Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

beanielou

Oh my goodness.
That just sounds dire.
Take care.

dustydigger

Hi folks - if anyone is actually listening!:)
Its been a quiet day. No more nosebleeds,thank heavens!:j A bit dizzy. I have a doc's appointment on Monday to see if there is improvement. If not I will have to try antihistamines ,or even special exercises to counteract the vertigo. But I think I am improving. Just lying down,avoiding stress(!!!!!!) can be helpful. Actually I am sure the ear infection is responding to treatment,its just a matter of patient waiting for the improvement in the viral infection to no longer cause the sinisitis and vertigo,the whole thing goes away gradually,with patience. Certainly the pain in the brow and jaw has decreased dramatically,and today I actually had a proper home made soup meal,made with special attention to moving very slowly and carefully to avoid dizziness if possible while preparing.Before I couldnt bear the pain of trying to eat solid food. Amazing how much pain trying to bite an apple can cause:eek::eek:
One dodgy time today when I had the hairdresser in(thank heavens for home visits from this person,for the last 7 years has come to my home,much cheaper and also a help while I was housebound!) Was a bit dodgy when I had to bend over the sink to have my hair washed. (Pretty dizzy,yuck) but surely preferable to having to go out to the hairdresser's!
Pain is almost gone,main problem dizziness on moving,and blurred vision.Reading is difficult and since I normally read 3-5 hours a day,reducing to only about 30 pages over a period of many hours,is a SEVERE inconvenience!:mad::mad:
I find living without reading a terrible situation. It is my main stress buster and escape route from stress and pain,and has been for most of my life.So the sooner I improve the better:D I still have 10 books to read this month to reach my goal,so I need to get better quickly!!!!!!!!

dustydigger

I have added Prolific surveys to my signature. I came across them on a DFW diary,and like doing their surveys. Of course my profile as a 70 yr old presumably excludes me from a lot of surveys,but after checking twice a day I get one survey every 3 or 4 days,and am happy with the £4.92 made so far . By Xmas I should have a nice little chunk of cash,at least enough for one family member's present! Every little helps:D
And I find these academic surveys quite interesting. A few days ago one was about charity giving,today was about the notion of having catch up MMR vaccinations in secondary schools,and to what extent parents should be pressured into having the vaccines,plus my opinions on the efficacy of said vaccines. I got 70p for a few minutes work,much better than those very long Swagbucks surveys where I would spend 20 minutes or more with my two finger typing then get chucked out unpaid after all.( I'll tell you about my previous swagbucks saga some other time,,when I am not stressed or seeing double!)
I am going off for a while now,since I am seeing double and feel a bit woozy.:( I am off to catch up on a Silent Witness episode. Oh the delights of catch up TV. Very glad I bought a Freesat box last year after the nightmare of TalkTalks inadequate box. More about that too some other time.:)
Bye for now!

beanielou

Reading is my escape too.
Reading is my greatest pleasure.

dustydigger

Here we go.posting the budget a mere 4 days late.:oThis is the active fortnight,and apart from any leftover cash from my household cash budget by the end of the fortnight,there are no bank savings whatsoever.:( I did a zero sum budget and these are the results:
total income - £309
outgoings:
duel fuel - £81
phone+broadband - £28
fire insurance - £20
water rates - £35
Asda delivery - £48
Asda delivery charge - £5
birthday fund - £10
passport fund - £20
hair trim - £6
my household cash budget - £56
notes on the budget:
duel fuel: my provider emailed me to say that my payment is to stay the same for the next 6 months. Most years it goes up so this is like a bonus:T
phone+broadband:TalkTalk make a great fuss about fixing the price of a contract for the whole 18 months but dont say that ''boosts'' can rise. £1 rise on the anytime calls boost:(
water rates: will go up only £13 this yr from April ,barely £1 a month extra,so thats not so bad.Some years the increases were huge,2 or 3 times the inflation rate,so this is fairly reasonable.
birthday fund:I cleared the whole £100 I had saved in 9 days,no less than 4 birthdays,so I have to start again. At least no birthdays till 26th April,so I have time!Will only be £10 a fortnight for the rest of the year,so that will be a nice little addition to the fortnightly savings.Every little helps.:)
passport fund: starting to save early,want to apply before the usual crazy summer rushes. Dont need it till late in the year,(maybe visiting USA in November),but last year my granddaughter was bitterly disappointed when she couldnt go on holiday because of receiving her passport late,I want no crises.
household budget: this £56 is what's left with the zero sum budget. Last fortnight I allocated £60,and actually potted £28 in my Sealed Pot at the end of the fortnight.:)Hoping to feel better next week and perhaps finally have at least one day out,and may spend some of this. But with my luck? dont hold your breath:rotfl::rotfl:Oh well,it will be more for the pot!

