New and scared but so determined

freebyfifty

Blimmin' heck it's windy out there :eek: I have just had to venture out into the black hole of the back garden after hearing a crash and then glass smashing. Why I felt the urge to wander around in a gale and the pitch black in only my dressing gown, falling over a dog who is black and impossible to see in the dark is beyond me seeing as I am fully aware I have nothing made of glass in my garden!!!!! My garden chairs are in the opposite corner to where there supposed to be though so I suppose it's time to put them away (yes, I realise I should have done this about 3 months ago)

Anyway, what to do today??

1. Visit Mr T and stick to list.
2. Double up points (it finishes next week) for clothing and buy the DD's some PJ's/socks/underwear etc for their stockings.
3. Get fuel. (My lovely dad gave me his fuel genie card yesterday and said I could fill it up on him and he promised a tank full once a month :j Gosh, he's lovely)
4. Buy my dad's birthday present (something special but cheap.....ideas anyone?)
5. Post ebay parcels (again)
6. List some stuff on ebay, relist stuff on ebay (not done very well this week)
7. Post phones to cash4phones
8. Set up my electricity monitor that I got free from Martin's newsletter (then wander around the house like a maniac turning things off and on)
9. Wash/dry/iron (will it never end!!!!!!!)
10. Eat chocolate (but first I must buy some )
11. Try not to get blown away to the merry old land of oz!


I have £15 worth of vouchers to double up in Mr T today so I'll have £30 to spend getting some bits and pieces of clothing for the DD's. They are getting more and more picky as they get older about what they wear so I'll only be risking buying jammies and pretty socks and knickers to put in their stockings and if there's money left over then I might sneak in a little something for me
I have written the grocery list and it comes in under £25 so I'm happy with that (if I stick to it) and when I get home I'll be putting my receipt straight onto the Mr T price checker thingy.

At some point this weekend I will have to some internet surfing to find the lowest prices on the bits I want to get to finish off other people's prezzies and then I can concentrate on my girlies and try to give them the best Christmas ever by spending little or nothing

C uz l8a (my daughter text me that - it took me half an hour to work out what she meant - I am so old )

freebyfifty

miggy wrote: »

So what's the next essay? Nora will be wanting to get started.

Psychology Which I am not sure I can even spell, never mind write about

freebyfifty

I am sitting at my dining table watching my dog through the french doors (am I setting a scene....how posh am I sounding??????). She is standing facing into the wind with her ears at right angles to her head, sniffing the wind with a deep look of concentration on her face and wagging her tail!!!!!
Wouldn't you just love to know what she can smell and is thinking??? Probably something to do with food (if I know my doggy) :rotfl:

freebyfifty

Success :T

It's a special birthday for my Dad so I have just bought him a newspaper from the day he was born (a Scottish one which will please him even more) and the best part is ... I found the website I wanted to use and was about to order it when I thought I'll just quickly check and see if they are on Quidco and lo and behold .......they were :j 12% cashback :T

I'm a little bit chuffed with that

freebyfifty

Okay....so I am in a bit of a spending zone this morning BUT before you all jump up and down yelling at me this is what I've bought.......

Newspaper for my Dad's special birthday - £44.99
Bought through Quidco so 12% (£5.40) cashback

Karaoke CD thingy 100 hits of the 60's for my Dad's Christmas (he is a karaoke fiend ) - £9.25
Bought on ebay with my ebay sales - no cost

Kindle cover and DS game for DD2 and pre-ordered Harry Potter part 2 from Amazon for DD1 - £28.44
Used super saver delivery, credit already on account and a voucher for £10 from doing surveys - £14.94

Now to get ready for Mr T to see what other bargains I can get :T

skint_spice

Hi Freebyfifty,

I've just read your diary from start to finish and it's made me laugh lots, have subscribed

About the Mr T vouchers did you realise you can get rewards up to 4 times their face value for restaurants and days out? It's a bit more limited for us Scots but there's a fair few of the places in Silverburn or Glasgow on the list.

