And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Well then, here we are at the boring middle of the month. Council tax has gone out, broadband goes tomorrow I think, and then it is just a case of seeing what else is needed in the way of diesel for cars (mine will need some before we go away obviously, MrEH's will be fine) and MrEH's Oyster - although he will only have a single day's travel next week and if the Oyster doesn't need a feed today he will put that straight on the CC rather than loading the Oyster again.

More minor spendiness: I have bought an additional pair of Sk3ch3r5 trainers ahead of holiday as I'm not willing to trust the walking shoes I bought since they gave me an almighty blister inside a couple of miles last weekend. Now it may be that I already had a slight blister in the relevant spot and that was just made worse, but I'm not convinced. Anyway, I'll be taking two pairs of boots and two pairs of trainer-type shoes with me - with the ones I am wearing currently being for general slobbing about and the new ones hopefully working for longer road-based walking. Under £25 spent which - assuming they fit OK - is extremely good value. Clothing pot will cover.

MSE Stuff:

• CC is zeroed off, although with a couple of pending payments
• S&S ISA checked - it's been bouncing around at much the same level for a couple of months but is still showing 9% growth so not too shabby.
• Holiday fund checked - we'll be subbing it with nearly £300 surplus from the grocery pot which is excellent, and on that basis we with luck won't need to touch the September payment into the holiday fund at all.
• Thursday night beers will come from Personal spends tonight as always.
• Food last night ended up being a sort of buddha bowl - falafels, black beans, some previously cooked squash chunks, fresh tomatoes and some pickled pink onion (99p a jar from Al's - and absolutely incredible!) over a bed of mixed rice, quinoa and seeds (a sachet also from Al's)
• Tonight's nosh is an easy one - a portion of chilli has been extracted from the freezer and I'll cook some rice to go with. A bit of cheese over the top and maybe a blob of yogurt and that will do nicely.

Tomorrow's main plan is to get the garden a bit more organised - MrEH wants to get the extension to the irrigation system organised tomorrow evening once he finishes work, and we're going to do another quick evaluation of tomato plants to see what can now be sacrificed. Shopping will probably be from Lil's as I have a voucher for a free Belgian Bun, although I have the whole weekend to claim that so I may just walk to Al's tomorrow for basics instead. The only intention there is to spend as little as possible! Food over the weekend will be about eating as much from the freezer as we can in order to get more home grown stuff in there!

Edit: Ooh - good news, the Builders have been in touch and are hoping to fit the handrail on the new steps tomorrow as long as it arrives today and is OK.

foxgloves

Great photo - my Dad would have enjoyed seeing that as he really enjoyed an air display……mind you, living in & being stationed in Cambridgeshire, he also did plenty of moaning about all the traffic for Duxford Air Show!

themadvix

Fabulous photo EH!

That's rubbish about the train - it does seem unfair that they can just cancel it and say tough luck - especially if it's then going to cost you more to make alternative train-based arrangements. You'd think they might be able to ensure that the cost of such a change because of them could be covered by them!

Very envious of all your lovely trips coming up (not sure what our travel ability looks like now B&W Cat is on daily wrapping for meds) - and you always sound so organised in terms of booking/budgeting!

EssexHebridean

I think sometimes Vix by the time I get to writing things down here it sounds organised - I seem to have spent a lot of time floundering about trying to work things out recently though! It's always lovely to have stuff going on (and I really sympathise with you finding your wings clipped currently) but at the moment a lot is needing booked all at once and it's leading to some cashflow issues! Our usual Hebrides holiday is easier because we book the cottage, save for a while then pay the deposit, save for a while longer and pay for the ferries, then a bit longer before paying the cottage balance, and finally needing the spending money. the trip we're doing next year though needs a lot of the accommodation paid upfront at just the time we are also paying for this year's stuff! Throw in the Lundy trip as well, and it's all got a bit fraught and tricky!

You have also said precisely what MrEH did about the train thing when it is their change that has meant my ticket isn't valid!