From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha - I hear you and I can match you elsien, I have done the weeding (the weed version of  borage was beginning to take over - again 🙄) and DH mowed the lawn on Sunday.  At least the green bin has something in it to be collected this week!  I realise I might kick myself in the long-term, but I am not minded to pay the 'extra' next year.  Grass will be composted, weeds will be taken to the tip.  I suspect had I stuck with my original intention to use the gnocchi in the SC, I would not be rueing their purchase......

Right, back from shopping.  GULP!  And excuse me, but since when are 'own-label' chopped tommies now 45p a can!  Is this more of the fall-out around slave labour/suspect sourcing policies?

I went to MrL, MrS and hB.  No boxes in MrL nor MrS, which I wasn't terribly surprised at.  Got a couple of YS'd things in MrL - triple choc hot x buns for £1 - shan't bother again, but LG and DH will eat them.  I did splurge and buy a 7.5kg bag of tatties in MrL.  They were 'Saxon' variety and were £3.99, which is quite a saving on the 2/2.5kg bags that I have been buying.  I was also surprise to see that they were priced something like 40p cheaper than the 7,5kg plastic bags of tatties in hB - and there was no variety (that I could see) listed on hB's packaging.  Naturally, in a plastic bag, tatties sweat.........  Did a smarty shop at MrS.  Got the maximum points for my shop that were on offer, given my choices and the amount I spent.  It'll translate to tuppence, natch 🙄

I spent (in total), £71.74, which considering it didn't represent that much stocking up, and we'll eat everything (I should imagine), within this calendar month, is actually, quite, quite frightening.  

I have set myself one heck of a target for April...... 🫤😬☹️

Right, away to sort out my siggie figgies and gently sob in the corner.......... 🫤

Greying X 

rtandon27

I'll keep you company in that corner GP!  We had a stock-up shop today & OH's comment was 'there is not much there' - It was a full 38% of our budget for the month and there are still 4 weeks to go!

edinburgher

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the HB potatoes, we got 3 weeks or so out of a bag and there was relatively minimal waste, even allowing for chopping off the odd foosty bit. They didn't roast quite as well as Maris Pipers but the price was right.

Greying_Pilgrim

edinburgher said:

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the HB potatoes, we got 3 weeks or so out of a bag and there was relatively minimal waste, even allowing for chopping off the odd foosty bit. They didn't roast quite as well as Maris Pipers but the price was right.

I've certainly used hB tatties before ed and for sure found them good enough.  I was just a bit surprised that the bags were dearer than MrL - especially coming towards the end of the season.  They certainly used to be cheaper, or on a par, but 10% more expensive was just a bit of an eye-opener.  

rt - ouch! i'm on a slightly lower percentage of budget used, but a) felt the same as your OH, and b) am not quite sure how the next 29 days are going to go 🫤

Greying X

elsien

I just decided to treat myself to a reduced £5 bottle of wine from Morrisons because I had £5 worth of points to use. Unfortunately I didn’t realise that their system is a bit slower and you can’t use the points straight away. 

I suppose I could have put the bottle back…..

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

I walked into Greying Town this morning to sort out a few bits and bobs.  

Went into a newly opened grocery store that caters for a specific cuisine.  I wanted to purchase some spices - more in support, as they were a little pricey - but encountered a 'cashless' shop for the first time.  The flashy, state of the art till was - at first glance - set up for contactless... however, I persevered and looked at the screen in front of me, and followed the directions and was able to use chip & pin - the owner said I'd taught them something 😁 (imagine my refreshed CV stating "technology guru" 🤣) which, as a self-confessed luddite, I did find highly amusing.  I hope they do well with their endeavour, but whilst they are bringing some specialty items in, they are unfortunately too expensive on the 'everyday' for me to shop there again.  

A wash was put out on the line before I set out.  Hopefully it will all dry pretty much.  There weren't any really heavy fabrics. As I was pegging out, a single bird became extremely vocal, so I turned on the app and discovered that I was listening to a Great T1t.  Before I had gone out, there was a gaggle of birds - I have to say, I couldn't decide if they were GT's or perhaps Coal T1ts - I'm not truly sure how you distinguish the 2 in the wild - and they were literally hunting insects under every leaf, branch, moving as a pack, quite extraordinary.

