Mrs. P's Savings, Paying Off CC, being more organised diary

MrsPorridge

NSD 13/21

Went for a walk just around the village and managed to walk past the café without going in.  Have decided that I will have a teacake and coffee on Saturday morning at the café for breakfast.  So a controlled spend rather than a whim. 

Breakfast was pikelets, lunch soup and bread and dinner tonight is home made quiche with potato croquets and veggies.

If you do decide to get a coffee machine AC I can recommend Nespresso.  they also do an offer where you buy a machine for £1 and then they take £18 a month and put it in your account, you can then spend that on coffee capsules or accessories and at the end of I think its 18 months you own the machine.  I did this offer for my little machine that I keep in the motorhome.  It was great.  I guess it means you buy the capsules from them and not the "knock off" ones.  I always buy the Nespresso capsules anyway.

another_casualty

It's good that you're still using the cafe as and when mrs p 😼

Thanks for the coffee tip ! One thing though that has been holding me back..are the coffees coming from the machine similar to a coffee cappuccino for example ? 
I like the idea of a frothy coffee ,and they look quite good in adverts when I used to watch them . Having said that, they do look tiny from when I saw mr clooney have one.
He isn't exactly the incredible hulk. ..

MrsPorridge

AC you can buy an aeochino (sp?) to make the frothy coffee, or you can get a machine with the milk frother built in.  Have a look on the Nespresso website.  I can make cappucinos with mine and yes, they are just like the shop - well I think so anyway.

MrsPorridge

NSD 14/21

Just before the pandemic, when DH and I took early retirement we thought we wanted to move house.  Not sure where we wanted to move to though.  Then, of course, the pandemic hit and we decided to stay put and spent money on the house.  I have slowly been falling back in love with the area where we live.  I am thinking more of nature and enjoying what we have instead of worrying about what we don’t have.  It is beautiful and people come from all over to visit during the summer – and the winter.

I have felt very up and down these last couple of years.  This morning it was like I had some kind of epiphany and felt a lot calmer.  Maybe the pandemic affected me more than I thought it did.  I always used to worry a lot, now not so much.  I have decided to “go forward” now trying not to get concerned or worried over things – I want to be more of the mindset of “it all comes out in the wash”.

Anyway, enough of that!

We had crumpets for breakfast. The sun was shining so we had a walk to a nearby cove.  A 15 minute stroll from our house we see this wonderful view.

Lunch was leftover quiche and salad.  Dinner tonight is fish finger wraps with Cajun potato wedges.

No NSD as we visited Sainsbogs this afternoon as I needed some basics.  I also got some haggis, neeps and tatties as we want to celebrate Burns night on Tuesday.

another_casualty

That's a great photo mrs p 😼
All the things you say about where you are means you should stay put.
The grass is always greener etc, but it sounds like the reality of retirement has probaly dawned on you by the sound of it ,and the trouble is we all worry about the future etc and forget about serenity. I think that's what it's called 😸
It seems that when the credit card battle is won, all will be well..
 

MrsPorridge

NSD 14/21

No NSD today as I went to the café for my breakfast and had toasted teacake and coffee.  Café was packed and I saw my next door neighbours in there and other people I know in there.  Was nice to see so many people out and about.

Cloudy today, and still very cold.

Just checked the credit card, but the statement isn’t in yet.  I am going to be paying over the minimum each month now. 

Just gone over my budget again for next month.  One thing I need to do is to be more realistic about my food (including cleaning and toiletries) budget and just do one major shop (to be delivered) each month and then top up with fresh stuff.   I realise a lot of my overspending – going over budget is because I am not setting a realistic food budget.  So that will now happen and hopefully will make it easier to stick to the budget I set.

Lunch will be soup and dinner tonight is curry, using up some leftover turkey from Christmas.

I think a lazy afternoon, knitting in front of the TV.

Thanks for your kind words AC.

MrsPorridge

NSD 15/21

This coming final week of Jan I need to concentrate so I can reach my NSD target.  We are out tomorrow meeting friends for lunch – the friend has a voucher for 50% off food at the local garden centre so we will have lunch using that voucher.  Very MSE.  The rest of the week I should be able to be NSD except if we need milk.

Brunch of oatcakes, watercress, salmon and poached egg.  I made some shortbread which we had a couple of bits with coffee.  Dinner later will be curry turkey pie – using the leftover curry from yesterday.  I have made a proper pie with a pastry base!

MrsPorridge

NSD 15/21

We met our friends for lunch.  Was a really nice catch up.  Just going to have a sandwich tonight for supper.

Cold here but dry so that is something to be thankful for.

MrsPorridge

NSD 16/21

First job on the list today was sort out our tax position.  When DH starts getting his state pension in April/May it will push him over the tax threshold and he will have to pay.  I won’t be paying tax for at least another 6 years (unless things change).  I phoned to tax people to transfer some of my tax allowance to him so he will pay less tax – married tax allowance I think its called.  All sorted after a few minutes phone call. When we first retired we phoned the tax people, they are so helpful then and were again today.  So, that is all sorted now and when he starts getting his pension he should be taxed at the lower amount – fingers crossed!

We are having a Scottish day today as its Burns night.  For brunch we had eggs royale, muffins, salmon and poached eggs.  Dinner tonight is haggis, neeps and tatties.  I made short bread yesterday and we will have that for snacks.

My friend is coming round later for our stitching session.

MrsPorridge

NSD 16/21

We had a ride on our bikes first thing and then decided to have a fish and chip lunch – we ate it looking out over the sea.  Its been a few months since we had fish and chips.  We were both craving them and we weren’t disappointed.  Therefore, no NSD today.  To meet my target now I won’t be able to spend anything till 1st Feb.  I did buy milk today so that will see us through.  I also have a delivery from Sainsbogs coming on the 1st.

Breakfast was porridge and supper tonight will be bread and soup.

I also made a loaf this morning.

Its gone very grey now, but I don’t think it will rain.  This afternoon I need to do a load of washing and then I want to do some knitting.

We watched a really good series on Netflix called Clickbait – finished watching it last night.  If you like mysteries then I can recommend it.  Kept us guessing whodunit till the very end.  Its full of lots of twists and turns.