Vala's frugal journey to be MF!!

megela

Hi Vala,

Well done on the bargain bridesmaid dresses. My girls were bridesmaid for my brother at the weekend and the dresses cost ME £320.:eek:

Guess some people don't do MSE weddings, especially when it's other peoples money! The brides father also had to take out a loan to pay for the wedding - imagine letting someone do that!!

Congratulations and I look forward to hearing more about your MSE wedding!!

Megela x

Vala-Mal-Doran

Hi All

Megala I cant believe YOU had to pay for those dresses? The way I see it, if I want someone to wear something specific its up to me to buy it - thats why I will just be buying the dress and maybe a headpiece, I dont mind what they wehere on their feet (tho I may make some hints at the colour ) But I trust them both with that.

Sorry I have been very busy and not online for a while. Iv had another batch cooking day today with carrot and coriander soup - the only soup I know how to make that tastes good! All other soups are what I like to call 'experiments' :rotfl:

Today was almost a none spend day as we were out at a 10k race this morning (OH's running not me!) my MSE side kicked in when OH came to me after the race with his free bottle of water and I asked 'where is your banana?' (they were giving them out with the water) he said he didnt want one, I made him go back and get one on the principle that it was a FREE banana! haha!!

Anyways-on the way back we went past a village with a local farm shop which I had been wanting to go in for months so we stopped off and I grabbed 2 lemons and a mini ice cream tub and we sat in the sunny grassy park eating them before heading home - OH appreciated it - Only a few £s spent.

Spending this afternoon on an assignment for a course im doing at work which should hopefully eventually lead to promotion, in the distant future! So kind of MSE.

Got an evening wedding do this weekend to go to and I need to get a present for them, I was hoping to have time to make something as I didnt want to go down the usual bottle of bubbly route, but I wont have time now.

Can anyone suggest a cheap(ish) present they would give or could make? Its for a work colleague of both of us, she is probably the most un-mse person ever but can be sentimental too.

Thanks

Vala xx:D

Vala-Mal-Doran

Doing well this week - no unplanned spending. Im having to keep on top of the no spending during the day to day as we have a few expensive weekends coming up over the next few months, weddings, birthdays and a weekend in Edinburgh (which im looking forward to the most :T )
I dont mind going to most of these things, I always feel I would rather spend money on going to stuff like birthdays as its a social thing and if we struck those off the spending list we could become a couple of recluse(es?) and have no friends left, but it doesnt half take its toll on your wallet - its not just the getting there (one birthday is in London - luckily got a £21 ticket) but then there is the food and then the drinks afterwards which arnt cheap! Im probably going to be choosing the cheapest food on the menu (as cheap as you can get in a London leicester square steakhouse!?) and luckily I dont really drink and have no qualms about drinking tap water in the bars! Home packed sandwiches and a flask for the train journey home should sort tea out but i am guessing a total spend of around £40 minimum! But it is a 30th and we did promise we would go-i dont like to let people down :A

V xx

Vala-Mal-Doran

Yay I finally had a trip to my work course in Leeds without spending anything! I didnt get drawn into the shops, nor did I 'treat myself' to a coffee and muffin for the train journey. I just walked through the main high street and enjoyed the scenery and pretty buildings, I did walk through havey Nichols to be spritzed by the perfume lady to get my 'treat' fix but just enjoyed the atmosphere- its not a shop I would ever buy anything in-far too expensive!! I also took enought lunch and snacks and a flask for the train AND took my phone charger so I can charge my phone on the train whilst updating my mse diary :-)

AND I made the most of my O2 moments app and got 4 free cookies from mi11ies on the way into Leeds, them got 4 more on the way back as the lady at the till had changed and the first one didn't write down the code- happy times! I'm going to take these to the inlaws tomoro for dessert as they are cooking us tea! I only thought about it as I went to the O2 shop yesterday to get a car charger with a 'sorry' voucher from O2 and the assistant was telling me about the good offers that are on it now!

