From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim · 5 January 2024 at 2:51PM

Good Afternoon MSE'rs!

Hello maggiem - how lovely to 'see' you here. Thank you for popping in. And thank you for the info about your windows too - it's always good to have an idea of how many/cost how much, with these things - so that I've got an idea if any future quotes are ripping me off or offering good value or are about ball-park.

Well, i take the crown for fool of the day - I believed the BBC weather forecast for our area when it said it would be dry, a chance of some sunshine and that there was 0% (yes, zero percent), of rain before lunchtime. I did a mixed wash of lightweight clothing, in the hope that it would dry sufficiently. Hung it out, half an hour later, thought there was a funny noise....... rain 🙁 And it's barely stopped raining since 🙄 Washing is currently sulking on the line, and I am pondering my next move, as it would be near on impossible to reach the launderette due to infrastructure works/road closures/parked cars having to park in the next street along etc etc and the forecast is for a dreich and cold weekend... 🤔

I walked into Greying Town (yes, in the drizzle 🤣), and got the balance of the grocery money out of the bank so that I can keep track of what I am spending. i was quite proud of myself that I didn't spend on anything foodwise - thankfully marks&sparks's idea of YS'd prices is more than I am prepared to pay full price, so the stock stayed where it was. There wasn't anything appealing anyway - the YS'd pizzas all had meat on them - and cost more that I can make our pizza for anyway, and I don't have any need for brandied cream (and clearly no-one else had, with the quantity they were trying to offload.....).

I did get some yarn so that I can start a project for my charity blanket/item target.

I can't think of anyway i will have saved any money today - either for the 'coins' pot or the 'pounds' pot 😕 but then I knew it was going to be plodding progress, rather than shed loads of coinage landing on my lap without any effort.

Tea this evening will be from the freezer.

Greying X

rtandon27 · 5 January 2024 at 9:30PM

Hello Greying!

I hope you don't mind me putting in my two penneth...
Shrieking does have it's place...
It's good to get out your emotions & feel a sense of relief afterwards. Our shower stall has often heard my moans & complains & tears & shrieks. OH knows enough to leave me be if I choose to have a longer shower and stay out of ear-shot so he's not 'offended' by my downright rude comments. Also helps me to maintain a sense of equilibrium & helps to cope with stress!

That said, you know I applaud & support all your efforts to maintain equilibrium and think before flipping 😁

On the subject of pizza, have you kept an eye out for cheap fresh or frozen margarita bases? We have often used 50p-99p bases which are great stand-bys in a pinch (MrL fresh is a favorite & does well in the freezer) - we top generously with our own toppings, but always involving olives, shallots & sometimes pineapple (I grew up across the pond - it's a thing there!). Home-made crust and sauce is always better, but since the demise of my trusty compact beadmaker, store-bought tends to prevail!

Greying_Pilgrim · 6 January 2024 at 10:38AM

Good Morning MFW'rs

Thank you RT you are so supportive and kind to me..... Now that we have had the new extractor fan fitted in the bathroom, I suspect if I screeched in the shower I would possibly be broadcasting to the nation...... 🤔🤣 I agree totally with you about letting off steam though. The last few years have appeared to be the perfect storm of; bottling things up, one 'stressy' thing after another occurring, not being 'heard', and not letting go. To the point where exasperated has pretty much become my default tone (it seems like anyway). I know I'm only a week in, and most NY resolutions fail, but this week has been different, I have certainly felt different, and the atmosphere at home has certainly felt different. I've got to keep trying.

I know it was shown in November originally, but we happened to watch g00glebox last night and it was the one where they were watching S^2C.  Elizabeth's Story - oh my. Incentive to get focused and started on my charity blanket mission.

Today's chores include trying to get yesterday's washing dry. DH will be working in the garden, so it's going to make line drying difficult, (it's only a wee garden), but try we must.

Soups for lunch will be coming out in force over the weekend. Tea this evening will be either a risotto or some form of pasta dish.  LG will eat risotto, but as it is most likely to involve broad beans in some way, I suspect they won't be keen. It will involve using up what we have anyway (the broad beans are frozen, so could be used another day). I know it's pretty futile trying to save anything from a £200 budget, but I would be remiss to try - and this is the best opportunity I shall have, as stocks of (some) things are pretty good.

