savings compared to yours. The key difference is our income. There's about £1k more coming in for Skinty, Swan and me.

Your attempts are fantastic on your income and it will work when you stop pressuring yourself 🤗

I never meant sleeping meds, just more of something to help you relax a little in the evening before bed. Almost like a lavender bubble bath and a nice book.

Irenadler

MovingForwards said:

Ren, step back and think for a second about our savings compared to yours. The key difference is our income. There's about £1k more coming in for Skinty, Swan and me.
Doh! I keep forgetting that - working income hasn't been coming in for a while....
Your attempts are fantastic on your income and it will work when you stop pressuring yourself 🤗
Thanks!  I guess I am impatient after too long neglecting, well, everything....
I never meant sleeping meds, just more of something to help you relax a little in the evening before bed. Almost like a lavender bubble bath and a nice book.

Ah. I think my brain automatically thinks of that. 

I actually have some nice 'bath bombs' that I keep thinking of using, but, feel I can't be bothered to do something relaxing before sleep, not even a hot cocoa. Kind of shooting myself in the foot thinking.... Dog takes herself to (my) bed usually around 9 p.m. and sometimes have to prod her awake to let her out for a night widdle - she is often snoring away by then, lucky so and so....