NST Super September Scrimping challenge

f0xh0les

NSD #11

Used up two free sachets of shampoo last night. Easily three years old, maybe more, and a sachet of split end repairing goop. Plus a mud mask but only lasted a minute as it was stingy. Also found a tub of cucumber moisturiser with a teaspoon of goo left in it. Used up, tub washed and recycled.

DS2 found a box of muffin cases in his bedroom he needed for Home Economics, that isn't called Home Economics any more but probably should be, last year. Anyway,, he had only used 8 of them and had remembered to put the lid back on so they are back in the pantry.

Cleared out bathroom cabinet (DH's shelf), now he can see what he has got No contact lenses, no ibruprofen gel,no empty boxes to make him think he did.

Tumble dryer knackered again, It didn't last 4 days since the last fixing, what worries me is that they have a number on the automated dialling system for machines that have been fixed by their engineers in the last 30 days and have broken down . Does this happen a lot? Must do!

Secretly hoping for intermittent electrical fault, within warranty, new one please.

Grateful for the kids asking for tomato soup and doughballs for tea, will make pizza bases for later in the week if there is any dough left over. DS1's braces mean he no longer wants pizza. That makes me sad, but also happy as it means more soups and stews. Loads of veg!!

Anyway. Enjoy your SuperScrimpingSunday Evening.

foxgloves

Hi Sunday Scrimpers,
Check-in 17/30
Grocery shopping today - Week 3's shop of a 4-week budget. Came in under budget, even though we went to Waitrose for cat biscuits.
Exercise goal - nope! Will be about 1300 steps short of daily target.
Me time - was brought breakfast in bed! Lovely.
Other useful activity - free coffee from Waitrose, free parking in town, knitting stuff to sell - need to do as much as poss over this next month. Re-listed some ebay items. Looks like my door curtain idea will work, saving £55 on the fabric I wanted & some ready made curtains I looked at today were also over £50, so if the sewing machine comes out tomorrow, I will have done the frugal, non-spendy thing.
Dinner is in slow cooker & smelling good.
F x

vintagebrighton

Evening scrimpers, check in 17/30

A NSD for me - updated my sig to show 9/18, half way there :T

I know that next week won't be so frugal. I'm having my hair cut which will blow my beauty spends £10 budget. But it's planned, budgeted for and needed before a hospital stay.

Next week I have hospital appointments but I'm going to count the travel costs as medical expenses (I'll get one lot back anyway). If I pack food from home and take a book I won't spend anything.

Heating - still none, still haven't got the boiler to work! Will sort tomorrow hopefully

Me time - plenty today

Social life - nope, still haven't got one

Exercise - not today thanks

Using up stuff - soup with stock from the freezer and fridge veg

Enjoy your evening all

VB x

Kerry_Woman

Day 17
Achieved another SFD - 9/18
Stayed in today. Just another chilled out day and resting.
Using food etc in store.
Been catching up with programmes I recorded.

mothernerd

I am able to move but it's very slow and creakily. Had to push myself up from the kitchen table and at one point I was so stiff I could only walk sideways like a crab. However kitchen is a joy to behold so worth it. Lots of little bits I can see that need doing (now that the whole disaster area part isn't in the way) but feeling content and pleased with myself.

Today was a SFD in the end as I could not walk to the shops. Getting up and down stairs was difficult enough.

Settled for an easy lunch from the freezer and whilst it was cooking I brought the dry washing in, put out the load in the washer that I set off last night, emptied and cleaned the mop and bucket. I sat at the kitchen table, pricked over 2kg of baking potatoes to go on the shelf under the dinner, put a whole pack of frozen sausages in a roasting dish to put in the oven when dinner came out.

After lunch I chopped two packs of sweet potatoes (for mash), chopped a bag of little potatoes (salad and mash - to go with the sausages, will portion up when cool) and chopped up 2 peppers + half from the fridge, a ys aubergine, celery (for salad and pasta bake/ soup) and some apples that were going yellow.. brought 2 green apples with the brown bits cut off upstairs with me and spent some time sitting in the late afternoon sunshine eating a yoghurt.

Lots of things I would like to cook but if I can't do more of that I have paperwork, crafting and baby blankets to keep me occupied.

Money front is not so good. I have just looked at my bank balance and the emergency fund has slipped a bit. I was aware that there have been some 'big' spends (for me) recently - the printer, some new clothes (although some were from the charity shops) and then wardrobe rails and extra hanging bits last month (+ stuff to make the final shelf in the kitchen - another nearly 8' one). Need to draw in my horns and get serious about economising. Budgeting has got more difficult because of doing all mum's shopping as well, going into more shops at times and in places I would normally avoid.

Last night I was tempted to spend (was fighting the urge to send for takeaway, just to keep me going). I looked at the specific fabric I need for Beloved's Christmas present. I have lilac or white but it should really be pale grey. I had seen a piece on ebay for £7 but last night I checked one of the best online shops and it's £6.25. The piece is quite large and I don't want to spend all that time (approx 140 hours) doing it and then have it 'not quite right'. On the other hand in over 40 years of embroidering I have never bought a specific fabric for a project, it's all job lots and remnants and then I see what I can get away with (supposed to leave 2" of fabric all around the design for framing, I have less than a centimetre on some things and a few frayed threads at odd times.

