What small moneysaving things will you be doing this NEW YEAR'S week? W/C 01/01/18

DawnW

Afternoon all
Less fraught today, though a bit lazy also
Small things:
Free cooked homegrown fruit from freezer for breakfast instead of bought fruit
Walked dog
Posted ebay item
Had to get some bits from the SM
Annoying 1p, 2p and 5p coins out of purse and into tin (they bung up my purse, so they go into a tin and get counted into bank bags for paying in when enough)
Freecycler came to collect armchair that was blocking access to the dining room (it was OH's chair, decided he couldn't sit in it anymore, got another one - thankfully gifted - can't sit in that one either, and left me with the problem of dealing with the original one. Luckily I managed to rehome it, as I don't think I could get it to the tip by myself!) Anyway, it has gone now, nice people too
Bits from fridge for lunch
Plenty of the savoury mince /bolognese stuff I made yesterday left for dinner
Will have this with jacket potatoes, and cook some foraged blackberries from freezer for breakfast fruit while the oven is on
Need to walk dog again
Ought to do a bit of cleaning
Descale the kettle
Patch my jeans

Babysitting tonight as it is DD2's birthday.
Hope everyone is having a good day

foxgloves

Greetins Campers,
The more it rained, tiddley-pom........ Squidged down to shed a minute ago. Garden is quagmire. Hoping to get out there & cut back a couple of borders next week, so could do with it drying up a bit. Anyway, useful sort of day so far.
LPP - I'm not as energetic as you think, unfortunately I need a major surgery & am feeling so uncomfortable, I have to be a bit slower these days, so bah to that!
The list:
*2 big bags dropped off at charity shop. Now have a clear landing, yay!
*Checked bank to see if a cheque had arrived. It had, so was able to pay to across to a CC to cover a payment made on that.
*Entered a prize draw.
*Updated grocery budget.
*Successful weekly grocery shop this morning - Aldi, Co-op, Waitrose & local market. Budget was £50 & we spent a total of £39. Can't complain at that.
*Free coffees at Waitrose.
*Found a nice health/fitness mag on the Magazine Man's market stall for £1. You can pick up quite a good range of titles from him, mostly monthly expensive ones or craft mags at any 3 for £2.50.
*mr f & I jointly cleaned the house. He said he'd rather do vacuuming, bins & kitchen than the bathroom, so that seemed like a good deal to me! Minimal products & washable cloths as usual.
*Dismantled my home-made door wreath & packed everything away for next Christmas. If any of you bought one, do take it to bits & save the stiff wire frame inside as if you have one of those, it's really easy to construct a wreath yourself. I only used bits clipped from around our garden & some holly prunings I found on the ground at a local stately home from where their hedges had been clipped, foraged pine cones & baubles I bought years ago from the £ shop.
*Clipped a nice-looking recipe out of Aldi's weekly special offers booklet....prawn jambalaya. Looks yum & looks like it would also work with chicken or pork leftovers.
*Read the Guardian on the ap instead of buying one.
*mr f sorting out some items to list on ebay......or rather he was......judging by the sound of things loudly exploding, it sounds like he has been side-tracked by some or other bloke-film. Not bothered though, he will be back at work all too soon & may as well enjoy his last couple of days.
*Practise a craft project so I can show Mum how to do tomorrow. All recycled papers, so hopefully a nice no-spend activity we can do together. She misses Dad terribly, but does seem to fare better when she keeps herself busy, so rather than molly-coddle, I'm trying to think of nice activities to take her out of herself a bit.
*Knit later on & maybe re-watch a TV episode which I managed to sleep through after a night of true CCL-style insomnia last week.
Have a nice evening, everyone.
F xx

determined_new_ms

Hello quick post for me before heading into lounge to do some knitting:

* went to work, actually focused and worked hard (ish)
* took breakfast lunch & snacks. Felt very grouchy about having carrot & pepper sticks as snacks (why can't I continue eating crisps and chocolate & drinking wine and baileys continuously???!) but actually was refreshing & filled a hole - am hoping the hole gets smaller soon...
* made note of mileage
* collected some items purchased in half price sale. Stashed away in present area for when madam has a birthday party
* got dough out of freezer for pizza
* made enough pizza topping tom sauce for 4 pizzas - will freeze 2 later viva la cook as little as humanly possible!
* got ys chicken & ham out of freezer for topping and will be using reduced cheese
* got to work a bit early so did 10 mins Portuguese lessons - they get what they pay for!
* games, frolicking, bath, vikings for this evenings entertainment

Ok that'll do! TFIF guys

1SmallStep

Builder paid in full! Hooray!

FatVonD

Evening all, not much to report!

I bought a box of cup soups for breakfasts at work so I won't be tempted by the bakery.

Had a slice of reduced gala pie today to see why it's so popular, it was okay apart from the egg (I'm not keen on egg whites, unless they are meringue that is!)

