From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Watty1

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Good Morning MFW'rs

I am procrastinating girding my loins before doing housework.  I'm afraid I loathe domesticity, other than cooking.

Has anyone else got a member of their family, who does nowt but look out for their own self-interest, and then when there is the sniff of a wedding/christening/funeral, waltzes in with the big 'I am', either expressing (faux) joy, interest, sadness whilst simultaneously looking for any and every opportunity to put themselves at the centre of things - 🙄 They're never there in the wee small hours of teething, there to do hospital journeys ("but, but I work"), there to butter a barm bap, re-tame a garden or empty a commode 🙄

Anyhoo.......

My ex had a whole host of them!  Nowhere to be seen when anything needed doing but there for the father's will redistribution. Nowhere to be seen when the mother's boyfriend of many years died and she was distraught, too busy to make family funerals when support needed...oh I could go on! Dreadful crowd

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks gang - I had a feeling y'all would relate (no pun intended) to the PITA primadonnas of the world......🙄 Watty - there isn't even any financial advantage in the several episodes I thinking of with our lot - purely all about 'look at me, I'm so compassionate and pivotal to proceedings......' 🙄 

RT - I bought a packet of biscuits today AND my house is a bit less dusty, so you're welcome to pop in for a chin wag and a coffee 😁

I spent money on some food and a couple of cleaning bits and pieces today (I am glad to say that i was restocking the cleaning cupboard, not getting virginal supplies of j cloths and bleach for this place.  I'm not interested in housework, but I'm not an absolute minger...........).  Anyhoo, I will dig out receipts and tot up.  I won't be going shopping tomorrow, so should have spent up for the time being.

LG has been achieving at school again - it's so good to hear after so long with them getting deflated by other kids cruel words and actions.  Naturally, there are still kids intent on being mean, but slightly less is 'penetrating the parka' (Liza T reference), and a glimmer of self-belief is beginning to appear.  Funnily enough, one of the children who is worst in the class for demeaning their peers (not just LG) actually admitted today that they couldn't do what LG has recently achieved in their after school activity.  Didn't stop them calling LG silly names, but was something of an admission that they actually are jealous of other's achievements (which, naturally DH and I have been trying to tell LG all along....).  

Will have to try and think of some sort of treat at the weekend, to recognise LG's efforts.  Don't think I'll go shopping in MrL's freezer cabinets for it tho 🤣

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

I gave myself a kick up the bum and made the Greek Orzo Casserole for tea.  I know I got the recipe from a long-since disappeared off the internet webpage of 'cheap eats' that was American in origin.  Naturally, the US version of 'casserole' doesn't quite meet up with the conventional UK 'casserole', so it is supposed to be baked.  But I know from the get go, that I've always made it on the stove-top, as even in 2008 or 2010, or whenever the heck I came across the recipe, our electricity prices were such that I couldn't consider just flicking on the oven for one dish.  Naturally, it's origins are most like to be chicken orzo casserole, but this is a vegetarian version.  There are actually quite a number of meat, veggie or vegan versions to be found online now - as I've just been having a g00gle.

I used something like a third of a box of cheap orzo I got from somewhere..... FF? her0n? I used up the 3/4 packet of feta I had left over, a small box of cooked green lentils, some chopped spinach and a handful of onion/celery/garlic/sweet peppers/swede and some oregano and cinnamon and a tin of chopped tomatoes.  I cooked the orzo separately and then added it to the 'stew' of the other ingredients at the end and topped it all with crumbled feta.  

LG wolfed it down (I don't think they knew there was spinach in it 🤭) and it was clean plates all round.  Yoghurt for pud.  

I've still not totted up my receipts, so must attend to that.  I know I am going to be very close to the wire with the grocery budget, but I think I have most of what I need - certainly until the end of the month, so should be able to come in just under/on budget.  

We're slowly, slowly getting a little bit tidier, and a little bit less cluttered.  Nowhere near where we need to be, but it's progress for us.  

Today I am grateful for frog-eating.  Future me will thank today me at some point along the line........ 🤣

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

I have already lost one post............................😕

Anyhoo, I am up to date (as far as I can tell with my grocery spends and non-food spends.  I am a little surprised the grocery spend isn't closer to my budget of £300.  Of course, I may well have missed some receipt or other, but I think I am pretty much up to date.  The non-food spend is lowish, but then without buying some expensive item like supplements or clothes washing powder, it does appear to be easier to keep spending under control. 

I walked into Greying Town this morning - horse chesnuts shedding their conkers in the breeze made the walk "interesting"......😬  I have shifted money around - not easy given the ATM wouldn't let me, and the cashier had to do it for me at the counter - so much for technology making looking after your finances easier...........

I returned a couple of library books and had a wander through M&$ f00da11.  I didn't buy anything.  

