This month, I've continued in small ways in my quest to simplify our lives more and live with less stuff and less disorganisation, the latter, in particular, in relation to my finances. I've not been able to declutter anywhere near the amount I managed last month, but nevertheless, I've still found a reasonable amount of things to pass on to others who might be able to use them.
The main area that I've managed to focus on this month has been my finances. I've opened a new regular saver account to benefit from 5% interest and will be transferring savings not currently earning this amount of interest into it each month for the next year. It's a little bit of hassle, but worth it to make better returns on my money.
Another financial measure I've taken this month, is to try to track down the value of my two occupational pensions. I've obtained a statement on the one from the NHS, which was available on line, after I obtained an activation code for the site in the post. This was quite encouraging. The second from the Civil Service, I am still waiting for. I originally emailed Capita, who were the last known company responsible for it, but apparently, it is now being managed by some other organisation, so my enquiry has been passed along. Hopefully, they will respond to it eventually.
The purpose of doing the above, is to see what shortfall I need to make up in the next 15 years before I retire. Both the above pensions include a lump sum payable and monthly payments start at age 60. I also have a (very) small personal pension, which starts at age 55, but it's value is very insignificant, although that too provides a lump sum. I'm assuming that I will be able to use these and any savings I accrue to buy some sort of annuity in the future, to give me a reasonable income in retirement and I am still intending to pay my National Insurance contributions voluntarily each year, to qualify for a full state pension (if it is still available in 16 years time).
As a consequence of the above, I feel like I've made some progress this month. The other main area of progress in simplifying my life has been the allotment, which I'm now up to scratch on and the maintenance of which is now much easier, now it is fully cultivated. Having a plot almost on my doorstep is now starting to pay dividends, as I can get to it very easily to water, weed and harvest, so as a consequence everything grows much better and things don't go over as easily between visits and go to waste.
Next month, now that I've taken all of the donations to the Give & Take, I'll be focusing on simplifying the sewing/spare room, as I can now more easily get access to everything, both for cleaning and decluttering purposes. I'm looking forward to spending some time in this room next month both being creative and re-organising it.
Friday, 30 June 2017
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Monthly Roundup - June
Financially, June has been a slightly better month, although not by much, mainly on account of it not feeling quite so long as July.
I didn't manage to pay off as much of my overdraft as I'd hoped this month, mainly because I used some of the money I was going to use, to buy LB's school uniform for next year. As mentioned in a previous post, I got offered free postage to buy it early, so I took advantage of it. To be honest, I hadn't really budgeted properly for LB's school uniform for the next school year, so I've revised my saving strategy to fully account for the expense and to include the expense of Christmas this year, which will mean it will take me a little longer, (i.e. to the end of the year) to pay everything off, but I'm okay with this, so long as it's gone this year and I can start 2018 debt free.
I did pay off another £50 approximately this month, so I'm happy enough for now. At the end of last month, I actually made a chart of my debt to enable me to visualise it going down each month. I shade out the amount paid off each month starting from the top down and when the chart is fully coloured in, I'll be debt free. I'll post a picture of it each month as I colour more of it in. Here's this month's chart:
The final tally for spending in June reads as follows:
I was slightly over budget on Food, spending £6.35 over the allotted £400.
Similarly, I was £4.96 over on my Personal budget on account of purchasing the flip flops!
Household went over by £11.42, mainly due to bulk buying toilet cleaner this month. There were also a few small things that I bought from Poundland early in the month, that I probably didn't really need to, but never mind.
LB's budget went over by £76.44 - £67 of which was uniform and the rest was another trip with school, that I hadn't budgeted for.
The Home budget came in at £3 under this month and the Misc. budget came in at £9.27 under which both helped to make amends for overspends elsewhere.
Excluding the uniform, the overspends weren't too high, which was pretty acceptable.
I had my dentist appointment this month, whereby I paid £59 I had budgeted for a clean and polish and I also sent some money to my sister for my nephew's birthday. These were the only extras I had to pay for this month.
Next month, I'm being more realistic. LB needs a new school bag for next year, so I'll be including that in the budget, and adjusting what I'm able to save accordingly. It is the most expensive thing left to buy and she has a particular brand in mind.
As I don't buy her that much these days, I've agreed to buy it for her, providing that I can buy it from ASOS. I've got a 20% off voucher code to use in the next two days or so. They are trying to lure me back into spending on the site, as I haven't purchased anything in a while. I'm happy to accept their voucher, so long as I use it for something that I would be buying this year anyway.
