From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I am apt to use the staffed, conveyor belt check-outs from preference, most of the time.  But do use self-check out (not the scan as you go), on occasions.  Certainly in the early days - and probably my fault - the self-scan machines would always find some fault with me, my bags or my shopping and sound the alarm for an over-worked attendant to come and rescue me, so it was rarely that much 'quicker' to use self-scan.  M&$ machines were by far the worst for me.

i also get the 'overwhelm' with shopping. If self-scan gets you out of the shop quicker, then I'm all for them, but personally, would prefer that the staffed tills are kept. 

Well, I've put the washing on (bed-linen) and now it's raining - grrrrrr!  It was supposed to be dry today!  

The pizza turned out nice last night.  I even showed DH the risen dough, as it was so smooth and floofy and pillow like 😁I don't know if I got the temperature 'just right' for the yeast to work, or what, although I did use a bit of beer in the liquid. It was pure luck and probably not open for repetition, so we enjoyed it whilst we could 😁



Sorry the picture ain't great - the light had gone, and that was hand-held in natural light. There was plenty for everyone and some left to put in the freezer for another day.

Tea this evening will be mugg (mung bean curry), lentil dhal and rice.

LG has already done some 'homework' this morning, with relatively good grace, concentration and tidiness, so the day has started well 😁 Breakfast has been munched and I'm just waiting for the washing machine to finish up before I decide whether to risk pegging out.  A degree in hindsight would have been useful yesterday, as I am pretty sure that after initial rain showers, the weather was good enough to have dried and warmed a load of washing 🙁

Right, best-shift-a-tail-feather.  Ta for popping in.

Greying X

badmemory

Hopefully the clear sky & some wind will head your way as it looks like great drying weather here.

redofromstart

Sometimes you just have to stand back admire how silky the dough is.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

Busy morn this morn.  First day of the hols.  I dragged LG on an invigorating hike up a local mountain - which LG was thrilled about ........ 🙁Actually, they set out OK, dragged on the middle bit, raced to the summit and then were a happy bunny on the descent, so it was reasonably OK.  The weather was dreich and we couldn't see a thing from the summit, but we weren't the only people out and about.  We saw plenty of bird life, heard a chiff-chaff, and saw a nuthatch and a robin right up close.  Even LG was taken with the sightings.  

The mountain is nearby cosmopolitan town so I had my MrT's vouchers ready to partake of some more of the la1la foods offers on chickpeas and lentils.  I thought first of all the offer had gone over - as the lentils were priced at £3.60.  Thankfully I scanned and scanned the shelves and then scanned some more, as I eventually came across the chickpeas and chana dhal - which were quite clearly displaying the offer.  So I went back to the lentils (there were loads, they had even been stacked elsewhere on the display), and thankfully I thought to move the 'sorry out of stock' label (which was clearly incorrect - they had masses!) and lo and behold, there was the clubcard price.  So I got 2 x lentils and 1 x chickpeas, which used up the MrT vouchers I had.  I also got some stuff for LG from the clothing range - for school and for everyday, costs met from CHB.  We then popped over to the nearby large MrM.  I bought some more brown and green lentils in their 1ndus offer (2 for £4.20), and a large packet of paprika for £1.75 (300g) costs met from bulk fund.  I also got a bargain from the YS'd produce section, 2.16kg of bananas for 16p!  I will sort through them just now - as I am sure some will be OK to eat as is, whereas some will be destined for cakes/baking.

Lunch has been munched.  One lot of homework has been done.  We will pop out on a walking errand just now and then we will return to more homework (not an onerous task), and see about maybe popping a few Easter decorations up.  I haven't got many, but LG is keen, so......

It looks like there may be a small window of opportunity for drying tomorrow morning, so I will put a wash on tonight and then seek to peg out early.  Our walking gear is mud splattered and soaking, so as if I didn't have enough to wash as it is 🙄

Tea is going to be omlette, mash and baked beans.  

RIght, errands to run - must strike whilst LG is showing some interest in accompanying me.....

