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

determined_new_ms

I haven't agreed a start date yet! I have to wait for my dbs to come through, so who knows when it will be? It's at the last stage but been there since the 20th. For now I'm making the most of my pt hours and no night shifts

allotment trip with neighbour was great success. she's up for it and a really interesting person. I think this is the beginning of something special!

foxgloves

Afternoon chilly money savers,
Pleasant day so far. Mr f's last day of a lovely long 2 weeks off, so enjoying a relaxing day together.
*No downstairs heating on until later as have been out all morning.
*Went out to an NT place this morning. Used our annual passes to get in. Bracing frosty walk. Mr f found some bargains in the 2nd hand bookshop Inc a DVD box set he was after for £3 (from his personal spends so no hit on budget). I bought a couple of things in the gift shop sale to pop in the presents box.
*Have already achieved my target 7000 daily steps.
*Leftovers defrosting for tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Washer set on timer for half price laundry on overnight tariff.
*Finish knitting back of jumper & cast on a sleeve.
*Wrote my job list for tomorrow when it will be back to routines, as I have 3 meetings this week & a local political project to finish as well as lots of things I really need to get done around the house.
*Mr f is roasting the large joint of pork he got for half price after Christmas. Have just cast my expert 'rubber meat' eye over it & reckon it should stretch to a good few meals.
*Peruse Avon brochure to see if my favourite foundation is half price, as that's the only time I buy it.
*Look for a container to use as new 'shrapnel box' as previous one looked v shabby & didn't make it through our new year blitz of upstairs.
Stay warm all - have got my shawl round my shoulders which I knitted from yarn my Mum didn't want & edged it with yarn my sister didn't want (But oddly, they both liked the finished shawl!)
F x

determined_new_ms

foxgloves how is your mum doing?

foxgloves

Kind of you to ask, DNMS. I think she's ok on the whole....good days & bad....I guess that's to be expected after a marriage of 57 years. The main difficulties are that Mum is a real introvert. Dad always sorted out anything that involved constructive communication like phone calls or dealing with utilities. My sister & I are more like him.....sociable & very talkative. The other problem is living 75 miles away. My sis is slightly nearer but has to get out of London first so there's not a lot in it. It means just popping in for a coffee or running her to the shops when I'm going myself isn't an option & she is reliant on neighbours for lifts to Drs, optician, etc. We are visiting fortnightly & trying to pack in a lot while we are there to make the most of the 150 mile round trip. It's going ok so far. I have a friend with an elderly mother & I've watched her make a rod for her own back over the years. I'm not about to make the same mistake, so we are supporting Mum but trying to ensure she retains as much independence as possible xx

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves wrote: »

Oh...
And CLF.....I meant to respond to the comment made to you about your long letter. I love writing letters & also receiving them. My lovely friend who sadly died last year wrote fab letters & I used to put the kettle on & sit down & enjoy every one. I saw a local news item on TV before Christmas where a teacher had twinned her class of primary school children with residents of an old people's home & they were writing letters to each other. This was because when they were doing letter writing skills, the teacher discovered that none of the kids in her class had ever received a proper letter written just to them in the post. Lots of the old folk had nobody left to write to them so loved getting letters from the children. I'm going to make more effort to write proper letters this year. So my view on the comment made to you was that it was churlish & not my experience at all!
Better get this bread in the oven now before it climbs out of its basket
F x

Thanks Foxgloves

vickthestick

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Post registration form through leaders door to save postage. Smallest starting rainbows

Enjoy your Sunday peeps. Purps.

Hope Smallest enjoys Rainbows. I'm a Rainbow Leader myself

Brother and SIL have left us in good spirits and they bought the squash for the lunches and dinners and everything except an extra couple of carrots and broccoli was from stores. Went for some lovely walks in the minus weather.

Unfortunately, the boiler is not running and there is neither hot water for seven showers ahead of school tomorrow, nor any heating for 24 hours now, so that's not so good. On the plus side, it's saving my fuel bill!:cool:
And the washing machine is outside and the pipes froze last night, so no washing today either. Only just fixed the pipes since the last cold snap burst them.

