It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

charlies-aunt

:j Just popped in to say that I 've had a good day's shopping

At Mr T. I got sent a £5 voucher and doubled it up to get £10 off pet food and with the £10 I've "saved" on pet food - I got two big tins of Roses £10 each but buy one,get one free! ...I spent another £10 on other groceries and used a 'Spend £30 & get £3 off' voucher so bought £40.24 worth of shopping which cost me £17.24 at the till!

Into M&S, to look at the sale and got a lovely pair of grey canvas shoes reduced from £10 to £3. :j

Bought 4 pretty ameythest coloured cocktail glasses at Sainsburgers reduced to 50p each which I am going to team up with a bottle of ready mixed seabreeze/cosmoploitan cocktail drink and cocktail swizzels sticks/cherries etc for a Christmas basket for DD! There are quite a few different brands of the drinks - including Aldi ones - anyone tried any that they would recommend? (Not with coconut though please) :beer:

Prudent

charlies-aunt wrote: »

:j

Bought 4 pretty ameythest coloured cocktail glasses at Sainsburgers reduced to 50p each which I am going to team up with a bottle of ready mixed seabreeze/cosmoploitan cocktail drink and cocktail swizzels sticks/cherries etc for a Christmas basket for DD! There are quite a few different brands of the drinks - including Aldi ones - anyone tried any that they would recommend? (Not with coconut though please) :beer:

I am so glad someone has posted this request as I was going to do the same. I am also looking for cocktail ingredients as I don't drink other than the rare glass of wine.

BB1984

Hi everyone, haven't been on here for a good few days as had a killer week at work (so stressful - never been so glad to see Friday!)

Dug up the last of my four potato plants this morning, got a kilo or so at a guess (forgot to weigh). Also picked a bunch of tiny chantenay carrots. About to have these as part of a "roast dinner" - roast spuds, carrots, runner beans, stuffing, yorkshire puddings, gravy and....sausages! All cooked by my lovely hubby! I'm such a lucky girl, he's had dinner on the table for me every night this week - I'm so glad he's home! We're having a lovely bottle of Riesling too - the co-op was clearing out a load of its end-of-line wine and OH picked up a couple of bottles at half price or less.

My kindly neighbour gave us a huge carrier bag of plums from her tree the other day, which I have stewed with some mixed spice - delish! Had some in a fruit cobbler, some on icecream, and some with yoghurt for breakfast, yum. She also gave us 6 or 7 of her tomatoes, which was very kind. And one of my colleagues gave me a bag full of courgettes, and another one gave me some homegrown chillis! I feel a bit bad that I haven't really had any gluts of veg to give away, but I did give my neighbour a few potatoes for her tea.

I've still got the odd strawberry appearing here and there, but they got a bit soggy from all the rain we've had, so I've just added them to my tub of mixed fruit that I keep in the freezer. If I get a few raspberries or loganberries from my little bushes, I add them too, and when I've got enough I'll make a summer pudding.

Stocked up on flour for bread and cake-making, but now need to get some good tubs to keep it in. Have got some Capital Bonds vouchers from doing surveys, so might head to robert dyas or somewhere and have a little spending spree (I love tupperware, how sad am I?!)

Had a go at sewing up the tear in my favourite jeans the other day, but it's already starting to come apart as the "sew" is pulling the weave of the denim apart either side of the tear, if that makes sense. I think I might have to attempt a patch from the inside...I'm sure that'll look wonderful....!!

Money's tight this weekend as not being paid til Tuesday (and I'd thought payday was yesterday!). Got plenty of food in, and no other bills to pay of anything, and have just about got the cash to get the train to southampton tomorrow to meet up with some friends - can't wait. Having a bbq at her house so I'm hoping i won't have to spend any other money.

