Journey to happy skinflintedness

saraih

Went to the Sunday market but just wandered round being a skinflint and not buying anything.

Checked all the banks, tidied them up a bit and made a tuna pasta bake. Really missing that wheelchair right now as could do with a nice long walk with OH instead of both collapsing and watching films. Seems a waste of a day.

Some shampoo and conditioner came from a survey yesterday, I'm supposed to fill out a questionnaire about it. Smells good enough to eat but the ingredients lists on shampoos are always eyebrow raising.

There was a bit of whining about the shopping, they are more than welcome to do it themselves! Although goodness knows what we'd be eating in that scenario, it certainly wouldn't include lentils :rotfl:

black_cat

I've just read the first and last few pages of your diary - very inspiring! (I'll try to catch up with the rest soon). I love the way you support your son and want to be a good role model for him.
I've just decided to record every penny I spend - would love to be a skinflint in certain areas of my spending...
All the best on your journey 😊

saraih

Thanks very much! being a skinflint is pretty easy when you don't have any money :rotfl:

Good luck with the spending diary, they can be really surprising at first. It's really satisfying when you can see the improvements though, that bit is addicting

saraih

One of the ladies I filled out the uniform rebate tax letter thing for got a nice cheque today, even though the tax office said it might be spread out. Very happy with that, it feels like an overall win even if it isn't mine.

Nothing else, plodding along.

Son & heir can't be bothered getting cash out for lunch. Told him if he'd rather starve than walk to a cash machine for free money that's his business - there's dozens in town!

Teenagers are like cats though, they'll make an effort if they're hungry enough.

saraih

Tried to print out a passport application and the ink has finally run out in the printer :rotfl:

OH might be able to print it at work but they're paperless and really anal about it. Son & heir will need ink for his course... the stuff that needs dealing with is piling up nicely!

There was no warning on the printer and it usually does so fingers crossed that's not on it's way out. If it is I'll definitely be getting a replacement based on the price of the ink in future. Only a few more surveys before I can cash out again and get some cartridges from Amazon.

Really need to pick up some work hours. I'll give my usuals a quick ring and see if they need anything, you never know.

Decided to try mushroom risotto for dinner, it means I can do a couple of pork chops and something separate for son & heir.

in_need_of_direction

I love mushroom risotto.

saraih

It was so easy and delicious, definitely going in the pile of new recipes that worked out :beer:

saraih

Crossing my fingers that nobody puts the heating on in this cold snap, I changed all the quilts over to winter ones and put new covers on the summer ones and left them available.

Also made a fair attempt at cutting some leftover carpet to size and rolling it up for cheapo draught excluders in the hall where the gaps are. I just made sausages and stuffed the ends. Hope the cat doesn't think he's got new scratching posts

Also measured up for curtains for the hall and landing plus a door curtain, including poles it will be £75.45 which is cheaper than my previous estimate. That's for thermal blackouts and it leaves me with an extra large curtain because the door curtains on ebay weren't long enough and were more expensive anyway. I've already got wall plugs and stuff.

At least I know they work because we've got the same in the living room (massive windows) and they made a huge difference last year. Do have to be super on top of the condensation.

The only place I can't really do anything about is the bathroom, an absolutely massive window and it gets freezing in there. It doesn't take much to warm it up though and everyone keeps that door shut because the cat tries to wreck the wallpaper otherwise :rotfl:

Anyway if I'm going to get this done before the heating goes on I really need a bit of work. I did ring round and people made positive noises but nothing definite yet.

Trying sweet potatoes tonight, a bit of olive oil and paprika and that's it. Doesn't sound too hard

saraih

Was very happy to pick up some cleaning today, and I'll be babysitting this weekend so that helps as we won't need so much shopping.

Ordered the curtain stuff from ebay and cashed out a final Amazon voucher from surveys. As soon as they send it I'll get some ink. So much for saving up the vouchers but they've been really handy.

If the curtains aren't delayed they might beat the central heating to it after all :beer:

OH has appointments coming out of his ears for the next couple of weeks. I try to make them all on the first go because rearranging confuses everybody, but it will cost a fair bit.

Nothing else. My passport form came but I've got no money yet to get photos and pay for it. I'll fill it in anyway and leave it on the side with the SAR to the bank.

The paprika sweet potatoes weren't as popular as I'd hoped so I'm sticking to a vegetarian roast with honey parsnips today, everyone likes that.

saraih

A tiny bit of cleaning today but it just pushes the grocery shopping money over the edge where I can do an online order and avoid travel into town, so that's good.

A friend gets a delivery where she gets the sauces and recipes and she's going to let me scan the recipes in to try them. I get so lazy with cooking but when one is a vegetarian and the other has stomach issues it's easier to stick with what works.

I used to say only boring people get bored but that was before I'd been skint for six and a half years in a row :rotfl: I would kill for a night out right now.

No other money news. It isn't really the money causing a problem any more, it's the mountain of things that need dealing with that have been avoided too long.

I'm wearing down my available rubbishy clothes for cleaning and will need to do a charity shop run soon. There's a 'final clearance' charity shop in town that sells at what I think is a reasonable price point for work clothes, ie three items for a pound. Normal charity shop prices are ridiculous