Saturday 17 February 2018

Half Way Through February Financial Update

Whoops, should have posted this earlier in the week, it's now well past half way through the month. How are finances going?

If I don't count the beach hut ground rent and the house insurance, things look very good!
 Cold  weather and feeling poorly saves money

Stretching pennies is what it's all about.........................
£1 = washing soda crystals from Wilkinsons - these are used with a little Ecover  Laundry  Liquid in the washing machine.
55p= 2 Bath cleaning sponges also Wilkinsons. I cut these in half to make 4, I use them on the wash basins as well as the bath and shower.
£10.80 = Car parking at hospital. We get the ticket stamped so it "only" costs £3.60 a time. Sometimes we are there for 4 or 5 hours and it would be £7+ each time without the 'generosity' of National Car Parks allowing this discount for clinic patients!!
£10 = The cat. I've cut her down to 1½ pouches a day. She was eating Felix pouches but then they changed the texture and she wouldn't eat them so I've gone onto Sheba and cut the amount and increased the dry food a bit......... Cats!
£4 = Seed compost. I shall get some multi purpose later.
£1.50 = Entry to potato day (but I picked up a good sized cotton shopping bag free)
£5.10 = 30 seed potatoes. 5 of each of 6 different varieties
£3 = fleece mini tunnel for growing
50p =  the seed feeder for the birds from car boot sale
50p = the Winifred Peck biography from car boot sale
£2 = The brass trivet from charity shop
£1.65 = items from the chemist
 £92 = Supermarket food etc  - a lot of which is still in the freezer,fridge and cupboards and quite a few £s of this is trying to find something that tastes right for Colin. He is still losing weight which is worrying.  I'm gaining weight finishing the things he's tried and found not good! We've gone back to full fat milk to give him a few extra calories and I'm watering down ¼ pint to make half a pint for me each day.
£6 = eggs from local roadside stall - Col is eating lots - scrambled and french toast. Bread, cheese and eggs are now something he finds tasty and soft enough to eat.
 £35 = Diesel for Blue Car

Total spend so far roughly £170 (+the beach hut ground rent and house insurance).

The rest of the month..................
Need to buy.............the LPG, diesel for grey car, milk, fresh fruit and veg. and a few other food items.
Also have to add Direct Debits for charity and phone/broadband.

We are feeling pleased with how well the heating oil is lasting. Never had oil before so had no idea how often we would need to fill the tank.When the new oil tank was put in it had a remote sensor that plugs in indoors which shows how the oil is going down, except that quite often it isn't showing anything, then a day or two later seems to be working fine. We had the tank filled in May last year so the other day Col wrapped up warm and taking a clean garden cane he did what people used to do.........dipped the tank to see what the level was and happily it's still got more than a quarter left. But with so much cold weather and Col sitting resting the woodburner has been lit for longer and our wood heap is much depleted. We may have to get Col's brother to come and split more Ash before the weather is warm enough to be without a fire.
(Our next door neighbours - elderly and without a wood-burner, have had their tank filled 3 times this winter.)

Have a good weekend.

Back Monday
Sue






27 comments:

  1. There are my favourite kind of posts. Very inspirational and insightful.

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  2. I am always so impressed with how well you know your finances and exactly where you are with spending and targets.
    J x

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    1. After so many years of needing to budget really well - three children,1 income and mortgage - it's just habit to write down spending

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  3. Have you been offered those special prescription build up drinks by the hospital ? My mother had them after she lost a LOT of weight through cancer. Unfortunately they apparently taste unpleasant ( even though they are flavoured ) but they made a big difference. She was as you describe Col, finding it difficult to eat enough. These were prescription not those complan/build up things you can buy anywhere.

    You are such a support to him, its lovely to read.Thanks for a great blog.

    Rinty x

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    1. My mother used to have Build Up when she was old and decrepit and they worked wonders. She preferred to have the plain one and then add a spoonful of coffee like Nescafé to it for flavour . They are amazingly healthy drinks and often prescribed by GPs which is how my mother first went on to them.

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    2. we've got several of the fruity high calorie drinks from hospital in the cupboard but they are so sweet he isn't keen at the moment as everything is tasting much sweeter than normal. The milk high cal ones made him feel sick!

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  4. It's strange how taste buds can change. My friend who had Chemo said some of her old favourites tasted mentally so she stopped eating them. It all came back to normal eventually.

