A new chapter, An empty nest, Drama school & Last year of Uni

Spendless

Im a muppet. Realised last night that 2 people attending (1 working, 1 spouse - same circs as me) live in the same  area we're at and the wife is on my SM, why didnt I message her and ask what the weather was like there before packing! 

I did eventually find tights in the most disorganised store Ive come across but of the sheer variety, not thick ones. Think Ive sussed how to make  my wardrobe work whilst we're here.

After the store trip yesterday we then wandered downtown picked up some toiletry bits we cant get at home and then made our way to the cheap bar with the $2.50 cans of lager. As DH said '2nd day  here and weve found ourselves a local' - lol. Meal last night was covered by organisation Mr S is working for, it was different bbq meats and loads of sides, potatoes, salad, coleslaw, mac n cheese, was yummy Also was a free bar. 

Today whilst our OHs work 3 of us are going to a moonshine tasting. Tonight is a formal meal at a steak house so will need to pace myself.

I moved £15 today. Xtra rent has £85. Lost £48. Stolen £47 and my Friday savings has £15. 

Spendless

We are home from our latest American adventure, enjoyed it but boy was it cold. Even the pilot landing at Heathrow yesterday morning gave us the temperature and said that is warmer than where you set off from. The weather reminded me constantly of the lyrics on Fairytale of New York 'but the wind runs right thru you, its no place for the old'. It got slightly warmer towards the end of our trip but only so it wasnt 'biting cold'. We return late Spring for around a week  the weather should be completely different by then. That should be our last rodeo, but Mr S has been asked to remain until the end of this year. Its likely to be more of an online presence than any trips, but if he does, it'll possibly be without me due to my work restrictions. Sad but time to move on, Ive had a great experience and visited places Id have never considered going to. 

Back home, I thankfully have the rest of this week off as there's 3 suitcases to unpack. (2 full of items we bought/were given, was our hand luggage going out - didnt take 3 cases for a short trip - lol).

I need to go grocery shopping. Last night tired and wanting something quick and easy we bought 2 x pie, chips, gravy from the chippy - £17! Dont think I'll be a returning customer for some time. Already spent £60 this morning on chiropodist for me and groomers for dog. Neither me or Mr S get paid until next week, me at the beginning, him at the end.

Have paid DD's rent this morning as it's Tuesday. Was pulled from the savings from DH's wages I put aside as not enough left in mine. Hoping to relook at this at the end of the month for the finances until the end of the tenancy. A couple of potential job opportunities presented themselves to DD whilst we were away - if either work out then that will help. 
 
 

Spendless

Didnt go food shopping cos started with a cold and then yesterday didnt go cos DH away with car and I went and watched Hamnet with a friend. DD watched this at the weekend and had an eeerie experience. We were in the US at the hotel waiting for our taxi to the airport when suddenly randomly DH thought of DD's elderly classical drama teacher who thought her thru the teenage years. He googled her name and discovered shed died before Xmas and we'd missed her funeral. I send the link to DD, unaware of what shes doing. Later she tells me the exact time I sent the link she was watching the closing scene in the film and thinking strongly of this elderly teacher who taught and installed a love of Shakespeare in her. 

Today its raining currently so cant see myself going out. Instead I'll continue to make do with what we have in. We had freezer food the other night, chicken kiev, chips and peas and I was pleasantly surprised to find 1 more kiev left, that will make an extra meal for when its just me here. Yesterday I took leftover HM chicken n spinach curry out of the freezer. Its an enormous portion for 1 not enough for 2. Think Ill stretch it with rice and naan. Ive also got ingrediants that need using to make a raita and think Ill try a HM veg soup for lunch. 

This afternoon, Im hoping to get emailed my pay slip. I havent been paid since before Christmas so would be really handy to know whats due in. 

Parents after becoming on 1st name terms with the staff at the recycling centre (former tip) and the local charity shops have finally accepted they can not possibly empty 75 years worth of stuff from Nans house themselves! They are now going to get a skip or house clearance once the old furniture and stair lift has gone. Im relieved about this, I told Dad he was going to end up back in hospital if he didnt stop putting himself under so much pressure. 

Spendless

Made HM soup with the veggies I had in. Mostly a butternut squash that Id bought a couple of weeks ago as part of Aldi's super 6 - goodness knows why ! It's not a veg the rest of the family tend to eat. Recipes called for warming ingrediants. I sauteed onion in some chilli olive oil, along with some turmeric and cumin.  threw the chopped butternut squash - god they're a pig to peel - into the soup maker along with a handful of lentils and a veg stock pot - hoped for the best and it was yummy. Added a dollop of greek yoghurt on serving to both cool and add creaminess and found a bag of unopened garlic n herb croutons - no idea where they've come from on top. I still have some left. I used to make soup a lot for lunch when I worked f-time but havent for so long, wil get back into doing that cos it creates a meal for pennies. Tea was similar with leftover beef and spinach curry, rice, naan and HM raita, just me eating tho as Mr S has now come down with a cold and went from WFH to an early night.

We did get chance to do the CC and as I had already anticipated/realised last month was costly! We just hadnt saved/done things in the usual way so when unexpected costs materialised and I took my eye off the ball with everything else going on, we didnt have a contingency plan to deal with it. Everything is still a learning curve. DH does get both a pay rise and a bonus this month so we will use that to put us back straight. 