LG did ask if I had put any more coinage in the 'C4C' jar yesterday 🤣 I did point out that I hadn't saved any money yesterday, so there was nothing to put in.... it's good that they are still interested, and they did ask if 5p's could be added to the jar 👍 I suspect that is because they have spotted a couple of 5p's on the side - possibly out of DH's pocket. So rather than put them in the jar, I intend to 'declutter' them into the coin bag which when full, will be put into the bank a/c and probably/possibly will make it's way into the 'C4C' jar - so same difference. I see  LG's class are having a talk/practical session with one of the financial institutions this term to look at 'money'. Don't know if it is a good idea if LG pipes up that we 'save pennies for everything' 🤔

As I look to wipe yet more gallons of condensation off the windows this morning, I so wish i could wave a magic wand and fund new windows. But there is method in my 'budgeting upwards' as without knowledge that we've got our various 'pots' full or filling (think emergency fund/annual costs), we don't really know how much we can afford to save - or, if we crack and take out a loan, we will know what level of repayment we could afford every month. I am trying to do everything right with the windows we have, wipe off the moisture, have the windows open, but they still are totally wringing by morning.

Right, time to shift-a-tail-feather.

Greying X

badmemory · 6 January 2024 at 1:31PM

I suspect most of LGs classmates won't have a clue what he is talking about with a small number agreeing & an even smaller number saying to themselves I wish my parents did that. I do think that part of their education as they get older should be about the pitfalls of debt & by that I don't just mean the real debt but how to deal with energy providers, opening a bank account, starting a pension, put it another way the practicalities of life. So many parents seem to lack knowledge themselves that it seems to be setting up their children to fail. With so many going to uni these days along with the personal debt they can accumulate it just feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Luckily LG will not fall into that scenario.

ladybird1106 · 6 January 2024 at 3:12PM

You could make broad bean whipped feta spread. It's delicious on warm toast.
https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/broad-bean-mint-feta-dip/d453ecb8-e0c4-4250-8655-32db105e1534

Love 🐞

Greying_Pilgrim · 6 January 2024 at 4:12PM

badmemory said:

I suspect most of LGs classmates won't have a clue what he is talking about with a small number agreeing & an even smaller number saying to themselves I wish my parents did that.........

I wish that were true badmemory, however, I don't think LG's peers think like that at all - they don't have to. The are little consumers - literally. I'm pretty sure there are haves and have nots in LG's school - same as there always have been. But I've also seen the evidence of 'having all the things' and having them now......... You don't have to look much past the birthday parties in the first few years.......

Apparently the session will include 'coin recognition' - I'm surprised banks bother with that anymore, after all, they and the media are always telling us that 'no-one uses cash anymore'......

Thanks for the recipe ladybird1106 - the broad beans I have are bought (rather than HG) and will keep for another day if we don't use them - it's just LG isn't keen.

Well, I stumbled in keeping my composure - I made the mistake of opening an email from beetee that said that my bill hadn't been paid and that I owed the money and was to pay immediately, whilst at the same time saying that they had added it to my next bill which was to be paid next week. I knew I had set up a D/D (back in the mists of time when I first opted - foolishley - to become a bee tee customer again). And I received a bill just before new year that said the money would be taken from my account no sooner than in 8 days time. I have checked my account and it quite clearly says that I have opted for whole bill DD, and they have my details. So, I have decided to check on Monday whether the DD is still all set up with the bank (I've a slight concern, as the DD for the water company failed too, so is there a wider issue? Although 2 other DD's have gone out without problem, so......) I am disappointed in myself that my default was to immediately get exasperated - but this is just the BG situation all.over.again. I explained to DH and LG what had happened and why I had shrieked and apologised 🥹 But also - like BG who thought nothing of sending out emails overnight - this beetee email has come on the weekend after the bank has closed, so there is nothing I can do about it - at this moment in time - anyway. But corporate computers don't think about that, do they?

