Tuesday 8th December - What small DFW things will you do today???!

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Friends,
Reasonably productive day so far.....the money saving bits of which are:
*Used recycled packaging from my stash to wrap a parcel.
*Wrapped mr f's Christmas & birthday gifts while he's out of the house, using my free roll of giftwrap from O2 Priorities.
*Made Christmas red cabbage & apples. mr f went underneath the market stall to find the biggest cabbage, which means I've made double - one lot in the oven & one lot in the slow cooker. Used locally grown market stall apples & onions too. Oven batch is cooling, SC batch ready at 6pm. Will portion up & freeze,
*Enter competition. Must remember as deadline is tonight.
*Made more Christmas gift tags. Quite pretty. Cut up already-recycled purple foil gift bag & have used star biscuit cutter as a template to cut out shiny purple stars & gifted embroidery thread I've had for decades to hang them on.
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Defrosted pork slices in gravy I froze last time I did rubber pork & will serve tonight with mashed potatoes, apple sauce & what seems a LOT of veg that needs using up - carrots, sprouts (yuk, no thanks!) & cauli. So much cauli left, I reckon mr f had the biggest cauli on the market too.
*Two baths from one lot of hot water, heated airer on just to finish of a few towels & a dress which takes forever to dry, but everything else off until later tonight, even towel radiator. It's not cold & I've opened the window to air the towels.
*Knit more hiking sock.
*Free leisure as intend to re-watch Episode 5 of 'The Bridge' on iplayer. I was confused at the end & wondered if it was just me (fairly normal!) or whether I'd actually fallen asleep for a key 5 minutes in the development of the plot. Love Scandi-crime.
*NSD. No access to the car until after 6pm, can't be bothered with the bus & have been too busy to go for a walk. Consequently, I've kept my hands on my pence!
OK, must sign out & get on.
Best Wishes to all,
f x

maria3104

Hi All

No phone or internet at home. Not frustrating at all!!!!:mad:

Thinking of the Cumbrians coping with all that flooding is helping me to keep my perspective. I sat last night with a client/friend until 1 a.m. this morning listening to him trying to solve a dilemma that has no solution and felt so sad upon going to bed. Why do good honest people have such trying times?

Anyway, I made it to work on time. I was sure I would be late after marathan night. So tonight will try to eat tea, sleep and start a fresh on Wednesday.

Keep smiling and not spending. I am trying.

Maria.

carrielovesfanta

Hi guys,


Quick post as am at work but am keeping the faith. Have been running, made my lunch when I really didn't feel like it, checked banking and resisted OH's call to dinner out.


*polishes halo*


Take care everyone


clf x

chocolatelover93

Afternoon everyone thank you Candy for the start. Sorry I didn't get the PM have just PM'ed you though Hope you have a fun day out the office

Bob - thank you didn't know it was that cheap we get benefits with our job but they only run March to March and we only get about 2 weeks to choose what we want Think I will get it next year

CCL - Hope you are feeling better soon

Ziggy - Thanks for the comp link!! Will be entering that!!

Today's list:
- FPL
- Lucky Phone
- Survey/s
- B/L/D from stores
- Phone EA and tell them about back door They're putting a new door on, soon hopefully because I can't open it very well
- Thank you notes
- Xmas cards
- Xmas list for shopping
- Aim for a NSD
- Check for MS's

Think that is about it for me today
xx

Bobarella

Hi All

So I managed a £19 PAD. Wanted to round the figure up hence the £19.
A friend brought me around an old jungle gym of their grand child's which DD seems to love. How nice that people are happy to pass things on like that.

Dawn - the whole dental thing is weird in this country. Our surgery is NHS and private. I've been there 16 years..when I go I pay the standard banded charges set by the NHS but they also do botox (!!l) & lots of expensive veneer, laser etc work. I'm not paying anything at the moment as on mat exemption. And yes the school grind can be just that. Son is just 7. But he has a different reading book each night and home work as well. We do reading at night and home work in the morning. Throw in a new baby as well and the mornings are a bit rushed at times. But he is a confident reader and is reading at around a 9 year old level according to his latest report so I don't mind supporting that at all. Can only help him in life.

