Finishing the race

WinterWarrior

Oh the dreaded office collections...even worse being the buyer. I have lost out quite a bit over the years when the ‘pay you later’ people don’t! It’s nice to know the secrets though. I once found out about a GM’s affair when I looked after his mailbox, he’s long since retired and I never told a soul, not one. I never found out if he realised I knew.
well done on the shopping though and the calories.

Thelaughingcat

ENN ESS DEE!  ENN ESS DEE!  ENN ESS DEE!



Got my NSD today which is good as I’ve still not collected all the money for those presents yet.  I have most of it though, just waiting on a couple of peeps to come through.

This weekend has suddenly become far more expensive though.

We’re now heading down to Essex on Thursday evening, to strip wallpaper and clean carpets for my OH’s mum.  She’s moved to a new house and it’s practically uninhabitable.  Bare floorboards in half the rooms, grime and filth of several decades sunk into the very wallpaper...an oven with a freaking analogue clock in it.  An actual clock face with hands and everything.  The whole place has not been cleaned in years.  

So, we’re heading down to stay in the house of a hundred horrors and try and make it a bit more habitable before heading back up on Sunday.

On top of that, it’s my brother’s 30th on the Saturday so I’ll be travelling to Clapham, bringing a bottle of champagne with me, to eat fancy picnic finger food on the common. He’s no idea I’m going to be there and he’s gutted none of his family can see him on his birthday.  Ha!

This might be my last NSD for a while.  

Normally a trip down south would mean takeout every night, and many breakfast/lunches as well. Stopping off at the service station on the way down and back.  Taxis to and from Loughton station...and a myriad of other expenses too.

This time I’m doing things a little bit differently.  I’m taking some food down with me so I have food for every meal bar the Saturday lunch with my bro.  No stopping at service stations.  No ordering in sundaes at 9pm.  That last one will be difficult after a couple of glasses of champagne! Walking to and from the station.

So, I spent today pulling together next week’s meal plan early and did a bit of a shop so I can prep food tomorrow.  To avoid the Sunday evening post-travel ‘there’s no food in the house’ takeout, I’m grinding up an easy pesto that I can store in the fridge while we’re away and throw on top of some salmon, oven cooking it with some lemon thyme baby roasties and a bit of salad on the side.  Easy and stress free (and waaay cheaper than Just Eat or a restaurant delivery!).

Now that the shop is mostly sorted, I have my final totals for this week’s £75 budget, coming in at £46.94.  I’ll hold on transferring that until tomorrow in case anything urgent comes up.  

Then I have my £25 NSD for today as well.  Not too shabby!

However, next week’s food shop is quite large, as I leaned heavily on my pantry this week and ripped through my stock so I need to replace quite a bit.  I’ve already spent £22.75 and I have a LOT still to get.  And that bottle of champagne...do they even make champagne for under £25?  (First world middle class problems, eh?)

God, I love Jean.

So tomorrow will be a welter of packing, food-prepping, shopping and, oh yes, that critical job I get paid to do as well, on top of all the other daily shizamabobble.  

But hopefully, what will come out of it will be a lovely weekend seeing some of both our families (and some gross cleaning!) in a more reasonable way than usual, that doesn’t leave our wallets empty and our waistlines expanded ☺️

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Thelaughingcat

@WinterWarrior - thank you!  And yes, the secrets are always safe with us, even the truly shocking ones.  Apart from my OH.  He gets to hear everything. 😁

WinterWarrior

Did your mother in law buy the house or is she renting? If renting, don’t they need to start out at a certain standard? Perhaps take the oven to an antiques roadshow and make a killing 🤣 It sounds like it will be grim trying to get it sorted.
well done on your NSD....cheers loudly 🎇
I hope the birthday picnic is good...we have Lidl champagne at Christmas normally, but this year had Tesco’s own as we were avoiding shops and getting deliveries. I’m no expert, but both were fizzy and perfectly drinkable and not eye wateringly expensive! 