Other than this expense, I haven't got any extras to pay for next month, although it will be the summer holidays towards the end of the month. I'm hoping to pay at least £150 off my overdraft, which will be fab if I can do it. I'll keep you posted.
With just a bit more attention to what I spend in the first week or so of the month, I think I can bring everything in on budget, I just need to flex that budgeting muscle a little bit more next month. I'll let you know how I get on.
I didn't manage to pay off as much of my overdraft as I'd hoped this month, mainly because I used some of the money I was going to use, to buy LB's school uniform for next year. As mentioned in a previous post, I got offered free postage to buy it early, so I took advantage of it. To be honest, I hadn't really budgeted properly for LB's school uniform for the next school year, so I've revised my saving strategy to fully account for the expense and to include the expense of Christmas this year, which will mean it will take me a little longer, (i.e. to the end of the year) to pay everything off, but I'm okay with this, so long as it's gone this year and I can start 2018 debt free.
I did pay off another £50 approximately this month, so I'm happy enough for now. At the end of last month, I actually made a chart of my debt to enable me to visualise it going down each month. I shade out the amount paid off each month starting from the top down and when the chart is fully coloured in, I'll be debt free. I'll post a picture of it each month as I colour more of it in. Here's this month's chart:
It's not that clear in the photo, but you get the drift.
The final tally for spending in June reads as follows:
I was slightly over budget on Food, spending £6.35 over the allotted £400.
Similarly, I was £4.96 over on my Personal budget on account of purchasing the flip flops!
Household went over by £11.42, mainly due to bulk buying toilet cleaner this month. There were also a few small things that I bought from Poundland early in the month, that I probably didn't really need to, but never mind.
LB's budget went over by £76.44 - £67 of which was uniform and the rest was another trip with school, that I hadn't budgeted for.
The Home budget came in at £3 under this month and the Misc. budget came in at £9.27 under which both helped to make amends for overspends elsewhere.
Excluding the uniform, the overspends weren't too high, which was pretty acceptable.
I had my dentist appointment this month, whereby I paid £59 I had budgeted for a clean and polish and I also sent some money to my sister for my nephew's birthday. These were the only extras I had to pay for this month.
Next month, I'm being more realistic. LB needs a new school bag for next year, so I'll be including that in the budget, and adjusting what I'm able to save accordingly. It is the most expensive thing left to buy and she has a particular brand in mind.
As I don't buy her that much these days, I've agreed to buy it for her, providing that I can buy it from ASOS. I've got a 20% off voucher code to use in the next two days or so. They are trying to lure me back into spending on the site, as I haven't purchased anything in a while. I'm happy to accept their voucher, so long as I use it for something that I would be buying this year anyway.
Other than this expense, I haven't got any extras to pay for next month, although it will be the summer holidays towards the end of the month. I'm hoping to pay at least £150 off my overdraft, which will be fab if I can do it. I'll keep you posted.
With just a bit more attention to what I spend in the first week or so of the month, I think I can bring everything in on budget, I just need to flex that budgeting muscle a little bit more next month. I'll let you know how I get on.
Monday, 26 June 2017
Monday Catchup
After all the excitement (on my part), of taking everything to the Give & Take on Saturday, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.
On Sunday, I went to my class as usual. I hadn't booked it, as OH had a cycle race planned and needed the car, but the race was cancelled, so he went on his usual Sunday morning ride instead and I booked a place on my class at the last minute and went along. I was glad I did, as LB had a sleep over at her friend's house, so I would have been home alone on Sunday morning otherwise and feeling guilty at not going.
Sunday afternoon, as the weather was a lot cooler, I tackled the ironing mountain that I'd avoided in the hot weather last week. I'm always happy to get it done and put away, especially when it's been building up. Other than that, and some washing, I did very little all day, which was nice and inexpensive too.
In the evening we watched The Handmaid's Tale again. It's quite disturbing, but makes quite good viewing in a weird kind of way.
Today, I was back at the gym, but for just one class instead of my usual two, which meant I was home earlier for a change. The Wi-Fi has been playing up today, so we've been without it for most of the day. I can't say I've been too bothered. I've been pottering around the garden instead.
