What small DFW things will you do this week? w/c 19/12

foxgloves

Bobarella - I don't think of fudge as expensive to make. I suppose as a jam maker, I've always got sugar in & I've generally got butter in the fridge, as it doesn't need much & I generally use Aldi anyway. As I always have vanilla extract in the baking cupboard, the only ingredients I need to buy are the small size tin of evaporated milk (own label ones work fine) & a pint of normal blue-top milk. I did have just one occasion where my fudge recipe didn't set & that was early days before I got a sugar thermometer. Now I don't really find I need to look at the thermometer as I know what the mixture looks like when it's ready. I have also learned that when you drop a bit in a dish of cold water to see if it's reached 'soft ball' stage, it really does mean 'soft ball' & not 'soggy blob'. I know some recipes use loads of cream, etc,. I don't bother with them as everyone I make this for likes it so much. Think it's probably an old recipe. An elderly family friend used a very similar one to make crumbly fudge for us when we were little.
OK, enough of fudge.....I'm supposed to have made a start on my list!
F x

DawnW

Morning all
Waiting in for a delivery today, but so far I have:
Washed hair and allowed to dry naturally (as if I would bother to do anything else :rotfl:)
Used up a blackening banana for breakfast
Took car to garage down the road for its MOT and annual service (not moneysaving at all, but has to be done ) It passed, and the total bill was £140, so I got off lightly, I guess!
Walked dog

Still to do:
No heating on downstairs OH put it on whenI wasn't looking :mad: It is off now though, and the stove alight.
HM meals from stores Done
Wrap Christmas presents Done
Pack an ebay parcel, though whether it gets posted today depends on when my delivery arrives! I am telling all buyers now that it is unlikely that they will get their items before Christmas! Especially since most opt for second class post! Packed but not posted, due to waiting in all day for delivery / call from garage. Must do tomorrow.
Get gammon joint out of freezer to cook tomorrow Done
Freezer tetris when Campbells delivery arrives :eek: Some done, still got some stewing meat to split up and freeze. Disappointed though, as two items were missing completely, and one had damaged packaging and was squished. I have emailed them to express my disappointment - I suspect this is a company that has got too busy too quickly I will see how they respond to my message, but they may have lost a customer - wonder how many more?
Light wood stove later Done
Pay OH's tax bill online so I don't forget about it :eek: Oops still not done, will collar him this evening (needs a code sent to his phone so I can get access) Now paid. Not MSE, but it is done now, and no danger of forgetting it and getting extra charges added on!

Limited moneysaving today by the looks of it! :eek:

Bobarella

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Morning guys whoop whoop we have a laptop again after months without one :dance: oh got a new to us one from fleabay for £72 :money: must try to not let this one break!

Work today and I've come down with something will take painkillers and just soldier through....

Have made millionaire shortbread for madam to take to the cm's for her friends. cost minimal 1 1/2 bars of value chocolate, a tin of carnations and store cupboard ingredients for the shortbread. Total cost got to be less than £2 for madam to feel good!

grabbed some soup from the freezer last night, will take some bread and fruit.

load of washing and hang up

hopefully my friend will pop over tonight for a catch up. She's over from Holland for the holiday's :T

collect oh's gift on the way home, hope traffic isn't too bad!

update expenses form with mileage for the last month. Will submit tomorrow

all meals from stores

nothing exciting or financially shattering but no great expenses either :money: have a great day y'all x

Have you had any luck with a YS turkey yet? They had a lot of YS fancy Christmas pudding foods reduced today at Mr S. It's been great just buying little bits each day and getting all the bargains:T

Bobarella

foxgloves wrote: »

Bobarella - I don't think of fudge as expensive to make. I suppose as a jam maker, I've always got sugar in & I've generally got butter in the fridge, as it doesn't need much & I generally use Aldi anyway. As I always have vanilla extract in the baking cupboard, the only ingredients I need to buy are the small size tin of evaporated milk (own label ones work fine) & a pint of normal blue-top milk. I did have just one occasion where my fudge recipe didn't set & that was early days before I got a sugar thermometer. Now I don't really find I need to look at the thermometer as I know what the mixture looks like when it's ready. I have also learned that when you drop a bit in a dish of cold water to see if it's reached 'soft ball' stage, it really does mean 'soft ball' & not 'soggy blob'. I know some recipes use loads of cream, etc,. I don't bother with them as everyone I make this for likes it so much. Think it's probably an old recipe. An elderly family friend used a very similar one to make crumbly fudge for us when we were little.
OK, enough of fudge.....I'm supposed to have made a start on my list!
F x

