My Busy Life

sidneysmum

So nice to be off work today even though its been freezing. I got up early and went into town first thing as I needed to renew my driving licence. It cost me the best part of £25 at the post office. What a laugh. £25 for something which will not see the light of day for the next 10 years hopefully. Its just money for old rope. Rant over !! Decided to use up a high street voucher I have had lurking in my purse for ever and ever. I decided to use it at Iceland and I used the £10 very wisely. I bought a bag of frozen fish (to have with a fish sauce mix I have had in the cupboard for ages), 2 large bottles of cordial (because I was near to running out), pack of bisto (had run out) and a bag of sugar ( to use in twinks hobnobs a I want to make them for one of my sons who is visiting at weekend and he has requested a large take away portion!). All in all, a voucher well used. As parking is so bad in town, I walked there and back and took my pull along trolley for its first outing. It was so easy to pull my shopping in. It will be being used again. It has been sat in my wash house for ages and I have never used it. I think I paid £1.50 for it from a car boot sale years ago !!
I took Sid for a walk this afternoon and fed the ducks. I also decided to complain to the Halifax because they have still not sent my mortgage statement even though it was initially ordered on 2/1/13 and then again 4 weeks later. The lady at the complaint department offered me compensation of £25 which I accepted. I suppose it will cover the cost of my new driving licence.
Tonight has been really nice. I went to a pancake night with the ladies from the wi. We went to another members house and she made us some wonderful food and loads of pancakes. The diet was forgotten for today and will resume tomorrow morning. All in all, a really nice day and it worked out as a NSD. Brilliant.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

It's a nuisance about the driving license (got to be done though), they even charge you when you have to have your address altered.

At least you got some money back from the halifax though.

:T to a no spend day!

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - Had anther NSD today. Very happy about that.

Not too happy about the weather though. Loads of snow appeared again. Its just a pain in the neck. I was supposed to be meeting my friend at the local carvery at tea time but we both decided we would be better going when the weather improves. It was actually ok this morning when i took Sid out and we managed to be out for a couple of hours. I gave one of my sons a lift into Manchester at lunch time and the weather was turning bad then so.........I came home, had a shower, put on my pjs and started a new book. Its called "The choice" by Bernadette Boham. I have sat on the sofa all afternoon just reading and i think there is a good chance i will finish reading it before i go to bed. I am so glad decided to get back into reading. I will add another book to my signature. Nothing else to report really. Just eating up stuff from the freezer and making plans for doing some more cooking on Sunday. My sons are visiting for their tea and I am going to make a huge lasagne. I will also use up the last of my carrots and we are going to have butter beans as well. All being well I will do some baking for my son who has put in an order for some Twinks hobnobs.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

It's lovely to get stuck into a good book.

It's freezing here too and I've just seen reports of snow in the next town so won't be long before we get it

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - Hope you managed to avoid the snow. When I went to bed last night there was about 5 inches of snow in the garden. When I woke up this morning it had all gone. There had been tons of rain thankfully.

Now the snow has gone I was able to resume my life. Took the hound out this morning but had to take a shorter walk as I had to pick one of my sons up from Manchester. Once that was out of the way I took myself off to the cinema to watch "A good day to die hard". Typical action film, very well done and entertaining. I managed to finish my book last night so started a new one today - The tent, the bucket and me, by Emma Kennedy. I am glad i have got back into doing a bit of reading.
Food wise I have eaten a up a few different leftovers today - a bit of savoury mince, a bit of pork goulash and some home made veg soup. I am doing ok calorie wise at the moment although I am coming to a bit of a tricky time diet wise over the next week or so. Tomorrow i am meeting a friend at the carvery for our tea so I will just have to be careful and next week i am off out to 2 events that involve eating. I will just have to try to be careful and do a lot of exercise to offset against the extra calories. Tomorrow i am hoping to go for a really long walk so I can enjoy my roast at tea time without any guilt.
Another NSD today !
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

