Happy Sunday.

Hi, I hope you are all having a lovely relaxing Sunday.

I woke up early this morning about six o clock because one of my young men had bad dreams last night, he dreamt his brother was eaten by a basketball. I have strange children!

On rising I had a cup of coffee, put some washing on and got the ironing board out and did three hours of ironing until the children decided they wanted breakfast.

On Friday my eight year olds teacher came to me and told me what an amazing week he had, apparently he was very chilled out all week so as promised we then went to Costa and he had a Fanta and a bag of crisps but we weren't alone as my younger son got a head teachers award for super literacy. So we all went, including my daughter as she said she would feel very left out.  As the frugal me kicked in I just treated the children and not myself so the bill came to £6.15.

We came home and I hoovered downstairs and put my second load of washing on.

I then went off to pick up my thirteen year old from camp. Yay! He had a great time but was feeling very tired and unwell (I think this was due to tiredness) so he had tea, had a long shower and got into bed, promptly falling asleep. I'm so glad he is home.

I spent a couple of hours updating my budget as most of the bills have now come out and started to research the best slow cookers. I think I have found the one that I would like to buy. It is 6.5 litre Morphy Richards. The best price I have found it for at the moment is £24.99 on Amazon.

Well that's about all I have to tell you for today, take care xx

Saturday Slog!

Hello dear friends, I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday but it was such a busy day and I was so tired when we got in, not as tired as my daughter though.

I took a couple of photo's, the show was amazing and I was so proud, we took our eight year olds binoculars with us so we were able to see her throughout the show and she didn't stop dancing and singing all night. What a little star!

This was a part of the crowd.

The arena was full.

It truly was an amazing evening that was an experience that my daughter will never forget.

So today it was time to get back to reality and clean!

The focus had to be on the bathroom, as my repair on the shower was short lived and we had to call a plumber out, ten minutes later with a blocked filter in hand we were saying a sad goodbye to £105.00. Ouch! But on the plus side we do have a sparkling bathroom and a working shower.

 

The photos really don't do it justice because it truly is sparkling.

I also:-

• Hovered downstairs
• Hovered the stairs and upstairs
• Did two loads of washing
• Cleaned the kitchen including bleaching the tiles and cupboard doors
• Dusted downstairs
• Cleaned the downstairs toilet
• Polished all the mirrors

I went to Aldi to see if they had a slow cooker, they didn't, but I decided to do my weekly shop whilst I was there. It cost me a total of £65.00. I'm so impressed. I will probably need to buy some milk and bread later in the week but even so its a very good price and the quality of the food looks excellent.

I haven't heard from my son and if I'm honest I didn't expect to but I have really missed him and I didn't realise how often I ask him to get things down for me, three times today I have found myself having to get a chair to reach items. And I thought I was average height. Very annoying!

Well that's it from me for tonight, have a lovely evening.

Take care xx

Thursday night quickie (ha ha Post!)

Ha ha, there is an ironic laugh behind todays picture.

It is a super quick post today as I am packing my son up to go to camp straight from school tomorrow and packing my daughter up to go to the O2 tomorrow morning and being the sort of mum that I am I have to write a list, pack all the items, tick them all off and then follow the process all over again just to make sure that they are fully prepared.

I also have Granny staying over to look after the two little boys so I need to make sure her bed is organised for her and organise everything for her to cook for herself and the boys for dinner.

She is going to bath them and read them a story before bed.

I have got the binoculars out, the tickets ready and the car park booked. Bens mum is insisting on packing us some food to eat when we get there just in case we get stuck in traffic on our way up there.

The car park cost £21.00 that's extortionate don't you think? But I guess still cheaper than catching the train and at least our darling daughter, who is not very good with late nights, can fall asleep on the way home.

Well the chances are that I wont be posting tomorrow because I am working all day and have to leave for the O2 as soon as we get home from school.

Have a lovely couple of days and take care xx

oh no! i'm a spend thrift

Good Evening, I hope you are all well.

It has been a very busy day today. I worked all day and I finished at four o clock, my second eldest son met me at the school and we all caught the bus into the town centre. I was very lucky because the bus driver only charged me for two of the children. He said he felt as if he was overcharging me if charged me for all of them. What a nice man!

The first thing that we did when we got into town was get all the boys hair cuts. This cost £30.00 including a tip. Good value hey and because this is our regular barbers shop we got our loyalty card stamped and the next time we go one of the boys will get a free hair cut. Goodie!

We then went to search for boys shoes. I thought I had two pairs to buy but then I looked down at my youngest his little sock was poking out of the side of his shoe. I'm such a bad mum I hadn't noticed!

I went into a lot of the large department stores and was starting to give up so we decided to go and get my sons football socks and shin pads for football, once we were in the sports store there was a stand of new tough school shoes made by Adidas and Nike. My youngest two were immediately sold on them and thought that they were as comfortable as trainers but looked like school shoes. Win win!

My thirteen year old also found a pair of shoes in the same sports shop.

We then popped to the local supermarket and got the youngest two a new school jumper each and my youngest a new coat reduced from £15.00 to £9.00.

So in total today I spent £30.00 on Haircuts, £84.45 on three pairs of shoes, shin pads, football socks, 2 Jumpers and a coat.

