Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th Jan. what small debt free things will you do?

allydowd

princess_pea wrote: »

Forgot to ask - does anyone have any tips for what to use to clean grubby exterior windows? I'm willing to buy a squeegee but want to save the £15 on a window cleaner

I just use Stardrops, hot water and one of these. (Link) And one of these from the PoundShop. (Link)

allydowd

Afternoon all, :hello:

Had a lovely photographic adventure yesterday. It wasn't the ideal weather for photography (mainly blizzardy) but a good time was had by all:

Reflecting on it we had a very MSE-style day:

* Bought some luxury snacks in Sainsbury's before leaving as this would keep us away from the ferry shop: blueberries, fruit juice...

* Took biscuits and the big flask of coffee with us for the ferry. Kept flask wrapped in spare scarf for maximum insulation.

* Walked South along Rothesay seafront admiring the view, then returned to ferry waiting room to eat packed lunch, before strolling North and returning to ferry waiting room for more coffee. This kept us out of the local cafes. :cool:

* Bought four steak sausages loose from local butcher as a 'souvenir' instead of traditional souvenir tat.

* Took a spare set of clothing because, as predicted I'd need it by the time we made the return journey. This prevented a trip to the charity shop for dry clothes.

* On returning home opted to leave car half a mile from home as the hill we live on was impassable in the snow, thereby avoiding a possibly costly accident.

* Shared a hot bath when we got home.

Baileys_Babe

We have snow it started yesterday evening and continued for a few hours, but we only have an inch of snow at the most. Dd woke very excited with lots of plans including making a snow angel, we had to tell her that their wasn't enough snow she took it remarkably well. Then she bounded into her brothers room to tell him it was a snow day, he told her as they were home educated, the weather doesn't stop their education, maybe changes the plans. She played out for nearly 2 hours entertaining herself :)

It is cloudy around here but is brighter than normal as the light is being reflected off the snow, it is the type of cold that seeps into you

Today I plan to:
NSD Work in progress
Write shopping list Carried over from yesterday
Post on this thread for support, motivation and inspiration Done
Open curtains fully Done
Close curtains before it gets dark
Turn off lights and appliances not in use Work in progress
Take meter readings Carried over from yesterdayDone
Submit meter readings Carried over from yesterday Done
reusable sanitary ware Done
Meal plan Carried over from yesterday
B/L/D from stores Work in progress
make bread Carried over from yesterday
Check and reconcile bank accounts Carried over from yesterday Done
PAD into saving £3.66 -1p Done, over £60 :j
Soak porridge overnight
Set DW to run overnight
Set WM to run overnight
Freezer inventory, up date as we were a bit lapse over Christmas had have yet to back on track Done
Check FPL Work in progress
Educate children for free Work in progress
Entertain children and us for free Work in progress
Walk everywhere
Dry washing on airier Done
Keep heating to a minimum, we have jumpers and blankets Work in progress
Light the stove, burning free wood Done
put kettle on stove for free hot water, put water in flasks if boiled before ready to use and refill kettle, water used for making hot drinks (we drink plenty of these, cooking rice, pasta etc, washing up etc) Done
Cull 100 emails Done

Due to the weather our internet is a bit dodgy today, hope this posts ok, I'll try and get back later if I can.

Keep safe and warm everyone.

PurpleFairy26

jonno7 wrote: »

Morning all :hello:

We have snow :j just a little so it won't last long but enough to take the smalls out in a bit with their wellies on and slush around :T hope it hasn't killed my daffs that are all confused about what season it is

My list for today:
Check banking see if Amazon have refunded an unauthorised payment from our joint account. Helpfully our bank have given it is back as a temporary measure, which is kind of them :T
Beef stew in slow cooker - a glug of left over Christmas chutney in there for extra flavour
Curried parsnip soup made at same as prep for stew, lunches for week
Used ys veggies for ^
De cluttered a big bag and some of toys yesterday whilst sorting 'homes' for everything, will do DD room later - also chucked some tat
Was going to list a chair on selling pages, but may hold off because of snow, not sure anyone will want to come and collect
Cut up melon for snacks for us all
Unsurprisingly my £75 that was due from £co today has now not appeared (just like £40 last week) and has gone back a stage in processing :mad:
Did withdraw £1.82 from work perks account from cash back, will pad to cc when arrives.

Think that's all, stay safe those that have had loads more of the White stuff than us

My list has gone out the window as I started to feel unwell shortly after posting. Luckily tea was in already and soup made. I went back to bed for several hours, so glad DH was here to have the girls. They went out and made a snow man on the local green - donated a carrot it was from a ys bag :rotfl:

If I feel better I might have a go at the toys in a bit. Glad I didn't have a full on day planned, feel like I haven't wasted too much. Haven't managed run 3 of my plan though, nor will I. Will have to carry over to tomorrow.

