From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

It's been a funny time.  

I felt fine last night, watched the G & S finale, and then went to bed.  Woke up in the early hours of the morning feeling as though I was going to be sick.  Half an hour later, I was.  But not excessively, and although I waited, and waited, I wasn't sick again.  DH came into the bathroom about half 3, and I decided to risk going back to bed (it was cold in the bathroom), and luckily, I fell asleep straight away.

Although I didn't get up very early this morning - I heard DH moving about and knew that LG was with him - I felt better, and haven't felt sick since.  I didn't enjoy my one cup of coffee, and didn't feel like eating anything, but didn't feel ill.  DH and LG clearly felt fine, and because I was only sick once, I don't believe i had anything like norovirus, or food poisoning.

I intended to go for a walk this morning - and funnily enough there were no takers to join me!  But I had no intention of having another PJ day - 1 is enough for me.  So at about 11am, I set out for a walk.  It was all urban walking again today.  I went past the retail park, and wondered why it was so busy - but then figured maybe the supermarket petrol station was open, and then my eye fell on the looooong queue for the maccy-d's drive thru.......  

The second longest queue was for the chi-chi coffee stand in the park.  Fair-do's if the staff were (willingly) working, I'm sure they would prefer to be busy rather than standing about twiddling their thumbs.  Oh, and had I wanted a real work out, I should have filled a back pack with washed clothes, as the launderette was open for business, but as that is self-serve/automatic opening, I'm not sure any staff had to be in.

I walked in the door at home something like 92 minutes after I had started out, and the map calculated that I had walked 5.82miles.  I'll take that.  I don't feel top-notch and sparkly, but neither do I feel ill, so fingers crossed it was an anomaly.  

We had a cracker/cheese/bits picky lunch.  

The weather has been dreadful all morning.  The sun is trying to poke through, but it's still and misty - there is no way any washing would have dried outdoors today.  So although I wasn't totally happy about pegging out a wash on Christmas day, it worked and has helped me to get up to date with school uniform.

I'm going to be ruthless with my de-cluttering moving into the new year.  I was giving it more thought as I was walking this morning, and I have lots of (eg) Yarn, that I have sunk a load of money into, but realistically won't now use as (eg) it's the wrong colour, is acrylic and doesn't now fit into the direction that i want to go with my knitting.  I have until recently been reluctant to part with it, because it cost money.  But now I'm thinking that it is all providing a log-jam of stuff, both mentally and physically, so it needs to go.  I will do a couple more bits of charity knitting to use up some specific yarn that I bought recently, but realistically if I want to support the charity in future, I am better sending them a financial donation or yarns in the specific palettes they ask for.  

Did I mention that I had finally got around to getting a robust box from MrL to put the flasks and water bottles in - to keep them together, but also making them easier to pull out of the cupboard.  It's not as good as the one I have all my spice jars in - which was originally a £1.50 box - however, the flasks/water bottles are not as heavy, it works perfectly well.  Small steps I know, but it is all part of the wider picture of getting organised, and only have stuff in the house that is used frequently.  Within reason, I am hopeful that in future I will move towards purchasing better quality (where appropriate), taking the Vimes Boots model to heart.  Clearly that won't work for every item, but it's a foundation ethos.  We'll see how it goes, or whether I bankrupt myself with a month......  Mind, if I think about what I have spent on 'cheap and cheerful', then that is waste right there, so.....  

One of the reasons why I have formerly bought lots of (eg) acrylic yarn was because I never had faith that my knitting was good enough to spend money on 'quality', natural fibres.  For sure,  i am NOT the world's most skilled knitter, but I think I have improved over the years, and I think that I really ought to back myself to pursue this hobby with nicer yarns, which in turn will produce better, more useable items.

Thanks for reading.  Sorry if it's a bit waffly.  I'm giving things a great deal of thought at the moment, and just need to put it down on 'paper' to help solidify my thoughts.  

Greying X

rtandon27

Putting "Pen to Paper' is exactly what a diary is for my dear GP!  Lovely to hear you plotting and planning!

So good to hear that Family Greying had a lovely festive day done exactly in their own particular style xoxox - please do spend the day resting if that's what your body is telling you!

