Saturday 30th/ Sunday 31st January - what small DFW things will you do this weekend?

YORKSHIRELASS

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep them coming! Just had a chat with DH about this and he has made the point that if I buy a bit more meat then there should be less snacking so in theory the two should cancel each other out. We eat a lot of pies, curries, stews etc so its not like I am buying steak or chicken breast fillets.

DS2 is at footie this afternoon so I need to get ready!

ziggy2407

Good Afternoon All

Ally - Have a great mini-break, looking forward to seeing the fab pics

Hi to all of the regulars and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.

Quiet day in progress but I have or will

All meals from cupboards
Shopping with list
Topped-up car with fuel using last £11.94 of free fuel
Uploaded receipts to COS
Watch DVD from shelf
Check Banks
Read (Live More, Spend Less)
Enter a couple of comps
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win -
Check Lucky Phone
Clean at mums

Have a good weekend. Love to you all!

C x

princess_pea

Afternoon all,

It's been a really busy weekend in our house:

Saturday
Took two sofas to the tip for some friends for fuel money, one friend has bought our cream fabric sofa and the other our leather sofa. We had to buy ratchet straps as mine wouldn't fit in the truck without them but no doubt we'll use them again. We delivered both sofas and we've been paid for both. The money for my leather one will be used for new brake pads and suspension arm brushes for my car!
My back ached yesterday night so I had a bath with sea salt crystals - absolute miracle cure!
Cleaned and painted wall in living room that had gone damp behind one of the sofas
Interior windows cleaned
Hung up a little key cupboard we got ages ago and another tack for a calendar
Moved our chameleon to his new spot ahead of sofa delivery on Thursday

Sunday
OH cleaned the truck and we've since loaded our camping gear back in
I put my car through the car wash budget programme!
Food shopping done
Exterior windows cleaned - thanks for the advice last week, they've come up sparkling and I saved £15 by not getting the window cleaner to do them!
One load of washing done and another one in the machine

Still to do...
Roast chicken for tea. We'll have the leftovers tomorrow
Buns to bake
Bathroom to clean
Ironing to do
Hoovering to do
Touch up another wall in the living room to get rid of scuff marks
Update budget and spending diary
Tidy up as our home looks like a bomb has gone off!!
Chill tonight with some reading/ iPlayer

determined_new_ms

lego_mum wrote: »

Ally
Dnms sounds like you've had a good morning How are you feeling about the work situation today?

I'm fine about it, surprisingly very relaxed! I honestly think between covering sickness/leave at the pub, msing & ebaying I'll be able to make up the shortfall.

And like I said it's given me both the kick up the bum to start looking for work and 2 days a week when dgd is at the CM's where I can job hunt/apply & do ms assignments.

I'm still taking home £600 more than I was from July to Nov when my income was £0 :money:

DawnW

Afternoon all
Back from marathon babysitting session for GDs aged 8 and 5 (Friday evening / night, all day Saturday, Saturday night and this morning :eek:). They were quite good, but honestly, my DD1 needs staff, not parents! Especially as we had to sleep on a mattress on the floor Still, at least we got fed for free, if I made it!

Dog is shattered as he was out of his routine, didn't settle very well, though he did enjoy playing with the kids

Maria, as a fellow poultry addict, I feel your pain :rotfl: I only have room for 3 birds now in our small garden, but used to have loads when we had more space - ducks too

Ally, enjoy your few days away, sounds great. You do plan some interesting things!

Not much MSE stuff been going on this weekend, but haven't apent anything since Friday :A OH popped into the SM earlier and bought a couple of bits, but that was him, not me, right?

