Sat/Sun 31 jan and 1 Feb 2015. What small DFW stuff will you do today?

snowfox

Happy weekend everyone

No snow down here, just icy rain, yuk! I hope it doesn't last all day because I need to pop down the shop for one last ingredient for our dinner. Which leads to my DFW item of the day:

Today in the snowfox house we are going to attempt making our own pizzas. I am wheat intolerant so can't eat the normal ones you find in supermarkets, and the gluten-free ones are quite pricey (and not very tasty to be honest).

I bought a £3 gluten-free pizza mix which makes dough for 4 pizzas, so I can bake two portions and freeze two for later. We just need to add some oil and an egg. We'll top this with some mushrooms, courgette, about-to-go-off cherry tomatoes from last week and some mozzarella.

Estimated pizza cost: £2.80 - not bad when a frozen shop-bought one is £3.29. :T

determined_new_ms

Hi guys :-) happy weekend :j I just love the nothing at the weekend! Went out to see a band - Kosheen last night. Was really fun and we didn't drink and because my bff is a press editor we got tickets 1/2 price :T

DFW things today:

* got things for to cook a nice dinner for dd - sausages (for bangers & mash) cream so am going to make a chocolate fudge pudding
* have put a load in the wm, will hang up and do another load
* have tidied downstairs will do upstairs later
* will check banking & go through cc statement
* need to pay friend for tickets for last night
* possibly go for a walk later
* was really brave and sent text I have been putting off negotiating cost of something
* staying in with dinner and a film tonight

Have a lovely weekend everyone x

oh Bob I found 30p in the car park today & thought of you

DD265

Hi all

OH and I went to the bank to see a mortgage advisor this morning for some advice, ballpark figures etc. Ultimately right now a mortgage is not viable but we know what we need to work on.

Whilst in there she asked "anything else" so I closed an old defunct savings account and ordered a new contactless debit card - I have been really jealous of other people with them, sad I know.

I bought some more screenwash (I am going through about 5L every couple of months!) and antifreeze/coolant today. I bought large sizes for economy and will get my Quidco cashback shopping in-store in Halfords. It won't be a huge amount but better than none.

OH and I are going out tonight for a friends 30th - I think I am going to limit us to one drink because I still feel rubbish so that will help on the money side too.

FatVonD

Maria - that baby will be old enough to sort it's own clothes soon

I did two viewings of the house this morning but no offers as yet. The estate agent was too *ill* to do the viewings. I can't believe the house has been on the market less than a week and I already loathe estate agents :mad:

We popped into town as DH wanted to get a magazine and, envious of yesterday's poster's Paperchase bargains I wanted to check if ours had anything particularly bargainous and they didn't. They did have a lovely but dogeared lobster notebook (originally £8) with no sale price on it so I asked them to check at the till and it was still £5.25(!!!!) so it went back on the shelf and, so far, I have had a no spend day (breakfast and lunch from fridge etc.)

Tonight we are going to a gig locally and we will go in DH's cab so we can park for free on the little-used station cab rank. Neither of us are big drinkers anyway but I will let DH buy me a diet Coke to preserve my no spend status

Bobarella

DD265 -why was it not viable? I am interested as we hope to buy again and I know things have changed a lot since we last did.

Determined -Horray! Get DGD trained up. My son is ace for getting to pick up pennies when other adults are around. I just laugh and say 'kids eh' whilst pocketing it. He even lifts up the silver scale thingies at the self service tills as there are often 20p down there. He gets told off every so often but is sweet faced enough to get away with it.

maria3104

FatVonD wrote: »

Maria - that baby will be old enough to sort it's own clothes soon

I did two viewings of the house this morning but no offers as yet. The estate agent was too *ill* to do the viewings. I can't believe the house has been on the market less than a week and I already loathe estate agents :mad:

We popped into town as DH wanted to get a magazine and, envious of yesterday's poster's Paperchase bargains I wanted to check if ours had anything particularly bargainous and they didn't. They did have a lovely but dogeared lobster notebook (originally £8) with no sale price on it so I asked them to check at the till and it was still £5.25(!!!!) so it went back on the shelf and, so far, I have had a no spend day (breakfast and lunch from fridge etc.)

Tonight we are going to a gig locally and we will go in DH's cab so we can park for free on the little-used station cab rank. Neither of us are big drinkers anyway but I will let DH buy me a diet Coke to preserve my no spend status

Love it, best laugh of the day. I do really really need to do this silly job. I have just tidied another pile of paperwork to put off doing this job.
My kobo has crashed and my laptop is now unable to find the ereader, have you tubed for advice, but no help has resolved it.
Want to cry, I love my e reader kobo, It is my late night buddy.

Might as well go and sort baby clothes to take my mind off kobo

DD265

Bobarella wrote: »

DD265 -why was it not viable? I am interested as we hope to buy again and I know things have changed a lot since we last did.

