*** This is Sparta ***

lionheartedgirl

Afternoon all,

well a minimally spendy weekend. I did have to buy a bit of food on Saturday to survive the concert but it wasn't too bad.

Sunday was an SFD (had a couple of drinks bought for me which was lovely) but what should have been a lovely day with the new chap got spoilt a bit because it is rapidly becoming obvious that he is terrible with money. We had a bit of a grump about it, didn't let it ruin the whole day but it has got me thinking a lot. I will have a little rant on my diary

Yesterday I bought a bottle of wine (cheap though and my first in a couple of weeks now), and some food bits. Loo roll is back on a decent offer in the co-op so I stocked up on that.

I also found some lovely looking YS bung-in-the-oven-all-done-for-you potatoes and some YS salad, so I'm having my 20p seabass tonight with 20p spuds and 20p salad :cool: and the remainder of the wine from last night.

Today is an SFD though and tomorrow will be the same.

I have nothing planned the rest of the week, am OK for food so will be running, practising, reading, writing, tidying up, painting and gardening instead.

thriftylass

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Thrifty how did you make your billtong..? Where on earth do you live though..?

Built a billtong box (plastic box with ventilation holes, a light bulb as heat source and an old computer fan for ventilation, loads of advise online how to build one). Then get some beef, cut it in strips, wash, salt for a couple of hours, dip in vinegar, season over night and let dry in the box for three days. YUM, I hope. We got friends from SA and they make their own as it so expensive, that's were we got the idea. But you can also use it to dry fruit etc I guess and that'll be cheaper than using the oven to do it. I might try orange slices etc for the christmas tree.

I live in Dundee :rotfl::rotfl: (Scotland, not the one in Australia, SA or Canada)

Living_a_good_life

There's a joke in these posts somewhere!! Biltong, cow and vegan - July is going to be fun however the beef box is planned to last a fair bit longer than one month!

re the "God" people - count me in too not just OH - its part of who I am, if people ask and want to know then great but I don't wear a sandwich board while shouting on street corners honest!!

Right onwards and upwards

Love LAGL xx

thriftylass

Was meant to have a three months cancellation period at the gym but just cancelled my DD by "mistake" and they cancelled the membership with immediate effect and without me having to pay another two months. Result. Three months was a bit excessive.

Siouxsie32

Vegan? Interesting! I'm about 70% vegan/30% lacto vegetarian. I would go completely vegan but a) I love chocolate and ice cream too much and b) I find it a bit impractical when I'm travelling (sometimes it's difficult even finding a veggie meal in a hotel, never mind a vegan one). Good luck cutting out cheese though Kat. We'll be here to support you when you get withdrawal symptoms

I'm still clocking up the SFDs. I don't really recall how many I have had, but I'm getting such a buzz from potentially achieving my £50 food budget, not to mention the crisp £20 in my misc purse that I'm so reluctant to break, that I always think I'll go shopping tomorrow...then tomorrow I look at the figures and think I'll stretch it out til tomorrow and before I know it we're more than halfway through the month with healthy budgets

As a result I don't have anything exciting to report. I did a supermarket run a few days ago and had a bit of karma luck. I saw a woman drop a £1 coin at the car park machine so I gave it back to her. Then, an hour later, I was at the same machine I found an extra £1 in my change I used this plus my previously wombled £3.98 Price Comparison voucher to reduce my shopping from £11.56 to £6.58 This made me happy! Then, as I was leaving, I found a Price Comparison voucher for another supermarket (?!) for £1.58! Keep scouring the floor people

I wanted to go to a concert in Central London last week but couldn't justify the £30 ticket price so I looked on ebay and found a listing which somehow was being ignored. I grabbed two tickets for 99p plus £2 postage. I only needed one so I sold the other one outside the venue for £15...not only that, I found a free parking space almost right outside the door so it was a profitable night out!!

