It Came To Me In a Dream

 

I got a letter from the hospital yesterday, it was copied to me, the MSK team and my GP's practice, and just confirming for my records and theirs everything that was discussed at my consultation with the spinal consultant last month, no real news there then.  

But ...  

Alan also got a letter from the hospital, his was from the parking company that manages the car park.  Seemingly we had not paid for parking when we attended my appointment and were now being fined £42 if we paid straight away, and a lot more if we waited more than two weeks.  Now we always take great care to pay when we park the car so this really flummoxed us.  I told him to search his car door pockets in case we had a ticket and could therefore challenge the fine ... but nope, nothing there.  Like a good citizen he paid up straight away, but we were still flummoxed.

Then last night I dreamt that me and Alan were out at a café with my boys in the dream they were aged two and eight, Simon the older one had wandered off so Alan took Jason off me and said 'You go and look for Simon'.  As soon as I stepped out of the café and into the car park it came to me ... the reason we had been fined for our hospital parking.  At this particular hospital you pay for your ticket after you come back to your car, which is a good system really as you never know how long you might be kept waiting around.  But if you come out and you are chattering away about your consultation like me and Alan were, or if you have had some really bad news how easy is it to completely forget and just drive off.  This parking company must make a lot of money this way!!

Thank goodness for dreams though, this was really bothering us both all day yesterday.

Top photo and this one, some homemade coleslaw I rustled up yesterday for us to eat alongside some homemade potato and fishcakes for lunch yesterday. 

Dessert was mince pies and cream, both eaten while we watched a film on Amazon Prime.  That's me ahead of the game as we are eating out tomorrow for Alan's birthday and ghe rules of my Challenge say I can only have a meal out if I have shared or am about to share a meal made from my stores with Alan.  It's always best to be ahead of the game.  😀

I love this on the back of the cream carton.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say 'I have never and would never eat vegan food, it's disgusting'.  I just grit my teeth these days as it's really not worth the hassle, but lots of first time Veganuary participants are going through that for the first time at the moment.  I used to say, 'so you've never had chips/toast/an apple/a banana then?'  Cue immediate confusion or much swearing.

Sue xx

Something Else I'm Not Buying ... and Pussy Cat Escapades

 Something else that I will not be buying this year ... and I was reminded of this on Joy's blog the other day ... is stationery.  I have lots of notebooks, pads and paper alongside pens, markers and enough pencils to make a raft for Suky, to easily last me for the whole of the year, and probably beyond.

  Something I did decide to do this morning was to get out my box of greetings cards.  When I was out and about shopping more regularly I would always keep my eyes open for nice cards, especially those with Pugs on and buy them for future use.  I have been steadily using them over the last year but now I will make even more of an effort to match people with the cards that I already have.

As you can see from the photo I have a few Christmas cards in there too, as I have obviously not found or used them in time for this year they will be very useful for Christmas 2022, and it will most like mean I only have to make enough money to buy one pack more.

I got together two cards of the cards that I will need for January (the other one is Alan's birthday card for this weekend, but I'm not showing it here in case he pops in for a nosy),  and two of the ones I need for February, the only one missing for February is actually for Alan's sister ... so I think he can add that one to his shopping bill 😀

Oh woe is me ... I found two chocolate bars that went out of date at the end of November, so my mission for the next couple of days is to eat them.  They are very rich, so half at a time with a cup of black coffee will be fine.

Someone asked via email for a look at the main bookcase in it's entirety, so here you are.  The box of books that I mentioned that is still in Alan's spare room turned out to be more cook books, but no really frugal ones.  It's heavy so I will ask him to bring them over sometime over the weekend.  

I've already done too much lifting and shifting recently and I'm not supposed to lift or move anything heavy, but no-one told Ginger that and then last night after I had gone to bed he got himself wedged behind this bookcase.  He managed to get along the back to the back of the sideboard and I just about moved it enough for me to be able to get my hands under his little pussycat armpits and lift him out.  It can't have been comfortable for him, but he did have the grace to look very grateful.  It's not like him at all to get up to scrapes like this, most unusual.  🐱

Sue xx

Some Inspiration for My Challenge

So I had a bit of a sort out yesterday of some of my books, perusing the shelves for any that might prove of inspiration or of use to me during this Challenge.  I carefully managed to get down some of the more frugal type cook books from my top shelf in the kitchen ... the one I can barely reach now ... and replaced them with the red flour bin, into which I put some of the chocolate bars with the longest date on them.

I moved them to where the red bin had previously been sitting on top of my little drawer unit.  Much more safely accessible for me and handy for a quick browse through when I finally get around to menu planning.

On the living room bookcase I moved a few of the more inspirational books together, tidying as I went along ... no doubt I'll forget where I've put other books now!!