I have sorted all my food storage containers (think to stick ready meals/leftovers in the fridge/freezer), ditched some and found a home for those that I am keeping. One (large) moving box emptied - just 407 to go....... (kidding). DH and LG busied themselves in the garden and have removed an overgrown shrub. I did put the washing out, but couldn't until much later than anticipated. Although there is a slight breeze, I am not anticipating a miracle, I will go and grab it in just now. And then decide what to try and do with it.

Greying X

Fortune_Smiles · 6 January 2024 at 6:52PM

Very hard not to become exacerbated by automation Greying - your BeeTee experience is bringing to mind our recent foray into banking apps 🙄.

Is there a pattern to the triggers? Eg are they related to money, safety, control? You might not want to share this stuff on your diary, of course, just thought it could be useful to consider.

I think you're doing terrifically well. Keep up the good work.

Fortune x

Greying_Pilgrim · 6 January 2024 at 8:37PM

Good Evening MFW'rs

Fortune - I was pondering similar myself this afternoon - not necessarily from a 'triggers' pov (so will def. give that some consideration). What I was thinking about was a 'fear of owing money'. That has got worse as I have aged - and I think it is from a viewpoint of perception of being the 'weaker' party in any transaction - ie a tenant is at the mercy of a landlord - if you miss your rent payment you "could" be evicted (I realise it is rarely as straightforward as that), if you miss a DD you "could" be downgraded to the ..... "more expensive tariff" etc etc. I suppose where I (read Family Greying) have "control", I am less likely to lose it - but when the "other party" has both the upper hand AND the ability to apply some form of penalty, then I have definitely got more...... knee jerk in my reaction....... There is also a large element of "not being listened to". I think we have fulfilled our part of the bargain in these transactions - ie signed the contract or set up the DD or paid the deposit, then the other party louses up (for whatever reason), but when you take them to task on it, you're always told to 'wait 5 days', or 'our computer never gets things wrong' or 'we are sorry that you feel an error has occurred.....'.

And the silly thing is, that I am intelligent enough to know that computers work sequentially and in "logic" (in the loosest term of the word!), and are totally devoid of emotion - but they frequently get things wrong!

I am in the (privileged) position of (despite being brought up in what now would be termed a very, very low income household), not having had experience of debt collectors or encountering baliffs, or hiding from the rent collector - so I am really not sure where this 'fear of owing' comes from. Perhaps it is more linked to control. Perhaps I have sorted in my mind that there is (eg) £20 in my account to pay X bill. When the company louse it up and don't take the DD, I then immediately owe £40, and if with all the to and froing, the company don't take the £40 payment, then we're into month 3 and the DD (or bill) will be for £60.......

And you'd have thought that I would have learnt that big organisations continually louse it up, don't race to fix their mistakes, and never, ever issue meaningful apologies......

_______________________________________________________

Otherwise today has been OK. I can claim a nsd! YAY!

We had an "incident" where LG injured themselves (superficially but it could have been worse), and I have to say 'cool, calm, collected Greying' sprang into action.

I am going to give myself 5/5 for temperament today, as whilst I stumbled with beetee, I think I did well otherwise.

We had a nice tea - I did use broad beans - LG didn't like them and left some. Whilst I know we can't all like everything, I am always minded that I only serve them little freshly frozen broad beans, they don't have to tackle the - big as your palm and grey through over cooking - broad beans that we routinely got dished up in my childhood 🙁 We enjoyed our gifted wine - it was really nice and complimented the pasta dish.

I did de-clutter the 2 x 5p's off the side into the collection bag. We've not got many 5p's so collecting up to..... £5 is going to take a while. But otherwise no money went to 'C4C' or '£'s4Panes' today 🙁

I am going to cast on a charity blanket this evening.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

DH's efforts in the garden - more light for us, and our neighbours too.
A thoughtful house-warming gift that we all enjoyed (a splash went in the pasta dish at the start)
LG shared a 'treat' from their xmas stocking with us as we all watched the 'Famous 5' off tape together 🥰

Thank you all for popping in - posters and readers alike, I am grateful to you.

Greying X