And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

They've worked so hard to fund it - and pretty much all the trades involved in installing it are now giving their time for free, as I understand it, which is further generosity! It's a beautiful thing - and I love the fact that it can be seen from the A46 - although not at close enough quarters for the road to detract from the site, or for the sculpture to detract from road safety! 

EssexHebridean

Just cashed out Prolific at £21.98 for the month - not the best, but also not the worst. 

I need to give some thought to what the plans are for keeping spending low through October - or rather, I'll qualify that with "reducing any frittering, and being careful about spending" as we do have a fair few plans through the month which will need funding, at last count every weekend is already booked in one way or another!

Food is going to be the notable thing here I suspect - we have lots in the freezer, a decently stocked storecupboard, and plenty in the fridge etc, plus still some stuff being produced in the garden as well. I want to avoid going into places "in case there are bargains" as we don't currently NEED the bargains. The exception here will be well priced YS'd stuff and any decent Lils green boxes.

I suspect as much as anything else it's going to come down to generally just reverting to the old "Do I need it, Do I have anything else that will do the job instead" mindset again - although generally we are moderately good on this, it's just felt for the last few months that we've done nothing but spend money! 

PennysIntoPounds

Good to have an autumnal time hunkering down and eating from stores, but also good that you're using your hard earned money for all your lovely outings and adventures 😊
Hope Mr EH feels better soon, the weather has been so up and down I think everyone's immune system is feeling a bit discombobulated at the moment!

amber03

After having a day shopping with my DS today , I will be joining you on an eating from the stores for the rest of the month. Bought him a new bedside cabinet that he has now decided he doesn’t like as the drawers are too small. Went food shopping, bought a few treats spent more than I had planned. Bit annoyed with myself but all freezers, fridge and cupboards are full. If anybody in the household want anything else within the next two weeks they can by it themselves.

Like you will be watching the spending the rest of the month, it’s all these little spends that add up over the month, which catch me out.

EssexHebridean

Damn - wrote a post and lost it when the computer insisted on restarting!

PiP there seems to be so many people lurgified at the moment - it's got to be weather related, I'm with you!

Amber - how annoying about the bedside table, can you return it do you think, or might you be able to make use of it elsewhere?

So the budget got an unexpected helping hand yesterday when a lovely client brought in Indian food for us for lunch - very tasty indeed (a proper byriani), but masses of it, far to much for the two of us who were in to eat, so we split the remainder between us and each took some home. My share gave me and MrEH rice to have with our planned lamb curry last night, and a further two double and 1 single portions for the freezer as well, so that was a win. It was pretty spicy, and lovely client brought us in a pot of yogurt too but clearly it wasn't going to be a simple task to transport that home, so I was intending to head to Als to grab a tub from there until I remembered that October was all about NOT just "popping in" to the supermarket like that, so instead we used some of a bottle of yogurt & mint dressing that we already had in the fridge at home. Added a blob of home made chutney as well - lush! 

Tonight's tea will be pasta - using up the last of this week's mushrooms, one of the small cooking chorizos we bought in Ludlow, and some more random bits of veg, plus home made pesto. Budget friendly and using things that we have. Still undecided about tea tomorrow although it might yet head the pizza route, that would need the purchase of some mozzarella but that won't break the bank! I'll have a dig through the freezer tonight I think and see what suggests itself as a good option.

So we've what may yet be our final meeting associated with our voluntary role on Saturday - being held at a beer festival, fittingly. As there is the option to attend in person we're doing so - I think a lot of others will be now as well, and I suspect it's going to be emotional. Accommodation already booked and paid for some time ago, and we got the offer that PI were doing for a free breakfast with the stay, so that £66 room is very good value. We'll have to buy food for lunch and tea on Saturday, and of course our beers too - but personal spends kick in there. Current plan is to do the bulk of the shopping in M's on the way home, but that said, Lils has some good offers this week too, so I may pop there tomorrow but be strict on buying the things we'll use/need!

In other spendiness to report I've committed to doing Eastbourne Airshow next year, sharing a B&B of the Air variety with a good pal, we've paid a deposit for now but it is fully refundable up to the last minute if required. The self catering type accommodation makes it easy to sort food without having to buy, and between us it's costing about the same as a decent hotel would anyway, so that should be good. The airshow itself down there is free (donations of the "stick a quid in a bucket" variety) and if the weather plays ball it's usually a nice few days. 

With the weather looking suitably windy over the weekend we're hoping for some decent electric prices, we certainly should be able to replace the central heating with electric overnight tomorrow - and with luck tonight too. Almost annoying that yet again we're away when we'd be able to benefit from it for at least part of the time! 

LadyWithAPlan

You seem as busy as ever - hope the lurgy goes away quickly for all your family's sake!

EssexHebridean

Thankfully MrEH seems pretty much back to normal now LaPlan - and so far (she whispers) I've not shown any signs of it - long may that last! 