See reading that I feel like having another go. The reciepe I followed was from the River Cottage family cookbook. I'd need to check as it was so long ago but it had at least one can of carnation milk in which was expensive if you buy the branded version. Plus the rest of the ingredients. I don't think it has milk in it. I did use a sugar thermometer but it just boiled and boiled and never set at all. Strange.

foxgloves

Bob - That's so odd. Oh well, if you decide you'd ever like another go, I'm happy to share my recipe. It only takes the smallest 142ml size of evaporated milk (I like Co-op as they do a tiny tin the exact size so no measuring) & the same of ordinary whole milk. White sugar is usually less than 50p at Aldi & so that's 25p for sugar. Although HFW is very good at being frugal & can get positively evangelical about leftovers, I expect some of his recipes can be a bit indulgent

Well.....onto progress of the list. Yes, not a bad day. Just got the vouchers still to sort out & have cleared a good few surveys as well.
Budget reconciliation went ok although still no sign of this initial double-payment for new car insurance policy which should have gone out Oct/Nov. Am kind of hoping they might have forgotten. They take all payments via DD so it's up to them to take the initiative on this.
Grocery budget updated. We only need a few butcher things like sausagemeat & milk, eggs, etc, as we've done our festive shopping & we are not at home for the day itself. Despite this, mr f looked a bit downcast that our remaining grocery budget stands at £8.50 cash & £25 in Co-op dividend, which I did factor into our food budget this month to give us some extra, as with the £40 nectar points we spent last week. I paid across one grocery shopping bill to my CC, as I used that simply to maximise points for vouchers. We have been paid today, but our new budget doesn't start until 27th Dec. Not too long to wait & masses of stuff in. We will be MORE than fine. I expect he's getting the red mist (beer, crisps, meat, etc)
So that's pretty much my list. I'm going to have a swift 10 minute tidy up then it's bum in chair time as mr f says he's cooking tonight.
Have had sooooo many emails arrive in my inbox today & yesterday trying to entice me to spend money, but I have done all my gift shopping ages ago & am simply not a 'last minute' person. Even when I was a Very Spendy Girl back in the day, I still bought presents well in advance.
Have a nice evening all,
F xx

FatVonD

Bobarella wrote: »

See reading that I feel like having another go. The reciepe I followed was from the River Cottage family cookbook. I'd need to check as it was so long ago but it had at least one can of carnation milk in which was expensive if you buy the branded version. Plus the rest of the ingredients. I don't think it has milk in it. I did use a sugar thermometer but it just boiled and boiled and never set at all. Strange.

That could have been to do with the type of condensed milk you used, I can't remember what the difference is but I remember some very specific instructions about which to buy when I was making a banofee cheesecake a couple of years ago, I will see if I can find the recipe.

FatVonD

Today was my last day at work before Christmas:T

I was due in tomorrow but we had an email round saying we could leave at lunchtime tomorrow so I am taking my spare half day from my allowance so finished today, it's not quite dawned on me yet but I have eleven whole days off work

They have asked me to stay another couple of weeks 'and possibly longer' after my contract finishes which is good news as I was starting to panic a bit. I had already told them I was available for bookings but not on Mondays but I have said I will do the Monday's on those 2 weeks but they have said they can try to work round if I really don't want to do it.

Lunch today was leftover pasta and somebody sent in a huge slab of the creamiest, yummiest Stilton which I only stopped eating when it became embarrassing :rotfl: I think I wore a bit of a trench in the carpet between my desk and the table where the cheese was located

Later tonight we're off to do our big Christmas grocery shop, just biding our time until it (hopefully) is a little emptier. I've made the list (and checked it twice )

I got a free children's book today (just have to review it) which I will give to my mum to give to DH's nephew, it's about dinosaurs so I ordered a pack of toy dinosaurs to go with it. My mum is a bit spendy (though she can afford it) and tends to go a bit over the top with giving amounts of cash so I'm trying to save some money for her. Also, while it's not the little boy's fault, his parents, my BIL and SIL, have given my DS precisely nothing, not even a card, for his last two birthdays so I'm disinclined for my family to spend lots on their son.

