Struggling along as best I can

joedenise

@nannygladys - sounds like it might suit you to do SW the way I have done (when it suits me!) and start with 105 syns for the week and then deduct whatever you have to eat/drink with syns!  It probably slows the losses down a bit but at least you don't feel guilty for going over syns on any particular day!

When you really fancy something I think you should have it because otherwise you'll end up having something else but still end up having what you really wanted so might as well have it when you want it!

Hope that makes sense!

Good luck for the coming week.

nannygladys

The last few days have not panned out as they should have,  youngest dd and family have the dreaded cv, and thankfully they are coping as they don't seem too poorly, mainly sore throats! But as dd was on holiday this week we were going to take the kids our on a couple of trips and to be honest I was quite looking forwards to them   oh well another time, at least they are ok.

Money wise, I've had a couple of spends but nothing on food and all necessary and costing very little, so that's a positive and my bank balance is still in the black,  have to watch it like a hawk as I chose to not have an od facility!!! The allotment us producing quite a variety at the moment so I keep eating green 'things' which are all good for sw and anything else is coming out of the freezer. I'm thinking of going to the community shop tomorrow but I'm not sure, I will have a quick look at what is needed before I make the decision, although I do have some school uniform stuff to take up for their free uniform shop, they really try to help everybody and always try to accommodate people if they have very little money etc.

It's been a glorious day here and I've been sat outside under a parasol in the shade most of the day reading!!!! That's one advantage of being a pensioner!!!

Nannyg

nannygladys

I forgot the community shop wasn't open on Thursday, it's every other week during the summer holidays, so the volunteers can have time off with their children, so it will be this Thursday coming.
Not really been doing much outside the home so I'm not tempted to buy anything that's a need, as I feel I could spend money thats earmarked for something else at the moment - it will pass!!
I have been to the allotment, mainly for watering the poly tunnel, the tomatoes are starting to ripen at long last and I noticed another melon so that's three so far, they're about the size of a small hand at the moment so they have a bit more growing to do. Everything else is growing well and I still have a few cabbages to put in as soon as I get a bit of free space. 
I did do a bit of food shopping the other day at a@da and I bought mostly 'yellow' goods - the new cheap range, it's turning out to be quite good - I bought mainly fresh fruit, potatoes, mushrooms and a few things like margarine and squash plus other stuff and I spent pennies over £20, so l'm really pleased so far🙂 and I wasn't embarrassed by the bright colour like some people reckon us 'poorer' people would be, at the end of the day it's the food I can afford to eat and so far has been fine!!
I also saw the price of fuel at their garage has gone down again to but I didn't need any.
The weather has been glorious which helps with SW as  I'm drinking lots of water and eating cold foods, I bought a load of ice pops for cooling purposes and as I  couldn't  syn them they must be free😄, I haven't had many yet, and they're only small!
Well I'm off to bed now, I went up about an hour ago but it was too warm in the bedroom so I've opened all the windows wide and I'm hoping it will have cooled it down a bit, I have to close them to sleep so I'll leave all the upstairs doors open for a bit of air circulation. Nite nite.
Nannyg 

joedenise

@nannygladys - if you let me know which ice pops you bought I'll look them up for you - they range from 2 for 0.5 syn up to 2 syns each depending on brand and size!  Well done on sticking to SW in this heat.  I actually find winter easier (and cheaper) with lots of soups and stews.  Salads are quite expensive to buy as I don't have much room to grow stuff.  I've got a small patch of mixed lettuce but that's about it this year.  Most of the space I've got is taken up with growing raspberries but think we're probably going to dig them up once they finish fruiting this year as they're just spreading so much.

