Thursday 28th January - What small DFW things will you do today?

allydowd

make_the_change wrote: »

I have some fresh red chillis which won't be used until next week and will probably go funny by then. Is there anything I can do with them to preserve them?

You can preserve them in oil. Here's how. (Link)

foxgloves

Make-the-change - Yes, agree, just pop them in a plastic bag or an empty spread tub or something similar & pop them in the freezer. I grow chillies every year & freeze whole big bags of them. When you want to use one, just take it out & chop from frozen. Some instructions tell you to blanch them first, but don't bother, it adds nothing & just takes time & electricity (or gas, if that's what your hob is!)
f

allydowd

chrisfreelander54

Well done. I do the same thing. I've repaired so many things for next to nothing with the aid of on online manuals.

foxgloves

Hello all,
A late post from me....in fact, I wasn't going to bother, but I've worked so hard on money-related stuff today that I thought I'd just stick a quick one on before I collapse into a chair by the fire with my knitting!
*Payday, so my Big Budget Day. Made extra coffee & shut myself in Foxgloves HQ. Reconciled January budget. All as it should be except that we overspent grocery budget by about £10. Not unduly bothered. Most of that was on bulk buying half price coffee. Set February's budget. Some big payments to go out, but we can do it if nothing major & rubbish occurs. Decided on how much money to pay into the Savings Piggies - Left 5 of them the same, but halved payment to Clothes Piggy to £20 as we don't really need anything at the moment. Divvied up our 'Personal Spends' cash for Feb.
*Top-sliced February's grocery budget by £50 & paid it into the Car Fund.
*Sorted out car insurance renewal. They wanted £233 this year. I am allergic to paying more than £200 a year for car insurance, so tried getting some quotes from specialist 50+ providers. There are some perks to hitting the big 5.0. Or rather there wasn't..........as the car insurance is in my name, but the car is registered to mr f who is a few years younger than me, I couldn't take advantage of my age. Ran my exact policy through existing provider's website & it came out £40 cheaper. Negotiated a price match using webchat. They then phoned me just to take the payment. Better than paying for a lengthy phone call & sitting in a 'call waiting' queue. Paid annual amount in full so as to avoid interest charges.
*Found various offers while sorting out till receipts, inc. M&S & Body Shop. Put them ready for city centre trip on Sunday.
*Updated my M&S Sparks card offers. The best one was being able to load a 'Any hot drink & any cake for £3' deal onto my card.
*Did a few surveys & put a claim in for my next Sainsbury's gift card (£15) from Toluna.
*Entered a competition.
*Entered lots of supermarket feedback prize draws. Someone has to win & I feel it really ought to be me.
*Filed all my financial admin away. Can't bear being disorganised with financial stuff now I'm a reformed character.
*Leftover lentil loaf for dinner. Made some rice salad to go with it this morning, & will also make a big bowl of mixed salad to use a few bits from the fridge, plus lots of my home made pickles, chutneys, etc.
*Being tough on cat over food, as he is Mr Picky at the moment.
*Still to do - Meal plans for next week & shopping list, as mr f has a slightly earlier finish tomorrow & says he'll pop in Aldi on his way past to get the groceries in.
*No downstairs heating on all day, but it's chilly now, so will put it on as soon as I go downstairs.
*Packed lunch for tomorrow already done as mr f decided he was taking something hot today so his sandwich was put back in the fridge for another day. He took chickpea & cauliflower curry today.....bet that stank out his office!
OK, I really have had it with screens now for the day, so will wish you all a nice peaceful evening & say goodnight,
f x

crazy_cat_lady

Evening all
Still tired, and aching all over - however still grateful that dh is more than doing his share at the moment. Like you say Bob - I couldn't have imagined that just a couple of weeks ago.
Princess_pea - congratulations on being so close to being df. I'm really pleased for you.
DNMS - hope you're feeling better, and you too Dawn (I hate a pukey migraine).

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

[STRIKE];) Check banking and PAD[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE];) get dd to cheerleading[/STRIKE] dh has done this :j
[STRIKE];) finalise the big monthly online shop[/STRIKE] plus pet food, plus YNAB
[STRIKE];) nsd[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE];) all meals from stores[/STRIKE]
finish marking tests this is partly done but taking longer than planned. Probably because I'm running on empty
[STRIKE];) mark a set of books[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE];) plan next week lessons[/STRIKE]
get an early night planned
[STRIKE];) try not to stress out[/STRIKE] so far so good
crochet planned

PaceThePixie

Evening All :hello:

Sorry for another late posting a full day at work today . My new job is part time so I only work 2 full days per week and two half days. I am very excited about it all. Even better that they honoured my holiday which I leave for on Sunday .

To matters at hand, the list:
Online surveys.
Check online banking.
All meals from cupboards.
Started packing the holiday bag!
Another clothes wash drying on the airer.
Yet another NSD. I have lost count this month so I would say probably 10 NSD so far

I think that is about it. Not much to do today. Hope everyone has had a good day. I will now go and read everyones daily posts.
Keep smiling.
Pace.

allydowd

allydowd wrote: »

Anyway now I'm in a bit of a guddle. I.....

* Get some sleep.

