What small DFW things will you do this week? w/c 26 Dec 16

DawnW

Morning all
Belated congrats to DNMS on becoming debt free :T
Commiserations to Ally re car troubles

Today I have / will:
Shared the last banana with OH for breakfast (he had some with his toast, I had mine with porridge, so not as desperate as it sounds :rotfl:)
Find and pack an ebay item to post to the very confused buyer I had to contend with yesterday (we had a lengthy correspondence about a completely different item that she had actually bought from someone else, which explained why it was still showing as active on my shop page and had not shown as 'sold' despite her swearing she had bought and paid for it :huh: ) She did manage to buy it in the end! Found it, but that is as far as I got as the post office was closed again for some reason. It will hopefully go on Tuesday after the Bank Holiday!
It is quite mild today, thankfully, so I think the Christmas tree can go back out into the garden today, and I will pack and put away the decorations Decorations now in box, and tree outside
Remember to give the tree a good water to help it recover from its time indoors Not done yet - must do this tomorrow!
Put the washing I pegged outside yesterday on the airer, as it didn't dry and I forgot to do this last night Dried some on the bathroom towel thingy
Take the boxes of sales stock I removed from my shop unit yesterday out of the car and put all the things away. Sort out another box of tat / small bits to take down there for my mini 'January sale' Removed all from car and put away. Not sorted out more 'sale' stuff yet as DD and little GD turned up
Get my brother to look at the bathroom strip light / shaver plug thing as it is not working. He is an electrician, and here for almost another week, so may as well make himself useful! Apparently it only needs a new bulb
Check the banks Still to do
Check for surveys - they have been a bit thin on the ground over the holiday period! Not done
Phone and cancel a membership that I don't use - only £2.99 a month, but why pay it? This will need to wait till Tuesday now - it won't cancel till February anyway
Message DS and remind him to cancel his broadband and utilities accounts as he is moving back with us for a while in the middle of January Done, he assures me it is all in hand. Hmmm....
Make a quiche to use up the end bits of the Christmas ham Done and mostly eaten!

Goodness, I think I had better get on with some of that :eek:

determined_new_ms

Morning thanks for all the congrats. Feel chuffed that the loan is done now and we won't be so broke (in the summer oh and I had a row as he had bought full price tuna from sainos! )) while we did make concerted efforts over the last 6 months to pay oh's dm back, paid her £2000 in that time, I feel a bit of a fraud as the effort wasn't on our part in the end but on her generosity! I guess the end game is as important as the journey...

So moving on - and planning the now freed up cash we will have by April oh wants a sauna. Its been on his wish list for years. Looking at the cost of buying one is eye watering, but I reckon we can build one ourselves at a fraction of the cost (my dd jokes that one day she's going to come round and I'll have built a cooker!) Enlisting the help of a carpenter/electrician for the more tricky bits. Have found a few online so need to slowly drip feed oh!

Anyway what a ramble! Small things for today:

* [STRIKE]get gammon joint out of freezer for dinner tomorrow[/STRIKE]
* going to CM's to pick up fancy dress outfit for madam for tonight's party. No outlay My outfit is stuff I already have in
* katsu curry fakeaway for late lunch/early dinner today as will be eating bbq at the party but later on
* need to go and pick up a firework for the party... wish I'd read the invitation properly and I could have done this yestersday!
*[STRIKE]Make some more ice for our cocktails. [/STRIKE]last night we were discussing what we needed and oh's defualt is "go and buy some ice". Which I obviously said no we had enough time to make enough. Honestly I do have to stay on my toes with oh, he would have us spending a lot more money if I didn't keep it in check!
* take madam to the park for free entertainment
* book taxi for tonight :eek:
* renew library books online

That'll do. Hope you all have a lovely NYE x

carrielovesfanta

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Hi guys been back a while from my "lunch" with old friend. Was soooooo lovely to catch up with her, wish we'd never lost contact as she is sooooo much fun. Was more expensive than I had hoped, as after lunch we moved on to a pub and shared a 2nd bottle of wine :D lots of belly laughs and promises to have dinner together in Feb (she is doing dry Jan so we decided to wait until they have finished that!)

ziggy lovely to see you back, hope lots of r&r get you back on your feet and remember you are wonderful just as you are, even when low. It's ok to be depressed sometimes. The world is a better place because you are in it in all of your cycles x

