NHS Shambles

 Yesterday G had a hospital appointment to see the doctor from the pain clinic about his neck problem which is getting worse.  His cervical torticollis causes so much pain, especially when sitting, so driving is now becoming difficult. He was booked in to have a 'face to face' appointment at 3.45pm yesterday but at 11.30am the receptionist rang to say the 'telephone appointment' would be later than scheduled as the hospital IT system had gone down. He pointed out that he had had a letter asking him to visit the hospital and she said it must have been  'sent in error' as the doctor is not taking any face to face appointments at the moment.  Now as the letter gives directions to the hospital as well as mentioning an outpatient appointment, we were surprised to say the least.  I had spent £25 (which I didn't really have to spare) on petrol on my credit card to ensure I had enough fuel to get there too;  a 22 mile round trip. 

The doctor phoned around 4pm and after a lot of waffling said that there is nothing more he can do and that G has to 'learn to live with the pain'.  He also explained that there are thousands of people living with pain (we know and that is not helpful! )and G needs to book an appointment with our GP to get some pills 'for anxiety'.  Now what are the chances of actually getting to see the GP?  Zilch, I would say.  G asked if wearing a cervical collar whilst sitting would help and the doc said he had no idea who to refer him to to get one! Neither did he know how to refer him to a physio for goodness sake.  It seems we have to do our own research and pay privately for any advice.  We are not in a financial position to be able to do that right now. So.....G needs to be drugged up on a permanent basis to stop him being anxious does he?  I don't think so.....

Reasons to be grateful:

We didn't use precious fuel on a wasted journey

By staying home I got all my washing done and dried it in the sun

Our daughter is coming for lunch and a jolly good chat tomorrow 😀

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

March Food Budget Roundup

We had an incredible piece of luck with the shopping again this week.  G received another coupon offering £12 off a second £60 online shop which was just too good to pass up.  I ordered extra bits and pieces like tinned stuff and food for the freezer as well as extra paper goods.  It will keep us going for some time so, hopefully, this will be the last shop for March.  The total spent was £48.45 making the total for the month £203.27 which is well under budget.  We are really pleased with that.  It has been well worth the effort of seeking out bargains and using up leftovers......

I will sweep £50 into the savings account and contribute extra to the food bank trolley and the Ukraine Aid bucket over the coming weekend.

We have been pleasantly surprised how much we could cut back despite rapidly rising prices in the shops and will continue to do so next month too.  Any future food budget savings are likely be swallowed up by energy costs from 1st April though as we will have to pay £120.99 by direct debit instead of the £95 -£100 we have been paying on a monthly basis but I do feel we can cope at the moment 👍

With Spring already here we are going to have to spend some money on the garden as well as the allotment.  We can already see rising prices there too.  The bucket of blood, fish and bone meal, for example, is currently priced at £16 and the ticket on our almost empty bucket from last year shows £7.50 for the same quantity, which is more than double 😕 but we have drawn a plan for crop rotation and will try to make the most of our growing space including pots at home.  At the allotment G has put in potatoes, onions and a few salad-y bits so far.  At home we have a pot with breakfast radishes and I want to put in some cut and come again lettuce leaves.  We are having to be careful and not get carried away by the lovely spring weather only to be caught out by frost!  Our cold frame at home is in full use!

I'm hoping we will have some forced rhubarb soon.  We placed a big plastic tub over a different clump to last year so fingers crossed for rhubarb crumble 😃

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£203.27/ £275.00

Useless Customer Service & Thank Heavens for Daughters!

 I have been worrying about the forthcoming rise in energy prices for a while now.  We are on a standard rate tariff  which seemed to bear no resemblance to the current capped rate let alone the April one.  DD suggested that I need to set up a direct Debit which usually gives rise to a slight reduction in unit rates so I rang Scottish Power's helpline.  After several days of lengthy waits on the phone (and me giving up) and a thorough investigation of the website, I finally got through to an automated message on Saturday morning offering to call me back once I had reached the head of the queue.  Bingo! (I thought) now an adviser can help set me up.  I explained what I wanted to do but didn't get the response I hoped for.  I couldn't set up a DD without going to a fixed tariff of over £240 per month 👀 My bills at the moment are just under £100 per month! I politely declined.  Not being one to give up, my daughter searched the net and not only gave me the new capped rate unit charges but a link to a forum where they explained how to set up the DD myself.  I have done it! We will be paying £120.99 per month from 1st April and we have the flexibility to increase the payment via the website as and when we need to. It has indeed reduced the unit charges we would have been paying otherwise. 

