Back again....

We took in the smoke!

I cooked up 10 meals for Biggles freezer- bolognese, chilli and spicy sausage bean stew as well as cooking when I was there. 

I always add extra to any mince based meal - fillers! grated carrot, oats, extra veg chopped up! It goes that little bit further and its good for you! Dead easy when you have been working long hours to defrost your main and chuck it in the micro wave and add a baked spud, pasta or rice.

Hopefully they will be stretched out! I was generous with portions so he could with added carbs go for two meals esp if he is trying to cut down. This has been explained but we will have to wait and see... I am not hopeful.



We took in the zoo in the smoke. Weeny's choice and Biggles paid! £22 quid each for adult and £17 for Small girl!!!! Bloody buggery shite I nearly choked!   She did enjoy herself however and we spent the whole day freezing though it was!


 Back to the grind we go!!!!

Dancing and swimming and meal planning and work!

We have turned the heating off again! We are back to the oil filled radiator and bed sharing!

Its nearly March for goodness sake! Time to get jiggy with it! Its a use it up from the freezer week !

Meal plan-

 Monday veggie sausages and the last frozen fish piece with frozen chips
Tuesday- steak pie and veg, frozen chicken dinner meal
Wednesday- pizza or eggy bread with beans and beans on toast- possibly a shopping night! so speed is essential!
Thursday- baked potato, beans, cheese, salad
Friday- lasagna with veg - frozen ready made by me!
Sat- Thai Curry - a Saturday staple! Can you tell we like it lots????
Sun- Pasta again I think.... use up the salad. I may make chorizo pasta

I am trying to run down my freezer a little. So am eating the junky quick food this week- All yellow stickered or costing less than £2 for four meals of course! It comes in handy as we didn't shop  much at all last week as we went away on Wednesday.

Its pay day this week so a big - ha ha my version of big shop is in order!

See you later!!!


PS am feeling a bit steam punk and having fun with it!

Having one of them days....where you focus on what hasnt happened, been lost, goals not accomplished and opportunities wasted or missed.....shitty. It will pass.

Demonizing the poor.. bring back the workhouse!

WTF is it with this government!

The bedroom tax, The benefits cap, disabled claimants ''invited''- I shit you not-  to apply for PIP and if you don't no money for you!!!!! Seriously when you look at the bigger picture and see how much revenue this will bring in compared to what they need to get us out of the shit, how much tax avoidance schemes lose money for the common coffers pot, how much banks get away with you realise how much the common garden chav is being made a scape goat!!!

Ok I don't believe that you should get more than 25k to live off from benefits. I understand that bit. But its not a cure all and effects in reality very few famillies overall. Yes its a big number overall   but we are looking at a population here!

The bedroom tax!!! Most council housing stock was built to accomodate famillies. Few houses have one or two bedrooms. If we have smaller places then great but don't penalise if there are no choices of moving to smaller houses. Homes are no longer homes they are temporary. Why take pride in a place when you will be forced to move??? I think most people when there kids have flown the nest properly and are established in their own homes with incomes etc are happy to downsize but kids being kids come and go for a while before they fly the nest for good. I know I went back after uni and then after a marriage break up. Why no mansion tax then??? Bigger houses - bigger carbon foot print potentially! ( yes some folk are green I know).

Am all for getting people to work and pay in, but on one hand they cry lets make work pay and on the other they are looking at getting rid of the agricultura lworkers  minimum wage. This is a travesty for Farm workers- shepherds, tractor drivers, herd managers. Cut benefits and cut wages. Fuck you if you were not born bright and clever with a silver spoon in your mouth . Caring society????? Very.

Hard work gets you everywhere - Yes but people have a ceiling. For some its their top possible achievement to do a labouring job, work in Greggs. Thats it. Some people just aren't bright enough. No matter how hard they try they won't get promoted or become brain surgeons or investment bankers. But pah who gives a jot about them anyway!

And people fall for this moral panic time and time again... its the chav at the end of the street who lies in bed  while you go out to work, its the single mother of 8 kids with different dads who takes your hard earned cash... Yes that 25k in benefits she gets will go along way to paying off the debt from the banks, the tax lost due to loop holes.....

