NST March TURTLES ARE TOUGH

XSpender

Another spend day today as I forgot to buy bread for DH/DS yesterday.

Spent even more money on food yesterday as we went in to M&S and they have extended their range of GF foods and picked up a couple of ys pasta dishes to try and a dine in for £10 for DS and DH (not that DS will be drinking the wine;))

House has had a good clean although we have had to borrow DMIL as ours seems to be doing more blowing than sucking at the moment and I end up wheezing with all the dust that gets blown into the air.

DH has done all the ironing and I have started to pull together stuff for our holiday. I also spoke to the mortgage broker and need to send him some proof of income before we go on our holiday. We did a silly thing DH and I. I am on top of exactly what our incomings and outgoings are but it wasn't until I fished out DH's last annual letter that states his basic salary and bonuses that I realised his basic salary is actually £3,000 more than I said it was when I gave the broker all our details and DH didn't correct me either! .:o Good job we didn't need to include to get the mortgage.

Long dog walk today and lasagne/GF pasta dish with salad for tea. I will be having a glass of wine with mine followed by vanilla cheesecake I always enjoy the glass have wine I have with my dinner on a Sunday night, any other night I could take it or leave it.

I have found a nice film to watch this evening on Netflix and will have a reasonably early night as I have to leave the house at 6.30am tomorrow!:eek:

I hope you have all had a good weekend and are feeling rested and ready for the week ahead.

Bobarella

fmess thank you for asking. The children did a fantastic job. Considering the instructors have them for 1 hour per week they do fantastically well. The age ranges from 4 to 5 up to 12 to 14 year olds and it's so interesting seeing the control that the children develop over their bodies in that time. The babies are so sweet, the teachers dance with them but the older children are incredible. A lot of kids go on to take dance within the centre and then onto west end shows etc. Anyway will stop rambling now

mothernerd

ccl we are all thinking of you, just keep hanging on in there.

Fmess well done on having money left over and ouch to the trapped nerve. Glad it is a little bit better today.

doingitanyway well done on menu planning, exercise and facing your fear.

Bob So glad the show went well and you have been taking things easy this weekend.

Apple raw veg isn't cheating. Hope the 50 day exercise challenge goes well. £75 Sainsbob's vouchers - I'd think it was Christmas. I will ahve to join you on the naughty step as I think I am over or almost at the limit. Will there be room for the tribbles.

Calling I will let you off for spending money on walking boots and warm trousers. i have lived in mine since I was diagnosed with diabetes (I had to have lace up shoes or boots with good foot support and wasn't going to buy new when I had the boots). Mine are nine years old and when they wear out I have another pair (same but light brown instead of grey) which I bought in a closing down sale). Nearly cried when I had to reluctantly throw out the trainers with vibram soles (also bought in the closing down sale) but the soles were split across and various other bits wrong too.

Well today's spending was good. Went to buy another pot of the outdoor wood stain and something to clean the oven - all coming out of my diy budget as the oven drawer is past cleaning. I had forgotten about the drawer (at the bottom plinth level) probably because I wasn't allowed to go that low after my operation and then it's taken months to be physically able. So only looked at it before Christmas (thought the larger roasting dishes could go in there.

Well at some point whilst DS2 was renting he must have burnt something which melted down into the drawer. Sort of burnt on black, so I gave it a quick scrape and lined it with foil. Now it needs dealing with properly and I want to do it by Tuesday so that any messy rags can go off in the bin on Wednesday. Planning to go round the garden and tackle the corner of the backs as well.

So bought those and then decided I would go across to the sm to buy the toiletries basics (needed the toilet and sm was closer than home at that point). I have spent £5.99, £1.33 on basics toiletries (inc 33p wash up liquid, used last squeeze of the old bottle when I got home), £1.95 on 15 ys items (bagged salad leaves, watercress and cabbage mix - so I can make my own coleslaw Apple, lots of hummous and 10p packs of sandwich thins and fruited teacakes.

However yesterday's shopping was not so good. My favourite bread is still not available (must ask someone why). The two nearest rivals are both more expensive (usual £1 per loaf) and not as good (in taste and I think in composition, mine's 'denser'). I have settled for buying wholemeal wraps (£2 for 2 packs). These are roughly comparable 7 wraps @ one a day = a weeks 'bread' but last week I ate more of them towards the end of the week. I also bought spread as I knew that was running out (finished today) and yoghurt because I have some chicken I want to tandoori and wasn't sure if the yoghurt I had had been opened (it hasn't but it's bbf 16th Feb). I picked up a couple of other things that I hoped would see me through till the end of the week and avoid going to the sm (forgot about the need for toiletries). So I need to find the receipt and work out the damage.

So naughty step for me - insufficient planning, not buying what I needed (raw veg) earlier in the month and filling up on 'not so good' items. I need to do a freezer audit and clean out the fridge and go on from there. I have probably overspent but now have the healthy stuff I need and will do a bigger shop next week out of April's budget. Hopefully this will be after Easter and can take advantage of all the big price drops. Will need to take some bulky items out of the freezer to make more room - have enough 'bread' and fruit buns/ loaf to go through till next month but can't quibble (never quibble with a tribble) with 10p a pack.

