Ups and Downs of a High Spend Month

 April marks the start of a new financial year and the state pension has gone up a little - of course it's paid in arrears so no one actually sees the extra until May, a month after all other expenses have gone up. Mine will be £848 every 4 weeks. I'm waiting to see what HMRC will take from my County Council Spouses pension in this new tax year. 

Council Tax is up by several £s this year. I have a 25% discount for single person and pay over 10 months - and it's increased by just over £7 a month

 TV Licence was £174.50 for this coming year it was  £169.50 last year - up £5 

Water/sewer charges will be up a lot when I pay next time - August.

Electricity I pay monthly, giving the reading and paying over the phone - not sure how much that's gone up per kWh, the bill was much the same as last month, despite the longer hours of daylight and warmer weather.

Dentist check up - a big spend as I need a filling and they always take the money in advance - back in May for half hour appointment.

Postage stamps went up early in the month by 2p each for second class - more for 1st class but I don't use them.

Broadband and phone monthly payment jumped up by £5, I've rung and negotiated it back to where it was.

It's no wonder pensioners and others  on a fixed income are continually looking for ways to save pennies. 

Two things were down - one was  the house insurance - £7 less than last year, I looked around but most were much the same. So I renewed when the quote came through.

Secondly and better was heating oil - down by a few pence a litre since my last order. I paid for 500 litres this time = £277 - down by over £20 to the last delivery in December .

I must make sure that May is a much less expensive month - it should be, as only car breakdown insurance and one birthday are extras over the normal stuff.

The other day 'an unknown anon' commented that they would like me to do my 'Frugal Month Notes' round-up again. I stopped because it became very repetitive but here are a few I can think of from April.

• No newspapers or magazines bought
• Batch making meals for freezer
• Reading library books and from my shelves for free - no books bought
• Dishwasher only used every 2nd or 3rd day
• Washing machine only used two or three times a week
• Tumble dryer not used all month
• Making medium sized loaf rather than large in bread maker saving 100g each time and saving  calories!
• Special price Easter vegetables and Lidl cheap box
• Only use small light for reading during evenings
• Extra income of £32 from car boot sale
• Finding cheap parchment paper, sponge scourers, baking dish, bargain pizza bases at car- boot sale
• Big bargain of gorgeous greetings cards from car- boot sale. 11 for £2
• Pack of Bic pens for 50p and large envelopes for 50p also boot sale finds.
• Personal spending low, mainly exercise group and over 60's group and my Birthday treat of a Card Making Morning. Coffee out only twice.
• Making biscuits from basic biscuit recipe (8oz flour, tsp baking powder,  4oz butter, 4oz castor sugar, pinch salt and 1 egg and using half of  the peanuts sorted out  from the packs of 'Aldi Essentials' nut/raisons mix which are 59p) This makes more than 40 small biscuits - lasting me ages.
• Free car wash when I took the car to the Ford Dealership for it's recall which was some sort of update of something(?) - that was free too of course. 
• Huge cauliflower £1 from car-boot sale.

Back Soon

Sue

Do We Import Any Food from the USA?

 A few weeks ago with all the tariff  hoo-ha I thought I'd look in my cupboards and see which food products I have that are U.S produced. (Just in case our government slapped tariffs on US produce in retaliation, although since then  I've lost track of what tariffs everyone is paying as it has changed and then changed again, and food probably isn't involved anyway)

That made me realise just how vague some labelling is as many things just say 'Produced For Aldi/Morrisons' or wherever, with no country of origin . Some items say Non EU product and others just 'Packaged in UK'.  A bag of mixed nuts says 'Produce of Many Countries'.

 There was half a jar of cranberry sauce in the fridge which said cranberries come from US, Canada or Chile. Seems most dried fruit comes from Turkey. A tin of corned beef comes from Brazil. Canned Pineapple from the Philippines

Many things are British - butter, flour, sugar, milk and much of the meat I buy comes from a Suffolk village not far away. At the moment most ordinary veg is British but the 'hungry gap' is still to come. Apples will soon be coming from New Zealand as our own stored apples come to an end until September. 