Heating been on frost setting only while we have been away, still is, as the wood stove is alight and we don't need both
Got a kettle on the stove, which I always do but using the tip (I think from Baileys Babe?) about putting the boiling water in a Thermos if not needed immediately. Why didn't I think of that?
Managed 15 NSDs in January :T OK, the target was 21, but 15 is good Must try to beat that in Feb though
HM meals from stores - planning tortellini with HM tomato sauce from freezer for supper, had beans on toast for lunch

Planning an early night - 'see' you tomorrow

Baileys_Babe

Today is is wet and cold, doesn't spark me with joy

Yesterday I ended up having to go to the shops to get a new battery for the smoke alarm (we don't keep them in stock as it is only the smoke alarms which use them), OH said he would sort it but when I returned with dd from the birthday party it was still beeping to remind us to change the battery, when I asked him why he hadn't got a new one as he said he would, he told me he would of needed to take ds with him :mad::mad: how on earth does he think I manage when he is away with work for a few days a week :mad::mad:

Yorkshire lass I was going to suggest adding or replacing with pulses as these are very cheap and low in fat and high in protein.

Today I plan to:
NSD
Post on this thread for support, motivation and inspiration
Open curtains fully
Close curtains before it gets dark
Turn off lights and appliances not in use
Take meter readings, just realised I forgot yesterday
Submit meter readings, just realised I forgot yesterday
reusable sanitary ware
Stick to the meal plan
B/L/D from stores
make bread
PAD into saving £3.66 -1p
Soak porridge overnight
Set DW to run overnight
Set WM to run overnight
Freezer inventory, keep up to date
Check FPL
HWB for children’s beds instead of heating
Educate children for free
Entertain children and us for free
Walk everywhere
Dry washing on airier
Keep heating to a minimum, we have jumpers and blankets
Light the stove, burning free wood
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)
Cull 100 emails
10 minutes shredding

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Friends,
Nice day today (not the weather, which was plop) visiting nearest city centre for a bit of shopping......& window shopping.......& going in shops, but just looking, as we realised in so many cases, we wanted to keep our money more than we wanted to own the items we were looking at. Anyway, here are the edited money-saving highlights:
*Took packed lunch to avoid buying paninis or sandwiches out.
*Did buy coffees in M&S & shared a scone, as I had a £3 deal on my loyalty card. Thereby hung a tale of hassle but we received good customer care from the staff who sorted it out.
*Didn't even GO in 'Monsoon'. My favourite shop. How angelic was I?
*Used the remaining £6 on a Book Token to buy a book I wanted, so I only had to pay the remaining £1.99. Then found it was a 'Buy 1, get 1 half price' deal (Waterstones), so bought a book for Mum, to pop away in the presents box. Went to find mr f who was lurking in the geeky section & spotted a book at half price that is perfect for one of our friends so we bought that for the presents box too. Had remembered to take cash from the Presents Piggy with me, so felt really organised.
*Used O2 Priorities code at the Body Shop. Anyone else on O2, this might be a goer? Wanted a body butter for myself. I love it & am never without it, but it is now £14 for the standard size. They had lots of different ones on their Sale shelves @ £7 each. I wasn't sure the O2 code would work on Sale items but it does, so I bought 3 (1 for me & 2 for the presents box) for a total of £12.60. That's a really good deal as it's less than the rrp of 1 tub. I know some people would think I'm mad stocking up presents all year round.......XXJoJoXX, I think you do this too? It REALLY saves money at Christmas time & when you have one of those bottlenecks of birthdays all around the same few weeks (like we do in the winter months).
*Called at Waitrose for a items we couldn't get at Aldi yesterday. Free 'Observer', Food magazine & coffees courtesy of 'My Waitrose' cards.
*Sent invoices to ebay buyers. Amazingly, last thing last night, we discovered that 3 more of my knitting mags had sold, as well as 2 of mr f's dvd sets, one of which went for £21 including postage. Re-listed the rest of the stuff tonight as it's last day of January's free listings.
*Tiny bit of free fitness. I have let my fitness levels drop badly over the last year. Taking myself in hand this next week, so asked mr f to drop me at the other end of the village & I walked home as quickly as I could. I wouldn't normally be puffing, but I was!
*Read meters & update spreadsheets.
*Load washer & set timer for overnight cheapy wash.
*Knit some more sock. Didn't do any last night as was too busy oogling vikings.
*Quite a lot of financial admin to do tomorrow, so have made a long list, which turned into a complete job list. At least I shall get the week off to a good start!
So those are the highlights.
Have a peaceful afternoon, everyone, & Ally - Hope you have a lovely break in your bothy. Expect there will be some fab photos. Of Scottish wildcats, she enquired hopefully??
Cheers all,
f x

PurpleFairy26

jonno7 wrote: »

Morning all :hello: planning a productive day here after good MSE day yesterday.