In our new budget I have allowed £35.00 for Haircuts and £100.00 for clothes. I have allowed this on a monthly basis but if I don't need to use it every month it will get put into our holiday savings account.

I am quite enjoying monitoring exactly what we spend as I truly didn't think we spent very much money on clothes but that's quite a lot for one month. Also because I have logged what I have bought and when I will know exactly how long the children's clothes and shoes are lasting for.

I walked for three miles today. I know not very much.

Now I am going off to bed because I am very tired,

Take care xx

A daily update

My daughter chose todays picture. It is very typically her, whilst most of the girls in her class now like black and won't wear dresses she still loves her pink floaty numbers and if I ever mention it she always says I love pink and I love dresses and I am me and I don't need to look like anyone else.

And I love that she is individual and doesn't follow the crowd.

I was going to have a half day today but when I walked out of work it was pouring with rain so I turned around and went straight back in, to work on some spreadsheets that needed updating for the new term. Because of this I really haven't got very much done at all at home especially as I have joined the other 80% of the school that has blocked noses and razor blades in their throats. Yuk!

I did walk six miles today though.

Oh and I weighed myself this morning and I have lost another 4lb. So 6lb lost in the last two weeks I am very pleased with myself.

I popped out this evening to a shop in town that is having a closing down sale, on the windows it said closing down sale up to 80% off everything. So I walked in thinking Yes, I should be able to get both of my boys their new shoes at a reduced price. I looked at the shoes and there was only about two pairs of shoes on sale in each size and certainly nothing my boys would have worn. I ended up walking out of the store with nothing and feeling quite annoyed that I had bothered at all.

Whilst shopping I went into another store and spent about a fifth of my weekly budget on toilet rolls and dishwasher tablets. I bought 24 toilet rolls and 90 dishwasher tablets but as the toilet rolls should last about six weeks and the dishwasher tablets about three months I thought it was worthwhile.

I also bought my son a pad for his camping trip (this was on the list) but he said its far too big. Its meant to fit in his pocket but that's fine it was only 49p and I am always writing lists for everything.

Well I think that's it for todays news.

Take care xx

Menu Plan Monday

Hello, I hope you like todays picture. I have a question if you sat on the bench what would you see going on around you?

I can see my children running around the bench, playing tag and hiding amongst the trees, laughing and giggling.

This weeks menu's are:-

Monday

Chicken nuggets and chips

Tuesday

Lasagne, garlic bread and salad

Wednesday

Chicken breasts in sauce, with garlic min potatoes and sweetcorn

Thursday

Sausage, mash, sweetcorn, onions and gravy

Friday

Meal at O2

Saturday

Chilli and Rice

Sunday

Roast chicken, roast potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and gravy

Today at work I was given a punnet of tomatoes from one of our cleaners who works on a market stall at weekends. Yay freebie!

I went to the supermarket this evening and tried to buy a few of the things off of my shopping list for the children but they had sold out of everything other than the tights for my daughter which cost £5.00 for three pairs.

I also bought my son a travel mug and some miniature toothpaste, shampoo and shower gel for his camping trip this weekend. The miniatures were quite expensive so I must get some little plastic bottles for any future trips that he does. Total expense £5.50

I worked overtime today for an extra four hours

My eight year old started his counselling today, that was quick wasn't it. He said it was fun and he got to talk about his favourite things like giraffes and his family. He seemed very happy.

Have a lovely evening and take care xx

Simple Sundays

Happy Sunday dear friends. I loved the picture above and whilst I know it is drastically different to the weather at lot of you are currently living with, I thought it might brighten your day and remind you that hopefully Spring won't be too far away.

I woke up very early this morning, 5am, so I got two loads of washing and some ironing done by 9am.

I then went to pick up two waste paper baskets that I got from someone on freecycle on my way to visiting my mum and dad.

I am very lucky because I have fantastic parents who are very good to me. I was never a spoilt child but both my brother and I got exactly what we needed and we still do. My mum will always bake cakes and cookies for the children and cook pies for me so that I can have a night off from cooking.

Today my mum gave me more cups of coffee than I normally have in a whole day at home, offered me a variety of home made delights which you will be very impressed to hear I declined, my daughter who at nine certainly does not need to worry about what she eats happily said yes to everything offered and we spent a lovely morning chatting and helping dad/granddad with his crossword.

It was just my daughter and I that visited today as since my dad fell ill we don't like to overcrowd him or wear him out.

We left my mum and dads at lunchtime with several packs of knickers for my daughter as mum apparently bought the wrong size for herself! Shampoo and conditioner for curly course hair which my daughter has, my mum has straight fine hair like myself, another apparent mistake! A bag full of sweets for the children and my dad insisted I take £5.00 to treat the kids to sweets for the next couple of weeks. Like I say I am very lucky to have such great parents.

I have been checking on and off all day but it seems like I am not going to be getting my slow cooker/crockpot so I guess this week I will be buying one. I know deep down it will eventually save us money because quite often if dinner is not ready when sweet man comes in he will request a take away. So not only will it save us money it will save me putting on weight. Win win!

