What small moneysaving things will you be doing this CHRISTMAS week? W/C 25/12

determined_new_ms

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Happy Friday peeps!


Must do some work

oh is that what you're supposed to do when wfh??? :rotfl: just got back from my run.... helps me deal with the stress :rotfl:

FatVonD

CLF, I adore Stevie Nicks, I saw her this July supporting Tom Petty! Funnily enough I dreamt about her last night, someone I knew was booked onto a flight she was going to be on and I persuaded them to sell me their tickets and was planning on wearing a top hat so she would know we were kindred spirits

Re batch cooking, I used to chat a lot to an American woman who used to go to a place which was basically a big professional kitchen to do her batch cooking, I think they bought in all the ingredients and even did the washing up!

FatVonD

1LuckyLady, I did sign up to do RM surveys a few years ago but at my old address. I am however really disorganised and I know I would forget to post when I was supposed to etc and would screw it up for them!

carrielovesfanta

FatVonD wrote: »

CLF, I adore Stevie Nicks, I saw her this July supporting Tom Petty! Funnily enough I dreamt about her last night, someone I knew was booked onto a flight she was going to be on and I persuaded them to sell me their tickets and was planning on wearing a top hat so she would know we were kindred spirits

That's excellent! I dreamt once that I was in New York with her and that we were going to see a gig done by my friend Hannah. I didn't have the presence of mind to wear a top hat though. However, I suspect that I would rock one. My head is quite small so all hats tend to suit me

PurpleFairy26

determined_new_ms wrote: »

oh is that what you're supposed to do when wfh??? :rotfl: just got back from my run.... helps me deal with the stress :rotfl:

So I'm told , although just popped to town to go to the flicks but the film was sold out so we treated them to an icecream and came home.

Running should be compulsory for WFH IMO... good for the mind, which make you more productive. Can't wait until I can run again, I'm getting itchy feet now.

foxgloves

Never seen Stevie Nicks live, but mr f has. Love her outfits!
Well, hello my little Leftovers Queens (or 'leftovvers' as they are called in this neck of the woods),
The headache eventually disappeared at about 11.30 last night & hasn't returned, thanks for asking 1LL.
I have been a right proper money saver today......positively angelic, in that I don't think I've done anything at all (except eat breakfast, wash & go to the loo, of course!) which hasn't been money saving in one way or another. Here is my list. You can be impressed if you like....or not.....I don't care, I'm going to sit by the fire with my knitting & a big cup of tea in a minute:
*Big Budget Day. December's budget reconciled & all seems to be ok. I did allow a generous amount for food & we had sufficient left for me to pick up those bargain yellow sticker items just after Christmas. mf f didn't seem to think it would be enough. This is because he is a Meat Monster, a Cheese Monster & a Beer Monster (also a Curry Monster, but that isn't as seasonal as the previous more festive types of monster) But I stuck to my guns, said that £50 of the money allocated would be used for my regular order of fresh fish & that was ALL we would be spending on food. We had plenty & there's loads gone into the freezer for eating into the New Year, so both of us happy.
*Paid both CCs in full. So pleased about that, as it means we are not carrying any Christmas-induced debt into the New Year.
*Paid holiday deposit - used cash from Holiday Piggy.
*Started new Grocery Spends log sheet for January & got it smack up to date.
*Paid various cash bags into the bank & shuffled different funds around to get all our 'pots' of money absolutely correct for beginning our Super Squeaky Clean 2018.
*Paid a spare £20.20 across to our Loan Repayment Pot no. 2. We did really well with this last year & were able to make a lump sum payment of £2000 off our loan, which significantly reduced the term of it, but then a succession of large appliances breaking down, my hugely expensive new glasses & various other small problems meant we ended up having to use the 2nd pot of money I'd started. I'm starting it again though, same as before, with lots of small payments on the basis that every little helps.
*Did 1 survey & 4 prize draws.
*mr f did the grocery shopping & came in £3 under this week's budget of £50 (£200 budgeted this month for the 2 of us & large greedy cat).
*Read energy meters & uploaded online.
*Updated budget spreadsheet with new reduced payments for O2 (we changed to SIM only contracts) & for mr f's professional subscriptions - a total saving of £15 a month.
*Put vouchers & relevant savings piggies cash in my purse ready for tomorrow's city centre trip. Also my Christmas money. I don't think we will buy much, but we are bound to see an item of true bargainaceousness if we don't have the money with us.
*mr f hoovered downstairs & cleaned the bathroom & kitchen while I was upstairs in my HQ number-crunching (usual minimal products & washable cloths)
*New calendars ready for Jan 1st. Nearly bought one yesterday but decided to use the ones I got free in (gifted) magazines. 2018 - START AS I MEAN TO GO ON!!!
*Christmas presents to put away - a lovely job, as can look at all those nice things again & think about the people who bought them for me. My toiletries stash is certainly looking a lot healthier. Have heard that Body Shop is discontinuing my favourite shampoo & conditioner so I am hoping to find a load of it at a discounted price tomorrow. If so, will stock up. Ditto a couple of other products.
*Leftovers for tonight's meal in the form of some of the turkey batch-cooking I did the other day.
*Big filing session - that's all I have left to do now.
*Enjoy knitting more of my scrummy Christmas present yarn.....about a quarter of the back of my new jumper knitted.
Have a nice night all.....we had been forecast snow for today, but not a single flake issued forth! Just a load of all-day rain instead. Cat very grumpy. Speedy ablutions in the bark chips only, today.
F xx