Also got a small strawberry  bed they they haven't done much this year - just a handful of small strawberries so they'll probably come up as well.

nannygladys

joedenise - i have that problem with raspberries at the lottie, but then I use them my side of the fence on the perimeter, so eventually they will down one side than all over the place. The ice pops are 'eezy freezzy sqeezeee sugar free' and I got rid of the box too quickly!! Today I've had a hm mixed veggie fried rice and later I'm having hm whitebean coleslaw. All free and syns for mayo.

nannygladys

Been sitting outside most of the day with sunscreen on and out of the sun up made to the parasol 🙂 I've nearly finished my book now.
I think I forgot to say that I paid my 6 month water bill yesterday (I think) and it was about the same as other water bills, I know it was put up by 3% so I have been so careful with it, you know flushing loo with shower water, trying to only wash up once a day, turning all taps off instead of letting it run a bit and catching the cold water before the hot comes through so I really thought/hoped it would have gone down a bit but I'm just grateful now that it hasn't gone up any!!
I have eldest dgd coming to stay a couple of nights from tomorrow and I think I have enough in for meals but I will have to get some fat milk and white bread tomorrow for her. We will be going a walk if it's cooled down a bit and out to the milk vending place as well. I love seeing the cows up close and personal 😁
Nannyg

joedenise

nannygladys said:

joedenise - i have that problem with raspberries at the lottie, but then I use them my side of the fence on the perimeter, so eventually they will down one side than all over the place. The ice pops are 'eezy freezzy sqeezeee sugar free' and I got rid of the box too quickly!! Today I've had a hm mixed veggie fried rice and later I'm having hm whitebean coleslaw. All free and syns for mayo.

Is that the Vimto ones?  If so they do 2 sizes!  If it's the 30ml size then they are 0.5 syns each.  If they are the no added sugar ones then they are 2 for 0.5 syns.

nannygladys

joedenise - i apologize for not getting back to you, I've had dgd staying with me the last few days and haven't been on the net much at all. The ice pops I'm going to (or have been) counting them as one syn each as I'm not sure what make they were but it won't be far out and I'm sure it'll even it self out as I don't normally make a full 15. Thanks for looking for me.
Nannyg 

joedenise

No need to apologise @nannygladys, life gets in the way.  Family is far more important than MSE!

nannygladys

This is not going to be long as I've just lost a long post !!🙁

So I've had eldest dgd staying with me which has been lovely, I've had granny duties looking after dgs and pup (dgd came with me) but a little extra money has been spent, but I'm still in budget (just) and I will cut back a bit next month.

Youngest DD and partner are fully recovered from cv, DD just has a bit of a cough but is fine and the weather is a little cooler, although there hasn't been much rain where I live. The community pantry has been shut this week due to illness, so it will have been shut for four weeks so it doesn't affect me too much as the Lottie is producing quite a lot and I have a good stocks in but I hope the people with young children are managing, there's quite a few go who don't qualify for a food bank and it does really help us that use it. It's not open next week either 🙁 

Anyway I'll plodding along, tomorrow I'll do a fridge/freezer list to see what I can make to eat over the weekend and I will have to go and water the poly at the lottie and pick tomatoes and things!! I still have a few cabbages plants to squeeze in somewhere, and I've just potted on some more kale and chard babies, so hopefully they will be planted out in a couple of weeks time. It's handy having two dds fairly close to pass produce onto to and neighbours as well!!!

No money will be spent over the weekend, SW is going well, I've we lost another 2lbs this week, must be all the courgettes I've been eating 😄 I made tom soup today using mainly home grown produce which will last a couple of more days, and then I will be making courgette and potato soup and I think there's cabbages ready to be eaten so will have a think what I can use those for, not soup though!!!! Stuffed cabbage leaves and cabbage pie I reckon for a start 🤣
Right I'm off to bed, I had a very restless night last night, my mind was flying all over the place. Oh and I've applied for pension credit even though I'm just over the limit 'you don't get unless you try' and you never know, I'll let you know how that one goes! Oh and the drs phoned to give me a face to face appt with a real doctor person to discuss my x-ray results - wow!!!!! Not sure why as it was a nurse practitioner I was seeing perhaps she is on holiday or something.
Nannyg

Ps so much for a short post 🤣🤣