Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

nursemaggie

Nargleblast I just realised you paid off your debt two days ago congratulations and good luck with paying off your mortgage.

Cornishchick that's a brilliant idea have told DS to take £2 worth of 20p when ever he goes for one or two things. He goes to Mr M for bread and milk two or three times a week. Last time I persuaded him to get rid of his change he had £83 worth of coins 20p and under. I have already told him the corner shop is always short of small change.

Maybe he will dust his desk when he gets rid of them. He just empties his pockets on his desk when he comes in.

Got the heating engineers here again today they had to take the cupboard out the boiler was in so now they have to build a new one. My bathroom is filthy don't how they managed to make such a mess.

Had D&V since a few days after I got back from holiday wish it would get better. Not had more than a couple of hours sleep a night for a month now. Need to get some sleep as will have to decorate bathroom when they have finished. I expect it will take ages as need to teach DS how to decorate. Think I may as well get a new floor too. Be nice to have one room done even if it is only the size of a caravan bathroom.

candlelight_2013

Both myself and Himself have won £25 in the premium bond draw this month.

We don't have a vast amount of premium bonds, and he is usually more lucky than me, but it was a nice surprise. Of course he said when I checked them, "are you sure it isn't £25,000". Every little helps I say.

Candlelightx

Nargleblast

Thank you nursemaggie, been a hard slog but got there in the end. Now in the process of tidying up bank accounts and revising the budget so I can throw some extra at the mortgage now and then.

If anyone reading this has debt problems, please get help. There is plenty out there, and there will be the right solution for your situation.

Now off to take a home made gluten free loaf out of the breadmaker, made for about a third of the cost of buying one!

meritaten

I made rhubarb chutney and prepared the veg for picalilli today from (mostly) stuff from mums garden - aka 'the family allotment'.I know it takes months to mature chutney but did taste it as I had never made it before and its going to be gorgeous! if it mellows, because my lips were tingling for ten minutes after! 3 one pound jars from this batch and I have more in the freezer and more still growing! tomorrow I will make strawberry jam from the last of the strawbs in freezer. and of course the sauce for the picalilli. and then there are the gooseberries, raspberries and marrow still in there. I cant say its cheaper than buying supermarket chutney - but hopefully it will be tastier and healthier.

Happy_Home

cornishchick wrote: »

Hi all just a quick note,
I change , change into notes/ larger coins in my purse, then use the coins to pay at the self service tills in supermarkets:) for 1 or 2 items especially Morris ones, cos they can just pour the cash in lol and if you put a little to much in it repays out in the least amount of nominations.
X CC

Thank you so much cornishchick. It was my turn to buy the "birthday cakes" at work today. After reading your post I scrambled round in drawers for all the loose change DH leaves lying around. I found over £12 of silver coins. Nearly £10 of that fell nicely down the coin slot at Morris for what felt like free cake!! Will definitely get a pot to collect them in properly and use them in supermarket again.

I must now get some money bags and bag up the piles of copper coins we have.

[Deleted User]

I dug out two of my DGS school trousers from their wardrobes and have been sitting hand sewing all the repairs on them.

I had 10 pairs of black school trousers to mend the two middle boys grow so much when they get their new school trousers at the end of August I usually have to turn them up a bit.this year I am letting down their existing ones so DD won't have to buy so many.Youngset DD starts at senior school next month so thats more trouser to repair

I think the hems of new school trousers are barely stitched at all and a couple of washes and their trailing down so I go around the bottoms with strong black thread and it helps make them last longer.

Jack(15 ) has shot up about two inches in the past three months so his trousers seemed at half mast.Once I washed and let them down and pressed them they will fit him perfectly I like to get all the buttons etc sewn on before we go on holiday then there is no mad rush when we come home at the end of August.

I also have to sew Mikey's badge on his blazer and I double sew his buttons on his new blazer or they will be off and gone before half term I work on the premise that prevention is better than searching around for buttons that have fallen off :):)
My DD hates sewing of any kind and so I get 'voulunteered' for all the school repairs .But I do get lots of tea made for me by DGS Henry who makes me a lovely cuppa while I am sewing.
Right time to get a wriggle on
have a great day everyone what ever you are doing
Cheers JackieO xxx

FairyPrincessk

JackieO what a lovely testament to that old expression about a stitch in time!

Great excitement this morning as I woke up distinctly remembering that Maggie the Cat had her jabs back in April. When OH went to pick up her worming tablets earlier this week they insisted she was overdue. I remembered that we'd put it in the budget and that we'd discussed it back then but it was such a busy time for us and I was very overwhelmed with work and scheduling things like that is usually my department so I was all ready to accept that we'd just never actually done it and failed to notice that the money had gone elsewhere. Trawl through the bank statements this morning and it looks as if I'm right, she had her jabs at the beginning of April bang on schedule! OH seems to have mislaid her little record booklet which is a reminder that he promised he would get the files in order before term starts again...so I shall prompt him. That is double jab fees and a very angry puss saved already!

I'm working this morning and then will stop around two. Bit of knitting this afternoon and a gym visit. I'm probably around 1/3 of the way through the front of the left-hand side of the cardigan..but I haven't gotten to any of the fancy shaping bits yet so it will definitely slow down again.

Very proud of OH. One of his friends fell through last night so he came home and made himself an omelette for tea instead of buying something out. He was quite pleased with himself for that. He doesn't enjoy frugality the way I do and I think sometimes I'm probably too demanding, but it will be four years in September and I think the pair of us are muddling along ok.

I'd better get to work now.

Bigjenny

FairyPrincessk you wrote here that Maggie had her jabs https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/68132394#Comment_68132394

FairyPrincessk

Oh BigJenny that is splendid! Thank you! I also wrote her weight which is useful to know when getting her worming tablets. It is really lovely of you to post the link.

silvasava

Hi all - where's vhalla?? Or have I missed something?
Was going to get my sewing machine out to make a new yoga bag but got sidetracked by DH in the garden. Managed to achieve quite a lot. He was chainsawing the huge logs we had stockpiled from last year ready for this winter & I've managed to prepare some more green beans for the freezer and do a lot of pruning, dead heading & tidying in the garden so all!min all a good day.
I was going to cook a corned beef hash for tea but when I defrosted the mash it turned all sloppy! Never done that before so don't know what I've done wrong. Think I may have used some cream to mash it originally - would that have that effect????
Have a good evening all x