What small DFW things will you do this week - w/c 11th September?

PurpleFairy26

1LuckyLady wrote: »

Oh Frugal Saver, what a day! Hope the new pass arrives quickly for you


Ds1 has been having school dinners this last week at his new school but I don't want him to have them everyday going forward as its going to cost me a fortune and he's not making very healthy choices (mainly chips so far!). So I'm thinking that on the 2 days he has gym he can have dinners (as the amount of kit they have to carry is huge!) and the other 3 days he will take sandwiches etc but I could do with a easy/healthyish/cheapish cookie/biscuit/traybake type recipe/ ideas so that he's not feeling left out whilst his mates are filling up on giant cookies/ brownies from the school canteen. Any ideas? My usual sweet treat for them of the date cake won't cut it!

I made the chocolate chip cookies (ultimate make over ones) from good food this morning, never done them before. Not too bad at all. Also 'twinks hobnobs' from here go down a storm with my two.

Does he like bread dough? As chelsea bun type swirl things are easy and cheap to make and you can put fruit (dates etc...) in and roll up.

foxgloves

Hi again,
I got about 3/4s of my list done. The money saving bits were:
*Laundry done overnight on cheap electricity tariff.
*Did rubber chicken duties. It did a big roast dinner yesterday, a lighter one tonight, I have enough meat left for a nice stew tomorrow plus some contributions frozen towards mr f's next epic man stew. Carcass went in slow cooker for a big jug of stock.
*Turned some of our pear glut into BBQ sauce - 9 jars & a small plastic container.
*Then went outside & picked up......more windfall pears! They are neverending this year!
*Watered washing-up liquid dregs to get an extra few days. Plenty of suds if squirted straight onto wet washing-up sponge.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Made a long list of stuff I can usefully do in town tomorrow when I have the car, as will save having to pay to park again.
*NSD!!!
*Turned out the Presents Box & made a list of contents. Made a note of autumn & winter birthday cards required & counted Christmas cards.
*Knit items for sale.
*All free leisure - watched a tv prog on catch-up, listened to another 2 discs of current audiobook & updated my blog.
Welcome to our new posters. This thread really helps with day to day financial focus.
F x

La_escocesa

Hi everyone :wave:

I've just finished work. I've already expressed my displeasure at my boss saying willy nilly that you have to make up time for hospital appointments. Generally fine if you're just going to a regular docs appt etc and they encourage you to make them at 8am/6pm etc, but with hospital appointments in the middle of the day in the middle of town it's a bit different - had to make up 2.5h. Next time I WFH I'll not feel guilty sitting doing some crochet!

Big hellos to all the new posters - lovely to meet you :beer:

Wow, Frugal Saver - what a day!! Nice one about having the new bank card at home. :T

FVD - I love the trug! And another thing I love is my soup maker :rotfl: It's awesome - so much easier than a pan and a stick blender for someone like me (messy/splashing up the walls)

1LL - I don't have kids but I always see things I would try for school lunches on pinterest

So...nothing much to report tbh...a bubble bath has my name on it!

Take care everyone!

xxx

FatVonD

FrugalSaver, I don't know if buses work the same as trains but if I forget my season ticket and need to buy a daily I can claim it back so hang onto those tickets just in case!

Foxgloves, I don't have a stick blender and I'm not sure if one will cost me more than £15 (I think I might be able to get it for £10 now as its been on there for a couple of days.) I'm not sure I want another bit of kitchen kit around cluttering up the worktop though, but I do want celery and Stilton soup :rotfl:

I've just collected a crisp £10 note from a FB sale. I have also just bought a dress on flea bay. I have quite a few strappy dresses because I am always hot (even pre menopause) but I'm a bit too white and flabby to be exposing so much flesh (as my mum kindly pointed out yesterday) so I am looking into getting some more covered up dresses, still sleeveless but not strappy.

I've also bought a coffee table but this means I can now sell the crates I've been using which seem to be very sought after at the moment (I already sold two the other day.)

The roast has been put off for another day as Mr T had some YS sea bass fillets which we will be having later with mash.

Dawn, I was reading up about growing raspberries as I love them but was put off by reading about raspberry beetle and how you might find a little white maggot inside. Does this happen a lot and how little are we talking? It said they are less of a problem with the late cropping ones though, is that what you have?

Frugal_Saver

Thank you for making me feel so welcome, particularly on such a rubbish day.

Thanks for the suggestion FatVonD I will look into that but when I went on the bus companies website it stated the replacement will be for the same period as the original pass and if there's less than 5 days left on it they don't even replace it.

Anyway, need to stop feeling sorry for myself and stay on track. Posting tonight as I won't get a chance tomorrow.

Lunch and dinner sorted for tomorrow but need nappies for LO so that and my parking fees should be my only spend. The advantage of driving means I should be home earlier but I'm still not familiar with the drive so I might get lost!

FatVonD

Just looked up stick blenders and both Arg0s and Kurrys do them for around a fiver so dilemma sorted, less money and less to store.

determined_new_ms

Morning FVD do you have a regular jug blender? That's what I use for soups

Welcome Frugal Saver what a terrible thing to happen! I admire your stoicism though.

Welcome Tea&Kittens what a fortuitous find!

