Blogmas Day Twenty Four - The Last Deliveries of Christmas

 

The last deliveries of Christmas came through my letterbox and door just over a week ago.  I always feel so sorry for the delivery drivers in the two weeks before Christmas, they are so stressed and over-worked, so I really try not to have anything arriving any later than that, and especially not in the last couple of days before Christmas.

There's not been nearly as many Christmas cards this year, although I have not sent many out either.  There were just a few sent to immediate family, with everyone else knowing that the cost of the Christmas card and stamp that they might have had, has instead gone to a local charity.

The Radio Times has been gone through by me, with 'must watch' programmes being circled and the most vital being set to record on the Freeview box, now Alan has it in his house to read through and do the same himself.

The smol washing tabs came literally just in time, as I was just about to use the last one in the washing machine.   Phew!!  It turns out that I  have really got the timing of my ordering worked out well, I must therefore use 48 tabs or two boxes over the space of three months.  This year has been good for finding out my outgoings right down to the nitty gritty.

I don't use any of the other smol products, but if you would like to try their wares they currently have a special offer of a £6 trial pack of their home bundle available HERE, and looking at it it's a really good deal.

Also into the Lodge but not through the letterbox last week was my Christmas cheese order.  Not all to be eaten at Christmas I hasten to add, but available if I want to have some with my crackers.

I do really recommend this company.  Their non-dairy cheeses and butters are not made from soya or coconut oil but instead the predominant ingredient is cashews and other nuts, and the most important thing is that it's really tasty too.

If you are interested you can read all about the company and the cheeses HERE.

My final delivery was my Deliciously Ella goodies.

I ordered these for next years consumption as they had a brilliant offer of an extra 10% off my already 15% reduced prices for being a DE Premium Member, and a twenty five percent discount off things you eat all the time is not to be sniffed at.

Finally, I went to Aldi with my remaining cash from the challenge and bought some of the reduced priced vegetable items.  I didn't need much so I just got a red cabbage, a 1kg bag of carrots and a 2kg bag of potatoes all priced at just 8p each.  A total of £1.93 spent including the full priced Easy Peelers.

We are very lucky in this country to have these supermarket veg wars every year, but I do hope it's not the farmers losing out.

So, that's it then, no more shopping for me this year.  I don't need any more food, and with the last batch of homemade soup frozen there's no room for frozen stuff anyway.  I don't need to buy anything in the sales so I will not be flashing the cash, the plastic or spending in any way until well after the New Year.

I hope all your preparations for Christmas have gone smoothly, whether you do lots with family and friends over the festive period or just relax and see it out calmly and quietly, I hope it's all sorted and done.

Time for a cup of coffee and a mince pie. 

Sue xx  🎄

Blogmas Day Twenty Three - Enter at Your Peril

 

Oh the Grinch sums it up so well.  😄

The first cup of the coffee for me has to be drunk in solitude.  If I'm not reading I don't mind the television being on with YouTube entertaining me while I arrive slowly into my day, but I do not want anyone to chatter away to me ... and even worse expect any kind of response.  

You have been warned, enter my little morning bubble at your peril!!

Sue xx  🎄

Blogmas Day Twenty Two - Poetry and Ballet

 

Artwork by Rosie Hardy

I found this on Facebook and it really resonated with me.

They saw her in the library

Discarded on a chair

And her glossy, shiny cover

Made them notice she was there.

They picked her up and held her

For a minute, maybe three

They said she was exquisite

The most beautiful they'd seen

They thought not of her pages

Simply stared at her in awe

Then they put her on the bookshelf

As they headed out the door

So they never knew the words she chose

To mark her journey's start

And they didn't read the reams and reams

Of kindness at her heart

They didn't read the things she hid

In pages left untouched

Or the hellos and goodbyes she'd said

Of people that she loved

They didn't read the chapters

Where she set herself apart

And they never read the lines she wrote

Of how they'd played their part

They didn't turn the pages

On her struggles and her strengths

And they missed the ripped-up paper

Where she'd torn herself to shreds

They never read the parts

About the places she had been

Or the people she had helped

Or the wonders she had seen

So when anybody asked them

What it was that she was like

They realised they had no idea

What she was like inside

See, they'd told her she was beautiful

Because of how she looked

But they'd just admired her cover

And they'd never read her book.