Tomorrow I start with my menu plan, I was going to spend the day today working out what I had in the cupboards and what I need to buy but I know I have the items for tomorrow and Tuesdays breakfast, lunch and dinner and I thought it was more important to see my parents. I will not be following Fridays dinner plan as we are going to watch my daughter singing at the O2 and the children will all be having school dinners.

Well I am off to research sturdy shoes for teenage boys as pay day is almost here and if you have read my previous posts this week my son has gone through three pairs of shoes in three months so this time I intend to check the shoes that I buy are able to cope with big footed teenage boys!

My thoughts are with anyone struggling with diverse weather conditions, stay safe and take care xx

Saturday update

Hi, I hope you are having a lovely day.

Mine has been very interesting I woke up this morning to lovely little people cuddles, always the best way to start a day.

Our shower has been broken for the last three days and sweet man has tried to fix it so I was dreading having to call a plumber out. I thought I would give it a last ditch attempt today as we seemed to have no pressure so I unscrewed it pulled the shower hose and carefully checked for any twists that could be causing the problem and then gush, yes the pressure was back. Yay me! Who needs a man!

Secondly, I got on the scales after two weeks of not going near them and guess what? Ha,  four pounds lost. I repeat Yay me! What a relief. Onwards and upwards now.

I have also used my freecycle airer.

I am very pleased with it. Can you see the broken one hanging around at the back. Yes I need to take that to the tip along with a few other things.

I have put in a final request on freecycle for a slow cooker/crockpot before I buy one on pay day. You never know if someone who has not previously seen my request before may see it this time.

The school confirmed yesterday that they are going to arrange for my eight year old son to have counselling as there was an incident on Thursday when some boys upset him and he got himself in such a state that he tried to leave the school. Luckily he was seen and stopped but it was very difficult to calm him down and I think that it brought to light how unhappy he is. I hope more than anything that this helps him as he is the happiest, sweetest little man in the world when he is at home and I want other people to see that side of his personality.

More child news I'm sorry if its boring for you, my eldest son announced this morning that during his summer holiday from university he is thinking about applying to do Camp America. It would be an amazing experience for him and I know he is perfectly capable of looking after himself but we would all miss him so much. At the moment its just an idea so we shall see where he goes with it.

Well today I am posting earlier than usual because a friend of mine rang and has just split up with her boyfriend so she wants to come round and spend the evening with us. I hope we manage to cheer her up because she is a very sweet person.

Well that's it from me for today tomorrow we will be start looking at what we have in the freezer and cupboards for week ones menu's ready to start on Monday.

Take care xx

Yay Friday!

Hello Friends,

It is that happy day, the day that is the start of two wonderful days of being with the people that you truly want to spend time with. In my case its my children. They are the ones that put a smile on my face every day. They make me giggle as if I am a child at the funny things they say. They are my everything and I am so grateful to have two days to just be their mum.

I have walked six and a half miles today. I have not been very good on my diet this week but at the same time I haven't been particularly bad either. I haven't eaten chocolate or anything bad but I haven't logged my food either.

Since my bad week on the scales where I had been so good at what I had eaten I haven't weighed myself but I intend to tomorrow morning.

Do you have a window cleaner? We do, he is a good window cleaner and a nice guy who does a good job but he comes all year round. Yes, I realise he has to make a living but I am opposed to paying for my windows to be cleaned when it is raining or rains half an hour later. I really wish I could just ask him to clean them in the summer months when I feel that it is worthwhile.  What do you think? Do you feel the same?

My food waste this week is 1 Tomato which had split and started to go mouldy and one cream cake which actually wasn't bought by myself. It was bought by my eldest son and he didn't get round to eating it. But its still waste.

A few days ago I showed you my things that need to be bought after payday list but I have an update I no longer need to buy my son a raincoat or balaclava as the camp that my son is going on is with the army cadets and yesterday they lent him a raincoat and the lovely Susan recommended that he wrap a scarf around his face and we have lots of scarfs so that is two things I can delete off my list. Unfortunately my youngest sons coat was ripped whilst at school today and I am not great at repairing things so I'm not sure if I will be able to repair it so I may need to buy him a new coat.

I hope you have a nice evening

Take care xx

Super quick post

Hello,


I have just walked in the house at 10pm after running my children backwards and forwards to clubs.


So tonight is a very quick post to let you know I am still around.


I picked up my free airer yay!


I walked about six miles again today.


I hope you have all had a great day today


Take care xx

Goodbye lazy Hello superwoman!

Hello my dear friends,

If you read my post yesterday I was overtaken by the couch potato monster but today it happily returned to it usual home sweet man. Ha ha Joking!

And I returned to my usual vibrant self, yes you guessed it joking again.  But I truly did get off my lazy good for nothing butt, this is what I did today:-

• Worked all day
• Vacuumed downstairs
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Washed the floors
• Did 2 loads of washing
• Did some ironing
• Cooked dinner from the freezer (defrosted first of course)
• Completed homework with one child
• Tested another child on their times tables and mental maths ability
• Packed the lunches for tomorrow
• Got the clothes ready for tomorrow
• Applied for a clothes airer on freecycle (I am picking it up tomorrow - mines broken)

I also walked for six miles today and made a list of the things we need to buy after payday.  Here is my list:-

• 2 school jumpers for my youngest boys (there's are too small)
• 4 new school tops 2 each for my youngest boys (there's are stained and won't clean)
• Shoes for my 13 and 8 year old
• Tights for my daughter (its cold and she wont wear trousers)
• Hair cuts for my three youngest boys
• A balaclava, a raincoat and red football socks for my thirteen year old.

