Monday 4 February 2013

Monday's monitoring

The electricity meter was read this morning as usual, and we are ever so slightly up on last week, by a few pence, but given that the FH has had the electric blanket on constantly for the last three or four days, I guess that is OK.  We are still well within our monthly payment figure, even since it has been reduced.

The budget from last month looks surprisingly good!  Considering that I paid for a load of logs [£75], taxed the Skoda [£100] and insured it as well [£260], and still managed to get £755 or so into the savings pot, I am pleased to consider the first month of the new year a success.  I haven't bought a magazine, either - although I have picked up free ones in the supermarkets, including a new one in Sainsbury's about Living well for Less.

There are areas where I still feel that I am spending too much, like on my own special gluten/wheat/dairy free  needs.  This is going to be TMI for some, but I have to eat a couple of seed bars each day to keep things moving - and I know this to my cost because I tried to cut back at the end of January when the budget was beginning to squeak - and the system got bunged up and then exploded.  I felt rather rough!  So there are a couple of ways of looking at this - carry on as I am, see if I can buy them in bulk and get them cheaper somewhere, or make my own.  That will be the experiment of the month...I am very healthy at the moment and pleased with the investment I made last year to see the homeopath, so this is a little hiccup in the grand scheme of things.  I am feeling so much better in lots of ways.  I am a worthwhile investment, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

I have made a great start to the February house cleaning and tidying challenge.  I have cleared out our bedroom, found the carpet under the dust and fluff and rubbish/clutter, and sorted out my clothes.  Going from a size 18/20 to a 14/16 has meant that there are lots of clothes which are too big - so I have 10 supermarket bags of clothes to take to the charity shops this week, and my side of the wardrobe is looking rather less stuffed than it did.  I have brought two boxes of books back downstairs, and I have had three bags of rubbish out as well.  I am pleased with my morning's work in there.

I have also finished and typed up the next unit in the Faith & Worship course I am doing, and it has been emailed off to the tutor tonight.  It marks the halfway point - unit 9 out of 18!

Hope you have all had a good day xx

5 comments:

menopausalrunninggirl said...

You have certainly been busy- well done on the weight loss- that is the direction I am trying to go in as well! Windy in Fenland tonight eh?

Morgan said...

Hi Frantic - it is indeed blustery here! Good luck with your weight loss - I am hovering where I am now for a while, before I continue with the campaign, as I would love to lose about another half a stone or so.

Unknown said...

Are these any good for you - they have got oats in so I am not sure.

The actually bind together well with just half the butter /spread and a splash of boiling water - and you could ring the changes with which seeds you use.

Keeps DS1 - erm!!! tip top LOL

http://mortgagefreeinthree.com/2012/03/banana-breakfast-bars

Morgan said...

Thanks, Elaine - these look good. The ones I am eating are 58% seeds [sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy and dehulled hemp] with honey and raw cane sugar and veg oil, then a carob topping [which is quite thin]. I am not worried about the carob bit, but I would quite like to recreate the seedy bit somehow, so will be looking round for some recipes to try out like yours, and some with more seeds, too. Thanks very much for the link - I'll leave a couple of bananas to one side so that I can try this later in the week xxx

Attila said...

Hi. I make my own muesli because most bought muesli contains wheat flakes.
We have a wholesalers locally that welcomes the public and buy our fruit, nuts and seeds in bulk to make muesli, while keeping an eye on supermarket offers, which can be cheaper at times. Investing £20 started and now we keep topped up out of the regular budget. This is one of the ways we have kept our food budget at the same level for the last couple of years, despite several food intolerances.