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    1. 2 years ago after the chemo tastebuds got back to normal after a few months so it's still too soon as yet. This time round things are tasting too sweet or too salty.

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  5. Ice cream might tempt Colin to eat, and there are some gorgeous flavours, plus it keeps! I had some fruit drinks the hospital recommended, as I recall the lime one was best. Available on prescription.

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    1. he is finding the fruit ones too sweet at the moment. we ahve several here from hospital hoping he'll be able to drink them again soon

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  6. Some people only have small amounts of oil delivered each time. Others have a top up arrangement with the delivery company. Sheba sachets are small anyway so poor Polly.

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  7. What proportion of Ecover do you use to the soda crystals? I'd like to give it a go. I hope Colin finds something that tickles his tastebuds. I've looked in my old recipe books but all the invalid foods sound utterly disgusting, no help there.

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    1. I haven't got a dosing ball to put in the washing machine so use the cut off bottom bit of a plastic ecover washing up bottle. I put just a trickle of Ecover in the bottom, probably equal to a couple of tablespoons .....so 30ml? then i have a little scoop and add a scoopful of washing soda - not sure how much then top the thing up with water and sit it in the machine

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    2. Thank you, I'll give it a go.

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  8. We've had our tank filled twice this year. It used to always be once a year, but with Alan working from the home office more the heating has been going on and at a slightly higher temperature ... and he has the cheek to say I'm soft. I prefer a woolly pulley to putting the heating up an extra degree.

    Like you we have a remote sensor in the kitchen so we can keep an eye on levels every time we make a cup of coffee :-)

    Our Ginger won't eat wet cat food at all, totally turns his nose up at it, he has a tin of tuna every day and a bowl with dried cat food to nibble at when he's peckish in between. It really is the only thing he will eat.

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    1. We have always found that when we had 2 cats they ate anything and everything but as soon as we have one they seem to get more fussy!

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    2. Ours only get dry food (years ago the vet told us that wet food is paying for expensive water) We do buy them good quality dry food.

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  9. In a house thissize, the heating gobbles up the oil : ( We are about to have another load - a tankful probably lasts us about 6 weeks and we trty not to have it on much - a couple of hours at either end of the day - but we started the winter with very little wood for the woodburner as Keith had an arm problem and couldn't cut down a tree or two from the copse. We are just about managing but would be glad to be somewhere smaller . . . You have done well with your expenditure.

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  10. BTW - with 5 cats we can't afford the pouches and buy a dozen tins at a time, varying the brand as cats get bored with the same old, same old. It works out far cheaper that way - they have biscuits twice a day and one tin divided between them at about a tablespoon each just about stops them complaining.

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  11. Try adding a bit of cream and/or butter to everything you can. And make sure there are enough carbs to keep the metabolism that can gain weight. After my husband had cancer these things helped for him. What might make things less sweet...Adding something bitter like coffee to flavors? Something sour, like lemon?

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  12. Oh Sue...you are an inspiration to us all...not having the best of rides but holding on and making the most of it x

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  13. Poor Col, I hated the so called nutritious drinks recommended by the hospital. Full of sugar which cancer cells love. Sometimes temperature of food can make a difference to palability-ice cold seems to be popular. What does he think of tomatoe juice? I have a fave homemade smoothie of oats, milk, banana, peanut butter, dried figs and cinnamon, sounds awful but tastes good. Col can use what ever he fancies, much better than store bought. Stick by the fire and enjoy the warmth.

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  14. You are so careful with tracking your spending, Sue. I really have to get better at it! Over here in Australia, where we live, I'd give anything for a snowy day right now, we've had a heatwave week! I hope Col can find more things that he finds tasty and satisfying. Eggs are great as they are so nutritious! Meg:)

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  15. It's very hard to keep costs under control when you are trying to find something different for your husband to eat. I know that even when my husband or I have something as simple as a cold, we eat differently, so I can imagine being sicker and trying to find something that tastes acceptable. I hope he starts to gain weight soon to prove he's getting better and put your mind more at ease.

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  16. My son was on a diet to increase his weight last year and one of the ways we were advised was to add to add small amount of dried milk powder to milk based items. We did this for cereals / rice pudding etc but not for drinks. When we visited the dietician she asked why we looked a bit bemused by her suggestions. “Because you are telling me to eat the things people are usually told to avoid!l I would have struggled with it as I have drunk skimmed milk for over 30 years, but he persevered with this idea and the other suggestions and it did pay off. Hope he feels better soon.

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