I'm having a bit of a problem with all of my lettuce bolting, so I've been harvesting the worst affected and am going to keep it in the fridge until we gradually work our way through it. I've got lots more at the allotment that is bolting too. It's a nice problem to have, i.e. too much, but I hate to waste any food that I've grown, so I'm hoping we will be able to use it all, if it doesn't taste too bitter. At times like these it would be good to still have our darling guinea pigs.
Anyway, I sowed some more lettuce seeds for harvesting once everything has been used up. I'm a bit late, but I never can get that successional sowing thing right.
I popped over to the allotment too today and weeded a little, cleared a particularly overgrown corner at the back and then fed and watered everything. It only took an hour or so.
In my absence, OH had paid to loaded month's worth of use onto my dongle, so that he could have internet access for his business, and then, lo and behold you've guessed it, our connection came back on, despite an engineer being booked to come and check it out tomorrow. Typical.
This afternoon, I made us a Chicken casserole for supper using a few veggies out of the freezer. It desperately needs defrosting, so I need to use everything up fast. Besides, the courgettes are now getting to a decent size so I will probably need to fill it up with this year's crops before long.
I've also done a towel wash today and then washed my trainers in the washing machine. They come up a treat. I really need a new pair, but I'm taking good care of my current ones instead and making them last until my birthday in October, when I can either get OH to buy me some new ones or buy some with my birthday money.
Tonight, I'm going to tackle the linen cupboard on the landing, which I didn't get around to last week. It shouldn't take too long, as I've decluttered all of our old towels already. It really just needs everything pulling out, cleaning inside, and then everything putting back.
On the top is a big box full of LB's baby things that I can't yet part with. I'm going to go through it again and see how I feel about everything. I might be able to part with a bit more. The rest I'm going to seal in vacuum sealed storage bags to minimise the space they take up. I got a couple of packs of them from Poundland earlier in the month and they seem to work well enough.
I'll let you know how I get on.
On Sunday, I went to my class as usual. I hadn't booked it, as OH had a cycle race planned and needed the car, but the race was cancelled, so he went on his usual Sunday morning ride instead and I booked a place on my class at the last minute and went along. I was glad I did, as LB had a sleep over at her friend's house, so I would have been home alone on Sunday morning otherwise and feeling guilty at not going.
Sunday afternoon, as the weather was a lot cooler, I tackled the ironing mountain that I'd avoided in the hot weather last week. I'm always happy to get it done and put away, especially when it's been building up. Other than that, and some washing, I did very little all day, which was nice and inexpensive too.
In the evening we watched The Handmaid's Tale again. It's quite disturbing, but makes quite good viewing in a weird kind of way.
Today, I was back at the gym, but for just one class instead of my usual two, which meant I was home earlier for a change. The Wi-Fi has been playing up today, so we've been without it for most of the day. I can't say I've been too bothered. I've been pottering around the garden instead.
I'm having a bit of a problem with all of my lettuce bolting, so I've been harvesting the worst affected and am going to keep it in the fridge until we gradually work our way through it. I've got lots more at the allotment that is bolting too. It's a nice problem to have, i.e. too much, but I hate to waste any food that I've grown, so I'm hoping we will be able to use it all, if it doesn't taste too bitter. At times like these it would be good to still have our darling guinea pigs.
Anyway, I sowed some more lettuce seeds for harvesting once everything has been used up. I'm a bit late, but I never can get that successional sowing thing right.
I popped over to the allotment too today and weeded a little, cleared a particularly overgrown corner at the back and then fed and watered everything. It only took an hour or so.
In my absence, OH had paid to loaded month's worth of use onto my dongle, so that he could have internet access for his business, and then, lo and behold you've guessed it, our connection came back on, despite an engineer being booked to come and check it out tomorrow. Typical.
This afternoon, I made us a Chicken casserole for supper using a few veggies out of the freezer. It desperately needs defrosting, so I need to use everything up fast. Besides, the courgettes are now getting to a decent size so I will probably need to fill it up with this year's crops before long.
I've also done a towel wash today and then washed my trainers in the washing machine. They come up a treat. I really need a new pair, but I'm taking good care of my current ones instead and making them last until my birthday in October, when I can either get OH to buy me some new ones or buy some with my birthday money.
Tonight, I'm going to tackle the linen cupboard on the landing, which I didn't get around to last week. It shouldn't take too long, as I've decluttered all of our old towels already. It really just needs everything pulling out, cleaning inside, and then everything putting back.
