The sun shines.........

It's beautiful here : 15 degrees recorded on the car thermometer. I even saw one young lady in a sleeveless summer dress - that was going a bit too far I thought, but she was young and the young do strange things don't they? 

Have done some shopping and got the meat for the next 2 weeks. Just need to cook and freeze. Sainsburys had an offer on HP printer paper so got 4 packs which should keep us going for a while. 

Am going to go in the garden in a bit and get some clearing done. It's a real mess out there as leaves are everywhere [we back onto woodland] and the holly bush we took down in the autumn still needs to be got rid of - trouble is brown bin will only hold so much. 

Tea tonight will be some of the gammon I bought, with new potatoes and salad - yum, yum. Need also to make some rolls and biscuits to keep us going for the next few days. All that should fill the oven nicely. 

Suppose I ought also to check that my money has gone into my account.....

A Fresh Start

The weather has changed and I am feeling more hopeful. I have lots of changes I need to make and now is the time to begin.

My weight has stabilised since Christmas and I now need to work at losing some of it. I did well 

losing 2 stone between July and December but now I need to get motivated again and lose some more. Sian, my daughter has some cupcake designs, that you colour part of each one in as you lose a lb -  each cake coloured in represents half a stone. I am going to use this as a way of motivating myself.

My house is disorganised and needs sorting. Today I have restarted my decluttering but this time I am determined to be more ruthless - no-one person can need so much stuff.  So far some odd bits and some paperwork and files have been thrown and a few items put aside to sell. Don't get me wrong I could never live in a minimalist household but I feel like I'm drowning at the moment.

I started the year well keeping account of all my spending but unfortunately February has not gone well. I haven't spent loads on bits but I also haven't kept an accurate record of everything. On a positive side I have paid the balance for our holiday in Cyprus in May and have bought myself a new office chair[ old one was broken and was giving me backache] and a small laptop. This I have done without touching the savings or incurring any debt - so all is not bad. I get paid tomorrow and I intend to try harder to keep my spending records up to date.

The garden is a mess. Too much to do in one go and also I am not fit enough so my intention is to have a go at a bit a day. I am sure that if I tackle it this way, it will eventually start looking a lot better.

I intend to try and post more - recording my achievements in this attempt to have a fresh start!

Mummy, shall I wake him up?

Couldn't resist posting this photo taken today at Sian's.

Another week........

 Last week was truly a very mixed bag. Harry’s car developed a fault and is certainly proving to be a b*gger to fix. He seems determined to try and fix it himself and not give Vauxhall his hard earnt cash. Anyway he’s now down to last attempt – changing a sensor – if that doesn’t work , then Vauxhall will have won.

All this has meant he’s been using my car a lot and my petrol budget for the month is well and truly blown. Not only that, but on Saturday in Cambridgeshire on the way to Whittlesey Straw Bear, a lorry threw up a ‘boulder’ and I now have a large bullet type hole and some very long cracks in my windscreen. It’s going to be fixed tomorrow but I have £100 excess to pay. So much for all my budgeting.

We had a really good day at Whittlesey [ if you discount the broken windscreen]. It was cold but thermals under my jeans and jumper seem to have worked and I didn’t feel too cold. Watching the straw bear dance was interesting – he certainly must have been very fit to dance with all that straw weighing him down. Pretty Grim [ Harry’s border morris side] had a slow start to the day but finished with some excellent dancing on their last spot outside the Letter B pub.

Just been disturbed by the postman bringing the two Spot flap books I’ve ordered as part of Ella’s birthday present. She loves Spot so I think these are going to be well read. This week I need to sort out all the things I have to take for her birthday party on Saturday, make her card and wrap her presents. Also need to make Harry’s daughters’ cards and sort out presents for them – will be a busy week.

As to my budgeting in 2012, this is having its ups and downs. My grocery shopping budget is going fine and I have spent very little since Christmas but all my other budgets keep getting hit by unexpected events. Latest [after the windscreen] is now the breadmaker that is making crunching noises when kneading. I am unsure what to do about all this as I feel I may have gone into this 2012 budget challenge too deeply and really should have taken it slowly. The time for decision making has come. I am wondering if I should not be quite so harsh with myself and just take it step by step.

Another reason perhaps to ease off pressure on the budget challenge is that I don’t seem to have been able to find the energy/willpower/motivation to go back to my weight loss programme. I put on about 5lb over Christmas and it still hasn’t gone. Since I know my weight affects my health, I must do something this week to tackle this situation especially as I am not feeling too good at the moment. My chest is painful and my stomach is rather unsettled. Actually writing all this down has made me decide – I am going to cut back on being so hard on the budget and concentrate just on the grocery budget, watching household fuel consumption, and on my weight loss and fitness programme. Wow – I’ve made a decision!!

Really must stop now and go and get some of the dreaded housework done – see you all soon. xx

2012 Grocery Budget Challenge

Today I have been doing a stock take of the freezer and have started on the cupboards. Have the basis for 45 meals in the freezer so with the addition of vegetables that should cover until approx end of Feb for our main meals. As to the storecupboard , it is embarrassing how much there is - 20 + tins of soup; loads of pasta, rice, coucous; 16 tins of beans; 15 tins of tomatoes ; 8 tins of sweetcorn; 7 stirfry sauces;21 cup a soups; and there's loads more as I haven't finished yet.  It should be even possible to stretch into March without doing any big shop, especially as I also have 4 packs of sausages, lots of cheese and 14 eggs in the fridge.

So far I have spent £39. 47 on food since January 1st. Aim is now to spend no more than an average of £20 a week til at least March 10th. As my annual budget works out at £35 a week, that will really help when I come to restock the freezer. When that happens I want to buy all the ingredients and make up lots and lots of meals to put in the freezer. Wish me luck......

How are you trying to cut grocery spending this year?

4th January 2012

Have woken up feeling really cold – don’t seem to have mastered the central heating controls. I know what I need to do to rectify the situation but doing it is another matter. Why can’t they make instructions easy to follow?

The bread I made last night is gorgeous. It was a cheating packet mix – sun dried tomato one. I am slicing it with the electric slicer so am getting really thin slices but 3 slices for breakfast is a bit much , don’t you think?  I seem to have lost a bit off the bottom of the breadmaking pan, which will stop it working. Harry has said he will sort it for me – it’s good being married to an engineer!!

 Have listed 6 items on ebay last night and already have 5 followers on 3 items and a bid on another item. Would really like to make £50 from these items but am unsure whether that is actually possible. Have quite a few other items to list so hopefully will manage to get some of that done later today.

Why is it so difficult to get going when it’s cold? I know that if I move my fat butt from this chair and start moving I’ll get warmer but can’t seem to get motivated. Will someone please give me a kick.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to everyone ..........