Moving on

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042780#Comment_82042780

I do like baking, @WelshmansDaughter - I think one can bake in an air fryer but I don't imagine it could handle a Christmas cake, could it? I did have a quick look at air fryers, though, as it would free quite a bit of space and we could definitely use as much of that as we can get.

This morning I was on a couple of teams at church and for some reason, for the second day on the go, I wasn't in zombie mode. I wasn't particularly lively, either, but it was a definite improvement on normal. I was up in good time to allow us to apply lots of sun cream and walk there, which was nice (and MS).

DH got home ahead of me but as I was clearing up, there wasn't really time for a cooked meal at lunch time. DH and DS1 were celebrating Fathers' Day with a bike ride at 2 and they were out for a while. Meanwhile I made a start on cutting the grass, continuing later with trimming some overgrown hedge plants and repotting my orange tree. DH made a start on repainting the bench, and I helped with that, too. By tea time it was getting cloudy and I thought I heard thunder but we've had no rain. It's been a really pleasant temperature, though not the forecast heatwave (yet).

We had more of the chickpea tikka for dinner, and we've finally applied for a cheaper tariff for DH's phone. He was paying £26+ a month and will now get more data but will pay under £3 (I forget exactly how much). I thought the deal I signed up for was great but this, with the same company, is even better and I can't change to the lowest prices as they are for new customers only. However, it's only a matter of pence and the savings over a year for the two of us will be in the hundreds. Yes, we allowed automatic increases to creep up on us.

I also went to synch my F1tbit with the app, only to find the app doesn't exist any more and it's now part of Google. Did anyone tell me? If they did, I missed it entirely. I noticed the new app gives my email to people I've got on there as friends, but none of them is a close friend, so I've removed them all. Possibly overkill, but I was rather taken aback that all the F1tbit stuff has been carried across without my knowing.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - Fitbit was bought out by Google ages ago but they recently changed the app over to their own branding!

I just turned off the AI component in the settings snd it works mostly like the old Fitbit. With a bit of playing sound on my tablet, so a bigger dcreen, I tweaked the display to emulate the old screen and synced to my phone. Nowhere near as nice as the old app but the basics are still there.

Watty1

That is quite a saving on the phones. Well worth the research you did.

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82043231#Comment_82043231

It probably shows I've not been as invested in it as I used to be - it could have been changed a few weeks and I'd not synched it!

I've yet to investigate the new app fully but I suspect I will go the same way as you and only opt in to things I actually want. It's quite annoying that it continues to present me with options I don't need (haven't tracked my cycle in decades and I'm hardly likely to start now!), but F1tbit was the same. That's just set up to annoy the part of my brain that's a completer-finisher!

@Watty1 , thanks - it's not the first time we've been caught out by sneaky price rises, but we're both glad to have that one ticked off the list. Perhaps as MSers, we need to add 'sneaky price rises' to 'check smoke detectors' and 'replace toothbrushes' on a quarterly checklist? 😊

Cherryfudge

The heatwave hasn't yet arrived here - I've got a light jumper on! Skies are grey and there's a light breeze, but I can see this gives me a bit of heatwave prep time.

DH developed a cough as soon as he got to bed last night, bad enough that I eventually came off the computer to check on him. The window was open and he's got bad hay fever at present, so we aimed at that as the cause: window closed, Olbas oil and an extra pillow brought in, glass of water (not used). I checked he has his inhaler which I am sure is out of date but he rarely uses it so doesn't keep on top of the prescription. Anyway, the measures worked and the cough stopped at once.

The pollen prediction is very high over the next few days so we will need the windows shut.

He's in work now and I'm working a lot this week so I'll make a plan. I've just fed and watered the houseplants, to save losing them to neglect over the next few days.

Monday - post V1nted parcel (small sale over the weekend), do L1dl £5 off £35 spend shopping (need to complete a list for this), work this evening.

Tuesday - childcare all day. Our house is cooler than theirs so we could bring them here if I do some childproofing today.

Wednesday - work and church group in the evening. DH's day off and we had planned a day out but that may depend on temperatures.

Thursday - work in afternoon and evening.

