From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

Oooh, EH - you must have a right cosmopolitan hB, I can't say as I've ever seen displays of pulses in ours.  In fact I was looking at some lentils today...... and were they were their usual offering........£1.09 for 500g?  🤔  I've never seen the bigger packs and the only La1la stuff I have consistently seen is the 2kg bags of rice.  I did see La1la red lentils in MrS at £2 for a kg, which isn't bad, but not as good at the MrT offers have been.  But then who knows - those offers may well be a thing long since left in the past.  But I think I saw 5kg bags of lentils advertised online at £9 in..... MrT? But of course, those aren't stocked in every store - not even in every large MrT.  

badmemory - I though 89p was a good price - I'm sure they were charging £1.09 when I was last in the store.

DH and I had ethiopian lentil wat for tea with mickey mikey'd baked potatoes.  As they were larger, I used some of the Saxon variety potatoes I got in MrT today - they tasted nice.  In fact, had they been oven baked, they would have tasted and smelt just like those tatties you used to be able to buy from those little oven stalls that used to be the rage in the 1980's..... LG had some lentil bolognese and pasta that was l/o and frozen from last week's tea.

I faired better with the washing than I thought I would and whilst it's not yet bone dry, neither is it damp still, so a slight win in that department.  I would prefer not to make a habit of doing it like that, but as an emergency measure, it had to be done.  Had there been more of one type of clothing, or mostly heavier weight items, I think I would have resorted to the launderette.  

Today I am grateful to have got some of DH's work clothes laundered - it's a battle in the colder months; to have got presents for gifting, without breaking the bank and to have remembered how to make paper 'snowflakes' from a folded sheet of paper -  LG asked me how to do it when they came home from school, and, once shown, spent an hour happily folding and cutting, with varying degrees of success........... 😁

Ta for popping by and chatting.  Appreciated.  Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I have pegged out a load of washing.........  The weather forecast was giving wall-to-wall sunshine for today (actually not much use to me in terms of drying washing, as the garden doesn't get sun for the majority of daylight hours in autumn/winter), along with a good breeze.  In prioritizing work and schoolwear, I had begun to gather a backlog of 'other' items that needed laundering.  Woke up this morning and beebeecee weather have changed their mind, given snow and rain for much of the day and you'll be lucky if you see a sun beam at all...... 🙄  Anyhoo, reading between the lines and gambling madly on the percentage chances of rainfall for something like a 5 hr window today, I have stuck the clothes out on the line.  If the precipitation holds off, they stand a chance of coming in drier than when pegged out, although it is so cold, they are not going to be 'damp free' I suspect 😕

I'm not sure what will be for tea.  We're all out of pizza now - but as LG had the last piece for lunch today, I'm loathed to serve up pizza again for tea.  I'll think of something.  There is plenty of choice, we'll not go hungry.

I'm struggling to report anything that is strictly in the MS or home-ownership /mortgage vibe, and therefore will shuffle orf.

Ta for popping by.  Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

I popped out to MrAl this morning and then dropped in to MrL to pick up several things that I didn't get yesterday and some things that are better in MrAl.  The road works - disappointingly - are still going on, despite this being the last week they should be, I think.  I rather think the contractors are dawdling, as it doesn't appear that the work is 'that onerous'.  

I spotted a bag of mixed  raisins, golden raisins and cranberries in MrAl.  Bit expensive at £1.35 for a 300g bag, however, I have in mind some seasonal baking and thought these might work well.  I did also buy some glace cherries..... when did they get so expensive........  I've got one item for an 'alternative' breakfast in Advent, so that's 1/24 off the list! 🤣It was nice in MrL that one of the long-standing employees was on the till and he greeted me warmly, and we had a brief natter as he put the things through the till - I've not seen him in a while.  I spent £20.14 in total across the 2 shops, but as that included 2 bottles of wine (one to try to see how well it pairs with coconut based curry), it's not as gasp-worthy as I first thought.  I did also buy a jar of MrAl's own brand 'like it or loathe it' yeast extract spread.  I'm not a huge fan, but see it as part of the army of foodstuffs that can work together to (try to) achieve a balanced diet.  It "seemed" saltier/more bitter than the well-known brand, but certainly edible.  You do tend to know what flavour territory you're in with yeast extract 😕  

