£100 challenge – day seven

Whoop-de-do, I made it a full week on £16.75 so far, I’m below budget! I would dance a jig, except I just stubbed my toe REALLY hard.

There’s no cause to be celebrating just yet anyway. While I’ve already forked out for my ticket to the only paid-for gig I’m going to this month, I do also plan on visiting my parents, who live 80 miles away. I put the details into Google maps, which give a rough idea of petrol costs per journey, and they estimate this will cost £15.80 each way. For comparison, I checked the price of train tickets, which came in at over £40 for an off-peak return. When I’ve told people about this challenge there have been several who  made it clear they were not remotely impressed. “£25 a week?” They scoffed (in a 31- day month it’s actually £22.58), “that’s easy!” And maybe it is if you’re a person who doesn’t expect to go out with friends much or have to travel anywhere except under your own steam. I don’t think it’s that much of a luxury to want to see your relatives every couple of months but any way I can get to them costs a fair whack of the budget.

Today’s breakfast was overnight oats. I love overnight oats so much I made a fan page for them on Facebook! It’s a shame they’re not very photogenic though, especially when using a phone-cam. I have these little plastic pots with lids, I think they hold 400ml which hold 250ml, and they’re ideally sized for making an individual portion of overnight oats that I can take to work. Today’s oats had been covered with a blended up small apple with some water, and then had a sprinkle of flaked almonds and a few dried cherries stirred in.

Like I say, not very attractive, but a good breakfast nonetheless. Lunch was leftover cauliflower-Vegusto in a bread roll with some chutney I made earlier this year (with rhubarb from my garden!) and I think dinner will involve lentils and onions, and maybe a pie I made and froze last month.

In case it sounds like I’ve done nothing but work and eat ( or plan to eat) today, I did also go to the library.

And drank coffee. There’s a luxury I’m not going to run out of in the next couple of months because it’s my favourite brand so whenever it’s on special offer I stock up, and last time I bought six bags!