NST September 2022 Picture yourself on a boat on a canal

apple_muncher

I have started the month with an nsd 😎. Being in school all day for training helped.

Today I am grateful for getting a short walk done, for being able to switch off from the training and do a little planning, for my new colleague's honesty, for a smooth journey home, for raspberries.

cybertortoise

A spendy day for me. Two pairs of school shoes bought but I got a discount as the shoe shop are doing buy 1 get 1 half price. Should have saved that money but stupidly didn't take a drink to town, we walked there and back so had to buy a drink while we were out. Some groceries bought, thought about what was in the freezer and cupboards so I spent less.

Grateful for:

- these challenges for some guidance in controlling my spending and creating good habits

- beautiful weather so we could walk and not get rained on

- having a roof over my head

- being fit enough to walk the distance to and from town

Thrifty_Taylor

Please count me in, @grandmanerd.

NSD#1
A good day at work, was really warm as school finished 😊 hoovered out the car after my trip to the dump yesterday, then after tea I sewed a bear together. A nice soak in the bath, but felt quite tired all day again.

Grateful for a clean car (well inside at least), a friend enthusing about my garden, glorious morning sunlight, laughter with colleagues

BadBookkeeper

Happy September! 
Simplify - Emptied and polished DS cube storage unit.  Decluttered a few bits and looks so much better.  Also bought a storage bag for inflatable kayak, oars, wetsuits & life jackets so they can all be kept together not sure where to store but better than having stuff in different bags!! 
Essentials - Not an NSD as ordered photos, did a food shop and bought fuel and kayak bag.  Did transfer 26p from tcb and saved £17.04 by buying most of shopping from @ldi rather than t£sco.
Planning & Preparation- 2 additional costs for £10 each have come up that I didn’t budget for so that comes out of my pocket money!  Always something! 
Think about spends - Really thought about what I was buying at supermarkets everything really going up in price making me question if I really need it or just want it. 
Eat to nourish - Healthy meals & drank water.

Mindfulness - need concentrate on what I’m doing at that moment rather than try to do 3 things at once and doing none properly. 
Be kind - I let someone go in front of me at supermarket and also went on my own while DH finished off his work rather than him go later.  To be kind to myself I drove home from work when I couldn’t park and worked from home.  It’s a bit ridiculous the effort I have to go to for 5 hrs to sit in an office on my own so although it was a waste of fuel I think it was the least stressful option. 
Exercise - Hmmmm not great today. Wanted a walk as it was such a lovely day but went grocery shopping instead. 

Report daily - done ✅ 

grandmanerd

ldee2111 said:

Woke this morning without headache or lethargy - the bug seems to have taken flight.

Dropped DS at school then went to get blood taken at local surgery. Routine thyroid check. Nurse got the needle in first time (the old star jumps in the toilet trick worked for me today). Walked there and back which was around 20 minutes.

Walked 30 minutes to and from charity shop. Handed in some items from our wardrobes including 2 of my jackets. Had them for over 10 years and was sick of the sight of them. 

*****Thankfully no temptations in the CS today. ***** The only thing that went in my bag was NSD 1.

Easy dinner tonight thanks to vegan burgers and chips from the freezer. Topped with some rocket, tomatoes, and caramelised red onion. 

Grateful today for feeling much better, for chat with neighbour over the fence, and for a sunny day drying washing.

As we're doing what we can to encourage buying sustainable clothing, I'll give you all a free pass (you can keep your NSD) on purchases from charity shops, this month (also applies to ys purchases - reduced items in the SM, medicines, fuel or travel cards - they must come from your budget but you don't have control over when you run out of fuel and we don't want any turtles stranded half way up a mountain or in a dodgy urban area).

Charity Shops are also a great source of required texts - I once found DS2 a Cambridge University Press edition of the Shakespeare play they were doing (excellent uni level footnotes and essay suggestions). Our YMCA currently has a number of 'study bundles' for vocational courses which someone has donated - with textbooks between £10 -£20 each, a whole bundle for £5 is a bargain. I've found OU texts in the past which were great background reading for my course and exam study guides (if anyone has resits) and early years workbooks are quite common. 

hazeldreams

Morning! Update on yesterday;

1. Eat/drink to nourish mind and body - needs some work. Ate well but I know portion sizes are too big and I made banana loaf with bananas that were going to waste....I had to try some to make sure it was good enough for everyone else to eat obviously!