No laundry for me yesterday, but today I've put a load away, washed a load & hung it up! Dehumidifier has been emptied three times in the past 48 hours, it's been raining in our neck of the woods and the air is damp even had there not been washing hanging up!  Have not yet made the bed, but it is a lazy day, so things can get done in their own time.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Another dreich weather day with us.  Have made the decision to not go driving anywhere today, least cars on the road the better in this sort of weather I think.

DH has gone back to work, although it is a slightly shorter day (hours wise) today, so that's something.

I have felt fine, slept well and kept my tea down, so I'm already winning! 😁

I have just been reading dearest Cheery's wonderful list of achievements for the year.  It's very inspiring 😁  DH has finally dug out his pay slip and the visa bill - which he's paid already 😠 on the basis "it's better than forgetting" - but he's got form for buying crap stuff and then expecting the household to pay for it 😠Luckily, this month there was no payments that weren't in some way/shape or form budgeted for, so that's a big 'phew'.  So I've done all the number crunching and the windows fund now stands at £5,305/10,000 after 12 months.  Obviously I have missed my target, however there are 2 things at play here.  I erroneously thought that having stopped paying rent a year ago, when we moved into our own home, I could just "use" the money that would have been rent to pay for what we "wanted".  I hadn't factored in just how close to the wire we'd been whilst living in rented accommodation.  Most months the incoming wages were consumed by one bill or another, and we had dwindled our savings to very little.  Luckily we had been able to ring-fence, and keep ring-fenced, our house purchase savings - as if we'd have started eating into those, we would never have been able to purchase a home again, as prices kept outstripping the amount we had.  

So, we hadn't really got much in the way of savings in 'pots', and had we had an 'emergency' well, then....... 😕 So I thought this year would mostly be about replenishing the pots and saving for new windows.  But life doesn't work like that and we've had more than a few unexpected costs arise this year - mostly car related 😕

Therefore, to have actually saved 'half' of my intended target, isn't as shabby as I first thought, as I have also begun replenishing the various 'pots' for annual expenses.  So one year on, we have; savings for replacement windows, savings for annual expenses and an emergency fund.  I'll accept that as a win 😁 And I'll be the first to say that we're only in that situation because of "boring" budgeting and occasionally saying 'no' to silly people and their hair-brained ideas for spending other people's money.  

LG has asked whether we can go for a walk into Greying Town to put the money that they so generously got gifted as presents, into their bank account 🥰 We have also had a discussion about thinking about what any Christmas money might be spent on.  LG has actually been quite receptive to that.  Perhaps the thought that they could spend some/all of it, and the freedom of choice, is a more powerful option than save,save,save?  Or perhaps it's OK to have X,Y and Z as long as someone else is paying for it....... Afterall, that is precisely what the children are being taught by school.........

So, a walk into Greying Town (and let's not fail to mention 'requested by LG' 🥰😉) is on the cards for this morning.  I will take the opportunity to move money around so that the bills will be paid too.

I was going to make a pizza for tea, but DH mentioned that the smoked cheese (yes, I regret to say we like the 1970's stylee ultra-processed stuff 😳) would be good with a burger, so maybe that should be an option 🤔  Anyhoo - I'm not overlooking what a blessing having choices is, and the fact that there is food here for several days (at least).  

Right, I need to check what time the bank opens and then shift-a-tail feather, before LG gets cosy and changes their mind! 🤣

Ta for popping by.  Greying X

Watty1

What a lovely catch up.

I remember once my mum suggesting we didn't do a Christmas meal to the horror of everyone else!  (That year I ended up cooking it in her kitchen as she gave in to pressure but would not actually cook it). Her point, well made, was that we all ate really well every day of the year so to have a 'special meal' was not really that 'special' after all.   I often think of that in the chaos in the supermarkets and how right she was.  

Greying_Pilgrim

Too true Watty, and what is 'special' to one, may be 'pedestrian' to another. 

Growing up (I was a meat-eater until around 18), we had a roast lunch most Sundays and so actually, 'Christmas Lunch' wasn't much different - apart from we had to eat it in the stone-cold dining room (no central heating, single-glazed aluminium framed windows 😱).  Having a take-away chinese meal (pizza wasn't such a thing in Ye Olden Days), would have been far more treaty/special for us to have for Christmas lunch. 