Interesting but inconclusive. 

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3½ lb for £1 and £5 for £2

Just five things from the Saturday boot-sale. First a Gi-normous cauliflower which will last me all week or even longer - that was £1, the Pyrex jug is for Son who asked me to look out for one that still had it's measurement markings on it. That was also £1. Finally there's a 2012 commemorative £5 coin -  I paid £2. It came out of one of the house clearance boxes so maybe hadn't been noticed as being worth £5 or maybe it isn't anyway. 

According to googling it should be accepted at some banks and post-offices. I have a couple of commemorative £2 coins dating back to a royal wedding or something - I'll look them out and see who'll accept them.

The only other thing bought were two female cucumber plants (£2 each) so I have a couple well ahead of my own, which still haven't germinated.

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Saturday 26th

 Yet another good book! (lucky me!) Although how to describe it is a problem..................

In C.S. Lewis's  Narnia the children disappear into the wardrobe for years at a time yet when they come back almost no time has passed. 

In 'The Glass Maker' the years pass by in the rest of the world by jumps of 100+ years at a time -except for the Rosso family and their friends and glassmaking neighbours on the island of Murano and in Venice, where time passes so slowly that the same family members live for 500 years.

This sounds really odd yet the writing is so good (Tracy Chevalier always writes well) that it's easy to follow it and seems to make perfect sense.  T.C.  describes it as a stone that is thrown and skimming the surface of the Venetian lagoon,  touching down at various times in history - but the stone stays the same.

Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives perfecting.

In secret, Orsola Rosso learns to craft glass. As a woman, she must flout convention to save her family from ruin. We follow her through hundreds of years of war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.

It's been 5 years since Tracy Chevalier's last book but was worth the wait.

I'm having trouble with my gardening mojo after last year when there was a mass invasion of giant slugs and what they didn't eat, the neighbour's cat dug up. This year the veg beds are covered by wire netting frames that turn into fences later and I keep taking the cat poo off the small bit left uncovered although dear Crumble cat has managed to almost dig up the rhubarb, which had shrunk to  nothing much anyway.

I've never lived anywhere where rhubarb has failed so often. 5 crowns planted over the four years here and all but one just gone with nothing to show for them except 3 straggly stems this year. 

In the greenhouse the tomatoes and peppers are OK but I delayed sowing cucumber and courgette seeds until after family had gone so a bit late. I've bought some growbags this year as it's difficult now to haul the big 40litre(?) bags of multi-purpose around to the back garden and into the greenhouse. Plus my wheelbarrow has a puncture so I'm waiting on BiL to kindly fix it for me.

Two gardeners who had been lined up to help sort out the front border both backed out so it's a bit of a muddle with ground elder and dandelions among the plants but with 'the knee' playing up so much I'm not looking forward to tackling it . I referred myself to physio and they emailed a list of 3 exercises - two of which I'd forgotten from five years ago when my knee was first injured so I'm religiously trying to do them whenever I can. If there is no improvement I can get a proper appointment - we shall see.

Dentist Next Week- 6 monthly check up  - Oh Great Joy! Fine weather forecast - more joy - real this time.

Back when I have something to say...............

£50 February? A Post That's Hung Around For Months!

Do you remember No/Low Spend November? (probably not). Then came Decadent December(which wasn't) followed by Just Stay In January(which was) and during Just Stay in January I had a brilliant idea for good alliteration for  February ................£50 February!

I worked out a shopping list and menus................

Shopping List Aldi   

1.5Kg Strong White bread Flour £1.09 (Makes 3 loaves using 400g each and pizza bases using 300g)

2 wholemeal sliced -Bread @47p  94p 

Pasta 41p                                                                                                                                                      

2 x 4 pt milk@ £1.45. £2.90                                                                         

2.5kg wonky potatoes £1.49 

1kg carrots 49p

Cucumber 89p

1 fresh pepper 59p                                                                   

12 chipolatas 1.79   

Fresh medium chicken £4.15. Breasts and one leg removed and frozen. Rest roasted  and carcass used for stock for soup and meat bits for chicken and veg pie.