CCL - try and rest as much as you can. I too am worried you won't enjoy centre parcs if you are so run down.

Zig - thanks for the tip off. Very handy.

Maria - it does make you realise how lucky you are doesn't it. How are you getting on with your ME?

Lambda - I know it's easier said than done but try not to get suckered into death by Facebook. The pictures you are seeing are other people's best case scenarios not their realities. I don't use it at all anymore as I find it is not good for mental health. And if you bought your current furniture fare and square you are probably ahead of the people boasting about their new sofas that they are paying DFS off for the next 5 years. Chin up.

Bob

carrielovesfanta

Lambda, sometimes when my house is bothering me, I try to focus on the thing that bothers me most and think of a way around it (very cheaply!).

Perhaps you might have a table that is chipped or scuffed - could you make/buy cheaply a nice cloth to put on it? Could you even get inspired by the shabby chic thread on the OS board and renovate it? I've actually used wide scarves as table runners.

If the couch is faded or stained, would a throw and some bright cushions help?

If the house feels a bit dingy, having a good clean of the paintwork with sugarsoap will help. Mine is def overdue for this.

I even find that moving the furniture round can help.

I def echo Bob though - don't believe all of the Facebookness. People think that I have an idyllic cosy cottage, but I live there and see where the paint is peeling and the rust spots on the radiators. Your eye just gets drawn to them when you know that they are there.


HTH
clf x

lambda

Ah thanks for the kind words and support!

To be honest, our furniture is perfectly fine, it's just frustrating seeing these so called 'perfect lives' that people portray on facebook. I bet other people have financial difficulties as well, at least I am facing up to reality and understand the true value of my money now.

We could give our place a lick of paint, but it's rented and I'm not sure I want to pay for that. The ideal situation is for us to pay off our debt, save for a deposit and buy our own place!

crazy_cat_lady

Hi everyone
Still plodding on. Although I am shattered and do feel as though I should have a day off - but my head of department told me today that he really appreciated my coming in while I was ill so I know that I'm doing a good thing.
I spent £10 on the way home from work buying day and night nurse and a cough medicine to try and get me through the rest of the week and I'm already in bed. Just checking in on my favourite website and then getting off to sleep.
DNMS - I love those chocolate spoons - they look yummy.

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

[STRIKE]:o check banking and PAD[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:o survive a full teaching day[/STRIKE]
try to mark a set of books but don't stress if I can't Spoke to head of dept about this and he said not to worry - just focus on getting through the day.
[STRIKE]:o leave a list of jobs for dh[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:o get an early night[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:o 15 mins housework[/STRIKE] Washing up, washing and lunches made for tomorrow
minimise use of voice
[STRIKE]:o and heating - I have a temperature already [/STRIKE]
Best get going

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Been a bit awol but keeping the moneysaving going. Have had a couple of scary days as I thought DS was getting a chest infection, he is on immuno-suppressants and has been very poorly with chest infections before but thankfully it just seems to be a bad cold.

Lambda I dont do facebook any more. Its too easy to convince yourself that everyone else in the world is happier, has more friends, a better job, cleverer kids, a nicer house, a more loving husband etc etc. If money is tight it helps so much to be around the people on this forum who are caring and supportive and tell it like it is! My house gets me down at times because there are things I would love to do if only we had the time and money. As Bob says though its better not to have loads of debt from buying flashy new stuff.

Hope you are OK CCL. Loads of bugs going around at the moment. Off to get curled up with my library book soon.

allydowd

lambda wrote: »

And cancelled! Or I think it is. Something about a PAC code and contract is terminated until I actually use the PAC code. Horribly confusing but I think I will just use the PAC as soon as the giffgaff sim comes.

Information about PAC codes. (Link)