Tomorrow I am meeting old school friends for breakfast and  am going to try my new strategy of not ordering a full English. Though I love them, Ive found that they are the meal most incined to have you paying more. Ive been served a large bfast instead of the small I ordered - my fault for not noticing till started eating - Id been drinking day before and my head still wooly! Had items substitued without telling me, been charged £3ish I think for adding 1 slice of toast,  £2 for putting ketchup and brown sauce in 2 ramekins and to add insult to injury when I queried the price to Mr S later cos it was more, he told me he'd given a tip - which would have been fine if he hadnt gone to the counter and ordered and paid for it himself - normal procedure. So, no more. I dont mind paying to eat out, I dont mind tipping, I do mind thinking that was poor value, so Im changing my order to stop the 'add ons', the fetching me the large version Ive not ordered, the extra charges and the substitute food items.

As today is Friday I have moved £15. Xtra rent is now at £90. My savings at £20 and lost and stolen both at £50. Ive made the decision to concentrate on stolen from next week. Though Ive never done this alternative universe savings in chronological order of when it occurred, stolen did happen first, lost some months later and is really a historic educational expense which Ive said I would like to be my focus from.Sept 1st, so will be putting it on the back burner for now. 

Have a good weekend everyone. 

Humdinger1

@Spendless, I always roast butternut squash before peeling it, for this reason.  Struggled on for years before reading this.  Well done on everything- sorting out 75 years of stuff is no small job; it can't be done without the measures you're suggesting.   Love Humdinger xx 

Spendless

Thanks humdinger, I'd not thought of that. Currently our oven is broken, cooked the turkey Xmas day, packed in on boxing day, 3 days after I'd had it professionally cleaned! We are managing with the hob, microwave, air fryer and other gadgets. Mr S believes the heating element has gone and saw how you replaced one online, he's not good at diy though so I might think it's not worth risking and just replace the oven. The TD which was also on the list of things currently broken Mr S managed to fix so am happy with that.



Enjoyed my catch up with old school chums though it was brief. Ordered eggs benedict, nice but went cold too quickly. Happy to not have my order mixed up and/or overcharged though unlike the last 3 times! 

I had a cold that developed the night we arrived home, fortunately it cleared after a couple of days. I blasted it away with olbas bubble bath. My Mum buys me some as a stocking filler each year ever since I said I found it good - as I ran out of it during last year she has now upped the quantity she gives me each xmas - lol. My friend has a phrase 'never tell your Mam you enjoy jam sandwiches, as you'll get them in your pack up forever' - hahhaha. I no sooner got over it than Mr S came down with it and genuinely has got it worse - usually I don't have much time for 'man flu'.

Parents called as Dad didn't understand the letter from Nan's pension provider (really my Grandad's pension that she was in receipt of as a widow). I thought they'd sent some generic forms out that weren't revelant but wanted another pair of eyes on it just to make sure. I really don't know how parents would be managing if we left them to sort all this alone. During the clear up of Nan's house (still ongoing) a letter was found from her hospital discharge 12 months ago and under comments it reads ' We recommend that Mrs X seeks advice about  going into a care home due to fraility (and something else I've forgotten possibly advanced age)'. This beggars belief! So it had been identified she was struggling, despite carers that only  lasted around a week, despite the numerous conversations had with the hospital staff on her readmittance in Autumn 25 that my parents couldn't manage continuing to care for her. Nan was expected to just do this by herself and no one else not even her GP was flagged though she was already 99. You might just as well have handed the letter to my dog and expected him to act upon it!  

Funeral bill has come through (no idea why FD have done it this way round since the initial agreement was to take straight from Nan's account) the insurance policies have covered the cost with a small amount (£100ish) left over. Parents are going to pay it tomorrow. 

Grocery shop still not done, going out for bfast, parents calling, Mr S ill and needing to do at least some basic housework all got in the way. I get paid tomorrow and though my wages are all accounted for with paying DD;s rent what I might do is buy the shopping from my account and then transfer it back at the end of the week when DH's comes in. Thankfully he will receive both a wage rise and a bonus in his next paypacket. It will be very welcome, as despite this  January having had  a funeral, Mum's bday, DD's return to drama school and us being away for a few days on corporate expenses to occupy our time  it's still been a very long month! 

Loanranger21

Hi Spendless.

Our oven element has been replaced at least twice by a local appliance repair guy who comes out to the house. We bought the cooker in 2008 and replacing the element is obvs much cheaper than buying a new cooker. We live in Mids and I think you are in the north so no point giving you his number. If I am wrong about your location and if you want his number please ask.  

Spendless

Hi @Loanranger21 - Thats useful. Do you mind saying how much it cost to repair so I can compare to replacing? Yes thats correct Im  unfortunately not in your area. 

Spendless

I went grocery shopping for the minimum. Still cost £56. I bought cubed beef for a casserole, rejected the one I usually buy cos the pack size was smaller and cost more. Looked at the prices of that and mince theres no smaller packs and the price has risen, thought if I notice that then how are my kids meant to manage when 1 is a student and the other lives by themself paying all bills. 

Later I called at DS as I had some stuff for him (from hols etc). He lives near a pub, the car park was empty! I normally struggle to find a parking space. My mum said they'd gone shopping to 2 - 3 stores last week and noticed same thing, car parks empty barely a shopper in there. How are businesses meant to survive if no one can afford to use them?!

We went thru the credit cards and have paid 2 off. We usually have 2 one for points, the other for cashback but its not widely accepted not where we live anyway, if we visit DD then it seems anywhere takes it. DH got offerred a good deal on an upgrade so took that but had already spent on CC2, so theres 3 to pay this month. The outstanding CC I have moved part of the money for it, the rest will need to come out of DH's pay at the end of the week. 

I used the beef in the SC yesterday with lots of needing using up veg - was yummy. Theres a small portion left over. 

Today I have work. I cant see it being busy customer wise as weather alone  will put shoppers off. 

KxMx

People who live alone get good at shopping around for best value, whether that's going places that do do smaller packs, or buying a bigger pack & freezing portions.

Don't get me started though on how difficult it's gotten to buy cheese in a small block, to keep in fridge 😆