The Mental Debt Struggle...

LittleMissDetermined

What a lovely day out with your friend @Keedie, the photos look great and it’s a very impressive cathedral. 2 courses for £15.50 sounds like a bargain to me, especially for Thai food.

It's a shame you couldn't use the Zizzi voucher, I still have a few left to use and they expire in June so I need to get socialising again £19 for a burger seems very expensive to me, but I’m a northerner so I have no London comparison really.  Wetherspoons is always cheap and cheerful though. 

I hope you're doing OK, no updates about work which I took as a good sign

LMD x

Keedie

I've been doing nothing much in the last few days and my ugly stye is starting to go down. I'm still licking my wounds about paying £315 for the BOGOF super digital varifocals from Specsavers. But the frames my sister helped me to pick don't make me look like a munchkin, and they've inspired me to make more of an effort, as they're much classier than the ones I have now. The sunglasses have a bit of bling to them as well. They should be ready 21 April.

I realised that I forgot to respond to you @Cherryfudge about being a concert usher, it was one of my best jobs. I had no clue at the time, as I was a teenager chasing more money, and so I took a £0.05 per hour pay cut to work at Sainsbury's as they offered more hours per week. But after a while sitting as a cashier at Sainsbury's doing loads of overtime over the summer, I enjoyed the increased income, but realised that I really missed the excitement of watching orchestras from all over the world performing and being paid to watch them. I'll be going back to St. Martin-in-the-Fields to watch a lunchtime or evening concert when the weather is warmer. But in the meantime, I've found a church that does free lunchtime concerts on a Friday, so I think I'll pop along to one of them the next time I go to my bipolar group and make a day of having that me-time.

I'll definitely be looking at the Tastecard to see what deals and offers they have @peb. I remember going to Frankie & Benny's one time and we each got 3 course dinners in a meal deal that they had, which they also allowed us to do buy one get one free. It was crazy that they combined the offers, but we were not complaining! But yes, make the most of your Zizzi voucher whilst you have it @LittleMissDetermined. And yeah, £18 for a burger is not cheap even in London, but it still burns me to spend £12-15 for a burger. But at least that came with chips. The Thai restaurant in Rochester serves good food for that lunchtime deal as well, so it's not like you're paying £15.50 and the food is inedible.

And yeah, the headboard is still a cluttered eyesore @beanielou. I need to definitely do that today though as it's really bothering me. I thought I was smart getting a bed with a headboard shelf and built in bookcases, but the truth is that I don't use any of it productively, so it becomes cluttered. I need to clear it all out and buy some lamps so that headboard surface has some order to it.

I received the fattest A4 envelope from my social services with a social care survey inside. I don't get why they didn't send this as a link for me to do this online. They sent a letter stating that they are doing the survey, and another envelope with the actual survey. And I thought, I'm not spending a small fortune to post it back to them! But that then means an unplanned journey to the council offices to return it when no one at the reception is going to have a clue what I'm talking about. So I was going to just bin the survey, then at the bottom I saw that it had a return address which is a PO Box so no postage required, just an envelope. I really do need to read things properly before getting myself all unnecessarily hot and bothered 😂😂😂.

But at least I managed to save a further £2.87 into my cat tin from spare change. Getting excited to bank that by the end of the month.

Cherryfudge

The lunchtime concerts will be lovely - lucky you!

I am another who missed things because I don't make myself pay attention to the details or puts off reading letters. I'm slowly learning, but it's amazing how easy it is to miss the bit I need. I'm glad you've saved yourself a journey.

And I was wondering the other day - how are your son's cookery practices going? Or is he now confident to make meals himself?

Keedie

Oh my son's cooking lessons were a non starter @Cherryfudge. Now that Eid has happened as Ramadan is over, my brother will be free with a regular eating/cooking schedule for them to do something together. I need to teach him how to make the things I like and know how to cook too.

And I've still not used the slow cooker... 😬. So maybe that's something we can explore together. He made cheesy pasta the other day but he was a bit upset as he underestimated the amount of cheese required, so it was a bit bland to be honest. But next time, he'll find it easier and easier.

Having a weekly budget for food is working out to be a lot better, especially now that it is realistic without being frivolous. Tracking all of my expenses for 3 months has really helped me to understand where I've been going wrong. And where I have been wasteful or ill prepared for an expense. 

I've got the MOT booked on Monday and fingers crossed that all goes well with no issues. After those varifocals, I can't afford any more major expenses... 🤦🏾‍♀️.

KajiKita

A touch of Dijon mustard in cheesy sauces elevates them no end 😊

KK

Cherryfudge

You are doing a great job with the finances. It feels more settled.

Cheese sauce - if you use strong cheese, you don't need as much (though it tends to be more expensive. However, if no one's allergic to mustard, add a pinch of English mustard (the dry one you mix with water lasts for years). It doesn't taste of mustard but it really brings out the flavour of the cheese. Same if you make cheese scones.

PennysIntoPounds

If he's doing cheesy pasta he could batch cook mac cheese, which I think I remember is a special favourite at Christmas? Agree with a dollop of mustard (which I don't like on anything else but as @KajiKita says seriously elevates a cheese sauce), some finely chopped onion, sprinkling of bread crumbs over the top *sorry for drooling on your diary* 😁

Cherryfudge

KajiKita said:

A touch of Dijon mustard in cheesy sauces elevates them no end 😊

KK

Oops sorry @KajiKita, didn't realise I'd cross posted with you! Shall we start a mustard-in-cheese-sauce fan club?  

KajiKita

Cherryfudge said:

KajiKita said:

A touch of Dijon mustard in cheesy sauces elevates them no end 😊

KK

Oops sorry @KajiKita, didn't realise I'd cross posted with you! Shall we start a mustard-in-cheese-sauce fan club?  

That could be fun! 😂😂😂😊

KK

peb

🤣🤣 I was going to mention the mustard to elevate the cheese but you all bet me!