dustydigger

Bad morning. Woke up and got dressed,but it was only 7 am,the heating had only just kicked in,and I knew it was warmer in the bedroom than downstairs for at least 30mins,so decided to lie back on the bed and do a little reading till 8am.Was slowly and carefully lying down to avoid setting off the vertigo when....... another nosebleed!:eek::eek: Pillow case and sheet down side of bed saturated.Fortunately a toilet roll was handy,but the blood comes very fast and soaks the tissue,so I hurried downstairs to get my little bowl.Bled for about 20 minutes.,ruined another T shirt.
Found a good website with helpful tips on treatment and prevention. I am on a blood thinner since I had a mini-stroke in 2013,which of course is slowing down coagulation. I am going to abandon them for a few weeks till all the inflammation etc in the nose improves.No hot drinks for 24 hrs sadly.
After cleaning myself up(once again my hands looked like Jack the Ripper's after one of his evenings out,and the mouth and chin looked like I was a zombie. after a tasty munch) I then had to get the blood out of the sheets and pillowcases,and then put them in the washer.No way will I iron them,they'll go back on the bed all wrinkly.I detest ironing.Mr Dusty does all the ironing in our house,the only household task he will do apart from washing dishes but he's away,so wrinkled sheets it is:rotfl:
next up was phoning Asd@to complain about my bag of fruit being missing. The delivery girl yesterday said someone would pop in during the day with it,and I waited all day.Would have liked to go to bed or lie down,but needed to be nearby.You know what a long day it makes waiting for someone.:mad:
This morning it took 12 minutes in the queue to tell Asd@off,sitting on the hall stairs,very cold,but they quickly ordered a refund,it went through immediately. But no fruit! Ah well,my diabetic nurse told me to cut down on fruit. I used to eat 7 or more pieces a day,my fave food! I was rationed to 2 pieces - and now I have none!:rotfl: Its just not my week,is it.:D Bowlfuls of blood are not helping my anaemia. Will have to step up my sardines, beans,and beetroot,and broccoli in peanut butterBut cant cope with sorting out a SW plan Too stressed out.
Feeling rather weary and down,so I am off to lie down(head on towel,bowl tissues and newspapers on hand. Its a learning curve !)and try to do some reading.havent completed a book since 4th:(:( Thats not like me at all!

dustydigger

Happy Mother's Day,bit belated but never mind.After a very expensive 14 days for the family with 3 birthdays and a new baby in the family to buy for I was all for a frugal Mother's Day.I always feel a bit guilty that Xmas my birthday and Mother's Day come so close together in the year! So I got a little cash,now have £20 in am@zon gift cards to buy books,and some pretty silk artificial flowers. I always fret about how expensive fresh flowers are,and they are gone in a week anyway,so I am much happier with these,that look more like a bunch from a country garden,which is very enjoyable. I've put them on the dining room window sill,makes me feel spring is near! I also didnt want to cope with a full on tribe invasion,so they came by separately for a short while. No outlay either for food,so very MSE:)
Slowly recovering from the vertigo,though cant bend yet,get woozy and havent been able to read much because of blurred vision. Only had one new tiny nosebleed,just a few drops really,so I am pleased that is going away.:T
Have been too depressed these last few days even to post on here,but I am determined to get on top of it and get back into the flow in many areas.This is the last week before Mr Dusty comes back and I have a host of things I want to do.
Was going to make lists and things but my eyes are still a bit dodgy. Unbelievably(for me) I havent read anything today,unheard of. Print books are still a bit uncomfortable to read,but I do have a book on kindle that I just acquired. I can zoom in on the print,and its just a novella,so perhaps I can manage that today.I'll try for an hour,then watch the next Wallander episode on TV,and perhaps manage to read a little more in bed.I think I will be much better by tomorrow:)

beanielou

Take it easy.

dustydigger

Thanks,beanie lou.:)
Going to attempt to get back into some sort of normality today.
First I have a dental appointment I needed a new partial denture (4 teeth) the old one has become insecure and wobbly. I'm sure my gums are shrinking rapidly with age.:rotfl::rotfl:
I will probably have an uncomfortable week breaking it in,I know from experience.
As soon as I come back I will be babysitting my 9 yr old granddaughter,aka the Imp. Poor kid has a terrible cold.Her mother will drop her off before going to work.She is normally such a tough kid,so her mother was taken aback at seeing her just in tears at feeling so rotten. Cue lots of warm drinks,watching kids TV,and singing songs and telling stories,and fingers crossed I dont catch the cold!:D
Anxious day waiting to hear from Mr Dusty,the court reconvenes today,but who will be there or what will happen is unknown.Fingers crossed for a verdict,but with a new magistrate,who knows?I am not at all optimistic.
Better go off and get ready for the dentists,10.15 appointment Glad to see the mist is clearing away,but it is so dark and dreary but its stopped raining for once.Once I get off the bus its about a 6 minute walk just a nice distance for my wobbly legs to get a little exercise.Last time I went it was in a blizzard during the horrible bad weather.Had to go by taxi each way.Today use bus pass much better in the frugal living stakes plus some exercise:rotfl:
Oh,and I finished the book I had been squinting at all week,plus the novella on the kindle,so the reads total is up to 6/14,not so bad.:)
Oh,and I had better take the cotton wool out of my ears right now in case I forget and go out with cotton balls sticking out. They are so warm and comforting with the ear ache that I dont want to take them out!:rotfl::rotfl:

redofromstart

Oh my those nosebleeds sound hideous. Hope they clear up soon for you.

With the kindle its worth keeping an eye on Patricia Wentworth, they had a run of putting the re-released ones on as free for a couple of days and I got most of them that way. I prefer the Miss Silver ones but the rest are usually an ok read.