You have inspired me to get my butt back into ebaying... about time!

Knitting_Nora

freebyfifty wrote: »

Psychology Which I am not sure I can even spell, never mind write about

Ooo, I have a degree in that! May I introduce you to Pavlov??

freebyfifty wrote: »

I am sitting at my dining table watching my dog through the french doors (am I setting a scene....how posh am I sounding??????). She is standing facing into the wind with her ears at right angles to her head, sniffing the wind with a deep look of concentration on her face and wagging her tail!!!!!
Wouldn't you just love to know what she can smell and is thinking??? Probably something to do with food (if I know my doggy) :rotfl:

Oh, I love it when they do that!! She's thinking "sausages being fried at 12 degrees west of here...and that !!!!!! isn't going to share them with me...well, he's going on THE LIST...he won't know when, and he won't know why...but he's going to step in doggy do-do one day, and I shall laugh.....oh, I shall laugh...."

freebyfifty wrote: »

Okay....so I am in a bit of a spending zone this morning BUT before you all jump up and down yelling at me this is what I've bought.......

Newspaper for my Dad's special birthday - £44.99
Bought through Quidco so 12% (£5.40) cashback

Karaoke CD thingy 100 hits of the 60's for my Dad's Christmas (he is a karaoke fiend ) - £9.25
Bought on ebay with my ebay sales - no cost

Kindle cover and DS game for DD2 and pre-ordered Harry Potter part 2 from Amazon for DD1 - £28.44
Used super saver delivery, credit already on account and a voucher for £10 from doing surveys - £14.94

Now to get ready for Mr T to see what other bargains I can get :T

You know, I think you've cracked this MSE thing - spending is fine, provided you do it in a mindful manner. The fact that you're managing it in not only a mindful way, but a spendthrifty way too is just so impressive. You are a bright and shining star...so much so that the lights in the living room dim a little when you walk in...I could go on....:rotfl:

freebyfifty

Now I realise I am about to bore you all rigid but I need to write this down to stop myself from going bonkers.....

Just been to Mr T and I my bill came to £75.09 :eek::eek:

HOWEVER. I had doubled up my vouchers to 3 x £10 vouchers for clothing. I only spent £20 so I handed them over (and still have £10 left ) = £55.09.
Then I handed over the spend more than £40 save £4 voucher = £51.09
Then I handed over the random £1 voucher I had in the depths of my purse = £50.09
Then I handed over the 0.76p voucher I had from doing the price checker thingy = £49.33


And................I bought two bottles of Drambuie for my dad and FIL which was on offer from £24 reduced to £16, so if you take £32 off (because that's Christmas and doesn't count in the grocery budget) it means I spent £17.33 on my shopping this week

Does that make sense??????

Delighted!!!! I have now finished shopping for my dad and got stuff for others too. I'm getting there, slowly but surely

saorsie

Awesome :T ~ I love a bit of extreme couponing myself!

-s-

freebyfifty

skint_spice wrote: »

Hi Freebyfifty,

I've just read your diary from start to finish and it's made me laugh lots, have subscribed

About the Mr T vouchers did you realise you can get rewards up to 4 times their face value for restaurants and days out? It's a bit more limited for us Scots but there's a fair few of the places in Silverburn or Glasgow on the list.

You have inspired me to get my butt back into ebaying... about time!

Thank you for reading skint_spice, it's nice knowing there are people out there who have such stamina and perservance as you obviously do :rotfl:

I did know about the Mr T vouchers for days out etc but I really am desperate for things to wrap up for the girls and I'm guessing Edinburgh Zoo would object if I nicked one of their new pandas (which I CANNOT wait to see) to put in DD1's stocking Mind you DD2 is a bit obssessed with penguins and as they have so many I'm sure they'd never missed one little one


I hope you are ebaying