No snow here in the end either. Poured with rain but later today it was really sunny and very springlike. It cheered me up no end

sidneysmum

Its a lovely day here in the North West. It makes a lovely change. Already taken the hound round the park this morning. I am off out this afternoon to visit relatives and will be walking to their house and back - 40 mins each way, so that's enough walking for me today.
Yesterday was very enjoyable. I took the dog out on a very long walk. We were out for 3 hours so I was really tired when we got home. Late afternoon I went to meet my friend at the local carvery. We had our tea and i didn't get back till about half nine. Spent £7.50 on the carvery and a refillable drink which is brilliant value for money. Just had a really nice time catching up with all the news. Apart from the cost of my meal, I didn't spend anything else yesterday. I have got into the habit of not spending very much at all. I just dont go to shops anymore unless its to buy some milk or some other necessity. My plan is to keep on saving if possible till April when all my big bills arrive. I want to pay everything in full if i can so I have got 12 months breathing space. My bills are council tax, water, car insurance and house insurance. I know a lot of people like to pay by monthly payments but i just like to get them out of the way. Tomorrow I am going to help one of my sons by paying his car tax. I already have the funds on one side for it (£100).
Anyway I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Enjoyed the rest of the day so far. Walked to my aunts house and back home again. Called off at Aldi and did the weeks shopping.....milk, margarine (to use in the twinks hobnobs I am making tomorrow for my son) and an aerosol of white spray paint. The pain was on offer at £2.99 which is bargain. I need some for spraying the victorian day bed I got off ebay at Christmas. The same thing is normally £7/8 in B&Q so I liked making a saving. So really my food spends for the week were £1.90 !! I am really loving not spending any money on food and loving using everything up. Still got loads of food to use up and I think the date i will all be used up is going to be further away than I expected. I haven't bought much of anything apart from bread and milk since mid December. I would say I still have enough to last till at least the end of April. It might even be the end of May if i use every last thing up. OMG !!!
As the weather has been very pleasant here today and its looking the same for tomorrow I ave decided to attempt a bit of gardening tomorrow....so when I came back from my aunts I made a start of tomorrows tea as my sons are coming round. Lasagne prepared, veg peeled, jelly made. All I need to do tomorrow is put the oven on and make the hobnobs !!
Going to get my feet up now.
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

vasseur

Another action packed day sidneysmum. I am going to take a leaf out of your book and make some butternut squash soup tomorrow

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hope the hobnobs go down well!

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - BNSQ soup - My favourite. Might have to make some more when Aldi have them on offer again. The hobnobs are made. I made a double quantity of mixture and made stacks of biscuits. DS1 took loads home with him and i have loads in the biscuit box. Last time I made them I did a calorie count of the mixture so i have a pretty good idea how many calories are in each biscuit. One every night is my treat.

Today has been mega busy. I walked to the gym this morning and it was zumba instead of belly dancing. Made a nice change. So one hours zumba and 40 mins walk each way...quite tiring. When I got home I took the hound for a quick once round the park. She is happy with that as she runs round like a fool. We spent a couple of hours in the garden afterwards just weeding, pruning and tidying up. I have got quite a big garden and need to get my act together. Its actually really nice but i need to keep on top of it so it stays that way.
The boys came for tea and we had lasagne with carrots and butter beans. They had jelly (by request) for afters and some of the hobnobs. Whilst the oven was on I made a pastry less quiche to use up some onions, peppers and eggs I had. Everything is now either eaten, in the fridge, in the freezer or in the biscuit box !! I also whizzed up some hummus whilst I had got the blender out and I will take it to work with me this week for my lunch. I really like all this shopping from my store cupboard and have use up loads of things today which have been sat in the cupboard for ages - lasagne sheets, porridge oats for the hobnobs. I even used up some dried milk for the cheese sauce for the lasagne. It feels good using everything up and I`m not going to stop till the lots gone !! I actually like the planning involved - trying to use up all my ingredients.
Anyway I feel well tired so its time for my feet up and a bit of a rest.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x