What small DFW things will you do this week - w/c 16th October?

determined_new_ms

Morning guys phew have woken up feeling so much better! Still have a bit of a temp, and feel swollen, but no longer have feverish symptoms :T

literally did nothing all day yesterday still intend to take it fairly easy today.

This morning I have:

* done a onepoll survey - got screened out of 3...
* read martin's newsletter

To do:

[STRIKE]* bung bean chilli in s/c & make spag for oh & madam[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] do a load of washing & hang on dryer[/STRIKE] - can you believe my whirlygig broke in 2 on Monday??? Why is everything breaking in our house?! Decided to leave it until spring as I want a long double line install from the house to the end of the garden and then we'll have a bit more cash!
[STRIKE]* all meals from stores[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* madam going for a play date and then it's her ballet performance. Text mil to see if she can make it[/STRIKE]
* nip to lottie and pick raspberries and maybe weed a bed - haven't been able to go very much over the last week - it'll start to run away soon if I'm not careful
[STRIKE]* tidy up as things have got out of hand while I was off duty for 2 days[/STRIKE]
* see how I feel but if I'm ok I will vacuum my car
* I need to go and get my front tyres replaced
[STRIKE]* knit socks, listen to audio book[/STRIKE]

I need to make an additional £50 before xmas as I want to get madam a gift than is more than I would usually spend (I only get her 1 gift - mean nanny! - I prefer to get people 1 thing I know they'll love. And dd goes crazy at birthdays & xmas....) Have worked out my car journey to the conference tomorrow will give me £39 above petrol costs :T I think an extra £11 is doable!

ok have a good day guys x

Freeby30

PurpleFairy sorry to hear about the car, what a nightmare! But you're absolutely right, what an adventure for the smalls!
DNMS glad to hear you're feeling better!

Today will be a quiet day again for me and the little one.
Have tidied up the house, now sitting with a coffee before cleaning it all.
Little one has her Tae Kwon Do later on at 4pm but no cost.
Lunch will be heated up soup that I made yesterday and dinner I'm thinking some nice thinly sliced potatoes roasted with cheese over and some sort of meat out the freezer.
My MF meat order is coming tomorrow, so going to sit down today/tonight and work out a meal plan for the next 3/4 weeks that we should be able to stick by.

J

FatVonD

Glad you're feeling better, DNMS

Purps, your story reminds me of the time my engine blew on the way to Gatwick Zoo, we got a ride home in a tow truck so DS wasn't disappointed in the least!

I spent last night populating my website but it's still not live yet, I'll revisit it tonight.

I don't feel like doing much today so I'm going to take it easy before going back to work tomorrow. I will however:

Load the dishwasher

Sort and photograph some stuff for the bay of e

Make shepherd's pie using some YS lamb mince from the freezer

Buy onion and carrots for above

Tomatoes and mushrooms on toast for lunch for me

YS lasagne for lunch for DS

Wrap and drop off ziffit parcel

More washing

Finish tidying bedroom, I sorted, ironed and put away all of DS's clothes yesterday, just mine to hang up today. Have to say I am loving my new working arrangements, I am either in uniform that requires no ironing or slobbing around at home, I might never have to iron clothes for me ever again!