Hi Carrie :wave: lovely to see you again :A

Need to pull my finger out as have to leave for work in 50 mins and still sitting here drinking coffee! in my dressing gown

Smalls for the day:

*[STRIKE] working 8.30-2 Hope to be hard working & efficient[/STRIKE] still loving my new working hours am finding as I'm there less hours on the days I am I'm more focused and as I leave by 2 I don't get the afternoon slump :money:
[STRIKE]* take snacky foods with me to graze on [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* stop on way home and pick up milk & take a carrier to put it in [/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] power walk to collect madam[/STRIKE] & do some hula hooping tonight
*[STRIKE] hang out washing that was a bit damp when I brought it in yesterday[/STRIKE]
* feel fabulous wearing my new trousers yep truly! :cool:
* hg raspberries with yogurt mmmmmm I just rinse mine out with cold water and haven't noticed anything FVD argh didn't eat them but left them in works fridge. Probably won't be good by the time I return on Thurs prob will be alright for a smoothie though...
* list a couple of things on fleabay
*[STRIKE] take madam to the park after school if it's nice. Take snacks and drinks for her[/STRIKE]
* more veg processing later!
* will just do something easy for madam for tea tonight so oh & I can have lo soup
* make BNS, turnip and apple soup tonight
* read up on making apple prosecco and see if I've got what's needed

Better get my skates on!

Ok that's all I can think of. Happy Tuesday guys x

DawnW

FatVonD wrote: »

Foxgloves, I don't have a stick blender and I'm not sure if one will cost me more than £15 (I think I might be able to get it for £10 now as its been on there for a couple of days.) I'm not sure I want another bit of kitchen kit around cluttering up the worktop though, but I do want celery and Stilton soup :rotfl:

Dawn, I was reading up about growing raspberries as I love them but was put off by reading about raspberry beetle and how you might find a little white maggot inside. Does this happen a lot and how little are we talking? It said they are less of a problem with the late cropping ones though, is that what you have?

I would vote for a stick blender too. In fact, if I had to give up all my kitchen gadgets except one, I would probably choose to keep that one.

Raspberries - I do sometimes find bugs of various kinds on the raspberries, but not little white maggots. The yellow ones seem to be more affected than the red ones. The yellow ones also don't taste as nice, and I will be digging some of those out I think, particularly as all of them have gone mad and are filling up the space available. I think blueberries are easier tbh, and if you pick a compact variety they are quite happy in a big pot

Got to take the dog out in a minute, as he has a grooming appointent at 9.30. He looks like one of my granny's old mop heads at the moment :rotfl:Very smart now

Apart from that, plans are to:
Make a chicken and ham pie with meat from the fridge Done, yum! Made extra pastry so that I could also make a quiche shell and a dozen mince pies to ensure oven used to capacity
Start a shopping list - I won't need much, but have run out of a couple of bits. May go today. Went to Lidls while I was waiting for the dog groomer to finish. Spent just over £15, so must update signature and spending diary
Look for surveys Found a few, will check back shortly
List a couple more bits on ebay Not done
Put shop stock away, the things I brought back yesterday have colonised the dining table atm Done, all clear now
Do some cleaning Cleaned hall, lounge, kitchen and conservatory floors, changed bed, washed linen and (mostly) dried on the line, will hang on airer in a minute

There will no doubt be more, will pop back later to update

arc2014

arc2014 wrote: »

Another lurker here to introduce myself!!

Hopefully by writing everything down I'm going to hold myself as accountable as possible for my actions & get where I want to be!

So the plan of action for today is:

* Stick to the shopping list - dependent on ys offers, maybe pick something up from the rest of the weeks shopping list.

* Take car for its MOT - booked the cheapest slot AND got 10% off, that took it from £40+ to just under £25!

* Hope car passes it's MOT!

* Surveys - Already done 1.

* Pack up hubby for work tomorrow with leftovers from tea tonight.

* STAY AWAY FROM THE VENDING MACHINE! For the sake of both my purse & my weight!

* Get my daily fill of tea whilst I'm at work & it's free!

* PAD - Done!

Well that didn't quite go to plan! I stuck to the shopping list, gave hubby left overs for lunch today, stayed away from the vending machine & did some surveys, but my goodness did my car fail it's MOT!!! Really it only failed on the breaks, I think they just need stripping down & cleaning since it hasn't done more than 1000 miles in the last 9 months. Fingers crossed that will be a cheap £25 fix for it to pass!

Other than that it needs a new exhaust system, new oil filter & sump, sock absorbers need a bit of work & my radiator is leaking! The garage quoted me £170 just to fix the oil leak!! :eek: :eek: :eek: Luckily between me & hubby we're know what we're doing so reckon we can fix the wholelot for around the £50 mark - that would be a lot nicer. Glad I've come back to work this month! Now to get on with those surveys and have an NSD, this car won't pay for itself! :mad:

FatVonD

Morning all, I'm awake at a slightly more reasonable time today as I have someone coming to pick up a FB sale, it's only £1 but it's £1 out of their pocket and into mine.

Arc, ouch re the car, hope you can get it sorted.

DNMS, I did have a beautiful KltchenAid blender (courtesy of an old job) but, like my KA toaster, it carked it. It'll be cheapies all the way from now on, I love my Mr T value hand mixer!

Dawn, I don't like blueberries but I will give some late raspberries a try next year, I've looked at some pics and it looks like it's fairly obvious which are the affected ones so I'll know which ones to avoid!

Today will be spent doing a bit more designing and trying to track down the specific flower/Pom Pom I want direct from China, the eBay seller isn't being very accommodating about reducing the price for a bulk sale but, as yet, I've found every type except that one, I will change type if I need to but I do prefer the other one.

I need to pick up my new coffee table and contact the woman keen to buy my crates.

Dinner tonight is going to be fajitas, I got some YS Tex Mex dips yesterday and also some YS turkey strips. I have a pack of seasoning I got free from work and a part pack of wraps in the freezer, sorted!

I need to buy some bread and then lunch is going to be fried YS tomatoes and mushrooms on toast, yummy. My own tomatoes are coming to the end, I'll leave them for another week for the last few to ripen before pulling them out.

Have a good day all