museumworker's quest to consign mortgage to history!

museumworker

Sat in front of X-factor , have managed to achieve most of what I wanted to today.

Saw sister and nephew to local station, was lovely to see them. Took boots to cobblers, will pick them up next week. Resoling and reheeling will cost £20. Tried on loads of jeans in the charity shop, got a pair of wide leg Espirit ones for £2.99, but will need to take them up. Am a bit rubbish with the sewing machine, but need to learn! Was hoping for some skinnies, but these are smart and can wear for work. Must be a little bit mental though as bought an ASOS maternity tshirt (£2.49) and a white cotton and sequinned maternity Mamas and Papas dress (£3.99). I am not pregnant nor trying to be, but they were in excellent nick, and know how expensive these things are, and difficult to find second hand, and so will hopefully save me money when I do end up in the family way. Think it also means I am broody :rotfl:. Now my clothes budget is practically empty, and still need some skinny jeans!

Spent another couple of quid in lidls on fruit, yoghurt and fruit bread, so means with Thursday evening shop have spent £28. Am hoping to get to Sat with only spending another few quid.

Have hoovered the house, so much grit and dirt from the building work, feel better for doing that. Have entered a lot of competitions, and spent a bit too much time on here - it is so quiet in the house on my own. Two washloads done, washing up done, have leftover mash and stew from Friday for dinner. Just done level 2 of shred :eek:, blinking hell I feel shaky after!

Will be cold tonight - electric blanket is on the bed now, have duvet on the sofa to keep me warm!

[Deleted User]

well done on what sounds like a productive day!! (pls can you send some of your exercise vibes my way ... but no shred :rotfl:)
sounds like some great charity shop bargains too! ...I might have to do a charity shop clothes trawl soon! good luck with the clothes budget... you never know what you can find sometimes!

CathT

not too much left to do on your list. You must be broody deep down if buying maternity wear! Hoping i get to buy some more soon too! Glad you had a fab day out, makes the hard work all week so worthwhile.

museumworker

tyo - there is no escaping, the shred will get you! Hoping the walking helps, if you are looking for some exercise videos the 10 minute solution target toning is a good intro to exercising, got me back into the habit. have you thought about a pedometer? It'll help motivate you to get out - you need 10k steps a day to maintain health, and apparently 16-18k a day to lose weight :eek:! Maybe you could ask Santa?

CathT - here's hoping for you too

OH won another £10 on walkers comp :j, and managed to get us both entered again this morning.

Had problems with my tumble drier last night, had to pull it out, take back off and reset it. Took me ages, as never done before and only had instructions via text message from OH! Is blowing hot air again now, but not entirely under the work surface as pushing it back was the hardest bit! Means my early night went out the window. Then ended up wonder webbing jeans...

Forgot, I also bought 2 books for £5 from charity shop, going to wrap them up for Xmas so that's 2 presents done at least!

Free lunch at work today, leftovers from event which is great as I didn't have anything at home!

Swimming later, I have run out of Schwim bottle tops and can't find them for sale anywhere, so will have to pay this time (will be about £5 for me and DD :eek:)

Also need to comment on nephew's personal statement for uni applications.

museumworker

Had a lovely PM from a fellow MFW with a Walkers rainy day code :T to you who shall remain nameless. I hear there is a rumour going around that if you donate the codes to me the calories in the crisps are negated :rotfl:! It is reopening Weds for the final day (April 3rd) so that will be the end of walking the streets looking for discarded crisp packets for the old museo . But as we have won £30 out of it, not bad for an outlay of well, um, nothing but my dignity!

Popped into five shops on way to pick up DD from school and managed to find 2 Schwim bottles for £1 - that is over a £4 saving on todays swim :money:. However, they were 10 months out of date I realised later . These are like gold dust, I need a good supply to see me through til Feb when the offer ends.

DD tried harder in swimming lessons, I did over 20 lengths, and had joy of joy a lane to myself for over 20 minutes so did mostly backstroke... which is actually really tough! I don't do it when I share a lane as I swim in a zigzag and apparently the other swimmers don't really like it! . Diving boards opened so DD had a go on those after her lesson, and we did some jumping in together.

However, I am now turning into a grumpy tired cow. Kept snapping at DD, think it is because I am feeling quite strung out at thought of school drop off and pick up every day for next 2 weeks. It is a 25 minute walk from our house, in the dark, in not the nicest streets of London. I used to be a single mum and do such a journey every day, but now the mere thought of not having OH to help is turning me into jelly :eek:.

Plus insulation not going into loft space til end of week :eek: it is freezing here.

But did do nephew's personal statement for uni, feel :A now. I also entered 10+ comps, and did the survey link sent to me. Dinner was freezer surprise . Am going to go to bed now (have to take DD out of it first), and rest on my laurels, as my piano teacher used to say.