I was stumped for what to do for dinner tonight and then I spotted some YS paninis so I bought a few slices of salami, some cheaply mozzarella and a small pot of sun dried tomatoes and herby olives and grilled them all, it was bloomin' lovely, I will definitely do that again (spare paninis to go in the freezer.)

nsl101

So I've stopped buying beer.

message ends.

determined_new_ms

1SmallStep wrote: »

Builder paid in full! Hooray!

Whoop whoop :j

nsl101 wrote: »

So I've stopped buying beer.

message ends.

very virtuous of you nsl101! :A

determined_new_ms

Morning guys I am full of the joys this morning - I went to bed for a nap at 7 and here I am!

Plans for the day include:

*[STRIKE] going for a run this morning. Need to force myself as haven't been for a while and have broken the chain [/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]all meals from stores[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* dinner will be jacket pots with lo sausages & nuggets (as not enough sausages :rotfl:) for the meat eaters [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* freeze portions of pizza topping[/STRIKE] & lentil ragu - quick meals for next week
[STRIKE]* going into town with madam to meet dd. Madam wants to buy a toy with her money then we are going to local library/museum as there is a free exhibition[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* Will take food & drinks[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* am thinking about catching bus. But am torn as need to stop at sm as L1dl has coffee on offer and want to stock up and need a few other bits. I have once too often got too much at the sm and caught the bus and it's hell! [/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* free entertainment this afternoon[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* meeting a friend this evening. Might suggest to her we meet early so we can catch happy hour at a cocktail bar :money:[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* get oh to drop off 3 bags of clothes to recycling centre as he's going there anyway [/STRIKE]

That's all I can think of! Nothing earth shattering but hopefully nothing expensive :T

1SmallStep

Morning all! V jealous of your nap dnms! Going to bed earlier is a resolution I make several times a year...
Just waiting for household to awake. It's lovely and calm and heating is on for a change. Need to pop out for milk at some point before everyone breakfasts. Pulled a fruit loaf out of the freezer in case folks can be tempted towards toast, in which case just enough for cuppas all round! Planning a big sort out of food cupboards today or tomorrow.
Just begrudgingly paid TV license. Live TV goes on about twice in this year and catch up TV in bursts, but nothing regular and nothing we ate that fussed about But with paying guests in and out I figured we were probably safer to be licensed than not, they are probably more likely to make use than me. We had no license (and therefore watched no TV) for 8 years, but got one last year in order to rent house out whole on our hols. Torn between frustration and feeling a job is ticked off the list!
Other jobs for today:
Some follow up to the expenses submission saga
Return overbought Xmas gift
A few things for charity shop, will make me go for a walk
PJ morning with DD. She's then out for lunch and I'm going to have leftovers (still on Xmas ones, but fridge nearly empty now). Friends that are staying are cooking tonight in exchange for free accommodation they are out all day so that should be fun to catch up.
Broadband deal review this afternoon. Hare that but our service is slow and expensive and going up, so there are a multitude of reasons why to sort it out!
Have a good day folks!

DawnW

Morning all
A bit bleary eyed this morning as I was quite late back from babysitting last night, and awake a bit during the night. It is blummin cold as well! Icy again - hate winter

Managed a couple of things already:
Emailed the milkman over non delivery of milk this week - no major issue, but I don't expect to be paying for it if I haven't had it!
Had some of the foraged blackberries (from freezer) that I cooked in the bottom of the oven yesterday, for breakfast with my porridge and yogurt - really yummy
Had a cup of real coffee for breakfast. Now unlike some of you others I can take this or leave it - I prefer a specific brand of instant, which I drink black, not very strong, and in copious quantities. I am running a bit low on instant, and have some 'real' coffee, bought for visitors over Christmas, to use, so am determined to eke out my preferred instant by alternating with ground coffee!

Still to do:
Get dressed and take dog out Done
Pack a small ebay sale - probably wait till Monday to post it though! Not yet, and now I have another to do as well. One for tomorrow I think!
RM surveys stuff Done
Some cleaning - middle floor I think! Will also change bed and wash linen, will hopefully peg it outside, weather permitting! Cleaning done, but only just finished washing linen - it was too damp and still to dry outside today, but hoping it will be better tomorrow!
Crackers, cheese etc for lunch Done
Something out of freezer for dinner - must get indoor freezer emptied and defrosted - it is fuller than ever I seem to take one thing out and put 2 back in, even if I don't buy anything :eek: Done, but it is still rammed :eek:
Walk dog again Done
Check banks Done, slightly concerned that a Sainsburys spend earlier this week appeared much higher than it actually was.... I know that the banks are still playing catch up after the holidays, so it might refer to an earlier spend. Must keep receipts to check as they appear online!
Check for surveys (struggling to get back into these after Christmas ) None today, though haven't checked Prolific I spent ages on a long survey yesterday and it crashed almost at the end :mad:
List some more ebay items - maybe, losing my mojo here, too! Managed 3
No plans to spend anything :cool: NSD :T
Aim for an early night Definitely!