Sat 29th March/Sun 30th March - What small DFW things will you do this weekend?

hettiecarro

Hi all.
Haven't been on this post for a few weeks. Have been feeling very down, and having issues with OH about the final leg of our DF journey (He seems to be taking his eye off the ball).
Anyway. This weekend, like many I will be remembering my dear Mum who sadly is no longer with me.
She always loved flowers, and although I KNOW she is not there, I never fail to take flowers to the cemetery on Mothering Sunday.
Not a lot of spare cash this month, and was unexpectedly asked to have Grandson for weekend. (Don't worry I'm getting to the point):rotfl:


Anyway - my little debt free thing this weekend:


Looked at cost of flowers (ripoff weekend).
Remembered daffodil field where you can pick your own.
Packed a picnic and GS's ball and set off - (only 5-6 miles away) .
GS played while I got daffs (loads for house too) .75p for 2 big armsfull.
Gathered some pretty greenery from hedges on the way back.
Made up sprays for cemetery, elderly neighbour and Gson to give his Mum..
We made a card yesterday evening
Little one had a great day out - so went to sleep like a log.
I got some much needed time away from OH :rotfl:
Mum g ot her flowers.
Whole day less than £10.00 including petrol and picnic.
OH out of doghouse this morning because he has offered to cook Sunday lunch for me.
Also chopped roasting chicken in half and froze one half. Bit fed up with mid week meat dishes so going veggie for the week.


Have a great weekend all - and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MUMS. :A:A:A

cats2013

Hi All, so glad to see so many back on the board, I thought id been the only one away for a while. Really do feel for all of those having OH issues and personal bad times. Ive been there and just offer to keep on the board and it will help you get back on track and things honestly do get better with time. We put up with yukky times short term because the future is better ahead.

So, our debt has now got down to about 8,500! So pleased. But the payments will now be much smaller and slower to pay off because my new job wages are so much lower than before. my salary has more than halved but my commute is only a drive now and home in 30-45mins woo hoo!

So monthly shop all done in Asda, bargains! All work stuff will be from stores and use free water at work. Night shifts will be hard starting in 2 weeks eek...any tips for keeping awake (12hours!), was thinking porridge, cereal would be good choice?

So today and this week....

get mothers day flowers and gift bag and a new notebook - budget planned

revise and study for exams in training this week (they are everyday!)
finish washing, iron work clothes for the week
take dog to park later free hour exercise
Plan lunches for the week and organise lunch boxes to save time
Dinner at inlaws

Take care everyone x

yorpington

Morning all! Happy Mother's Day for those celebrating

Our train journey on Friday came to an abrupt end when lightning hit a tree and brought it down on the line. Nobody was hurt and FIL kindly came to fetch us. A pain, but it will mean a refund on our train ticket! Silver lining

Yesterday was very MSE. I supervised the young in-laws making a birthday cake for MiL, so no need to buy one. We went for a beautiful drive and walk (free!), the presents were all budgeted for, and I found £45 worth of books for £4 in a second-hand shop while we were out. Plus we've done the cooking but haven't had to pay for any food while here. Hooray!

Today going to deliver my handmade gift to DM, and get a free lunch to boot. Hope everyone else is having a DFW weekend!

Debtbuster2014

Today I will not be spending any money!!!

Just cooking a huge roast for all the family & resisting items on ebay and listing new ones hoping to get the pennies coming in

allydowd

Hey Debt-Free Wannabe Jedis, time for my weekly post. Sorry, I don't have time to post daily at present. Writing on the Kindle, so this may take a while. Thanks for the starter Ziggy.

Hey, Stitchy: much love, things can only get better.

Hugs to everyone having a nightmare of a week. So, I've had a very challenging week, but have survived thanks to the support of my cyber-friends. Thanks, everyone. And I've somehow managed to make some progress.

Did everyone UK-based remember to change their clocks?!?

OPERATION APRIL
I am working on Operation April. The plan is to get all the issues in my life sorted by the end of April with the exception of one credit card debt. MFW-journey was quite simple until November when suddenly lots of companies let me down simultaneously resulting in me turning into a new type of super-hero: Complaints Woman! So here's this week:

Entertainment
:female: Sold a couple of pounds worth of DVDs and bought replacements in the charity shop. Free entertainment.
:female: Usually we'd spend up to £10 on petrol at a weekend driving to the mountains and going walking. However, this weekend we weren't well enough so we went to a local cafe, installed ourselves on a sofa and ordered a pot of tea and one item of Tapas instead. While we were there we enjoyed free entertainment and used their free WiFi to download free podcasts to enjoy later.

Mobile Phones
:female: My phone died just before my contract has run out. Managed to negotiate a new, free, phone for £2 cheaper each month, on the same network as my OH. The new phone gets a better signal at home which is vital as we have no landline. Will sell the old phone for scrap in due course. Also, as it's Orange we can use Magic Numbers. (Search here for details) Still need to wrap up the contract with the old company.

Credit Card Shuffle
:female: All my debt is on one credit card but the 0% offer is ending soon. Arranged a new 0% credit card and a balance transfer with a related bank. Still need to wait for balance transfer to be actioned and for new card to arrive.

