Monday 1st Feb - What small DFW things will you do today?

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for starting us off CCL
Slow start, as I didn't get up till nearly 9am :eek: Most unusual for me, but I suppose unsurprising given a lack of sleep over weekend (stayed at DD1's to look after kids, slept (or rather didn't) on a mattress on the floor, pup was a pain in unfamiliar place etc).

Anyway, list for today:
Feed dog and hens (done)
Dog walk x 2 (one done)
Put a load of washing in machine Did 2 loads
Dry it outside if it doesn't rain Dried 1 load outside, other waiting, it can either go out in the morning, or dry indoors on airer, depends on the weather
Rummage in freezer for something for dinner - meal plan fail Found some small gammon steaks, had these with HM cajun oven chips, peas and a fried egg
Go to sales unit to tidy up / see if anything needed - not sure when / if I will get to this, as I am expecting a big parcel to be delivered (new pot for my little quince tree) Done, parcel arrived immediately I got back
Any surveys (done a 15p one for onepoll so far ) A couple more for onepoll - over £30 now :T Also a couple for Yougov
Check FPL Done
Postal survey tasks - need to get to post office at some point today :eek: Done
Aiming for a NSD - though we could really do with some bananas Decided I really, really could do with a NSD

I am sure there is more, but I can't think of it at the moment. I will pop back later to update Nothing much else done, still shattered after the weekend

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Evening all and thanks CCL for the start. It's "small new year" over here in smog central, so the locals are letting off fireworks non-stop and burning piles of ersatz money to persuade the God of Wealth to stay with them for a while. All good fun - I like fireworks, might go and join in

Quiet weekend - one of those ones it's a good idea just to be safe and quiet for a while.

So anyway:
Updated accounts and forecast
Waiting on receipt for industry subs to be published. The institution concerned is quick to take the cash and slow to give me the means to claim it back.
Shuffled some pots around and have postponed some planned purchases with the result that one of my debts (about 1/3rd of the total) should vanish sometime around the twelfth.

Right, back on yer 'eads!

JHiggins91

Afternoon all

Haven't been posting as frequently the past while, been too busy with the new house - we move on Friday!!

Today I will -
Check my bonus for this month to try and work out my wages in advance.
Ask BIL for money for phone bill - feel bad doing this as he has recently crashed his car but I'm really struggling this month, may just ask for half.
Sort out clothes to take up to house tomorrow.
List some stuff found on Gumtree that I don't want cluttering up the house.

La_escocesa

[FONT=&quot]Hi everyone[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Wow – a brand new month! Anything is possible! [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Here’s my listypops: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Cheapo ‘overnight oats’ brekkie, used up old-looking banana, made with water :cool:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Had more oats than usual – didn’t snack this morning at work – so simple but why have I never done this before?! :rotfl: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Packed lunch – tuna sandwich, apple, dried fruit/nuts – plenty free teas/water at work [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Washed lunch box at work – important step in the ‘do-not-give-me-any-excuse-not-to-bring-lunch’ saga [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Cheapo/healthy baked sweet potatoes for tea tonight [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Quick supermarket shop on lunch – the time constraint is a good thing! £30 budget for the week. :cool: [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Clearing out/sorting out tonight – I’m quite excited about this cos I am a geek. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T Text Freegle-er – can hopefully come for old furniture tomorrow... :A[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]:T YNAB online class @ 8pm [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tonight I am on a YNAB mission now the new month is here and lots of bills come out on the 1st. “Time to do the reconciliation dance” :dance: Lambda – I completely agree with you about YNAB. I couldn’t have the other version as I use a Chromebook so I’m so happy it’s now web-based. That aside, I think the subscription model is perfect – you get updates all the time rather than having to wait until the next release and it’s fully supported. £31 a year well worth it I say.[/FONT]

La_escocesa

Ha ha ha, was so chuffed with my weekly shop coming to £29.96... And then got to the check out to realise I didn't have my purse!!

They're keeping it for me but OH doesn't get home from work until 10pm so hopefully it's still there!! :rotfl:

Sanctioned_Parts_List

lambda wrote: »

Yesterday we decided to go and give CostCo a try. The OH is working in the medical profession so we qualified for a membership. We also took her friend, as you can sign up an additional member on one card. The membership was £30 (including the VAT), and they halved the cost between them (so, £15 each). That's for a one year membership.