I am a little annoyed with my thirteen year old son because he has had three pairs of school shoes since September, now he has never really been heavy on shoes before but he is now six foot and has size eleven feet but I call him my skinny bean because there is nothing of him and I don't know if that is why he is demolishing shoes so quickly.

If anyone has any recommendations of shoe makes that last please let me know.

The balaclava and raincoat are because he is going camping next weekend and as it is so cold they are items that they encourage the kids take with them. I have been looking in the charity shops as my son now wears adult clothes but have not found any so I guess I will have to buy them. I do hate buying things that they don't generally wear, it seems a waste.

Well that's it for today,

Take care xx

Quick update

Hi, I hope your having a nice day.

I have had quite a chilled out day. I worked for half the day today and then got a lift home. Yes I know lazy!

I then did no housework, no walking or anything else really.

I picked my youngest two boys up, yes by car.

Went back and picked my daughter up from choir also by car.

I did make tea, yay for doing something.

I did bath my children and I did read them stories.

I am writing the briefest probably most boring post ever!!

And then, I am going to have the biggest bubbles bath ever and snuggle up in probably the coldest bed ever but I might take a hot water bottle and I'm going to share the smallest amount of cover so poor sweet man will most definitely be cold.

Have a nice evening and take care xx

Menu plan monday

Hello dear friends,

I hope you are having a lovely day.

I have had quite a busy day today as I did some overtime. Also as my joints are feeling better I got back to walking. I walked 7.29 miles today and used up 1066 calories. Yippee! Although I think I might have to have a nice relaxing bath in a bit.

As most of you know this week we are using up the foods in the freezer so here is the menu plan:-

Monday - Sausage rolls and oven chips (yeah I know not very healthy but they needed to be used)

Tuesday - chicken Pie, mash and veg

Wednesday - Curry and Rice

Thursday - Tomatoes Pasta and salad

Friday - Toad in the hole, Roast potatoes and veg

Saturday - Pizza and salad with garlic bread

Sunday - Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes and salad

I have also got a chickpea and potato curry out of the freezer to take for my lunch next week. I should be able to get about three lunches out of it.

Enjoy your evening,
Take care xx

A little at a time

Good afternoon, I hope you are having a nice Sunday.

Mine is a mixed afternoon, sweet man feels very sorry for himself and has taken himself off for an afternoon sleep (yeah I know chance would be a fine thing wouldn't it!). He has cut the top of his finger on his mandolin whilst cutting some lettuce, has banged his stomach on the door handle and has a bite on his leg that is a bit infected.

I'm not really the sympathetic type, probably, because as most of us do I have to get on with it if I'm feeling rough, which might I just say my joints are starting to feel much better. Yay!

Anyway, back to my afternoon I have been trying to organise ready for school tomorrow. I don't think we are going to be hit with so much snow that it will be called off ha ha.

All the school uniforms are washed and on the radiators drying. I have lunches to pack but I have done the lunch shopping today. As we will be eating out of the freezer for dinners this week I have not done a big shop.

I still have all the kids shoes to clean and baths and hair washes to organise. What age did you allow your children to wash their own hair?

Yesterday I told you that I had put week 1's shopping list into My Supermarket and the list had come up at £103.23 but I have now looked at the items that are cheaper in each supermarket and I have managed to get the list down to £89.13 without any coupons of offers so hopefully I may be able to bring this even lower.

My weekly budget is £100 for food but ideally I would like it to be £80.00 per week.

I have been looking back at my January aims and I don't seem to be achieving very much apart from organising the food shopping but a few small things at a time hopefully will result in better organisation all round.

I haven't started to sort out my youngest two's bedroom yet so I have decided to change my plan and organise the kitchen first. It seems to make sense as I am trying to get to grips with our shopping.

Please excuse the mess in my kitchen we have just had dinner and I have done the washing up and got some lunch stuff out for tomorrow.

But this gives you an idea of the room that I want to sort out. There are a couple of things that I need to buy for this room.

1. A new calendar (I'm waiting for them to be reduced)

2. A bin - I have not had one since my eight year old was two and we had a touch bin. He used to try and play with it and one day cut his finger on a baked bean can. So goodbye bin and hello plastic bags that get used after dinner and taken out to the big outside bin. But now my youngest is seven I think I can have a bin again. (I will look in the charity shop for one)

I plan to do a bit of the kitchen every day except Monday and Wednesday as these are long days at work. I normally get home just after five and start preparing dinner straight away. No time for cleaning and organising.

Well I am off now to wash my eight year olds hair.

Take care xx

Ramblings

Hello.

I love weekends.

Today I did a small amount of housework. Did a shopping list for my first week of rotational menu's and I have begun to impute the foods into my supermarket, which is a website that compares the prices at all the supermarkets. It will give me an idea of the cost of the weeks shopping without any discounts. Update at ASDA this came to £103.23, I could get it at ALDI for £88.78 with seven items missing. So these are the prices I need to beat. Now I will work my way through each supermarket and see what product is cheaper in each one.

