And now we go again...

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on the OPs and your amazing results!!
I missi my local Lidl and f&v boxes... 

I also have had a tech pot for years as  it is amazing how many cables, leads, bits you need plus my laptops (macbook pro are £2k plus each time).  I however have now drilled down next level in YNAB  and added  categories for each bit of tech and also targets (some 4 years out) for replacing Phone and Laptop and tech such as leads, stereo equipment etc 
My Mabcook  normally last between 7-9 yrs and my current one is 3 years old hence a 4 year saving target ,.. of course my phone battery is starting to play up so thats more immediate..

EssexHebridean

LaPlan that is next level tech budgeting - excellent forward planning there! Mine is just a central pot which will aim to entirely cover things like cables, memory cards, batteries and backup hard drives, and partly cover bigger purchases - although if I got my act together with surveys perhaps my next phone might be cash-neutral, eh?! 

BC that is great work from MrBC with the box. As far as I know our Lil's doesn't do the boxes at all which is annoying when I hear about lots of others getting them in their local stores - I feel cheated somehow! we might end up doing a risotto again this week I think as we still have lots of tasty home grown stuff to use, and that's a great vessel for things like really fresh beans! 

Haha Redo I was SO tempted by the bags - they have some great designs don't they! And Milann I did wonder if you guys might have been about somewhere, knowing you are local-ish to that area!

Our weekend passed as an even more quiet and laid back one than we had planned as MrEH has the sort of really, truly grim cough and cold that might be Covid...although a test suggests otherwise so who knows...he's been struggling with sleeping because when he lies down it starts the cough off again, so he's been spending a lot of time downstairs sitting upright and dozing overnight, and of course as a result then feeling super-tired during the day. He's worked from home yesterday and today and I suspect will tomorrow, which should leave his only day in London this week as being Thursday, which at least helps the budget! Anyway we pottered about a bit on saturday - Farmers Market, then to an outlet shopping village not too far away where I managed to get the new bag I needed for work, and found a new waterproof jacket that I tried on, baulked at paying the shop-price for, and have now found £20 cheaper online so that has since been ordered. Sunday was a gentle wander to pick blackberries in the morning, then back in time for the Octopus free power hour...

We made GREAT use of the free power! Washing machine went on, and the dishwasher. The oven went on for a batch of rolls to bake, and while it was on I shoved in a roasting tin with three small rolled lamb breasts we'd bought at the farmer's market the day before to roast, and also baked a batch of muffins and a batch of what would have been scones except I forgot to add the egg (doh!) so they are more like biscuits...tasty enough though, and they are being eaten! We also used the hob to stew a batch of cooking apples we'd been given. Anyway I reckon we managed to use over 2kWh more than our average at that time, so we should get that back which is pretty decent.

The garden is now producing at a steady rate - we're getting a handful of beans most days, and a tub of tomatoes. Cucumbers are coming along every fer days, and courgettes in fits and starts. MrEH has started murmuring about maybe doing a test dig on the tatties too. I found 4 sprouting garlic cloves in the veg basket and those have been planted as although it might not be the right time for them, there seemed little sense in just composting them so we will see. The remaining chard plants have been planted out, and I have sewn a trough with more coriander and basil - the two herbs I REALLY wanted a good quantity of, but seem to be struggling with! 

Food is under control is a "we have masses of veggies to use, so I am flying by the seat of my pants with how to use them" kind of way! Last night was a delicious pasta salad with a tin of red salmon between us, and a couple of hard boiled eggs each, plus home grown beans, courgette and tomatoes. I'd usually do couscous tonight but may plan for something different as I'm wary of the cough-risk for MrEH...it might end up being rice instead, or just a salad. 

As for the financials, again, we're in the quiet zone now so just a case of checking in and making sure everything is as it should be...which it is...I did a bit chunk of CC money shuffling yesterday, so that's pretty much squared away.  MrEH fed his Oyster last week and of course won't be using it as much as expected this week so that will help stretch things out. 

Booked the chimney sweep for next month, and need to get the boiler service sorted, although we will probably get Jamie to just fit that in on a day that works for him at some stage.  

EssexHebridean

A "While I think about it" list of stuff I'd like to tackle next weekend...this will get added to...

