I have lost my OS ways, help!

thenanny2die4

I need to join you on this thread. :hello:

I've been working on a temporary contract since the beginning of November, covering another Nanny's maternity leave. I have three weeks left until the contract is up. The thing is, I feel unable to take on another job right away as I'm completely exhausted from the long hours I've been working and I'm in almost constant pain from menopause related tendonitis. I need a rest and have no idea how long it will be before I'm ready to look for more work. Whilst I've been in this job, DH has done pretty much all the catering which is lovely of him, but this has been expensive as he needs to cook "components" rather than throwing stuff together as I tend to.

So from the end of the month I shall have no income at all. I've been trying to prepare for a while by stocking cupboards with extra bits as I go along - particularly laundry/cleaning products, dog food, etc, and I've also been buying savings stamps in Morries as a head start for Christmas. I'm actually quite looking forward to the challenge, in a perverse sort of way. :rotfl:

I'll drop in and out over the coming weeks but, once the job is over and done with, I'll be here a lot. Thanks for starting the thread Caterina; it's so timely for me.

Living_proof

I would like to join this thread please, as despite being very OS for many years, now that the pressure is off and my divorce over, children grown and flown, I find myself getting a bit blase about spending, when really I should be putting more effort into saving for my forthcoming retirement when I will only have the basic state pension.

I am quite well set up as I work from home so have little in the way of car and fuel expenses. I have solar panels so can organise myself to use energy wisely (i.e. when free) and I both freeze and dehydrate food when on offer. I obviously don't have to dress up for work, and in any case most of my clothes will be from charity shops.

But recently I have noticed a few cheats creeping in and self discipline going out of the window. For instance, ordering the first rotary clothes drier I cam across whereas in the past I would have spent more time researching.

I need to rid myself of this complacency and get back on track. I am mindful that my work could dry up at any time and then my ability to save would be drastically reduced, even if I could find another job at my age. However, shopping is a bit of a hobby with me and I wouldn't want to be without my weekly 'fix' for a bargain. Someone has a signature ' small changes made regularly' and I think that is about it for me. Must try harder!

Caterina

A very warm welcome to thenanny2die4 and Living proof!

I am so glad that you are finding this thread useful and also that I am not alone in being a "returner", it makes the journey so much easier if we travel it together.

My OS today:

First thing I went to Waitrose for a spot of shopping (not as bad as it sounds, as I got stuff on YS, on offer and it meant I had a free newspaper and a lovely free cup of tea, using their card, with my friend - saved us having to sit in a cafe for the catch up and it felt like a treat anyway).

Then I met up with another two local OSers in a clearance jumble sale across the road from my home, we all got lovely bargains and came back to mine for tea and biscuits. And to plan the next London meet up (next Friday or the following one, IKEA Croydon), if interested please look at the separate thread.

Having a rest after making sandwich lunch for DH and the builder working on my kitchen.

Tonight is treat night, bargain fish and chips, one portion to share with DH, it will go well with broccoli that need using and steamed frozen peas.

Still not used our freebie pint vouchers so tonight might be the night for that, too!

Have a good day.

Living_proof

My food shopping was nothing outrageous and included quite a bit of alcohol at £21. It was so humid and unpleasant that trailing around the shops was not a good idea, but I did manage to buy a good glass storage jar for 75p and a brand new boxed Habitat chicken brick. I had a much larger German one years ago, but it was just too big and I left it behind when I moved. This new one was just £1 - if I don't often use it it's not the end of the earth. Tomorrow I have a friend over for a meal and we will have a local Indian takeaway which they deliver free of charge. This friend helps me with fixing things and anything heavy so it is the least I can do to feed him his favourite. The rest of the week will be home-made and on Friday I am off to my daughter's to meet my new grandson - can't wait!