Thank Heavens for Daughters! 😍

The weekend weather was absolutely gorgeous so I got all my washing washed and dried on Saturday and made a few more cards for the Hospice shop.  On Sunday there was an antiques fair at Himley Hall so I tootled off there for a jolly good mooch.  It cost £2 to park and £2 entrance fee.  The lady on the door commented, as she took my £2 " Oh you've been here before haven't you"  I'm probably recognised as the woman who never spends much money 😂  I could  have bought some lovely things if I had the funds but I spent just £5 on 2 items...

A lovely little Pendelfin bunny for £2 and...

A handmade wooden playing card box inlaid with brass for £3

They gave me the germ of an idea for a challenge;  how to turn £5 into more by buying small items and selling them on the internet.  Years ago I set a budget of £50 and set to buying things at auction and selling them for a profit, putting all the proceeds back into the kitty until I had accumulated enough money for a weekend away at a Warner Hotel.  After a few months we had around £500 for a lovely break 😀  Not sure I have the energy to do it again but it might be fun to see how it goes....

The next food delivery is on Wednesday so I'll be back to update the total for the month.

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£154.82/ £275.00

Trolley Dashing...

 Just a quick post today.  Over the last few days I have felt so discombobulated that I haven't felt like writing a cheerful post.  Apart from Wednesday, the weather has been lovely and sunny and the air even smells fresher and more spring like but I have felt useless in not being able to physically or financially  help those in dire need and it has dragged me down.   It has made things worse by worrying about our son in Sydney too, what with all the flooding as well as other issues.  Good grief, we are always a mum for life aren't we!

Last night we couldn't face watching the news so watched something engrossing on Netflix instead.  Is anyone else finding it a struggle?

We did a supermarket shop on Wednesday because we both had Nectar prices which we wanted to take advantage of and it was raining so we couldn't work in the garden.  We each used a Smart Shop scanner and the totals were £34.16 (me) and £20.35 (G) The total of £54.51 has been added to the total below.  My best buy was frozen ready rolled shortcrust pastry reduced to 33p each.  I bought 3 as the use by date is December '22 and we bought extra tinned stuff, frozen fish and a small bottle of Prosecco as a treat for me 😊

We are still well within budget for the month so I dropped some of the savings into the bucket for  Humanitarian Aid in Ukraine.

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£154.82/ £275.00

A Beautiful Day

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who commented on the unfairness of the pension system.  I want to re-read the comments then I will post again with a more lengthy response.  I really do appreciate your input.  Thank you.

Monday was such a gorgeous sunny day.  I noticed that the Aconites had opened up to the sun.  We will eventually plant them in the ground where we hope they will spread as they are such a sunny burst of colour in the Spring.....

For the first time this year I wanted to peg out my washing instead of using the tumble dryer or hanging things on the airer in front of the french doors, so I asked G to screw the base into the ground this morning.  Oooh....it's leaning at quite an angle.... but I was determined to use it  😂  I wonder how many weeks it will take him to sort it out? 

He then went off to the allotment to put the onions in but rang me half an hour later to say that he had forgotten to take them and could I possibly bring them to him (around a 10 minute drive each way) 😏  I  finished the chores then made sandwiches and a flask of coffee to take with me.  Yes, I know I'm spoiling him 😂  I bought us a bag of chips to share too but the price has risen to £2.50 so it will be a rare occurrence.....

Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£99.51/ £275.00

Widening The Pension Gap

When I was working I was always aware that I needed to pay National Insurance to guarantee that I would earn a pension in my own right. I worked around bringing up our family and looking after the home, always doing whatever it took to keep our heads above water.  When I was made redundant at the age of 60 and couldn't find another job, I took my state pension.  It turned out that I was only entitled to a 90% pension because of the couple of years I had to give up work to take care of my mother who was housebound.  I had no money to make up missed contributions after she died.

As it stands now:

 The old basic state pension  is £137.60 rising to £141.85 in April (3.1% rise)

Had I been born a few years later with the same number of years working  I would have received the new pension of £179.60 which will rise to £185.15

My current pension is £130 per week rising to £134.03 in April.