Want to list a chair on faceb00k
Start a fleabay pile and possibly list some if I get time
Stripped top layer of wallpaper of last wall yesterday (was able to do without tools) get steamer out today for rest
Contemplate taking skirting off everywhere in room to speed us into action
Meals from stores
Find some old clothes/bedding that are not fit for anything else to fill draught excluder
Finish meal plan

I worked out how much I should have left at pay day on Friday and paid it to my debt. Got to that nice round figure :T

ally thanks for the tips for damp things, it's not those ones we have some that you put a block in and the water drips through. Will investigate though

DNMS thanks for the note about food, will try and have a think about those, good tip, particularly as we eat a lot of spicy food

Enjoy your day everyone.

Foxgloves nice work on the presents, I do that too. Makes such a difference spreading the cost, plus I find I get better presents if I do this and am not rushing.

Reall successful day here, mixture of getting jobs done and quality family time - girls just to bed and DH and I are going to sit down with a glass of wine

Did most of the stripping, just a couple of awkward high bit to do, that I need to move a bit of furniture for. And done loads more of my list for the weekend, just off to finish meal plan and sew up a couple of things whilst having my wine. Enjoy your evening everyone.

crazy_cat_lady

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep them coming!

When I make burgers I bulk them out with breadcrumbs or oats. Nobody has noticed yet, or if they have then they haven't complained.
I'm lucky in that my best friend's hubby is a butcher so I get mates rates, but I know they are always happy to discuss the cheaper options for meat. I buy a lot of pork shoulder, beef brisket and gammon joints.

As I suspected it's been a busy day today, particularly as I 'found' time to get ds shoes and that meant more shopping as well. Similarly to others on here I have a presents box, and today I managed to get a couple of bits for the Year 11 students in my form class, ready for when they go. Got ds some new shoes at N£xt for £15.50 - close to trainers but I couldn't resist at that price, we'll see how long they last. Also popped to Aldee for some cat biscuits as I'm still waiting for Z00plus and they have run out. While I was there, I got my eye on some fizzy raspberry juice bottled up to look like champagne for 99p so bought me and dh a couple of those for Valentine's day (what a romantic eh?) So whilst it's been a bit spendy, it hasn't been frivolous spending.

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

[STRIKE]:grinheart check banking and PAD[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart 2 hours of tutoring today[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart visit my mam this afternoon for tlc and a free feed[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart bit of baking for next week - not leaving the banana cake this time.[/STRIKE] :j
[STRIKE]:grinheart make chicken goujons for tomorrow[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart do not stress about work[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart try and find the time to get ds some shoes (starting to think this will have to wait until after school one night)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]:grinheart get the kids and dh to help around the house[/STRIKE]

Successful day I think.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Enjoy the break Ally and everyone else enjoy whats left of the weekend. There are changes happening at work and I have no idea whether its good or bad news for me. Tomorrow might be stressful but there is a small possibility of a promotion which might mean more money. Whether I want the promotion is another thing entirely. I suspect there will be a lot to think about.

I have decided to conduct a bit of an experiment and serve more meat with our main meals through February. This will give me a chance to see whether a) it gets eaten and b) how much it adds to my grocery bill. I will then review it at the end of the month.

DS1 needs some jeans. N@xt ones are usually a good fit so may order some. I have done well this weekend, we took a flask of coffee and some biscuits to footie today so didnt spend anything.