[Deleted User]

hey mw
hmmm...not sure you will have me converted to shred!! I do have a couple of great workout dvds that I havent dusted off for a while so perhaps thatll be this weeks task! pedometer sounds a great idea, just the kinda thing my numbers/list type brain would love!! :rotfl:

well done on the crisp wins you mustve cancelled out calories all over the place- very altruistic of you!

trekking around early in this horrible weather, I dont blame you for not liking the thought- as another with OH away I hear you on missing them! when does yours get back?
hope the insulation gets sorted and you are warm soon!

tyo

museumworker

Pedometers are great! I have this one here which is great as I often wear dresses and you can wear it round your neck instead of having to clip it to your trousers. OH is away til Sat 27 Nov :eek:! When is yours back?

Had very early start today - woke up 4.30am with stomach cramps :mad: I get them very occasionally but they are so painful I can't get back to sleep. I think it is when I eat cheese, but not proven this link yet. Only started getting them a couple of years ago, weird huh?

Decided to use time effectively and have been thinking about Xmas :eek:! We have a massive family between us, and with the loft left to pay will not have much to spend this December. Any bargains to be had, please let me know! I noticed on the grabbits board that if you buy 3 organic surge products from boots you get £10 back off them (redeem voucher), I will go and get some tomorrow as that could be a good present, or could be split between different people. Am trawling through theb00kpeople site, a few good things there, have sent list to OH for his approval remotely. Only problem with grabbit board is it makes me want to buy things I don't need :eek:. Must stay strong! And it is not as warm and cuddly as the MFW board :rotfl:.

Freezing fog on way to school, gave DD breakfast at home which saved £2 on breakfast club as had late start with training course :money:. Course was useful but no lunch :mad:, was in south east london so found local caribbean food and had chicken curry, rice and peas and drink for £3 that made my day! Spent another £6 on a birthday card for nephew, loaf of bread and donation to very polite beggar on the tube. If I was more with it I could have put a loaf on, but I think this week is all about getting through it without going mad at the end of it... for that reason no exercise tonight as am knackered.

Have done 2 soul destroying surveys on lightspeed this evening, will enter 10+ comps, have freezer surprise for dinner and watch Kirsty's homemade home then bed.

CathT

Well done on the Walkers comps. I need to check out the grabbits board to find some good offers. I only have a few presents left to get but will have a clearer idea when the wrapping starts! I only tend to come ont his forum (why go anywhere else!!) but need to navigate around the whole site a bit more!

museumworker

I agree CathT, there is so much on this site it is hard to know where to begin! If you do find some good grabbits let me know. Last night I bought 3 Front Cover Eye to Go sets http://www.boots.com/en/Frontcover-To-Go-Eye-Collection_1115227/ for £23, they were £35 each originally so £8 each is very good value! Am planning to give a couple to my difficult to buy for nieces, and one to a friend. There is a post up about it on the grabbit board, some sort of glitch where it applies 2 discounts.

Popped out at lunch and bought 3 of the organic surge items from bo0ts- a facewash, face mask and moisturiser for £19.97. Just completed my form so will get £10 back. They are nicely packaged and wrapped up in tissue paper in a gift bag will make a lovely present for a dear couple I know. For just under a £10 I am very , plus I have the advantage points too.

I used to have an advantage card but my wallet was stolen 18 months ago. Just got in touch with them and found out I had £18 on it :j, clearly the thieves didn't use it! Having it transferred to new card. Been meaning to do this for ages.

museumworker

Came home to £2.70 cheque from tfl for my delayed tube last month , this is my first refund from them, almost makes me want the tubes to run late :rotfl:!

Written another v large check to builders :eek:, need to transfer money to account to cover it.

Have booked Mr A delivery for Friday evening, have DD this weekend and I want us to do fun stuff, but also eat! £43 inc delivery, I still need to pick up some decent meat from the butchers for one of the dishes but should do whole shop for £55, plus am cooking enough for 8 for all of these - freezer will be restocked in no time! Am going to use the slow cooker so DD and I can have a hot meal together and it'll be ready when I get in.

Menu is:
English style curried chicken casserole
Creamy lamb and almond curry
Aubergine and Sweet Potato Chilli
Mild minced beef curry

I got given a slow cooking curry and spice dishes recipe book last year, and want to try these. DD is quite happy with a bit of spice, so am going for medium spicey things.

Just looked in freezer and have 2 x chicken portions, 2 x salmon fillets, 3 x freezer surprise meals, 8x gourmet sausages, 3x lamb shanks... hmm, just wondering if should eat from freezer now... does seem a bit ridiculous that I'm making 32 portions of food when there is only the 2 of us... but our slow cooker is massive so makes more sense to batch cook. Plus it is meant to cover Sat - Fri, lunch x1 and dinner x 2 = 21 portions....

Will think it through properly later, can change order til Thursday evening anyway.

Just to add, if anyone is shopping at Mr A - they are doing 2 of the massive tresemme (900ml) for £5, two bottles of this normally last me a year! They are also doing the extra special xmas puddings for £2, so got one for us.