An in-between phase

peb

Happy partying.  Hope it's successful 

PennysIntoPounds

Cheers @peb, I feel like I've been to an all-nighter!

£34 profit for the flat pot, very pleased with that, especially as we sold some bulkier things so less to be clogging up our space, and for us (okay, mostly Mr PIP) to be carrying back

20 minute walk to pub (with discount) with Mr PIP, not spending the profit I hasten to add! Spends out of personal budgets only

Mate in pub spotted a quid on the floor and donated it to us to round up to £35 which was very nice of him. And him and his partner were finished with their Sunday paper with supplements and gave them to us, so that's some nice free reading material for the next few days, and we'll then pass them on to mum. I do like to know that as many eyes as possible have been on a paper or magazine so the tree knows we've honoured its sacrifice and the item is as mse as can be!

Dinner is takeaway pizza as Mr PIP wants to buy us a payday treat after our productive but knackering weekend. Very much looking forward to it, and to crashing out in bed!

KajiKita

Well done on the £35 ‘profit’ 😊👏

My friend sends her new scientists to me as she and her husband have read them. That means three people have looked at them and sometimes four if I share a specific article with Mr KK 😊

KK

EssexHebridean

MrEH’s newspapers get used for fire lighting, but the majority get torn up, soaked in a big tub of water, then turned into burnable paper logs (more like bricks really) using a handy press thing. They burn superbly, give off loads of heat, and are saving us on logs and smokeless fuel, so all good! 

PennysIntoPounds

November review:

As much progress has been made on The Things as we were able to do, and will continue doing so

Didn't attempt any small jogs but exercise is always a toss up whether it's going to harm my joints more than helps health, so I'm fine with not having risked it in a perpetually slippery-leaved/icy month

Pleased with myself for 'paying myself back' for not doing the shop panel evening and for ending up having to pay for dental check up.
I know in reality that either money is there or not, but it makes me feel better in a life of seemingly constant onslaught of financial and wellbeing insecurity to 'balance the books' in my own mind!

Very pleased to be starting December with all my Christmas presents bought, hurrah for the Christmas pot 

PennysIntoPounds

December Aims

Got a lot of pre Christmas listings to do so that needs to be the main 'dig deep'

Want to keep focused on using up food, drink, toiletries here as much as possible before Christmas. No big stress but nicer to start a new phase of the calendar with a cleaner slate

While I'm pleased with having got Christmas shopping done, I want to make myself take time to enjoy the wrapping and occasions etc because I love Christmas and don't want to turn it into a series of to-do lists.
Productivity and prioritising being mse only needs to go to a certain extent before you ruin what you were focusing on being productive and mse in the first place for.
As a naturally cynical person, with imo a fair amount to be grumpy and anxious about, I'm always amazed by my ability to feel that Christmas is magical. I need to not lose that

Re the build, all we can do is diligently pursue it as we have been doing and hope for the best. And hope the council realise that if we have to sell the land because we can no longer afford to build, we still won't be able to afford a home, so they need to understand that I will get greater satisfaction from spiting them forever than having an extra few months p*ssing money up the wall on private rentals 😁

There will be some difficult bits to the month, like my dad's birthday, and Christmas eve and day without my dear friend for the first time. Permission to self to do whatever I need to do to make it okay, reminder to self to try to do it mindfully and remember to include happy memories

More wholesome cooking is definitely needed!

Financial focus is now devoted to flat pot, with an eye on mothers day/easter if any spare pence arise 

badmemory

It does feel very easy nowadays to get disillusioned about Christmas.  When from the end of August all you see are signs saying spend this & spend that.  By the end of November I feel like I have had quite enough.  My way away from that is really quite silly.  A couple of years ago I started buying us 2 advent calendars, that is for me & DS.  One normal & one very cheapo.  This year DS is having the odd numbers from the dairy milk & I am having the odd numbers from the cheapo.  I have absolutely no idea why it works but it does.

EssexHebridean

I'm with you on the Christmas thing! Have you seen the programme about the Oxford Street Christmas lights that was on recently? Thoroughly lovely, with some great memories of "lights gone by!" Also reminds me that I've not been up and seen those OR the gorgeous Regents Street ones for a good few years - might have to shoehorn that into our London day after christmas! 

"Firsts" after losing people are so tough - I have no recollection of the first Christmas day after losing Dad at all - and I suspect Mum doesn't either. We did "carry on as normal - ish" as Dad would have wanted us to do that, but it all felt very strange indeed. 

PennysIntoPounds

Today's advent jewellery is a ludicrous big ring with multiple costume pearls, it is fantabulous

Tidying
Admin
Survey
Comping

30 minute walk getting essentials from aldi, their red of the week is a posh looking bottle at 3.49 reduced from 8.49. Needless to say the shelf was looking pretty bare despite them only being out for one morning!

Entered some competitions, today I'm mostly looking forward to winning 1k and also wine for 'a year'

20 minute walk with Mr PIP to WFP, made myself do a few tedious listings

Dinner is stuffed pasta in a tomato sauce, trying the new m&s cannellini beans pasta so that's exciting (by our standards 😁)

South_coast

Ooh Pip, you have to win the wine for a year, just to determine what the arbitrary prize-giver considers is appropriate. Will it be 12/52/365 bottles 🤷‍♀️? We need to know!