Lemon Tree long time! Yay to you being back x

I have the MOST wonderful news today we became df (for the 2nd time) :j yesterday I paid oh's dm £500, meaning we had £1k left to pay her. Sent her a msg to say I had transferred the cash to her account. And she sent a msg to say the debt is now cleared :beer:

so from the end of next month our financial situation has changed for the better. Still not rolling in it but have an extra £150 pm meaning now if something comes up we will have a buffer to absorb it :money:

I would like to thank this post ten times

crazy_cat_lady

Good morning all :hello:
Just settling down for a catch up on here with a free mocha from Maccy D - Bob, I know that you hate :coffee: from there but I love it.
DNMS - I must have just missed your fantastic news last night :dance::dance: Congratulations on being DF and what a relief to have a bit of a cushion behind you financially.
Well I had another rough night of sleep last night and am feeling a bit worse the wear for it this morning. I've been up and out to training but am hoping for a quick nap before we go out later. Unfortunately there are lots of things that need to be done today...
check banking and PAD
daily housework jobs, washing, washing up, rubbish and hoover
get the kids to do their weekly housework jobs
pack an overnight bag for all of us for tonight
pop to bestie's house to give her a key as she's feeding the cats for us tomorrow morning
finish sewing up blanket for my other friend I'm seeing later
get dh to empty the recycling
Think that's about it. We're off visiting one of my other best friend's for NY. She lives far enough away that we're checked into a Premier Inn for tonight. So I will wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year now, just in case I don't get back on today. Here's to another fantastic mse year ahead :beer:

carrielovesfanta

Morning all!

Hi ziggy, good to "see" you.
Ally - how annoying about the car! Hope it's a cheap fix

Went for a bonus crossfit session this morning. Was purported to be "goal setting" which appears to be a coaching term for "killing your athletes" :eek: I am actually dying I think. Unfortunately, I had partaken of a couple of glasses of wine last night and was not on top form. Def regret that.

OH and I still being good on the meal plan. 4 days eating at home on the trot now which is fairly good going for us!

OH also wanted me to advertise the fact that he spent 1.5 hours cleaning pigeon poop off the car yesterday and valeting the interior instead of paying the team of Polish chaps down the road to do it, thus saving approx £20.

We're at m-I-l's house for NYE tonight. Can. not. be. bothered. She likes to inflict fun upon you in the shape of pub quizzes. Which, for some bizarre reason, I hate. I just get bored half way through but have to carry on chugging through round after round instead of drinking and chatting like a normal person.

Today's mission - can't do much as am in work:

• B/L/D from stores
• Pinched some coffee from unsuspecting colleague as didn't get a cup in me at home. - done
• Drinks all free tonight in m-I-l's. Not gonna drink much.
• Charge phone in work - done
• Crossfit - done
• Email company about duplicate order - they sent me two of something that I only wanted one of! - done. They emailed back thanking me for my honesty it's a shame that it comes as a surprise to them.
• Relisted some ebay items - done

Will add more if I think of it

clf x

La_escocesa

Hi everyone :wave:
Calling from Italia! :beer:

DNMS - great news on the loan!!! :T
Ziggy - so nice to see you my lovely
Ally - Boo to the car!

So....relatively been keeping the DFW-faith on holiday. Got good tips from locals on where to eat - and meals have been around EUR30 for us both so not too bad.

Also discovered mp3 audio tour downloads - why did I not know these existed before?! Loads are free and also saw one for EUR3.99 - still cheaper than the EUR5 at the office. Booked tickets online to queue jump - that's been awesome too.

OH and I agreed to cook in two nights too so a bit of saving there.

We're staying in an apartment out of town - no tourists here, cheaper accommodation and we can get breakfasts/lunch in Also cheapo local wine that's fab!

Also not buying tourist tat! Niece is getting a 60c postcard I'll post when I get home. 2 year olds love getting things through the post, don't they?!

Tonight is a free concert at the Colosseum - v excited!

Right - best go - catch up soon! xxx

Baileys_Babe

DNMS congratulations on becoming debt free. You could always put the money you were going to pay OH mum in an emergency fund, if it makes you feel better.
Ziggy it's good to see you posting, sorry your not in a good place at the moment.

We have a friend staying for the weekend, arrived yesterday going home Monday afternoon. Which is lovely as we haven't seen her in a while.

