Risen from the ashes ...

Suffolk_lass

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Doing online order - both Mr T & Mr A to see who comes out cheaper;) (pretty evenly balanced atm which is surprising as I thought Mr A would come out cheaper - also have a £6 off £40 voucher for Mr T which may make the difference).

Aiming to stock up on most things to last a good couple of weeks but am going to be struggling with the fresh stuff a bit ..... mmmmm

Not sure if you've tried mysupermarket.com but if you register on there you can put your list in and it automatically compares Azbo, Mr T, Sainsbugs, Waitflower and Oca-doh They also now list each SM best 100 offers if you use the change stores button. You do need to be aware that offers can be very short term but mine came out £7 cheaper for Azbos last week - then I typed the receipt into the Azbo Price Guarantee Checker and got a £5 off £40 spend. I had been using it to compare specific products but I am loving the shopping list compare function. They also show current vouchers and you can arrange the delivery through them.

It might save some fiddling... as well as saving money
SL

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks for that suffolk lass and will keep that in mind had totally forgotten about the price guarantee on the receipts thing so thanks for jogging my memory on that one!:)

rising_from_the_ashes

So ..... keeping in the spirit of stock taking and using stuff up to try to balance the books - washing stuff .....

Well, I bought a huge amount of Per*sil when it was on offer in January and it has lasted for most of the year.

Have had to make a couple of purchases recently to top things up a bit & have been using different brands for different stuff eg value for dog towels, own brand for my towels and bedding and branded for my clothes (have itching problems with a lot of stuff so have to be quite careful).

Stocks today:

• Ari*el gel: 28 wash x 1 (clothes)
• Per*sil gel: 28 wash x 1 (clothes)
• Per*sil liquid: 54 wash x 1 (clothes)
• Mr A gel: 28 wash x 1 (bedding / towels)
• Mr T gel: 18 wash x 2 (bedding / towels)
• Mr A Fabric conditioner: 42 wash (all)
• Value gel: 28 wash (dog)
• Mr A Value Fabric conditioner: 42 wash (dog)

Have been using all the ends of stuff up on dog stuff and finally just about rid of it all!

So .... that should last me to the end of the year! (might need a bottle of fabric conditioner but think I can stretch to that!)

Positive thoughts .....:)

rising_from_the_ashes

Ahhhhhhh *sigh* - feeling a lot more positive now .

Have stocks of toiletries / washing stuff to keep me going a while which will help cut the grocery spends.

If I can manage to do a bit of a stock take once the online order arrives and maybe try some meal planning for the month that would be good - I've never got the hang of meal planning - mainly as it's often what I can eat on a certain day rather than what I want to eat IYKWIM but would be good to know what I have!!!

Must start the car & give it a bit of a run shortly ..... it's been sitting for over 3 weeks now & no sign of it moving anytime soon

rising_from_the_ashes

:o well online order received and both freezers absolutely jammed :o

Discovered 2 whole chickens I'd forgotten about in the outside one so have taken one out to defrost for tomorrow :T (will do me a couple of days or 3!) and will make some Risotto which I have a craving for and should be able to have, minus a few of the usual ingredients - will be a nice change!:D

Outside freezer has a lot of Quorn mince etc in (which I'd just stocked up on before becoming ill) which it may be a while before I can eat but will help bills moving forward and quite a few WW meals etc in which I guess I can use up even if I'm not following this at all just now.

Inside freezer ..... need to try to sort out at some point - quite a few bits of chicken breasts / veg etc - hopefully should be able to see me through most of the month!:T:T:j:j

The battered fish looks quite tasty so think it'll be Fish & Chips for dinner sounds good and a bit peckish already :eek: (the joys of steriods making you eat all the time:eek:) so may be an early tea!

slowlyfading

Sounds fab to me you sound so much more positive already which is great

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks Slowly - yes, I am feeling a lot more positive now which is great.

Guess it got a bit much (and being ill probably doesn't help) as it was such a struggle to get DF I felt like I'd let myself down again ....... but I feel more in control and like I've got a plan / something to aim towards again IYKWIM.

ETA hopefully it'll be even better when next month's cc bill arrives (still need to pay this one tho!) and it should hopefully be a bit less as no cig spending on it .......

beanielou

You are doing great.
Keep plodding xx

rising_from_the_ashes

So ....have been totally mucked around by Maisie's current insurance company - basically had 2 policies (don't ask why!) and was being charged for both :eek: so got a refund (swallowed by OD:() last month..... but then had a letter saying this months' premium hadn't been paid and turns out they've now cancelled both d/debits:mad:. Have managed to get it reinstated but decided enough is enough as this has been going on since July!

Did several quotes which came out at a range of prices from £17.32 to £59 / month:eek: - how on earth they can vary that much for the same cover is beyond me:mad:

Anyway, new policy set up with Axa (who I just moved the cats too so get a multi-pet discount;)) for £17.32 / month ...... saving £86 / year:) (will update SOA shortly).

Need to set reminder to myself to cancel old policy in 14 days time (once exclusion period on new policy is up).

rising_from_the_ashes

Another positive ....... have £60 in cash in purse which should last the rest of the month (as some may know, I tend to buy on the cc & always clear each month) so no withdrawals needed from bank .......

OD sitting at -£620 but shouldn't change now until I'm paid again at the end of the month as all pots & bills account paid & cc paid today.

Not sure how to keep track of this best in my sig - show as a % cleared or just show the original & outstanding amounts .... will have a think.