Whilst I was (thinking of) buying that I thought I might as well buy DS3's underpants and have nearly all my Christmas shopping done. He wanted them last year but forgot to say until after I had ordered his socks (he needs special larger sizes in both, no more quick trips to Arseda for the 3 for £5 pack). He was so late with the socks (I had to find the website and pin him down to decide on a pair - buy multiples so that any 'odd' socks still pair up) that he must have chosen a dozen different packs before we found one that was in stock. If I could have found another stockist who told you up front what was in stock, rather than having to order and go through checkout before telling you they could not fulfill the order (grr smilie).

I also saw a beautiful turquoise necklace (the stone not the colour) in one of my craft forums. DS2 bought me a turquoise bracelet some years ago and I have always wanted a matching necklace. When it was DS2's graduation I saw one in a fairly local shop but thought £59 for a necklace and bracelet was too much, then realised it was only ythe price of the bracelet.The handcrafted chunky one last night (which actually goes a lot better with my bracelet) was only £20 and they had a smaller one on the website for £12.50. Goes with my current dress for DS1's wedding (the £4.50 charity shop one).

However I resisted buying anything. I will use the Frugalwoods practice of waiting 3 days for any impulse purchase. Any longer and I might not be able to find my way back to the website - I have bookmarks but it was a long while before I knew where they lived. Must read that book on laptops again, the non patronising one.

I am building up a shopping list of things we have run/ are running out of and a few more things mum wants - sealing and painting the boxes the meters live in has been added to my list. If I buy the necklace I will use the money mum gives me for Christmas. Everything else I will have a ponder and think about getting things cheaper or making something, then by what I need to buy all on the same day.

Come to think of it, that's what I did in HB last week, cost me a fortune. Saving money in the long run as had already checked the offers on wash tablets in 3 different places and their's beat them by a mile (so bought 2?), I remembered mum had asked for toothpaste and a new brush (=/ better than pound shop) and they had the spotlight bulbs I needed for the kitchen (had 3 in but 5 have gone and knew from last time that their prices were far better than Wilko who beat SM and B&Q). Went in for one thing, bought a heavy basket load - all things we needed. Maybe I am not realistic about how much money we need. I did have a fund of £20 - 30 per month for small household/ diy items. Perhaps I need to re-instate it, after all a lot of it protects against major spending later.

Today I am grateful for having a kitchen I wouldn't be ashamed to let people see, for feeling good and for being able to do things - not a lot but every little helps.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for catching up with an old friend, for quick and easy meals, for getting about a dozen bunny arms sewn up, for an interesting book to read, for fresh air.

greent

SFDs - still 8/18. - quick A1di shop today - and also ordered some name labels for DS2 & DS3.

Extra monies/ debt repayment - None. Have relisted some unsold items on flebay, though

Food - running total £266.83/ £450 - £30.25 in A1di today.

Eating up/ using up stuff - ate leftover takeaway for lunch. Had chicken from freezer for dinner tonight (with lots of veggies bought in A1di) Baked rolls for lunchboxes.

Lunches taken - N/A for today.

Social life - None today

Exercise - 2/3 formal sessions this week. Bad day for steps today (c 5k)

Beauty - £2.73/ £10

Time for self - I went to A1di by myself - that's about it for today! :rotfl: May go for a bath once I've prepped lunchboxes

Heating off - yep. Have got socks and a (thin) jumper on today though. House is warm tonight from a combination of a milder day and roast dinner - oven on for a couple of hours warms up downstairs if doors left open.

Gratitudes:
* DS3 being delighted with his 'shiny coin' from the tooth fairy (even if he did tell us this about 4am this morning!!:eek:)
* OH doing most of the ironing today (unusually)
* yummy roast dinner (DD's favourite meal and her last one before going back to uni)
* my mum taking DS3 for a dog walk - he was really keen to go, so I'm glad she did
* getting a full load of laundry line dried
x

dizzyblnd

I'm still stuck on 7/18 nsds. Spent the last of the food budget today so think I may have underestimated what we spend a month greatly. I have everything we need for meals for the rest of the month so shouldn't need much more n this has included all nappies, toiletries etc all in. All I should need to buy is milk/bread/fresh fruit.

Today in grateful for a lovely dinner (cottage pie) and an even better dessert (chocolate pudding) u can't beat some autumn food. I feel like I have a huge to do list going into this week. Been struggling a bit with feeling a bit down, end of summer blues but this week is supposed to b slightly better weather wise so hoping to do washing and dry outside. Got a family birthday both weeks for two weeks so I'm going to b nowhere near the nsd target but it's all budgeted for. U all do so well on nsds and setting budgets.

bizzie

Check in #17/30
Achieved another NSD #12/18 though have online baskets with items waiting for the purchase now button to be pressed. Will do that on my next unavoidable spend day.

Homemade soup for lunch with enough leftover for a couple of weekday lunches.
Resorted to heated rail to dry laundry as weather too unreliable to get the loads dried outside.

threepenny_bit

a NSD here and it was a struggle lol! I was very tempted to get a coffee while we were out .. had 3.60 on a coffee card and thought I would use it but thought again as I would have had to put money towards it as 2 coffees would have been 4.00 and would have succumbed to cake too!
Saw a neighbour was digging up 2 small juniper plants and offered them for free - collected and put in water overnight and will add to garden tomorrow. Hubby chopped down a little more of the tree in the from garden and we chopped it into small pieces to add to garden wheels bin for collection tomorrow.
Made a nice mince and potato and cauliflower tea, a veggie pasta bake for tomorrow and took stock of the fridge to see what we need to use this next few days. Meal plan printed out and just hoping I stick to it this week. Aiming to lose 2lb so fingers crossed!
Have a lovely week everyone