I will not be starting my rotational menu next week because I have some food to use up in the freezer and I get paid the week after.

Today I have eaten:-

Breakfast - 2 Slices of Marmite toast

Lunch - Egg and Tomato sandwich, grapes and a mango fat free yoghurt

Dinner - Chicken, roast potatoes, stuffing , sausage in bacon, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.

I had a chat with my little eight year old after receiving some advise from my friend Nathalie and we have decided to do a reward chart, my sons choice of reward is a coke at a coffee shop with me. There is nothing I would like more so I hope he hits his reward every week.
I am also looking into some counselling for his self esteem. I hope this helps my little darling.

This evening I have taken my youngest son to the shop to buy two cars with his tooth money (his front tooth has fallen out bless him) and played a couple of games with my family which is why I am late posting tonight

I hope you have had a nice day
Take care xx

Update on the menu organising

Hello, I hope you are having a nice day.

Today, I carried on with organising the rotating menus that I am going to use for the rest of winter. I managed to do week 2,3 and 4 and now I just need to work on the shopping lists for each week.

I popped down to the shops tonight when I knew they would be reducing their products, knowing roughly what was on my menu's, to see if I could get anything at a good price.

This is what I got:-

3 packs muffins was 75p reduced to 14p (now in the freezer)
3 packs Cadbury cake bars was £1.12 reduced to 33p - for lunches next week
3 packs of potatoes was £1.50 reduced to 10p - dinners next week
Pack of mushrooms was £1.00 reduced to 10p - dinners
2 packs tear and share chocolate brioche was £1.75 reduced to 45p one for breakfast and one in freezer
Pack of rolls was £1.00 reduced to 45p - for lunches next week
Pack of kiwi fruits was £1.00 reduced to 24p - lunches next week
Pack of grapes was £2.40 reduced to 20p - lunches this weekend

I am really hoping that I start to see a big difference with how much money we spend on food with all the items that we are managing to get at a discount and having a plan each week for what we are eating.

Today I eat:-

Breakfast - 2 crumpets with Marmite

Lunch - Ham and cheese sandwich

Dinner - 2 sausages, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and beans

Snacks - crisps, 2x2 finger biscuits and some Haribo's

I am very disappointed that I allowed myself to comfort eat tonight and completely went away from healthy eating.

My little boy got in trouble today because a boy pushed him over and he retaliated and squeezed the boys arm leaving a red mark. He received an orange slip which results in a detention for retaliating.

This same boy yesterday joined in my sons game and told him he could not play because no one likes him and he should go and play with bird poo and my son was found curled up in a ball sobbing in the corner. I spoke to his teacher about this.

Today, I received a letter telling me my son had received an orange slip for retaliating but the other boy said he had pushed my son over by accident so did not get in trouble.

I am truly not sure how to deal with this situation as my son is no angel and I know that he can get upset easily but when I discussed with him how he should speak to a teacher and not retaliate he replied "Why mum they don't do anything anyway". And then said "How comes I get in trouble for doing something back but when someone hurts me first or says nasty things to me they don't even get told off"

Which is why I comfort eat I feel like every couple of weeks I am coming up with this sort of situation and it doesn't matter what I do or say things never get any better. I wish I could win the lottery so that I could home school my son as it seems to be the only place he is truly happy and I can see my sons self esteem disappearing the longer he is at school. He is 8 years old how is he going to feel at 11 years old?

Well I am sorry to be a depressing blog writer today but my blog is not rose tinted, I am a real person with a real family and my life has genuine ups and downs.

Have a good evening and take care xx

Check out my organisation!

Good afternoon my dear friends. I hope you are having a good day.

Seriously, I am really impressed with myself. I didn't walk home today even though I only do a half day on a Thursday but I didn't want to spend my whole afternoon working, their is only so much free overtime I want to give away. So I started to do a four weekly rotational menu plan, I got week one done today and I typed it up and laminated it and I will be putting it inside my cupboard door.

I will also be typing up and laminating a shopping list and I will carry this in my bag with a marker so that every time I see something on offer I can get it and cross it off my list.
 

I am hoping that this will help in trying to bring our spending down even further as I will always have an idea of what we will be cooking throughout the month and stock our fridge and freezer accordingly.

I am also going to type up a list of the normal prices of all these items and try to beat the prices by either shopping around or getting offers/yellow stickered items.

Some of the recipes above do take quite a lot of cooking and organising if cooked from fresh which as we all know is much cheaper so I have decided on pay day to buy myself a slow cooker. I have been looking regularly in charity shops and I cannot find one unfortunately.

I will continue to work on my four weekly menu plan over the next few days and update you as I finish each one.

Today I have eaten :-

Breakfast - Nutrigrain breakfast bar

Lunch - 2 Ryvitas with cottage cheese, banana and some fruit slices

Dinner - chicken breast, oven chips and sweetcorn

I hope you have a lovely evening
Take care xx

Bargains! yay!

Good Evening.

