It is Monday and I am on the countdown to Friday and the long weekend.
This weekend is the Queen's jubilee - 60 years since she commenced her reign. As part of the celebration the government have given us Brits an extra day off work tagged onto a normal bank holiday weekend. 4 days off work, here I come!
More on that over the weekend.
May finishes on Thursday, however our sales period finished on Friday 25th, so I am already in "June mode". Pay Day is Thursday and I am so looking forward to it.
I thought you might be interested to know what happened with the May Tasks that I set at the beginning of the month.
Here, they are
- Finish my second wrap dress. Done you can see a picture here
- Make some different type of bread. Done, I made cheese Focaccia. Here it is again.
- Bring Food shopping in at under £80 for the month. This was tough, as May was a 5 week month for me and some items that you only buy every few months went together e.g. washing powder, polish, anti bac spray etc. Final spend for May £87.27. Mmmm I think I can live with going over by less than 10%.
- Pay off an extra £40 from credit card during the month.
Credit card 1 in my last debt post was £159.00. This month I bagged up coins - £60 and then went through every single online account I have and discovered another £15, plus small bits of random pence I came across as I checked my online banking. So I managed to pay off an extra £79 over the course of the month. I am really pleased with this, as it is about 50% of a normal monthly payment I would make on pay day. Credit Card 1 New Total: £80.17 (the .17 is interest)
Perhaps it is time now then to set June's Tasks
- Pay off an extra £40 from Credit Card 2.
- Try making a French loaf or other rustic loaf
- Bring supermarket shop in under £80 between today and 25th June
- Sell 2 items on Ebay (The one item I put on did not sell)
And finally, do you remember The Chap and I were having an afternoon out on Saturday, followed by dinner and a movie? Well, it all went beautifully until we took a look at films to watch. Nothing caught our eye and the evening was so beautiful we just decided to go home and wait until the new Alien film comes out next weekend.
Anyhoo, I have just bought tickets lunchtime today after TC decided he would like to see it at the IMAX next weekend.
I am never booking tickets through them again! £5.50 booking fee, plus another £1.50 for P&P for two tickets to the cinema! Final cost £28.80 (posh seats). Ok it is 3D and on a huge screen. I got them as TC has been looking forward to this film for months. It had better be AMAZING.
Frugally yours
Abigail
x
It is February tomorrow. January has flown by and seems gone with a slight sneeze and a whimper. I know that feeling!
Time to set myself a goal I believe for this month. I started thinking about it as I was driving to work and thought about all the other blogs I follow.
I am pretty jealous of most who write about thrift as they seem to be stay at home moms or retired. I am far from either. I get up at 6.30am to get to work at 8.30am, I finish at 6pm and get home at 7pm. It is an awfully long day. I find it dificult to keep motivated on thrift and economy, especially as it is dark so early.
One of the reasons I am so envious is the time they have to save money, by baking bread and ensuring them and their families eat healthily. Up until recently once a week I would swing by for a double cheese burger on the way home with fries, as I was quite frankly shattered.
So, it started me thinking about how they always cooked from scratch.I love cooking and baking. So perhaps it is time to review what goes into this frugal miss.
As soon as I got home, out came the cookery books and I made short crust pastry by hand - so proud.
Here is the book I got the recipe from
I defy anyone not to have been hooked on the Great British Bake Off.
So I used the vegetable filling I made at the weekend to make this
Ok, it did have a soggy bottom, but next time it will not as I will use my baking beads for longer.
It should do for 4 meals. But making it is so time consuming. I started at 7pm with the pastry and by the time that had been chilled, the base baked and then it all cooked. I ate at 9.30PM.
Going into the freezer, made me look at how much food I have here at W Towers. Look at all of this.
The Goal for February now seemed pretty apparent. Stop spending money on food, I am just storing.
This coming month, I am giving myself a budget of £40 only to cover milk, bread, veg etc.
If I need anymore than that, well it is a bit poor isn't it?
I need to start making use of all these ingredients. I will take another picture at the end of February and keep you all updated on how I do.
Nice to have a goal. What are yours for this month?
No heating on again this evening. Gosh, it is cold.
Frugally (Shivering)
yours
Abigail
x
