Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

Well work for UK client finally completed - took much longer than expected - I hope that's OK with her. It's an hourly rate for this sort of work and normally it's done in 1-2 hours. This took 3 and a quarter (I've not told her about the quarter). She was aware it was going to be a fair bit of work. Why did I not contact her, I hear you ask. Despite being my 'UK client', she moved to Indonesia last year, so she's been fast asleep while I've been working - no chance of an answer until I'm asleep! (And she was aiming for a quick turnaround.)

themadvix

Morning all,

UK client was fine about the time spent and has sent me some final bits and pieces to do this morning. Main client is suspiciously quiet - I think he may be travelling, so will be back in almost my timezone soon, hopefully. Otherwise, I've got plenty of data entry stuff to do for Cambridge, and maybe some report prep too.

Weather here is wholly uninspiring, so no plans to go to allotment until much later (if at all). Mr MV and I popped to BnQ last night (to look at something for the teardrop) and I succumbed to a sad little chilli plant. There were so many sad plants there that I just couldn't rescue! This pepper will hopefully live on the kitchen window sill and produce little chillis (and some colour) throughout the winter and it was only 50p. Otherwise, apart from a regular charity donation, yesterday was NSD (I'm aware that an impulse purchase of a plant makes it very much Not a NSD! 😆)

Dinner tonight will be leftovers of last night's courgette pasta dish. Mr MV may be seeing a friend after work in which case I get the portion to myself, or if not, we'll have to share and have a plum-based pudding. I could have had it for lunch, but it's a bit of a large lunch portion really. Falafel have been bumped to tomorrow - I may make them today, and some pittas if I'm feeling fancy/bored of Cambridge work (although the plan is to have them with bulgur wheat - to use it up). Lunch will be a sandwich and I'll be having the last of last year's blackberry/redcurrant mix plus a few fresh yellow raspberries on my porridge shortly.

MS things:
* Blanched and froze a handful of french beans last night; some soggy but partially dried borlottis and coco soph are in the airing cupboard
* Froze the blackberries picked yesterday
* Dinner homegrown/use-it-up based
* Leftovers for dinner tonight
* Clicks and HW done and less than 100 pts from a £10 WR voucher on MS rewards now
* PA surveys done
* Missing TCB claim entered (I never normally bother, but someone else mentioned one the other day and I thought it was worth the seconds it takes to enter it)
* 1P surveys done (back over £10 there)

Gratitudes:
* Lovely dinner cooked by Mr MV (and leftovers)
* The sun has just come out - hooray! It was so dark first thing - proper wintry weather.
* Dad and Stepmum have gone on safari - looking forward to enjoying that vicariously through Whatsapp photos (will the elephant be a dot in the distance??!) (Very envious, but it's not on the cards for the time being.)

Have a good day all!

Greying_Pilgrim

tmv - glad that you found 'dirty rice' to your liking.  It's so adaptable, that I don't think I've ever made 2 versions that taste the same, but relatively straightforward too.

Your mention of chillies had jogged my memory that there was part bag of chillies in the MrL box - at least one was green.  I wonder if it would be mild enough for inclusion in my proposed Massaman 'style' curry for tea tonight.  Thanks for the prompt! 😁

Greying X

themadvix

You're welcome GP!

Productive adminny morning so far. Have instigated business bank account switch, started linking PP and savings accounts to new account, changed invoice templates and have a tick list of clients to inform as/when I invoice them. Am crossing fingers and hoping that different names on accounts won't cause issues with the switch etc.!Have also transferred my 'birthday money' NW savings account to one with a slightly higher rate and closed a bunch of old empty accounts  - found 33p interest as a result there. Also checked Atom a/c and there was £2.75 of accrued interest there - heat pump fund now just over £1900. 

Have also managed some Cambridge work and a meeting. Will be heading 'back' there after some lunch, although also need to investigate website hosting costs as my business website is due for renewal in October.

Lunchtime now though!

Cheery_Daff

Excellent work! I was always rubbish at No Spend Days 😂 somehow there's always something tiny that I end up buying and ruining it. I suppose the idea is to stop you doing that,  but it never quite worked for me. 

Hope you're cheerful chilli plant survives! 

themadvix

GP - I'm not sure about adaptable - maybe, with time. But it is a recipe I can use the creole seasoning in that we bought in New Orleans in 2022 and have barely touched, so it's a win on that front!

Cheery, I'm rubbish at NSDs too - hence I don't generally bother! But it seemed like it was almost on track - I guess that's the point though. I think if you're in debt and need to stop frittering, then it's probably useful, but I've not got a frittery mindset, on the whole, so less of an issue.

rtandon27

@themadvix & @Cheery_Daff - another here who is rubbish at no spend days! - I think these days it's about spending mindfully and in line with our values, rather than worrying about the expenditure itself.  We are very good at sticking to our budgets and are not of a shopping mindset.  In fact OH won't set foot in a shop unless it has been planned in so usually only when we are on vacation or staycation.

Cheery_Daff

Part of my struggle is that Mr Cheery LOVES a shop (especially a charity shop or supermarket) and it's a rare day when we don't end up in one or the other, usually both 🙄 In those circumstances it's tricky to avoid spending anything. His view on charity shops is 'often' and 'always buy a fabulous thing when you see it because it won't turn up again'- not remotely compatible with NSDs 😬😂

Having said that, he spent all of yesterday on the sofa, and I forgot to take my lunch to work and ended up in the supermarket, so it's not always his fault 😂

themadvix

RT, you hit the nail on the head -  'are not of a shopping mindset'. I think that's the key here (as supported by Cheery's comments about Mr C and charity shops!) - we are not 'shoppers' for the sake of it. Never have been. And I get very cross when surveys list 'shopping' as a hobby - for the sake of a planet, it shouldn't be! Although charity shops are different and I can be a liability in one too if I'm in the right frame of mind - popped into several looking for something specific the other day, no luck with that but came out with two books (£6 - big hardbacks) and have since instructed my mum to purchase a bedding set we saw in another (£15 - but Laura Ashley, excellent condition and actually needed for our spare bed). Avoid a supermarket like the plague though, unless we're on a soggy camping holiday! 😆

EssexHebridean

I certainly have been of a shopping mindset, years ago, and that contributed towards the debt I had then for certain. now though, I'd soon as spend as little time in shops as possible, for the most part! Charity shops ARE a bit different though, and yes, I'm usually happy to have a browse there, and especially in the sort that are as much museum as shop - those are always fun!