2. Yoga, meditation, exercise - YWA 1st thing but didn't go on a walk as planned - must change this today

3. Gratitudes - journaled before bed to review my day and noted that I'm so grateful for 1. YWA 2. My handsome prince (black lab) 3. Pushing myself at work to finish off a piece of work I was really procrastinating about

4. NSDs - 1/10 in the bag! Feels soo good to be off to a good start! We don't count grocery shopping in our NSDs so hoping today will be another to notch up!

5. Pause before purchases - Said 'no' a lot to the girls today. Their puzzled faces were a picture! My eldest even asked, "are we poor now or something?!" Lots more educating to happen on this front I've realised.....

I also picked up our magic bag from the sm. It was the first disappointing one that I'd had tbh. Nevertheless, there was some salvageable stuff in there including mushrooms (going in tonight's curry), gorgeous satsumas, rhubarb and Bramley apples (I stewed these up with cinnamon and sugar for Sunday lunch pudding; it made enough for 2 crumbles!), white potatoes and 2 punnets of grapes. Not bad for £3.09.

It's grocery shopping day for us today. Hoping to get it below £70 as we really have checked and double-checked stocks and really thought about what we absolutely cannot do without. 

This weekend I plan to make time to sort out my wardrobe, declutter and then get out the winter stocks from the loft. Hate this job, but I'll persevere and push through to get it done.

Happy Friday all!

grandmanerd

I have written out my plan for the month but will do a brief report on yesterday first. Filled the WM and DW and set them off. I had things collected to be processed once the workmen had finished -was worried about running them and making the mess in the grid overflow. I kept back anything that had nasty bits or stuck on food, filled the kitchen sink with hot water and a generous amount of washing up liquid and filled all the 'nasty' dishes and left them to soak on the bits of worktop I'd cleared the day before.

My PIP interview was supposed to be for an hour from 9 am. She phoned a few minutes early and it lasted until 10.20 am, not sure if that's good or bad. She also had the experience of me walking down the stairs as I'd decided I should go to the bathroom before my appointment and was still there when she phoned. 

My social services (early intervention) appointment was due at noon so thought about what bits of the house I could do. Put two sheets on the line to dry so a second wash load could go in the machine (noticed the black bits around the door so did a bit with white vinegar on a cloth), scrubbed the nasty pots, sink, draining board and bits of the surrounding worktop (more things still to be moved so concentrated on cleaning the bits I'd reclaimed), cleared the table, did several bin trips, mainly recycling, packed away all the bags for life I'd used to hold the collected dirty pots and pans. I cleared my bed (have been using baskets and boxes to put like with like so it's easier to sort later), swept/ wiped it, put a clean sheet and bed cover on it (I knew she wanted to check how I get in and out of bed) and moved some vinyl records until there was a space to sit on my couch.

I found a hm ready meal in the freezer and had lunch and then sat on the couch to wait. I knew it was likely she was running late (you can't rush us old people) but got slightly anxious as time went on (I'd had a voicemail that I'd intended asking DS3 to check for me, but had forgotten by the time he surfaced). I stayed on the couch, reading (think I'd worn myself out a bit by then) and then she arrived, accompanied by a 'trainee'. They were both absolutely lovely, loved my garden and recycling, dismissed my attempts to apologise for the state of the house - they said I was obviously doing everything I could to keep both myself and the house going.

They are going to provide handles on either side of the front door and one outside the back door to help me get in and out (steps aren't very high), extend the stair rail and have another put on the other side and a bath board, curtain rail and shower curtain in the bathroom. She's also sent me details of a cleaning firm she could recommend - DS3 will be asked to pay for the kitchen and bathroom being cleaned, regularly (to take the pressure off me and give me more time for the fun bits in life).

I put the pots from the DW onto the newly cleaned rack (the items I'd already done are in the trolley ready to be pushed across the kitchen once I've cleared the last bit of the floor), the scrubbed pots and other bits I'd collected went in the DW. I pulled another ready meal from the freezer and ate that. My legs were aching so I came upstairs to stretch on the bed and relax (heated a tinned soup to bring with me and added a yoghurt to my bag - I still have free grapes and found a pack of ginger nuts whilst tidying). Couldn't make myself go downstairs again later so will start again today.

I had a phone call from the estate agent - they will be showing someone around the bungalow on Saturday.

