Saturday 31 March 2012

No Waste Tastes Great - 29th Mar

I haven't forgotten but having upgraded my operating system my camera software no longer works and I'm still trying to sort out how best to deal with getting photos off the camera now!!

The Big Unplug

So...it's nearly time for 'The Big Unplug' (thanks to Rachel)


I am going to have to adapt the rules a little due to the fact my flat is on the market and of course a lot of the communication is done via text message and email. Yes, I could tell them they need to phone my landline and only my landline but to be honest I just don't trust them to get it right!!!

My Rules

I won't go on the internet other than to listen to internet radio. I have no stereo now so my only source of radio is web based and I really would go insane without music. So no facebook, no blogging etc etc etc...(the small caveat to this will be that I may have to check specific websites for work)

I will check my personal email at 7pm. I will ignore anything that doesn't relate to my flat.  I won't check eBay, the blogs I follow or zombie surf!!! (Again I will have to use my work email as usual)

My mobile phone will be off for 'most' of the day. I will set a message on my answerphone to say I won't be using that number and give my landline number. I will listen to music on the train to and from work, but for these periods it will be in airplane mode meaning no-one will be able to phone or text me and I won't be able to connect to the internet.  Once a day, at 7pm I will turn it on so that any text messages/voicemail messages (for those that ignored my answerphone message) can come through. I will only respond to those that relate to my flat. (Unfortunately I also have a Blackberry for work but as I am not 'on call' I will try not to check it, if anyone from work needs me badly enough they'll get hold of me and that is very unlikely!)

No TV. I will allow myself to watch no more than two DVDs during the week as we have a long weekend and knowing the UK it will rain!

So here I am publicly announcing my intent - and no the irony of announcing this online is not lost on me!!


Sunday 25 March 2012

No Waste Tastes Great - 23rd Mar 12

I didn't post this on Friday evening as I was taking part in an Unplug Day

 Top shelf - choccie philly, cheese, half a tin of beans
Middle shelf - spread, alpro almond milk, alpro choc desert
Bottom shelf - beetroot, chocolate
Drawer - condiments, half a punnet of baby plum tomatoes, most of a cucumber
Door - butter, Baileys, water, coke, soya milk, vanilla soya milk, punch

Not a bad week - the philly and cheese are in date as are all the alpro products.  I'm going to have a toasted cheese and tomato sarnie for lunch (and I might even put some beans in it too!)
There is potential for the cucumber to be an issue as I haven't decided what my lunch plans are for this week - i guess whatever they end up beingthey need to incorporate cucumber!

Monday 19 March 2012

Once I get going...

So - the sofa bed and the far right display cabinet from this picture are on eBay...
...as is the wardrobe from this one...
...plus miscellaneous other things!!

Friday 16 March 2012

De-clutter update

So it's been a while since I mentioned de-cluttering (other than the eBay sales bit!).  Well, I've just put my flat on the market which meant I had to take lots of photo's ready for the sale. (No I don't know what I'm paying the housing association for!). Anyway I thought I would post the pictures here so you can see how much has changed since I started the blog.
So, here we have the front room.  I'm considering selling/donating a lot of my cd's. They are virtually all on my laptop and iPhone and I can't remember the last time I actually got one out! The videos (that you can just see middle right) are on their way out. I have bought a piece of kit that in theory means I can copy the videos to my computer and then to DVD. Once that's done the videos and the video recorder can go! I've also decided to sell my stereo as again I use the laptop.
It may not look like it but I have thinned out my Myth and Magic collection quite a lot.  The cabinet nearest the window doesn't have any M&Ms in it now which is quite an achievement. I'm hoping to get down to just three.
I'd like the kitchen worktops to be clearer but one step at a time. I'm thinking of selling the bread maker as I haven't used it in ages and ages.
The sleeping end of the bedroom. Love my mattress on the floor! The 'unit' that the TV is on is actually a couple of boxes that I've kept for packing things up for the next move! The bookcase is full of scrapbooks and photo albums. There is a small part of me that would love to burn the scrapbooks but I'm pretty sure I never will! (lol)
The 'other' end of the bedroom. I admit to cheating and clearing all the boxes off the top of the wardrobe before I took the picture.  I have thinned out a load of clothes and shoes but there is still some more to go. I will be selling the wardrobe as it is huge and the thought of dismantling it and moving it fills me with dread!
I love my desk and will most definitely be keeping it (even if it is heavy). 

So moving house, the perfect opportunity to de-clutter...watch this space...