So - bother - while electric rates are low overnight, they're not as low as I was optimistically hoping they might be. Even more annoyingly, it now doesn't look look there is going to any likelihood of them being low enough tomorrow night to sub in for the gas heating either, in spite of the wind levels looking very promising.  I now have to decide whether to bite the bullet and get a load of washing through, or whether to chance leaving it until Sunday... instincts are saying Sunday, to be honest... 

greenbee

I'm having the same debate EH - although I haven't turned the boiler on yet, I'm managing with the fire in the late afternoon/evening and solar to heat the hot water. I need to have a proper look, but I think it might be worth me discharging the battery and refilling from the grid, having a bath and reheating the hot water, and putting the towel rail on to dry my towels overnight. Possibly also doing some laundry (I have pillows and mattress/pillow covers, bedcovers etc to do having emptied a bedroom for renovation... so more than enough for the whole weekend!).

EssexHebridean

Well having turned the heating back on here greenbee, it ran a handful of times and now it's warmed up sufficiently that the thermostat isn't triggering it, although I confess that it definitely did feel chilly this morning, and a warm towel would have been just the thing after my shower this morning!

Thankfully the Agile prices have improved a bit on what the predictor was saying, so we will be getting the underfloor heating and electric rads on overnight and giving the place a thorough warm through. The fire is also being lit, we've decided that it is now officially the season! If the rain lets up enough at some stage later on I'll bring in another trug of logs, although we do have enough for this evening easily. The kindling basket is fine, and we've got an absolute stack of paper for starting it off too, so all good there. 

Popped to Lils this morning as we've decided it's probably not going to be worth a stop at Ms on the way home on Sunday - they've not provided any suitably enticing offers and the boosts this month aren't anything I'll make particularly solid use of either.  The stock levels were atrocious in Lils though - literally no milk, a lot of the dry goods shelves really low as well, and the toilet roll section completely empty - it was like back to March/April 2020 on that front! No idea why, although the store was quite busy as well. It does mean I've still got odds and ends to get annoyingly - we'll have to work out where is best to go on Sunday. Free bakery item unlocked, and 15% off a 500g tub of greek style yogurt so I will probably grab that next week to make rolls again. 

Spendiness:
- We opted for a pub of the weather/cutlery variety last night as they had their beer festival on - I used a 50p off CAMRA voucher an d so paid £1.65 for my pint - personal spends anyway.
For the first week of a low spend month it didn't feel very "low" spend - allowing for other bits to get, however:
- Made use of 15% off halloumi as we use it a LOT and only had one pack in the fridge. We're set for the month and more on that now.
- a £1.29 pack of paella rice was an offer too good to ignore
- 2 packs of their Deluxe range butter - at £1.99 these were the same price as the standard stuff and I always buy some when they are on that offer
- made use of 15% off a particular cheese as it will be eaten this month, and the same off some ham slices as we needed lunch stuff anyway. (Also got a pack of sliced turkey on that basis)
The rest of the shop was all genuinely immediately needed stuff - I bought a family pack of mushrooms and one of the £1.99 packs of sweet peppers as electric prices permitting I'll probably chop and roast those on Sunday then some can be frozen. MrEH will need the oven on to make rolls at some stage anyway.
Total spend = £27.05

Meals roughly planned for the week:
- Tonight is lamb burgers in buns, I'll make coleslaw and probably cheesy wedges to go with
- tomorrow we just need breakfast, and a loaf was made overnight so that will sort that out
- Sunday lunch is an unknown as yet and will depend on what time we get home, sunday tea will be cheese and crackers
- Monday I'll do a cheese and mushroom omelette I think
- Tuesday couscous - with halloumi plus the usual roast veggies
- Wednesday - Pasta & something or another that will become clear later in the week.
-  Thursday - The lamb stew from the freezer I think quick and easy when we get in on a night we may have popped to the pub after work.

Other MSE stuff:
My car has had diesel this morning, and MrEH's will need some tomorrow.
The Premium Bond gods have not smiled on us this month - no wins.
Added £250 to the S&S ISA yesterday but that's not showing yet. It's performing well though - currently equivalent to 6.45% interest so we'll take that.
MrEH has a matured  reg saver that he's shuffled the money on - we need to discuss where that's going in the longer term. (And he needs to open its replacement)
- identified some unallocated joint spending from the Ludlow weekend so will shift that to the A's CC where it needs to be.
Odd pennies and pounds swept across to the VSP account

Makingabobor2

I put my heating on just for half hour, so the towel rail was hot when I got out the shower. Turned off now, as kitchen will warm up in a bit when I cook dinner...only AF but it seems to kick out a bit of heat, and we eat in the kitchen.  Then we can put the gas fire on for half hour if its cold in the lounge later, which it probably will be as the wind always seems to come in that way.  Monday is looking better....19c and sunny.  Fingers crossed.