On the bedroom bookcase my wartime rationing books were pretty much together anyway, but I rounded up a few strays.

And repositioned a few of the books I discovered still packed in boxes in Alan's spare room, there is still one more box of books there so I will have to go and have a look at what's in it.

This photo reminded me ...

... I promised Sue in Suffolk a peek at what the spotty books in the Christmas pile on the sideboard were.  😃

A few more of the wartime books unpacked last month.  These are all bound to be inspirational over the next year as I resort to more vegetables and less of the expensive things like vegan cheese.  A wartime ration of 4oz of cheese a week may come back into force!! 

(That was amount on average that a vegetarian got in exchange for their meat ration.)

And finally, here is the book that inspired my No Spend Challenge ... and I haven't even read it yet!!  I read  about it and it really piqued my interest, well that and getting sick of being constantly bombarded with adverts and emails from various companies trying to sell me stuff.  I am just fed up with stuff and shopping in general.

After the last couple of years I want even more for this to be a year of simplicity and taking a step back from consumerism and acquiring things.  Moving home and having to have so much work done and buy new things ... although it was very necessary ... simply drove me over the edge.

Here's to a year of no spending, no shopping and simplicity.

Sue xx

My No Spend Challenge 2022 - The Food Stash at the Start

Can I just start this off by saying - My name is Sue and I obviously have a food problem. 😄😆

Here is the food that I currently have in the Lodge, the cupboards, fridge and freezer, drawers, baskets, boxes, shelves and surfaces.  When you start looking for it you find it ... and then some!!

The top photo is the top half of my larder cupboard ...

... and this is the bottom half.

The little stack of tuna on the shelf on the left is actually Ginger's so I will give that to Alan later as Ginger always eats in his kitchen now.  It's safer for him to eat at the back of the table then the dogs can't pinch his food.

The fridge.

The top drawer is fruit and vegan cheeses and the bottom drawer is packed to the gunnels with vegetables and salad stuff.  It's imperative that I either eat or process the fridge stuff first as I really do not want to waste a single thing.

The door of the fridge is full of condiments, chocolate bars and a little bit of leftover Christmas alcohol ... gosh I will have to grit my teeth and drink the wine.  😉

The freezer is absolutely packed and includes things like Shepherdess pie bases, ready rolled pastry bargains, ice-cream, a loaf of bread and bags of frozen vegetables.  I will work on emptying this gradually but definintely in time to add bulk cooked items ready for when I get to basics.

The top of my little storage unit has the Flour Bin which is full of sweets, and a few half eaten Christmas leftover nibbles, thank goodness we have little dogs and not Great Danes, so everything is safely out of reach ... much to Suky's frustration. 😄

One of the wooden drawers hold polybags and zip-lock bags etc and the other ... a selection of chocolate bars, Deliciously Ella flapjacks and other Christmas treats.

The top two baskets of this unit hold my potatoes (they are not green, but the bag they are in is!) and some dried goods and more chocolate bars ... there's a theme developing here are you seeing it. 😂😃😄

The bottom two baskets hold biscuits ... mostly Christmas gifts ... some part baked rolls from Aldi and two large bags of crisps.  As there are such a lot of biscuits they have been put in here in careful Best Before order, so hopefully they will last me for the next six months.

On top of my little green chest next to the drawer unit is a shopping basket which has three large jars of Nescafe coffee in it.  These were bought back in November when it was on offer reduced from £7 to £4.50.  I always try and stock up when it's on offer at that sort of discount.  It will be interesting to see how long they last me, the jar on the worktop is just over half full as well so I should be okay for a couple of months at least.

I remembered after I started this post that actually in the green chest is some of my homemade marmalades so I got up and grabbed a photo.  It looks like eleven jars ... more than enough for a year I should think.

On the wall above the drawer unit and green chest are the wire shelves which hold some dried goods, and a jar of snack Biscoff biscuits that I take out when we go out for a coffee.  In the large enamel container there are some mini pots of jam from last years Advent calendar and in the smaller one some Deliciously Ella Caramel Cup snack packs.

Talking of dried goods, on the shelves above the worktop are my large jars of spaghetti, rice, pasta shapes and porridge oats.  The tiny shell pastas are usually added to soups and in the Bisto tin is ... Bisto gravy granules.  The little green King Monty tin has some sherbet lemons in it.

At the front are my salt and pepper pots, an ongoing joke as my black and white cat was called Pepper but this is the salt pot.  😸

Below the shelves are my drawers, the top one holds the cutlery and all my spices.  Over the course of this year I really want to whittle this collection down a bit, as I'm sure I don't use some of them enough to warrant replacing them.

On the worktop by the hob are the oil, salt pepper and cumin that I use regularly and a tin of Weetabix.  I have two slices and two crusts of bread and a bread roll that all need using up first and then I will start on the bread from the freezer.