Have a good day all

foxgloves

Purplefairy, what a nightmare journey! I bet it was such a relief to be home. I bet we've all had a weird breakdown recovery experience.......my oddest one was when my car & I were picked up after a simultaneous exhaust & tyre blowout & while riding back home back in the truck with the AA Recovery Man, he suddenly asked me if I was available & whether I liked children, as he was looking for a new wife & stepmother to his kids! He literally launched into this after we'd been on the road about 3 minutes!
Anyway, enough of weird breakdown stories....better kick in my list.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Money Savers,
Some useful money saving activity here this morning:
*Printed off an up to date bank statement & did my mid-month Budget Check-in. About £35 adrift. Been careful so I didn't think it could be forgotten spending, then I spotted it......the double initial payment on our new home insurance policy had been taken early. Usually, it goes out the following month or on one occasion even later, but it doesn't matter now I know it's gone out, as I shan't have to budget the money for it next month & first of the regular payments now won't be until December.
*All new insurance docs checked, dated & filed.
*Updated grocery budget & paid Week 3's grocery spend across to CC, which was only used for maximising vouchers......
*.........a system that is working, as Postie brought me a £10 voucher from my CC points this morning. Have stashed it away as am saving them towards mr f's big birthday present next year.
*Entered a prize draw & a competition.
*Received another £5 voucher from surveys. Updated my signature, as I am keeping a tally of this income.
*Checked our other CC account online as I know mr f has had a lot of diesel expense over this last month. Was shocked at how high the bill is going to be. (Some of it will be offset by work paying fuel for his work journeys) Had a look through transactions to see if there was anything I'd missed. Found a £40 spend which we had discussed (for concert tickets) but I had forgotten to take the cash from our Leisure/Entertainment Piggy to pay it. Have now put the cash on my desk & written myself a note so that I remember to do this when I set our November budget on the 27th.
*Grimsby fish man coming today with our order. Will be paying him cash from grocery budget so that's all sorted.......although..........
*Freezer is pretty packed, so this afternoon's job is going to be rationalising that, seeing if I can take anything out, pack it better, use smaller containers, etc......then when the fish comes, I shall portion it all up & begin Round 2 of 'Freezer Tetris'. mr f sadly at work on other side of the county, as he is a Freezer Tetris Ace.
*Managed to use about half an hour of cheap electricity first thing by getting a wash on early before the tariffs changed over. Rain forecast for later, so have put on heated airer, but won't be switching it on until tonight to get the cheaper rate.
*Free fitness - well, not much today but will be having a brisk walk up to the post box shortly.
*Make list of things I can usefully do in town tomorrow as I have the car.
*Cast on my other sock. Tried out a new pattern for a lovely slouchy pair for myself in self-patterning yarn & I love them! Well, I love IT, as I have only knitted one so far, but the other one will defo be ready for me to wear them for some nice rocky beach walks when we go on holiday.
*All other free leisure today too.......I want to finish a library book which I'm enjoying but have had so little time for while everything has been going on with poor old Dad/funeral arrangements & everything else I've been up to my neck with. Also aiming to catch up with a TV prog.
OK, well I must get off to the post box. Wishing everyone a calm & productive day.
F x

DawnW

Evening all
Still feeling pretty rotten with this blimmin cold, so not a big list today:
Walked dog
Received a free roll of sellotape from RM surveys
Sent OH to do a top up shop, as he was out and about anyway
Packed and posted 4 ebay parcels
Liberated some wine boxes from Sainsburys - for ebay packaging - while I was out with the car (drove to post office due to feeling rotten and 2 bags of parcels). Our local branch puts them at the front of the store for people to help themselves. Bought a few YS bits while I was there, though we don't get big reductions here, plus a couple of things OH had forgotten. Used 2 coupons to get extra nectar points (the kind with no particular spends necessary)
Listed 4 more items on ebay
Made bacon and tomato pasta for dinner - quick and used ingredients we already have (chopped parsley and camembert to melt from freezer)
A few surveys

Hoping to get more done tomorrow!

determined_new_ms

morning guys gotta get ready in a minute to go to the conference in Brighton Long old drive!

Things to do:

* quick shower
* make food for before/after conference - free lunch
* set timer on WM so it comes on at 5
* NSD - need to get petrol but I will get this back in expenses so not including it
* dinner tonight will be ys haddock pieces - oh might be doing this
* sort through the fridge - it's a big mess in there
* knit - Foxgloves I sent you a pm on fb. Can you look at it? It's a question re the socks and I want to finish the first one off tonight :j
* put yesterday's 2 loads of washing away - both dry on the airer. As we're now paying for the heated dryer I thought it was best to get 2 loads on to make the most of it Have turned it off now
* oh taking los for lunch, madam's pack up done :A
* generally tidy up. We're losing the battle at the moment
* check onepoll - already was screened out of one
* checked cc & bank

ok that's it. Have a great day everyone x

Happy_Kitties

DawnW hope you are feeling better soon. There are so many bugs and colds going about at the minute. I also got a roll of sellotape thru the post with the RM surveys.
For some reason I keep waking up at 4am at the minute, so managed to get a lie in till 7.00am just napping.
Banking all checked and cat cleaning done.
I need dishwasher tablets but refuse to go out to purchase one item when I'm doing my big cat food stock up tomorrow (have a £4 off voucher aswell) so cat bowls are just getting washed up until tomorrow.

Managed to get a birthday present posted yesterday. It looked a lot but had picked up bits along the way cheap. No money spent to post, used my RM survey stamps.