On the top is a big box full of LB's baby things that I can't yet part with. I'm going to go through it again and see how I feel about everything. I might be able to part with a bit more. The rest I'm going to seal in vacuum sealed storage bags to minimise the space they take up. I got a couple of packs of them from Poundland earlier in the month and they seem to work well enough.
I'll let you know how I get on.
Sunday, 25 June 2017
Going to the Give & Take
Saturday was finally the day of another Give & Take event in our borough. I've talked about these events a lot over the last couple of years, because they have been the main way that I've been donating a lot of the 'stuff' that I've decluttered over the last few years. I do send better quality items to the charity shop, but for regular run of the mill items, they mainly go to these events.
For anyone new to reading this blog, the Give & Take events are recycling events organised by our local council. The idea is you take things you no longer need or want at 11 am, they get set out on tables etc. according to category, i.e. household, clothing, books, etc. by volunteers and then at 12 noon the event opens proper for anyone to come and take anything they want for free. It's a great concept, especially for low income families, who can't necessarily afford to buy everything they need, and for people like me with excess 'stuff' they are only to happy to give away.
As I've mentioned, I've been attending these events for a few years now, usually with a car full of stuff, but I have taken items home with me on occasion too, although not so much recently. I decided that at this particular event, I would try to come back and look around to show you how it works.
Before I got there, here was the pile of stuff we had to put in the car.
Anyway, back to the Give & Take, I enrolled OH and LB's help this time and got them to come with me because it's so much easier to unload the car when there's a few of you. This event was slightly different to normal because it was held in the park under marquees. Here's an overall view of the event at the beginning being set up:
There was also a food stall encouraging less food waste, where they were making free food to give you ideas of how to use food that was nearing it's due date.
For anyone new to reading this blog, the Give & Take events are recycling events organised by our local council. The idea is you take things you no longer need or want at 11 am, they get set out on tables etc. according to category, i.e. household, clothing, books, etc. by volunteers and then at 12 noon the event opens proper for anyone to come and take anything they want for free. It's a great concept, especially for low income families, who can't necessarily afford to buy everything they need, and for people like me with excess 'stuff' they are only to happy to give away.
As I've mentioned, I've been attending these events for a few years now, usually with a car full of stuff, but I have taken items home with me on occasion too, although not so much recently. I decided that at this particular event, I would try to come back and look around to show you how it works.
Before I got there, here was the pile of stuff we had to put in the car.
This is about the usual amount for me lately, but hopefully not for much longer as the house is feeling much more clutter free now.
All of this stuff has been sat on the bed in the spare/sewing room for the past 3 or 4 months. I'm was so looking forward to taking it, so that I can have the room back and get on with some sewing. As you can see from this photograph, I've got a pile of cushion inserts awaiting the making of new cushion covers. I'm looking forward to getting on with them.
Here's how the room looks now:
Almost normal, although still a bit cluttered. I need to really go through this room and declutter some of my crafting supplies at some point in the near future. For now I'm just enjoying seeing it emptier though and more accessible.
Anyway, back to the Give & Take, I enrolled OH and LB's help this time and got them to come with me because it's so much easier to unload the car when there's a few of you. This event was slightly different to normal because it was held in the park under marquees. Here's an overall view of the event at the beginning being set up:
Here's where you leave your donations. This marquee is where you Give & Take from.
There were other marquees at the event, where you could learn to fix broken items and mend your own clothes,
or fix your bike.
We dropped off our donations, parked the car and then went for brunch at a local café before continuing down the path through the park to the market. After a mooch round, we came back the same way to get back to the car, so I popped back into the Give and Take tent, you can see how busy it is. Much of the stuff had already been taken by 12.30 pm, with people pulling trolleys full of it home.
There wasn't really anything that I wanted or needed left in there, but I did come away with these books,
plus an A_Z of Birmingham for LB (not pictured), as she's hoping to go to university there.
Normally these events take place in schools or community halls and it was the first time I've been to this one in the park, so it made a nice change. There was plenty of footfall from people out in the park or heading to the market. In all a great event.
