Trying not to get into more debt

savingholmes

Well done on limiting your spends. Important to look after your health too. Hope MRI happens this time.

Toonie

Had my Sainsbury shop delivered, spent £51.72 on groceries (had a couple of loose weight items and a couple of no shows) and the fridge and freezer are both fairly well stocked now. I also bought a couple of things that can just be chucked in the oven if necessary as my leg has been particularly bad this week, coupled with very poor sleep, and I'm not in the best frame of mind as I just feel exhausted by it all.

I made sure to include plenty easy prep veg and fruit as that's what I tend to turn to when I'm not feeling up to preparing lunch for myself (like yesterday I had oatcakes, a slice of cheddar, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot sticks, and a plum). Today I got a little head start and popped a couple of eggs on to hard boil whilst I was making a cuppa, so that's lunch sorted (adding in some salad and a roll).

Tomorrow (fingers crossed) is my MRI appointment, so there will be spends there as it will be a couple of buses to get there and a couple back. I'll be bringing a bottle of water and a snack as my appointment is at 1pm, so will have to leave the house at 11.30 to get there.

Doris17

Hope your appointment at the hospital goes well.

The Open University are doing free course that might be of interest to you. 

Toonie

Thanks @Doris17 I'll have a look at the OU. It would be nice to try and do some courses whilst I'm off.

savingholmes

Hope the MRI went well. Have a lovely weekend. Doing anything nice?

Toonie

The MRI went ahead, but unfortunately the position I had to lie in made my leg twitch so the images aren't very clear. Still need to wait to see whether anything can be determined by what they did manage to get but I feel a little frustrated and down after all the issues I've had trying to get it sorted.

No big plans for the weekend, I cut my DPs hair this morning (been doing that since the start of the pandemic) and we are going to sort out the spare room tomorrow. Otherwise, I've set myself a challenge to use some up some art supplies so I'm going to get out my die cutting machine and see if I can make some Christmas decorations (if they're any good I'll make extra and pop them up on Olio Made).

I may also put some packs of things together and to try and sell them as I have a lot of supplies I don't use which my Mum gave me before she passed away (I could make up some card making and bracelet kits for example).

savingholmes

Sounds like some great craft ideas. They can also make good presents

Toonie

Thanks!

We decided to do a big top up shop on the weekend at Aldis (we were close by as we popped to see DPs Dad). We spent just under £109 which is definitely more than usual, but also included getting a piece of pork loin to put in the freezer in case of Christmas supply issues. We doubled up on a few things like tinned tomatoes, potatoes, and meat (always useful to have some bits in the cupboard) but it was still a surprise at the checkout.

Unfortunately I've not had much time to do anything crafty as I ended up at my GPs on Monday for the results of the MRI. All they could tell was there was lots of fluid, but they are not sure why. I ended up having the fluid aspirated to be tested and then a corticosteroid injection into the knee, with strict instructions to stay off my leg as much as possible in the next 48-72 hours.

Hopefully the pain will subside a little soon as the injection made it very sore and I've been struggling to sleep (apparently a common side effect).

No other spends to report because I've not gone anywhere! I have however been thinking about Christmas and presents for my DP, we've set ourselves budgets of £30 this year so I have begun looking around for things he likes (he's quite fond of t-shirts with his favourite anime characters, so watching out for sales!)

savingholmes

Hope you feel better soon. It's hard to focus on anything when you're in pain.

Toonie

It's an ongoing battle. The injection doesn't seem to have helped much unfortunately. My pain levels are still quite high and the knee is still swollen and tender (plus the giving way and difficulty bending it is still there).

Money wise, yesterday whilst I was at the pharmacy I decided to pop into Lidl to pick up a couple of things. I bought chicken thighs to make slow cooker chicken and dumplings, and I got apples so I could make crumble. I also bought wholemeal roles for a change and made some burgers for supper yesterday. The slow cooker is merrily bubbling away and for my lunch today I have ham and barley soup made with the stock from cooking gammon over the weekend. I've been trying to reduce food waste as much as possible so I've been making "compost stock" (out of peelings) to make into soups for my lunch. I've also frozen the peel and cores from the apples to make into jelly when I have a bag full. And I just made the most moreish croutons by soaking stale bread in the rendered chicken fat from the thighs that are in the slow cooker. They are dangerously tasty but thankfully there were only two slices of bread that need using up, so that will go with lunch today and tomorrow.