Haven't done as much as I would like today (stayed up sewing until after 5 am, well woke up sitting up with the needle still in my hand) but I have been out to the bins 10 times - tackled most of the washing up and recycling, made DS3 round up his pizza boxes and brought the latest half sack of paper down. Sewing was very good, lots of using up and finishing off.

Today I am grateful for ys bargains
Supermarkets that have toilets (town centre ones are rare and following a refurbishment the bus station ones are prohibitive and a technological nightmare
and the lovely sunshine which made me feel lighter and brighter.

misstara

hugs ccl

Slid along and make room for me on the naughty step I've messed up my budget and had to transfer money out of savings to cover my direct debits for the rest of the month. I had based my budget on doing a shift for 2nd job each week but haven't done any for a while due to being busy at my usual job so left myself short. Ah well lesson learned for next month.

I did a shop today and got some good YS deals on gluten free bakery bits - 2 loafs of bread, a fruit loaf, sandwich thins and a pack of rolls

Now on holiday for a week :j

Bobarella

Just wanted to say to Turtles who have gone over budget or experienced some flaw in planning, no one is perfect. So long as you don't think that the whole month is ruined and quit then you haven't lost overall. Keep going! Only 10 days left of the month. This is the point in the marathon where your legs are burning and you want to stop but the end is in sight and the supporters are all here for you with water and cheers of encouragement! Go on Turtles we have got this...

clippy_girl

Morning all,

Another here who has gone astray, been forgetting to tot up spends don't think I'm doing bad though.

Working at home this morning as electrician is here (somehow the wifi is still working though even though everything else is turned off) :think: just had to boil water on the hob for a coffee- can't believe how long it takes!

Was looking forward to hanging washing out today but unfortunately after I was nearly finished pegging it the plastic snapped that you wind the cord around to keep it tawt so the line wouldn't stay up had to unpeg all the clothes and bring them back in. Was going to buy a new one but I've got some hook things so going to try screwing one next to it to wind the wire around and see if that works first.

Should be getting my new to me table and chairs next weekend have listed mine on gumtree this morning for £30 and sold them someone is collecting on Friday. I will give the money to dad if he wants it as he didn't want anything for the table and chairs that he is giving me.

Decided to replace some of my dining room furniture as I'm going to chalk paint it and leave the tops and would like it all in solid pine. Am collecting a little pine cupboard tomorrow for £25 which I'll put shoes in so have listed my corona pine drawers which I currently use. I've also got a full height bookcase which I would like to change for a 3 shelf pine one so I've set up alerts on eBay, gumtree and Facebook groups to notify me. Hopefully a 2nd hand one will be cheaper than what I can sell my big one for. Then going to get the white chalk paint :cool:

Forgot it was Easter this weekend which is nice so I will be doing lots of spring cleaning and little jobs like changing spotlight bulbs, moving pictures around, touching up paint and weeding the garden.

Prob going to have to go to tesco to get a sandwich as don't have much to eat without cooking it and I will be in the way in the kitchen as the surfaces are being used by the electrician. Going to do first food shop of my payday tomorrow in aldi. Think I'll get some of their lindt style bunnies for my Easter Airbnb guests if they are cheap enough :EasterBun

Calling14

Well yesterday I escaped the naughty step by the skin of my teeth thanks Mothernerd but today hopeless case. I bought one of those Karcher window cleaners on Amazon deal of the day, wanted one since borrowed my friends, first time had my glass splash back and mirrored wardrobes never beeen streaky. Hang my head in shame, but looking on the positives never paying for a window cleaner - not that I would anyway so much fun daggling out of a window and with this managed to clean all the windows under hr and no streaks. 37 pounds well spent?:o


Move over Mistara, hope you have brought your fruit loaf to the naughty step.;)

Not convinced my food budgets will last but holding out till after Easter, like Mothernerd, for some price reductions.

In an attempt to not look like a phony on here. Paid ten pounds off cc2 and I have now paid off 74% of my debt. Happy dance each time 1% comes off.:j

Mothernerd sewing till 5am? What are you making?

Today I need to get list of contractors to sort out repairs to my house. I really want to go for the long term fix, get fed up just bodging things to make do.

Fmess you were lucky trapped nerve sorting itself out. Glad its better.

Wise words of encouragement Bob we will walk with baby steps to get there in the end no matter what:rotfl:

apple_muncher

Oi!! Stop squishing me on the naughty step! I'm falling off the end!!!!

Calling14

apple_muncher wrote: »

Oi!! Stop squishing me on the naughty step! I'm falling off the end!!!!

Well perhaps we need a cunning escape plan. Shall I dig a tunnel? What if we are still here at Easter and the bunny misses us out:)

doingitanyway

Bobarella wrote: »

Just wanted to say to Turtles who have gone over budget or experienced some flaw in planning, no one is perfect. So long as you don't think that the whole month is ruined and quit then you haven't lost overall. Keep going! Only 10 days left of the month. This is the point in the marathon where your legs are burning and you want to stop but the end is in sight and the supporters are all here for you with water and cheers of encouragement! Go on Turtles we have got this...

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