Friday - do my share of church cleaning (no point doing it today as rooms won't have been used, could do it on Wednesday I suppose), work in the evening.

Saturday - car boot sale?

Sunday - leading the children's session.

Alongside these, Tuesday to Friday are forecast to be very hot so I need to plan for plenty of drinks and suitable foods. I know there's a tower fan in the loft and as DH is at work, I will go up and try to find it. Later in the week will be far too hot to attempt that as the loft heats up when the sun shines. I'm not supposed to go up on my own but that's due to the fall I had when we were still using a step ladder, so I will take reasonable care and have my phone with me! We've had no issues since we got a proper loft ladder installed and I will remember to turn round before coming down, and use three points of contact at all times - feel as though I could lead a training course in this now!

WelshmansDaughter

I doubt there are any air fryers that could handle a Christmas cake although people do produce recipes and tins etc for air fryer baking. Perhaps a microwave that is also an oven would be space saving.

Laura_Elsewhere

We've just helped my parents buy a large thing that is an air fryer and also a normal electric convection oven, so it will definitely do cakes :)

From memory it was a Ninja 10-in-1 or something similar.

it's a bit bigger than their old microwave oven, but sits on the same small table with a thick silicone mat beside it- it means Mum no longer has to get pots and pans out from a floor-level oven of the cooker! They use the gas hob of the cooker still but now really enjoy the ease of the new oven being at working height.

Cherryfudge

@WelshmansDaughter and @Laura_Elsewhere , that's very timely as our microwave is showing its age, or rather the on/off switch is getting very temperamental. When I looked up switch repairs, they assume it's the plastic hook that's the problem but it isn't - it's the internal switch so it's a case of new microwave, not new switch. Depending on the size of the Ninja, that might work for us. I know I must have mentioned this before but its a galley kitchen so space is at a premium.

I've done a small load of washing this morning, partly to rescue some beloved tee shirts of DH's that he though were ruined with sun cream. I'm fairly sure the rescue was successful. I've also had a call from a solar company whom I contacted on spec and they are coming to have a look tomorrow. I've said to DH that I want to push on with solar (if viable, and I don't see why not) and get it out of the way. We can't plant the things in pots in any sort of permanent place near the house till we know there's not going to be scaffolding planted on top of them!

Cherryfudge

I'm quite pleased with myself as I've followed up the solar enquiry with a request for a smart meter. DH said he'd tried a couple of times but never heard back and it occurred to me that he might not have clicked 'send' or something like that, so I went on the website and seem to have guessed rightly. To do him justice, the stage DH missed isn't 100% clear. Anyway, we are now booked to have someone come in a month's time, though I'm not sure if this is to fit a meter or merely stroll round poking at things with a screwdriver and confusing me with technicalities.

I also posted my V1nted parcel, did some shopping, went to work for two hours and collected a parcel for myself. I think this is the piece of china for DH to give me for Christmas, but he's not opened it yet.

I managed to get the £5 off the £35 shop though I forgot alcohol doesn#t count towards the total so I had to nip out of the chieckout and grab some sweets to bring the non-alcohol total up to £35. These are in addition to sweets I already have in store: they are sugar free so I take some to work and hope I'm not ruining my teeth with them. They aren't 'moreish' enough for me to nibble in between times.

For tomorrow, when we will be looking after the children and trying not to overheat, I had a possible good idea and pulled my ice cream maker out of obscurity. It's one of those where you freeze the insert and amazingly, there was freezer space to do this tonight. I'd seen a recipe on GP's thread where you mix mango puree with mascarpone and freeze it, but what I thought was a jar of mango puree in the depths of the emergency cupboard turns out to be apple and apricot. Never mind, they can mix it all up and put it in the machine and it can run while we are out, which will be as early as possible to avoid the heat of the day. I can't remember how long it takes to make ice cream but they won;t mind if it's not frozen stiff by lunch time.

WelshmansDaughter

The one I used to have was a Panasonic, they did make ones with different options like a steamer. My sister has a N1nja double air fryer, although I do prefer my lakeland one. My mom cooks a roast chicken in hers. There are some good options out there now that work better for small spaces.