And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Thankfully payroll did get back to him and it is sorted - seems there was some sort of glitch to do with tax codes being changed mid year and he was not the only one to have queries this month. 

I remembered this morning that I wanted a piping bag and nozzles - and was delighted to find one in the big T’s for £2.75 which feels like a bit of a bargain - MrEH wanted to go in there anyway so we walked that way, with the view that if they didn’t have the piping bag there were other places a I could try instead. All good though!
Stopped in at Als on the way back through to home too - 3 more bags of 5p parsnips acquired, ready to make soup after Christmas. Also bought a couple of boxes of the seeded oatcakes they do - they are favourites of just about everyone’s it seems and they do tend to disappear from the  boxes fast, so we grab them when we see them. 

Sausage rolls and mince pies were made yesterday - the sausage rolls have been sampled and are delicious - pork, cheese and bacon for one batch, and a small batch of lamb and apricot as well which not only taste good but look amazing too. I used the remaining lamb sausages and spare pastry to make four little sausagemeat tarts - two of which were eaten last night and the other two have gone into the freezer.

I have a batch of fairy cakes to make today, plus the veg prep for tomorrow, and I also want to make soup - I’ve got some cauliflower to use up, and half a head of 15p broccoli so bought a piece of Stilton to go with - that will be frozen ready for easy meals in the new year. 

rtandon27

mmm - lamb & apricot sauasage rolls sound delicious!

I've also purchased a piping bag and nozzles to make devilled eggs - but at twice the price so yours is defiantely a bargain!

jwil

Have a lovely Christmas

Baileys_Babe

Wishing you a merry Christmas 🎄

Makingabobor2

Hope all is well with you & Mr EH and you are just enjoying festivities too much to bother posting. 

Seasidegal58

A very Happy New Year to you and Mr EH. I loved your Christmas wreath!😀👍

EssexHebridean

Hey all - Happy new year all round - and yes, all good with us, just doing more reading on here than posting! 

Thanks SSG - I really was pleased with the way it turned out - and more so as MrEH kept spotting wreaths in shops and saying "it's not as good as your one!" which was gratifying! It is now dismantled - the greenery has gone to the compost bin and the decorative elements back into the bauble box ready to use again next year anyway - I've popped the florists wire there too so hopefully I will find it easily when the time comes!

My piping bag was not - as it turned out - the bargain it sounded. What looked in the packaging like a rubbery/silicon bag was in fact a sort of thick plastic, and it promptly split on first use - thankfully at the stage where I had nearly finished using it! Anyway, it got returned at the weekend and hopefully that £2.75 will be winging its way back to my bank! I will buy a replacement though as it's something I've wanted for a while, and will be handy to have. 

I'm starting the year with a full on grocery challenge as planned - the freezers are both rammed to the point of being unable to get anything else in them, and therefore we have plenty to eat! The intention is to as far as possible just buy fresh stuff for as long as possible - fruit and veg, milk and probably a sourdough loaf at some stage. We've also agreed that where there are genuine bargains that are too good to turn down - and will not be the sort of offer that will come along again in a month or so - we'll buy them. The 1lb lump of Stilton cheese in T's the other day fell into that category! Even including that though our grocery spending for the month so far totals £13.31 I think - of which £6.56 is actual cash - the balance being what was left on that Al's gift card. There are a few bargains we are actively keeping an eye out for - crackers for cheese being an example,  but we'll only buy them at the right price. 
Lil's have already started trying to entice me to spend with a £5 off £30 spend coupon - and in normal circumstances it would indeed work to tempt me in, but right now I'm not of a mind to act as their warehouse! MrEH still neds to get himself some milk this week - that will likely come from the C0-0p tomorrow morning as we can combine some coupons with their member price to get it for £1.20 (4 pints)
I'm also on a mission to make sure we use every scrap of what we have in the fridge too. 5p red cabbage and carrots are being combined with onions to make coleslaw - I've got enough made for another portion each currently which will add some extra veg to either tonight or tomorrow's tea. One bag of 5p sprouts ended up in an orzo bake with sundried tomatoes and chicken - that was really tasty. The last of the Christmas ham will get used tonight or tomorrow too - it got popped in the freezer while we were away between Christmas and new year so there is still a chunk left. The last of the cheap broccoli and the cauli I bought before christmas got turned into soup with a lump of Silton - that's really nice and there are some portions in the freezer. The last scraps of pastry from mince pies/sausage rolls ended up making tartlet cases which I filled with cooked potato, ham and onion plus some cheese and a splash of cream yesterday - crazily tasty for a meal of odds and ends! 

