Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

166million

I like the to do lists I might Nick that idea.
You're doing so well and still enjoying life whilst being careful with the spends which is great

XSpender

Cherryfudge wrote: »

That's a lot to have to shell out, especially the medical things. If you need to get prescriptions regularly, it may be worth getting a prepayment certificate: they cover a year so although they are costly at first, it can save in the long term.

Well done on the refunds and piggy bank finds - and I think banks will still accept the old coins, won't they?

DH doesn't usually have more than 1 or 2 every couple of months. I usually put aside £10 a month for medical costs but as we have struggled this year this pot has been used for other things. I used to have a prepayment certificate when I had GF foods on prescription but it didn't seem worth it for these items.

166million wrote: »

I like the to do lists I might Nick that idea.
You're doing so well and still enjoying life whilst being careful with the spends which is great

Nick away 166million. Thanks for posting. I'm off to do another list now!

To do this weekend

Dust upstairs
Vaccum upstairs
Clean ensuite
Clean bathroom
Tidy DS bedroom
Dust downstairs
Vaccum living room
Clean conservatory
Clean utility room & downstairs loo
Clean kitchen
Deep clean kitchen floor
Tip run
Shoebox appeal - find a shoebox, check what I already have, buy rest
Washing (not much)
Ironing (tons) - delegated to DH
Fit new doorbell - delegated to DH
Painting landing - delegated to FH
Make: Veggie chilli, veggie pakoras, roast pork, chicken curry, crust less quiche Lorraine, gammon, BS mac n cheese, chicken and ham potato/parship topped pies
Book eyelash appointment (my personal spends)
Move guest bed into DS room - DH will do
Put up picture and planets in DS room - DH will do
Put stuff in loft

So much for a relaxing weekend! I get stressed out when the house is a mess, especially as I work from home a lot and have to look at it all day. I am looking forward to sitting down on Sunday after a lovely home cooked dinner in a beautifully clean and tidy house with all our clothes and food prepared for the week ahead.

I am still sitting in my jarmas at the moment drinking tea so I better make a start soon or I won't get through that massive list!

XSpender

To do this weekend

Dust upstairs
Vaccum upstairs
Clean ensuite
Clean bathroom
[STRIKE]Tidy DS bedroom[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Dust downstairs[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Vaccum living room[/STRIKE] Done
Clean conservatory Done
Clean utility room & downstairs loo
Clean kitchen
Deep clean kitchen floor
[STRIKE]Tip run[/STRIKE] Done
Shoebox appeal - [STRIKE]find a shoebox, check what I already have,[/STRIKE] buy rest
Washing (not much) - More than I thought and ran out of fabric conditioner
Ironing (tons) - delegated to DH
Fit new doorbell - delegated to DH
Painting landing - delegated to FH
Make: Veggie chilli, veggie pakoras, roast pork, chicken curry, crust less quiche Lorraine, [STRIKE]gammon[/STRIKE], BS mac n cheese, chicken and ham potato/parship topped pies
Book eyelash appointment (my personal spends)
[STRIKE]Move guest bed into DS room - DH will do[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Put up picture and planets in DS room - DH will do[/STRIKE] Done
Put stuff in loft

Chilling out now before a quick dog walk before tea. We took DS PJs back to Asda and spent more than we should but only on a couple of cleaning items, milk, beer and more mince pies from the food budget.

Tomorrow DH will take DS to his match and I will cook, clean the kitchen and vac and dust our room. Hopefully I will get the time to do the bathroom too. I will let DH have a lie in and I will start cooking early.

apple_muncher

I'm all worn out and in need of a restorative somthing-or-other having just read your list. Dusting would have been enough for me on its own!

XSpender

To do this weekend

Dust upstairs
[STRIKE]Vaccum upstairs[/STRIKE] Done
Clean ensuite
Clean bathroom
[STRIKE]Tidy DS bedroom[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Dust downstairs[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Vaccum living room & dining room[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Clean conservatory[/STRIKE] Done
Clean utility room & downstairs loo
[STRIKE]Clean kitchen[/STRIKE] Done
Deep clean kitchen floor
[STRIKE]Tip run[/STRIKE] Done
Shoebox appeal - [STRIKE]find a shoebox, check what I already have,[/STRIKE] buy rest
Washing (not much) - More than I thought and ran out of fabric conditioner
Ironing (tons) - delegated to DH
Fit new doorbell - delegated to DH
Painting landing - delegated to FH
Make: Veggie chilli, [STRIKE]veggie pakoras, roast pork, chicken curry, crust less quiche Lorraine,[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]gammon[/STRIKE], [STRIKE]BS mac n cheese, chicken and ham potato/parship topped pies
[/STRIKE]Book eyelash appointment (my personal spends)
[STRIKE]Move guest bed into DS room - DH will do[/STRIKE] Done
[STRIKE]Put up picture and planets in DS room - DH will do[/STRIKE] Done
Put stuff in loft

DH colleague, who is a retired builder, had offered to do some pointing at the front of the house one Sunday but turned up unexpectedly at 8.30am this morning when I was still in my jarmas folding laundry! It looks great and was in a much poorer state than expected so the unbudgeted £80 was worth it as I am glad we got it done before another winter's worth of weather.