Becky Hemsley 2020

We went to our annual watching of The Nutcracker the other night, it's the live link up to cinemas from The Royal Opera House in London, shared all over the world as well as in the UK.  As usual it was absolutely magical. We both thought that the choreography was even better this year. 

 Before settling down to watch the ballet with a glass of wine we had fish and chips in the restaurant that's next to the cinema ... which has also turned into something of a tradition.  

Sue xx  🎄

Blogmas Day Twenty One - Clocking Off for Christmas

 

The work is complete, I'm clocking off from the day job for Christmas ... well I did last night really.   A good thing is, that unless we have revisions to do I will not be clocking on again in the New Year, as all the work left to complete the contracts we have, are solely in Alan's domain.

Woohoo, it's time to celebrate, I have to admit I also did that last night. 😄

When we had our visitors the other day we all went to the garden centre for breakfast, they had to leave mid afternoon to get back to Scotland so a lunch would have sat far too heavy on a long drive, but breakfast and then coffee and cake at ours, before they left was just perfect.  

After we had eaten our various choices of breakfast and chatted over coffees we browsed the shelves of our lovely local garden centre.  My sister-in-law fell in love with a beautiful wool sweater, so that solved her fiancé's Christmas gift buying problem and I just had to have the little felted mouse holding a lollipop and the little ceramic light-up house.

I only usually buy myself one little addition to the Christmas decorations each year, but this year I have really splashed out ... and bought three.  🎄

Sue xx  🎄

Blogmas Day Twenty - Final Shopping and Round-Up of My Year Long Challenge

 

As mentioned on last Sunday's post, I decided that my final weeks shopping, including a lot of things to be bought for Christmas, would be from Sainsbury's.  I had £45 available in Nectar points when I got the self-serve tills ... so I used them all, I thought I might as well see this challenge out with a flourish.

As you should be able to make out from this receipt, as well as my £45 worth of Nectar points I had to spend £5.47 of my cash.  As I had £8.45 in cash still available in the Challenge I managed to keep under budget for the year - just!!

So after a year of spending £100 a month on groceries and other items in the shops, I have a grand total of £2.98 left over from my £1,200 budget. 

Although I am officially finishing the Challenge here and now, I have earmarked that cash to take advantage of the supermarkets annual vegetable wars. What doesn't get eaten from them over the Christmas period will be processed and frozen to use in the new year.

A close up of the food.  

The chicken was for Ginger and Mavis, they eat a lot of chicken these days alongside their cat and dog food.  The cakes were for our guests ... and the Yule Log is all mine I tell you ... ALL MINE!! 😄

The same food, only more to the right.

Todays Currency Conversion

 If I didn't have a Nectar card this shop would have cost me £56.37 which is equal to:

US Dollars    $71.63

Canadian Dollars    $102.58

Australian Dollars    $113.40

Euro     68.27

New Zealand Dollar - $124.81

Always an interesting comparison to make.

Over the course of the year I have also been keeping tabs on the freebies that I have managed to get.  These have included the free giveaways from Booths, as well as the rewards from me having a Booths card, things bought with the Nectar points or the vouchers from my M&S credit card.  

Over the year it seems to have added up quite nicely, and I have managed to get £121.95 worth of food items for free.  Obviously, I have used most of them, but Alan has also benefitted a couple of times and of course Mavis got the doggy ice-cream.  😀🐶

It's been a good year but rather than carry it over to Christmas week I have decided to end now.  I am also allowing myself two orders which I put in a couple of days ago.  One to 'I Am Nut Ok' a handmade vegan cheese company, and one to Deliciously Ella, both had really good offers that I would have been crazy not to partake of.  

Most of the food on the orders is actually for January or early next year, so although some of the cheeses might be consumed over Christmas I have no guilt whatsoever at not including them in the Challenge costs.

Thanks to everyone who has followed along with this Challenge, and especially thank you for all your words of encouragement, they really helped.

What am I doing next year you might be wondering?  Well next year is a very strange year for me so I am having a long hard think about things before I decide to do anything.  Whatever I do decide to do will be out of real necessity.   😐

Sue xx  🎄