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning MFW'rs

Early start for me - I was pegging out with the dawn chorus this morning, it was like a scene out of 'Roobarb & Custard' 🤣  Nah, I'm kidding yah - it wasn't dawn chorus time, it was just prior to 6am - still surrounded by tweety goodness tho.   I am on a hiding to nothing I think - we're supposed to have a dry gap this morning, and then rain into and beyond the weekend 🙁but the breeze speed was doubtful in the forecast, and it's pretty still out there 🙁  But you gotta try, right?

We didn't end up putting the Easter decs (such as they are) up yesterday, as I realised at the last moment that there was little or no porridge oats left in the box, and I knew I hadn't bought any replacement pack (and DH was relying on being able to grab one from the cupboard "because you always have one in stock....."🙄).  There wouldn't have been anything else for breakfast (other than toast), as we don't have a variety of cereals on hand.  So it was a quick dash to MrL to pick up some porridge 🙁  Super annoying.

Tea was as slated - Omlette, mash and baked beans.  Other than one (small) tattie that had been damaged in harvesting anyway, the tatties had no damage inside them, which was good.  I have sorted through the bananas, 6 definitely for baking, one eaten by me and the rest - about 6 or 7, in the bowl for puddings going forward.  16p well spent.  Along with the 90p for porridge oats, must amend my siggie by £1.06.

Lemony turnip chowder for tea.  Might make some flatbreads or something to go with.

Need to start to add up what the 'new' DD's are going to be needing to be covered in the main account going forward, as the new CT year starts imminently and I need the money to be in the right place at the right time.  That's a 5 minute job but i need to get on with it.  Currently getting bombarded with. " Muuummmmm, what are we going to be doing today?........"  It doesn't matter if you've all the money in the world to do stuff, the weather dictates activities 🙁

Right, can't currently think of much overtly MSE to add into the mix, so best shuffle orf.  Have a coat to peg out. 

Thanks for popping by.  Appreciated.

Greying X

rtandon27

Pegging pre-6am - GP I'm in awe!

I'm currently rinsing and spinning the load that went in yesterday!  A chiro appt meant there was little will to do much more than inhale dinner yesterday evening!

Cheery_Daff

I too am very impressed! 😊

I was impressed with myself by being outside by 7.30am 😂 but all I'm doing is sitting on the swing with a cuppa in my dressing gown, writing my morning pages and listening to the birds (in my case a rather persistent chaffinch, plus the occasional curlew and pheasant, and a background of skylarks). Utterly glorious, and I am not for one minute taking for granted either the abundance of wildlife or the luxury of having time to sit about before work in the morning. 

Hope the weather holds for you to have some adventures today Greying! I confess I haven't even looked for here. I will be inside working all day and don't want to start the day grumpy if it's going to be sunny all day! (I suppose I could do some washing... but I did 3 loads on Sunday and all that's left is Mr Cheery's jeans, so I'm not that enthusiastic 😂)

Grumpelstiltskin

GP Have you seen Mr L has Easter veg. from today and it's 15p and much more than they said originally. I had an E Mail last night.

rtandon27

Oooo - GSS thanks for the reminder about MrL - we have a couple of bits and pieces to pick up, that OH usually gets from MrS on a Monday, but that we managed to eek out until this morning breakfast!  We shall head to MrL instead to make avail of the 15p veg as the other bits are a much of a muchness wherever we end up shopping & as I'll be with him, there will be no excuses of I couldn't find it as MrL makes no sense 🤣🤣🤣

GP - I managed to get yesterday's load rinsed and out on the airers for a couple of hours, but the grey skies tell me the heavens will open shortly, so half the load has gone in the summer house, as it's still to cold for human/laptop habitation and the other half is currently inside with the dehumidifier set to the laundry setting.  Today's load is in the machine, as OH does not 'like' the remaining t-shirts that are in the cupboard - SIGH - he really needs to do a declutter if he feels that way, because by my count he had another 4 days before a load was due!  The man is retired & wears nice shirts when we go out of the house, so tbh any old t-shirt will do in the house!  The joys of being on leave usually include getting on top of the laundry, so I suppose it is truly a much of a muchness as to which load gets done next!

