It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

euronorris

Nice refund there @Longwalker !!  

My brother swears by the pinch of nom book. Its also reduced to £3 in The Works if anyone has one nearby.

Loving my food processor today. Harvested some sage, and it chopped it up so finely for me. I also used it to turn some frozen bread ends into bread crumbs, and to chop lots of onion
 So you guessed it, made a batch of sage and onion stuffing. Now in the freezer. Smelt divine!

The Co-op deal is a bargain @YorksLass !!

Hope you're all good!

KxMx

Well my 6 monthly water bill ended up as £5 in credit, but with the rises my payment plan goes up by £2 a month.
I submit a monthly reading and my usage is fairly stable at 2m3 per month (the one month I used 3m3 the following month was 1m3 so it balanced out). 

Longwalker

@euronorris, it looks to be a family friendly and MSE book. Ive only given a wee glance now tbh but so many recipes jumped at me - foods Id have in anyway - different way of putting it all together

I have had a semi productive day - and saved a bloody fortune

Mr L's son is getting married and hes hired a Tuscany vineyard wedding venue ( he lives in Sydney ) so its not a cheap thing for us , just leaving this country is costing £600 quid  

But however I decided I need to loose a stone at least, which I have done and Ive still time to lose another 7 lb but that may or may not happen. I digress. I opened my wardrobe and because Ive never bought fashion, Ive always kept my clothes. I now have a wardrobe of clothes that I can fit back into , and Ive got plenty for this wedding, need some footwear though

Over the moon with that result. A completely new wardrobe opened up to me and none of it new

Best ever MSE tip from me - dont gain weight and buy classic pieces. 

Im so looking forward to wearing skirts and dresses that sill look fashionable - length neither too long or short, neckline not wrapped to the neck nor bellybutton revealing

So a couple of items for the dry cleaners and a more modest swimsuit and Im sorted

YorksLass

Another changeable day here for the weather, sunny one minute and raining the next.  I've washed a mattress protector and some pillowcases and now have them on the airer rather than outside.  I'm not up for playing dodging the raindrops today, plus it's not a good drying day as there's no wind. it's very muggy and the ground looks damp.

I've had a pottering day inside and have done a few little sorting out jobs.  I've started another CS bag and so far have put in two hardback books, some oddments of knitting yarn and an ornament but I'm sure there'll be more to add as/when I get around to it.  I've also sorted out glass storage jars and matched them up with lids (again) - no jars to get rid of but some lids hit the bin.  It's a mystery as to why there's always more of one than the other!

Grocery order due tomorrow, let's see what I do and don't get.  If everything arrives, it will come to just over £47.  There doesn't seem to be a lot on the list but, tbf, it does include a large joint of beef that's 1/3 off per kg.  If it's as nice as the previous one I'll not complain.  Yesterday's gammon joint was yummy and I have that to slice/freeze as soon as DH sharpens the carving knife for me.  I've never mastered that job properly and my efforts are quite pitiful.   

I fell off the no-yarn-buying band wagon yesterday (shame on me) and have ordered three lots of 4-ply cotton to add to the stash. In mitigation, it's the only yarn I've bought this year, my stash has been considerably reduced and it was on sale.  Plus it's budgeted for as I have the cash in a crafting pot to pay for it.  That's my excuse anyway.     

It's DS's birthday today, where did those 42 years go?  DiL's birthday is next week and they're off to Skegness on Thursday with her DD and GS.  It's a short caravan break so I hope the weather bucks up for them.

YorksLass

Grocery order arrived on Tuesday, two subs (both acceptable) and I have a refund on one of them as it was dearer than the item I ordered.  Beef joint looks good, I'll cook that at the weekend and there'll be plenty for the freezer.  Last week's gammon joint gave us enough slices for five meals (four in the freezer) and some thin slices for a round of sandwiches.  Monthly budget still in the black.  

Today we've had good weather - the first day without any rain for ages - so I collected DH's meds from the pharmacy but mine won't be ready for another two weeks so that will be another trip out - more free exercise.    I also called in at the GP surgery next door to book our long term condition review appointments but without success.  They're fully booked up until the middle of August  and the next block of appointments doesn't come online until next week, so I'll have to try again then.  I suppose we'll get them eventually, but when is anyone's guess.  I remembered to ask for a couple of urine sample bottles too, so that's another one ticked off the To Do list.