Hi Bob

It's the amount we can borrow and what it would cost us. The current situation (with my credit card) is £85k - about £550 a month. Pay off that credit card and it's £112K - about £575 a month. Take the car and horse out of the picture (can't/won't actually do that) and it would be £190K - about £1000 a month.

We don't have a deposit saved up yet anyway. The good news was that you can apply just after a job change (as long as you have one pay slip from your current job) and that we could get a mortgage, just not one to suit us right now. We could also get a term right up to the retirement age.

I wasn't sure whether to save a deposit, pay off the credit card or get ahead on my budget. Now I am going to get ahead on my budget (almost halfway there already) and then pay off the credit card. We also need to look at OH's credit report and see whether we could improve it by getting him a credit card - he is very good with money but that means no credit history!

To be fair this was just my bank too - I'm sure we could get slightly more else where and probably slightly cheaper etc. Today was just a fact finding mission.

I feel better for knowing if I'm honest, I was feeling under a lot of pressure!

Next steps - find the kind of flat we want to rent and price it up, work out what we'd need "in the pot" to move, buy furniture etc, what do we want emergency fund wise. Add all that up, work out how long it'll take and then put a date on it. Easy. :rotfl:

foxgloves

Afternoon Frugal Friends,
Successful city centre trip this morning:
*Only paid 3 hours parking into the machine instead of the usual 4, as it was piling down with snow when we arrived.
*Had free coffee to claim on cafe loyalty card, so headed there for coffees & cakes. Realised afterwards that we'd only been charged for the cakes. Staff were so busy yakking to each other, they'd given us 2 free coffees!
*Used 40% discount code at Body Shop to get the 2 products we wanted. Also picked up my free lip butter (worth £4), earned from doing a Body Shop survey. It will go in the presents box.
*mr f found 3 films on blu-ray he'd been wanting in CEX for £6.50 the lot (I was overcome by altruism & chucked in a £1 as I want to watch one of them too).....then he found a CD in HMV that was less than half the price he thought it should have been. All from Personal Spends, so no effect on bank account.....ditto a lovely funky new water bottle I bought from 'Paperchase'. I like allocating 'Personal Spends'. Means you can have things, but when it's gone, it's gone. Can also save it towards bigger things or for holiday spending money or a night out.
*Was angelic & resisted an impulse buy. Tried on some black jeans. The 'old me' would have bought them, but I'm applying a lot more critical thought to purchases these days & had to admit that as the Size 14 pair was too small on the waist & the Size 16 pair was too big on the legs, there was precious little point in spending valuable Clothes Piggy cash. Left shop feeling virtuous.
*Took 2 filled rolls & 2 bags of crisps with us as I knew that as we also had to call in at Sainsbury's on the way out of town, we'd end up buying lunch in the cafe. Result!! We didn't even get a coffee.....only needed a very few items of shopping & we were only 15 miles from home & our own caffiene supplies, so kettle went on as soon as we got in.
*Free buttered hot cross bun samples being handed out at Sainso's.
*Caught up with surveys.
*Postman brought £15 gift card from Toluna surveys (updated signature)
*Bought big sack of potatoes from village farm shop for £8. They will last us for ages.
*Updated grocery budget.
*Had conversation with mr f about Valentine's Day. The cash currently in our Entertainment Piggy will cover a meal out for Valentine's or 2 tickets for a gig for my birthday. Decided to cook special meal ourselves on 14th instead of going out.
Think that's everything.....Oh, actually, I've just got to tell you this. We were in Sainsbury's at the self-service check-out & mr f spots a Brand Match voucher lying in the bagging area & he says 'OMG, Babe, I think I've just found a Womble'. (We don't do 'wombling' but he's heard me mention how good some people on here are at doing it). Anyway, he says......'Have you SEEN how much this is for?' It was for £26-35. He was that chuffed with himself......until I rained on his parade by pointing out that it said that by shopping at Sainsbury's the unknown customer had SAVED £26-35, making it the exact opposite of a 'womble'.
OK, fire on, not my cooking night, so looks like knitting time to me. Stay warm all,
f x

foxgloves

Ziggy, I think I might have guessed where you are headed......is it a very big shopping centre, on a main arterial motorway, & the the last bit of its name sounds a bit like 'hell', lol? I used to go there when I lived on the other side of the county. I sometimes used to go with my Very Spendy Friend, who is really lovely, but I always seemed to end up spending even more when I was shopping with her!

DawnW

Hello all
Spendy day for me today, as OH and I took DS, DiL and GD1 out for lunch and to buy DS's birthday present. But we had a lovely time, and DS loved his present, and after all, being able to do things like this is why I am frugal the rest of the time
Apart from that:
Heating off except for the bathroom, airing cupboard and low in the kitchen as we left the dog in there when we went out and I felt sorry for her because it was cold
Woodburner alight now, and she is on her beanbag in front of it :rotfl:
No need to cook tonight due to lovely lunch - there is fresh bread, and plenty of bits in the fridge when we want a snack
Ocado order done for Monday - new Grocery Challenge starts for me tomorrow :T

Right, I want to do some more decluttering tonight, so better get on