What small DFW things will you do this week? w/c 06/02

foxgloves

Morning Friday Frugalistas,
Well, I am wandering around like a small plump zombie today as I awoke at 2.45 a.m & apart for about 10 mins just before cat started on a spot of noisy attempted breaking & entering, I simply could NOT go back to sleep. I am completely unable to nap in the day. I have to be suffering from plague at the very least for that to happen, so I've still been quite busy. Money saving things are:
*Cleaned all of downstairs using minimal products (just diluted Stardrops in old spray bottle, loo cleaner & soda crystals for belfast sink) & recycled cloths from the rag-bag.
*Made a loaf in the bread machine. Smells yum.
*Rounded up a few 'use-it-ups' (bread, onions, wrinkly apples) to make sage & onion stuffing. Will eat some with our Sunday roast & the rest will freeze well.
*Sage jar was empty so stood on my small person's step to reach down a home-dried bunch from kitchen beam & crumbled it into jar. Lots more bunches of herbs up there need dealing with but had just hoovered so didn't want bits of herbage flying everywhere.
*Check CC for heater refund.....that 's the next thing I intend to do. I think it's on its way as our balance has dropped dramatically, but it isn't yet showing as an itemised transaction.
*1 old paper potato sack & 1 charity bag put into use as bin bags - Dawn we have the same sort of companies collecting around here as you do, which only give a % of money from selling the clothes abroad to the named charity, so I always take my donations into one of the many charity shops in town.
*Not an NSD as I have to pay the Grimsby fish man £49 today when he delivers my order. Excellent fresh fish which I cut up into portion size fillets/steaks & freeze. Lasts us at least 2 months & nice to know that if I have people to feed at short notice, I can make a lovely big fish pie.
*Do a few surveys.......if I feel like it.
*Sort through coupon/nectar voucher stash ready for tomorrow's grocery shopping.
*Write shopping list (which will again include a list of items we absolutely definitely don't need, as this worked well last time).
*Didn't buy any bird nuts this week as spent household money on seed potatoes, spring-planting garlic & seed compost. Birds have had a pot of scraps today & they're tucking in. Very cold here. Have had some very light snow showers all morning on & off, but nothing to worry about,
*Downstairs heating off as long as possible.
*Household linens changed & loaded into washer for next cheap wash on overnight tariff.
*Carry on with using up yarn by knitting baby socks. (I never seem to have any ready when people ask me, so am getting ahead of myself).
*Free leisure will be finishing a magazine, watching TV & maybe updating my blog if I have time.
Have a great Friday all,
F xx

foxgloves

Dawn - Our cat is sulking too. He'd just settled himself down for the morning (on MY chair, I might add!) when the Dyson came out. He won't stay in the house with it so took himself off through his flap to sit & wait in a snow shower.

Bagpuss - Ooh, thanks for the reminder. I'm enjoying 'Unforgotten' & will watch it later on with a nice hot cafetiere.

CCL - Just a thought (& it's not remotely a judgement, as I don't have children) - Re your cutting down on grocery shopping plans. It's great that the thought of Alton Towers is motivating them. It also helps reinforce that there is only so much money to go round & we all have to prioritise. Anyway, while they are both feeling motivated, is there any reason why you can't eat together on an evening? I love cooking, as you know, but I'm trying to imagine having to plan, budget for & deliver 3 or 4 different meals for dinner & I can't see how that wouldn't end up costing me a lot more money. Is there any way that (with Alton Towers in mind), you could all sit down (maybe give them an important role like writing it down or doing a chart or something) & decide on about 10 meals that you all enjoy. I'm thinking that if everyone would eat, say a jacket potato with baked beans & cheese, spag bol, cottage pie, quarter pounders in buns with salad, pizza or egg, bacon & chunky jacket wedges, etc.....I don't know, whatever sort of things you can all agree on.......that could save you some money, I'd have thought, if the evening's planned meal was something everybody ate, or at least on most evenings. I know mr f & I often choose different toppings for jacket potatoes, or he might occasionally do himself a steak & jacket wedges, & do me some fish instead of the meat, but mostly we eat the same meal because it's better for the budget. There may be reasons why this wouldn't work for you, but if it could, you might find you're buying less food. (Your cats however will doubtless continue to demand exactly what they want when they want it......I know about that all too well!!)
Cheers,
F x

angelpye

:grouphug: for Foxgloves!

crazy_cat_lady

I'm sneaky reading from work when I shouldn't be, which is a bit naughty of me. But I had to come on and say thanks to Foxgloves. I will sit down with the kids tonight and see if we can put something together. Trouble is that my two kids are a bit like cats - they are fussy so and so's and they never seem to eat the same thing. I will definitely give it a go though. I have thought about the 'eat-what-I'm-making-or-sort-yourself-out' attitude, but the kids are still a bit young for that yet. The only thing all of my family will eat is a roast dinner, or home made chicken goujons. That I know of, for now - but I should get on and stand my ground with different meal ideas.
I would like to start the Foxgloves fan club please.
In other news - I have a lot of marking to do, and a lot of thinking to do about work stuff and planning for next week. Too busy for much else - aiming for a nsd - but I will report in properly from home later tonight.