Reading about dear EH's fall on ice, we were surveying a bruise on LG's leg today where their bicycle handle bars dug in when wet leaves caused their bike to slip from under them 😕  Thankfully they were off the road, going up a slight incline.  I had explained how the bruise would 'come out' and change colour, and when we got to yellowy-green, it was starting to heal.  Thankfully we are at the yellowy-green stage today, but the bruise has tripled in size as it has worked out 😕

We are lucky and the sun is shining here. It is still very cold, but I am welcoming the breeze as it is getting the clothes 'drier' than I could get them with the dehu or airer alone.  Fingers crossed we have another couple of hours of this weather, as it will make a positive difference.  I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get any laundry done over the weekend.

Oh, I forgot to say, I did notice that Sprout stems were in the PoTW in MrL for 99p.  I very nearly did indulge - surely they keep quite well, and the sprouts in our store did look quite good - certainly better than those often presented in plastic, anyway.  There were quite a few YS'd things, but nothing that I could see that we needed.  As you can imagine, sushi and salad don't seem to have been big sellers in recent days......

Right, dishes to dry up and laundry to put away.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I hope you are safe and well, although having seen news footage from around the UK, I know that some households aren't.  It was heartbreaking to see Ponty in the news again, for all the wrong reasons.   

DH has been cracking on with DIY all weekend.  I know we couldn't have gone anywhere, but....... 

I have just pegged out DH's workwear - trying to make use of today's forecast breeze and sunlight, although given rain showers are in the mix too, I'm playing laundry roulette 🙄  School uniform and kit is in the machine now, as this week (and next) are cray-zee busy with activities and trips and extra "stuff" required, so I need to try to get ahead.  Whether I will or not, remains to be seen.  Apparently, and i don't know if this is true, parents are starting to push back against the relentless call on this/that/the other garments, from school, on a daily basis.  There's a strong likelihood it is true as most folk can't afford multiples of school uniform/PE kit (especially the branded items), and neither can they afford to be laundering stuff at the drop of a hat.  I struggle, and I only have one child and some of the resources - including a garden - to try to keep up with mount washmore.  I'm grateful for what I do have - but there must be households with school aged children struggling more than me.  

Lunch over the weekend was soup, both days.  Saturday was a 'Northern European' riff on minestrone - using a selection of root veg; potatoes, carrots, parsnip, swede (last bit of the Mahoosive one I bought a week or so ago), onion, garlic, celery and veg stock, some haricot beans and some orzo pasta.  The potatoes and pasta provided a thickening base and the veg cooked beautifully as I had chopped it up quite small.  LG thought it was lovely (it had pasta in it - I was on to a winner), and was disappointed that it was just enough in the saucepan for 3 (large) bowls.  Yesterday's soup was tomato and bell pepper, with the last of the YS'd white bread rolls from MrL.  We had burgers and chips on Saturday night and a 'bitsa' tea last night.  A chum had been celebrating a birthday and dropped in some birthday cake, so we had that for pud.  

I have a couple of things to get for the stockings and advent - I'm pretty sorted and planned out otherwise.  Oh, I bought some 'pain au chocolat' from MrAl to try.  Rightly or wrongly, they were the 8 pack in the bread aisle ones (individually wrapped!  The plastic waste!). Anyway, I scored an instant hit, as they were the ones that LG had tried on camp last year, and so my idea for a 'different' breakfast in Advent will have wings!  I have stored the other ones away, as they have a BB date of quite a long time........😬  This is why I try to be mindful of what is not to be consumed 'routinely'......

I can't believe November starts so quietly, and then is over, virtually before you know it.  December is going to be a blur.  Even though our Christmas is tiny small-scale compared to some, it is still shaping up to be a whirly-gig of needing food/clothes/gifts/transport in the right order........  Having a child has made a difference, of course, but it still feels like the world is speeding up.  

Right, I best crack on.  I do worry that my tales of living 'small' to marshall our money to do things on the house is not terribly interesting, but thank you for being here, and for your support.  It's extremely helpful and cheering to know you're around.

Greying X

Suffolksue

I love your diary Greying  and it’s one of the first I turn to .
i am a lot older than you and a widow now 
LG  is younger than the youngest of my 5 grandchildren ,
when you don’t update for a day or two I worry ! 

