My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Hello.....Anyone there????

What a horrid, cold day its been today. Thank goodness i have kept busy so not felt the cold too much. Off to zumba class bright and early - all costs included in my gym menbership. Great stuff. Spent a lovely afternoon with my best friend having a mooch round the village where she lives and having a very cheap pub lunch. We sat in the pub most of the afternoon drinking our diet cokes in front of the log fire !!! Even though I spent next to nothing, I felt like I have had a great afternoon out. Roll on the next one !

Just cosying up for the evening now. Going to have a couple of glasses of wine tonight as a treat - home made of course. Works out at about £1 a bottle which suits me just fine. Got a few frugal plans for my days off this week as I am hoping to have a few NSD. Hoping to make good use of my gym and cinema passes plus eating up food i have already got in my storcupboard. Hopefully only need to buy a bit of fresh veg and milk this week.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Had a bit of a strange day yesterday. It started out very well. Had my “free" zumba class which was great fun. I was then going to a friends to have some food with him. Lets just say I have not been at all well since getting home. I won’t go into details!!! Thankfully the rest of the day was good. Use up another item of toiletries. Also I signed up for a consultation about free cavity wall insulation. The company are visiting on Thursday morning. A few other positives to report despite feeling unwell – A NSD. Also the chickens are looking 100% better now I have moved them into the garage.

I have decided that I am going to try and spend the bare minimum on food shopping. I intend to check my store cupboards and freezer before I go to the shops. I have taken some cooked gammon out of the freezer which I intend to use up over the next couple of days. I am going to have it with tinned pineapple and melted grated cheese. Wonderful. Hope to report back later with today’s activities.:)

sidneysmum

The rest of today has gone very nicely. I have started to feel back to my normal self but decided not to go to the gym after work. Hope to get a good night sleep then hopefully go to the gym in the morning. Checked on my chickens again earlier and they are definately more perky. Just been eating up leftovers and stocks from home today. Made egg mayo which I had with crackers. Also used up the last of some tomato soup I had on the go. Tomorrow is a new day and I am not in work till next week so I hope to be back to 100% and I can put some positivity back into my day. I would like to catch up with a few small chores as well as spend time enjoying myself before I am back at work next week.

The best thing about today is that its been a NSD !!
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

Had a really enjoyable day so far and have been thinking about money saving especially regarding groceries and toileties. Spent the morning in the gym and this afternoon at the cinema watching "Skyfall" which was great entertainment.
Had another NSD today which was great. I know I am going to have to buy a few groceries this week but hopefully nearer weekend, if not at weekend. Hopefully I will ony spend a few pounds. Going to be very strict with myself and only buy what i really need. I have used up loads of leftovers today - egg mayo on crackers, leftover cheese on toast and a tin of beans and sausage. Sounds a ghastly combination!!! Just made a pan full of soup using up leftover mixed peppers, onions and tomatos. Having a bit of it now and I will hopefully have the rest tomorow. Used up one more item of toiletries (facial scrub) so added that to my signature. I am hoping that if i get any toiletries for xmas then I can add them to my current stash and I wont need to buy any for most of 2013 !!

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

maman

:wave:Just called by to say what a happy thread you have started. You sound as if you're really enjoying your frugal ways.

I did wonder about making overpayments when you said you don't have any savings behind your for emergencies. I'm hardly a finance expert but I suppose with interest it does make sense to get your mortgage paid off ASAP. Maybe if an unexpected bill came in you could get a 0% credit card and pay for it that way?

Oh and don't you save money if you have your energy bills on DD? That's true of my provider. I thought you could always ask for a refund if you were in substabtial credit.

Your gym sounds amazing value especially as you can go whenever you like. Is it part of a national chain?

Good Luck.

sidneysmum

Maman - Hi and thanks for dropping by. Its great to know someone is reading my ramblings. You made some sound suggestions. I am going to have a look at my energy provider and see if they will give me a discount for paying by direct debit. Also I have been thinking myself about what is the best way to go with either saving up or paying money off my mortgage. I think what I am going to do for now is to save up till xmas and see how much I have got.....then make a decision. Thats a great idea you came up with about using a 0% credit card if i need to spend some money in an emmergency. The gym I use is actually the council gym. For £20 or thereabouts a month I have unlimited used of about 6 centres in the area. I can have unlimited swimming, use of gym and unlimted attendance to about 100 exercise classes ranging from zumba to bokwa to aqua aerobics to spinning. Lets just say its a wonder the council arent bankrupt with the use I get of my membership!!!

Today has been another busy one for me. I am really tired just now. I spent most of the morning cutting back in my garden. This is a marathon task for me at this time of year as I have loads of foliage in my flower beds. I also had a visit from a company about "free" cavity wall insulation. However after they measured the outside area of my walls, I was told that for my house I would have to pay about £350 towards the cost. No way am I doing that. It would take me years to recoup that saving as I dont heat the whole of the house every day.