Saturday, 24 June 2017
The Week So Far and a Flylady Update
Well, the week got off to a bit of a surprising start when OH decided to buy us an air conditioning unit. Now, we are usually the last people to do such a thing, I hardly ever use the air conditioning in the car, preferring to open the windows and our house tends to stay pretty cool even in the summer, but the recent heatwave was taking it's toll on us, (32 degrees C here on Monday) even though we weren't spending much time outside in the heat of the day.
OH, who was feeling particularly uncomfortable in the heat, decided to have a splurge and invest in a mobile AC unit for use around the house. He ordered it online on Monday morning and I picked it up from B&Q on my way back from the gym. It was interesting to note that virtually every customer I saw in B&Q was buying some sort of fan and they had sold out of the remaining AC units, so we obviously weren't the only ones suffering. Anyway, the unit was a little larger than we expected and quite heavy too, but now we've got it up and running, we are really appreciating the benefit of it.
It supposedly costs 12p per hour to run, but we'll call that a conservative estimate, as it probably costs more. At the end of the day, I'm not going to argue. OH works from home every day, so he's the one who suffers most when the house gets hot in a hot spell. If he wants to splash out, let him I say. I'm sure that we'll all benefit, especially me being a woman of a certain age who gets very hot these days and the dog, who is also struggling somewhat to keep cool. On walks we're having to go out as early as possible and stick to the shady side of the street/park.
On Monday afternoon, I did the last little bit of work I needed to do at the allotment to bring it up to scratch for the inspection on Tuesday. It was looking pretty tidy and fully cultivated when I left it, so at least it should be easier to maintain now. Please note the bare soil allows space for large plants and perennial fruit bushes to grow. Here's a final photo:
As it was still forecast to be in the 30's on Tuesday and Wednesday, I decided I would wear my cut off jean shorts to the CS. (Please note they're not short cut off shorts, just knee length). It made such a difference not to wear full length jeans. (I can't wear a skirt as I cycle to the station on my bike which has a crossbar) and I felt more comfortable all day, although still way too hot.
The manager came back from his holiday and I didn't mention cutting my hours, as I didn't want to bombard him on his first day back. I'll try to speak to him next week. One funny thing this week, was that someone left two bottles of Cava outside the shop for us on Wednesday. A strange donation, but very welcome. We will enjoy drinking it at an upcoming staff party, for one of the volunteers who has been there for 10 years later this year.
Anyway, on Thursday it was nice to stay home and be able to get on with my own stuff. I did my usual class at the gym and then afterwards, used the morning for an Errands and Anti-Procrastination Day. (Flylady speak!) I did a couple of jobs I've been putting off for months i.e. taking some rubbish to the tip and dropping some bags and boxes off at a local CS and then I had to take my library books back and pick up a parcel from the Post Office Depot. It felt good to get these things done.
This afternoon, I harvested some petit pois from the garden, pottered a bit and then did some financial stuff that I've been neglecting lately. I'm currently trying to get a statement on a couple of preserved pensions, that I earned whilst employed for a few years in the Civil Service and the NHS. I've been making enquiries with the relevant bodies, so that I can calculate what I need to put aside in the next 15 years pension wise, in order to ensure I've got enough to live on in retirement. I'm hoping to get a response soon.
Friday, I had another stay at home day, it's the cheapest option when I'm on a tight budget. If I go out, I will spend money. I made it my Flylady day and cleaned Zone 4, our Master Bedroom. I focussed on cleaning the shelves on OH's side of the bed and found a few things to donate. I then wiped down all surfaces, vacuumed and mopped throughout, before working my way down the stairs and through the house for my Weekly Home Blessing. I did it a day early this week, so I'm free to go to the Give and Take today. I still need to clean out the linen cupboard on the upstairs landing, but should find time to do that tomorrow afternoon.
This month's Give and Take event is in a park near to a popular local Saturday market, so we're going to drop all our donations off when it opens at 11am and then go for brunch at the market. I will then return to the event after 12 noon, when you can help yourself to items that have been donated, have a look around and hopefully take some photos to show you what these events are like.
I'm so looking forward to giving all this stuff away, but sometimes, in my enthusiasm to offload all of the stuff I've decluttered, I forget to take any photos, so please bear with me if I fail to do so again.
OH, who was feeling particularly uncomfortable in the heat, decided to have a splurge and invest in a mobile AC unit for use around the house. He ordered it online on Monday morning and I picked it up from B&Q on my way back from the gym. It was interesting to note that virtually every customer I saw in B&Q was buying some sort of fan and they had sold out of the remaining AC units, so we obviously weren't the only ones suffering. Anyway, the unit was a little larger than we expected and quite heavy too, but now we've got it up and running, we are really appreciating the benefit of it.