2 x tin sardines @52p £1.04                                                                   

2 x tin toms @39p 78p

500g Essentials grated cheese 2.99

250g Mature grated cheddar £2.19                                                             

4 x 6 mini apples @ 99p £3.96

Basics mini Plum toms 69p

4 x pineapple tins @  79p  £3.16

4 tins cheap peaches @ 39p  £1.36

Tomato puree tube 59p

1 tin baked beans 28p

Stuffing mix 45p

2 sachets yeast 45p

Frozen peas 99p

Frozen Broccolli £1.19

Marmalade 79p

Gravy mix 62p

Mozzarella Ball 69p

2 x 35p instant noodles 70p

1 stir fry sauce 55p

                                                                          

Asda

1.5kg Plain Flour 80p  

Willow spd 1.10

Baking spread £1 

Lard 50p

2 x Half dozen Eggs @£1 = 2.00 (roadside stall)

Tesco

onion 5x 11p 

Sainsburys cheap 'cooking' bacon 500g. divided  4 portions £1

Which adds up to just over £46.....I think, I didn't double check.

Main Meals

2    warm pasta salad fish ( pasta, 2 tin fish, fresh toms, cucumber)

2    pasta with tom & onion sauce (1 tin toms, 1onion, part pepper) +cheese

2    pizza (flour, yeast, Topping = 1 tin toms strained , onion, tom puree, cheese, mozzerella) 

 8   two quiche  ( 6 eggs/ 2 bacon, fresh toms, grated cheese, milk)

8   chicken (2 roasts legs, 2 breasts -stir fry (carrot, onion, pepper, noodles), 2 soup, 2 chicken and veg pie)

2   Toad in hole (1 egg) flour, 4 chipolatas

2   scotch eggs (6 chipolatas 2 eggs + 1 to coat)

1   egg, bacon, fresh tomatoes

1   tom soup( juice from 1 tin toms, grated carrot, onion, tom puree)

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28

Breakfast -  toast home made bread

Other meal

Sandwich and fruit

I even bought a couple of things and took some photos of items from the list that I had in the cupboard anyway...............

                                                                                  

BUT.............. I had lots of meals I'd batch made in the freezer that needed be used, and things left from Christmas that really needed eating. Then I used half  the packet of stuffing mix plus nuts that were in the cupboard which needed using PDQ to make a nut loaf.

And THEN it was the end of February and in the freezer there were still chipolatas from Christmas, some of the last of the chicken breast meat bought months ago and my home made veg curry and a couple of pizza toppings.

And the freezer really needed emptying and defrosting before the weather warmed up.

So...............it just never seemed the right time to get started!

Which is why £50  February  became  Maybe March? (didn't happen!) or even Attempt in April? (no) or Might be May!! (doubt it) but more likely it is Just Give Up in June!

Back Soon

Sue

Two Good Books

  The first was by Kate Webb - Hollow Grave.

 In 1999 a group of archaeologists are excavating a Bronze Age burial site in the grounds of Trusloe Hall. Then suddenly one of the group disappears . Then there is a sighting of her and a text message and the police stop looking. In 2020 her bag is discovered in the river that presents new evidence.  This is the third book featuring DI Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad who are assigned to the case.  They have to find out if she really left without her rucksack or has someone been hiding knowledge for 20 years.

Second really good read 

The Whistle Blower by Robert Peston.

Robert Peston is better known for being a political journalist for BBC and then ITV and always looking rather dishevelled and difficult to listen to.

But this, his first novel, is thankfully not difficult to read and is actually difficult to put down.

It is 1997 and a desperate government clings to power in the run-up to the General Election. The opposition are just as desperate to win and political journalist Gil Peck watches. He is a respected commentator on politics and thinks he knows all the rules.

But when his estranged older sister dies in a hit in run  he begins to believe it was no accident because Clare knew some of the more sensitive secrets in government and one of them might have got her killed.