This means that I am worse off by £51.12 per week by being born in 1949 and taking time out to care for my mother who refused to let anyone else in the house to help.  I feel penalized for 'doing the right thing' and the gap is widening every year.

I can't be the only one in this situation.  Have you had a similar experience with unfair pension rights?

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£99.51/ £275.00

The Devil is in the Detail, FREE Vegan Sausage Roll & Barcode Stamps

This morning I wanted to pop to the allotment to pick one of our last 3 winter cabbages.  Last night I was scrolling through my phone and found out that through the O2 Priority App you can get a free Greggs sausage roll, pizza slice or bacon roll on Friday and Saturday just by clicking on the offer. The offer is valid for the whole of March.  There is a small Greggs near the allotment so I clicked this morning and tootled off to the shop, not really holding out much hope, but ...yay!...a free vegan sausage roll!  I bought a coffee at the same time for £1.40 but I guess that's the idea of the offer, to encourage extra spending.  Anyway, I sat in the shed at the allotment in the sun to enjoy them.  Now I won't need lunch....

I know that hardened allotmenteers will laugh their socks off but I squirm at slugs, snails and worms especially if they are on my veg so I dismantle my cabbages on site in order to flick off the offending creatures before I take them home!  The RHS has announced that such creatures will no longer be designated pests but I still don't want them on my cabbages 👀 The nicely denuded cabbage will be eaten tomorrow for lunch.....

The title The Devil is in the Detail refers to our experience yesterday of renewing G's car insurance.  The quote was fine and we just wanted to pay the premium and forget it for another year but what a palver.  The renewal hotline was extremely busy and G hung on for ages before agreeing to a 'callback' via an automated message.  Meanwhile, I tried to do it online for him to no avail.  After about 15 mins someone did call him back and he promptly handed the phone to me to deal with 😏 I immediately spotted a spelling mistake in the address on his letter (an L instead of a B) so mentioned it to the call handler.  He corrected it and immediately the premium dropped by £27 !  We couldn't believe our luck.  I'm so glad I spotted it.  The devil is indeed in the detail! 😊

It appears that the new barcoded postage stamps are in the shops.  Instead of 12 in a book there is only 8 because they are so big.  Just as well because a book of 8 will cost £7.60 ......

Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£99.51/ £275.00

Colour At Last

With all the doom and gloom of  the current climate I was so pleased to have a wander in the (loose term alert!) garden yesterday and discover both colour and burgeoning growth. 

This pot was brought with us in the move and has been left to it's own devices.  I had actually forgotten that there were daffodils in there..... 

I love the big leaves on this Hellebore as well as the pretty pink of the blooms so we've put it on the patio table to enjoy it when sitting in the living room.....

These little Tete-a-Tete daffs also came from the last house.  The pot is actually chipped so we turned the chipped bit to the wall!  Such a cheerful colour ......

The Cyclamen Coum we have had for years and years.  We move them around the garden and tuck them into a cool spot when they have finished flowering ready for the following year.  I would love them to set seed where they are now for future colour beneath the tree so we'll leave them a while this time....

The buds are swelling on the new Rowan ....

And the Amelanchier......

G has started off the onions and they will be taken to the allotment next week, weather permitting.....

There is a lot of work to be done in the new garden to make it 'Summer ready' but it will be done slowly and thoughtfully with a careful eye on the cost, because in this Frugal Year on a Tight Budget we need to grow as much food as possible on the allotment so money will need to be spent there too.  At least I have the extra freezer in the garage this year and should be able to freeze much more produce for Winter.  Watch this space!

A big welcome to my new follower!  Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£87.08/ £275.00

A Decision Made

 Like Sue from A Smaller and Simpler Life, I began to wonder whether I should carry on blogging about my shopping in the light of all the pain being suffered by people in the current situation.  I thought about it yesterday and decided that whether I blog or not won't change the outcome but might keep me and some of my readers sane with a bit of normality.  So for now I'll carry on and keep donating to the Ukraine collection buckets whenever I can.  Whatever is raised by the public will be matched by the UK government so every little helps.