I have a white wash and LG's stuff out on the line.  Hopefully it will dry.  I was amazed to be able to get the towels touch dry yesterday with about 3hrs out on the line.  I was trying to hold out until 3 pm to bring them in, but at about 10 to, I thought "this is silly, why give an arbitary deadline", so I put the airer up, and just as I opened the door into the garden, the first clap of thunder hit.  Just as I unpegged the last towel, the rain-drops started, and they didn't stop until goodness knows when in the night.  So thank you laundry gods.......

Tea last night was a freezer dip and DH and I ate together after LG had gone to their club.  Tea tonight will be veggie burgers and chips.  

I can't think of anything else that is on an MSE vibe, so I'll shuffle orf.  Ta for popping in.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I had added - in my original post that vamoosed yesterday - that walking home from Greying Town I saw/heard 2 wonderful things.  The first was a fully laden Quince tree in a garden.  The fruits were poking (tantalisingly) through (but sadly, not over) a hedge.  Absolutely stunning to look at - and isn't the smell of a ripening quince just intoxicating?  Was it in......Roger Deakin's book about trees (??) that he wrote about leaving a quince in the car glovebox, just to travel with the aroma in Autumn?    Then I heard a bird that I couldn't see (it sounded quite far up a very tall tree).  It's call wasn't the most tuneful, tweet.tweet.tweet.tweet.tweet.tweet...... but it was insistent that you heard it!  Luckily I had my phone with the merl1n app on it, and after a couple of seconds 'listening' (not easy, as the breeze had got up and was rustling the beech hedge I was by, and someone the otherside was muttering up a step-ladder as their DIY wasn't going to plan 😕), but the app said it was a nuthatch 😁Later, when I got home, I looked it up, and the call on a bird website was identical.  So that was a nice addition to the walk.  There is no way I could have spotted the bird, but now know that is what I heard.  

Free entertainment 😁

I put DH's workwear on to wash last night, so I am going to peg it out just now.  It is cold, but there is a breeze, and if it keeps dry, it should mostly dry.  LG's clothes dried yesterday, although when I decided to get them in, it started to spit with rain!  Luckily it wasn't much, and pretty much stopped the instant I stepped back in the house, but the good work of the breeze and sun, very nearly undone 😕

We should have got off our bums and done something today, (there is still time, but not to get to where I would like to go), as LG was feeling left out because they weren't invited to a birthday party of a class mate.  I'm a little disappointed that they are feeling like that, as the class mate is not a nice person.  They are the sort of person to gather up "friends"  (often impinging on existing friendships) with false promises, and then subsequently dump those "friends" when they are either bored, or the children start beating them at games/spelling/latin.... whatever.  The whole class hadn't been invited anyway (so it actually wasn't personal),  and who wants to spend time dancing to the tune of the "birthday child", just to get a piece of cake/pizza or whatever.  Sure they were going to the latest "fun activity centre" (the child has to be entertained, they are pretty dull otherwise), so there will be mucho "bragging" rights associated with that (school is going to be h*ll come Monday 😕).

We'll get over this episode.  LG saw this kid for what they are, a long time ago.  They are a user and actually, are already very 'shallow'.  I hope they change before they reach adulthood.  But i know that that doesn't add salve to a temporary snub 😢  What LG doesn't know is that we're going away (hopefully) for an overnight stop next week, and also now school have finally got around to telling us how much we've got to pay for a trip later in the term (it was on the calendar from the start of school, why they can't tell you the cost, I don't know). And frankly I would rather LG participates in that (additional clothes will need to be bought 😕) than we scrat around funding a present for a spoiled, unkind kid, who happens to be in the same class.

Right, my coffee is finished, so I best get shifting.

Greying X

peb

Getting the dry gaps for drying washing does involve luck.  It was supposed to be dry here yesterday so I confidently hung out the bedding and headed out for the day.  Cue rain prior to getting home.


It's tough with the party thing.  Even as an adult I don't really like parties, but as a child I thought I ought to.  But I really was miserable if invited.   The whole/part class parties fortunately weren't a thing.  Much sympathy to LG.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha - so much for having a special family day.  LG was given the choice and opted to go for a day out with their beloved papa to an event that doesn't interest me in the slightest and would be a waste of the entrance fee for me.  So I did them a pack-up and off they toddled for the day 😁

peb - I wish LG didn't mind about the party, especially as another kid (who was much more likely to be invited) was left off the guest list too.  They were fuming about it (rightly, as it was an outright snub), but they haven't got the measure of the birthday kid - LG has.  Tomorrow will be awful at school, and then hopefully it will all be forgotten and it'll be the birthday of the next kiddo in class. Thankfully the 'all of the class' invites have pretty much fizzled out now.  They seemed to be a thing in reception/Yr1 - although everything was affected by c'vid, so part of the 'whole class party' was about making up for missing parties the year before etc.  I don't think the parents of kids in our school have the wherewithall to fund whole class events now, partially because we've passed the age of party games, balloons, a cup of squash and a slice of cake in the community centre being 'good enough'.  