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Lots of Cheap Fruit and Vegetables - But Were They a Bargain?

Before Easter when all the supermarkets were doing their special vegetable Easter bargains I went into town via Lidl for a change as they were the only place doing the cheap green beans for 15p and much to my surprise they had a Lidl cheap fruit/veg box which I'd never seen before and people I know who shop there regularly had also never seen one. It had a dozen apples, small green cabbage, small broccoli and a pomegranate  for £1.50. I also got their special offer parsnips.

From Aldi  I got the special offer carrots 8p. Cucumbers were on offer reduced to 59p ,mini plum tomatoes 62p and a bag of salad for 69p (normal price for toms and leaves). I'd intended to get the 8p broccoli but it looked very old and yellow so didn't bother.  

A pomegranate is something that has never featured in my food buying and when I sorted out the seed bits and found they were rock hard and un-edible I just squeezed out the juice for a small drink. 

The green beans were only edible for one meal as by the next day they'd gone spotty brown. The apples are OK but not the tastiest or crispest I've eaten.

The parsnips were cut, blanched and frozen and as usual I removed things from their plastic bags and put in the salad drawer in between tea towels or in a dish/ tub with a piece of kitchen roll underneath. Salad bits were eaten over the weekend when family were here and everything else is keeping well for this week.

So although some things were  a good bargain others didn't live up to expectations. Plus to make up for the cheap veg Aldi had put milk up to £1.55 for 4 pints  - that's 10p more than last week and I bet it doesn't go down again.

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Easter Weekend All Over for Another Year

 The extra Easter bits were added to the seasonal display on the bookshelves, just for the weekend. Nothing 'new' this year and there wouldn't be, because I'd only ever buy from a charity shop etc anyway!

The Surrey family didn't arrive until Saturday due to SiL's late flight back from the US on Friday. But were in plenty of time for getting to the big family meal - for my 70th birthday - at a local (to Son and family) Indian restaurant. 16 of us all together.

It was a very delicious meal, lots of choice with something for everyone to enjoy and DiL made me a gorgeous cake.

"Happy Birthday" was sung to me twice because the 7 sparkler 'candle' lit OK but the 0 wouldn't, so when Son eventually got it going they had to sing all over again!!

Sunday there was an Easter Egg hunt for all 5 Grandchildren in the small garden here and then they hid eggs for us grown ups to find which they thought was great fun so could become a family tradition when we are altogether again at a future Easter.

In the afternoon we had a good walk around a local country park - Thornham Estate - last time we all went was 2019 and there were only 3 grandchildren.

3 small Grandchildren in 2019

                                                        5 bigger Grandchildren in 2025

My children clubbed together to get me a pair of decent binoculars and I also had some other presents from everyone too.

A lovely Big birthday weekend. Thank you to all the family for making it so special.

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Easter Crosses

 Stowmarket Church had an Easter Cross Festival again. I met my friend from Grammar School days for a coffee at the Osier cafe in church and then took a few photos. I don't think there were as many crosses as last year and apologies as photos aren't very good I'm afraid but never mind.

So for Good Friday  just a few of the crosses made by various local groups and schools - oh dear to the big spelling mistake!

I might pop in to blog over Easter depending on what family things we do. Hope you have a good Easter break.

Back soon-ish

Sue

Craft Morning

 Thank you for all the 'Happy Birthday' wishes yesterday. I had some lovely cards and all different.

The new farm shop/café not far from home was having a card making craft morning on my birthday so I booked myself in for my birthday treat.

I've really given up on cardmaking but it was better than housework on a birthday!

The craft was stamping, there were just three other ladies, two had done lots of crafting with the tutor before at various places. 

I've had a go at stamping before for cardmaking but always got frustrated because you really need lots of different stamps and coloured inks etc which I could never afford.

These are what we made

Luckily she didn't try and sell us any 'Stamping Up' Products for which I was grateful.

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£32.20p.................

 ......that's what I came home with on Sunday after getting rid of 3 boxes of stuff  at the Sunday boot-sale.

