Escape to the country & living off savings

Doris17

Well done on you win.

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Suze, jwil, Tresinia and Doris 😊

I will probably crash the asd@ app if I don’t stop checking it 😆 Can’t believe it. That will go towards a leg of lamb for me & DF for NY day. 

Tresinia you are right about the comparison between last years budget and this year. My water bill went down due to first reading of my new water meter. Gas & electric is lower and I now pay by monthly direct debit rather than saving the money myself through the summer. Increases in council tax and union subs and tv licence. Food is surprisingly the same. Christmas entertainment fund is the same (£100 plus £50 Xmas meals) Savings pots are the same and don’t reflect the increases in insurances but are still enough to cover the bills. 

Had a wonderful time at the party last night. Food was hog roast 😋 and there was a free bar!! Lots of chat, laughter and dancing and catching up with family ☺️

Tresinia511

Sya , wow hog roast is my absolute favourite,  and a free bar! Like Christmas come early,  nothing like a good old fashioned  family get together 

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Tresinia 😊 DF was driving so soft drinks only and I had a couple of fruity ciders but then soft drinks too as I get travel sick in the dark. 

Had a day of resting, pottering and reading yesterday. Didn’t have a hangover… honest 🤭 Made some spicy wings for lunch. Bought plain wings on my last grocery shop and sprayed with one cal oil before sprinkling with garlic granules, sweet paprika and Cajun spices. Then had goose cottage pie for dinner with green veg from the freezer and mashed cauliflower topping 😋 one portion of mince and onions in gravy leftover. A load of towels washed and mostly line dried. 

Today is very dark but mild. 16 degrees in my bedroom this morning so no heating on so far. I am going to put up my Christmas tree and start writing my Christmas cards later.  

I am using up some freezer and cupboard items today and will go shopping tomorrow. My friend gave me some duck and venison last week so I will look to use the venison in the slow cooker next week as a stew and try to find / make a red wine sauce. I have a teriyaki sauce packet mix in the store cupboard so I think I will use that with the duck next week and buy some cucumber/ spring onions/ salad to go with it and have it on the last lower carb wrap in the freezer. 

Today’s menu will be tinned mackerel in tomato sauce (deboned & mashed) on 2x low carb toast. Lunch 1/2 tin tomato soup & a cheese & half a yellow pepper omelette. Dinner will be the leftover portion of minced goose & onions in gravy. I might add some curry powder & add some broccoli and cauli from the freezer and the half leftover pepper & make some butternut squash chips 😋 Am hungry now so will get up and have breakfast 😆

Tresinia511

Sya, your menu del dia sounds 😋  I love Mackerel on either bagels or home made bread. We have a bread machine so make a lot of the stuff especially as DH has allotment filled with root veggies.  The milder weather is welcome although I'm sure I've seen a forecast for snow down here in the Midlands 😒. I find it easier to get up in the mornings if it's warmer,  although the biggest treat of all is to choose the time you get out of bed! Such a great decision  to leave that stressful job you had. 

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Tresinia, your home made bread sounds delish 😋 I love tiger bread with real butter but only have wholemeal no added sugar stuff now due to my diabetes 9g carbs a slice. 

You are right about the luxury of staying in bed in retirement 😆 however I still wake up around 5am, the time I used to get up to feed puppy dog. Sometimes I get back to sleep. 

Yesterday was a lovely mild day, warm and sunny so I opened all my windows and dragged my Xmas decs and tree downstairs. Thankfully I have huge fitted wardrobes to store them in so no climbing into the loft for me! Dusted the living room and got the tree up. Then hoovered all those pesky needles off the floor! At that point DF rang as he was having problems with his house alarm so I went to help him & got home 3 hours later! So I still have a naked Christmas tree 🌲 

Today is very mild again 16 degrees. I have my covid jab this morning and I am then going to asd@ to see if I can get half price lamb and use my cashpot. I currently have £13 to use. 

Tuesday is aquafit and then to friends house for cuppa and cake in the afternoon. Thursday is Christmas shopping trip with friends for meal and present buying. Friday morning is aquafit and then out with family friends for curry in the evening with DF and hopefully my Dsis is joining us and staying for the weekend. I might see if I can get a half price beef joint too and cook a roast on Sunday before she goes home. 

Doris17

You have a very busy week coming up. Fingers crossed for half priced lamb.

~FlowerPot~

Yes I hope you get the lamb, it is so excitement I never but it unless they have it on special. Plus it's something I'm really not keen on. But everyone else here really likes it!

Everyone seems to get their tree up si early these days! 
We have got the decoration boxes out, but that was only to find the advent calendars, I will put off getting the tree out for as long as possible 😂😂🎄

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks Doris and flowers but I couldn’t get any half price lamb at the 2 stores I visited yesterday. I did get a huge slab of beef half price £11.72 so using my cashpot winnings on the app it was  free 😃 I still have £3 left. 

Very mild but a wet dark rainy day. Had my covid jab then off to aldee for food plus tissues and black bin liners. Total spend £33.04. Small gammon in the slow cooker when I got home. Then an afternoon of resting and reading. Despite trying not to use the jabbed arm it was agony by 4pm and has woken me up in the night when I have laid on it. I am still going to aquafit this morning but will just try not to overdo it with that arm. 

Still mild 15 degrees this morning so the heating is on for a short blast. Will pop into asd@ on my way home from aqua to see if they have any of the elusive half price lamb. I only buy it half price. I wonder if other supermarkets will have similar deals on the run up to Christmas. 

Skint_yet_Again

Menu this week 
goose lasagne 
gammon with cauli & broccoli cheese 
Roast duck breast Chinese style with wrap
venison stew
…. out Thursday & Friday for meals. 

I bought a small bottle of red wine £1.65 and a jar of cranberry sauce 55p for the stew. I will use half the wine and a couple of spoons of cranberry. I don’t know what it will taste like but I will add to stock (a couple of 0x0). I will freeze the leftover wine.