Then I walked on to the Co-op for a couple of bits and bobs.  Not much of interest in the YS section apart from a pack of hot cross buns that went in the freezer when I got home to replace a pack of sausages now defrosting for a sausage roll making session tomorrow.

Yesterday we had the annual boiler service, all good.  The engineer also checked the smoke alarms and heat detector (no problems) and he installed a carbon monoxide detector too.  Nice young man, very efficient.

The knitting yarn I ordered at the weekend arrived this morning, three lots (lemon, light beige and a beautiful cobalt blue) added to the stash that's now much more reasonable than it was at the beginning of the year.     The fabric stash however is a different matter!  I can see some of that going in the CS bag.     

euronorris

Am continuing on with clearing out and selling some bits. A top sold recently on Vinted, so I'll get £5 for that soon. And I found my old thermals, from when I was MUCH slimmer. Helly Hansen so I'm going to get those listed on eBay soon.


And getting more stuff together for a car boot. Hoping the weather is better for it this Sunday. Had so much rain lately! Went from one extreme to the other!

Sorting through some paperwork to shred this weekend, and came across a letter for DH that had a cheque attached that it appears he never cashed! DOH! He's submitted it now, but as it's three years old I doubt it will clear. If it does clear, then that's a bonus!

Hope everyone is well. The school year is almost over here. This is the final week! Can you believe it?! Time really does fly. DD will be moving up to KS2! Still feels like she only just started school! 

London_1

Hi chums I noticed yesterday on the news that the last grain ship from the Ukraine left yesterday and they are not too sure if anymore will be allowed passage from Odessa because of the conflict .
I know its sounds far away and how may it effect us in the UK but its not so much that as how the world food prices may start to rise again. Maybe another belt tightening autumn and winter ahead for many folk. A few extra tins a week may not be such a bad idea this summer to store up for winter. Also I know that Europe is suffering extreme heat at the moment so that surely will have a knock on effect of food production.Sadly we do not produce sufficient food to feed our population here in the UK so weather does affect us all even if the suns not blazing down over here.I'm thinking perhaps tinned tomatoes may get more expensive if the crops shrivel up in Spain and Italy. Just thinking ahead again.

JackieO xx 

YorksLass

@London_1 - You may well be right.  I've always had a store in my pantry for the winter months - old ladies and snow/ice don't mix well!  Post-Covid I've kept my stores at a higher level than I would normally do - even now, there are sometimes items that temporarily disappear from the shelves so the pantry stock comes in handy.  Last week I bought some cartons of chopped tomatoes with added basil and oregano that were on clearance, down from 60p to 20p.  I'd normally add my own herbs to tins of tomatoes (the cheapest ones I usually buy have gone up by 10p per tin over the last few months) so at 20p I wasn't going to ignore them!  

Today's jobs: (1) Slice/freeze yesterday's beef joint - freezer tetris may be needed (2) Look on my energy supplier's website to see what tariffs they are offering now that our fixed price plan is nearing its end.

London_1

YorksLass we are definitely sisters from a different mister. 🤣 I cannot see the point of buying ready chopped tomatoes when my sharp knife can do the job in a couple of minutes the tinned chopped ones especially with herbs are always dear than the ordinary tins. Unless you cannot use your hands to chop or dice then it’s understandable . My daughter will buy a bag of lettuce rather than a romaine or iceberg and do it herself Cut a lettuce with a plastic knife and it won’t go brown I bought two romaine lettuce’s on the way back from
my holiday last Friday when I got home I trimmed the top really dark green tatty bits off and wrapped them both in foil the keep fresh in the fridge and I have more than enough for my daily salads and they cost me 80p in the farm shop. I adore salad and can easily eat it daily, so it will be all used up in two week. whereas a bug of lettuce is about £1.25 and goes wilted far to quickly and wouldn’t last at all. 

euronorris

I like tinned tomatoes for their shelf life mostly If anyone has a farmfoods near them, they often have napolina tinned tomatoes and/or sauces for a very cheap price! 4 packs (390g each) of passata for a £1 is a recent one. Bargain!

I glanced at too good to go this morning, and snagged a Morrisons grocery bag to collect later today. Fingers crossed it doesn't get cancelled, and is a good one. My last one with them got cancelled.

I have recently tried TGTG for both Costa and Starbucks, and whilst nice and good value compared to paying full price for the items, I'm not so keen. Bar the pastries, most of the contents contained cheese (which I can't eat). DH & DD enjoyed them, but I think the Morrisons TGTG bags are better value and more likely to have a good variety of content.