I did say I'd never sell at boot sale EVER again but there were things that I didn't need and the weather forecast was fine and it seemed a good idea to get stuff out of the way before the Surrey family come up to stay at Easter.

They are here for my Big birthday family meal. The first idea was a party but I said I didn't have enough friends to invite! then someone suggested renting a large holiday house but it happened to be Easter weekend and it would have cost many, many £s! So I said let's just go out for a meal, so that's what we're doing with my sister and husband, Colin's sister and husband and BiL of course plus the 11 of us  and DiL is making a cake, hopefully without 70 candles - that could set the place on fire!

And while the Surrey boys are here I must remember to measure and actually record their heights this time, we completely forgot  to do the latter when they were here in January.

The pirate ship height measuring thing came from garage sales when we were living in Ipswich in 2016

 - when EGS was only a few weeks old. It moved house with me  and  now it's covered with labels - names, dates and height for all 5 grandchildren.

They all  look at it when they visit to see if they are taller/shorter than their cousins were at the same age and to see how much they've grown  - which is just what I hoped when we bought it.

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Bargain Pizza Bases

 Spotted these packs of pizza bases on the stall of a guy who sells food items just past the BBE date at the car-boot sale. 3 packs  for £1 there are two in a pack. This is cheaper than I can make them.

Most of what the guy sells at boot sales is sweets, chocolate, crisps , biscuits and fizzy drinks so I rarely buy from him and his jars of coffee are more expensive than special offers in shops but I usually have a look.

Before popping the pizza bases in the freezer I separated  with the cheap greaseproof paper (also boot sale) so they don't stick together.

To go with them I've made a new batch of pizza toppings for the freezer -

Using 2  cans of drained and chopped plum tomatoes, finely chopped onion, tomato puree and minced garlic  and cook until thickened.. I usually just top with grated cheese and sometimes also slices of mozzarella cheese and very occasionally pepperoni slices. So much cheaper and  better than a bought pizza.

.

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Cuckoo Day?

Today is St Tiburtius Day and traditionally the first day to hear a cuckoo - according to two of the folklore books on my shelves.

The Cuckoo sings from St Tiburtius day to St John's day

BUT unless you are lucky you probably won't hear one now and even less likely to see one. They were very common in the 50's and 60's - we all knew the rhyme 

The Cuckoo comes in April and sings his song in May

In June he changes his tune and in July he flies away

In the 80's Colin used to come home from bridge inspecting out in the countryside with news of the first cuckoo every year. Even in the early 90's we would hear one from the woodland close to the smallholding.

Now I can't remember the last time I heard one. 

So who was Saint Tibertius? According to the legend of St Cecelia  Tibertius was the brother of Valerian, to whom Cecelia was betrothed by her parents. Cecelia was determined not to marry so as to devote herself to God. On their wedding day she told Valerian and was so persuasive  about her faith that he was converted to Christianity and persuaded his brother Tiburtius too. They set about showing their conviction by collecting the bones of Christian Martyrs and giving them a proper burial. When caught they refused to change their belief and were both taken outside of Rome beaten and beheaded.

If you are lucky enough to hear the cuckoo remember to turn the money in your pocket to ensure future prosperity.

Turn your money when you here the Cuckoo and you'll have money in your purse till he comes again.

It's unlucky if the Cuckoo arrives too early before the leaves on the trees................

When the Cuckoo sings on an empty bough,

Keep your hay and sell your cow.

When the Cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,

Sell your cow and buy your corn.

I've certainly never seen a Cuckoo but here's the illustration by Carrie Ackroyd from my lovely book ' A Sparrow's Life's as Sweet as Ours'.

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Moving Through April

Last weekend I went to see the 8 year old EGD in the Dance Show. Chloe Kinkaide - or Miss Chloe as she is known to all her girls - and a few boys - runs ballet, tap and modern dance classes in several places over by the coast. EGD started when she was little and then stopped for a while but has been going again for a few years. Every other year they put on a show and it gets packed out with Mums, Dads, Nans and Grandads as well as brothers, sisters and many other relatives! There were almost 250 children taking part.