No Waste Tastes Great - 16h Mar

Not bad...
Top shelf - cheese, choccie philly, half a tin of beans
Middle shelf - almond milk, soya desserts (both free from Alpro at Victoria station!), 3 x Baileys cheesecakes
Bottom shelf - beetroot, chocolate
Door - 1 x egg, butter, baileys, water, diet coke, soya milk, vanilla soya milk, punch

Well the left over ricotta and philly didn't make it to pasta but got made into the 3 cheesecakes this evening! I think they may be a bit more alcoholic than the original recipe as I was guestimating with the leftover quantities!!

The egg and beans will be scrambled egg and beans on toast at some point this weekend.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Spending Update - Feb/Mar

I think I've done pretty well this month considering!!

Transfer £200
Bank £28.18
Wallet £1.00
Change £17.58

Total £246.76

I made about £200 on eBay and have booked a tour to Stonehenge for the summer solstice!!

I also managed to keep a pretty good track of everything I spent during the month and have produced the below pie chart so you can see what I spend my money on (I'm a bit nervous about this!!)

I couldn't work out how to put a spreadsheet on the blog so I took a photo of the screen!!
The categories are - treats / groceries / takeway / savings / bills / charity / misc

In percentages of my monthly salary
treats - 15%
groceries - 7%
takeaway - 4%
savings - 15%
bills - 57%
charity - 3%
misc - 1%
(somehow this adds up to 102%, I blame the rounding up!!)

This month my treats have been higher than normal as I had afternoon tea for a friends leaving do, a weekend away for another friends wedding, a ticket to a show at Shakespeare's Globe in London and a ticket for the Cirque du Soleil Immortal show at the O2. There was also a reflexology session, getting my nails done and a couple of other bits and bobs.  I think the fact that my treats and savings equal the same percentage is a pretty good balance personally.

The groceries category basically covered all the general food, toiletries etc that were purchased in the month with the takeaway covering just that. I allow myself one lunchtime takeaway (and by that I mean a pre-prepared lunch rather than a lunch I made myself and took to work) and one evening takeaway a week.

By far the biggest category was bills - as expected. This covers all the outgoings that I basically can't do anything about, rent/mortgage, phone bill, electric, tv licence, life insurance, contents insurance etc. It's quite scarey how big a number this worked out to be.

I'm in the process of putting my flat on the market so am going to have to dig into the savings so it's a good job I've been putting money aside!!

Leave a comment, let me know I'm not just typing to myself!

Sunday 11 March 2012

No Waste Tastes Great - 9th Mar

Yes I know it's the 11th but the photo's were taken on Friday evening!

Top shelf - cheese, choccie philly, philly, ricotta, cream
Middle shelf - spread
Bottom shelf - beetroot, chocolate, some beans, a few cooked veggies
Drawers - condiments, some swede, carrot, cabbage, sprouts
Door - 3 eggs, butter, Baileys, water, soya milk, punch

Things went a little awry this week as we had a food stall at work on Thursday for International Women's day. I made a chocolate cake and some individual Baileys Cheesecakes. The chocolate cake is the reason for there being some cream and the cheesecakes explain the philly and ricotta.  One of the other girls made the most delicious chicken curry which I had for lunch on Thursday and then bought a second portion to have for lunch on Friday which would have still fitted with my plans. Friday morning though a few of us at work decided to go for a cooked breakfast (or a 'fat boy' as we call it). It was also someones birthday and their other half had baked a Victoria Sponge and a chocolate cake. So a full English, then a slice of Victoria Sponge with a cuppa mid morning, some choccie cake at lunch time and it was clear the chicken curry would be coming home for Friday nights tea!!  That's why there are veggies left over!

The beans got eaten Saturday on toast as an early lunch before heading away for the weekend to a friends wedding.  The rest of the veggies will be cooked tonight and the philly and ricotta will probably be turned into some sort of pasta sauce type thing in the next couple of days! I know Mum is making me up a fruit salad which I will have with the cream so that will take care of that.  The only potential waste may be the small tub of cooked veggies but I'm hoping if I cook up all the veg that is left there will be some to add to that and they can be had as bubble and squeak tomorrow.

Friday 2 March 2012

No Waste Tastes Great - 2nd March 2012

Not bad...

Top shelf - cheese (in date)
Middle shelf - spread (in date)
Bottom shelf - beetroot, chocolate, a couple of tablespoons of cream
Left drawer - condiments
Right drawer - celery
Door - butter, Baileys, water (Mums), diet coke, soya milk, vanilla soya milk, punch

So it's only really the celery and cream that'll need using up. I intend to make a soup of some sort as I also have some new potatoes that are currently cooking and some will be for tea tonight and I'm thinking the rest can be blitzed with the cooked celery and some stock and maybe some of the cheddar!!

The cream will be had with a small tin of fruit salad later.

Thanks as always to Jo for keeping me on the straight and narrow.