Missing TopCashBack Credit
:female: Chased up missing credit for insurance purchased through TCB. Still waiting for a response.

Utility Switching
:female: Switch from nPower to Co-op Energy should take place this week. The cost of the bills will be similar but Co-op should be more efficient in terms of accurate and timely billing and will hopefully not make the same number of unforgivable errors as nPower. Still need to wait for actual switch, do meter readings and settle nPower account.

Old Credit Card 1 Complaint
:female: Small compensation figure agreed and card closed. Still need to wait for compensation cheque.

Old Credit Card 2 Refund
:female: Received an unexpected £175 refund from another old credit card. Still need to wait for cheque to clear.

DWP Debt
:female: Had a small debt to the DWP from my JSA-claiming days. Paid 75% of it and arranged a payment for the remaining 25% to leave next week. Still need to wait for payment to be taken.

NHS Dental Treatment
:female: Had a wisdom tooth removed this week at the bargain NHS price of £11.84. Treatment ongoing. (What a nightmare, that's been!) Pain managed with Diclofenac pills from stores and 69p generic ibuprofen pills. Still need to complete HC1 form to get a reduction on future NHS treatment and a partial refund.

New reading glasses for OH
:female: OH is shopping around for new specs which can be bought when HC1 form has been processed.

Income Tax Refund
:female: Applied for an £800(!) refund. HMRC have now decided they won't process it until I have my P60 after 5th April. Waiting for end of financial year and P60.

Complaint to bank
:female: Complained about misinformation from bank. Complaint made using wombled envelope and free stamp from RM surveys. Still waiting for a response. Perhaps they'll send me a gesture of goodwill, though an apology would do.

Ongoing IT issues
:female: Ordered new ink cartridge from Refresh (Link) at the cost of £13 rather than £26 in Tesco. Waiting for this to arrive.

'The Debt'
:female: Have kept up with all the repayments. Will be able to pay off some extra when all these monies due arrive! If all goes well I will be debt free by the end of the year. If this doesn't happen...I will cry...a lot...LOL.

OTHER STUFF
Also been trying to life the DFW-dream in DFW-style So here's this week's other stuff:

*House cleaned using minimum products and washable cloths.
*Doing RM surveys. They also sent me free sellotape, which is ace as you don't often need to use it for the surveys.
*Taking a packed lunch and a flask to work.
*Charging phone in the car whenever possible.
*No Mother's Day for us. Doesn't fit our circumstances!

floozy44

Golly, I'm nowhere near as good as you all and struggle to get on here- running around after the little ones, but I have been collecting wood from the side of the road when I see it as it heats the woodburner for free-Yay!!

Big hugs for everyone-theres never enough hugs in the world

allydowd

floozy44 wrote: »

Golly, I'm nowhere near as good as you all and struggle to get on here...I have been collecting wood from the side of the road when I see it as it heats the woodburner for free-Yay!!

It's not a competition, don't feel bad! Well done, for collecting wood. Every little helps!

princess_pea

Hello All,


I had a bit of a bad day yesterday moneywise - bought a microwave (quite cheap from Mr A) which I have needed for a while - I'm justifying this by planning to live on baked potatoes during April!


I also went out with friends last night for curry - but my one friend was naughty and paid for most of my share as I'd bought her dinner last month. Still managed to spend £20 I don't have though


But today has been a NSD :T and I will check surveys later


Have a good rest of the weekend folks

foxgloves

Hi Weekend penny savers,
Just a few little bits from me this weekend as have had my mind on other things:
*Mr f shopped yesterday & came in under budget even though he picked up an extra chicken for the freezer.
*Mr f finished a work secondment & received a fair amount of wine & beer as farewell gifts which has topped up our stores nicely.
*Cleaned house using minimal products.
*Had a low cost outing today - NT property - (we're members). Took a picnic, shared a scone, discovered they owed us a free coffee from ancient loyalty card I found at the back of my purse, so apart from petrol, total spend for the two of us was £4.
*Did rubber chicken from last night's roast. Divvied up for chicken, potato wedges & salad tonight, fajhitas tomorrow, a stew & a packed lunch. Carcass in slow cooker for stock.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & work snacks.
*Loaded washer & put on timer for cheap Economy 7 wash overnight.
*Read energy meters & added data to my spreadsheet.
*Ferretted about at the bottom of the garden to find a selection of bricks. Gasman coming tomorrow to do a job which will leave a hole in the wall. Said we'd provide own bricks for bricking up.
*Made a start on killing weeds in front paving by pouring kettle dregs of boiling water on them.
*Sit down with Mr f tonight to do a bit of joint planning & admin.
*Knit. Have had an order for 4 pairs of little socks which need completing this week.
*Use it up project still ongoing. Using the last of the foundation I don't like by getting last bit out with a coffee stirrer, also finished off a lipstick this week by getting last 1/3 out with a brush.
Think that's it for me this weekend. Planning to have a motivated & productive April, so will try to post most days.
F x

Hbdc

La esco... Sounds like a good idea but you should swap cc to 0% deals where poss and then close the cc accounts you've paid off.

Yesterday was a nsd, stayed home and cut the grass.
Today I'm going to use cupboard items and make something for this weeks lunches at work, also listed a couple of eBay items.