Struggling along as best I can

Sayschezza

I remember Mr S polished wood counters where you had to queue at each. There was always 1 chair beside each counter but the queues were so long I never did get to sit on them. Assistants in long white aprons and net caps for their hair. Loved to watch the butter being paddled into a rough square before being wrapped. All the tinned and dry goods on shelves behind the counters. No helping yourself in those days. And how about the shops who had those small containers that money went in and which was then whisked off to the cash office and then returned with your change. 

ancientmum

nanny's and sayschezza:

I used to be fascinated by those whizzing things, and the way that the shopkeeper would twirl round the brown paper bag to close it, leaving an "ear" each side.

nannygladys

Sayschezza  & ancientmum -I remember those containers the slip and money was put in, screwed onto a overhead system and went whizzing to the cash office they had them in the grocers and a large shop that sold haberdashery, material and household linens, I used to the love the smells in those shops. I've been to a couple of those living museums and used to embarrass my kids because I'd be like 'I remember those' and 'we used to have one of those when I got married'!!! My gran got me a 'good bottom drawer' together for when I got married, I wished I had some of the Pyrex still!! And the linen and towels lasted years, I only got rid of the linen when I wanted modern patterns and polycotton. She gave me her old Hoover, a big old brown thing and I used to hate my friends seeing it   and I still use her ironing board that she had and I inherited it when my modern one fell to pieces. Funny old world.
Nannyg

WinterWarrior

I had a 70’s childhood so missed a lot of these, but how wonderful it all sounds. I do remember a glorious cash till in a hardware store where they clunked the buttons like an overgrown typewriter and the change whizzed down a metal chute to be collected by the customer in the dish at the bottom…this was all above head height for me and fascinating! My mum had a huge drag around hoover for many, many years…you had to be fit to use it, it was so heavy..all metal and what I think must have been leather patches on the outside…the cat was terrified of it. 

nannygladys

WinterWarrior - I think my Dyson keeps me fit as its so old and heavy, I used dds  battery shark and it was so light and very efficient, I wish she get a new one and then I can have hers 

Nothing done, nothing achieved and am I bothered? Definitely not!!!!!! Spoke to dd2 and all's well but cold and rainy in 'sunny' Cyprus at the moment, with a few small earthquakes thrown in !!!! 

Eldest dd has completed her last piece of course work - yay she can relax for a bit now, just a short exam in March and she can put her feet up 

Don't know what this week will bring, but tomorrow eldest dgd is coming for a visit for a few hours, she can help me around the house, I'll dust she can Hoover, wonder how that will go down, or she can run a couple of errands for me, depends on the weather.
Nannyg

nannygladys

Missed a day, seems like ages ago.
Usual grandma duties completed today, and called at Lids on the way back updated grocery spend, but it was mainly milks, coffees, marg for baking and butter for eating, yogurt, cheese and few other bits, but it came to over £24 I think, anyway signature is correct as I've just altered it. 
Very tired, off to bed
Nannyg

nannygladys

Another day in paradise

Pay day today, budgets done, money shuffling done, and some more money spent!!!

Visited the hub this morning and picked up some bread and veggies and then went to hb's for toilet rolls and coffee (which they didn't have) then to toscos to get my 4weeks supply of petrol and some coffee (that they did have) and their version of marmite (which is kinder to my stomach), so in all £13.84 spent and signature has been updated.
Tomorrow I'm picking 2 of my littlest dgds up from school and taking them to McDs for their tea and hopefully I have the money put by for this in one of my jars!! If not I'll take the difference out if my,grocery fund.
Eldest dgd is here in the morning and will come to 'M' with us, well they are all sisters!!!!! 

I'm getting a bit fed up with this cold weather, I need heat!! I always said I would retire to Cyprus to join dd2 but when it came to it I decided not too, it's on days this I wish I had, mind you it's cold over there, not shorts wearing weather - not that I ever wear shorts!!!

Anyway determined to have an early night, so I'll go and make a last drink.
Nannyg

By the way, I haven't been in a 'big' sm until today and last night and nearly everything I bought had gone up in price, even the loo rolls in hb's had gone up, and my coffee 50p in toscos.

Toonie

I've definitely been noticing the price increases as well. Some items seem to increase every couple of weeks, or decrease in pack size. It makes it more difficult to keep track.

nannygladys

It certainly does Toonie, I don't think I've noticed it that much because during the last pay period I was mainly eating out of stocks and using a community pantry and food hub, which I'm doing this month as well, but needed a few things from sm.

I went to the community pantry today and bought quite a few store cupboard goods, so very pleased, but I did take three dgc to mcds which is coming out of my grocery spends  and was more than I thought it was going to be, but hey ho, I haven't taken them there since before 1st lockdown I think, and it was worth it to see the youngest twos faces!!! The bill was £19.72!!!!!!!!! I don't spend that much on food in a week!!!!!

Anyway, I'll be back at the hub tomorrow, as I have to take my books back to the library to see if there are any veggies I can use over the weekend.

Not an awful lot more has been happening, my wrists have hurting the last couple of days, so I have taken a rest from knitting and taking analgesics to help. And I haven't been sleeping very well the last couple of nights, no reasons that I can think of so I'm hoping to have a lie in tomorrow to make up for them, I've been hearing one of my neighbours going to work at 4:30am and I haven't been asleep, hopefully tonight I'll be that tired I will sleep straight through until 8am!! Anyway better lock up ready for this earlier night
Nannyg
 

nannygladys

Just worked grocery spends on a weekly basis and I'm on track with £18 a week, but was really hoping it would be lower, I managed to put £130 away into the Xmas fund as well and the canopy savings are on track as well, so all in all I should be pleased but I feel I could do better, especially with the grocery spends (I think that's mainly the cost of the mcds today), so I'll have to come up with something different but not sure what. No more mcds for a start, I will do a little tea party for them in future, and cut down on the amount of coffee I drink - I like a certain brand of coffee so I will have to down grade it to the better sm one when my present jar runs out. And ( I don't really want to do this) eat from cupboards and freezer more, Instead of buying to eat, especially with the way prices are going - I really like a good pantry stock, so I'll have to work on that one. And I'll keep reading on the forums to glean some more ideas.

Right off to bed now
Nannyg