Please continue 

themadvix

Yours is one of the first diaries I read when I see there's a new post - it's always interesting and inspiring and I don't think you 'live small' - you are using your resources in the best way possible to live within your means and do the housing upgrades needed. And we know it's not all hair-shirts because there's mention of beer and wine in there sometimes! The focus of your diary is very keyed in on moneysaving, but I'm sure we all  appreciate that there's more to life than that - you just choose not to share that here too much, which is fine (I'm sure I overshare far too often). You're teaching LG the right values in life and it's lovely to 'see' that when so many in the world seem to forget them.

Cheery_Daff

I too love your diary Greying! Your everyday experiences are often quite different to mine (I have no children for a start) but I love reading about your adventures 😊

Glad the school is getting the message from multiple quarters!

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you lovely people - as I say, I always find the support on MSE invaluable.  I really have few opportunities in RL to discuss 'budgeting' (in it's widest context), or 'living within your means'.  I do honestly believe that more people are having to live within their means - or perhaps less in credit than they have been used to - but Greying Town is a very strange place, and folk will go around with a front of "look how much we have".  Which winds up their neighbours who then go one better..... and so it goes on.

And yes tmv - totally important (to me) that unless it's a emergency situation, hairshirts are definitely banned from my life!  I can see the value of a hairshirt existence for a time-limited period for a specific target eg getting out of debt, but just to die with thruppence ha'penny more than the next one along in the graveyard - nah.  Our experience of having LG has shifted our thinking slightly, we're certainly happier to save for 'experiences' for LG, than just more "stuff", and we are resisting the technology advance - but know that its time will come.  Thing is, a) LG does have access to technology at school, and b) of the children who have access 24/7, they don't appear anymore content than LG, no happier, no more talented, no more intelligent, no more confident, no more well-mannered.  I fully realise we're all different and I love that kids are all at different stages and can accomplish differing things, but technology hasn't waved a magic wand and improved everything for users.  And LG is still praised for their sociability/manners/nice personality.

The washing is probably a lost cause.  If it had just been breezy, I would have been pleased that it was touch dry by now.  But we've had several sharp showers (only for a couple of minutes a time) that have undone all the work of the breeze.  And now the wind speed has dropped.  Sigh.

I decided to pop to MrAl, MrS and hB. I now have LG's snack/lunchbox items until the end of term.  I thought I would go as the roadworks were scheduled to finish yesterday.  No such luck - they were still going on today, but it did look like the finishing touches were being done. And to be fair, I wasn't really held up by traffic.  Everyone else in Greying Town had decided to go shopping at MrS and hB at the same time.....  But I managed to do my 'smart' shop to get a couple of items on offer and accrue some points on things I would buy anyway.  I did buy a pack of their YS'd cheese and onion rolls (veggie equivalent of a sausage roll), the YS'd price was only 20p? cheaper than MrL/MrAL full price, but 20p is 20p, and they can be frozen.  They will be useful for school trips and buffet meals in December.  

I specifically went to MrS to get the clothes washing powder as that was one of the n*ctar prices - and luckily for me there was 1 box left.... no more on the top either.  Could have been a wasted journey.  In total on food I spent £20.37 on food and £6.96 on non-food.  I'm pretty much up to speed with advent and stocking bits and bobs now (present fund), and can definitely pause now.  

I need to check what our local FB needs at the mo.  One of the advent ideas is to take LG to a supermarket (probably MrS), with a budget and a list of what is needed, get them to purchase the things and pop them in the collection box in-store.  They actually like the choosing and getting the most value/quality for money (did it for harvest festival), and it's one less chocolate ingested, isn't it?  

Activity tonight.  Minor roads, possible large puddles and darkness.  Ho hum.  

Greying X

catclaires

Delurking to say that I am another who enjoys your diary very much! You have such an engaging and interesting way of writing. I love hearing the tales of your daily life (and how you're bringing up LG with the right values, as themadvix says).

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - never doubt for a moment the MASSIVE impact that the tales of your money-saving adventures have on the rest of us!  My themed weekly meal-plan is your 'fault' as I thought it a brilliant idea back in the day when you themed each day & it has stuck well and good in this house!