Wedding tonight, I hope that the drinks won't be too expensive - at least I don't have to worry about tea tho :-)

Hope you are all having a happy mse weekend

V. Xx

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hiya, supposed to be getting ready to go it, so will catch up on your diary tomorrow. Thanks for dropping into mine
Tilly x

unhappy_shopper

Hi VMD, There is a free Balenciaga Flora... sample from Harvey Nich0ls in O2 Priority Moments. Lunch, snacks and flask of coffee - sounds like me on my way to office daily Enjoy your evening!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

I know what you mean about the social thing. We have often spent more than we wanted to on these occasions but we didn't want to find ourselves mf in a couple of years but with no friends! So it may have extended the mortgage a bit but I think it is worth it. My niggle is when I have salad and water, others have steak and prosecco and then suggest splitting the bill! I know it is not worth fussing about a few pounds if the meals are broadly similar, but sometimes I have had to contribute about £30 when I have just had a plate of pasta and tap water. People should be more thoughtful about this and offer to chip ina bit more if they know they have had something expensive.

Have a great time,

Squirrel

Vala-Mal-Doran

Thanks Unhappy Shopper weirdly that's the same perfume I spritzed myself with, I did notice a lady with a little sample and wondered how she got it. I should have looked more closely at my O2 thing instead of having cookie blindness!! Haha!

Squirrel I'm glad it's not just me on the tap water at meals then! Me and Mr VMD have just had that same conversation last week, we are noticing its the same people who suggest it each time so will hopefully be able to say at the start that we will pay for our own. It would be best for me to do this at every meal as unfortunately once iv had a glass of wine I'm very easily swayed to the easy option of splitting it only to grumble the next morning!
It's not easy to stand up for yourself in these situations and insist on paying for your own but I find that the more you do it, it becomes less scary. And I guarantee you won't be the only one not wanting to split! The amount of people grumbling after the last time it happened it seemed like 90% of the table didn't want to split! - ok rant over!

Had an ok time at the wedding last night, I may have had one too many 'pre drinks' and ended up looking a little worse for wear but I only bought £9 worth of drinks and a colleague drove us in then taxi back cost £6 each so grand total of £15 spent!

It was interesting to look at the difference between this wedding (Which has had a lot of money thrown at it eg:£2200 dress which 'daddy' bought) and the previous weddin we went to where they planned it all in 3 months with whatever they could afford as the father of the bride is terminally ill. They had a church and village hall do where everybody pitched in where they could to help and to be honest it was so much nicer to go to the village hall one as it was more personal. The expensive one last night was ok but it just lacked something which I can't put my finger on.
I was talking to mr VMD about it and he couldn't see where the money had been spent and also preferred the smaller wedding. It's good to reassure ourselves that it's more about having people you love their than spending lots of money!

V x

Vala-Mal-Doran

Also whilst I'm on here my resolution for this weeks is to have 5 consecutive nsd's before my trip to London - where we shall not be splitting the bill! Haha! With the exception of the food shop on Thursday and my £1 lotto syndicate at work, other than that- no spending allowed!
I will report on my progress!

Also does anyone know when the next free listing on fleabay is likely to be?

V x

Vala-Mal-Doran

I feel such a shambles!

The day after I make my weeks resolution, 2 essential toiletries ran out so had to make a purchase that day, the next day a card came round for a colleague who has just had a baby so made a donation there (close colleague) so more pounds gone, then had to get birthday cards and wrapping paper as had run out for grandads birthday....

I know it's only a few pounds here and there but it is so frustrating as it all eats away...grrr!

Ok grumble over with, I have a day off tomoro so we can both catch up on rest-I dont do this booking a day off to 'get some rest' during busy times malarkey so Mr VMD often books it off anyway and I'm always grateful for the lie in, even if it's only to 8 am! I will be round my mums after the food shop and a workout in the morning so it should be a free day - but I'm feeling doubtful especially wih my current record!

I needs sleep anyways, hope everybody's being more mse than me!

VMD x