As I was putting away my camera I noticed the Panettone and my little mug of candy canes, so the camera stayed out and they were photographed for posterity ...

I nearly got the camera away and then in the cupboard where it lives I spotted my little dish of sachets from cafes.  I always pick up leftovers rather than have them go into the bin ... I may be glad of these later in the year!!

And the thing that made me laugh the other night just as I was getting into bed was this!!

Two full boxes of Ten Acre cheese and onion crisps.  They really are the tastiest vegan cheese and onion crisps and since they stopped selling them in our local Booths and the company no longer selling them direct, I have been buying them off Amazon.  I usually only buy one box at a time but before Christmas the boxes of the family sized bags were reduced so I got one box of ten 135g bags and one box of twenty four 40g bags ...then I found 10 small bags that I already had, so these were never touched.  With a Best Before date of May this year there is no rush to eat them up.  Crisps in the bedroom ... now that's a new one even for me!! 😃🤣

And that is it.

Wow what a shocking amount of food I have in at the moment, especially the sweet, treat kinds of food.  It's going to be interesting to see how long this all lasts but I really do not have to worry about going hungry even with my £10 a week budget.  

I am being kind to myself  for once, since I have been in so much pain there has been a lot less cooking and a lot more sweet treats consumed on black days and nights, and my appetite has really diminished ... even though it appears my need to shop hasn't.   So I am not going to beat myself up even slightly for all this extravagance but I will be gradually working my way through everything that currently here supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables, and hopefully over the course of this year the stocks will dwindle and the scales will tip in favour of healthier, more regularly bought fresh foods.

Any questions ask away.

Sue xx

My No Spend Challenge 2022 - The Rules

 

The simple rules for My No Spend 2022 Challenge are:

1.  My housekeeping money for the year is the cash and coupons that I had in the Lodge at the start of the year and may only be added to with any other coupons or points that I get over the course of the year.

2.  The average for each month worked out at £50.83, so taking this as a rounded £50 I can only start the year with £50 in my purse, any left over at the end of the month can be carried forward to the following month.  

3.  No money may be drawn down from future months.

4.  The monthly spending will be roughly divided into £10 per week for food and £10 per month for non-food items.  This will not include dog food or treats as Alan pays for these, or for my laundry products as I buy these on a regular subscription from Smol.  It will include everything else ... toilet rolls, tissues, toiletries etc.

5.  I may ask for things to help out with my Challenge for my birthday and Christmas, or any other regularly occurring events that I cannot for the life of me think of at the moment.

6.  Things I am not buying for myself this year:

Clothes*

Books

Shoes

Fripperies

Household Linens etc

7.  *If I lose enough weight to need to, I may buy myself clothes of a smaller size with money made from selling any clothes that are too large.

8.  I may continue to sell things that I already own on either Facebook Marketplace or at car boot sales, and I can use any money received to purchase gifts, cards etc for birthdays or Christmas 2022 for other people.  All cash received this way will be put into the enamel teapot as the new Gift Giving Fund and may be drawn from at any time.

9.  I can continue to eat out or have takeaways as Alan usually pays for these treats for us out of his Navy pension, on the understanding that for every meal he buys me I make us both a meal from my own supplies.

10.  I will post about the Challenge at least once a week on this blog and will show photographs of the contents of the cupboards/fridge/freezer at the start of each month.

11.  I will try to get and keep all receipts and show them on a shopping post every time I go shopping, as well as sticking them into my challenge diary for posterity.

12.  These rules may not be changed but can be added to if I think of something else that should have been here from the beginning.

Have I missed anything?

I don't think so but if you think of anything that is screamingly obvious please let me know.  Back tomorrow with those Food Stash photos, sorry but this post is long enough already. 😀

If you have any questions I will try and answer them in the comments.  Questions asked after this week will be directed back to this post, as hopefully it will prove helpful.

Sue xx

My No Spend Challenge 2022 - Adding Up the Cash Stash

This morning I finally got around to adding up the Cash Stash.  

I had built up my little pots of money from various sources, the enamel teapot held the cash unused from the previous years Sealed Pot Challenge as well as the money I have been making recently from selling on Facebook Marketplace.  Then there was the little wooden box that has been collecting all the little bits of change to keep my bag lighter and the tile-fronted drawer that sits in the kitchen was used to save some £2 coins and had money added to it over the course of the year whenever I drew some cash out of my bank account, it was just there for emergencies and was never intended to become part of a Challenge.

It all adds up, and I consider myself to be very fortunate that I am able to do this.  Back in the day when my boys were growing up, any pots of money around the house were but a pipe-dream.  Our only savings were a large whisky bottle that we dropped pennies and two pence coins into ... and even this was raided as emergency food money some weeks.  It's this background that has honed my frugal mindset and which inspires me every so often to buckle my belt tighter and challenge myself to do better with my budgeting.