Can't think of anything else MSE to mention at the mo, so I'll push off and amend my siggie figgie.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

£3.74 spent in MrS on some eggs (they didn't have many eggs in stock on Tuesday, and none of the ones I buy), and a tin of beans.  No veg waste boxes and the store was busy.  I needed some petrol, but ended up going to MrA, because the petrol station at MrS was heaving, and it gets very pushy/parpy, very quickly, on their forecourt. 

Tea last night was mash, veggie sausages and beans.  The mash was made from the Saxon tatties.  They make nice mash, but they have got those grey spots inside them - for want of a better term, they look like 'bruises'.  They don't affect the taste (or don't appear too), but visually not too appealing, but it was all eaten up.  

Playground politics abound, and LG is currently being 'used' as a friend/crutch - by someone who's fallen out with their long-term chum 🙄 They all live locally, and the families are in each other's pockets.  They'll all be chums again by next week, and LG will be forgotten about, again.  Family life is carp sometimes.

Hopefully we will be doing things at the weekend tho (avoiding "playdates" - YAY!), including taking a sanger for a wander and hooking up with a relative that we've not seen in an age and who has come for a visit from abroad.  DH doesn't think we're likely to see them ever again - unless we win the lottery - so we're taking the opportunity to meet up.  

I've a small wash pegged out.  We'll take the opportunity to pass on some of LG's clothes to a younger member of the fam. at the weekend, so I've just given them a freshen up.  LG will be bereft to lose these tops, but they are too small now, and should be handed over whilst they still have a great deal of wear left in them.  I can't say that LG hasn't had their 'money's worth', they were bought from a discount clothes wholesaler type shop, were on sale, and were bought with money gifted by an 'aunty'.  We're easily below a 'penny-a-wear'.  They've been great.

Off to amend siggie figgie and figure out some lunch - oh, and tea whilst I'm about it, as it's club tonight.  

Greying X

Humdinger1

@Greying_Pilgrim you mention a  'refreshed CV' above.  Are you thinking of a job? I've been thinking about what to do if I don't get another job when my current contract expires at the end of May; picking up lots of tips from your diary.  But it gets harder to manage on one person's earnings as prices rocket.  Love Humdinger xx 

Greying_Pilgrim

Dearest Humdinger, one should 'never say never', but I was taking the mickey out of myself 😁 as somewhat of a dyed-in-the-wool techno dodger.    I have a varied 'CV', but where a hard copy of it is, is anyone's guess.  I suspect that it resides somewhere on a 3.5 inch floppy disk, but as i have neither the floppy disk, nor the means to read it, I'm really no longer sure what I did, nor where I was between quite a few dates in the last century........ Fingers crossed that your contract is extended (if that is what you want), or that something comes your way that is satisfying and pays the bills.  

The playground politics has eased a little.  Hopefully it will have played out and fizzled to nothing by next week.  

I have got to run an errand today.  I am just waiting for the second washing load to finish, so that I can peg out before I leave.  

Tea last night was lentil bolognese and pasta for LG and baked tattie, omlette and l/o bolognese sauce for DH and me.  I have to say, those tatties have got rather a lot of black spots in them ☹️  I had to cut 2 sections out of my baked tattie last night.  But also, we're getting to the end of the season, so it's not to be totally unexpected that the tatties haven't stored so well.  I noticed last night that the supermercados are going to be doing 'Easter veg' again.  I had totally forgotten that might be an option this month, so hope I can bag some to help the finances along.  

Trying to think of all the good stuff at the mo, as what with the prevailing global news and a couple of folks in our circle of colleagues and acquaintances reporting some bad, sad and worrying news, it's important to be supportive, but to see the light too.  

Right, clothes pegs are calling.  Ta for popping by.  Greying X

redofromstart

I had to check my national insurance records to make sure I got where I was working and when right, otherwise I am a bit hazy on dates generally. 

Hurrah for the Easter veg offers. I am still using shallots from the last offer, thanks to my mum who said they would last if I stored them properly.