Thelaughingcat

She’s bought it, @WinterWarrior - it comes with quite a large garden as it’s a corner plot, so they’re going to build a granny flat on the side and convert the rest into a family home for my OH’s sister and their three little ones.  It’s a good call but this bit is tough!

I’m genuinely considering selling it as a vintage piece 😁. A bit of Astonish to sparkle it up and I reckon we could make a few bob!

Ooohhh...Tesco own brand...I’m going to give that a go!  Thanks for the recommendation 😊. Believe me, we’re not experts/champers snobs either!  Especially after the first couple of glasses...🥴

WinterWarrior

It sounds like the house will be perfect when it’s all done, just a bit of a project! Have a rummage round for any more antiques while you’re there 😬
I agree about champagne, as long as it’s fizzy and tastes ok then it’s fine by me...why pay double for something you couldn’t tell the difference on in a blindfold taste test?

MuffinTops

Hello Thelaughingcat.  You'll be in my neck of the woods this weekend, in fact it sounds like you'll be in my house!!!!  It's shocking that the sellers left the place the way they did for your OH's Mum.  I'm planning on moving all of my stuff out a few days before I complete so that I can get the place clear to give it a good scrub everywhere.  I don't even want to think about how long the cleaning list will be with carpet cleaning, oven cleaning etc.  I need a lie down just thinking about that.

It's good to hear you've managed more social interaction.  Lockdown made it so easy to clip the social butterfly wings, but seeing people actually feels like soul food to me, particularly seeing the right people.

After some thought I've worked out how the daily budget can now work for me too, so thank you for reminding me about that.  I'll be the same as you though and won't know what to do with the slush fund as it builds up.  Maybe I won't need to do anything with it outside of emergencies as each day resets the clock.  My daily amount will likely be much smaller than yours though as I will put aside an amount in my budget for things like gifts etc.

Have a lovely surprise birthday buffet.  Happy birthday to your brother.  I hope the weather stays lovely.

Thelaughingcat

@WinterWarrior - definitely no antiques.  Plenty of mould and spiderwebs though!

Went for Aldi’s champagne in the end after reading rave reviews of it online. £13. Bloody lovely!  That’s a win, in my book. 😊

Thelaughingcat

@MuffinTops - can’t wait to head over to your blog and see what’s moved on in your world!  We heard all the gossip about the last owners...I was shocked at the state to say the least.  Every time I’ve moved, I’ve left it absolutely sparkling and move in ready.  These guys didn’t even wipe their splashed coffee off the wall.  The grime practically ran off when we put warm soapy water to it.

How’s the daily budget working out for you?

Thelaughingcat

Oh my days!  It’s been hectic to say the least.  The weekend was blinking expensive and I decided to just go with it.  It’s not often I’m down in London or Essex - my first salmon poke bowl in over a year nearly brought tears to my eyes.  And don’t get me started on the jerk chicken with saltfish patties, fried plantains, dumplings and a whole bottle of homemade hot sauce that fires up my mouth like fruity firecrackers.
I may have overspent a tad.

But the time was wonderful and I got to see my little bro (whose flabber was ghasted to see me ☺️), and my niece and nephews where we had endless games of ‘hunt for stones’, ‘throw in the air’, ‘run round the downstairs in a circuit’ and ‘light switch’. Epic.  It was so lovely.  The place was an utter state but it’s as clean as we can get it now and his mum has moved in.  We’ve said when the building work starts, she can come and stay with us.

Then I pulled it back on Monday, when work went so nuts, it really didn’t matter if I wanted to spend money, I couldn’t physically leave the house. Three NSD’s just for not having the time to do internet browsing! I still had nearly £100 in my account last night to push into my slush fund so I did alright.

Payday today, so my credit card is finished (huzzah!) and I now have £500 in my slush fund.  Ten per cent there in twenty days - not bad!

I’m going to keep on it as I want that five grand saved up, desperately.  I‘ll have plenty of chances to if I keep my head in the game - starting with my weekly food budget...it’s not looking too bad this week at all!

Nearly midnight so it’s time to sleep - way past my bedtime.  Hope you all had a fab week and I’ll see you tomorrow now I’m back to normal! ☺️