So, Friday (the 5th) got off to an OK start, I decided not to go for the power walk and instead made homemade lentil soup to take to work for lunch! It was a *very* long day at work, I began by about 7:30 and left close to 6pm, without even stopping for lunch – I ate my lentil soup at my desk! By the time 6pm rolled around I was running late to meet friends for drinks. I have a group of friends I try to meet up with once a month for drinks. One thing I like about this group is that we are all very conscious of whose turn it is to buy drinks, this always makes it a more enjoyable experience. I have another friend (who lives in Devon so I don’t see her much) who will take take take, always wants to split the bill 50/50 if she has more expensive food (even when her meal/drinks come to £10 more) and yet will insist everyone pays for what they ordered if hers is 50 pence cheaper, not nice! I digress….anyways, these friends rightly remembered I’d done the rounds last time so I enjoyed 2 glasses of rose wine and didn’t spend. Now, I would never have expected people to treat me because I’m on a budget. I still had £3 left in my entertainment allowance (£10 a week) and would of happily had a lime & soda and water. I don’t need alcohol to enjoy myself and never expect to be treated, but it was a nice surprise! However, it’s been a while since I had two glasses of strong wine and I did feel it today!
The results for the 5th:
Daily Speed Walking session: 4/20 (no change here)
Vegan Day: 5/30
No Spending: 4/20
Water 8 glasses – however I drank them before I had alcohol and the results were I felt very dehydrated today!
Food today: Breakfast: fruit salad, lunch: lentil soup with a roll from the freezer and plums, dinner: pesto pasta with frozen broccoli (warmed up, obviously!)
Today- Saturday September 6th!
Woke up feeling groggy, surely not just due to two glasses of wine but also the weather and lack of water after wine. Decided I needed to fix this by stepping up with the exercising and water consumption! So I headed out the door and enjoyed a 2 hour walk at a park. I brought lots of water with me and had a brilliant time. I did some exercises in the park and felt much better by the time I arrived home, a hot shower helped!! I then walked to the store to do the supermarket shop! It was a very successful visit, I did lots of putting things back from the cart and looking for alternatives and got the shop to £13.29!
So here is what I bought:
- Orange & Mango juice £1.45
- Vegan roll £.35
- Organic Houmous £0.98 (small pot)
- Fine Oatcakes – (these are crackers not cakes!) £0.74
- Two vegetarian burgers £1.99
- Two carrots £0.14
- Mini tin of baked beans £0.33
- Radishes £0.59
- Two museli muffins (vegan) £1.30
- One tiny loose tomato £0.21
- One granny smith apple £0.21
- Small bunch of asparagus £1.49
- One lemon £0.35
- One pear £0.29
- Small bag of oranges (on sale) £1
- Small bag of rocket (on sale) £1
- 1/3rd a cucumber £0.32
- Beansprouts (sale) £0.55
TOTAL: £13.29
I went without a few things I wanted including grapes, aubergine/eggplant and a pepper but there’s always next week! The shop could have come in under £13 but a very nice older gentleman found me my breakfast muffins and he accidentally put two in, I didn’t have the heart to tell him so that bumped it into the £13 range!!
After unpacking the groceries and enjoying my vegetarian burger on vegan roll I decided to go for another walk and did a 45 minute speed walk locally. I’m still drinking lots of water to recover from yesterday. I have quite the headache which I think is the weather, anyone else get headaches when it rains?? I know Dr’s say they atmospheric pressure doesn’t cause headaches but I swear they do for me!!
Daily Speed Walking session: 5/20
Vegan Day: 6/30
No Spending: 4/20 (no change)
Water 9 glasses so far!
Alternative Exercise Goal: 1/4
Meals today were fruit for breakfast, lunch was a veggie burger on roll with tomato and a pot of apple puree (left over from previous shop!), dinner a VERY YUMMY lentil, bulgar wheat, bean sprout and asparagus balsamic stir-fry! WOW it was good :0)
Vegan living is yummy, frugal and I really think I’m getting into a groove!
Hope everyone’s September goals are going well! Thank you for the awards, I’ll post about them tomorrow. I’m still about 2 months behind as Sharon and Sandie both gave me an award some time ago, hopefully tomorrow I’ll catch up!
p.s. Anyone else watch X Factor tonight? I’ve been left crying because of the story of the final contestant – 38 year old man whose wife died after giving birth to their daughter 11 months ago. He sang a beautiful song (Sometimes when we touch, by Dan Hill) I’m sitting here in tears, wow was it sad!
Hi there!! I always moan to hubby about putting on X Factor, then have tears in my eyes too!! Yes, he was good, so was the girl who sung Whitney Houstons song! Sorry, for deviating-you’re doing extremely well, you are such an inspiration!! Well done on the exercise and have a lovely evening!
Thanks Sharon rose! I’m glad I’m not the only one. I don’t usually cry but I was so very moved by his story. Oh yes the girl who sang Whitney Houston was good too!
Thanks, I struggle to see how I could inspire anyone but I’m glad you think so :0)
I smiled at your friend who veers towards the take, take attitude.
I have a friend who veers towards the give, give attitude and we always have a friendly squabble when it comes to paying the bill, each insisting that the other paid last time and so “it’s my turn to pay”.
I was reading an article in The Times today of a teacher who went a whole year living on £1 a day – unfortunately I didn’t get the title of the book she wrote – but I thought of you – and the fact that I think your blog could be made into a book too.
it is nice that you and your friends manage split up evenly when you have drinks together
are you comfrotable talking about budget ’round your friends? We have told some people we know and get made fun of (i’m not kidding you!) so we just keep our mouths shut. you inspired me to try bulgar wheat and I am loving it! I made bulgar wheat & pinto bean jambalaya last week, it was delicious (and vegan!)
I have been to London and loved it. I can only imagine how expensive it is. I can live on $1100 a month here in the midwest, USA. Good luck on your weight loss. I’m have 150 more lbs to lose. Check out my website. Feel free to drop me an email or sign my guestbook. I think a british penpal would be really cool.
do you have a recipe for that lentil stirfry? It sounds yum. well done!
Sandie, my friend is the 100% opposite of yours!
lol thanks for the compliment!
I have read that article, will do a post on it!
Neiman – yes I am. I have actually had 3 friends ask me to help them with budgets since I started this. People at work comment daily on how healthy I eat and are amazed at how cheaply I do my grocery shopping – even the single ones spend 2-3x what I do a week. Sorry your friends weren’t supportive, perhaps because they know it’s something they should be doing?
Christine, that would be impossible here! A one bed flat is about $2000 a month bills not included
Deepali – absolutely! I didn’t measure so I’ll guestimate (LOL)!
Christine – my eating & exercising isn’t really focused around any weight loss, for me I’m trying to really remember my body is a temple, that means I need to always have balance: spiritual, emotional, financial and physical well-being. While I’ve always eaten healthily, I’m far more conscious since I started downshifting of how much I need vs how much I want in all areas of my life!
Good Luck, I’ll certainly check your site out!
It’s interesting always to see how you shop. I tend to always grab for pieces of fruit (apples, pears, plums, etc)… Even with 2 of us, I never just get 2… (unless they’re pomegranates or asian pears, which are expensive)
You’ve done so awesome this week, it’s been great to follow your journey!!