I treated myself to the Yankee candle star gift at B@@ts yesterday. Had £10 worth of vouchers from RM survey so only spent £20 of my Christmas vouchers. To confess it's not all for me. After studying the set carefully before buying and costing out bits, I am going to split the set into various presents as I have a lot of birthdays after Christmas-my last one in April. I hate that I have so many birthdays after Christmas including DDs, everything stops after April and I'm just going through another bunch of birthdays now. If I didn't budget there is no way I could do it.
I also get to keep some goodies out of the set. The main candle a cinnamon one is my sis in laws favourite, ideal for her birthday or Christmas- as long as someone buys it for her she's happy, my brother wouldn't have a clue what to buy!
Heating is still off. Still quite mild here so more washing on the line today.
Paperwork day aswell, so plenty to keep me going
Have a great day everyone x

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Friends,
Not a very busy day today. I'm still taking it easy to get my stress levels down to where I would prefer them to be. Anyway, a few things to show I've been keeping the frugal faith:
*Parked on outskirts of town & walked in which saved £2.60 in parking.
*Treated myself to a scone in Waitrose cafe but used my October 'Personal Spends' cash, so no hit to the budget & I got my coffee free. Also picked up the free John Lewis mag while I was there, priced up frozen turkeys & cast an eye over the YS fridge (mostly ready meals so not what I am generally looking for).
*Paid in a cheque.
*Got a shopping item my Mum asked for. I always use my CC for Mum's shopping. It keeps it all together which is easier to sort out what she owes me & I pay it off as soon as she's paid me. It adds on a few loyalty points which all help with accumulating vouchers.
*Make a sourdough loaf - done, it's on its long 2nd proving. Fed the sourdough jar too, so as to be ready for baking the next one.
*Postie brought a £10 gift voucher - my latest survey earnings (Updated my signature).
*Ordered a birthday gift for mr f & knocked £5 off the cost by using another survey voucher code. Every little helps & all that.
*Dried last of this weeks laundry overnight on heated airer. Glad I did, as it's rained all day so far. Have sorted it all & extracted only about 6 items which I can't get away with not ironing. That's my next job.
*Paid another 50p into my sealed pot.
*Bargain Avon order arrived - 5 items for £5. (one of them is to pop in with someone's Christmas bag).
*Dinner is leftover chickpea moussaka that I made yesterday with homegrown corn on the cob.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch - home made cream of sorrel soup from the freezer with a sandwich, home baked pear & ginger muffin (from stash in freezer) & a couple of pears from our tree.
*Do next week's meal plans. Have made a start, as wrote down a list of things we could usefully eat from the freezer a week ahead, while I was planning for this week.
*Knit. I knitted the rib for my 2nd sock last night. They are slouchy boot sock style so the leg bit is longer than normal, but I hope to get most of it done tonight.
Really loving knitting up my stash.....so many lovely projects without spending money I don't have on new yarn.
*Finish library book & add it to bag of library returns as they need to go back tomorrow.
*Perhaps a little chillier today, but still no heating on except for bathroom towel radiator. Unless it drops much colder all of a sudden, it looks like we might get to November before switching the main heating on. Our goal was not to put it on until the beginning of October, so this mild weather has got to be saving us all some money, hasn't it?
Well, that it about it for today. Considering I woke up at 4a.m (like you, Happykitties) with a nagging headache, I don't think that's too shabby a list. Must go & do the ironing now.......I loathe ironing, so look for any excuse to get sidetracked!
Cheers all,
F x

uphillstruggler

Afternoon all,

Hope you're all having a good week.

Been waiting for a parcel delivery all day so a bit on hold and some errands to run in town but it has given me the opportunity to get some things done around the flat and make a sale on FB marketplace, so all positive.

Feeling a cold coming on here so trying everything to avoid it!

Today I have/will:
*[STRIKE]check accounts[/STRIKE] - done
*[STRIKE]transfer funds to cover DDs[/STRIKE] - done
*[STRIKE]budget for November - I keep avoiding this![/STRIKE] done - large glass of wine needed!...
*[STRIKE]sort our balcony garden[/STRIKE] - done! finally... funny how you can leave things for ages and then do them so quickly you wondered why you waited...
*[STRIKE]sort bathroom storage[/STRIKE] - done - phew! Been on the list for way too long!
*[STRIKE]list 3 items on FB[/STRIKE] - done and one collected

Have a nice afternoon,
US