Get a grip !

bobobski

Cost-a-lot made me laugh out loud There was a trick I heard about years ago which was how to get a cappuccino in Starbucks for less than £1 or something like that. I think it started with ordering a child's size frothy milk and going from there. I'm not a coffee drinker so I never learnt it, but it's interesting that there are ways around the super high prices at these places if you care enough to look into it.

Skint_yet_Again

To be honest I don't really drink coffee so I usually have tea or a hot chocolate if I want to push the boat out and be naughty


I have been awake since 5.30am usual getting up for work time, DS will be back from work soon so I doubt I will get back to sleep. The girls are talking about walking to the coffee shop but its blowing a gale outside so I am going to give it a miss as my back has only just recovered and don't want to be walking against the wind in the cold


Plans for today ... I still haven't rebuilt and photographed that pesky wardrobe to advertise it.

savingwannabe

I was invited out by a friend but I am not going out in cloudy weather. It is chilly and you are right it is bad for your back. Ps I think you shouldn't do the wardrobe either if your back hurts. How about just having a treat yourself day. Do a facemask, eat nice food and put the telly on?

Or maybe do a bit of wardrobe and have a treat. Then do a bit more and pace it over the entire weekend if you are up to it. That's how I do horrid jobs.

Skint_yet_Again

SW you give such wise and sensible advice thank you. I always think I can do more than I actually physically can

DS came home at 7.30am had his breakfast and went to bed. I didn't get up and managed to doze back off for a bit. Am still in bed but planning to get up soon

I am a bit fed up of being skint but keep reminding myself that I am saving so it should be worth it in the end. As the budget is so tight at the moment I need to do some meal planning, so will try and stretch the shopping & buy less. From freezer / stores

Lunches

hot and spicy chicken portions with salad - DS
4 southern fried chicken fillets with salad - DS x 2
tandoori chicken with salad - DS
curry noodles & stir fry veg with soy & garlic - ME
ham & boiled egg salad - ME
cheese on toast - ME (1 slice of bread left in freezer)

Dinners

cod fillets in parsley sauce mash & cabbage, broccoli - DS
Chinese 5 spice pork chops with stir fry veg & rice - DS
salmon sweet potato fries broccoli & leftover parsley sauce - DS
chicken madras with veg fried rice - DS
chips & egg - ME
Stew from freezer - ME
Freezer battered cod fillet & chips - ME
Hot & spicy chicken portions with veg fried rice - ME

Breakfasts

- me Porridge - 5 days
- DS 1 x chicken/bacon casserole.

So, we have enough food to last for lunches / dinners till Tuesday at least. The problems is DS's breakfasts and fresh milk. DS is no longer eating sausages for breakfast and wants to stick to chicken. So I have decided to go to the co=op and get some chicken breast, mozzarella, bacon lardons, fresh cream and fresh milk.

Milk hopefully is still £1 for 4 pints. I know the other things may cost a bit more than aldee but I can walk to co-op in 10 mins and so will save petrol & will use my willpower (I'm sure I have some somewhere :rotfl: ) and I will not be tempted to buy anything else.

I have a tin of tomatoes in my store cupboard that I can blitz in the blender and sieve so that will save me from buying passata and a packet of spinach in the fridge. So that will be chicken bacon mozzarella & spinach casserole and chicken & bacon in cheese sauce with spinach for his breakfasts. Then if I do a shop at aldee on Tuesday it should be enough until payday. (hopefully !)

Not sure if I will save any money this way but I CBA to go to aldee this weekend and Monday I will be out to lunch & too tired, so I will shop on Tuesday on my way home from work

Phew, sorry to have gone on a bit ... just needed to get it clear in my head, I think its doable.

savingwannabe

Hello Skint Yet Again I'm only giving the advice that is given to me by my friends as we are so similar.

I'm sure Frugal Queen put a post up about why she money saved earlier this week and it was really inspiring. Google her she has a blog and is amazing. She wrote a blog about budgeting and why do it earlier this week. She always inspires me. You are doing the exactly the right thing. If they had medals for common sense you would get a VC. We are saving for the future as anything could happen and we don't want to suffer unnecessarily. We are only doing without takeaways, clothes etc sometimes and if that means we save money in case we lose our jobs it is a good investment.

We wouldn't go into the sea without oxygen so why should we head to our pensionable age without stacks of money saved up. I just need reminding of this occasionally.

Your food shopping and planning has inspired me to bring cookery books back into the kitchen so I can start to enjoy my food again. I'm off to cooked chicken wings and will eat well today. I might do a food shop soon but I reckon I could make tomato soup tomorrow to use up some things in fridge.

Do you have SAM Fm? I have it on and it is really good music. Good for housework and cooking. Am boogying badly!!!!

Skint_yet_Again

Enjoy your boogying SW ... badly or otherwise

I wrapped up for a walk to the co-op and I was boiling hot ! Although it is windy it is not cold and I had to strip off my cardi & gloves for the walk back as a coat was enough. Its looking very grey out there but no rain so far. Washing machine is on just finishing the final spin

I was overthinking things this morning I only need 2 breakfasts for DS so I only spent £8.97

4 pints skimmed milk £1 same as aldi
chicken breasts 620g £4.89 per kg =78p per 100g aldi 49p per 100g

chicken = 1.80 more
double cream 1.19 aldi 79p = 40p more
bacon lardons 1.89 aldi 99p = 90p more

Total £3.10 more than aldi :eek: wow it certainly adds up, however petrol spent 0.00

The smaller packs of chicken were more expensive per kg so the larger pack was better value and means there is extra 200g chicken for another lunch/dinner.

A friend has just phoned to have a vent about her ex-OH so she is coming round later for some cheering up.

savingwannabe

Big difference in prices. I wish one was closer to me.

Have a good night with friend. Cheer her up.

Skint_yet_Again

My friend came round for a couple of hours yesterday and we had a moan and a laugh and felt better after. Its good to have friends round in person, not just on the end of the phone.

As it was quite warm but windy yesterday I got one load of washing dry on the line & cut the grass for the first time this year. It was quite long and I have a little hover mower so I don't normally collect the clippings but there was a lot so I raked to a pile and went to put it in the green waste bin. When I lifted the lid there was a little frog sat in there - made me jump ! Haha. Poor thing must have been in the pond waste my neighbour put in last week. I laid the bin down and let it out. The garden looks a lot tidier now.

Then I cooked up some of the chicken with spinach bacon & cheese sauce for DS's breakfasts DS had some cod from the freezer for his tea - it had been in there since November ! Feels good to be using stuff up. I cooked some oven chips last night but fell asleep and burnt them there wasn't any smoke but the house smells horrible so I am going to open all the windows later today and let some air blow through. Thankfully I wasn't using an old fashioned chip pan or might have burnt the house down! I'm surprised there wasn't more smoke as they were black - that reminds me must test the smoke alarms today.

DS home from work soon so will see what the weather is like later maybe get some more washing done, sounds very windy out there again.

savingwannabe

Morning. Well done on waking up before anything happened in the kitchen. I had a habit of sleeping and burning things in my 20s my diabetes was terrible then too. Now I don't take the risk. I cook and wait close by as I know I fall all the time with tiredness.

I think you were really brave to mow the grass yesterday it looks too cold for me. :eek:

Skint_yet_Again

It was really warm out yesterday... not so sure about today I haven't ventured out yet ! Washing machine is on. Food sorted out for the day, items out of freezer last night so should be defrosted & cooked later. DS is in bed all day after night shift so can't hoover, good excuse !!) so I think I will just chill and put my feet up and watch tv