Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

earthgirl

Sorry to hear that the jury service is causing a bother.

Why do you think the neighbour is bringing do much food? I was always told never look s gift horse in the mouth but if it's making you feel uncomfortable...

themadvix

Hey Earthie - the food is lovely, it just makes me feel awkward as she's a pensioner and they are not small portions (and two have contained fish, which is more extravagant than we are a lot of the time!). Because she's diabetic, I'm struggling to come up with ways to repay her kindness. I think I'll make some cheese scones though, next. It has also been three times in a week, which makes it difficult to meal plan. But you're right, I think I need to just be gracious and accept it and not worry too much about returning the favour completely equally.... it goes against my sense of fairness though.

themadvix

Morning all!

Sorry, I was rather miserable yesterday, wasn't I? I don't mind that I'm doing jury service, in the sense that I think it's important to do one's bit for society - but I think the reality of it might be rather unpleasant It will be an experience.

DH and I (mainly him) are in the process of building a 'master spreadsheet' that will hopefully help us to get a better grip on what we could afford when we move. It will calculate commuting costs for DH with variables for working at home etc. and mortgage costs and changes to council tax etc. It will be interesting to see how much detail we can build in. In the meantime, it's helping us to analyse everything and see what we've actually already got.

MS things:
* Vouchers for kettle ordered (went through email bin to find discarded MM survey invite ) Fingers crossed they arrive soon!
* Buddha bowl for dinner to use some bits up
* Relisted ebay item has a bid on it... fingers crossed it works out this time
* Am going to make some curtains from an old duvet cover for our third bedroom (along these lines). Pole was free, so only cost might be some clip rings (but will assess whether we could get away without once I've made curtains.
* 5 (!) spring onions!! And maybe a whole portion of mushy peas from my lone pea plant

Gratitudes:
* The Internet for it's wonderful learning opportunities
* Gorgeous kitties
* Our garden furniture (hand-me-downs) - never before has it seen so much use!

Looking forward to dinner tonight - a meal out cooked by our veg box provider - all veggie, with socialising built in. Should be good!

themadvix

Morning all!

We had an absolutely lovely time last night at the R1verford pop-up feast. If you're a customer and they do one near you, I'd strongly recommend going. The food was delicious and plentiful (and they provided boxes to take leftovers home - which, of course, I did, encouraged by our new friends, even though they didn't partake!); the company was great and everyone thought it was a really enjoyable evening. DH has taken leftovers to work, and there are some in the fridge for me too. A glass of wine was included too - all for £30 for both of us. We'll also receive a PDF with all the recipes we tried last night

'Spent' my (ahem, DH's) JL cuppa and cake voucher yesterday, when out with mum, sis and niece. I didn't buy anything, but I did go armed with my charity shop checklist. Mum bought us a salad to share, hence the ice cream purchase later (at least it was from the Coop - £1.15 for 8 choc ices, not £1.20 each from the ice cream man).

Lots of work has come in overnight, so I'm cracking on with that and trying to stay cool.

MS things:
* Leftovers for lunch!
* MS rw, SBs, VB poll
* Large ebay item sold - the postcode of the buyer gives me hope they'll collect
* Free tea and cake yesterday (thanks JL)
* T1dal offer from MSE email means we'll save £60 on Spotify (DH is giving it two weeks overlap before cancelling... he's not entirely convinced, but it's good money to be saved). Possibility of £120 saved if I then do a 6 month free trial too.

Gratitudes:
* A lovely evening meeting new people
* Delicious food
* Lovely leftovers

Have a good day all!

earthgirl

Yummy and £30 for s night out with leftovers and a glass of wine is great!!

themadvix

Morning all,

Couldn't agree more Earthie!

Have replied to jury summons - hopefully they'll let me defer. They actually only ask for 3 dates when you could start service - not for you to give them *all* the dates you could do... If only they'd made that clearer!

Trying to work in the heat this morning.... Forecasters keep lying about forthcoming rain! Not their fault, but it gets my hopes up! The kitties are really suffering, poor things... lolling about all over the place.

If I get this all done this morning, I may head out to some charity shops with Mum later. Heat dependent though.