Went to the gym this afternoon for an hour then came back and did a bit more gardening. Foodwise I have been eating up stock from my cupbords and freezer - crackers and marmalade, cheese on toast, ham, cheese and pineapple with new potatoes for tea. I think tomorrow i might have to bite the bullet and go to Aldi but I am only going to buy the bare essentials ! Might see if i can put it off longer.

Also emptied my collection box of £2 coins which I have only been collecting for the last few months. The plan is to give them to my grown up children at Christmas. They will be delighted with the extra cash I am sure and I know they appreciate anything I give them. Anyway I have over £50 each for them so its not to be sniffed at. I am now planning on carrying on collecting them and using them for birthdays and Christmas next year. I have hardly noticed saving them up.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day.

sidneysmum

Another good day for me today. As the weather was dry this morning I took the opportunity to use my garden vac to collect some leaves. This gadget has been worth its weight in gold. It makes a very tedious job, very easy. Had my usual trip to the gym and then did my weekly shop at Aldi and spent £3.92 !! I just bought bread, milk and 4 large pots of natural yoghurt. Think I might try and wait till mid week to buy any more food and then I will see what i need. I think I will have to buy a gift of flowers or chocolates on Sunday as I am visiting an old friend and dont want to turn up empty handed. Tolietries wise I had 1 more use up - a hair volumising spray. This afternoons activities revolved round food. I made some home made hummus from storecupboard stocks. Also some butternut squash and potato soup. I have really tried to organise myself food wise so that I use everything up and dont throw anything away. I have designated a specific shelf in the fridge for items that need using up first - No hiding at the back !!!
This evening I have made use of my cinema card and have been to see a film called "Rust and Bone". Not sure how to describe the film really. Lets just say it had English subtitles. I actually rather enjoyed it.
Just having a sneaky glass or two of homemade wine....then bed.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day.

sidneysmum

Evening all. I am sat here with my feet up, glass of wine in my hand and stuffed to the gills with fish and chips. Just been out for food. Luckily it was my aunts treat for myself and my cousin as she had some extra money. Cheers auntie !! Had a fairly good day today. Went to the gym for a quick blast this morning. Called in at Aldi and bought a beautiful box of biscuits as a gift for my friend who I am visiting tomorrow. Paid £2.99 but they look as though they cost a lot more.
Used up another bottle of shampoo today which was in the toiletries stash. I seem to be using a lot up at the moment but its because i have quite a lot of bottles with small amounts left in them. The plan is to use them all up then move onto the unopened bottles.
Other than the fish and chip meal I have eaten up storcupboard food. Had hummus on toast for brunch with some homemade soup. Probably wont use much food up at home tomorrow as i am visiting a friend who lives about 50 miles away and she usually makes food when i visit.
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day.

sidneysmum

Didnt get chance to drop by yesterday as i spent all day with an old friend of mine who lives about 50 miles away from me. We had a lovely day together and she made both lunch and tea for us both. Of course i had to fill my car up with LPG for the trip and I took a gift with me. Bought her a beautiful box of biscuits. Dont like to turn up empty handed. Anyway it was a low spend day rather than a no spend day. Got rid of some hair mousse today. Not actually thrown it in the bin because I have only used it once but it did absolutely nothing for my hair. So I am going to take it to my next womens institute meeting bring and buy sale as i am sure someone will want it. Anyway i am treating it as a "used up" !! (Signature altered)

Today things are back to nornmal. Had my monday morning zumba class which was great. Went to my local homebrew shop and bought a wine kit as stocks are running low !! Also had to buy a bag of sugar. The wine kit was £16.99 but that makes about 28 bottles of medium white wine. I only bought 1kg of sugar at 85p because I already had the other 2.5kgs in my store cupboard. Not buying what I dont need !! So...I have brewed the wine and its just starting to bubble nicely. Another 3 weeks and it should be ready. Called at the local library today and got a few non fiction books out to have a look through. I need to do some more reading as the nights are so long now that its dark at tea time. I am not a fan of going out in the dark these days unless its to something i really want to do. Lets see how i get on with doing some reading.

Foodwise I have been...guess what?....using up leftovers. Had hummus on toast for breakfast, home made soup for lunch and red thai curry and rice for tea. All the food was in the fridge / freezer / cupboard. Hoping to carry on using up stuff this week and have a very low spend shopping bill later in the week. I think I will go to the supermarket the day my milk runs out and try to last till then with everything else.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day.

sidneysmum

Just chillng out after being at work today. Thankfully the day flew by and I left work early afternoon and went to the gym for an hour. Trouble is I am so tired now ! Actually made a bit of progress today and booked my car in for a service on Monday. I have put this off for a month or two. I am trying to turn over a new leaf and get everything done promptly !!! Food wise i have eaten from my storecupboard. Breakfast - cereal, Lunch - Hummus on toast, Tea - Leftover curry and rice. It seems like ages since I did a proper food shop. I think I could probably manage into the New year and only buy bread, milk, fruit and veg. I might just see if I can do that. I really would like to spend as little as possible and try and get a good amount of savings behind me.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x