Escape to the country & living off savings

Skint_yet_Again

Beautiful sunny Saturday. Flung all the windows open & dried a load of washing on the line. Had a lovely long walk around the village

Sunny morning again today. Windows open for a bit of fresh air. Sun disappeared about 11am when it clouded over and got very cool so windows closed. 

Somerset pork from the freezer for lunch with marrow and dwarf beans from DF’s allotment. One portion of marrow & green beans left in the fridge, neither of them freeze well. I don’t miss carbs for meals, I just fill up on veg instead. I do miss sweet stuff. I need to find more alternatives. No sign of the ice cream man so far 😆 

Doris17

I love chocolate so much, my substitute on SW in chocolate coated rice cakes (4 synes) and I have with fruit, feels like I have had some chocolate.

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Doris I will have a look at those 😊 Ice cream van was a no-show this weekend 

Grim dark rainy morning here today. Thermostat says 15 degrees so I am still in bed and have just put the heating on. Money shuffle done ready for direct debits coming out tomorrow.

October budget 

Phone sim-only £10

Tv licence 15.00    

Water 13

Council tax £102

Union £2.24

Gas & Electric £77

Annual bills £100

Birthdays / Xmas £50

Car pot £50

Petrol £40

Entertainment £100

Food £200.  (£40 x 5 weeks)

Aquafit £32.50

Income £833

Outgoing £751.74

Remaining £41.26

SuzeQStan

Mornin SYA - budget looking good as always.  Is your SIM in contract? Only reason I ask is I made the switch from EEeeeee(k) to Lebaraaaaaaa this month and am paying £1.85 for 6 months then £4.95 for the following 6months. And you can switch out after the 1st 6 months if you find a better deal at no penalty.  They use Vodafone signal and have had no issues with signal - except in L1dl & Ald1 stores oddly (!😳!)

sorry about my ill thought out approach how to change the company names LOL

switch was painless/seamless - edit to add that I get plenty data for my needs - 5gig data, unlimited calls & text and 100 minutes international calls each month. Super cheap!!

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks SuzeQ 😊 (lol to Eeeek). My sim is 30 day rolling plan no contract. I get unlimited calls and texts plus 20GB data which I use as I don’t have broadband. I don’t make international calls but I bet that works well for you. 

Skint_yet_Again

Shopping at aldee today £36.72 including kitchen roll, 2 x bleach, antibac wipes, box tissues. Meal plan this week =
chicken fajitas 
tandoori chicken thighs with roasted butternut squash, courgettes, peppers, onions 
Fish casserole (in slow cooker with butternut squash, carrots & mushrooms)

Any leftover portions will be frozen. 

Already in freezer =

2 portions gammon 
1 portion pulled pork 
1 portion Somerset pork casserole 
1 portion beef mince & bean chilli 

2 portions butternut squash soup 
broccoli 
cauli
runner beans
swede & carrot mash

Tonight I am going to make a curry with the leftover roast chicken (bought on Friday) with broccoli and cauliflower (instead of rice). 

Aquafit on Tuesday, then going to Sheffield city centre on the train with DF on Wednesday for a mooch around and bit of lunch. 

SuzeQStan

That makes sense about the broadband - that’s a very good price for what you get!  20gig for a tenner ain’t bad at all - although you might want to haggle as I used to get 30gig for the same
price from Eeeeeee(k)  

enjoy Sheffield - let’s hope the weather cheers up a bit in meantime 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Skint_yet_Again

Eeeek were my provider for years £8 for 5gb data but would not haggle when I wanted more data so I asked for a pac code & got a sim from G gaff. Then Eeeeek wanted to offer me a better deal but I told them to jog on 😂 

Rain had eased when I went shopping so I had lunch then popped up to DF’s to back up my phone (attached to wifi at his house) & a cuppa. Now pouring down so I did a quick meter reading on way back & submitted to BG. Have had a hot chocolate & put heating on. More like winter! Supposed to be dry & partly sunny 15 degrees on Wed for visit to sunny Sheffield 😆

Skint_yet_Again

Aquafit cancelled again today but none of us were informed so there were 30 angry people at the leisure centre 😕 Fitness instructor has covid apparently. Not sure if they will have a stand in by Friday. 

1st October and direct debits have gone out. Just waiting for interest to be credited to various accounts

Savings pots current balances:

Xmas / birthdays £350 (£50 per month)

car fund £745 (£50 pm)
mot & service due Nov
balance for car repairs/ tyres etc as needed

annual bills £500 (£100 per month) =
car insurance due Dec
Breakdown cover due jan 
house insurance due jan 
Car tax due Feb 
I also use this pot for clothes & dentist & boiler service 

Visits to family/ holiday pot £5
This will be topped up by 2 council tax free months & am planning to put an amount in my monthly budget from 1 November 

Time2count

Well that's no good! When you said it was cancelled the other day I did think how good it was of them to let you know before you got there and now this! I hope the rest of your day got better.