Seriously thinking about putting OH's CCs and a new boiler plus a couple of windows onto the mortgage.

Sandwiches and ginger honey buns for tea, all from the stores. Yum.

carrielovesfanta

Afternoon folks,

An early 5.45am start for a Sunday, but it meant that we were at home with a brew in hand by 11am after a 4 hour hour drive. Not much mseness to report. We are not saintly enough to have packed food for the trip etc, and I do confess that we pay for the pleasure that is the M6 toll.

MSEness comes from eating mum's food and using her heat for a few days! Lots of useful Christmas pressies too. I have some jam jars, some seeds, a new brushed cotton duvet cover (to replace hateful one with stars on that won't stay square), some car and DIY bits, some toiletries and some crafty bits.

So today it's a quick re-group before settling down into normality.

• 2 x washes on and out on the radiators
• Heating on unfortunately as the house is freeeeeezing
• Dinner from stores
• Make a loaf
• Quick meal plan to see us until Saturday
• Put away various bits and pieces of Christmas pressies
• Try stretching video again to see if I can do it without feeling shaky
• Early night

Have a good one all


clf x

carrielovesfanta

Foxgloves - mum gave me some onion sets but they've started sprouting already. Can I plant now? Do I need to??

TIA

Pickle_99_uk

Hi,
I've been lurking for a while and reading your posts (whilst shamelessly stealing your ideas for moneysaving) and thought I'd post. Worked towards debt free goal today by:
Working - DH has a gardening business so we took on some extra work. Cold but worth it
No alcohol - cutting back and saving money
Dug up some veg from the garden to use over the next few days
NSD
Used wood from a tree we cut back in the log burner - free fuel
Changed my insurance and saved some money in the process
Surveys - valued opinions and one poll
Swagbucks

Phew! X

determined_new_ms

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Hi Purps glad you had a good break! And kudos on steering away from the TA :beer: It's weird we've got to a point where I can't imagine getting a TA. Haven't for a couple of months now, but every time we do it's always so disappointing! I think batch cooking is the way to go, so I can grab something, I don't need to cook or have much of a faff. Anyway ramblings!

I went out last night and only went slightly over my budget of £10 by 95p :T (I got some crisps which tipped me over - do not regret it all!) Good to know I can be in control of my budget when I want to :T

Hurrah to another day of the weekend :j

Today:
*[STRIKE] hang up washing & do another load[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]going to the allotment shortly with a neighbour[/STRIKE] as we are going to share my plot - now I'm returning to ft work I don't want to have the whole plot so this is the perfect solution
* [STRIKE]hopefully walk to the lottie[/STRIKE] :cool:
* [STRIKE]madam having a ys choc a plain for breakfast[/STRIKE] :money: (5p!)
* [STRIKE]chicken in gravy out of the freezer for dinner. Will use veg from freezer[/STRIKE] :money: mmmm lots of home grown veg
*[STRIKE] need to do a quick tidy round before things get out of hand![/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]going to SM to get shopping - really could have hung out longer but they have coffee on offer so want to stock up[/STRIKE] oh asked if we were opening a coffee house :rotfl:
* knitting/reading booking/maybe a film with oh tonight?/early night - some combination of these!
*[STRIKE] iron clothes & make oh's lunch for tomorrow[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] soak butter beans for tomorrow's dinner/batch cook[/STRIKE] :money:

Ok that will do for now Have a great day x

whoop I had to share as it's the 2nd day in a run I've managed to complete my list :A :rotfl:

In addition I:

made a massive batch of rice to eat over the next couple of days for lunches/dinner (made a bit more than I meant to )

currently making some broadbean chips in the oven thus getting something OUT of the freezer and making a healthy snack

decided it was too cold to go out so had a home day :money:

updating spending diary & planning out when I'll do the things I want to do next week