NST; January Challenge- The Money Saving Game

LoveaDove

PS. EPIC SFD count so far mothernerd!!! :T:T:T

WelshKitty85

Hi everyone.

SFD today but Had to attend a speeding course this morning. Was caught back in October and have put it off until now but glad it is finally out of the way. Cost me £80! But it was paid for in November.

Family member was at our house when I got home and treated us to a chippy dinner. Wasn't hungry after that so the chicken that was going to be used tonight has gone in the freezer. She also gave us her change so that's about £2 to put into my savings jar.

DS is going into hospital for his little op tomorrow. He's really excited about it but I am starting to feel a bit anxious now. We have to go at 7am tomorrow and he has to stay in for 6 hours after his op. Have made up some sandwiches for me and DH while we are sat there waiting.

DH complained about the service in a restaurant we went to a few weeks ago and has just received a £30 voucher from them and letter of apology. If DS is upto it tomorrow will use it to treat him to dinner out after his op.

liltdiddylilt

Zilch roadkill here for a lot of walking today!

mothernerd did you say you've £20ish to last you for January. That appears to be a self imposed predicament of my own making now for me. So beware of some wacky dinner ideas folks. The cannellini beans will be getting a makeover

Bobarella sorry, my own personal issues creeping in there. Jelly is a delightful, stroppy, clever little monster of a terrible two year old. She has every bit of my fire and temper and stubbornness, with a pinch extra added to test me from her daddy's side. And she is the spit of Shirley Temple; quite freakishly so. We live in a wee flat together, rented not owned, in Kent far from my hometown of Nottingham which is how I prefer it. Him is my hubby, does not live with us and hasn't for over a year now, but we are back together at least and working it out. He is here Weds morning to Fri evening to cover my working patterns No pets, 1 lovely neighbour who is an extra granny to Jelly.

shyspender

Fmess wrote: »

Shyspender OH's mum makes her sauce with just cornflour to make it gluten free.

Fmess thanks for that that would work. Just realised though, that as the founduey/sauce goes with bread to be dipped, I will have gluten free flour anyways.

thriftylass

mothernerd what are your sewing project if I can be nosey?

P.S. had to bake my bread in the oven today. My bread maker is missing its kneading blade. Must have left it in the last loaf and threw it out with it when the bread went off, doh. It's £6.40 to replace it, might leave it just now. Bread turns out better in the oven anyway (don't tell DH who gave me the BM)

mothernerd

thriftylass I mostly embroider (planning to get back to making most of my own clothes again this year and generally do a lot of crafty stuff - from childhood, we never had much money and mum would say What can you do with x,y and z).

Have been embroidering since I was a teenager but could never afford to go and buy materials for a given project, so would use threads I had (was given both my grandmothers' threads and at one time could buy them sometimes from a stall on the market for 5p - the woman did (big) house clearances, I bought all my cotton sheets and quilts from her when I first got my own house,£1 for a single and £2 for a double).

Before Christmas I was anxious to finish a large Christmas stocking - was delayed for three weeks by lurgy. Didn't want to pass lurgy on as an unwanted extra when I was coughing and spluttering. I also had a set of three 'Russian Dolls' with the names of someone I know and her two daughters. My mother has a set of Russian dolls I bought her and many children who visit have been enthralled by them. I bought a second set and made a small picture for a child many years ago - I had to adapt a knitting pattern to sew them. It is so many years ago that that little girl's son was the recipient of the Christmas stocking.

Couldn't find a pattern again, so made a quick sketch of mum's dolls and made up a pattern last year. The little girl doll is a head taller than the baby doll and the mummy doll is a head taller than the little girl doll. They were all done in shades of green, gold and yellow as they were intended to go on their Christmas tree and those are the colours of their decorations. Their names were on the back of the dolls and to give extra value, I left the bottom undone so that they can be played with as hand puppets.

In between doing large projects or when I need a break, I do little bits. The Christmas stocking was nearly ready last year and the year before although I did get his birth sampler done for his Christening and I have a set of 8 cushions in shades of sepia that I am doing for my mother. Some are completed (just need sewing up), two are still only at the planning stage. I have no pattern only an idea of what I want, a canal boat and a picture of mum's church - I have a copy of the Church magazine but the picture isn't big enough. The others are a mixture - found a picture I like but the borders, infill patterns and writing (each has a one word title) were made up as I went along. The sheepdog nearly destroyed me - five of the symbols were in black on a dark brown background and three more on dark grey. Finally settled for doing as much as I could at the height of Summer (most light), put it away again when the light went and once I had a rough outline just made it up.

The small projects are a mixture. I used to make Christmas cards for about 8 relatives (my aunts etc) but the last time I had an operation I spent my down time doing one for everyone on the list. My mum has over 20 of these which she puts up every Christmas. I do cards for mum ans other relatives if it's a special birthday or wedding anniversary. I have a little Geisha pattern which I have done in a number of different colours. Yesterday I found some Christmas ornaments. Somewhere there is a sweetpea picture with a verse embroidered in the centre - the pattern and fabric got separated so it was set aside. But I know I found both parts when I was packing up so if I can relocate it that would be mum's Mother's day present sorted.

