January - An expensive month

I do hope we don't have too many months like this one or the savings won't last a year, let alone until pension time.The money has zoomed out of the bank in all directions

Car Tax

MOT

New Mattress

New shoes

Electric bill 

Dehumidifier

Frying pan

Flea stuff and wormer for the cat

Bird feed
not forgetting the £2.99 for a new washing up bowl!

as well as the normal things like council tax, water and diesel. On the plus side the food bill was well down and my personal spending amounted to £2 for a bunch of flowers and £3.49 for 3 books.

Thankfully we now have 2 months without Council Tax and water and then we'll have moved, although the Council Tax in Ipswich will be the same as here - crazy considering the difference in size. In fact all our bills will be more in Ipswich which makes me wonder why we are moving!

 But we wanted to leave the garden looking like this

Summer 2013

rather than the completely overgrown wreck that we found when we moved here. We wanted to leave a campsite that could be taken on as a going concern and a house that was in good decorative order. It would have been difficult, even impossible, with Col's illness for us to do all the things that need doing when you own 5 acres  - and there's no way I could keep everything going on my own.
So we will squeeze ourselves into the little bungalow, get Colin well again and then decide "what next?" 

February will be better month on the expenses front. I'm having another no spend month - except food and diesel - like I tried last November, to make up for January I need February to extra frugal.

The form I mentioned yesterday wasn't too bad at all because at question 4 it said "do you have cancer?" and then  " if yes, you do not need to fill in the rest of this form except the last page". Col said "Oh yes I remember the Macmillan lady on the phone saying that!" So we just need to take the form to hospital with us next week to get the back page filled in by the right person and it can be sent. Good.We have a special ticket for cheap parking at the hospital - £3 for 10 visits which is better than £1 an hour and Col will get free prescriptions although he had a pre-payment card anyway because of the heart medications. So that's all that sorted.

I've just tuned into Andy M in the Australian tennis final and Oh Dear he's just lost the first set 6-1. Fingers crossed for rapid improvement!

(Edited in to say - just heard the sad news that Sir Terry Wogan has died age 77. I listened to him in the mornings way, way back in the 80s, he had such a good relationship with his listeners.)

Back Tomorrow - Probably but not definitely
Sue

How one book leads to another

Toward the end of last year I read My Life In Houses by Margaret Forster.    I'd not read any of Forster's books before but it had  popped up on my Amazon suggested reading list because I'd looked up Angela Thirkell's - Three Houses.  A couple of people suggested her other autobiography "Hidden Lives", which I ordered  and picked up from the library van. Now I've just finished and enjoyed that - though it's not a particularly happy memoir - and thought perhaps I should check out her fiction even though I assumed they were a bit too literary for my taste but 'Diary of an Ordinary Woman'  sounded interesting. Now here's the weird bit ................. I went to Leiston this morning for milk and to check out the new EACH charity shop, in fact I went round all 5 charity shops we now have and found nothing I wanted/needed at all. So heading back to Co-op, passed the hardware shop which has a basket of  (usually tatty) second-hand books outside with a SCF collecting box attached, and there, sticking up in the top was Margaret Forster - Diary of an Ordinary Woman. How odd is that! needless to say I popped 50p in the collecting box and the book into my bag!

It's sods law  that the day after I posted  Cols doctors note form thing off to an office up north, attaching a stamp (to apply for any benefit he might be entitled to) we then get a letter in the post containing a pre-paid envelope for us to use? Damn - my efficiency cost me 54p!!
 But before that note could have possibly got to the right place we had a letter to say he is eligible for £73 a week -  that's good but in another letter on the same day, we had a giant form to fill in and return which says if you don't return it you won't get the £73 a week!
In all the 34 years Col worked for the County Council he only twice had more than a week off work and we never claimed a thing when he was self-employed and unable to work due to the heart problems. So it will be quite an 'adventure' claiming anything - but I fear not in a good way!

Thank you for all the comments yesterday

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The end of another week

How does it get round to Friday so quickly and why did it take longer to get to the end of the week when I was at school? ( don't answer that as I know it's an age thing!).

