Five OS Pleasures in your day today

HariboJunkie

1. 6, count them, loads of washing dried outside.
2. Nice walk in the park with the girls and dog after school.
3. Seeing my veggies thriving in the sun.
4. Preparing some old style birthday party food for the girls for this weekend.
5. Digging out all the stuff I bought for the girls' birthday at 75% off in the Woolies sale in December. :money:

Good luck to your OH Bella. x
Sorry to hear that you sound a bit lonely Reverbe. Were you not out with your friends last week? You are really lucky to get so many freebies. I used to do them but didn't have the patience for the form filling.

Haribo x

emmie1234

Hi all! Hope you've all had a good weekend!

Didn't get chance to post yesterday, so here goes!

1) Managed to get a load of washing dried on the line yesterday afternoon, when the weather had dried up a bit! Had loads of towels to get dry last night and hung them up on some clothes horses upstairs instead... I WILL NOT use my tumble dryer lol! Got up this morning and they were dry - result!

2) Cooked the joint of pork that I bought from the butchers, and had it with home made stuffing (just used up some bread that was going stale to make it, dried sage and onions) parsnips, mash, roast spuds, green beans, carrots and gravy was very yummy. Had some meat and stuffling left over so wrapped it up to use for sarnies : ) Even the crackling turned out nice and was delish! - I can never seem to get it right like my mom does lol

3) We don't get to go out much and still had our wine left over from Saturday night - we didn't get round to drinking it! So fired up the web cam last night and spent the evening catching up with a friend and having a giggle, best night out "in" i've had in ages.

4) Got DD's uniform ironed and and her school bag ready for this morning so there'd be no mad morning dash to get everything together

5) We've got card metres for our gas and electric, the gas seems to get used up really quickly in this house :rolleyes:, but this week we've switched the radiators off altogether and have been trying to have more showers instead of baths to save money! Was really surprised last night to see that there was loads of credit left on the meter which means I only need
to put ten pounds on this week instead of the usual £15 -£20


Today!

1) Going to risk it and hang a load of washing out in a bit - fingers crossed for no rain overnight

2)Used left over pork from yesterday and had pork and stuffing sandwiches

3) Spent an hour this morning doing my other halfs hair for him. He has a bright red moihican lol and needed his head shaving and his spikes redying lol Got the clippers out and shaved his head, then had to bleach his roots (got the bleaching kit dirt cheap from wilkos ages ago) then dyed his hair using some stuff called stargazers - bright red colour, picked it up a few months back, is only about £3 for a tub and I've dyed his hair 3/4 times with it so far and still have 3/4 of a tub left so will last ages! Saves so much money doing it at home for him rather than going to the hairdressers!


4) Popped to the shops after picking DD up from school to get milk and dog food (its on offer ) and popped into the park on the way back. DD enjoyed herself and worked up an appetite for tea time - result - she's such a picky, finicky eater.

5) Cooked a spag bol for tea using some mince I bought a few weeks back. There was loads in the pack, so I split it up into meal size (for 3) portions and used that! Got me thinking - 4/5 years ago I would have bought shop bought sauce, but I make it from scratch all the time now and can't remember what the "jarred" stuff tastes like! DD enjoyed it and ate ALL of her tea, which put a smile on my face!!!!

Hope you all have a good evening!

Em

Reverbe

HariboJunkie wrote: »

1.
Sorry to hear that you sound a bit lonely Reverbe. Were you not out with your friends last week? You are really lucky to get so many freebies.

No they are always friends of my flatmate. I don't have any actual friends of my own. Since moving down here I have either been out of work in which case you have no money etc to go out or in work and not met anyone who is interested in making new friends.

Trinny

Hello everyone

The best moment was the day we cut up the credit cards - and cleared the debt - OH says it was better than our wedding day!

By watching the pennies

1. I have ended up learning to cook
2. I have cut our household waste and food waste to the bare minimum
3. We enjoy home grown fruit and veg
4. We are able to afford to save a little for a rainy day
5. We can afford a holiday this year
6. I appreciate what i have, and question whether i need something
before i buy it
7. We dress in charity shop finds and recieve complements about our
style
8. We are greener, get to support local business, and have managed to
break free from the corporate materialistic credit focused ethos that
pervades so much of the developed world
9. We appreciate the simple things in life
10.We are content

Trin

bellaquidsin

Hi, Some lovely thoughts on here.