As most of you know I am trying to save money on my food shopping. Today, I had to go to the shops as I had run out of breakfast stuff, lunch stuff and toilet rolls. I was at work all day today so I was forced to go this evening but in the past this has proved worthwhile as that is when they start to  reduce their items.

This was tonight haul which consisted of:-

Chicken with stuffing originally £5.00 reduced to £1.53

24 Pork sausages originally £5.00 reduced to £2.16

4 Large jalapeño hotdog sausages originally £2.24 reduced to £1.00

Cherry scones originally £1.00 reduced to 36p

Toblerone Cookies originally £1.00 reduced to 43p

Strawberry cheesecake originally £2.18 reduced to 95p

Muffins originally 75p reduced to 43p


The chicken will be used for a roast dinner and the leftovers to make chicken and vegetable soup.

The sausages will be used to make sausage, mash, veg, onions and gravy

The Jalapeño hotdogs will be given to my sweet man and my lovely fussy son.

The cherry scones and Toblerone cookies will be put in the children's packed lunches.

The cheesecake was given to the children for dessert tonight and will be again tomorrow.

The muffins will be used for breakfast.


Lovely lot of offers, I did also buy the items that I went out for but unfortunately these weren't on offer.

I will add what I bought today to my spending spread sheet and on Sunday I will let you in on how much we spent this week.

Today, I reduced the amount of walking I did again because of my joints. I didn't take the car though.

And today I have eaten

Breakfast - 1oz Crunchy nut and milk

Lunch - cheese and onion sandwich on brown bread
              nutrigrain breakfast biscuit

Dinner - we didn't have breakfast for dinner, we had hot dogs instead. I had two.

Have a lovely evening

Take care xx

Just rambling

Hello dear friends,

Is it only Tuesday? No I promise I won't wish the time away but I do know we only have four and a half weeks until half term.

My daughter, who I have to say is as close as you can get to having the perfect child, had a complete melt down today because she got some of her maths wrong. I had a chat with her teacher and she is working a year above herself anyway and both her teacher and I explained this to her. This didn't make her feel any better and she brought the sheet home and has spent the last two hours making sure she understood the work. She is nine and whilst I love the fact that she works so hard I do not want her to feel that everything she does has to be perfect. She is perfect in every way to me, no matter what!

Today I have eaten:-

Breakfast - 1oz Crunchy nut cornflakes and semi skimmed milk

Lunch - 3 Ryvitas and cream cheese (I am getting fed up with these now)

Dinner - Jacket potatoes with cheese beans and salad

I have to admit I took the car to work today partly because I had a display to put up before the children came in and secondly because I have been having problems with my right knee and both hips for the last few days. I popped to the doctors (yes again) who told me I needed to have a blood test for osteoarthritis but he thought it was a viral infection that is going around that affects joints as my glands are up and because I have been unwell and I work in a school I am more susceptible to things that are going around. Yeah thanks! I think I need some sunshine, that would help.


I just wanted to update you, do you remember me telling you that I had started to give my children lavender baths especially my anxious boy. Well he is sleeping better and is much less anxious. So if any of you struggle with a child that doesn't sleep well or get anxious I would recommend trying lavender it has really made a difference with mine.

Today I had a cleanout of my old bags and I found 21p which I placed into my extra cash bowl.

I hope you have a lovely evening and Take care xx

Menu plan monday

 

 

Monday - Chicken Fajitas with Nachos

 

Tuesday- Jacket Potatoes with Cheese, beans and salad

 

Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner

 

Thursday - soup and fresh rolls

 

Friday - Chicken enchilada pasta skillet

 

Saturday - Burgers and chips

 

Sunday - chicken, roast potatoes, sweetcorn, carrots, Yorkshire pudding and gravy

 

This is my menu plan for this week.

 

Its a quick one today as I have done overtime and I need to relax in a bath and go to bed.

 

Have a lovely evening xx

 



Super save sunday!

 

 

Happy Sunday my dear friends,

 

I have a confession to make I sat up until 4.00am in the morning watching a Netflix special that a lot of people have been talking about called 'Making a Murderer'. I was quite shocked by this programme, it is about a man and a young boy (16) who are convicted of murder, as from what was shown there was a serious miscarriage of justice but as my son pointed out we saw the show from the side of the accused. I have read a lot about this case this morning and they do seem to be a family that has a troubled past and it is quite possible that they are guilty but I genuinely believe if that trial had been in the UK the young boy would certainly have had his case dismissed due to his I.Q and lack of understanding.

 

This week I have put on five and a half pounds, whilst I'm not happy about this at all because I have been very good this is just making me feel more determined to correct my food intake so that it works with my body. I have been very lucky to receive some advise from Susan and Nathalie (ladies I am so grateful thank you) and today I have increased my food intake and drunk more water.

 

 

                                   

 

 

Food intake for today:-

 

Breakfast - 2 crumpets with Marmite

 

Lunch - Tuna salad sandwich, muller light yoghurt and an apple with a big glass of water

 

Dinner - Chicken breast, new potatoes and salad with a big glass of watery


.

I know I should have had brown bread for my lunch and I did have some in the cupboard, oops just forgot when I was making everyone elses sandwiches.

Yesterday I mentioned that ASDA has a price guarantee and today I went through all the receipts I could find and saved 58p, £1.14, £1.04 and 56p. Goes to prove this is worth doing but you can only do it within 28 days. Total vouchers £3.32 Yay!

