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Wow. Hello old diary.
Every so often I pop in to read a few diaries then disappear for months on end.
I thought I would pop back on mine and do an update.
We are on holiday at the moment (in this country) for half term.
Enjoying a nice cup of tea listening to the gale force winds outside.
Will up date money issues later this evening.
Take care.........together!Let's be happy!!0 -
Car
Following on from the above. We didn't have the new car for long it was awful. No power, really uncomfortable and always made my child car sick on long journeys. Guess what.....we bought another electric car, this time for £14000 and its just lovely. Its only for work, school, shopping and small journeys. It is saving us a fortune in petrol. We have changed to Octopus energy and charge at night for pennies. Husband has free chargers in work so he will take the car on his night shifts which equals no charge.....win. He has a petrol car which we will use for family holidays.
Debt
Only debt we have is the car which is £4000 ish and the morgage. Living costs have gone up for everyone so it's not worth me moaning about that as we are all in the same situation.
Hobbies
I have lots and need to slow it down a little. Choir, fitness and musicals. Both myself and Husband get what we call pocket money each month to do what ever we want with. It's £150 a month which I think is more than enough. It's for hobbies we don't spend this on clothes unless it's something we don't really need just want. A big chunk of my money goes on the theatre. I always run out of money where as Husband saves.
Savings
We do have savings, it's about £900.
My husband does all the finances and always involves me but I have always just said 'yes whatever you think' but I do need to get involved more and know what goes on in real life.
Speak laterLet's be happy!!0 -
What we need to do
We tend to spend a lot on eating out. If we go for a walk (which is often as we live by the sea) we go into a cafe. If we pop anywhere there is always a cafe involved. If we cant decide what to wat of an evening then we go out or takeaway. Its not the healthest especially as we both run a lot and look healthy. We need to do more home cooking. I have a slow cooker but apart from a whole chicken and leek & potato soup I have no idea!!
Let's be happy!!0 -
I'd definitely be making more use of the slow cooker, particularly at this time of year. It really depends on the sort of foods you enjoy eating. We eat lots of stew, curries, chillis all of which are great to make in the SC. Shoulder of lamb, pulled pork in BBQ sauce, coq au vin are all good as well.
I'd suggest checking out the internet for ideas. There's plenty of websites where you'll find recipes. Just google slow cooker recipes and loads will come up - BBC Good Food, Taste, Olive, Delicious etc. Then there are the Supermarket websites which also have recipe ideas.
Have to admit I've never bothered with making soup in the slow cooker as it's so quick on the hob in a pan, usually no more than about 20 minutes and then whizz it up and reheat when required. Also freezes really well.0 -
@joedenise thank you. I will use the slow cooker more for definite. I will look for recipes. I'm a lazy cook. I WILL get better.
We are at a holiday cottage this week and as the weather is just awful I have been reading a book. I haven't read a good book for a long time. It is just so lovely to relax. Lots of family board games, card games also. We needed this family time away.
I need to start thinking of Xmas. We don't buy for many (stopped that a few years ago).
DD has just started secondary school so xmas presents are now more grown up.
Take care.....togetherLet's be happy!!0 -
We were also spending lots on eating out and plenty of coffee/cake treats too and it really added up each month to an eye watering amount (not mouth watering 😀)
when lockdown came it absolutely curtailed all of that and as I'm not a fan of takeaways we didn't indulge in them much.
Because everywhere was shut we bought a couple of nice hot drink flasks and we now prefer to take our own drinks when we go out walking rather than queue in a coffee shop. My OH is a coffee snob so he uses freshly ground coffee in his, I'm a weak tea person so it really felt like a waste of money to pay for a cup of water, lightly dipped tea bag and splash of milk. I took hot chocolate with me today on a walk which was very nice. We also take a snack with us. We usually find somewhere lovely to sit and call it our pop up coffee shop.instead of eating out as much we subscribe to simply cook - it's a spice kit and you provide all the ingredients. Although it's £10 a month for 4 kits we enjoy choosing our kits and generally use them for a Friday or Saturday night fakeaway so for us the £10 outlay is worth it. Perhaps you could involve your daughter in choosing meals and cooking? This week we made a Goan fish curry which I would never have tried to make from scratch.
as @joedenise says the slow cooker is great and if you know you've got a delicious home cooked dinner waiting for you it's less likely that you will chose to grab a takeaway or eat out.
hope that helps. We probably spend around £1000 a year less now with our tweaks. It certainly all adds up.0 -
I think a slow cooker is probably the best gadget for a lazy cook! After all you only need to chop some meat and veg, add some stock or tin of chopped tomatoes and turn it on. If you prep everything the night before you can put it straight into the SC pot and store it in the fridge and then in the morning put it back in and turn it one. Lovely hot dinner when you get home that night. All you need to do is cook some rice, pasta or potatoes to go with it. If you can't even be bothered to do that you could have it on it's own or boil a kettle of water and make some couscous which takes 5 minutes to " cook" ready to serve!0
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Thanks @Blackcats @joedenise.
I suppose its not so much lazy (even though that's what I called myself) it's more haven't got a clue but I will get better especially with lots of advice I'm going to take from you both. Xx
We are now back home after a lovely week away for half term. Weather was questionable but it didn't stop us. Eat out lots but we had planned that. I have a 10k planned for Sunday so I think I will struggle after everything I have eaten.
I have lots of things/stuff that needs a charity shop drop off.
Let's get the house sorted before Xmas shall we.....together.Let's be happy!!0
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