foxgloves

Lol, CCL, I don't have children as I said, but I did have to adopt a bit of a food approach with my nephews. They are not what I would call fussy eaters, but there were occasions where I'd cook a meal & the older one would be pushing it around his plate, pretending to eat it, dropping large chunks onto the floor to kid us he'd eaten it, etc,, so next time they were due a visit, I tried the following: I asked them to let me know the 3 foods they'd be most unhappy to find on their plate during their stay. Apparently, they debated this for ages then each sent me their 3 foods. The deal was that I would promise not to serve up those foods as long as they ate everything else. Well, it worked! To be honest, all I had to avoid was tomatoes for one of them.....the other 5 foods were things I didn't have any intention of serving. I still do this now they are older (9 & 14) & they know I mean it about sitting there poking food around & wasting it. They are cleverer now with it. The younger one had sprouts as one of his 3 things last year, & then changed it because his brother said 'It's summer. Aunty f isn't going to be getting brussell sprouts in July'. It seems to works because it's accepting that not everyone likes everything.......my 3 things would defo be whisky, sprouts and mashed swede & carrot........& it empowers them to be given a choice, however small. When we were kids growing up, my sister very often was given different foods to the rest of us because she was really faddy, buy you know what? I think that made her worse, because as soon as she became more involved with food & learned to cook, she lost a lot of that faddyness overnight & is a real 'foodie' now. If your kids are involved in the planning, you might find you have all sorts of funny discussions.......for instance, one of them might not like cottage pie, but it could be just one of the ingredients in it that has put it on the yuk list, or perhaps they would like it if the mince was mixed with baked beans which makes it taste sweeter......& also makes the mince stretch further so is cheaper. If everyone likes fajhitas, could this be adapted just a little to include tacos, quesadillas or filled pittas? Bloody hell, I feel like I'm actually on this mission with you now! It's because I totally love to cook & am always on a zero food-waste crusade. Good luck!!
F x

FatVonD

DNMS it's a similar drop for me, I just have to remember that it's a means to an end. I can deal with rude people (in fact I do, most days!), mostly it's like water off a duck's back and again, I just have to remember it's a means to an end. I do recall when I had four years off work when DS was small I spent a LOT of time saying 'of course I used to work in...' as so much of my identity for so many years has been tied up with what I do for a living, it's the only thing I'm actually any good at!

I've been good on the food stakes today, breakfast and lunch from stores though I did nip out to buy anti perspirant which could have waited for the £ shop at the weekend but then I'd have had to pay for parking so it's all swings and roundabouts.

DSS and his GF (and baby) got the flat they went to see earlier in the week and move in tomorrow. DH is going down to help them move, I will probably offer to take the car/van down too to make for fewer trips though I'd also like to lie in. The flat is a council-funded private rental again in a beautiful converted country house in a very nice area. It's not in the centre of town where they wanted to be but they are bloomin' lucky anyhow.

DS hasn't had any replies to jobs applied for, he is going to need a job when I'm not working here as I won't be able to fund him any more. At the very least he needs to start claiming JSA.

The meal out for DSD's birthday isn't going to be at one of the chains I was hoping for so I'm going to exchange some of our club card vouchers to go out on Valentine's Day. I'll ask DS if he wants some to take DSGF out on the same night too (different restaurant!) He didn't use the last ones I gave him (we ended up using them instead) but that may have been because they were for a pizza place he's not keen on, I know he loves Cafe Red so I'll suggest they go there instead.

I have a package to wrap ready for posting and, that reminds me, I have hermes labels to print out.

Off to do it now, have a happy Friday everyone!

LJB290

Today I feel that have made a big difference to our finances.
Today I have been accepted by two credit cards to transfer large balances for 0% for 43 and 37 months.

This has given us breathing space until our mortgage is paid off in about 15 months time.
Once the mortgage is gone, the usual mortgage payments will be used to put into an account, ready to pay off these cards when the 0% runs out.

These new cards will never be used to buy anything - they are just holding our debt at 0% interest while we pay minimum amounts (by direct debit) so that we have time to tackle the remaining few thousand.

Today is a big deal because I really didn't think I could get credit or 0% deals due to my husband's less than ideal credit background. It clearly paid to keep most of our finances separate.

Today has been a good day; we can plan for the future......

FatVonD

That sounds an amazing plan, LJB, well done!

angelpye

1LuckyLady wrote: »

Thank you, I've had some ibuprofen & some food and am feeling far more human again

Glad to hear it

angelpye

Foxgloves it sounds like what you did with your nephews in reverse of what my childminder did - she asked the kids for their favourite things and said that we all should be able to eat our favourite every now and then so if I promise to make everyones favourite on rotation will everyone eat everyone else's favourite...worked for her. I was amazed at what my DD was eating there.

I think meal planning as a family and everyone accepting compromise means that everyone gets something of what they love some of the time, but I like being able to veto 3 things...mine would be fennel, lemongrass and seafood.

Good luck CrazyCatLady I am sure you will find a solution even if it is a bit of a shock at first