DH took DS to his match and DS had a fantastic game and was praised by both the coaches. I kept the builder supplied with tea as it was bitter today and cooked up a storm in the kitchen. I made:

2 portions of chicken curry
11 SW veggie pakoras
12 feta, bacon and veggie crustless mini quiche
4 portions of BS squash, gammon and veg mac n cheese
2 2 person SW chicken, leek and bacon pies

I have all DH lunches sorted for this week and DS lunch for tomorrow made. The above should cover 3 evening meals, 1 lunch and snacks and 1 pie for the freezer. Hopefully we will eat much better this week. The kitchen is clean but the floor still needs doing.

Some money has been spent on DIY stuff today to finish the hall and I am going to get a quote to get the painting finished in the hall as DH is struggling for time.

I have run out of time to do the shoebox appeal as it has to be handed in at school on Tuesday (I thought I had until Friday) and I am away so DS and I can't complete it Monday night. Either that or we buy the rest of it very early Monday morning! We are doing a reverse advent calendar this year but DS really wanted to do the box as well.

apple_muncher

Shame about the shoe box. My
experience has been that yes, there is a deadline, but the company do not collect them immediately.So you may well have until Friday...

redofromstart

That's a good price on the pointing. One of those things that you only appreciate is essential when you have chronic damp problems!

XSpender

apple_muncher wrote: »

Shame about the shoe box. My
experience has been that yes, there is a deadline, but the company do not collect them immediately.So you may well have until Friday...

I have managed to get it done as I realised DS didn't need to stay at DPIL tonight so we wrapped the box this morning and I ram-raided B&M on my way to a meeting this afternoon and it is all packed and ready to go into school in the morning.

A Reeces peanut butter cup advent calendar may have accidently fallen into my basket too ;)

redofromstart wrote: »

That's a good price on the pointing. One of those things that you only appreciate is essential when you have chronic damp problems!

It was so bad and the previous owners had done a very poor repair job without removing the old stuff. Like everything else in this house half cocked and cobbled together!

It was so nice to come in to a home cooked meal that just needed nuking tonight. Mind it was more like chicken in a tomato sauce than curry! I followed the recipe but it definitely needed more oomph.

Tomorrow we will be having the pasta bake which is currently waiting patiently in the fridge and I will make some garlic bread to have with it. Cheating a bit having a SW meal with naughty garlic bread

DH asthma is so much better since he went to the doctors last week that I have had to persuade him to wait 2 weeks before he goes for a run :eek:

I forgot to mention a couple of :money: things at the weekend. I have finally logged on to Netflix on my laptop so I can watch the current favourite, Witches of the East End, while DH plays on his PS4. I don't know if that counts as money saving really but I feel we are getting more use out of our subscription especially since it is going up 50p/month.

Found some chrome spotlights for our bedroom in the bargain bin at B&Q. Marked at £30 for 3 they went through at £20 for 3 and will replace the chunky, gold and very ornate ones that are up at the moment.

I used the last of my Amaz0n vouchers on some double bedding with a space theme, matching curtains and sheets and pillowcases for DS for a £13 spend. That is his room completely finished until some time in the distance future when we replace his fitted wardrobes.

Mr T have sent me a new lot of vouchers starting at £13 off a £90 spend. I still have £13 of clubcard vouchers to spend too.

XSpender

We did another :money: thing at the weekend and cleaned and put back up the lights in the hall and on the landing that the previous owners had. We cant find what we want and they actually look pretty good!

We almost had fish and chips for tea tonight but DH was too tired to go back out once he got home so we had the pasta without the garlic bread and there is enough for DH to take to work tomorrow.

We have bitten the bullet and got a quote to complete the painting in the hall and landing, mainly glossing of a million doors and a few miles of foot high skirting , and our bedroom. This will be paid for out of our bonuses due at the end of this month. We will be doing some of the prep to keep the cost down but have to be realistic about how much time we have available.

I am working from home for the next 8 working days

I'm really tired tonight and keep dropping off on the sofa so I will finish my rooibos and head to bed.

XSpender

I was about to count today as a NSD but I have credited DS school lunch money account with £20. He has decided he would prefer a school lunch having had packed lunches only since he started his new school in October. I am happier he is having a cooked lunch as he wasn't eating much of his packed lunch, would leave a lot of it and then gets fed rubbish at DPIL every night. Not so good for the budget though.

After a very trying few weeks at work I have had good feedback from the client via my line manager. The client is so pleased she is going to ring me this week to thank me personally which will be very much appreciated:)

We have agreed to go with the quote for paining yesterday but I haven't had a response to my 'yes' ansaphone message to the painter this morning so I am hoping he still wants the job. The cost will be covered by my bonus and then we are having next year off from any other internal jobs/decorating in the house. Remind of this please when I start on about our next project.

The new carpets are getting fitted Monday

DS new curtains have turned up and he loves them, just waiting for the matching duvet cover. The windows are so wide in this house the curtains wont join across the window so he will still need to draw his blind at bedtime.

We have actually stuck to the meal plan this week:eek: and have eaten much healthier for it.

I have placed an order with Mr T for Friday to use the £13 voucher and my £13 clubcard vouchers. I have meal planned until the 1st of December and have shopped for this plan. We should only need a little fruit, milk and bread the following weekend plus more beer for DH on Saturday and next week. It is likely I will go over target but not by much.

It's rooibos time again