It supposedly costs 12p per hour to run, but we'll call that a conservative estimate, as it probably costs more. At the end of the day, I'm not going to argue. OH works from home every day, so he's the one who suffers most when the house gets hot in a hot spell. If he wants to splash out, let him I say. I'm sure that we'll all benefit, especially me being a woman of a certain age who gets very hot these days and the dog, who is also struggling somewhat to keep cool. On walks we're having to go out as early as possible and stick to the shady side of the street/park.
On Monday afternoon, I did the last little bit of work I needed to do at the allotment to bring it up to scratch for the inspection on Tuesday. It was looking pretty tidy and fully cultivated when I left it, so at least it should be easier to maintain now. Please note the bare soil allows space for large plants and perennial fruit bushes to grow. Here's a final photo:
As it was still forecast to be in the 30's on Tuesday and Wednesday, I decided I would wear my cut off jean shorts to the CS. (Please note they're not short cut off shorts, just knee length). It made such a difference not to wear full length jeans. (I can't wear a skirt as I cycle to the station on my bike which has a crossbar) and I felt more comfortable all day, although still way too hot.
The manager came back from his holiday and I didn't mention cutting my hours, as I didn't want to bombard him on his first day back. I'll try to speak to him next week. One funny thing this week, was that someone left two bottles of Cava outside the shop for us on Wednesday. A strange donation, but very welcome. We will enjoy drinking it at an upcoming staff party, for one of the volunteers who has been there for 10 years later this year.
Anyway, on Thursday it was nice to stay home and be able to get on with my own stuff. I did my usual class at the gym and then afterwards, used the morning for an Errands and Anti-Procrastination Day. (Flylady speak!) I did a couple of jobs I've been putting off for months i.e. taking some rubbish to the tip and dropping some bags and boxes off at a local CS and then I had to take my library books back and pick up a parcel from the Post Office Depot. It felt good to get these things done.
This afternoon, I harvested some petit pois from the garden, pottered a bit and then did some financial stuff that I've been neglecting lately. I'm currently trying to get a statement on a couple of preserved pensions, that I earned whilst employed for a few years in the Civil Service and the NHS. I've been making enquiries with the relevant bodies, so that I can calculate what I need to put aside in the next 15 years pension wise, in order to ensure I've got enough to live on in retirement. I'm hoping to get a response soon.
Friday, I had another stay at home day, it's the cheapest option when I'm on a tight budget. If I go out, I will spend money. I made it my Flylady day and cleaned Zone 4, our Master Bedroom. I focussed on cleaning the shelves on OH's side of the bed and found a few things to donate. I then wiped down all surfaces, vacuumed and mopped throughout, before working my way down the stairs and through the house for my Weekly Home Blessing. I did it a day early this week, so I'm free to go to the Give and Take today. I still need to clean out the linen cupboard on the upstairs landing, but should find time to do that tomorrow afternoon.
This month's Give and Take event is in a park near to a popular local Saturday market, so we're going to drop all our donations off when it opens at 11am and then go for brunch at the market. I will then return to the event after 12 noon, when you can help yourself to items that have been donated, have a look around and hopefully take some photos to show you what these events are like.
I'm so looking forward to giving all this stuff away, but sometimes, in my enthusiasm to offload all of the stuff I've decluttered, I forget to take any photos, so please bear with me if I fail to do so again.
Friday, 23 June 2017
Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 9
Frugal Fails this last week or so include:
1. I didn't pick up a free travel sized tube of Cordosyl toothpaste when I visited the dentist this month. I was too embarrassed to ask, which isn't like me. As I won't be going again for at least 6 months, I missed an opportunity, albeit a small one, as they are great for travel and when you run out. (In all honesty I was a bit distracted at the time and didn't book my next appointment either.)
2. I succumbed to buying a new pair of flip flops in a CS near to the one where I volunteer. The reason I couldn't resist them is that a) they were black and b) they were my favourite brand of flip flops, namely Gandys. They only cost £6 and are brand new. I've mentioned this brand before, as they raise money for orphans in Sri Lanka, after the founders were orphaned themselves in the Boxing Day Tsunami. I've wanted a black pair for a while, so at a bargain price, I'm very happy. Here's a picture.