When we shopped at Aldi recently I bought one of these curries to try.  It cost (I think) £1.99 and microwaved beautifully in just a few minutes. It was very filling and contained 2 of my 5 a day portions.  It was a very mild curry flavour but I would definitely buy it again....

DD was so excited to get these last night at Morrisons supermarket that she texted me a photo! 😂 Like mother like daughter...

The Sainsbugs home delivery arrived yesterday afternoon with, surprisingly, no substitutions at all.  I felt it a bit foolish to cut right back on the order so had added a few things for the store cupboard as well as a bottle of wine for my friends birthday so that I don't have to visit the supermarket to get it.  Why are all the treats on the bottom of the list?  It looks like that's all I bought! 👀The total was £61.10 which has been added to the total below....

When driving past the small Sainsbury's convenience store which had recently closed I noticed some shop fitting going on and a new sign.  It will be a BUDGEONS!  Now I am excited!  Can you tell I don't go out much? 😂

Thanks for popping in  and a big welcome to 2 new followers ((hugs))

Praying for peace in Ukraine 🙏

Also praying for flood victims in Australia 🙏

March Food Shop Challenge:

£87.08/ £275.00

Praying Daily

 Once again thank you to everyone who left a comment on my last post. Your suggestions are all terrific, thank you.  I hope I didn't come across as self pitying because that wasn't my intention at all.  I do realise how lucky we are to have a warm home and food to eat,  it's just that I have to focus on controlling spending so as not to worry to the extent that I can't sleep 😕  This has happened too often in the recent past.

Now....I had £7.87 personal spending left yesterday and I wanted to top up the car with petrol because the price is creeping up on a daily basis.  I had allocated £14 for fuel this week but decided to add £6 from spending to make it up to £20, leaving me with £1.87.  There was a long queue at Morrisons petrol station but I stuck it out and got my fuel. 3/4 of a tank should last me a while.  The remainder of my pocket money was dropped into the bucket for Ukraine 🇺🇦 

Praying for peace in  Ukraine 🙏 

Also praying for respite from severe flooding in Australia 🇦🇺 🙏 

 My son, his wife and small daughter live in the suburbs of Sydney where they have had torrential rain for more than 2 weeks. Flash flooding is everywhere....

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

Making a Little Extra....

 I've been pondering ways to earn a little extra money.  At the age of 72 no-one wants to employ me but with the rising cost of simply everything , and the fact that we are both on a fixed income, a little extra wouldn't go amiss.  Fuel has just hit 164.9p per litre in our area for diesel, our rent is being increased by almost 5% from April 1st which is around £20 per month, and the energy bills are set to increase by at least 54% on the same date.  As pensions are only increasing by 3.1% the gap between income and bills is shrinking exponentially.  G works part time, just 12 hours per week, but I can see that his health problems are making it much harder now and I simply don't know how much longer he can carry on for.  Once he has to stop we might be struggling to have anything left over each month to enjoy our lives with.

It has been 2 and a half years since I last had a sight test and they keep trying to jog my memory with reminders in the post.  I should have gone back after 12 months but covid put paid to that so I really need to make an appointment.  I'm just reluctant to because if my sight has changed again I will need glasses for daily use, sunglasses for driving and mid range for computer use 👀  My current ones darken in the sun but not through glass in the car 😎  Heaven help me 👀

Edit:  Appointment booked for later this month.  At least my eye health can be checked free of charge.

My thoughts are:

• Online surveys eg YouGov, PopulusLive (now .Y Live)  both of which pay cash into a bank account once the £50 threshold is reached and neither of which seem to sent you spam afterwards.  There must be loads of others too but I find these two are the best for me.

 

• Royal Mail postal surveys run by KantarTNS.  In the past I have been a member, posting and receiving test items so that they can report on efficiency to Royal Mail.  For doing that you get a free allocation of 12 first class stamps and 4 first class large letter stamps each month.  If you want to give it a go try https://postalsurveys.tnsglobal.com   It's usually a 6 month stint at a time.

• eBay selling.  I've been an active member for almost 20 years and have found it useful to sell unwanted items although some sellers have gone off the idea because of dodgy buyers. At the moment I've run out of things to sell though 😓

• Facebook selling pages.  I've never tried this so can't say whether it's useful or not and I don't really fancy people coming to the house.

