Keeping away from the Jones and leading my frugal life diary

redsquirrel80

Big hugs for thinking about your dad.

You sound very organised - good stuff

fssjt

Hi,

just read this post, I agree with what everyone is saying.

I think now is the time to capitalise on green stuff: I just thought maybe you also try a bit of spin (politician style!). "I only fly once a year/don't fly/fly short distances - to reduce my carbon footprint..." "Actually we would like not to have a car all that polution/traffic...." etc....... - or is that a little to mean or macavelian (hope I spelled that correctly¬)?

xx

macgirl

miemie wrote: »

Thanks Mac and chops, feeling a lot brighter today, which is good.

Had £11.50 paid into paypal today, so have withdrawn £54 :j, i will use this next week as i have a meal out with work, 10p and 10p on scratchies, but have been to Tesco this lunchtime and blown £40, some of this is to put away for christmas, got lots of nibbles , i also bought a bottle of baileys for an Aunties christmas present and a few christmas decs.

Today i need to get organised and make a christmas food list, meat has been ordered from the butchers so thats one less job and i get all my milk, eggs, fresh juice and cream off the milkman, so he will deliver all that for me on christmas eve . Also need to sort out what presents are left to buy and get them on saturday when i go into town.

Been thinking that in the New year i want to try and save as much as possible and need to get back into a strickt grocery routine with meal planning and lists, thought about making up a 2 week menu and trying to stick to it and only buy what is on the list:rolleyes:.

Also need to nip to the post office to post eBay parcel and Fedex tried to deliver a parcel today, i'm not expecting anything so i'm very excited they are going to redeliver tommorrow:j.

Wayhey!!! That's more like it! :T

miemie

Thanks mac.

havn't got round to doing christmas food list will do it when kiddies have gone to bed, which should be soon, just waiting for them to finish writing their christmas card.

Thinking about my menu for the new year, thinking along the lines of:

Sausage- wk1- toad in the hole, wk 2 - sausage casserole.
mince beef-wk1- cottage pie, wk2-Lasagne.
Roast chicken-wk1- roast dinner, wk2-chick, chips,peas.
Left over chick- wk1 curry, wk2 chick pie.
jkt spud- wk1 beans & cheese, wk2 Tuna &sweetcorn.
Stew stk- wk1 meat and tatty pie- wk2 beef casserole.
Fish- wk1- Homemade fish & chips, wk2 fish pie.

Puddings will be homemade such as sponge & custard, rice pudding or HM cake.

Packed lunches for kiddies- ham or tuna sandwich, piece fruit/veg sticks, yoghurt & HM cake.
Hubby lunch- meal plated up from above or HM soup, hm cake and fruit.

Breakfast is usually cheerios or rice crispies, i do a cooked breakfast on a sunday, hubby bacon & eggs, kiddies usually like a boiled egg and soilders, occasionally son has a bacon sandwich

Will try to buy toiletries from vouchers from doing surveys.

Will also try to stock up on Laundry/dishwasher stuff when there is a good offer on and for cleaning i only tend to use stardrops,bleach and white vinegar.

I might just be organised for once :j.

miemie

Not much happening today, been to work,posted a parcel and wrapped a few christmas presents, feeling shattered so don't feel like doing much but vegging out on the sofa.

Postie brought 2 Horrid henry books i had bought of eBay for DS for xmas, so need to wrap those up as well.

Just checked under sink and i have enough dishwasher tablets to do about 4 months, so they are officially crossed off the shopping list until April and to think i nearly bought 3 more packs in the co op today:o.

macgirl

Hey Miemie :santa2:
Not seen you for a while - hope you're ok hun?
Just popped on to wish you a very Happy Christmas - hope you're having fun
Take care, Mac x

miemie

HI Mac hope you had a good christmas.

Yes i'm fine, just been really busy with work and then christmas and have had loads of people staying over during the last week, so hav'nt been able to get any quiet time on the computer.

Will update properly later.

miemie

:hello: Gosh it seems ages since i last posted on here properly, been so hectic with christmas and visitors, today seems like the first day of normality here.

We had a fabulous christmas, lots of snow which was fab for the kids and hubby;), road outside the house was a bit of an ice rink at times and hubby also managed to crash his car into a tree:rolleyes: after trying to drive up a steep icy hill, excess on his car insurance is £350 and its going to cost around £500 to fix so just going to pay for it ourselves rather than claim, just means its going to be a tight month.

On the money front we have totally overspent and i ended up putting some of it on a credit card, not sure exactly how much need to check online, but its done now and no point getting depressed over it, we all got some fab presents and DD and DS were really spoilt by everyone, We also got £150 of homebase vouchers from family, so we have decided that we will put this towards a new bathroom suite not quite sure when this will happen, but i do know it won't be in the next 6 months. Also got tons of choccies and smellies so lots of treats in the house.

Have been paid today and need to go and withdraw some money out to go into my jars, have decided to withdraw £100 a week to cover groceries, milkman, swimming. petrol etc and divide it into my jars. Have done a 2 week meal plan and a shopping list to go with it, hope this might save me some money and also a list of extra things we need, such as washing powder, cat food etc and i am not going to buy anything that is not on the list, if i can do this for a few months i may be able to save some money.

Have been a bit lazy with surveys recently and need to get my backside back into gear and doing them, as this is much needed money, have redeemed a £10 Tesco voucher from valued opinions today and have done scratchies today 20p and 25p and also withdrawn £5 from Virgin.

Have been shopping today and went to Sainsburys as i still have 2 £12 off £60 spend, so used 1 today and spent a total of £58, bought loads of meat, cat food, cleaning bits and bits for the dry food cupboard, last January sainsburys did a thing were loads of food was on offer at half price, hope they do the same this year. Also nipped into Asda as needed a new pair of work trousers, bought a pair of trousers and 2 cardigans total cost £19, havn't bought anything else in the sales and have been really good and not gone into town, to be honest we really don't need any thing, DD and DS got quite a few bit of clothing for christmas and i have noticed that now they are both at school they really don't need a huge amount as they are in school uniform everyday. Have also spent £35 on DD today she has gone on a pony club day, so she will be shattered and cold when she gets home but very happy, her one big love is horses and she would love to have her own but i'm afraid the pennies won't stretched that far, not only that they are a huge commitment, she understands this and is quite happy to go to the stables and spend the day riding and mucking out, but if i ever won the lottery it would be the first thing that i would buy for her:D.

Primula

Hi Miemie
Have just read your whole diary and really enjoyed it. You sound a lovely person. You sound so organised as well, I'm loving all your home cooking and baking. I really want to get organised with my shopping/cooking - been saying that for a looonnngggg time but aim to really try hard in 2010. I've subscribed to your diary and if you don't mind I will be back to visit soon. Have a great new year.
P

macgirl

That's a thoughtful gift of Homebase vouchers and will knock a fair sum off your new bathroom :T
Sainsburys have an offer on their CC at the moment, 0% interest on all shopping plus double Nectar points. Sounds like it's worth it - though I know getting another CC is not favourable, but for double bubble.....
You put me to shame in the meal planning dept - must do better there.

Happy New Year to you and yours x