Frugal Measures and Freebies lately have included the following:
1. I used a £4 off a £30 shop at Tesco voucher on my grocery shop this week. In effect, this just about paid for some small Father's Day gifts for OH, which I hadn't really budgeted for this month.
2. I bought LB's school uniform for next year this week, as I received an offer by email of free postage, which saved me £3.95. I guess this could be considered a Frugal Fail too, as it did take me well over this month's budget. On the other hand, they would have to be bought between now and September and it means I'll be ahead of myself in this respect, if not in a budgetary sense.
In all honesty, she needs to wear one or two of the shirts for the remainder of this school year, as her current ones are now so disgusting that I don't want her to wear them anymore and can't wait to recycle them for rags. In addition, I avoided the rush of parents buying them over the summer holidays, often leading to them being out of stock and I got them quickly without any last minute panic.
4. I got out the remainder of my travel sized Cordosyl toothpaste towards the end of this month, to try to tide me over and avoid spending another £4 over on this month's household budget for a new tube. This didn't actually last me until the end of the month, so I'm now having to use the regular toothpaste that OH and LB use, but it shouldn't cause me any harm for a couple of weeks.
5. I kept to a very strict budget and list for the last grocery shop of the month to try to limit any overspend as much as possible.
6. I used up the last £1.10 of my M&S voucher to buy a cold drink on the way home from the CS the other day, when it was the hottest June day in the UK since 1976 (when I was 10, incidentally). I had to just add 5p cash to pay for it, but at least I used it all up. Talk about penny pinching!
1. I didn't pick up a free travel sized tube of Cordosyl toothpaste when I visited the dentist this month. I was too embarrassed to ask, which isn't like me. As I won't be going again for at least 6 months, I missed an opportunity, albeit a small one, as they are great for travel and when you run out. (In all honesty I was a bit distracted at the time and didn't book my next appointment either.)
2. I succumbed to buying a new pair of flip flops in a CS near to the one where I volunteer. The reason I couldn't resist them is that a) they were black and b) they were my favourite brand of flip flops, namely Gandys. They only cost £6 and are brand new. I've mentioned this brand before, as they raise money for orphans in Sri Lanka, after the founders were orphaned themselves in the Boxing Day Tsunami. I've wanted a black pair for a while, so at a bargain price, I'm very happy. Here's a picture.
Frugal Measures and Freebies lately have included the following:
1. I used a £4 off a £30 shop at Tesco voucher on my grocery shop this week. In effect, this just about paid for some small Father's Day gifts for OH, which I hadn't really budgeted for this month.
2. I bought LB's school uniform for next year this week, as I received an offer by email of free postage, which saved me £3.95. I guess this could be considered a Frugal Fail too, as it did take me well over this month's budget. On the other hand, they would have to be bought between now and September and it means I'll be ahead of myself in this respect, if not in a budgetary sense.
In all honesty, she needs to wear one or two of the shirts for the remainder of this school year, as her current ones are now so disgusting that I don't want her to wear them anymore and can't wait to recycle them for rags. In addition, I avoided the rush of parents buying them over the summer holidays, often leading to them being out of stock and I got them quickly without any last minute panic.
4. I got out the remainder of my travel sized Cordosyl toothpaste towards the end of this month, to try to tide me over and avoid spending another £4 over on this month's household budget for a new tube. This didn't actually last me until the end of the month, so I'm now having to use the regular toothpaste that OH and LB use, but it shouldn't cause me any harm for a couple of weeks.
5. I kept to a very strict budget and list for the last grocery shop of the month to try to limit any overspend as much as possible.
6. I used up the last £1.10 of my M&S voucher to buy a cold drink on the way home from the CS the other day, when it was the hottest June day in the UK since 1976 (when I was 10, incidentally). I had to just add 5p cash to pay for it, but at least I used it all up. Talk about penny pinching!
Monday, 19 June 2017
Weekly Flylady Update
Yes, I'm still hanging on in there with the Flylady system, although I have to admit that it has mostly been put to one side this week, whilst I've been tackling the allotment.
Coincidentally, after my post about last Monday's allotment visit, I got an email from the Allotment Society telling me that there would be another inspection of our plots this today, for the judging of the best plot/site competition, and although I'm not in the least interested in winning anything, we were asked to tidy up our plots and the paths surrounding them, as I guess there is probably a prize for the tidiest/best site or something.
