This week's round up

I haven't had much luck with the yellow stickers recently but did pick up some reduced bananas and pears this week in Morrisons.  I don't usually shop there as it's the other side of town for me so an unexpected bonus when I picked up some dry cleaning.

Lots of people in blogland have been opening their sealed pots recently.  Here's ours.  We only fill it with 5p, 2p and 1p coins so it's not a lot of money saved over the year.

This year's total was a grand £19.42!! Not exactly a fortune but it all adds up :-)

Today I decided to do a major clearout of my cupboards and chest freezer.  These are my onions.  They're lasting well.  I just stored them under the sink in a basket.  Seems to suit them!

Oh dear!! This is the freezer contents *insert embarrassed face* Lots of un named items and many with no dates.  I'm afraid I was ruthless and chucked out a lot of stuff.  I found a few things at the bottom that I don't even remember buying. 

I've also cleaned out my store cupboard although it's not actually tidied yet.  I've finally made a gluten free shelf and a Teenager shelf so we can each see at a glance what ingredients and 'treats' we have in stock.  Actually more than I thought!! And several opened packets of the same thing!! Oops!

I've totalled up my Nectar points and I have around £94 worth this year.  So that's almost £115 included the sealed pot contents.  I'm going re stock my freezer for Christmas, make a load of meals for my oldest DS to keep in his freezer for when he's not well enough to cook and get some Christmassy foods for the local food bank. 

And finally, I heard yesterday I've got an interview for both jobs at my school :-) It's in January so I'll have the holidays to swot!!

Small things

Love this quote and it suits my mood following all the talk of food banks in the blogosphere.  A few extra tins in my weekly shop will add up to a bagful each month to help out someone who needs it.

Bothered about food banks

This has been bothering me since I first read Jack's post last night.  I follow Jack's blog and on Facebook too so when she posted a link there as well, I shared it.  Coincidentally a friend also posted last night a plea from my local food bank for donations.  Again, I shared it asking my local friends to also share it.

Both posts got 1 response each.  One from a friend who actually volunteers her services at a food bank and a friend who works within the charity sector herself and sees life at the sharp end.  In other words, 2 people who are already aware of the need.

No one else has since liked, shared or commented on either link.

This has bothered me since and I'm trying to work out why.  I sometimes post links to funny dog clips (lots of my friends have dogs too) and they get lots of likes and shares.  I guess thinking about food poverty just isn't funny.

Sue has written a great post about it too and what we can do about it so I don't need to say much more.

I consider myself fortunate to have always had a roof over my head.  But when I unexpectedly become a single mum life was a struggle financially until I got myself together.  I know what it feels like to constantly worry about having enough money just to survive. 

So I've packed a box for my local food bank and plan to do this on a regular basis.  It's not much but lots of small actions add up to a big one