Edit: Oops, forgot to update my totals....
SFD: Eh, not reall sure but it feels like quite a lot
Food: £29.12/£50
Petrol: £50/£50
Misc: £31.28/£100

karmachilovething

Siouxsie32 wrote: »

I wanted to go to a concert in Central London last week but couldn't justify the £30 ticket price so I looked on ebay and found a listing which somehow was being ignored. I grabbed two tickets for 99p plus £2 postage. I only needed one so I sold the other one outside the venue for £15...not only that, I found a free parking space almost right outside the door so it was a profitable night out!!

I think that is the most MSE thing I've heard all year!

SFD for me today, just filling up the car and pumping up the tyres (to get the most out of that petrol!)

Doris65_2

Hi All

Another SFD, and I haven't used the car at all, had a friend over for coffee this morning, we normally go out, But as the weather is so warm she came to me, and we sat in the garden, I made biscuits, and she was very impressed,

I am starting to really resent spending money, I don't think that I have ever been this far in to an month and been not been worried about running short of cash, but sticking to my budgets has helped me to be in real control, now if I can just get OH on board.....

Dx

LoveaDove

***Sneaks in with Great Stealth***

Lil Spend Day yesterday- £5.56 on Food Top Ups.

Another SFD today in the Bag :T

Scored a free tub of butter from my sis (She had 4 in the fridge and had no idea why)

Very impressed by Siouxsie32 and your wombleing karma! :T

Don't forget guys, it's Hump day tomorrow! Nearly half way through the week. :cool:

abundant1972

Hey All...

Well - another 2 SFD's under my belt, making today SFD number 9.

Thanks for all the hints and tips and support. I know I can shave that bill down - I just need to get back into the habit of thrifty purchases! Am making a point of using up my cupboard supplies too.

Kat - You're going to need to get a bigger naughty step soon lol... at this rate we're all gonna end up on there!!! Maybe a naughty bench?

Congrats on the progress and achievements everyone!!! We're almost at the halfway point and I always feel Summer Solstice (around June 21st) is a great time to take stock and evaluate where we are at and what we can do to make improvements.

Have a lovely evening everyone x

Moneymash

Hi,

So I've done it, completed my 6, 12-hour night shifts, it should have been 72 hours but had to do an hour's worth of pharmacy training and work an extra hour yesterday so a total of 74 hours and nowhere near enough sleep. I do not recommend this, for reasons see below:

Due to lack of sleep the following bad things happened.
Dropped a bottle of liquid medication
Dropped a glass of Ensure
Lost several of my own and other people's pens
Lost and found medication, office and store cupboard keys
Didn't complete medication counts (too tired)
Forgot to sign off medication (not alert enough)
Forgot to pass on that a colleague was going to be late for a day shift
Didn't follow correct procedures for documenting information.
and
Had to endure silly and ungrateful woman (too tired to fend her off)

You tend to have energy at the start and end of a shift (you get a second wind and adrenalin takes over)

The one good thing was I prevented a colleague (who hadn't done 74 hours, who was supposedly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed) from overdosing a patient, by reminding them the patient had already had their morning medication. I'm not sure if this balances the bad things out, but I'll take it. Despite the errors, I did successfully care for my patients and left them as I found them, alive!

Silly and ungrateful woman is doing her best not to just annoy me but everyone else as well. She appears to be taking all the overtime shifts, and then at the last minute cancels them. We think she is taking them to stop anyone else having them and then deciding which ones she actually wants to do! The thing is by the time she cancels them others who would have gladly picked up the shifts have made plans.

Doris65 I feel your pain about the OD, I am desperate to stay in budget this month, as even if I end up with a £0 bank balance I won't be in the dreaded OD.

My stats are

Budget £93.17, spent £63.56 left £29.61 but I still need to pay for a prescription £7.85 so £21.76 for actual food.

I spent on the 14th and 16th so a total of 14 SFD so far, easy when you work nights though.

I have £2.95 of my treat budget left, I could use this for chocolate and then I could spend less of my food budget on chocolate, although I doubt it, it has got to last me until pay day.

I finished work at 8 yesterday morning and have slept on and off all day, and now I am wide awake.:mad: