Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

Hmmm, what to do this morning? The floor is in moderate need to a vacuum but I can still see it, so it can't be that bad right? I should also really steam clean the kitchen floor but I'm feeling a bit too lazy. I do need to hang up the load of laundry I've just taken out of the washer and empty and re-load the dishwasher but I've got a sneaky feeling that's all I'll do today.

Annoyingly, when I got back from Tesco yesterday I noticed the pack of tortilla wraps I had bought at the weekend had gone mouldy, even though they're still in date. Had I noticed before I could have returned them yesterday but instead I had to head back out today, as that's what I've planned for tea tonight. While I was there I also picked up a pack of value mozzarella for home-made pizza at the weekend but that 44p came out of the change in my purse, so the £20 for next week is still intact.

I had a look at the Approved Foods website earlier and I just can't understand why people rave about it - there was nothing there that I could justify the minimum spend and delivery costs on. Maybe I just need to think outside the box a bit and change what I cook or maybe check the site more often and be ready to snap up the bargains when they appear.

debtfreewannabe321

I agree about appr0ved foods, I used to use it and it was fab! always a free delivery code lurking about and fab cheap things for sale. When I look now I see nothing worth the delivery costs (as it cancels out the good price) and I rarely get anything from there now back when I started on the DF journey (2011) it was a really good site and very cheap but I don't know anyone who regularly uses it now!

P.s my life seems to be the same as yours today, I need to hoover downstairs & also steam clean kitchen but motivation is truly lacking. I'm sat with my huge cardie on in front of the radiator watching homes under the hammer

White_Iris

Ooh, so excited! Last night I spotted on eBay the exact sofa I want for the conservatory, for less than a tenner and only a few miles away! I've bid on it but I'm now in a dilemma as I know we can't afford to spend much on it but if I miss out I'm unlikely to find another one nearby and for a decent price.

Kitchen floor cleaned but still need to clean the counters and unload/re-load the dishwasher. Vacuuming later once the children have had lunch (otherwise it'll look exactly the same as it did pre-hoover). Big cup of coffee and some left-over Christmas chocolate now though!

Mara_uk7

Left Over Christmas chocolate ? What is this strange thing of what you speak please ?

White_Iris

Mara_uk7 wrote: »

Left Over Christmas chocolate ? What is this strange thing of what you speak please ?

I know! It's such a strange idea isn't it! Never happened in this house before I can tell you. I don't quite now how it happened but a big tub of Heroes got stuck in the back of a cupboard and forgotten about...they're not going to be left-over for long though! :EasterBun

White_Iris

The weekend was not as relaxing as I hoped - Saturday started well but went rapidly downhill, no ones fault just a series of unfortunate events which made everyone a bit grumpy. Sunday was much nicer and thankfully we managed to get through both days without any unnecessary spending (well except on groceries). This did surprise me as I was expecting us to cave in and end up getting take away on Saturday.

I didn't win the sofa, as I had my practical head on and didn't bid more than I could afford. In the end it went for £20 more than my maximum, not a huge amount but it would have meant dipping in to the savings and I'm determined not to do that. It's payday on Friday and we will get there without using overdrafts and with £250 in the bank. :money:

I did have to dip in to the spare cash pot for an extra £15 to cover this weeks groceries, which was a bit disappointing but DH wanted something nice to go on on our home-made pizzas (which were not a success :eek:) and as he's been so tolerant of my extreme money-saving this month, I let him splurge a little.

I had a few good eBay sales on Sunday which I need to parcel up and post tomorrow. Unsure what to do with the money, once fess and postage are paid it's not a huge amount but more than I expected to make. I'm thinking pay it off the credit card - every little helps.

White_Iris

Just got our first statement from Barclaycard and we are on a 0% deal until July 2016! :money:I've set up a d.d. to pay £50 off a month, which more than covers the minimum.

In less good news I've just submitted our gas and electricity reading and we've used double what they forecast when they first set our monthly payments and they now recommend we pay an additional £50 a month (and they estimate this will still leave us with a deficit of over £200 at the end of the year, which will need to be absorbed by next years payments meaning the payments will be even higher :eek:). I'm hoping for a long hot summer so we don't need to use the lights or heating, and we can bring the deficit down. We really need to monitor our energy use now - I think I'll go find the halogen oven we were given years ago (but never used ) as I'm sure our giant electric range-style cooker is not very energy efficient (although I love it!).

Better go squeeze the budget.

White_Iris

Agh! Mothers Day - forgot about Mothers Day. I was feeling very smug about the fact that I've got all the presents and cards I'll need until birthdays in April, and planning how I can stay two months ahead if I get the April presents now but I completely forgot about Mothers Day. I don't spend a lot but I will need flowers and cards for my mum and MIL, so probably £30ish? However it'll be time for clubcard vouchers soon and I think I've got about £10, so I could use some of those for MIL ad the cards, then find the best deal on postal flowers for mum (and hopefully get some cashback too).

jwil

Ooh, when's Mother's day?

Shame about the electric, it's so annoying. Fingers crossed for a warn and dry year this year.

Well done on getting to the end of the month with money though, that's a great achievement.

White_Iris

jwil wrote: »

Ooh, when's Mother's day?

Shame about the electric, it's so annoying. Fingers crossed for a warn and dry year this year.

Well done on getting to the end of the month with money though, that's a great achievement.

At a guess it's Sunday 23rd March (or it might be the week earlier but it's normally around then). Will it be your first? (Sorry, can't remember when baby jwil was born ). If your DH isn't big on celebrations make sure to drop lots of hints - my first Mothers Day was awful! After years of waiting I finally got to celebrate my own special day only to have DH tell me the day before "we're not going to bother with things like Mothers Day or Fathers Day are we?", to say I was gutted would be an understatement. :eek: Once he twigged that it was quite important to me, DH was truly sorry and did his best to cobble something together but still, not quite the same and not at all what I'd had in mind. He has done better since though!