foxgloves

Re batch-cooking. I tend to be led by what needs using up when I've done a blitz of the fridge & veggie baskets, also by what we have a glut of or is cropping well from the garden.
Otherwise, I will make use of a particular ingredient as the base for my batch cooking.....so if I've got a good price on a kilo of mince, I would make something for our meal that night, & turn the rest into meat balls & burgers. I do often batch cook spicy chickpea burgers (Delia's vegetarian cookbook), as we both like them, they are cheap & tasty and it's worth batch cooking as it means only one lot of soaking & boiling the chickpeas. They freeze well & cook well from frozen, so they work well for us.
I am intending to batch cook a huge load of re-fried beans soon & divvy them up in suitable portions for making quesadillas, wraps, etc, as well as some in small recycled hummous pots to use as a dip.
But mostly, mu batch cooking is based on what needs using & what I've got in & I like to see how much I can get out of that.
F x

foxgloves

Oh, hang on.....ham hock too.
I find doing a ham hock in the slow cooker is a good basis for a bit of batch cooking.......I take off enough meat to serve with parsley or onion sauce with potatoes, veg etc for that night's meal, then the rest of the meat is divvied up into small portions to top a pizza (I like this with a big of sweetcorn on too), go into a quiche (pre-dodgy gallbladder, now more likely to be a fritatta) & the rest in a pasta bake. That always feels like a decent cook-up for a £3 ham hock, especially as I also use the stock for making golden lentil soup.
F x

DawnW

Batch cooking - hmm, I don't really do it often, or at least not in the sense that most people would understand by the word. I certainly do batches of things like tomato sauce and ratatouille when I have lots of certain types of garden produce, and these get frozen. However, I also make pickles, chutneys, jams and jellies from this bounty, and I am not sure if this counts as 'batch cooking'?

I will sometimes make loads of a certain thing if I manage to get a bargain at the supermarket or a local market, mince springs to mind - I only buy this if good quality with not too high a proportion of fat. This gets made into bolognese and shepherds pie base, which is also frozen. Bolognese can morph pretty easily into chilli or even a curry of sorts! Other meats, such as chicken or pork can also be used in this kind of way, only it will make things such as pies, sweet and sour or curry - I found a nice recipe for something called 'Moroccan Pork' on the internet and made lots of that with reduced pork steaks chopped up (with veg and spices).

Another trigger for batch cooking is if I get various odds and ends left in the fridge or freezer, in which case I consult my vast collection of cookery books or trawl the internet for suitable recipes for whatever it is. The BBC good food website is a good source of recipes Soups are always a good bet.

What I do far more often is to cook once and make enough for 2 meals, so on the second night, the main dish is already sitting in the fridge and I only have to think about veg / salad accompaniments. Vegetarian meals seem to work quite well this way, things like spinach pie or macaroni cheese, or certain types of pasta bake

FatVonD

I didn't get as much done as planned but I am rocking a new haircut and I bought 50 first class large letter stamps for £35 on eBay. I would never have thought to look there before but I remember Ally saying she sells some of hers from RM surveys (I did look for a seller in Scotland but none doing!) This brings the price down to 70p per stamp so close to the second class price and will make me an extra 28p profit!

Instead of a roast dinner I bought a couple of YS finest sandwiches (smoked salmon and king prawn, yummy) and some crisps followed by half price Ben and Jerry's, I'm not a great lover of ice cream but I do like the phish food one but only buy it when it's on offer.

Sales on Amazon are just carrying on as they were before the pre Christmas rush I'm pleased to see, long may it continue (or even increase!) I enquired today about a pitch at the weekly market in a nearby huge shopping centre. I suspect the pitch price will be too high but, if it's not, I may give it a try.