Changing my life, goals and finances!

leftatthetrafficlights

Thanks @EssexHebridean and @Blackcats! 😁 

I had a lovely day - managed to avoid the rain at the beach (although I drove rather than walked as I set out in a downpour! 🤦‍♀️) absolutely no one around so it was perfect - I love it when I have the whole place to myself! 🙌 there is something really primal about being on a deserted beach, listening to and watching the waves when the weather is wild. It's very grounding... I am incredibly lucky to live where I live - I'm only 20 minutes walk from the beach but I'm surrounded by fields so have the best of both worlds!! 😍 

The rest of the indulgent day was also lovely- I had a long hot shower, a lovely healthy lunch, listened to lots of relaxing music, wrote, had a couple of glasses of wine and had the early night - I'm going to make sure I do this once a week now (without the wine though as after this weekend I'm planning on having the next couple of weeks alcohol free 😉) as I feel a whole lot better for it...

Money wise, I've transferred my 'cash back' from my current account to my BTB fund so that's £19.87 healthier! 🙌 I am pleased that I'm making progress with it even if its not much yet!

I've told dh that we are absolutely not buying anything other than fresh fruit and veg for the next week or so as I want to make sure that we don't go over our grocery budget this month - I'm strictly controlling it this month and getting him out of the habit of just 'popping to the shop'. Meal planning will happen this weekend once I've finished the inventory- I'm not doing it as a day to day plan, just a list of meals which I can make with no or minimal additional expenditure. 

Other news, I had a small (but significant) financial win this week- now that we've changed the boiler we've been able to purchase and install a filter on the cold mains water in the kitchen and we finally have tap water which I can drink!!🥳🙌 this means a saving of around £4-£5 per week on bottled water (I drink a minimum of 2 litres/4 bottles a day) and a massive reduction in plastic waste so I'm absolutely ecstatic about it! 😁

It will have a decent impact on the grocery budget but more importantly it has an enormous impact on how I feel about the waste I was producing- I've hated having to use bottled water but had no options and as an environmentalist for over 40 years it has bothered me every day since we moved here - it's a massive relief for me and has made me extraordinarily happy! 😁🥳

One the plans today is meant to be changing the netting on one of the veggie beds for polythene for winter crops but the rain has been heavy and persistent all morning so I'm not convinced we'll get that done - I may just have to sit down with a glass of wine and sort through my seeds instead - oh the traumas! 😉😂

cinnamon123

Excellent win on the water front! 🥳

savingholmes

Please pm me details of filter as I hate the taste of chlorine...

leftatthetrafficlights

Thanks @cinnamon123 😊

@savingholmes, I've sent you a pm 😉 

Yesterday was constructive, I did a supermarket run for dd as they have all got covid at the moment 😔 also baked them some bread and got them a few treats to help them feel a bit better 😉 

Once we were back we did the freezer inventory - surprisingly we only have 6 tubs of 'what on earth is in this??' in there so we'll do 2 'freezer roulette' days a week until they are gone - there are several precooked items such as courgette and tomato sauce bases/soups; smoky tomato, courgette and jackfruit; leek and potato soup; cannellini beans in sage etc so we have plenty of options to get through - we'll concentrate on eating our way through it all then I can defrost them and start getting it a bit more organised! 

I'll complete the cupboard inventory later today (I don't believe there are any surprises in there) then sort a meal plan. 

Cleaned the vacuum yesterday which was high on my jobs list - my relatives who visited have a very hairy dog who is fabulous but leaves a lot of himself around! 😉😂 My vacuum has smelt of dog since they left so I took it apart yesterday and bleached it all - can't do anything with it now until all the filters are dry but as it's only dh and I here now until the kids are better that shouldn't be an issue 😉 

I am currently finishing off the dehydrating of the veg for the bouillon as well as half a carrier bag of bramley apples that were gifted to me - the other half will be processed later today once the first lot are completed- my plan is to keep a jar of slices which I will use in the winter for eve's pudding or crumble, a jar for making into apple sauce and the rest will be powdered for porridge/museli etc. 

I've got a horrible feeling that I've left it too late for the elderberries - while I was in the garden yesterday pulling out some blanket weed in the pond I didn't see much on the trees- I will check properly today though and harvest them if there are any still worthwhile- I've still got elderflower cordial in the freezer but it's not as high in antioxidants to fight winter colds...

Anyway, that's my Sunday waffling done - I'm off to get a chamomile tea! 😁

Blackcats

Sounds like a very productive day ahead for you.
great news on the filter - its amazing how good it feels when a long term niggle is resolved.
I've got apples to process today too - I think I'll listen to my audiobook while I do that.
I hope there are still elderberries for you.  I made elderberry cordial for the first time a couple of weeks ago but didn't get around to making elderflower cordial this summer.  

savingholmes

Sounds really productive.

Hope your daughter's family recover quickly 

EssexHebridean

savingholmes said:

Please pm me details of filter as I hate the taste of chlorine...

You can lose the chlorine taste/smell by pouring the water and leaving it to stand for half an hour. Ours sometimes comes through smelling quite strongly "chloriney" and I just leave the top off the bottle I use at home for a while after pouring and it's absolutely fine. 

doingitanyway

Dehydrating veg for bouillon sounds good.

Another one here who dislikes the taste of unfiltered water and would be interested in your filter if you are happy to share. If I finally get a home it would be great to put it in.

badmemory

I got fed up with paying for my sons water.  Then we tried just boiling the water & letting it cool.  We have a large jug for cooling & 2 smaller ones for him to take.  He only uses the bought water if the boiled water is not available.  I agree with him - tap water tastes & boiled water doesn't.  Whilst it costs money to boil it is a lot less than buying water, so I count it as a win.

leftatthetrafficlights

doingitanyway said:

Dehydrating veg for bouillon sounds good.

Another one here who dislikes the taste of unfiltered water and would be interested in your filter if you are happy to share. If I finally get a home it would be great to put it in.

It's called a number 10 filter housing with a 10 inch GAC filter in it. Dh works in the industry so got it through them but there are a number of direct suppliers if you put the above into Google. 

The main issue with my water wasn't the chlorine- it just tastes manky in general! 🤦‍♀️ I'd tried the boiling and leaving to cool but unfortunately it didn't help - it's not unpleasant when it very hot (coffee and teas are always fine) but as soon as it cools it's awful. Funnily enough getting it from the tap then leaving it for a while makes it taste worse too...🤔 I  used to think it was just me being mental but all my family and friends agreed! Anyway, it's sorted now and I'm very happy about it 😁🥳

Yesterday I made buckwheat pancakes and filled them with one of the bags of smokey courgette, jackfruit and tomato that was in the freezer- they were lush! I was going to make ethiopian lentils today but I've felt rough for most of the day so dh will get something out of the freezer for him...

I was hoping that I would be able to avoid spending until 1st but dh has just sent me a message asking if I want anything as he's 'getting a few bits' 🤦‍♀️ no idea what it will be but it may be fruit for his brekkies so let's hope that's all he buys! 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to clear out the cupboards and do the inventory as I didn't get round to it yesterday- I've got several jars of dehydrated apples to add to them now!! 😳😂😂😂

I've just received my tax rebate so once that's been deposited and cleared, it will be a massive chunk paid to the BTB fund! 🙌 I was going to put some of it away for a bulk buy fund for 2023 but I'm thinking that I could probably clear the BTB balance and start saving for the bulk buy fund separately 🤔 I've got three months to get that balance together so it probably makes sense!