As a consequence, the plot has received three more visits this week, after which I've completely caught up with the weeding, planted out any remaining plants I had to put in, cleared the paths and just generally brought it up to scratch. Everything took a bit longer than I thought it would and I just didn't have the energy to do it all in one visit, so it's been a bit of an allotment marathon, but it's done now and it's a big relief.
Here are the newly cleared pathways:
My neighbour cleared one of the paths (top picture) and I went over the cracks with a great little paving slab weeder tool I have, to get as much of the weed roots out as possible, which should mean less weeding between them in the future. It works a treat. You can see the tool in question in the picture above.
Just to show the difference, here's one of the other paths between plots not yet cleared:
What, you might be forgiven for thinking, does this have to do with Flylady? Well, I've decided that my allotment has been my other room of choice this month under the Flylady system, and consequently only the bathroom and the allotment got my attention as part of this week's Zone cleaning.
I did do my normal Weekly Home Blessing on Saturday, which takes care of a quick tidy, vacuum and mop in every room of the house, so I did enough to keep on top of things. To be honest, there wasn't really any build up anywhere anyway, (save for the spare room, which it isn't easy to clean at the moment) so it is looking pretty okay generally. It does make me feel a little lazy though, as I don't feel I've done an awful lot this week in the house. Maybe that is the point, you don't actually have to, you just have to do 'something' as opposed to nothing, on a regular basis. In any case, I like that the system has the flexibility to include the garden and allotment at all, as both are important fixtures in my everyday life.
Next week, I'll be working in Zone Four, the Master Bedroom. The only part I didn't clean last time were the shelves on OH's side, so this will be the focus and then just a general dust, vacuum, mop and change of bedding. I will also try to clean out the linen cupboard too, as it is on the landing just outside the bedroom door and needs some attention. (and I was going to do it last week, but didn't!) In any case, it shouldn't be a great deal of work. From now on, now I've settled in to the system, I'll probably just post weekly or even monthly, as I don't want to bore you all too much.
Coincidentally, after my post about last Monday's allotment visit, I got an email from the Allotment Society telling me that there would be another inspection of our plots this today, for the judging of the best plot/site competition, and although I'm not in the least interested in winning anything, we were asked to tidy up our plots and the paths surrounding them, as I guess there is probably a prize for the tidiest/best site or something.
As a consequence, the plot has received three more visits this week, after which I've completely caught up with the weeding, planted out any remaining plants I had to put in, cleared the paths and just generally brought it up to scratch. Everything took a bit longer than I thought it would and I just didn't have the energy to do it all in one visit, so it's been a bit of an allotment marathon, but it's done now and it's a big relief.
Here are the newly cleared pathways:
My neighbour cleared one of the paths (top picture) and I went over the cracks with a great little paving slab weeder tool I have, to get as much of the weed roots out as possible, which should mean less weeding between them in the future. It works a treat. You can see the tool in question in the picture above.
Just to show the difference, here's one of the other paths between plots not yet cleared:
What, you might be forgiven for thinking, does this have to do with Flylady? Well, I've decided that my allotment has been my other room of choice this month under the Flylady system, and consequently only the bathroom and the allotment got my attention as part of this week's Zone cleaning.
I did do my normal Weekly Home Blessing on Saturday, which takes care of a quick tidy, vacuum and mop in every room of the house, so I did enough to keep on top of things. To be honest, there wasn't really any build up anywhere anyway, (save for the spare room, which it isn't easy to clean at the moment) so it is looking pretty okay generally. It does make me feel a little lazy though, as I don't feel I've done an awful lot this week in the house. Maybe that is the point, you don't actually have to, you just have to do 'something' as opposed to nothing, on a regular basis. In any case, I like that the system has the flexibility to include the garden and allotment at all, as both are important fixtures in my everyday life.
Next week, I'll be working in Zone Four, the Master Bedroom. The only part I didn't clean last time were the shelves on OH's side, so this will be the focus and then just a general dust, vacuum, mop and change of bedding. I will also try to clean out the linen cupboard too, as it is on the landing just outside the bedroom door and needs some attention. (and I was going to do it last week, but didn't!) In any case, it shouldn't be a great deal of work. From now on, now I've settled in to the system, I'll probably just post weekly or even monthly, as I don't want to bore you all too much.
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