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Well I think saving as much as you have into the windows pot is a marvellous achievement! 😃 And you're right about replenishing pots too - far better to have a comfortable cushion for things as they turn up. You're doing a fantastic job 

How lovely that LG wants a little walk into town 😊😊 enjoy yourselves! Wish I could waft some of our sunshine down to you - I am absolutely NOT making the most of it at the minute 🙄

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up Cheery, one thing I forgot to mention about the windows fund was that DH did receive quite a nice work bonus this year, most of which got squirreled into the windows fund before it got 'frittered'.  Unfortunately DH has been forewarned that the work bonus is going to be utterly, utterly lousy this year 😕  And yes, of course, we are grateful that DH has employment/there is a bonus on offer etc etc.  But there are movements in the company that seem to be skewing all bonus/treats/pay rises into the area of the corner offices....... the folk at the cliff face are getting treated shabbily.

Well, we had a nice walk into Greying Town - the "conifer of Goldfinches" is the gift that just keeps on giving and we saw a nuthatch on the trunk of it today - lovely and 'upsidedowny'.  

LG put their money into their account by themselves.  The staff at the bank are so lovely and explain everything to LG and pointed out that some additional cash was in the account from other thoughtful relatives, so that's extra 'Thank You' cards to write 😁👍

We went into a couple of shops to see if they had anything that LG wanted to buy - but as we got ignored in the one shop (plus they didn't have what we were looking for), we didn't end up buying anything.  I hadn't been into our town's branch of b00t$ in a long time.  Gee how it's changed.......

We ended up going to the (only remaining) "greasy spoon" caff.  It's been there for donkey's years - I remember it when I was a small kid, but I can't recall why my parents (not that we went to cafe's at all often), favoured one greasy spoon at the market (now chi-chi-fied beyond recognition), over this particular cafe.  Even this greasy spoon had had a makeover - with prices to reflect......  But the red leatherette banquette seating and formica tables were still in place, so we took a seat.  Just over £10 for a hot chocolate, an overly milky coffee and a slice of chocolate cake.......  Ho hum.  The vast majority of customers were there for the 'full english breakfast' that was the staple of the establishment.  LG asked me why everyone was having breakfasts (it was about 11.30am at the time), and I said that if they weren't fed up of cooking after Christmas, they probably just wanted 'ordinary' things to eat 😁

We finished off the crackers for lunch, with a bit of cheese and the last of the fakey pr1ngles.  I made a sandwich too - so we're both stuffed.  Interestingly, although I was lucky to drop on a selection box of crackers for 99p in hB, the crackers that got scoffed first (did I mention we had them for a buffet-style lunch on Boxing Day?), were the conventional square 'cream crackers'..... I could have just bought a packet of them really........ 🙄  Anyway, I thought there were a nice selection of crackers, and for 99p for the box, enough for everyone, without having masses leftover to go soft.  I am less enthusiastic about the garlic & herb cream cheese I bought in hB - don't think I will buy that again.

Still horribly misty and cold here.  I'm remembering pictures Cheery has shown us of the lovely views from Cheeryhouse and thinking of sunshiney warmth 😁

Greying X

maddiemay

Thick damp fog for the second day, but was able to watch for ages a Cormorant standing on a stone in the River Teme.  Less nice was dropping my bank card somewhere after using it in that well known chemist with the blue sign!! Hastened back home to cancel it and no transactions made on it inthat hour, massive sigh of relief, but so annoyed with myself - this being old lark becomes more tedious by the day. Still tomorrow is another day.

Cheered up by date for family post Cmas meet up.

Greying_Pilgrim

Oh, maddiemay worra faff about the card 😕  But thank heavens nothing untoward had been done to it in the time it was misplaced.  🤞for a swift replacement for you.

And YAY! to meet-ups to look forward to 😁 

Greying X

rtandon27

OOOOO - GP, it seems you to are in a pensive & reflective mood!  I better get my thinking hat on and get organized, while such thoughts are floating around in the ether!

Very well done on rebuilding your various pots & saving up half of the window fund!    You've led a very balanced and sensible 2024.  What I'm always in awe of is the life-lessons you are instilling in LG from one moment to the next!  Very well done you xoxox