I can honestly say that I get much more of a thrill from making do or finding a bargain than ever I did from spending money.

With retirement looming, DH finishes on Friday and I am not working, I have been cutting back for 18mnths or so,in order to be financially fit.

Like SuziQ I am a crafter/card maker which can cost a fortune. I was selling my cards and coving my expenditure but now my outlet has dried up it is definately time to use up what I have which will make me use my imagination more.

My father instilled two things into me.

1. If you want something save up for it, by that time you probably will have discovered you don't want/need it after all.

2. Any fool can spend money.

I am living to prove the wisdom of his words.

Bella.

jollymummy

Evening all
Well I'm still here!! and hooray although Doctor diagnosed torn ligaments and 6 - 8 weeks for 100% recovery, I can feel it's getting better. Managed to walk up and down stairs now without clinging on to banister and grimacing Here's mine for the last day or so.
1. DH had a 4 day weekend, so enjoyed his company - not that I saw much of him!
2. DH took DS out and about a lot so lots of time alone to craft and iron!
3. Did lots of ironing - sat down, leg propped up.
4. Watched Upstairs, Downstairs while ironing - RUBYYYYY!!!!!!!!
5. Have decided to open a little online shop via my blog to sell my stuff, rather than selling on Etsy and Folksy, feel quite excited and positive.
6. Made 4 brooches, a glasses case and two cards oh and a pincushion this weekend.
7. Hobbled up to greenhouse, it's looking great ,espesh the salad and tomato plants.
8. My Mums coming over for a couple of days.
9. Watched Little Miss Sunshine at the weekend and loved it.
10. Watched the Apprentice final last night - fab!
11. Did my Mr T order to be delivered to our holiday cottage in 3 weeks - got v.giddy. DS insisted we splash out and bought some smoothies for him as Daddy was having 4 bottles of mucky beer - last of the big time spenders, we don't normally drink cos we can't afford it !!!
12. DH built a couple of raised beds in garden today, look fab but now we've got to fill the darn things with compost!
Oooo look at me, got carried away with my blessings there.
Righto off to lust over Gene Hunt at 9pm for the last time until next year - how will I cope
JM x

jollymummy

Lovely thread.
For me I get a real buzz from finding a bargain in a charity shop.
I'm a crafter too and have started making 100% recycled items, and feel really good about it. I got 60 denim patched from my old jeans to make cards and pincushions!
I enjoy cooking from scratch now and trying out new recipes.
I like to cook up the veg and stuff I have left over at the end of the week instead of throwing it away.
Get a real buzz from growing our own veg - in a very small way- my 4 year old loves picking tomatoes from the greenhouse and gobbling them up!!!
Love reading OS board and meeting all the great folk on here.
I feel more in control of my life and feel quite content and that as the advert says is PRICELESS
JM x

bellaquidsin

Hi shopndrop yes this retirement thing is exciting, not quite sure what to expect yet but we'll get ourselves organised.

My pleasures today are still focused round the belt tightening ready for retirement and are:-

1. A trip to the library for a very interesting talk about Issigonis - the creater of the Mini. It was free - so were the coffee and biscuits.

2. Getting cheap sugar in Poundland in readiness for the elderflower cordial I hope to make at the weekend.

3. Lunch of a large plateful of salad leaves - all home grown with a bit of cheese.

4. Eating the first of my home grown (in a sack) potatoes.

5. Stripping enough meat off the chicken which fed 4 adults and 2 children at teatime to make us dinner tomorrow and a couple of lunches, and the carcass is now in the sc making stock.

So much for so little cost.

Bella.

luxor4t

It means I could ask for reduced hours at work (& the 40% pay 'cut' that went with it) and still balance the budget.

With my increased "free" time I can DO rather than spend: I sew, cook, craft, refurbish etc etc

And when I do go shopping I am hunting down a bargain in the charity shops - like today's wonderful honeycomb woollen blanket £5. Just waiting for a fair day to wash & sun dry it!

frugalswan

1) Planning an entire month of mealplans and shopping lists
2) Feeling a little better than I did yesterday
3) Stretching tonight's tea so I have lunch at work tomorrow
4) Starting doing some competitions
5) Working on my cross stitch instead of going into town at lunchtime

Have a nice evening, everyone