I have lost my OS ways, help!

joedenise

Bella - Retirement village sounds appealing but don't know anything about living in one. It'll probably get lost in this thread so a new thread about it would probably be a good idea.

I'd certainly subscribe to it to have a read!

Need to tighten our belts a bit as we are about to get a "new to us" car at the end of the week but unfortunately not enough in the budget to buy outright so need to find a bit more money each week - most of it will come from the money I currently put away towards car tax as the new one will be £200 a year less, will also need to budget far less for petrol as the new one will do much better mileage but still need to find some more savings as well.

My first things will be to increase the NSDs - not sure how many I've had so far this month but I think about 4. Would like to increase this to 4 or 5 a week - starting with today!

Denise

moments_of_sanity

Caterina, that is a terrible thing to happen to something as precious as a wedding ring, do people not realise the sentimentality of items nowadays :mad:

DD2 has a school trip in London today as part of her Geography A level, they have headed up to Docklands to look at regeneration. She is enjoying it but quite how they expect parents to pay £60 is beyond me, it didn't include a coach but did 'cover' the train fare, so I had to drop her and a few friends at the train station at 9.15am. She had a similar trip to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago and that one cost £30.

Whilst I have had the house to myself, I have washed down our bedroom windowsill with white wine vinegar (hoping that keeps the yukky mould at bay, although no idea why we get it as the window is never shut), hoovered and dusted the whole room and cleaned the bathroom. I have also managed to hoover and dust downstairs but that is me 'done in' for today and probably the next couple of days. I find it easier to get on with the cleaning when DD isn't popping in and out all day.

I spent £15 in L!dl's this morning on quite a few items that I had got low on so no more spending needed for a few days. It did break my 3 day run of NSD's though

Dinner tonight will be cottage pie which is already made up, I just need to add the mash and cheese and pop it in the oven so not too strenuous.

Right, I am off to have a nice cup of coffee and a slice of cake now. Hope you are all having a fab OS day x

villagelife

Pleased you had a good holiday Caterina.

Have had another NSD day it is a sense of achievement when I have a NSD.
I'm determined not to turn the heating on this evening as nobody else is at home.
I have just had pasta and a veg and tomato sauce and used up old veg in the fridge.
I need to clean the kitchen now.

Caterina

Good evening,

Thank you all for your welcome back!

Bella good to see you again, I look forward to hearing about your retirement village move. I can't help you there as I have no idea of how they work, but I hope it goes well for you.

Joedenise, enjoy your new (to you) car, I am sure your OS ways will help you reach your goal. And we are here to support your efforts!

MOS I know what you mean about cost of school journeys for kids. There used to be grants for families who could not afford them but they got more and more rare and difficult to obtain.

Villagelife well done on NSD!

Well, on this note I am also declaring a NSD today. Did my mystery shop and it was easy enough, just an eye test by a trainee optician being observed by an assessor.

Then saw my friend, walked in the park and got back home in time to cook dinner then babysit, and am in bed now, with a nice big mug of herbal tea on my bedside cabinet. Bliss!

Good night.

bellaquidsin

Our proposed move to a retirement village is still very much on the drawing board. The one we are looking at will not be completed for a year and there's another one in the pipeline for 2017. Next week we go to discuss whether or not it is a financial proposition for us.


As they say that downsizing means getting rid of a third to a half of your possessions I'm doing yet more de-cluttering which feels good. I did a lot last year when we thought we were moving. What I can't get rid of is the drawers full of hand knitted jumpers which I never wear but would be useful in a power cut. Neither can I do much about my pantry which is full of one to use and one in hand - of everything. I wouldn't be able to operate that system in a retirement village apartment and as that would be breaking the habit of a lifetime it would come very hard to me.


I'm off to the wool shop this morning, yes more knitting, but I'm trying to get up a stock of cardigans as they are much more flexible than jumpers. Nothing in the shops ever fits me as I am small and round so to get my girth they're always too long in the body and sleeves.


On the OS front I'm still working my way through the YS meat I bought sometime ago. Not content that is was half price, I'm finding ingenious ways to make it go twice as far.


Bella

Caterina

Good morning,

Bella have fun getting more wool for your knitting! I love buying wool but I knit so slowly, a jumper takes me a couple of years, so I rarely have the pleasure of shopping for wool. I have a bag of yarn from Texere Yarns, we visited the mill, it is wonderful! But won't use it fir quite dome time as I have 3 jumpers on the go at the moment.

Ok, here's today's OS plan:

I was too lazy to get up with DH (tut-tut!) so will pack sandwiches for his lunch, and something for me too, as we are meeting in town at noon. We are having a pair of mirror wills made, as it is Will Aid month and instead of paying we donate the equivalent to charity.

Then probably just have a packed picnic if there is time, but if not he takes his to work and mine back home, but I need to do a little shopping, got to get salad stuff.

Then babysitting the boys, cooking dinner and will have an early evening bedtime as DH is doing his martial arts. A nice book and huge mug of tea will see me nice and happy. Simple pleasure.

Have a good OS day.

tatabubbly

Hi guys! Thank god to have another week of work done, hoping something better comes up.

We had a free lunch today as our bosses paid. Thinking of having a NSD, being bold and cooking a big curry for dinner.. OH does want to order in but it's as easy for me to cook as I'm home early today.

Looking forward to the jumble sale on nearby on Saturday so I can pick up some (hopefully) cheap and cheerful trinkets for Xmas and some books.. Badly needed now!

Can't believe how fast this week has gone, at least we have a peaceful weekend planned!
My transport is covered for the next 2 weeks, thank the Lord as I am stretching the last of my wages till the 25th! Can't wait for the new year to roll around, wedding will hopefully be saved for and we will have a little more emergency savings behind us!

Caterina

Tatabubbly, resist your OH's impulse to order in, it is always so disappointing (IMHO) and one ends up saying "I could have done better myself and at a quarter of the price"!

I have resolved the fish and chips cravings on my men's part, I just buy a pack of 4 L1dl fish fillets (£1.99), a bag of oven chips (£1), and a tin of mushy peas (£0.19). Assuming we have half the chips, it is 3 of us, we get fish and chips with mushy peas for the princely sum of £2.19, just over 70p per head. Against the best price in the area of fish and chips at £5 and mushy peas at an extortionate £1.50! A saving of £17.31, what's not to like?

Not to speak of curry! I can knock together a veg curry, pakora and rice in less than an hour, using bottom of fridge and freezer veg, spinach from the front garden (could even use nettles at a push!) and gram flour. It probably never cost me more than a couple of quid all considered, including rice, spices and basic ingredients.

Hope it helps you to do the OS thing and cook at home!

bellaquidsin

I got my knitting yarn and the new jumper is on the pins. It's Sirdar Soukie in a pale grey with a silver thread running through and occasional very tiny sequins.


I've done three rows already and got to grips with the patterning around the bottom. It's quite exciting to be starting a new jumper for me. It's not happened for a long time as I've usually been doing baby clothes and blankets for gifts.


Dinner tonight was wedges and an Impossible Pie with a quarter of a pack of cooking bacon and the last of the mushrooms in the freezer. Very economical and very tasty and there's enough left to have cold with a salad for lunch tomorrow before we go away.


Bella.

villagelife

Making soup and freezing it has been great as it has meant that I have taken lunch into work as its so quick to take out of the freezer in the morning and I don't have to think. Mornings can be very rushed.

Attempting to declutter the house and taking books to league of friends and recycling stuff. Only managing to do it slowly but it is incredible amout of stuff we don't need any more.

I'm going to have early night and read my kindle as DH is away.