* 10p noodles now and then a comforting home cooked breakfast when OH awakes. I never add the sachet of vile powder that comes with the noodles. I splash on soy sauce and sometimes top with peanuts. OH buys soy sauce in litre bottles and uses that to refill the wee bottle for the table. Much cheaper that way. For example, she bought 1000ml for £1.99, but 150ml of Kikkoman is £2.

* Heating off til OH awakes.

* Make a huge Get Back On Track plan.

* Do not console self with a takeaway.

What have you folks got lined up for today?

Well, I managed to sleep til 5pm.

The Back On Track plan is taking shape.

Stayed away from takeaway. Cooked some leftover Decemberfest nibbles from the freezer instead.

Booked a night away in a log cabin further North for Sunday. It's self-catering so there will be no spending once we get there. I can read and OH can photogro-faff. We'll take our glowing UFO (Link) with us and roast something as the wee kitchen has no oven. We went to a similar property there before and I managed to do a full roast duck meal in the UFO in the evening and a full cooked breakfast in it the next morning. And the UFO gives out heat as it cooks. Will take all alchohol, soft drinks and DVDs to watch with us.

seaspray10

After my 1st post on here, I was beginning to think that it was best avoided (butted heads with quite an unpleasant but no doubt unhappy person) BUT reading this, you all sound lovely.
Wishing you all the best of luck and happiness, you’re all so alive and positive, regardless of what life throws at you.
Truly commendable!!!
x

ziggy2407

seaspray10 wrote: »

After my 1st post on here, I was beginning to think that it was best avoided (butted heads with quite an unpleasant but no doubt unhappy person) BUT reading this, you all sound lovely.
Wishing you all the best of luck and happiness, you’re all so alive and positive, regardless of what life throws at you.
Truly commendable!!!
x

Welcome Seaspray, this group is one of the best I've found on MSE, please don't let other areas put you off - please post here

DawnW

Just popped back to update
Seaspray 10, I hope you will join us?

DawnW wrote: »

Clear up debris from little GD yesterday Done, though pup has now made more mess, chewing up bits of bark from the woodshed all over the rug...
Dog walks x 2 Done
Heating off downstairs, but I will light the wood burner later Done, kept heating off but sitting in front of the toasty woodstove now
Need to buy some bits for the weekend, plus a new washing up bowl, as mine is truly horrible A turn in the dishwasher, scrubbing with Barkeepers Friend, I have tried everything but the surface of the (cheap) plastic is damaged and it needs to go! I will keep it though, for little GD to play with water or sand in the garden in summer Done, got everything on my list
Make a proper list so I don't buy things I don't need
2 loads of washing and hopefully dry on the line It isn't supposed to rain today, and I can finish off on the airer tonight. One load already in I load almost dry, and the other about half dry. All now on the airer / fireguard to finish off
HM meals from stores - I have bits to use up Finished off some hummus and salad bits for lunch, curry from fridge for supper
Go through fridge and freeze anything that might go off over the weekend while I am away Chopped and froze some mushrooms
Retrieve overnight bag from loft Still to do
Dig up some more chard plants for the chickens Done
Put to one side some of the things I want to take to DD (I have promised her some posh ceramic cookware that I don't use any more ) Done
Find and write a birthday card and wrap DD's present (I bought her a lovely silver and amber necklace from one of the other dealers at the shop where I rent my unit ) Still to do
Continue with tidying / minimising of larder. I am seeing a few more spaces in there now. Before we moved here, we lived in quite isolated places, and shopping for anything was a car journey of several miles, so I think I have a bit of a siege mentality Although I wouldn't ever be someone with nothing in the cupboards (and wouldn't pass up a real bargain if see one), I don't need to keep big stocks of food etc in now, and am determined to stop overbuying! I tidied the preserves shelves (these do take up quite a bit of space, so not all the overspill is due to over shopping and am gradually using up bits and shopping more mindfully. Bob's January challenge has helped as it makes me focus on NSDs (even if I am a bit rubbish at updating on that thread )

Also managed to:
Go to sales unit while out in the car, took a couple of new bits in and tidied up
Took a few bits to one of the charity shops in town
Checked FPL and did a few online surveys for onepoll
Bit of tidying up in the garden as it was a nice day
Put out a preserving jar and a too-large pair of jeans for the next charity shop run. Put the jeans on this morning as I put some weight on over Christmas and haven't had the motivation to shift it yet But although they initially felt comfy, within half an hour they were almost falling down :rotfl: - not comfy at all - so they can go. I don't intend to grow into them :eek:
Food waste alert - about 5cm of cucumber had gone a bit squishy so was given to the chickens

Make-the-change, I do as Foxgloves does, and just shove spare chillis in a plastic bag in the freezer, and use them from frozen. I don't bother to chop them first - they are easy to chop from frozen. You can also do nice things like preserving them in oil or pickling them, depends on how much time you have, and what you want to use them for really!

Ally, your plans sound lovely
Pace, enjoy your holiday
Princess, congratulations on becoming almost debt free :T

Right, off to bed now, via the loft (to find overnight bag). I will be rushing about tomorrow getting ready to go away for the weekend, but will try to post first thing. If I don't, 'see' you all on Monday