lucielle

All sounds delish!
L

greenbee

Sprouts are nice shredded and added to your red cabbage slaw  

EssexHebridean

Yep, I'd agree with that about sprouts in coleslaw, it's just the faffiness of the shredding them that always puts me off bothering! When I stir fry them they just get sliced into 4 or 5 depending on the size, but I'd want them smaller than that for slaw I think. 

Just realised that I posted earlier on without any general finance stuff, so some 

MSE Stuff:
- Christmas account ended up with some money left over which was helpful - always nice to have a head start on next year!
- Although Christmas food spending was high, it wasn't THAT high, and we consciously bought extra here and there to give us some nice tasty options for January too.
- That included pouncing on a very reduced pack of chicken breasts in Waitbloom as we passed one on the way back from Norfolk. Three found their way straight into the orzo bake I mentioned earlier, with the other three having been cooked and frozen. 
- The 4 day trip to Norfolk ended up being FAR less spendy than we anticipated, in part because the friends we were seeing over the first two days had a LOT of food that needed using before they headed home and so kindly fed us both days! That meant we only ended up eating out the one night in the end, which was a main course only in a quite smart gastropub type place - the food was delicious and massive portions so we were both stuffed! Other costs were breakfast for three days (ended up in Wetherspoons each day as it was easiest), fish & chips in Sheringham on the day we headed home, some paid parking in a few places and £9.50 in the RSPB shop for second hand maps and a fridge magnet. Total ended up at £147 plus diesel and accommodation both of which were already accounted for. 
- Our Financial Summit took place - and we talked through where we are at with the various savings pots, agreed that MrEH's monthly money needed to go up a bit, and where any extra money for savings needs to go between now and April.
- ERNIE gave us £100 in the PB draw which was a good result - here's hoping that is a sign of a decent start to the year! 
- I got a £189 tax rebate which got split between the mortgage and my pension - I'm relieved that HMRC have finally made at least some sort of start on working out the mess they made of estimating our savings interest last year, although I suspect there is another change of coding yet to come! 
- Got a £5 credit on Big River thanks to a survey I did a while ago. I never really expected to see anything for it when it didn't offer it up right away, but they got around to it eventually! 

Spendiness:
- I bought a pack of bras (needed - full price) and a twin pack of sleep-t's (needed - half price) in eMmandeSs - my clothing account picked up that bill
- I found a bargain pack of christmas tree ornament hooks in the big orange DIY place - £1, and I had been planning on spending more on the big river site to top up our supplies so that was a win. 
- We had planned a takeaway for Friday evening, and decided on a chinese, but compromised by getting a couple of main dishes and a shared rice which worked out a bit cheaper than our "usual" set meal. 
- nipped into a charity shop when we were out for  walk on Saturday but in the spirit of being mindful about spending left with just two paperbacks - Val McDermid books that I'd not read before, and just 50p each!
- Ordered myself a replacement for the rubbish piping set on the Big River site, more expensive, but T@l@ so should be OK. Also ordered a big pack of tealight candles - the deep ones - as they were a good price and we've nearly run out, w use them a lot for cosiness vibes in front room during the winter.
- Finally got around to replacing the doorbell - hopefully this one will last longer than its predecessor! It's got a second repeater ringer which can live in the office so will save people having to phone MrEH if they are at the door and he is out there. £17.99 which seemed like a good price. 

The mortgage ended the year on £91,100 - I've updated my signature. That means over £10k shifted off it over the course of last year which we're really pleased with. Next month's payment will see us dip in to the "80k bracket" too which is exciting - it feels like it will really start moving quite fast from here!