And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Right then - what have I achieved today from the MSE perspective?

- banks checked and all good
- CC is back at zero after the post Christmas money shuffle so all good there. 

- loose change shuffled from my NW account to the VSP
- some additional meals added to the main list of options for the month
- meal plan for the next week finalised - although right now I’m undecided about Sunday lunch. 

- Agile prices checked for tomorrow (not particularly pretty) and the predictor checked for the next few days (also not massively pretty) so I rather think I will have to bite the bullet and get a load of laundry through at the “least worst” time
- shopping list written
- a walk round to Al’s for the majority of the shopping - this came in at a little over £9 which I’m mildly impressed with - I did say we had plenty in the house to eat still, yes?! 😆
- grabbed another couple of jars of the reduced + 75% off pate - MrEH will divide and freeze and we then get very favourably priced jars for preserves etc. 
- also spotted that they had jars of cranberry sauce reduced to 29p with a good long date on - bought two and will probably nip in for another couple as it will be nice through the year to add to rolls etc, and is a long enough date that it will also give us a head start for next Christmas! 
- A sudden flash of inspiration to check prices for dishwasher tablets online - I usually alternate between Lil’s own “posh” ones and a branded one, but invariably resent the amount the branded ones cost. (I know the machine does perform better when it gets properly posh ones through it on a reasonably regular basis, though). Anyway a pack of the brand which is the opposite of “Start” will be arriving next week for a price even I am prepared to accept!
- Did a bit of using up at lunchtime - MrEH opted to stick with his usual filled roll but delved into the depths of the freezer for a random single home made one, while I used the last of the salad from the fridge and the final egg in the bowl. Very tasty! 

- tea will also involve using things up - the final bits from a frozen pack of Indian style snacks and the pack of Italian cured meats I got for 69p in Al’s on NYE. 

- raked out the fire and emptied the ash ready for lighting later on.

I’ve made a start on getting the decorations down - lights are all sorted and the tree will be done tomorrow morning I think, then the boxes can all go back in the loft on Sunday. 

The second of the new bird feeders has gone out too - the big caged fat ball feeder which is apparently far less daunting than the seed feeder as various things started using it almost immediately! As MrEH said - we weren’t expecting the seed one to save us money because hardly any birds would use the thing! 

Right - noises from the other room suggest that work has finished for the day and as we have a plan to pop to the pub for a quick beer to round the week off, I should probably get myself sorted! 

LadyWithAPlan

Happy New Year EH and impressive you on the xmas decorations already. I like mine as they brighten up a gloomy Jan. So I may leave at least my twinkly lights up


I am now educated on food waste bags.
Glad you got a deal on the d/washer tablets.. Definitely true on COL - my coffee I buy in bulk   was £2.20per 250g pack via Big River so £22 for 10  just over a year ago and now  nearly £40!!  I notice it more as a bulk purchase.
So hoping you can keep under your £250 budget

Makingabobor2

might try and go to A!d! next week to see if they have any of the pate or cranberry sauce.  Not been in there for ages, been using L!d! or Mr S instead.  Didn't know you could freeze pate. 

Sun_Addict

I have a lighted twig tree and fairy lights up all year round so even though the Christmas decorations have been taken down it doesn’t look that different 😆

PennysIntoPounds

We've taken down the obviously Christmassy bits but will keep the others up til 12th night, I think I'll keep the wintery candles and lights and the brass pot of fir cones around til it becomes noticeably less wintery! Rather like the idea of January household accessories 

teaselMay

milann said:

It does seem a backwards move…..what are the council going to do with all the old wheelie bins…..or is the plan to put the bags in them?

After our council introduced a charge for green bins and added 2 more wheelie bins to make 4, at least a couple of years ago, a lot of people wanted rid of their green bin. They've still not been collected, just gather in various communal corners and blow about in the wind.

badmemory

It was interesting to read about peoples food waste.  I have next to no meat or veg waste, just the roots on onions type of thing.  My main waste is from fruit.  For example today I have generated a bowl full of strawberry & grape stalks, orange peel, apricot stones, lemon peel & the real bad guy melon rind & seeds.

starnac

Is it a sign of middle age that I am thoroughly enjoying the food/general waste chat here  

Cheery_Daff

Ha, I'm enjoying the food and waste chat too 😂 I think it's a sign of good sense rather than middle age! 😂

We're on a special rural round, so don't have the same collections as our neighbours on the main road (they have wheelie bins, but the big lorry can't fit down our lane). We have an inadequately small box for all recycling (paper, plastic, tins), collected once a fortnight and with no lid, it's always exploding everywhere. I've just this minute ordered some recycling bins for inside the house, in a bid to keep the entrance rather less cluttered.

No glass collection here, so that goes to the tip as and when we remember - sometimes we build up quite an embarrassing stash 🙈

No food waste collection either, but as we don't eat meat, pretty much everything is just fruit/veg offcuts and goes straight into our compost bins.

I don't use plastic liners in bathroom/study bins ('time of the month' waste is just wrapped in loo roll here, but there's never that much of it!), but do in the kitchen - our 'normal' (non-recycling) waste is collected in plastic bags, which they dole out in April each year, so we just put one of those in the kitchen bin, then when it's full, go round and empty all the other bins into it, ready to be put out. They give us enough to put out 4 bin bags a fortnight, which we never manage, so we have quite a large stash! Sometimes we do save ourselves a tip run by putting out all four though if we've been sorting out the shed or doing some DIY.

My decorations stayed up til April last year 🙈

greenbee

Like Cheery, I think it's a sign of good sense... 

It really annoys me that there's no food waste collection here (I had one while I was at my mum's, didn't have one before in Hampshire), so I've invested in a hotbin composter again. Food waste goes in there - except bones/meat which goes in the normal bin - I do have plans to start turning them into powder for pet food, but I'm not sure that will ever happen.

Cat food waste (of which there is very little thankfully - except when they are ill) gets put in poo bags and goes with the dog poo (and any of the very rare cat poo in the litter trays... or as in the last few days, poo on the surface in the garden as the ground is so hard!) to the poo bin just down the road on my morning dog walk. No TOTM waste here as I'm on long-term treatment that has put paid to that - but prior to treatment I primarily used a mooncup with the occasional disposable as backup.

Other than food waste, recycling here is pretty good. Plastic film is collected with my veg box and/or goes to Tesco if I have a backlog.