Grateful for lovely people (had a text to say my report had been written and sent to the DWP for a decision), getting help (simple things that will make life easier), my garden (still have things to move but it looks so much better with the work that has been done), other people appreciating my garden (one of the workmen said it was a little suntrap), a comfy bed with clean sheets), getting things done, a shiny sink, clean pots, machines that help with the heavy work.

Toni'sfriend

I'm back on board after shore leave to have lunch with the lovely cousin. I do so like the little restaurant that we go to. Small, family run and gorgeous food. And they are opening a deli across the road in the next couple of weeks.

Grandmanerd - If you can afford it I think a cleaning company would be money well spent. You do so much a little help wouldn't go amiss.

So yesterday I wrote, wrapped and stamped all the gifts needed this month. One has been given to the lovely cousin for her grandson's birthday and a wedding gift posted (it was just a cheque so just a stamp required). The others are coming with me for posting/being given at the appropriate time. Also took a bag to the charity shop, put prescription into the chemist and bought Himself another support bandage for his knee. I knew I'd find more than was on my original list as I went along.

Today will be a home day. Bit of cleaning and now that the bins have been collected a bit of decluttering hopefully.

Must get started. Have a good day.

grandmanerd

Friday 2nd September 2022

SIMPLIFY (A few suggestions - you don't need to do these but just some ideas that might help you)
1   Find a clear vision for your life and home
2   Declutter your home so that only what you love is left
3   Maintain and organise your newly decluttered home
4   Simplify household chores such as cleaning and laundry
5   Create a meal plan that's simple and sustainable
6   Declutter your schedule and get back your time
7   Establish an effective routine that lines up with your priorities
practigalblog.com

Today
Welcome to Wigan, the land of the Pie Eaters
We are going to stay here at Wigan Pier (sadly no longer a museum complex but due to be re-developed as a 'visitor destination'). A tiny part of the original Wigan Pier (an unloading place for coal barges) for a day or two. If you want to make your own placard for the Diggers Festival, the people who run my art therapy are holding a workshop on Saturday. Uncle Joe's Mint Balls factory has it's 125th anniversary this year (souvenir festive gifts or an addition to a hamper?).

The tiny but well thought out Museum of Wigan Life is well worth a visit. The building was the first public library in Wigan and the first to have electric light. The building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, who also designed Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History museum in London. In 1936 George Orwell researched 'The Road to Wigan Pier' in the Reference Library upstairs (now the Local studies library). There are permanent exhibitions on Roman Wigan, Egyptology and local trade and industry and temporary exhibitions on Rugby league (downstairs) and REBELS, RADICALS, REFORM - 600 years of protest in Wigan Borough upstairs (there is a lift and other accessibility features).

We might have a picnic in the park tomorrow and feed the ducks (my favourite lunchtime venue when I was studying accountancy). And then there's the pies. And charity shops to visit. Oxfam, the Red Cross and others are raising money for the Pakistan emergency (one third of the country is currently under water - when we talk about climate change and once in a lifetime events that are now becoming much more frequent, remember it's the poorest people and countries who are most vulnerable). Sorry didn't mean to lecture, just do what you can - donate money if you have it, clothes and household goods to sell and have a look round to see if you can grab a bargain whilst helping the charity's funds.

Don't be impressed by money, followers, degrees and titles. Be impressed by KINDNESS, integrity, humility and generosity.

Not my circus, not my monkeys but the clowns definitely know me.

Eat as though you love yourself
Move as though you love yourself
Speak as though you love yourself
Act as though you love yourself

wishus

I'm addicted to my new Smart Meter in home display! But it's really putting me off making lots of tea... 😕

Today's test was to see how much it costs to make a loaf, using a bread maker and this mix https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-the-pantry-cheese-and-sundried-tomato-bread-mix-500g/4088600391083
Their mix is 25p cheaper than Wright's equivalent! It makes a 760g loaf. I think you would need to buy 2 special Wait rows focaccias at £2.10 each for the nearest equivalent! Anyway, it's done and ready to eat and smells yum. I reckon it has cost 10p to cook, making the true cost 95p. I could probably make it cheaper, but it would be more... experimental. 

My garden is looking more autumnal for sure. I've picked some straggling berries for overnight oats, plus a pear and a few apples. Most fruit is small and not ready yet, and I'm not sure how many eaters I actually have. Possibly a few contenders for chutneys.

Going over to a friend's for dinner tonight. Looking forward to it!