• Car boot sales.  The season will soon be on us for local boot sales everywhere.  It's tricky doing it by myself but I have done it in the past.  I have wondered whether plants sell.  We will have lots of surplus plants and cuttings in pots as the year progresses.  What do you think?

I can't think of anything else at the moment.  Do you have any suggestions folks?

Thanks so much for popping in and  stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£25.98/ £275.00

More Free Food!

Once again I would like to thank all of you who have left comments on my recent posts and a big welcome to my newest follower 😃  it's really lovely to know that people do actually read my ramblings 👍

This morning I popped to Sainsburys as we still need a TV guide for the coming week.  I failed to get a free newspaper with the listings inside and G says he is confused without a guide 😏 So....at the same time I wanted to buy some more fruit and veg to help get us to our 5 a day this week.  I bought beetroot, iceberg lettuce (which was the cheapest lettuce I could find), a pepper and another tin of pears which were on special Nectar price at 77p.  My favourite Dorset cereal, which I've run out of, was on offer at £3.30   £2.00 and the yogurt on special at 60p.  The flavoured water at the back was 85p but I'm going to the cinema tonight for the first time in 2 years with DD and the Grandchildren (G has very kindly paid for my ticket.  I think he wants to watch Peaky Blinders in peace on his own tonight!)  and I don't want to pay cinema prices for a drink 😊

I want to save as much cash as possible again this month so used £7.50 worth of Nectar points, accumulated since I spent the last lot in January.  The shopping therefore cost the princely sum of 9p This has been added to the total below.....

 

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£25.98/ £275.00

Free Reading & Cheap Lunches

 On visiting our local plant nursery on Wednesday I was lucky enough to find the new FREE Living magazine on display so grabbed one while I had the chance.  It will keep me busy reading this weekend.  We didn't spend any money but enjoyed planning the new garden, just spending money in our heads!

In an effort to be frugal, not waste a thing, yet to eat healthily, I boiled the last 5 eggs which were on the best before date on Monday.  Lunches this week were:

• Monday: Egg and cress Sandwiches
• Tuesday:  Reduced price cheese and onion rolls, an egg each, salad

• Wednesday: Reduced price quiche from the freezer.  Half each, which was a bit greedy but it was too delicious not to eat warm.....

served again with salad....

• Thursday:   DD came for lunch so we had spicy beanburgers on a wholemeal bun with a cheese slice and sliced tomato on top....

• Friday:  We ate a decent breakfast of banana and cereal so skipped lunch as we weren't hungry.  Tea ( dinner or supper as you prefer it 😊)  was baked salmon fillets with jacket potatoes and peas with fruit and yogurt for pudding.
• 
  
• Saturday: we are going to DD for lunch and 
• Sunday, as explained, will be a ready meal each

If we eat a hearty meal at lunchtime we then eat more sparingly in the evening.  For example:  cheese or beans on toast, cheese and crackers, soup, jacket potatoes etc 

We are definitely not going hungry but are cutting back on the spending nonetheless.  We do, however, need to increase our consumption of fruit and veg 😬 I'm thinking... I'm thinking....

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£25.89/ £275.00

Topping Up The Shopping & 'BIG' CS Purchase!!

This morning dawned as yet another wet and windy day and we debated where we could go just to get out of the house for an hour or two.  Inspired by Sue Hall's freezer reveal in A Smaller and Simpler Life, Aldi seemed to be a good choice especially as we fancied baked salmon for tea and it's cheaper there.  I wanted to limit the spend so we just did a top up shop of potatoes, fruit, cheese, 2 ready meals for Sunday (so that I can have a day off cooking) some cooked chicken for G's work sandwiches and a couple of things for the freezer which I forgot to photograph before I put them in the garage 👀

They were: a pack of 4 vegetarian spicy beanburgers and a lemon meringue pie. 

DD has invited us to lunch tomorrow so I bought a pack of cupcakes @ £3.79 to take as a contribution to the food......

The bill came to £19.92 which I have added to the total below.....

Whilst in the village and whilst G was browsing the street market stalls, I popped into the CS.  On warmer days when working at the allotment we sometimes buy a portion of fish and chips to share.  I keep plastic forks (used many times over) in the car to use when we have grubby hands but they are becoming brittle and breaking one by one.  I won't be buying more so when I found this Oneida fork in the CS at just 20p I snapped it up along with a reduced antibac hand sanitizer @ 75p. I can put the fork through the dishwasher tonight and pop it in the glovebox ready for next time.  I had £8.82 pocket money remaining which is now down to £7.87......

