NOT BUYING IT! 2015 - A consumer holiday

I_want_a_baby

Hi everyone,

I don't know if anyone remembers me, I've had quite an absence!

I just wanted to let you know I had a healthy baby boy born on his due date just over two weeks ago (despite threatening to come from 32 weeks!).

My husband is back to work tomorrow after his paternity leave, my son goes back to school tomorrow and my little girl starts nursery two days a week and of course I now have my little baby too!

So what better time to start trying to find my sealegs!

I haven't been able to save anything yet this month as I'm waiting to find our how much our child benefit and child tax credits change by so I can make our new monthly budget.

I'm aiming to start focusing more this month, keeping track of things better, eating from our large store cupboard and ending frivolous spends. Next month will be me really NBI!

I look forward to reading and joining in again!

IWAB x

sammy_kaye18

Room for a small one pleaae??

Congrats IWAB! And welcome back

Im the same this year - I have managed to get myself into £570 of debt so I need to watch my savings as my budget at the minute is very tight so repayments are a real struggle But I think with some careful money watching and penny pinching I can make a start to decrease them.

My main issue is if I have left over money to hand I have this urge to spend. Ive spent £40 in the last week with nothing to show for it.......WHY?!?!? So as a result I have now left my bank card with £80 on it at my mother in laws and have told her without a good excuse do not give it to me. My rent, council tax, water, gas and electric are paid And a £83 lidl food shop have been done. NTL may go off but to be honest it just means my kids arent in front of a screen for hours on end!

I have started shopping in charity shops and have had a few bargains for my little girl but will be Keeping an eye out for presents etc and will clear out my wardrobe to see whats in the present box or what I have that ive chucked aside

I have a sewing machine and a pile of material as well.

I look forward to joining you all soon

Happy_Home

Congratulations IWAB lovely news.

Welcome Sammy Kaye & all newbies.

NBI has really helped our budget and savings, hope it helps you too.

HH

pm2326

Afternoon everyone

I went to aldi this morning and spent £20.66 restocking my fruit, veg, bread, tinned foods & toiletries, was going to wait until next weekend but forgot I have plans so went today instead....bought no food for the freezer though!

I've also tidied the freezer shelves up and there's some gaps but still enough to keep me going until the end of the month at least.

I've made 2 mincemeat & marzipan loaf cakes to use up marzipan that was in freezer, one of the 4 large jars mincemeat in the cupboard and the remains of a bag of muscavado sugar, house smells yum at the minute, resisting the urge to cut a slice until after tea but it's very hard :rotfl:

Already planned next weeks loaf cake, coconut & lime, this will use up the OOD dessicated coconut & lime juice out of a bottle :rotfl:

I'm enjoying making all these cakes/breads as I find cooking/baking enjoyable, I also get to have a nice slice with a cuppa while using up lots of baking ingredients that are lying around, only problem is I'm having to put them in freezer gaps or else I'll eat the lot within days! :rotfl:

eandjsmum

Congrats IWAB


Welcome newbies


I have had a busy weekend in the garden. I have spent it clearing a compost bin and digging the veg patch to remove unwanted
artichokes as they are getting everywhere. I have also sewn a quantity of seeds from last years packets, so I hope that they germinate I have also chucked a quantity of broken and unwanted pots. That lot has kept me on the straight and narrow, however my bedside lamp has a loose wire and I fear that it cannot be repaired. as I cant get to sleep without a good book it may have to be replaced. RIP bedside lamp aged 26 years.

Kerry_Woman

Congratulations IWAB.

pm2326

Not sure if someone can help but does anyone grow their own rocket salad ?

I was given a cutting late last year but having looked in the pot there's absolutely no sign of it now.

I go through bags of it as have it in sandwiches for work as well as in salads so want to try growing my own. At 75p-£1 a bag I must spend £50-60 a year on this alone :eek:

Is it easy to grow and do you think I can grow it in a hanging basket? I hang a basket every year near the kitchen door so this would be ideal way of keeping the slugs and cat away from it!

[Deleted User]

Congrats IWAB and Hello sammy_kaye18.great to see some of the 'old' faces jumping on board
Well I did my W8rose shop this afternoon and am very pleased, and fingers crossed that will be virtually all my shopping done for the rest of this month.I have got my menus sorted and managed to get a big stash of reduced pork chipolatas this afternoon just under a kilo for £1.10 I still have over £21 left in my food purse and all my W8rose vouchers were used up,plus I got a free newspaper and coffee as well :):).
all of the ironing was dispatched this morning so I am pleased that I have no shopping on my list and even more pleased that my housework list is clear as well I shall be at DDs for most of this week looking after three of my DGS, apart from Wednesday when my eldest DD is taking me out for a 'posh' afternoon tea which she booked back in February as part of my birthday present.
Just off out to dinner at youngest DDs now so won't be back much before 9.00ish.Have a good evening everyone
Cheers JackieO xxx

Primrose

pm2326 wrote: »

Not sure if someone can help but does anyone grow their own rocket salad ?

I was given a cutting late last year but having looked in the pot there's absolutely no sign of it now.

I go through bags of it as have it in sandwiches for work as well as in salads so want to try growing my own. At 75p-£1 a bag I must spend £50-60 a year on this alone :eek:

Is it easy to grow and do you think I can grow it in a hanging basket? I hang a basket every year near the kitchen door so this would be ideal way of keeping the slugs and cat away from it!

Rocket is an annual salad so will not regrow every year. it,s very easy to grow in a patch of spare earth, containers or hanging baskets although you will not get a great deal of it from a single hanging basket. Just buy several packets of seeds from a garden centre or B&Q, etc. Seeds are tiny. Sprinkle over the surface of the earth/compost and fork in. . Keep the compost moist. Resow a fresh batch in a new container every couple pf weeks for succession. Rocket can rapidly go to seed when sown in the middle of the hot summer but now is a very good chance to get a good crop started. Just pick a few leaves from every individual plant as it grows.

GreyQueen

Congratulations IWAB and welcome to Sammy Kaye.

I've been busily sowing veg seeds. Found some were just on-date for sowing and some were very OOD; the parsley should have been sown by 2002/ 2004/ 2007. I sowed all 4 pkts in one long drill. They either grow or they don't. In my defence, they were given to me OOD, I didn't let them get that way.

Re growing rocket, it's just a fancy lettuce and that's easy enough. Can't think why it wouldn't grow in a hanging basket but you do have to watch the lettuces as they can get too hot and sunny and then they're not happy. Exact opposite of most veg which loves the sun.

I'm not a great fan of salad leaves but it's an easy gain for very little effort and very MSE if you eat a lot. Check out Wilko and £land type places, the cheap stores sometimes have pkts of 6 veg in 1 for their £1. Lettuce is good for yonks past its sow-by date, have known it to grow 13 years past due.

I'm also going to grow as many herbs as I have room for, with view to harvesting and drying them, to liven up meals cheaply. Have done this with fresh cut herbs from the supermarket, reduced on YS to something ridiculous like 3p a pkt and it was a success.

Today, I have retrieved some of the beef I roasted last month and have put two thawed slices in the bain marie part of the stacking saucepan set, in a thick gravey, with veggies underneath. I am roasting spuds and parsnip, both h.g. in the oven and then will put the bread rolls in. Having an almost-roast dinner. And will do the same tomorrow, but putting the leftover roasties in the bain marie with the beef and gravy.