I was extremely lucky with the washing yesterday.  I had put DH's workwear out quite early and then did LG's remaining schoolwear.  They both dried.  The workwear was close to 'bone dry', the school wear was pretty much dry, save a couple of ribs/collars being slightly damp.  Everything has been on the airer overnight and should be put away today.  I'm glad I'm caught up this week with the 'everyday' washing.

I have sorted out the finances for next month, and need to change the 'Pounds for Panes' figure.  I calculated that we can send £450 into the pot this month, so I will start to contact window firms to get some quotes.  Even if we decide who to use/what to replace, I'm sure there will be a significant lead time for installation, so now I have a decent amount saved, I feel better about getting quotes, as it's possible that economies of scale kick in for window installations.  But if necessary, we can prioritise 3 windows that  need changing.  

We had pizza and pasta for tea last night.  LG had pesto pasta, DH and I had mushroom pasta.  I made an apple crumble and we had a portion with a ball of vanilla flavour ice cream each.  

It's currently dry but overcast with us, we've rain forecast.  I won't be doing any washing today, as there isn't any breeze, even if it stays dry.

Right, I'm currently missing my MSE mind-set to think of anything else pertinent that I can talk about on my diary, so I'll push orf.  Ta for popping by though, it is appreciated.  As ever.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Very damp and dreich with us.  Apparently the rain was hammering down in the night, and evidence of that was littered all over the pavements on the school run this morning - leaves and twigs 'carpeted' our way.  So, no wash on today.  I am not looking forward to going to activity tonight either.  Country back roads, potholes and inconsiderate drivers don't make it a pleasant journey.

I made a sort of cream of mushroom soup for lunch yesterday.  I cooked up onion, celery, potato, carrot with water and a mushroom stock cube in the PC.  Then I blitzed that, added in the remainder of the (cooked) mushrooms l/o from Saturday and then lightly blitzed again.  I added in the last scrap of cream cheese and some greek yoghurt along with some dried thyme and parsley.  It did get eaten - LG surprised me that they didn't turn their nose up at it, but tellingly, LG didn't want seconds 😕 But actually, they ate a bowlful, and that is immense progress, given they are not keen on mushrooms, so I am grateful for that.  Unwittingly, the stew that I served up with rice and broccoli for tea had mushrooms as a main constituent (I just grabbed it out of the freezer and forgot.....), so poor old LG got a double-dose 😕 but to be fair, they ate everything up.  They did enjoy the l/o apple crumble and yoghurt for dessert.  

Lentil bolognese and pasta for tea tonight.

I have bitten the bullet and signed up for the paid for green waste collection.  I'm not in agreement with it really, as I think that the costs will just escalate, and councillors will just see gardeners as cash cows, because the waste collection/disposal service isn't being improved in anyway, and if they go ahead with their plans to collect from streets on a mis-matched "depends when you signed up" day, then how are efficiencies of scale going to be maintained?  Still, I will give it a go for a year and see where we are then.  It is an additional expense, mid-year that I hadn't anticipated, so I'm not at all thrilled about it.

I need to go to the PO today to get the CHB.  I will need to plan out where the cash is needed for regular rolling 'fees and subs', clothing/equipment in addition to the ad-hoc trips that are now emerging.  In addition to the school trip, LG has mentioned 2 trips with their club that are potentially coming up this side of Christmas.  We want them to enjoy participating where they can, but it ain't gonna be cheap....... Having said that, I could see one of the trips not getting the numbers required to make it viable, and although LG hasn't been there, it is an attraction that many children will have already been to.  

Still, I do realise how blessed our family is to even be considering these trips/services/additional clothing etc etc.  Poor DH though - he thinks he's doing the right thing earning o/t, and it's flying out of the bank account as soon as it lands 😕 Mind, we're all facing similar issues whatever our household make-up, so I'm not moaning.

Right, I may as well venture out and get wet.  It's set to be wet all day, so I might as well go now.

Ta for popping in.  Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

bumm0cks, I've just realised that there is another potential school trip been hidden in the school calendar.  OK, so it isn't until December, but on top of everything else, it's going to get squeaky. It will involve travel/transport, as well as the admission fee, so best budget at least £20 for it........😕

If anyone needs me, I shall be diving for tuppences down the back of the sofa........ 😕

Greying X

redofromstart

Much sympathy, it was constant unplanned short notice requests from the school when my boys were younger which regularly overset my spending.

Do you remember how weezl used to tell people to go sofa diving to find enough tuppences to buy a pack of lard to have with nettles?  No idea why that vision came into my head but thought you would remember too.