- See if the part-used kitchen spray with bleach is still under the kitchen sink - it can't be used down there because of the granite worktops, but I may as well relocate it upstairs where it can be used in the bathroom. (It won't get replaced once it's used up anyway)
- thorough blitz of bathroom!
- Buy a new kitchen spray as mine is nearly out, and I noticed that F@rmf00ds have the Ast0n1sh multi surface one which I know is good for £1
- top up supplies of tuna while in F@rmf00ds (And try to resist buying tempting biscuits!)
- steam-mop upstairs
- Get air in the tyres of both bikes - the foldy in particular is sitting on very flat ones at the moment and it will do it no good!
- if we are down at the bottom of town check in the DIY places to see if anywhere has reduced their seeds yet...
- sit down with diary and ensure it's up to date with rearranged meetings etc.
- Make a decision about whether we are going to Ludlow, or not. 
- (If the decision above is that we are, book the tickets and the campsite, and MrEH will need to book the Friday off)
- make sure we eat crumpets from the freezer for at least one meal...! :(YS'd things are fab, but I must NOT keep hoarding them as though they are "Precioussss" for ever after!)
- Work out when the bacon which is currently curing in the fridge will be ready for smoking, and make sure we have the relevant bits needed for that process...
- Another bit of clearing out the back...and check for any raspberries or similar in the clearance sections of the above mentioned DIY places...
- Maybe a tip run with those chunks of concrete that are still lingering from the patio?
- maybe get a bag of sand to start a better job of laying the loose slabs...

To Be Continued...

PennysIntoPounds

Hope Mr EH feels better soon

EssexHebridean

Thanks PiP - I hope he does too - h really has been pretty poorly with this!

Well I know have a double incentive to deal with blackberries this evening as I've got some more cooking apples to collect from a pal later - she's departed on her holidays today and didn't get a chance to use them before leaving, so she's left the apples and a couple of avocados on her doorstep for me to collect later! The original plan was just to cook the blackberries off separately but I'll be able to do a batch of blackberry and apple now instead! 

Also need to come up with a plan for some electricity use at 1pm tomorrow as I see we have another hour of free electric from the Octopods - currently thinking is that it will be the washing machine on again, although I might be able to time the DW to get its dry done at that stage too...Hmmm... 

savingholmes

Hope Mr EH recovers soon. Sounds nasty. 

You sound organised as ever and lovely to have created such a productive garden.

Cheery_Daff

I'm going to endeavour to make good use of the power hour too although so far I've failed miserably 😂

Hope Mr EH feels better soon x

Debsnewbudget

I am fascinated by the fact that the dryer part of the dishwasher cycle uses the most electricity…. Where did you find this information and how do you know when its going into the dryer part ? 

Google is not my friend on researching this 😂

EssexHebridean

Debsnewbudget said:

I am fascinated by the fact that the dryer part of the dishwasher cycle uses the most electricity…. Where did you find this information and how do you know when its going into the dryer part ? 

Google is not my friend on researching this 😂

Hi Debs - my highly unscientific method is largely guesswork using the detail from the Octopus Home Mini - I can see a sharp spike in energy use 2 hours into the cycle, and allowing I know from experience that the full eco cycle takes *roughly* 3 hours, and that the washing bit doesn't use that much energy at all, I am hoping that I'm right on the timing! On the previous power hours we've put both WM and DW on at the same time, whereas this time MrEH is planning to pop the DW on just after 11am (So I will get a clear indicator for the future from that as to how much energy the first part of the cycle uses, too) and the WM at 1pm, so by the end of today's shenanigans we ought to have a clearer (although still not particularly scientific!) answer to this one! (And if I'm wrong, you will find me over there in the corner, muttering under my breath!)

Thanks SH & Cheery! He's definitely a lot better - he's not gone into the office today although that's mostly out of concern for colleagues and fellow tube-users, but he did pop along to the rugby club to support the coaches on training last night - albeit without doing any actual training himself.

The garden is still just SUCH a novelty to us - and we are still loving it! Another tub of tomatoes picked last night, and some more runner beans - I suspect our courgette production is slowing now although I'm going to do a bit more clearing off of failed fruits from the second plant this evening and see if that persuades it to produce some more flowers - we've learned a lesson from this year that we need to plant them a little differently - hopefully by next year we'll have useable beds for them on the opposite side though - and I may yet grow a variety that will be happier to climb, too, in which case we'll be buying lots more trellis! I should have another cucumber to harvest this evening, plus some more of the bush beans I think. (Those have been an absolute win, and I will be growing plenty of them next year). 

Popped to collect the cooking apples and avocados from our pal last night and got the apples cooked up with the blackberries we picked at the weekend - those will need portioning out this evening and then I have to find freezer space for them - eek! This weekend HAS to be all about getting stuck into using freezer stuff - that's a definite, not least as I suspect I may want to cook up a batch of ragu using HG toms at the weekend too. One avo got used last night - the other will probably get looked at this evening as they're bordering on past their best and I had to cut some brown areas out of last nights. Still made a tasty addition to tea though. 

MSE Stuff:
- Banks checked and all good.
- CC still needs a final bit of shuffling - I want that back to zero 
- Chimney sweep is booked and money for that is in the household account ready
- some beer ordered on a bargainous deal and that will also be funded from the household account
- free food - and loving that we have pals and family members who know we are happy to take stuff to use to avoid it going to landfill! 
- free electricity and being able to load-shift to make use of it!

Sun_Addict

Good news that Mr EH is starting to feel better. You always sound so enthusiastic and well organised.