I managed to almost keep within the budget of £90 for grocery shopping this week, save that I threw a couple of Xmas items in my basket at my last stop in B&M. I used my last £4 off a £40 spend at Tesco this week, so I've got no more vouchers now for the rest of the month. They have really helped me with the budget this month.
With just one grocery shop left in November, I think I'll probably go over budget by a few pounds, if I'm honest, as I have a meal out with friends planned for next week. I always count this as part of the food budget, which might seem strange, but the money is being spent on food and it's a pretty rare event these days.
I picked up a click and collect order for some new Morris & Co towels from TKMaxx whilst I was out shopping. I decided to order these online, as they are really good value from this store and I saved probably nearly £20 on buying them elsewhere. Quite a lot of our towels are getting a bit old now, so I'm gradually trying to replace them and I now have 3 different sets of these. I love the designs, this one is Sunflowers and they feel quite luxe to use. It wasn't a planned expenditure, but I don't regret it, as they don't always have them in stock, so when they do it's good to be able to get hold of them at a good price.
Tuesday, was a busy day. I attended a class at the gym in the morning and then at 1pm, OH and I had to go to the allotment, to load all of the rubbish from the shed demolition into a hire van and take it all to the tip. Another plot holder came to help us, which was good, as it made it slightly quicker. The van was full to the hilt. We couldn't get another single thing in there. As we were taking a van to the tip, we had to book a drop off slot, to prevent trade waste coming in. It took a couple of hours all told, but it was a job well done. I took a picture of the area we cleared on this visit. I forgot to post one on my last post about this:
OH now just needs to level the pavers ready for the new shed to be erected. He managed to rescue some roofing felt from the old shed to re-roof our little shed in the garden at home, which was good, as this saved him having to buy a whole roll of the stuff and should keep our little shed, that we use for coal and kindling, in use a bit longer.
We did the right thing taking all of the rubbish to the tip on Tuesday, as on Wednesday it was raining all day. Had we left it, the debris would have been very wet and messy and it would have made the job a lot harder and dirtier.
LB and I had arranged to go thrifting on Wednesday, but I saw an instagram post on my phone informing me that one of the shops we were going to visit was closed, so due to that and the awful weather, we decided to postpone the trip until Friday.
Instead of going out, I decided to have a day at home sewing and doing other odd jobs. I managed to finish another couple of small projects and then spent the rest of the afternoon making more fabric yarn for my next weaving project. I'd already cut the strips of fabric and just wanted to get them run up into yarn. I've got a few more left to do, but I needed to change the colour of the cotton in the machine, so I stopped at that point as it was getting a bit late.
A new PVC cover for our small greenhouse came on Wednesday. I'd ordered it on eBay, as our current one, which we haven't had that long is leaking badly. It was damaged by the strong sunlight over the summer months and everything inside is getting very wet and soggy.
In the evening, OH and I watched the first episode of series 2 of Landman on Paramount.
On Thursday, I didn't go to the gym in the morning. I had a twinge in my shoulder and I didn't want to exacerbate it by going to the gym. Instead, I went for an 8500 step walk. It was quite cold, but refreshing to get out in the fresh air.
When I got home, I had some lunch and then spent an hour or two making more fabric yarn. I then decided to sort out the greenhouse and put the new cover on. The inside of the greenhouse was a soggy, mouldy mess on account of water getting in. It wasn't a particularly nice job to have to do, but it needed doing. We'd been throwing lots of stuff in there all year, on account of the building work next door and having to move stuff from the side return, so it felt very satisfying to re-organise it and make it water tight for the winter. It also needed a few joints replacing, as they'd broken, but luckily I'd bought a mixed bag from the charity shop for £2 earlier in the year and it was a life saver, as it contained just the joints I needed. The job was done in a couple of hours, luckily before it got dark. Here's a picture of the greenhouse with it's new cover on:
It still looks a bit of a mess, but it's a lot drier, repaired, I've evicted all the snails, swept it out and it is now water tight. I'll go through everything again in the spring, wash the dirty plant pots and trays and put them away. Hopefully, OH will build the side return greenhouse next year and everything will get transferrred into there. For now, it serves a purpose and it will be fine.
On Thursday evening, I ventured out to attend a talk by a theatre costume designer, being held fairly locally, a short bus ride away. I had a nice evening and the talk was very interesting. There are more talks that I may potentially attend in the future, which might be interesting. It was good to get out and do something different.
Friday morning, I got up and ready, as LB and I were heading out thrifting today in another part of the borough, where there are a couple of shops where I can spend the £8 that remains on my Charity Shop giftcard. It was a nice excuse to spend some time out and about together before LB gets busy at work again.
LB took a while to surface, so I continued sewing some fabric yarn until she was ready to go out. Once she was ready, we headed out.
First stop was a Poundland store that was closing down. We decided to go in and have a look. I bought a couple of cans of de-icer for 20p each, and bought these three sets of bio seed pots and a pack of seed labels, which I'm going to gift to OH for Xmas. These totalled £1.10. Bargain. Combined with some seeds, they'll make a nice little extra gift.
I bought a few other food bits, but only spent £4.30 in total. It was sad for the staff that the store was closing, but I was very happy with my bargains.
We then visited a few charity shops, a couple of which I could spend my voucher in. Unfortunately, as is usually the case when you've got the money there waiting to be spent, despite spending over an hour in one particlularly large thrift store, I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Well, I found a couple of items I wanted to buy, but they were too small for me, so that made the decision for me. I felt very restrained coming home with my Charity Gift card balance still intact. I'll just have to spend it another day.
We stopped off in a lovely garden bar for a drink before catching the bus home. We had a lovely afternoon out together. It was perishingly cold though, so we were happy to get home and get warm again.
On Saturday morning, OH came to the gym with me for the over 50's free session which was nice. When we got home, his friend had dropped off their dog Bruce, as he'd agreed to look after him for the day whilst they went out. It was nice to have another canine companion for a day and he was no trouble.
OH took him for a walk and then took him to the allotment whilst he levelled the patio area ready for the shed to be erected. Hopefully, now that is done, OH will get a break from working on the shed, as it will be erected by the company they're buying it from and then other plot holders can sort out treating the timber once it's up.
It was another miserable and rainy day here on Saturday, so I spent the rest of the day sewing, making fabric yarn and working on LB's pouffe. I've now managed to finish one of the six sides of the pouffe and am now contemplating how I'm going to sew the others. The one I've done is made of hexagons, but I'm doing each side in a different patchwork style.
On Sunday, I woke up quite late and had a leisurely breakfast. I spent most of the day stitching with denim or mining the different bits of fabric from the various pairs of jeans that I'd bought to make LB's pouffe. I made another of the six sides of the pouffe. Two down, four to go. I'm making the four sides 11" x 18 ", as she only needs it to put her feet on under her computer desk, so I don't want to make it too high. The remaining two sides will be 18" square. I'll probably put a zip in the bottom, so that the stuffing can be taken out and the cover washed. I started on a third side piece, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped, so it may not end up as part of the project.
After supper, OH and I watched another episode of Landmen. A quiet day at home for me today, which was fine by me as I had a busy start to next week.
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