Have had my next lot of stamps through - there's a fair bit of admin that goes with the RM survey though.

MS things:
* Usual VB, MS, SBs
* £1.36 TT yesterday
* £1.90 Ebay transferred (have just realised I haven't paid fees though)
* Shopm1um email has some good offers - may grab a few bits from there

Gratitudes:
* There's shade in the garden first thing for eating breakfast
* An evening of dominoes last night in the garden with DH - no TV (and I won )
* Jury summons form was easier than expected to complete

Have a good afternoon all - stay cool! :cool:

themadvix

Evening all,

We've had a good weekend. Popped out to buy best friends a baby present as their little girl arrived last week. Used my M&S card from the Brownie for this - was annoyed that sale signs were still up but they'd cleared the sale stuff away to make room for the new season! Still £5 cash spent and a lovely little outfit bought. Looking forward to meeting her.

Popped into the zero-waste shop to top up on a couple of bits and discovered there was a street festival happening in the town, so enjoyed a wander there, saw an old friend from school and managed to find something I've been looking for in a charity shop - a good trip out all round!

Made orange and polenta cake to use up a couple of ageing oranges in the fridge - delicious, if a little crunchy from the polenta (bit weird, but it definitely didn't mention precooking it). Also made some more yoghurt last night - halved the milk powder and it seems to have come out fine

Today I've made a pair of curtains from an old duvet cover for our spare room. Have ordered some clip-on rings to hang them with. Dead simple and total cost £3.27 - 8p in 2ps used as curtain weights, £3.19 for the rings. We got the pole free on freecycle too (actually one pole, but we've managed to make it do 2 rooms). I'm feeling rather smug, as I don't think I've *ever* finished a sewing project in one day before except for school exams (case in point being I've also hemmed 3 tea towels today that it has taken several years to get finished!). It's amazing what you can get done when you're not melting all over the place!

There has been a lot of use of the Frugalwoods maxims that 'perfection is the enemy of frugality' and '80% of the effect for 20% of the cost'. UFM has been fairly transformational here, considering I would have said we were pretty frugal before.

A couple of bits have come up on Freegle that I've asked to be considered for. Fingers crossed we are lucky!

MS things:
* Claimed Shopm1um fish portions - and referral credit means they'll be free Must get to Sains this week for other bits
* Freezer tea last night - including the last portion of beetroot curry... which I never have to eat again! :T
* Dad took us out for lunch today
* Frugal effort to make curtains will pay off
* Haven't bought replacement kettle - vouchers have arrived but instead of price being the £49.99 it was last week (reduced from £53.99), it is now £59.99 on the Argoose website. **Not impressed**. Assume this is because of their 'spend £50/£100, get £5/£10 gift card' offer this weekend. What a scam. I will be waiting for it to return to at least the original list price.

Gratitudes:
* A sewing machine - rarely used, but invaluable when I do use it (was bought for me for 6th textiles classes)
* Dad taking us out for lunch
* A chance encounter with a lovely friend from school

Have a good evening all

newgirly

Hi vix, just caught up with your diary finally. You are doing so well at the moment, it's really inspiring me to get back on the frugal bandwagon, so thank you

Karmacat

Full of admiration for the curtains thing! Tuppenny weights are such a good idea too

themadvix

Morning all!

Thanks Newgirly - definitely jump back on - it's fun

Karma - I can't take credit for the weights, I googled! But I think they'll work fine as it's lightweight fabric. I'm very excited about the arrival of the ring-clips, but that's not the only reason I'm excited.....


.... I've just received notification that I've won £500 in a puzzle competition! :D:D:D These are pretty much the only ones I enter now and as I was doing them this morning, I was debating whether it was worth continuing.... YES! :T :T :T

I was successful at getting one of the things on Freegle, but sadly not the waffle maker (which was an entirely impulse 'want'!). Hopefully collecting later today.

MS things:
* Menu planned for rest of week to use up bits before we go away.
* VB, MS rw, SBs
* Collecting freegle item later

Gratitudes:
* To all the wonderful people on the Comps board who give of their time and effort - thank you so much!
Think that's all so far today!

Have a good day all!