Easter cake sounds lovely Maria - we'd have to hide it here though to last :rotfl:

foxgloves

Hello Wombles,
Snow last night, so our planned walk was a beautiful snowy one. Took packed lunch, which we ate in the crypt of a ruined abbey as all the picnic tables were snowy! Taking lunch & snacks meant we only bought coffee, though we did treat ourselves to a scrummy ice-cream at local farm's ice-ream parlour on our way home. Used Personal Spends though, not a sneaky little dip into bank account. Other things pretty routine: WM on now, as I thought it'd be worth getting it onto heated airer overnight to keep the temperatures up a teeny bit in the conservatory which can be prone to freezing. Have also listed 7 items on ebay, will be reading energy meters, making tomorrow's packed lunch, popping a hwb down the bed later instead of turning heating up & as it's mr f's cooking night, I'm planning to progress a bit more of one of the longer tasks from my Annoying Things Lists. It's been a bit of a revelation just how quick some of these tasks have been.......one has annoyed me for months, yet it took me less than a minute (& no cost) to solve!! That's ridiculous!
Hope you all have a peaceful evening. A big freeze forecast here for tonight (we're kind of to the north east of the Midlands) but the gritters had clearly been out last night as roads were all clear today, so hopefully they will again tonight.
Think we should have a group goal for this coming week that whatever happens, we will realise that beating ourselves up about it (I can be the world's worst for this!) will not help matters at all, but accepting it, learning from it & moving on, will. I intend to have a busy week but to treat myself very kindly throughout!
Love f xx

Bobarella

Hi All

A great day of doing things to prepare for the week ahead. I batch cooked;
Roast beef joint, sliced and then just popped it back in to reheat with the rest of the meal. Will copy you Foxgloves & freeze some slices in gravy for another meal.

Home made baked beans, I do mine with garlic and onions, fennel seeds, passatta & butter beans. I'll chop up some chorizo and stir that in for a tasty meal. Serve with toast for an easy meal. There will be enough for 2 main meals and OH'S lunchbox.

Split a pack of 500g mince in two. Made burgers for the freezer with one half and a large mince and veg pie with the other half..used half a pack of ready roll puff pastry and froze the other. That will do 6 portions.

Lemon scones. Grated the rind and mixed that in. Then put the juice away for another time.

Have made enough batter to do Yorkshire puds for our roast and some giant ones to freeze that can easily be filled mid week.

I feel all ahead of myself now


Just did a stroll around the neighbourhood with take away teas from home. I like to make sure I get out one last rime on these long winter Sundays as otherwise I always find it a long day when it's dark at 4pm.

Love to all

Bob

Bobarella

determined_new_ms wrote: »

* hopefully will get a free Sunday dinner at the end of my shift cost is £10.95 for a roast at the pub. Might join the wombling challenge Bob & Cat
x

Please do that would be fab!

princess_pea

Evening all,

Hope you're feeling better Jonno
Have a lovely date night DNMS. We saw The Revenant last night, it was fab

Thanks for the advice re. cleaning exterior windows - this wil be a job for next weekend!

Well as predicted today has been a spendy day. I can't remember the last time I went shopping in town. We had a lovely light lunch in a Caribbean restaurant which wasn't too expensive.
I bought some lovely wide-leg trousers in Monsoon for the bargain price of £13.50. I'd seen them when they were full price and couldn't justify them. Only downside is they are spring/ summer wear so I'll have to wait until the weather warms up!
I tried on the shoes I've ordered for my wedding. Although they were alright they are a bit of a funny shape so I wasn't very impressed. We went to HoF and I found the perfect pair for £23!! The are cobalt blue peep toes with blue and silver gems on the toe - very Carrie Bradshaw as my friend pointed out. I'm over the moon with them so I'll probably get a refund on the others :)
I also bought a nice shower gel and body butter for a friend's birthday, and a denim shirt for me. All of the spends have come out of my birthday money so I don't feel too guilty - well I do a little bit as I'm not used to shopping anymore
Breakfast and tea (if I'm hungry) will come from stores
Banking checked, spending diary updated and wedding spreadsheet updated. I've added a "contingencies" section to bring the total budget up to £7000. I know this is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on one day and I'm hoping we can do it for less than this. The total does include our honeymoon which we've already paid for (a week in a cottage in East Sussex). It is still our goal to pay for everything up front and not incur any debt - I do find myself thinking what a nice chunk of a mortgage deposit it would make though!
Ironing part-done, there were more clothes in the ironing pile than there were in the wardrobe so I couldn't ignore it any longer
FPL to do
Sign up for a free copyright course which will be useful for work
Change bedding
Read book if not too knackered

The heating is currently off but I don't know how much longer I can hold out. OH is visiting a friend so it's just poochy and me at the minute. Have a lovely evening all

La_escocesa

foxgloves wrote: »

Think we should have a group goal for this coming week that whatever happens, we will realise that beating ourselves up about it (I can be the world's worst for this!) will not help matters at all, but accepting it, learning from it & moving on, will. I intend to have a busy week but to treat myself very kindly throughout!
Love f xx

I love the idea of a group goal Foxgloves. :A

I'm in! :j

crazy_cat_lady

Hi all.
I can feel the stress creeping in as school gets closer. I spoke to my mam about it today and she thinks I need some time off. I think I'll see how tomorrow goes and how I feel after that.
It's been a long day, but nice - my mood has only gone downhill in the past couple of ours. Foxgloves, I'm with you on the group goal of trying to be kinder to ourselves.

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

[STRIKE]:) PAD to Christmas fund[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:) tutoring[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:) visit my mam for good chat and a free feed[/STRIKE]
write some more of my reports if I feel like it I didn't feel like it
[STRIKE]:) make time for exercise (remind myself it makes me feel good afterwards)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:) start my next crochet project (the cardi is done)[/STRIKE] tiny unicorn
repair the quilt cover that is annoying the life out of me it's not dry yet after I put it in the wash
[STRIKE]:) get ds to tidy his room :mad:[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:) nsd[/STRIKE]