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

MrsPorridge

Thanks for all the suggestions for the Isle of Wight.  Very excited now!

NSD 11

Well, DH has been clobbered for even more tax now the state pension has gone up.  He didn’t even get the full state pension this month as his birthday is towards the end of April.  Also, I don’t think it kicked in till 10th April (think I read this but I may be wrong).   This month we are £4.50 worse off!  Hoping that it will right itself next month when he gets full payments.  I do have all the paperwork from the tax office, but of course, I don’t understand it.  We did find them very helpful when he first retired, so if by the end of next month it has not righted itself then we will be giving them a call.  Very frustrating – but worse things happen at sea as they say.

Most of the packing has now been done and balances paid and paperwork packed so we are ready for the off at !!!!!!’s crow on Sunday morning.

Today mostly will be spent doing a bit of cleaning etc.

Breakfast was toast, lunch cauliflower mac & cheese and tonight its pizza and coleslaw.

MrsPorridge

Back from a wonderful time on the Isle of Wight.  We loved it.  Visited all the places we wanted to and were able to eat outside most of the time.  Coming home yesterday was a mission as the weather was so bad and we got very wet on the motorbike despite our wet weather gear – it is all still drying out now!

We set a budget and we went over by £100.  In hindsight it was a low budget, but for once I am really pleased.  It is the first time in our lives (both now the wrong side of 60) that we have ever set a holiday spending budget, we used to just buy whatever we wanted and it all went on the CC.

Today we just popped out to get some fresh milk and eggs.  Rest of the day spent drying stuff, unpacking etc.

Awful weather today too, torrential rain interspersed with thunder and lightning (which I hate).

Breakfast was toasted muffin, lunch scrambled egg on the other half of the muffin.  Tonight its lasagne and garlic bread from the freezer.

Makingabobor2

Pleased to hear you enjoyed the island. We were only talking yesterday about when we should plan to go and where to stay. Think we might look at September after the school holidays are finished. Its way to expensive to go in the summer, and we are already away for a few days in June, up in the north. 

MrsPorridge

Weather very mixed today but I did manage to do another load of washing and got quite a lot of it line dried.

Usual housework jobs done.

Breakfast was pancakes, lunch cheese and biscuits and tonight we had chicken curry with rice and naan bread.

MrsPorridge

Gorgeous sunshine today.  DH is washing his motorbike down using a hand pump as we have a hosepipe ban – despite the reservoirs being full – but we are a tourist area so we need to preserve water so the tourists can use it!  Never mind us who live here!!  Rant over.

This morning we went shopping and I got enough food for the next few weeks.  We didn’t stop off and have coffee and cake – we are trying not to do that as often as we used to.

Ground still very soggy, hoping for another nice day tomorrow and then I can do some gardening.

Banking checked and some money shuffled around.

MrsPorridge

Another lovely sunny day today.  I did a wash and its all line dried.

A massive batch cook this morning.  From the Hairy Bikers Everyday Winners I cooked veggie cottage pie with a colcannon topping – I used Swiss chard from the garden rather than cabbage.  I also cooked their Cumberland Sausage pie (using turkey sausages which were reduced).  I topped that with carrot and swede mash.  All tucked away in the freezer.

I also cooked 8 portions of Eve’s pudding – one for Sunday, rest in freezer.

This afternoon I spent sitting reading in the garden.

Breakfast was toasted muffin, lunch avocado with prawn marie rose and tonight we had a BBQ using sausages, onion, peas and some frozen leftover mash, defrosted and sautéed in the pan and added gravy.

Oh, and also an NSD.

MrsPorridge

Making the most of the weather we had a spring clean of the bbq hut.  I took out all the quilts and took the cushion covers off and washed them and then line dried them.

Had a walk around the village and resisted the temptation of the café.  Bought some eggs and milk from the farm shop.

Breakfast was toasted muffin, lunch leftover chicken legs and tonight we had Coronation chicken and oven chips.  We had chicken for lunch yesterday so I used the leftovers making the Coronation chicken.  I use an old WW recipe.  Fat free natural yoghurt mixed with some curry powder, add some sultanas and chopped up apricots, add the chicken mix together.  Just before serving slice a banana and mix that in too.

MrsPorridge

Some clothing alterations done today.  Usual housework plus I made a batch of bread rolls.

One of the neighbours gave us a lobster and spider crab, so we had that for tea tonight with a bit of salad and a quick dash to the chippy by DH to get some chips to go with it all!  We were to have had cold meats and salad, so we will have that tomorrow night instead. 

Makingabobor2

I've never tried lobster, but often thought I' like to. Wouldn't have a clue what to do with it TBH....lol.  Hope you enjoyed it. 

MrsPorridge

We did enjoy the lobster.  DH cooks it and takes it out of the shell!  Its quite labour intensive so I can see why you pay for it if you eat it out.

Up early as I had a Dr’s appointment.  Then we went over to a jewellery complex.  On our honeymoon DH bought me some freshwater pearls.  They need to be restrung and they have been stuck in a drawer for the past few years.  It’s our 30th wedding anniversary in September so we have decided to have them restrung in a different way – 2 strands rather than three, make them a bit longer and with the extras make some earrings.  So we took them in and they will phone me with the quote and then do the work.  Am really excited as I think this is a great idea – DH doesn’t often have good ideas but this is one!  It will be nice to mark the occasion with something that has sentimental value. 

We then went into town and had some lunch (not very mse).

This afternoon we cleaned the outside and the inside of the car – it desperately needed doing.

Breakfast was bacon buttie (made at home and eaten at the jewellery complex), lunch was out and I had quiche and salad.  Tonight its scrambled eggs on potato scones.