Costco's great for some things, but it's a mistake to think of it as a supermarket. You will not be able to replace Tesco or Aldi with Costco, so it'll be an additional stop. Thankfully where I'm based in the UK has a Costco and a major supermarket in spitting distance of one another, so it's not too much hassle to stock up on bulks in one, and small stuff in the other.

lambda

Sanctioned_Parts_List wrote: »

Costco's great for some things, but it's a mistake to think of it as a supermarket. You will not be able to replace Tesco or Aldi with Costco, so it'll be an additional stop. Thankfully where I'm based in the UK has a Costco and a major supermarket in spitting distance of one another, so it's not too much hassle to stock up on bulks in one, and small stuff in the other.

You are right. Is there anything you recommend in Costco that is worth getting in bulk?

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Pretty much as you'd expect - eggs, flour, porridge oats, pasta that doesn't taste rubbish (Tesco is cheaper, but it tastes of cardboard), cheese, oil, some breakfast cereals, contact lenses, blue jeans (costco own brand jeans and sweaters are dirt cheap and would survive nuclear war, they're so robust), cleaning products of all sorts, loo roll.

Grab the little booklets off the front desk with that week's offers, some are really good - Mrs SPL subscribed to their mailing list and plans weeks in advance when she's going to fill the house with something or other. And try their own brand (Kirkland) for e.g. dishwasher tabs. Works a treat.

We quite like the meat there - more expensive, but the quality's fantastic. Mrs buys these enormous fillets of beef, chops them into about 5 or 6 sections, freezes them, and that's 6 weeks of Sunday roast sorted for less than 3 week's worth of Tesco value gristle. It makes the difference between a roast every weekend, and one every few weeks.

Thing is, because of the slightly weird pattern of buying in bulk and buying only during favourable offers, the first 3 months of Costco membership are actually really expensive, and it's only over the year that the savings really balance out. You'll need to keep good records to know whether it's working for you or not. It works for us because our biggest uses (eggs and flour) are also always cheap vs. Tesco. But your experience may differ. Worth a try, though.

foxgloves

Hello Monday Frugalistas,
Got off to quite a good start to the week:
*Did laundry overnight on Economy 7 tariff. All blew dry in Storm Henry in a couple of hours. Washer re-loaded for another cheap load tonight.
*A bit of free fitness first thing. Did a bit of general gardening, then 30 mins of 'speed-weeding'. Managed to fill the largest size trug & dig over front of a big border, I was working so quickly for a better calorie burn!
*Updated grocery budget.
*Shuffled various funds around.
*Paid yesterday's grocery spends off credit cards. ...only used so as to maximise points for vouchers. It does pay off. Postman brought another £6 of M&S vouchers this morning.
*Rubber chicken duties - roast dinner last night, have divvied up to make main meals for another 3 days, plus a chicken savoury sandwich for tomorrow's packed lunch & carcass currently in slow cooker for stock.
*Made carrot & coriander soup for lunch. Froze 3 portions & 1 in fridge for later in the week.
*Emailed Sainsbury's as was overcharged yesterday.
*Downstairs heating not going on until 5pm.
*Refilled several of my spice jars & big jars of dry ingredients. Stocked up yesterday. Best price around here for large bags of red lentils, brown basmati rice, etc, is Sainsbury's, but remember that tip from Friend Ziggy to look in the World Food aisle. We paid slightly more for 2kg of brown basmati rice yesterday than we normally pay for just 1kg in our town. Also prefer buying bigger bags of things we use regularly like turmeric, curry powder, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, etc, for refilling my own bigger jars. Tinned white beans, black-eyed beans, etc, also cheaper there than in the mainstream bean aisle. Worth a look, if you haven't already.
*Topped up wormery with kitchen scraps. They usually go pretty catatonic in winter, but as it's been mild, they are still scoffing everything in sight. Free worm cast compost in exchange for vegetable peelings, old flour bags, apple cores, etc? It's a no-brainer.
Must get the kettle on now for a cup of tea to keep me going. Have dropped my calories a lot, starting today & am just getting that first sort of wilty feeling of needing a modest plateful of caramel digestives. No chance, Missis!
Stay safe in the gales, everyone.
f x

twiggy86

Foxgloves - a strange one I also find in the world foods aisle is tinned tomatoes?! 3 for £1 and the ones in the "normal" aisle were 4 for £3!