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 said:

Pegging pre-6am - GP I'm in awe!

Frankly love, I think I am rather sad - to do it, and to "brag" 😉 'bout it 🤣

Cheery - I would never say you take stuff for granted, you are perfectly gracious about what you have and play your part to keep it nice for others 😁

Grumpelstiltskin - thanks for thinking of me love - I was aware of the MrL offering, and have partaken.  I was trying to find out the other retailers offers (think the 'big 4'), but had forgotten that they are pretty much gluing purchases to their loyalty cards - got caught out with MrM, thinking I was buying parsnips for 19p, but of course, you had to have the morri Kard for that price - and they went through the till at 65p.  I had it all explained to me by the very nice lass at CS and so duly asked for a refund and left the parsnips with MrM.  

RT - DH would be handed a pair of scissors, the rag tin and directed to recycle what he didn't like and then directed to purchase something, with his own money, that he did like.  I bet with my DH, the selection in the drawer would remain...... Mind, my DH feels the cold and always has 400 layers on at least, so what state his Tshirts are in, is rarely a concern.....  🤣

So LG and I took a pootle to a nearby market town this morning for a change of scene.  They have a nice spiffy MrL there, so we ducked in to see what was available.  I have spent some of the remainder of my grocery budget, and spent into April's too (in effect).  I will divvy up the amounts just now, and work out what can be used this week and what will need to be used in April.  Of the Easter veg offer, I partook of the carrots x 3 and the green beans x2 and a mahoosive swede x1.  I don't usually buy the green beans - unless occasionally (in season) there are british beans on offer, but to be fair, the beans looked nice and green, so I figured I would indulge for 30p.  The potatoes looked fine, but they were labelled up as Arg0$ - not a variety I have ever heard of..........  I also picked up some YS'd cheese and onion 'sausage' rolls.  It was only a 30% reduction, but I have not seen any YS'd for ages, so bought a couple of packs to put in the freezer.  

Our favourite clothing outlet store that is closing down in Greying town is also closing down in this market town.  The company is going out of business 😭 It was the second best option after chazzers for reasonable everyday type clothing, particularly leisure or some 'outdoorsy' wear (the cheaper brands, but still).  I did buy a couple of items that LG will wear, but in a larger age size.  We did have a look in several chazzers - which have (in the past) been wonderfully productive, especially of good children's books.  But I don't know what is going on, neither had any children's books and the one seems to be going out of children's stuff all together, and the other seems to delight in having the children's section as a jumble sale - not helped by an unsupervised toddler throwing stuff around.  We left.    We bought some pr1ngl3s from H3r0n - 49p for a big tube.  I figured LG wouldn't like them - sour cream and chilli wholegrain, but no, they like them 🙄  We did also buy a big bottle (1.5L) of r1bena from bee&em for £2.70.  I think the 1L bottles in MrL are £1.99, so i thought that was a reasonable price.  LG doesn't have it all the time, and (rightly or wrongly), I deem it the lesser of the 2 evils when put up against carbonated drinks.  We popped to MrS.  No Easter veg obviously displayed in there - and I had my n3ctar card ready too!  I got the TV mag and some cream cheese.  Then on the way home we stopped at MrM.  Our shopping was pretty much limited to YS'd stuff.  Nothing at 'giveaway' prices, but everything that will be used up/needed anyway, so the budget stretched a little further.  You will laugh at my logic, as I bought a bag of pre-prepared leeks and cabbage YS'd to 30p, as I figured I could take out the leek, and make up a base mix (and freeze) to make some 'glamorgan sausages' at another time.  As I was looking through all the YS'd bags to find the contents in the best condition, I was thinking 'only a mse'r would get why I was doing this.......' 🤣  - but even then I bet a few would be like.........'why?' 🤣

Right, best go and rustle up some lunch and work out my expenditure.  At present it is still dry here, but rain is forecast, so I need to keep one eye on the sky too.  

Ta for popping in.  I'll be back later with me 'maffs' and working out and stuff....... 🤣😉

Greying X