The trouble is we moved from the big house to the little house the week before my operation. I tried to ensure anything I might need soon was at waist height or above. I found mum's cushions, the Christmas stocking and the Russian Dolls easily. The stocking was alphabet penguins saying Merry Christmas and the little boys name, a picture of the Snowman and the Boy in the middle and the background was strips of red/blue and green patterns (as if I had sewn it out of diffferent coloured ribbons but all embroidered) so that had three lots of patterns with more than one page. One page was ripped and there was a 'code' sheet as well - I didn't want identical penguins next to each other so substituted the second 'R' in merry and and other repeats for unused letters.

So all the things I needed were close to hand but some of the other things are on top of wardrobes etc. Want to sort what is in front of my before I start asking Ds3 to reach anything else down.

Doing the small projects is a tidying up operation. I get to use up small amounts of thread (or ones that have lost their labels), use up some of the small offcuts of fabric leftover from bigger projects and if the pattern I have used isn't something I want to use again, they can go in the recycling or books and leaflets can go to the cs. I get thinking time and it's a peaceful and meditative activity. When the boys were small it kept me sane on those nights when one after another they would come downstairs on one pretext or another.

Some of the items have a particular recipient in mind, some are the sort of things to sell at a craft fair (if I ever get well enough to do that again), some I just take a fancy to the pattern - the Christmas ornaments I am really enjoying, intricate but satisfying and there are parts I can do without the pattern if I want to watch a programme at the same time. However I did some paisley pattern pieces - interesting project but difficult and time consuming and didn't look very impressive in the end. I'll never make a fortune. I really need to start doing my own patterns, I have some ideas but there are several skills I need to learn - I have looked at software for getting my designs on the computer but need more work into getting them into the correct format for selling online and to use the right retail outfit. This is another of my goals for this year - lots of little skill sets to get into place.

Sorry I bet you are wishing you hadn't asked the question.

Racing_towards_retirement

Mothernerd you are very talented sound fab x
I have been MIA as we are in the middle of nowhere and the wifi signal is not great hence doing this in the middle of the night when it's at its best .
I had a small spend on Sat , and yesterday we had to get a few provisions . Also we had a treat fish and chips , DH was doing the treating but when I went to pay for it they didn't have change so had to spend a little towards the very nice fish and chips.
On a plus I made a complaint to iTunes who despite cancelling a subscription have kept paying it, they are refunding me 11.99 which is a bonus. Second bit of good news is, I have got an extra job with a great organic skin care range. My passion is the effects our food and the products we use on our skin have on our and our children,grand children's health. So I am so excited ! Anyway my signature has the updated detail re SFD's which is now 8 tomorrow should be another one as we are walking the dog, swimming etc and it's our last day of peace before home and back to work .

speakingofart

Checking in, SFD yesterday and hopefully tomorrow and wednesday as well before payday on thursday. Also doing some market research tomorrow night so that should keep me too busy to spend anything as well as bringing in a few extra pennies! Hope no-one's been blown away - weather has been ridiculous here

Groceries until 15th January £30/£31.16
Groceries 15th Jan - 15th Feb £0/150
Fuel until 15th January £20/£20
Fuel 15th January - 15th February £0/£60
Spending Money: £27.65/27.65 until Jan 15th.
Lunch to work: 6/20
Lunchtime walks at work 5/20
Food bank 0/£3
SFDs: 5/18

Bobarella

Morning All
Lilt - Jelly sounds so cute. Shirley Temple did Annie right? I am so trying not to think of her dancing round your house to Hard knock Life I wonder how I'd find parenting a girl. I just have 1 boy. He is very straightforward, just turned 6 and suitably affected by me likes to call himself The Bargain Avenger when we go out looking for deals at the supermarket. So funny.

Today is a planned spend day. I will top up my travel card for the rest of the week. And shop for the items on my food plan that need extra ingredients to work. This ought to mean that weds to Friday are NSDS. So should hit 8 by Friday.

I have saved a little on my travel budget this week by cycling yesterday. £1.50 up.

But in real terms I am poor this month. So everything I do is about keeping a lid on it not having anything extra left. I am thrilled to have that £50 coming in on Wednesday that is amazing for me.

Looks like the bus strike today will mean I have to ride again anyway so that helps a bit.

Have a good day all.

Bob

cupcake-queen

Hi, haven't checked in for a few days.

Groceries: £100/£100 - oh dear, I've meal planned though so hopefully will need very little
SFD: 6/20 and hoping to count today
Travel: £14.50/£50
No road kill, not even a penny but I did find myself whipping away all the left receipts at the self service check out in Tesco Express to check for club card points.

Big declutter session at the weekend, loads of stuff gone to the tip, a huge bag and box of stuff to Cancer Research charity shop and 2 massive bags of stuff to donate to Romania. A broken pushchair that we hate and were going to chuck sold for £5 and loads of stuff on eBay and Gumtree.

Big spend day yesterday, £62.50 towards a Butlins holiday through The Sun promotion.