Indolent, insolent poor take thyself to the workhouse !!!

All excuses for minimising state input. Good old Tory aim as ever- one of their foundations actually and gets you so scared of Labour fucking up the economy again that  you keep voting them in.

Actually Labour didn't inherit a great ecomony. They worked with what they had. Brown kept it afloat and pulled the banks out of the shit.  I take it Mr Brown is also responsible for the fiscal cliff in America?? Problems in Iceland???? Ireland, Spain, Greece... yeah all his fault......

DM readers???? Who are they ???Where do they live??? What do they do that makes them so blind??? They are conned along with every other tory voter. yes you r consumption and you rhouse that looks like something out of a catalogue makes you middle class. of course dear! Your furniture is tomorrows bric a brac not an antique or an heirloom! Get real and hope you never fall on hard times!


 

London Calling.....

Yes I did like The Clash.

Off to the smoke on Wednesday. Will be a four day break with Biggles. Free tickets yet again.  Doing little bar seeing friends and taking in parks and the queen. We are off to see the queen again and walk in that big park! Maybe do dinosaurs again.....Flasks and pic nics.

We take very little with us as we can wash clothes there. So just enough for four days.

Could do with some time at home really but you can't look a gift horse in the mush!

Pea soup to be made this evening. Pizza tomorrow. Off to London Wednesday night.

Hello to everyone who reads. I am really ignorant compared to other bloggers who welcome new readers!

Hope you all have a nice peaceful half term.

Bath Smellies ....

I never bother. When Small girl was a baby - soap for dirty bits and the teeniest dash of olive oil from the chemist. Not the frying type!

A good scrub all over and done. Nothing else required. Not so much that you slip in the bath either!

A new financial plan

I have planned and calculated.

I will save £100 a month.
I will  be saving £35 per month towards car expenses- MOT, servicing and tax.
I have arranged the DD's. Some are very annoying and will only accept being paid mid month which is confusing. I like to have clear figures in my bank account!
I am repaying Biggles a small amount each month. I also do the food at weekends as he does treats and petrol most of the time and it is a godsend and very nice of him. It pleasant to go out for a cheap lunch with your working away partner and also the occasional coffee and trip to London of course. We have another planned for half term.

I have £84 left over each month to pay for dancing lessons and clothes and other expenses such as hair cuts, dentist etc etc This is pretty good I feel. I can cope with this. I remember the days when  we had £400 a month spares to play with lol pre redundancy and I had a healthy bank account and a house and maintenance... sigh, Onwards we go.. maybe not upwards but onwards nonetheless.

I don't use any Child tax credit either. I pay for the child care completely out of this amount and save the rest. I won't use it as the buggers always get things wrong. If at the end of the tax year when new calculations are made I am over or under there should be funds either to save or to repay the buggers.  Technically they only pay 70% of any child care so there is never much left over but it all adds up and can go towards a repayment or saving depending on what the outcome is in July after the p60 goes in.

I am still doing the save the change round up account thing. The bank automatically rounds up to the nearest pound and puts the pennies in a separate account. I am still saving £10 a month for Small girl till her 18th birthday.

I am continuing to pay £50 for electric. Its been cold and we have needed the central heating. Also over christmas it is nice for Small girl to feel comfortable when she plays in the house. I want to avoid any bills or being in debit to them. You can claim this back so I feel it is worth it for peace of mind.

I have budgeted for £200 on petrol and £120 on food  still however I hope to reduce the petrol in May when I go back to only working four days. With the CPD qualification I need to come in on Fridays ( 50 mile round trip). I also plan on doing £80- £100 on food per week and saving the rest. I may do the envelope system next month for food! Withdraw and spend it in cash each week.

So the coffers are coffed! With £320 for petrol and food plus £80 for extras. Not a bad life I spose.



And Small girl loves her dance class so far. Swimming then Modern dance on Saturday mornings.  Money well spent. Its £4.50 for dancing for 45 mins. Swimming is a DD of £21 per month and for 4 or 5 lessons per month depending on the number of Saturdays I couldn't take her swimming for less.


Now time to transfer the cash to the savings account!! See ya later.