1LuckyLady

Evening all, I can't believe its gone 9pm and its the first chance I've had to get on to read & post
Today's small things
* Checked banking/updated spreadsheets
* Ys bread/crumpets for breakfast
* Collected a N0wtv box that I saw on h0tukdeals last night which has 6 months entertainment pass included for £19.99 - we got it home and selected the 14days free trial and then added the pass and have also added the cinema pass 14 day free trial too, fab as its got all the xmas films on that the kids had asked us for! - made a note on the calendar to cancel the cinema pass before it becomes chargable. This £20 I'm charging to my xmas budget as a xmas pressie from hubby and the boys as they've been asking what to get me and all I could think of was pajamas.
* Popped into Mr T whilst out as it was next door to the other shop, picked up a loaf of bread and looked at the bottles of wine as when I was putting my online order on I couldn't find the wine my family like, so had a look and have now added the right one to my online shop.
* Before heading out this morning I put a beef stew into the slow cooker so that we had a nice, quick, hot, healthy and tasty meal to come home too - Oh I love my SC!
* Added a couple of items to the cs bag
* Ironed only what needed doing and just hung the rest away
* Washed a load on the quick 30 degree wash & ran the dishwasher on the quick wash too
* Cleared the spare room that I've been meaning to do all week, well it had to be done as my niece is now sleeping in there!
* Hubby & I sorted out the living room and reorganised, after putting the n0w box into the unit, hubby finally agreed to pull out the old sky box that's been in there for years!
* Moved a :xmastree: out of the front room and carried it through the hall, through the kitchen/dinner over a step into the conservatory - how we managed to not knock anything over I've no idea! Imagine a bit of slapstick comedy soundtrack going on at the same time!
Moved it as we've decided to spend more time in there on xmas day as its so much brighter in there during the day.
* Soaking split peas & pearl barely overnight to make peas & bacon tomorrow for a family lunch, wanted to make something very different from Xmas food, will cook in the slow cooker in the morning.
* Minimum heating on as we have blankets and candles
* Watched The Santa Clause with the kids - lovely
* Emailed curry's to chase them up about a problem I had with a gift card
* Just finished off my Mr T delivery for tomorrow, its v expensive :eek::eek::eek: BUT.... most of it isn't xmas food!! This will also be split between my parents & us. Had a few points coupons inc a double points, this is bulk buying of toilet rolls/coffee/shower gel/mums shampoo/beans/pasta/10kg bags of rice etc For the last 3yrs we have done a huge shop like this on our xmas shop and it really helps through the year. Luckily both my parents and us have lots of storage space for these things
* Set up a new tab on my cashbook, to keep track on the cinema spends, from the £200 my MIL sent us as a family for xmas. that way I can keep track of what we've done and get the kids to thank her for each film we go and see
* Supplied meter readings to new energy supplier as switch takes place tomorrow
* Ordered our normal sausages and will cut them to make our own sausage meat, Thanks to BOB for that tip

I've done loads today but I think that lot barely covers it!

FatVonD - great news about the extension to your contract.
Re Fudge - If I made some it would all end up in my belly!! ;)
Dawn - glad the mot went well!
Ally - Fab, glad that you finally get some down time! Enjoy every second of it!
Dnms - oooo millionaire shortbread, I'm drooling!
Bob, hope that your dh is on the mend now.

PurpleFairy26

Evening all. Epic fail on the fudge today then realised I bought condensed milk rather than evaporated - whoops, mind on other things maybe. :eek: must go to shop early doors. Dash in and out I think

Bobarella

PF I think that's what I did wrong. I think I used condensed milk too. That's what you use to make millionaires shortbread isn't it? It was definitely that one and not the thin carnation milk my MIL uses to pour over tinned fruit.
Thanks to Foxgloves & FVD I'd love your recipe's.

Luckylady Your bulk shop sounds very handy. And glad the sausage meat idea worked for you.

FVD great about the extra work, pleased for you