I sneaked in a quick photo at the end when nearly everyone was on stage for the final bow. The teeny- tinies are so cute in their tutus. 

One of the books I had from the library van with a-new-to-me-author was a good read, which is handy as he has 17 other books in three different series to look for. The book was The Great Darkness by Jim Kelly details here

I never thought I'd say that I'd given up on an Elly Griffiths book but her new series of a time travelling detective starting with The Frozen People was too odd to bother with. It's science fiction pretending to be modern/ historical crime fiction. I watch Doctor Who but don't read Sci Fi. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime but I've plenty of other reading.

 Boat Race Day on Sunday which traditionally is a must watch for me like the Grand National and The Eurovision Song Contest!  This years UK entry is 'What The Hell Just Happened' by a three girl group called Remember Monday, who I've only just heard of though apparently they've been around a while.

  

 Hope you have a good weekend.

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Imogen Joins the Flock

 I wrote about rescuing the second bamboo duck back in 2017 HERE he's been keeping Merlin (who came from the Tewkesbury Abbey shop way, way back in the early 2,000's) company ever since. Then from the boxes where I found the kitchen bits on yesterdays post I also spotted Imogen.

She's very happy to have company and Merlin and Arthur are happy to have a little lady join them.

Imogen was a bargain duck at 50p but living on the windowsill at the front of the house with the road not far away they really are 'dust collectors'!

I looked up  dcuk  (Duck Company UK) who are still going but the ducks are made overseas now and often painted and wearing wellie boots . I prefer these older original ones - just simply bamboo.

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday - I shall keep doing my early morning walks with a purpose because a 50p find is always a treat! 

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Few Bits for the Kitchen

 Not very exciting but saving pennies is always good and this is  what I spent 50p on. Things from the house clearance boxes. A probable saving of a couple of pounds maybe.

Someone suggested I don't save money as I use the car to get to the boot sale, this is true but I count it as an early morning walk with a purpose and it's only 6 miles down the road so not too drastic. The bigger boot-sale is 9 miles so neither are real budget breakers and I often combine them with shopping etc.

They both get me out of the house on weekend mornings - and believe me - weekends are not always easy when alone (and someone is sure to say she has no problems with weekends!)

Lots of people drive further than that for a McDonalds coffee!

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At Orford Quay

The Angela Harding illustration for spring that nudged me into going to Orford castle and after the castle I went down to the quay. .

Orford Hares

.

The best way to describe the way the rivers of Alde and Ore flow to the sea are by looking at the Wikipedia page HERE

A bigger fishing boat

Small boats anchored in the harbour

Fishermen's huts

Below  is a display from the castle about the story of the  'wild man of Orford' caught by fishermen in the 1100's.

Remembered in the shop, smokehouse and cafe at the harbour

Apologies for people who looked at this post when it briefly escaped yesterday - I didn't notice the date was wrong in drafts.

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Orford Castle

A lovely sunny day with a cold wind but I'd not had an adventure out for weeks so decided to have a day out and the Angela Harding print of the Orford Hares gave me a nudge to use my English Heritage membership for a visit to the castle at Orford before my knees give up completely. It's all steps!....from the car park to the top.

All that is left of the castle built there in the 1160's is the keep on the top of the mound or motte.

When we first moved to the smallholding at Knodishall we could see the light from the lighthouse in the far distance, when the night was clear but  I think English Heritage need to update this board below as the lighthouse was demolished in 2020 - the Wiki report is here

Huge fire dogs in the very large fireplace

One of the display cabinets on the Orford Castle museum floor - I took pictures of the others but the sun made too many reflections.

And then finally, after 100+ steps you get to the top and look at the view all round

My last visit to Orford including the  church visit  was in 2022 the post is  HERE if you want to look.

There's not a huge amount to see at the castle but it's worth the climb to the top for the views. By the time I'd got down again the knees were like jelly and I could hardly walk! Think I need to move from bungalow to a house to give them more exercise!

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