From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rtandon27 · 7 August 2025 at 5:08PM

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...I know I'm a miserable auld cuss...

Oh please! - You most certainly are not!

badmemory · 7 August 2025 at 5:11PM

So not a niggly nellie. It is things like that that make me want to leave my shopping & walk out. A month ago I did walk out as I wanted to pay cash for something & the self service till said cash & card. As soon as I scanned the item it changed to card only. I walked.

rtandon27 · 7 August 2025 at 5:15PM

@badmemory - my OH is prone to leaving as well, he doesn't do it quietly either! I'm surprised the ladies at our local Waitflower still let him in the store, though one of them is actually our across the road neighbour and is utterly lovely! We both insist on being served by a live person, if I want people free then I shop online!

Greying_Pilgrim · 7 August 2025 at 6:20PM

Ha ha - thank you for your support rt and badmemory - thing was, we couldn't have walked out in a flounce - the bloke in front of us was still packing his bags, and blocked the gangway with his body and his trolley. We couldn't go anywhere ☹️

Thinking about it logically, maybe it's worth treating MrL like MrAl, and doing 'bulk' shops there. There are a couple of items that I would buy weekly, and some once in a while, but I could probably buy most of the things 'monthly' and go less regularly. That'd 'show 'em' 🤣

I was surprised that at least the bill in MrL came to within 4p of what I'd totted it up to as I went round (something of a rarity when you have YS'd things, as they rarely scan correctly). However, the till operative did take care to ensure the YS'd things went through OK, and the +4p discrepancy? Totally due to me picking up a tin of marrowfat peas, instead of the mushy peas I was aiming for 🙄 At least I still had one tin of mushy peas in the cupboard, so we didn't starve.

We've just had fish fingers, oven chips and mushy peas for tea. I was slightly 'couldn't be arsed'. I didn't buy the fish fingers today to actually use them straightaway, but that's the way it happens sometimes. Yoghurt and banana for pud. The qu0rn cocktail sausages I got 50% YS'd are dated tomorrow, so I've decided to make a sausage pizza again, that went down well last time I made it, so I thought that was a better use, rather than making 'sausage pasta', like I did with last week's pack.

Talking about monthly, even though it's not something I now need, I was impressed to see a tin in the EH site lavatories today (by the sink), with a 'take what you need' label on them. I don't know if it's a specific charity that provides them, it was labelled up like a posh feminine hygiene brand may use. But that's the first time I've seen these products available, 'front and centre'. Bravo EH for getting those in their public conveniences, untimely incidents can spoil the day, can't they.

Ta for popping by. Appreciated. Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim · 9 August 2025 at 4:54PM

Good Evening MFW'rs

Heckingtons wellingtons, have we been having a fun auld time over the past couple of days 😁

I have to ask tho, Staffordia - were you at a EH property today? We were second in the queue, and the person in front of us used their 'card' 😉and seemed to know all about the benefits of it - to the extent that I benefitted too, as the EH volunteer just treated our admission in the same way 😁

Anyhoo, LG and I went to an EH property yesterday. It's relatively local and is 'open access' - no entrance/gift shop, so we took a picnic and a blanket, and were somewhat surprised to find that approximately 4,000 other people had had the same idea 🫤 Last time we went we (luxuriously) had the place to ourselves. No matter though, we ate our lunch, LG did a bit of exploring, they were invited to join in a game with some other children - but unfortunately we were literally just leaving the site - but aren't kids great at just hooking up with each other to play? We then pootled off to a garden centre that I'd had on my radar for years. I figured we could buy an ice-cream there. Anyway there were 'show gardens', and we had a wander around them, and we ooh'd and ahh'd at the fish in the pond and then made our way into the tea rooms. Everything looked lovely, and there was queue (always a good sign 😁), but no obvious ice-cream, so we went off into the 'plant sales' bit and found the ice-cream freezer by the till. Bless them, LG was concerned about the price (although they erroneously thought the tea room would be cheaper), but I assured them, this was a treat, and they should pick whatever icecream they wanted. The garden centre even had a picnic area, and I asked if it was alright for us to eat our ice-creams there, as long as we didn't leave our litter. The lady on the till said yes, of course. So we enjoyed our icecreams in an orchard. A fab day, for a bit of fuel in the car, and a few pounds for ice-creams.

Today we went to another EH property. It was a bit further afield, and DH was with us. It was superb. It's been on our list for an age, and didn't disappoint. We spent an age wandering around (it was a big 'un), we went to the tippy-toppy-mostest-highest bit - no mean feat, as it involved navigating a narrow spiral staircase, that was made for people who didn't wear trainer/walking type shoes, clearly. But we did it - LG and DH conquering their fear of heights/the dark/anything new....... and I took pictures to document the achievement 😁 After we'd seen everything I returned to the car to grab our drinks and picnic and we found a grassy bank in the shade to eat our lunch. We were so high up, we were literally eye level with a red kite that was hunting along the tree line - we got a great view of it. We wrote a postcard to an 'Aunty', (keeping up the writing practice), and then we started our way home. It was a lovely, lovely day out.

LG has gone around to a chums, and will be having tea with them. DH and I are rattling around by ourselves 😂 Probably veggie burgers and chips for our tea.

I know we're lucky, and blessed, but it felt like a real family holiday 'day' today.

Greying X

Cheery_Daff · 9 August 2025 at 4:59PM

What a lovely couple of days Greying! 🥰🥰 Dont you just wish you could bottle that feeling? 🥰

Watty1 · 9 August 2025 at 5:05PM

That did sound a lovely day

Greying_Pilgrim · 9 August 2025 at 5:15PM

Cheery_Daff said:

What a lovely couple of days Greying! 🥰🥰 Dont you just wish you could bottle that feeling? 🥰

YES! Absolutely, it was all just so fluid and "easy" today - which doesn't underestimate the planning and prep that went into the day, and even though we weren't 'away' as such, it did feel "more" than a day out. Yesterday was lovely too - in a different way, it was a little more spontaneous, a little more adventurous, but I think I was taken with how..... accepting? LG was of the relatively simple pleasures. We had fun, there were smiles and laughs and memories made 🥰

Oh Watty - I've been thinking of you for the past few days. I'm not normally around horses, but over the past couple of days we've seen several horses and donkeys up close, and they've all been wearing the fly protecting headgear. Maybe it's because i'm not routinely around horses, but I don't think I've ever seen so many masks being worn before. Is it the sign of a hotter than average summer?

Greying X