Right - I've just been informed my tea is ready!

have a nice evening all

BB

narabanekeater

evening all
My poor dog is at the vets still. She in only 9 months olds. They suspect diabeties still and are running even more tests on here later as theyve transfered her to the animal hospital. The bill is now at over £1000 - luckily she is insured. Not that I wouldnt have paid the money if she wasnt. DD is still very upset so if given her a small pack on sweeties which she is happily sharing with her brother.
Weve decided she would go packed lunches when she goes back to school so went as a treat earlier and got her a new disney princess lunchbox. Ive worked out I can pack her a lovely lunch with fresh fruit, sandwich, a savory snack, drink and a HM bun for a lot less than a school dinner.
My other puppy is curled up on my lap (if you ever notice dodgy spelling from myself its cause she enjoys pressing the keyboard too) she is missing her partner in crime

Lindy_-_Loo

narabanekeater wrote: »

evening all
My poor dog is at the vets still. She in only 9 months olds. They suspect diabeties still and are running even more tests on here later as theyve transfered her to the animal hospital. The bill is now at over £1000 - luckily she is insured. Not that I wouldnt have paid the money if she wasnt. DD is still very upset so if given her a small pack on sweeties which she is happily sharing with her brother.
Weve decided she would go packed lunches when she goes back to school so went as a treat earlier and got her a new disney princess lunchbox. Ive worked out I can pack her a lovely lunch with fresh fruit, sandwich, a savory snack, drink and a HM bun for a lot less than a school dinner.
My other puppy is curled up on my lap (if you ever notice dodgy spelling from myself its cause she enjoys pressing the keyboard too) she is missing her partner in crime

Will you have to give the dog injections? Kids pick up on it so much, when Dixie (cat)visited the vet a couple of weeks ago the boys got them selves worked up asking questions - but she didnt need to stay.

taplady

D & DD - the freecycler came but unfortunately she thought the damsons could do with a couple more days of sunshine so she's coming back next week. I did apologize for her wasted journey. She wanted them for jam as she makes it with her grannys recipe.

sammyjig

My poor dog is at the vets still. She in only 9 months olds. They suspect diabeties still and are running even more tests on here later as theyve transfered her to the animal hospital

Years ago we had a dog with diabeties. We had to test his wee and inject him every day and keep a general eye on him in case of a hypo, but he lived for years and once he was on the correct medication he was very happy and his normal self.

betterlatethannever

:j Bought some Co-op chicken thigh mince today for a quid!

Wasn't sure it would be any good, but once i'd added a few things i managed to make a meal for two, with enough left over to feed another one, for less than £2.
I'm really chuffed with myself as i'm normally so fussy over meat, but it was good, tasty and cheap.

smileyt_2

narabanekeater wrote: »

evening all
My poor dog is at the vets still.

I hope she's going to be OK. She is in the best place and you have done the best thing so fingers crossed xx

PS Thank goodness you have insurance!

sammy_kaye18

Well the sh@t hit the fan with paying off my bill.

boyfriend is skint - apparently him taking two weeks off when babe was born has put him overdrawn etc so now he is skint ads he was only paid £880 and he needs about £1K a month to cover bills etc so he has no petrol money and is down to his last £60 and hasn't paid his ex her maintenance money yet.

Although I am shocked he has paid all his debts (£250) but its the annoying little things that haven't been paid but obviously petrol for him for the month is a priority. Fingers crossed he only has 7 months left and he's debt free too.

So now am sat trying to figure out how I can pay everything and afford to help him out with petrol so Tuesday morning I will be trying to either
a) move my maternity payment to another account
b) begging the bank to extend and reinstate my payment plan so I can get to my £180 that is due on Thursday - fingers crossed.

Have decided from my benefit payments I'll try my best with spending £70 a fortnight for a shop but I figure with a bit of savvy shopping I should/could manage this and there will be £30 for petrol for Owen. Obviously babe is a top priority at the minute though and her milk comes first but she is using a box a week near enough so I figure I'll use a separate £25 and get 3 boxes to keep her going for the fortnight.

So will be looking on here for cheap meals - did get 18 small (thin) sausages in coop today for 90p - wish I had gotten more but money is short and so will be breaking them up tomorrow in portions. I figure if I put 6 per bundle ( 4 for owen,2 for ben) then that gives me 3 dinners. Plus I got two gammon steaks for £1 so there is another two meals for him. He likes fish too so figure I can raid tesco reduced section for any fish bits that are going cheap too.
Also box of 12 eggs was reduced down to £1.20 so got those to and figure omelettes/friend egg sandwiches/scrambled egg on toast - all relatively cheap and easy/quick to make and filling

will be no here tomorrow looking for cheap meals and recipes. Fingers crossed my numbers come up on the lottery too - jammy friend of mine jsut won £50,000 on a scratch card too - definitely my turn for some good luck i think.