Whilst I was doing this my partner decided to inform me that his work does a voucher system in which you get roughly an additional 15% in vouchers back from whatever you order to use at supermarkets. Apparently this is not something we have to sign up to and he can just put it on my computer. This is definitely something I will look into and can't believe we haven't already been utilising. Men! Is all I have to say.

I've just been to ASDA and got some lunch items for the children for next week.

I bought :- 4 Dolmio stir in sauce pots £1.00 each (normally £1.75)
                   Caramel dessert £1.00 for 4 (normally £2.25)
                    Tuna steaks £3.00 for 3 (normally £4.00)
                     4 Fruit bags 10p each (normally 65p each)
                     Walkers crisps £3.00 for 24 packs (normally £3.75)
                      Gala pie 4 slices £2.50 (normally £3.00)
                       Birdseye chargrilled chicken breast 2 packs for £2.00 (normally £1.75 each)
I also bought bread and drink but these were normal price and I picked up the monthly magazine just in case there are any coupons.
I also took my coupons off the price and paid £15.18. This should cover quite a lot of the lunch needed for school this week.

Well I'm off to have my dinner now, have a great evening.

Take care xx

 

I just love weekends!

Hello dear friends, Happy Saturday!

I woke up this morning and received the loveliest cuddles from the sweetest little boy and it was the nicest start to the day that I could wish for.

I haven't done very much today, I had a quick clean up but apart from that we have just spent the day relaxing.

I have not done any walking.

I have eaten:-
Breakfast - Nutrigrain breakfast bar

Lunch - 2 slices of toast with Marmite
              pack of BBQ cheddar

Snack - Kellogg caramel moments bar

Dinner - Thai Carrot soup and two slices of brown bread
               Banana and fat free yoghurt

I am in a little bit of a quandary at the moment because I have been fairly good on my eating plan this week and yet I still haven't lost any weight. I know I could go to somewhere like slimming world and follow an eating plan but firstly I am also trying to save money so I'm a bit opposed to spending money to lose weight. Also I am not that keen on spending time with people that I don't know so its something id rather not do.

I think I will give it another couple of weeks and maybe change up my eating plan a little by adding in more fruit and less bars even though they are calorie counted and meant to be healthy bars and see how it goes.

If you have any suggestions on what I should be doing please let me know, I am totally up for advise.

I have just found out that my local supermarket has a website where you put you receipt details in and it tells you whether  they were cheaper than the other supermarkets and if not give you a rebate so tomorrow I am going to pull out as many receipts as I can find and see if we are entitled to any rebates.

Kerching, money saving. I have worked a little more today on my savings spreadsheets and they are coming along nicely.

Well I hope you are having a lovely day

Take care xx

Food waste friday

Hi, Not too much waste today a pineapple (such a shame), 1 banana and 1 clementine.
I hate wasting fruit especially things like pineapples because the kids love them. I just left this too long because we have been eating up everything else from Christmas.

Wow it is so cold today, this is the first time this winter that I can honestly say I have been really cold. In fact its so cold two of my boys have gone to bed at six o clock in the evening to warm up.
I guess it is meant to snow next week. Yuk!

My walking will be down today because although I haven't walked any less today I forgot to put my fitbug on after my shower today so it only went on after work.

Today I have eaten:-

Breakfast - 2 crumpets and Marmite

Snack - Nutrigrain bar

Lunch - 4 Ryvitas and cottage cheese

Snack - 4 water biscuits and a few slices of pineapple

Dinner - 1/4 low fat pizza and salad

3 Thornton chocolates left from Christmas

I know I shouldn't really be eating any chocolate at all but I was given a couple of chocolates from the children at school and I don't really want to give them to my children so I thought I would allow myself a couple each week.

My teenage son who is thirteen is very stroppy at the moment and whilst I realise this is probably hormonal I am a little bit worried about him as he seems to think he is not doing very well at school and keeps saying he is thick. Bless him he has always been an average student but all his teachers have always said he has such a good work ethic that he will do well. I am very proud of him because he works very hard even though he doesn't always find it easy. I wish there was a way I could make him feel happy and better about himself.

This evening I have been working on a new financial spread sheet for the forthcoming year and I am including a clothes budget and a budget for haircuts which I have never included before but my children are growing so quickly that I am having to buy uniform a lot more frequently and my boys are also getting quite fussy about their hair and don't like it getting too long. 

Well I am off to sort out baths now.

Have a lovely evening

Take care xx

No spending day

Good afternoon.

I finished work today at 1.15 and then walked home. Whilst at home I made the beds, hovered downstairs, cleaned the kitchen and the downstairs toilet. Put the dishwasher on and did a load of washing.

Then I walked back to the school to pick the children up and walked straight back home again so my walking should be up again today. Update - steps 18,012 miles 7.7 calories burnt 1047

When I say it has been a no spend day I have not stopped at any shops and spent any money but my son has gone to cadets tonight and he takes £2.00 with him every week.