Do we all really need everything that we have?

So lets go through the cash I had around the house and get it all together to see the final budget for 2022.

In my handbag there was £25 in notes and no small change*.  I don't use a separate purse as this handbag has slots for cards and space for me to keep bank notes nice and flat, these plastic notes are murder to store folded!!

The little vintage money box didn't seem to have that much in ...

... but it all adds up.

Yes, there was £12.44 ... and a Kune!  I had to Google that one, seemingly it is a Croatian coin worth at todays exchange rates 11p, so although it's un-spendable someone palmed me off with more than the 10p it pretended to be.  😁

I'll keep it as a souvenir.

Peering inside the teapot for the first time in months, it looked pretty promising.

And indeed it was.  

The notes, and one and two pound coins were from Facebook Marketplace sales and the money in the polybag left over from last years savings.  A grand total of £117.88.  The odd 6p that you can see on the edge of the front £5 note was found on the ground on a dog walk and had been added to the pot on our return.

The little drawer I knew would be holding the bulk of this years budget.

Oh, that looked so much better ... and there were coupons that I had forgotten about.

A lovely round total of £400, plus the two coupons which are worth a total of £12.50.  

It's lucky that I did dig them out now as the Booths coupon expires in a couple of weeks, and I have no intention of losing £10.  I think I will wait as long as I can and then use this for a fresh fruit and vegetable top-up shop just before it expires.  This should mean that I can get through January with a very low spend.

Seeing the two coupons in the little drawer jogged my mind about my Nectar points, which are given out on any Sainsbury's shop, and which I have built up quite quickly over the course of the past year by buying some of the items that they give me extra points for.  The good thing is they usually issue the extra bonus points on your regular purchases and as mine have been mostly fruit and veg this means that I could continue to accrue many more over the next few months just by buying a few things that I need when they are on offer and then use the even higher points balance to pay for my shopping one or more weeks to have a bit of a top up as the cupboards start to run low.

(It works by for example them offering you 20 points which you would normally only get for spending £20 on something like bananas.  So buying one banana for 12p means you get points as though you have spent £20.  I hope this makes sense for those of you not used to Sainsbury's system.)

* The reason I had no change in my bag became obvious when Alan came in yesterday afternoon just after I had finished all my workings out and said he had found £5.20 in his coat pocket that I had given him along with other coins when we went to the hospital for my consultation.  He had paid for the parking ticket with money from my bag ... and kept the change.  So my workings out were quickly revised to include this unexpected windfall, luckily at this stage my scribbles were still on a scrap of paper 

I have decided to use my free gift Country Living diary as my Challenge notebook for the year, so all the workings out were written down at the front of it.   As you can see I have an average of just over £50 a month, which if I can keep the first few months spend really low will rise, and looking at the amount of food I have in the Lodge this should be quite easy to do.

The rules are still whizzing around in my head a bit and not really finalised, so I will come back tomorrow with a new blog post containing them ... and if you would like the photos I have taken of the Food Stash.  

I have food in the strangest of places, as I discovered when I went to bed last night!!

Sue xx

Unlocking a Fresh New Year

 

So it's time to unlock this fresh new year, decide what we're going to make of it and either gear ourselves up or let it simply wash over us.  I'm sure you can guess that I am of the latter rather than the former statement.  

So I have no big plans other than to try and get myself fitter and keep myself healthy.  I have to lose some weight for my own satisfaction rather than any medical advice, dropping three inches has meant that my BMI has shot up by three points, my scales told me this ... I didn't even realise that this was how it worked!  So my only target for this year is to get myself back to my former BMI which although was not perfect did seem to a better number for me, if I can get it lower then that is even better.

I didn't get around to counting out my various pots of money yesterday, by the time I had put away the Christmas decorations and had a good clear up and done my final load of washing for 2021 I was shattered.  I was going to have an early night, but after dropping off on the sofa for half an hour at tea time, as did Alan we both decided to veg out in front of the television and let the New Year just wash over us.  We watched the New Years show on BBC1 and the fireworks and light displays over London and then both retired for the night.

My only task for today is to count my money, work out what my budget will be for and set myself some minor ground rules.  I'll be keeping this particular Challenge on this blog as it will only be mentioned a couple of times a week so it seems sensible to leave the Challenge Blog dormant rather than trying to keep two blogs going all through year.

Once the money is counted and a bit of a plan drawn up, I will start on the serious business of eating my way slowly but surely through the cupboards by putting a film on the television and tucking into some popcorn.

Happy New Year to you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and input over the last year.  Onwards and upwards ... and I hope your New Year gets off to the start you want it to.

With love

Sue xx