I notice that I have a couple more followers.  Thank you for joining me on my challenge year 😀

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£25.89/ £275.00

Spending Pocket Money Wisely

 I have my first crisp £10 note of the month.... 😀

It was such a lovely sunny day on Tuesday that G decided to lay another slab on the patio so I took myself off to the village for a walk and a browse around the charity shops.  My handbag straps are coming loose and they will be difficult to re-attach so a new bag will be needed at some point.  I was shocked that the CS prices are more than I paid for my current bag when new 👀 so I didn't succumb.  I took another 12 handmade cards in to the Hospice shop along with a few other donated items.

At the pharmacy I bought paracetamol  (out of my own money) 49p x 2 = 98p.....

....then I popped into the library where they have a sale of withdrawn books at just 10p each.  I love Erica James and this Josephine Cox one is a different style to her others; a bit of a comedy, so I bought that as well.  So...20p spent.  I will remove the horrible plastic sleeves before I read them.  The dust covers underneath are usually lovely and pristine  👍.......

That came to £1.18 leaving me with £8.82 to last the week.

I wasn't going to go into too much detail about my shopping this month but comments on my last post have indicated that people like to know the nitty gritty.  So be it! If you don't want to know look away NOW! 😂

This week I really don't want to do a 'big' shop at all in order to give me a head start on the savings.  I had a fancy for a banana so popped into Sainsburys on the way back home.  I saw this cress reduced to 14p which gave me the idea of egg and cress sandwiches for lunch as I had some eggs which were right on date and needed using up.......

Sugar has been in short supply here and so has basic range pasta so when I saw minimal stocks of each in the store I snapped up a pack of  them.  The jelly babies are for G as a treat.  I'm not tempted by them luckily 😇

The total cost was £5.97 which has started off the total below....

I will need to buy a TV guide at some point but want to try to stay away from the supermarket until then.  I was really shocked to see how empty the supermarket shelves have become although whether it's because of supply problems, lack of staff to re-stock or stockpiling going on, I have no idea.  I'm hoping it's just staffing problems but who knows. 

Last night I didn't sleep very well. It took me until after 3am to drop off and then I seemed to wake every hour. Consequently I feel like a wet rag this morning 😴😳 I really must learn to empty my mind before I put out the light. Any tips for a good night's sleep? 

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£5.97/ £275.00

And So Begins March...

First day of the new month 😃  Somehow, and I don't quite know how I did it other than the fact that G paid for our Sunday lunch in the pub, but I have 50p left from last month's allowance.   I could have held onto it and added it to my March allowance....

...but decided to pop it into my sealed pot instead which will be opened in time for Christmas shopping in early November........

For March my personal allowance is the same @ £100  but I've juggled the figures a bit to give me £10 for 'emergency' spending (like GC pocket money which threatened to derail me last month 👀) I won't need a haircut this month but I've put aside half the cost (£16) so that I will have enough for it next month.  I don't need a phone top up so £10 has gone into the birthday tin.  I will put £14 worth of fuel in my car. This leaves me with £50 for a 5 week month ie £10 per week

I will still try not to spend unnecessarily though my weekly foodbank donation will still come out of it.

March is a very expensive month:

• Insurance for both cars
• Road fund license for G's vehicle
• Service and MOT for G's vehicle
• Several birthdays including our daughter and 2 good friends who get token gifts

The money for everything bar the birthdays is in the joint account ready and waiting to pay alongside the usual Council tax, rent, energy bill, boiler insurance etc  so although we do have the money put aside it will dramatically reduce the balance 👀

The food budget is the only place where there is a little 'wriggle room'. March is a 5 week month so we have £55 x 5 = £275  to spend.  My challenge for this month is to spend less and save the difference whilst still re-stocking a little in case of emergencies.

Off we go!

Thanks so much for popping in and a big thank you to everyone who posts comments.  I don't always find the time to respond but but I do read and appreciate every single one 😘

 Sending special thoughts and prayers for the people of Ukraine 🙏

Stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x 

March Food Shop Challenge:

£0.00/ £275.00