Nothing of any note to post about really.
 I've packed a couple more boxes, put another book and some tea plates in the charity shop bag. Which reminds me, Thanks for charity shop comments. I did know that most charity shops operate the one day rule so that items have to go out on the shelves for a day before volunteers can buy them and I also know that most volunteers are nice people but I can only say what I hear - in two charity shops in Woodbridge the other day I heard ladies moaning about their manager and the 2 ladies who work on Tuesdays in Leiston Hospice shop are always bitching about someone and rarely pause to say Thank You when you take in a donation. The EACH ( East Anglian Childrens Hospice) shop opens in Leiston today. I thought about biking down to see what they had in but it's blowing a gale, quite chilly and I wanted to listen to Andy Murray's semi-final from the Australian Open. I need milk tomorrow so I'll go and have a look then.

We had a lovely card and letter in the post yesterday from a penfriend who reads this blog. Her husband was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma 23 years ago, had chemotherapy and was declared completely clear 10 years later and is still well. That's the sort of letter that cheers up a grey day. So thank you SW in Birmingham for the letter and the gift. Much appreciated.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Thrifty Thursday and a not much news day

Yesterday after posting I decided it was time for a new header. It took me an age to remember how to change the picture, I should have made a note as I went along. The blog is heading towards 3 years old and this is my 3rd different header. Thank you to everyone who said they liked it, it's from a postcard.( probably copyrighted - whoops! but I'll do a new one once we've moved house). While typing this I was wondering how many of the blogs I read were around 3 years ago and it's quite a few, but many more are newer writers.

Thank you also for comments yesterday.
In reply :-
 I think Bovey Belle is right about some people getting the best picks in charity shops, I've often thought it would be good to volunteer in one but then sometimes  hear the volunteers talking and they are usually gossiping about the manager or the other volunteers. The Hospice shop in Leiston is the worst for this, there are two women who work there who are always saying quite nasty things about people they know. Not a nice atmosphere to work in.
The reason we have quite large bird feeders is because Col bought some mesh and made them years ago. We wanted some that were quite weighty and wouldn't blow about in the wind. The bottoms are jar lids wired on and the tops are whatever he could find to fit over.
Our son is a lovely fella, drove us nuts as a child as he spent his whole time tormenting his older and younger sisters!The job he has at the moment - working on old World War II USAF bases - is so perfect for him as he did his dissertation for his Archaeology degree on almost the very same subject. I think in a way he would still like to be just digging up interesting things! but there's not much of a living to be made in that sort of archaeology job.

Thrifty Thursday Thoughts - not many
 Cut an inch off the bottom of a pair of Col's trousers and turned them up to stop them getting grubby. They were from a charity shop and I've been getting around to this job for about a year!
Free heat and hot water as usual
Home made bread as usual.
Used our own beetroot, leeks and apples from store.
Reading library books for free
Celery soup from the outside stalks of a very poor quality head of celery.
I gave Col a free hair cut!

I see  Google Friend Connect is doing funny things again. 3 new people - welcome Carolyn, triplebc and Nessas crafty place but numbers are down by 4. Odd.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

Bits and Bobs, Birds and Books.

Thank you all for so many interesting and helpful comments yesterday, food for thought.

We listened to Radio Suffolk yesterday to hear our son talk about the work he is doing recording the details of what's left of the Air Force base at Martlesham on the edge of Ipswich. He is teaching volunteers from the General Public how to record historic buildings. Each week for the next couple of months he'll be doing the same thing at all the airfields that were used by the USAF 8th in East Anglia. He then came over here for dinner and to bring a couple of loads of washing because their washing machine packed up. Mums are still good for doing the washing even when their children have been moved away for more than 10 years! He brought a beautiful bunch of flowers as a thank you, there were enough for two jugs absolutely gorgeous!

While here he helped Col move a few heavy things onto the trailer ready for moving to the bungalow and other stuff into the horse box trailer for storage.

I fancied a trip out so went to Woodbridge this morning, stocked up on more prunes from The Grape Tree and did a tour of most of the charity shops. A few years ago I would have relished a morning wandering round the shops but the chances of finding anything exciting in charity shops has diminished so much that's it's hardly worth the effort. All I picked up was a hardback copy of Agatha Christies "And Then There Were None' from the Oxfam Bookshop for £1.99.

 This was on TV over Christmas but we didn't watch it and I'd not read it. I hadn't realised this was originally called " Ten Little Niggers" and when that was a word that wasn't polite to use it was changed to "Ten Little Indians" which then again had to be changed. The TV film must have renewed interest in the book as there is a new paperback edition coming out next month.