Caterina

Well I lost it a bit this evening, hungry and tired and feeding the builder too who is a friend, we invited him to share fish and chips with us as his GF is working a late shift. So instead of buying one for 2 we did not want to look mean (and also were very hungry!) and got 3 at £15! It was loads and he could not finish his, so we put it in the fridge and he will eat it microwaved tomorrow for lunch. He said it, not us! And DH went to buy ice cream and beer. So today was not economical. Tomorrow I want it to be a NSD for me if I can.

lessonlearned

Hi there. Well I've not done too badly with the food this week, although I've not kept a total of my spending. I did however treat myself to a bottle of wine last night. I've just about worked myself to a standstill so felt I deserved it. Will just drink glass a night with my meall. I promise not to drink the lot in one go!

Still in a mess and feeling overwhelmed . My DS1 helped me move some of the last boxes to the new house yesterday and I just need to give the old place a good clean.

I still need to get the builders back here but have decided I need a break for a couple of weeks. There.s nothing really urgent and I really need a rest so I can "regroup".

This week the plan is to make a start on my paperwork, banking stuff and start a spending diary to help me get back on track.

I've decided that as I'm in this for the long haul I'm going to take my time to set up systems and get it right

Dragon_on_roller_skates

Just checking in, at the end of a busy weekend.

Yesterday was spent grocery shopping. A horror of an experience at the best of times, but sheer misery when you need to do a massive restock of the pantry. It took forever! Still, we've recently switched to A!di for tinned staples, so while we spent an eye-watering amount, it was about half the price of what we'd normally spend and the supplies are all built up for another month or so. We have a big shop once a month to every 6 weeks and then top up with fresh stuff weekly. It means one week I can spend $300+, but another week I might only spend $30. It kinda makes budgeting more tricky. If anyone had any pearls of wisdom on that front, I'm all ears! Today I have mainly cleaned the kitchen and prepped food for tomorrow's lunches (tuna and potato salad, with leftover homemade pizza - the pizza we made for lunch today). My life is all rock and roll!

mardatha

I'd like to join this one as well, I've slipped a lot through not being well enough to care how much I spent lol

grandmasam

Went through the bank statement and cancelled a couple of dd's saving me just over £50 a month:D Still using up stuff in the freezer and pantry, last night made rice,chicken,[ last little thigh! ] peas and courgette very tasty.

Decided to get a couple of jars of a?da's 9p basics curry sauce, can be divided up into small containers and frozen, a quick curry sauce for chips and any rice meal

Bought the chickens feed and have a tin to put the egg money in, will be interesting to see how much I get for their eggs each month. Usually the money goes straight into the purse

Slowly getting there,
Caz

Caterina

Hi all,

Mardatha dear old friend, welcome aboard!

(((Hugs))) lessonlearned, sorry you feel overwhelmed, but take heart from doing so well and getting organised. Don't be too hard on yourself and allow a few treats to cheer you up! I also need to get to grips with paperwork, even reclaim some tax! Let's keep each other motivated on this if you want.


Dragon I do the stocking up and find it hard to keep track of the budget. There are some people on the OS forum that have a second and third purse system, I never quite understood it but perhaps you can to a search for the thread, or does anyone here know about it?

Grandmasam you are so lucky to have chickens! I'd love to have a couple of hens to give me fresh eggs. Our garden is too small, we would have to keep them confined and it is not fair on them, pity!

Today was not a NSD after all, but not too bad (excluding the PAINFUL experience of buying building materials, but that's off my budget so I don't count it). Went to the farmers market, got a large wholemeal loaf of bread which will last a week, 4 apples, 3 enormous tomatoes (really cheap because overripe - yummy!), 2 small cucumbers, 2 fennels. Paid £7 in total that considering I got everything organic is really reasonable.

Lunch was 2 cubed slices of bread, leftover feta, 2 of the tomatoes, 2/3 of one cucumber, leftover lettuce and a small red onion. It fed DH and me as main course and the builder as side salad (with his reheated fish and chips leftovers from last night). The men had coffee and I finished the ice cream from last night, with a few frozen blueberries, microwaved soft.

I cooked the beetroots, finally, and cleaned the green beans so dinner tonight will be beetroot salad, steamed beans and a little stew of tinned black eye beans with leeks carrots and the remaining fresh tomato from today's shop.

I should really go to the allotment to put slug pellets on the salad, but feel so low in energy, I might go later with DH in the car once the builder has finished.

Hope you are all having a good day.