Plans for today:
Wash hair and let it dry naturally
Take meter readings
Check bank accounts
Turn off lights and appliances not in use
set dw and wm to run over night
RMS
FPL
Ashleigh
PAD
Make bread 2 loaves and flat breads for dinner
Slice and freeze a loaf
Sort fridge so don't waste food
Get slow cooked lamb out of the freezer
Count up and post GC totals for December, I know it's not good
Join January's GC
Go shopping with a very small list
Tidy house equals tidy mind:
Sweep every where
Hoover stairs
Keep 3 email accounts tidy
Delete 100 emails from one of the other accounts
Clean bathroom and downstairs shower room

Today we are planning a quiet day in, reading books, playing games, watching things on catch up, enjoying being together. I not sure if we are planning to see the new year in we will have to see how the day goes and what everyone else thinks.

Wishing all porlies a speedy recovery.

carrielovesfanta

Oh I also forgot to share the interesting tidbit that my mother in law tried to poison us!

She gave OH a bottle of Baileys for Christmas (nothing unusual there) and proffered the comment that she had also found an unopened bottle in the side board that could be opened at new year.

Cue OH and I at home.

"Let's have a little festive Baileys"

I stick my nose in the glass, think "hmm smells a bit funny, but I don't have it often, maybe I don't remember"

Takes a sip, thinks "hmmm, it tastes a bit funny this.

Cue much sniffing of glasses and OH and I taking another sip to ascertain that yes, it's blimmin horrible.

Check bottle as remember the sideboard comment

Best before 2007 :eek::eek::eek::eek:


*bork*

determined_new_ms

Thanks BB - we actually do have an emergency fund already. I haven't discussed yet with oh (we're on shaky ground already over the build your own/spend a fortune sauna so need to go easy with this one...) but I'm thinking in Jan when we get paid we'll take them for a meal to say thank you

foxgloves

Morning New Years Eve People,
Thought I may as well kick in a post for today. Am still poorly with the flu but not as bad as yesterday & the day before when I was truly wretched, so I am hoping this is a lergy that has entered its end days. I must be feeling a bit better even to be thinking of money saving, mustn't I? Only a very few things though:
*Spotted in my diary that it said for today 'Monsoon voucher expires'. Eeeek! £10 loyalty voucher but feeling too poorly to get into town to Monsoon. Tried to spend it online but despite the fact that I've had my loyalty card ages & it always functions fine in store, it wasn't recognised by their website. mr f then rode to the rescue by saying he was going into town & if I gave him a rough idea of what I might like, he'd have a look & see if he could spend my voucher to make sure I didn't lose it. 2 phone calls, 1 email & several photo text messages later, he came home with a lovely bangle & 2 pairs of silver hoop earrings. Voucher = £10 Total cost = £11. He said he kicked in the extra £1 himself because I'm ill. Awww!
*Did a Ugov survey (well over £30 in the pot now & growing quite fast) & some Tolunas. Didn't do so well on survey income this year. I log total amounts in my signature so the 2015 & 2016 totals show I can do better. Hope to up this in 2017 when I intend to work on the Loan Pay Down Fund with a vengeance.
*mr f bought himself a steak for a nice New Year's Eve meal. The local butcher knocked him a bit of money off. I've saved some money by not fancying steak. I'm going to have a leftover stuffed chicken breast that I made earlier in the month & froze.
*No downstairs heating on yet, but will be putting the fire on soon. No good sitting freezing when one has flu.
*Knit. Have finished the 1st sock of the 4 pairs I'm knitting for an order. Apparently there is someone else who would also like a pair & has no problem paying what I would charge her (socks are easy but they are time-consuming) Have cast on 2nd sock anyway & will crack on with this order now that I at least feel well enough to knit.
*mr f withdrew monthly cash for paying ourselves our January Personal Spends & his monthly travel budget. Just need to remember to withdraw cash for paying our savings piggies tomorrow.
*Cat ate big bowl of cooked turkey giblets yesterday which saved on a cat dinner.
That's not very much is it, compared to my big epic lists of tasks, but I'm behind with everything & am still not feeling well enough to resume normal activities. If I really take care today & rest properly, I am hoping I will feel well enough to tackle Rubber Turkey duties tomorrow (we only cooked it yesterday, just in case anyone was thinking it must now be old enough to walk to the bin on its own.....) Felt really disappointed to have cancelled everything we'd planned between Christmas & new year as mr f is back at work on Tues, but all I want now is for this lergy to go & for mr f not to catch it.
Thanks for all your good wishes.
F xx