I have eaten a little more today :-

Breakfast 1oz crunchy nut

Lunch - 3 Ryvitas with low fat cream cheese and a nutrigrain bar

Snack - Apple, 2 cookies and 2 crumpets

Tea - pasta and tomato sauce

The reason I have eaten more for snack today is because walking back from school with the children I came over very dizzy and had to sit down. My darling son gave me an apple leftover from his lunch and we carried on walking home.

I'm unsure whether I felt dizzy because I am still recovering although I feel ok. But quite a few people at school have said because of the amount of walking that I do I am not eating enough. I'm not sure but thought well I feel the need for a snack so I decided to have one.

I feel much better now so I guess it must have worked. Update - Ok so I have just worked out my calories and even though I thought I had been very greedy I have only had 1066 calories and still have 224 calories to use if I need to.

I am off to give my lovely children their lavender bath and story before bed as this seems to be working a treat.

Have a lovely evening and take care. Xx

The scales have let me down!

Good afternoon dear friends,

I hope you are having a lovely day after all we are half way through the week. Two more days until its family time!

Today, I had a full day at work and it was busy, as its the start of a new term and new topics there is just so much to do.

My walking will be down a bit today as sweet man came and picked us up from school, its not very often that happens anymore as he is normally home a lot later than me.

Cleaning today is nada, not a thing! And I have a friend who I haven't seen for a long time coming over to tea tonight so its very unlikely anything will get done.

But last nights lavender bath and reading worked a treat so I will carry that on tonight with my boys and as my friend is a teacher I will ask her to do some reading with my beautiful daughter. Ha ha I'm sure she won't mind.  It was lovely to wake up to happy children. We sat and ate our breakfast together and chatted all the way to school. Such a treat.

I have been very good with my exercise and food the last two days but I got on the scales this morning and found that I have put on 2 pounds! I was mortified. Everyone at work was telling me your catching up from Christmas. Hmm not the point. I have been so good.

Ok so my food today as I have not let it put me off has been:-

Breakfast - 1oz crunchy nut

Snack - nutrigrain bar

Lunch - 4 ryvitas with low fat cream cheese

Dinner - Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans and salad

I will work out the calories tomorrow and also my exercise for today.

Take care xx

Daily update

Good evening, I hope you have had a nice day.

Mine has been busy. I worked till 1.15, walked home, changed my shoes as I have rather gigantic blisters on my heels. Ouch!
Walked to the shops and took a top back as I looked like a beached whale in it. Got some breakfast stuff as it was the children's first day back at school and my son decided he was not going to eat any breakfast. I also bought some lavender bath soak as the same son could not sleep last night because we are back to school.

Remember them aims - Am I letting this get on top of me... No, tonight we are going to have tea, I am going to run him a luscious warm bath and then read him a story and tuck him up in a bed that has lavender drops on the pillow with a hot water bottle.

Then I think I will jumps in a hot bath myself!

Food for the day.

Breakfast - 1oz crunchy nut cornflakes with skimmed milk

Snack- Nutrigrain bar

Lunch - 4 Ryvitas with low fat cream cheese

Snack - Nutrigrain bar and apple

Dinner - Chicken breast, new potatoes and salad and a Müller lemon yoghurt

Total calories 1139

Exercise for today Mainly walking I have done 22,554 steps plus 3,300 aerobic steps which was 9.674 miles and used 1330 calories.

I am really pleased with this.

I haven't done very much cleaning though today I have swept the floors downstairs, cleaned the kitchen and downstairs toilet. Whilst the children are in the bath I am going to try and clean up the boys bedroom a little, just so they get a cosy nights sleep. (and don't fall over if they need the loo)

Well bye for now and take care xx

Menu Plan Monday and other things

Good evening. Even though it was my first day back at work today I still feel quite smiley and happy.
I woke up at 5.30am this morning and after showering and getting dressed I had some breakfast and wrote a to do list which I will recreate for you.

1 - 2 loads of washing
2 - Put the dishwasher on
3 - Take Christmas tree and decorations down
4 - Organise school bags, clothes etc
5 - Do Menu plan for the week

Big fat tick to all of the above plus I did some ironing, cleaned all of downstairs and cooked a Ham joint for sandwiches this week

 

 

 

 

My fitbug today registered that I did 14,426 steps today which worked out to 6.169 miles and as some of them were aerobic steps I burnt 985 calories. Yay!!

 

 

 

My food today was:-

 

 

Breakfast - 1oz Crunchy nut cornflakes

 

Lunch - 5 Crackers, 1/4 Apple, 1oz cheddar cheese, 1 pickled onion, tomato, cucumber and picallili

 



 

 

Tea - Sliced ham, a handful of oven chips, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber and a low fat muller mango yoghurt.


I am quite pleased with what I have eaten today although I know I haven't drunk enough I will register it shortly to check the calories. Update I have just logged my calories and I have had 1047.

Tuesday - soup and fresh roll

Wednesday - Chicken, salad and new potatoes

Thursday - Jacket potatoes with baked beans and salad

Friday - Tuna pasta and salad

Saturday - Homemade Chicken Curry and rice

Sunday - leftover curry and rice.

For my lunches at work this week I have bought a packet of ryvita crackers, some low fat cheese spread and some cottage cheese to have and I will take an apple with me each day.

Well I'm off to bed now.

Take care xx