Ipswich hospital join with MacMillan Cancer Care and Suffolk County Council to provide help and information for people with cancer and after a call from Col's link nurse, she sent forms and a phone number and Col rang it yesterday and it looks as if we are entitled to a bit of money - Good news indeedy! We thought that because we have savings we wouldn't qualify but maybe we do. Lots more phone calls, forms and information to sort and a meeting with someone next week, but anything that helps the savings stretch will be good.

 The weather has been really rough here today and the birds have been backwards and forwards to the feeders non stop.

Just wish they'd keep still long enough to get a decent photo.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Coping with cancer

 We were talking about how different people we knew coped with cancer. My mum had breast cancer but was also severely disabled with rheumatoid arthritis and she never mentioned the cancer at all, almost pretending she didn't have it. Col's Mum had breast cancer which later spread. She was in hospital several times over the years and we heard every detail of every operation. Each time Col's Dad came back from visiting hospital he would spend a couple of hours on the phone ringing everyone to tell them the latest news. After Col's first chemo session his Dad rang to find out how he was and spoke to Col. But then he phoned again just a couple of days later, when Col wasn't here and I had difficulty telling him that Col was the same as he had been two days earlier and there just wasn't anything more I could say. I really hate having to go into all the details of illness. Tell people it's cancer, a bit frightening and worrying, yes, but then get on with coping with it. I'm not good on the phone unless it's a business call so if I answer the phone and it's someone wanting to know how he is I pass the phone over to him! I may even avoid answering the phone when he's not here! I asked him how he thought his way of coping was and he said "probably grin and bear it and moan a bit!" I don't know if this will change as we progress through.


 I'll miss this when we move.

 It works a treat over the Rayburn to finish getting things dry on short winter days. In the bungalow we will be gas and electric. We will miss our Rayburn and wood-burner but after doing all the wood hauling, fire cleaning and laying, by myself, for the last couple of months maybe I won't miss them as much as I thought!

Thank you for all the comments yesterday. Only John at Going Gently could have left the comment he did! Honestly that man has a 8 year old's toilet humour!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Monday Memories

I don't really do Facebook - though I am on there somewhere but Col uses his page more often and he said everyone is posting photos of themselves when very young. You can guess where our photo albums are -  In- A- Box - and I refuse to open a box just to find a picture of Col aged 4!


But this is the photo our eldest put on her Facebook page. H and her brother M aged about 3 and 1½, we're not sure which beach, but I think Southwold. Cardi's knitted by Col's mum, a much missed Nana who made so many of their cardigans, jumpers, hats and mittens. Sadly Nana Sue won't be a knitting Nana, maybe I'll be the book Nana!- a wonderful excuse to search out lovely children's books from charity shops!

Son M - the now 6 foot plus archaeologist  will be on Radio Suffolk tomorrow afternoon talking with Leslie Dolphin about the Eighth in the East project. 

Out to Leiston this morning. Col went to the doctors to pick up a couple of things to help with the side effects of chemo, I went in the Co-op and Building Society which put me into temptation because they are fund raising for a charity by selling second-hand books for £1 each, and I found this, a hardback from the 1970's

a few years ago I wouldn't have looked twice at this but Persephone have re-printed 3 of  her books recently which I enjoyed so I thought I would bring this home and add it to the boxes. I looked on Amazon to see what they were selling for and some of her books are crazy prices. Not this one though - it's only worth a fiver!

I've finished the first of my library books - Silent Nights, Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards. One of the British Library Crime Classic reprints. It is short mystery stories dating from the 1890s (Conan Doyle) to the 1950s. Some were by well known authors  such as Edgar Wallace and Dorothy L Sayers and others long forgotten. A good read.

It's so interesting how the National newspapers have picked up Mean-Queen-Ilona's story from her local paper. I looked at the Daily Mail on line article where there were 100s of comments - some quite nasty and then Col said Radio Suffolk were talking about it this morning and her story had also been featured in The Sun on line. They seem to think she must be miserable living how she does but those of us who read her blog know she's certainly never miserable - a little odd sometimes maybe, but a kind, thoughtful and independent lady. I normally avoid anything to do with national daily papers but decided to register on line to have my tuppence worth and speak up for Ilona's thrifty-ness.
Many years ago we were featured in the local paper as being The Self-sufficient family and a few days later someone from the Daily Mirror turned up on the doorstep ( this was before the age of internet) and wanted an interview. I'm so glad I refused.

Many Thanks for comments yesterday
Back Tomorrow
Sue