Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

mark55man

Ladies

I understand your bother about football. But imagine 2 or 3 programmes that were on 365 days a year sometimes 3 times a night.

Yes I am talking about the soaps. So I think you probably end up on top of the deal. Or maybe that's just our household xx

So 3 times a decade for world cups and euro cups isn't too bad is it now?? And it is at least quite MSE apart from the odd beer

dustydigger

lonelyrat wrote: »

I'm really interested in everything you find out ancestry wise. It's something I would be keen on looking into in the future. I know little to nothing about any of my family... Maybe I need to take a visit to my gran to pick her brain!

Phone her up(Is she back in England?) and ask her does she know anything.She can send you a letter with full details.
All my parents' generation were gone when I started doing my tree,and that is a massive drawback.Most of us have a reasonable knowledge at least to grandparent level,but your gran will probably have at least some knowledge of HER grandparents.You now have a tree,including yourself,of five generations,an excellent basis to start with.
My mother never ever talked to me about her family,and it took a lot of hard work digging it up. So any sources -aunts,grandparents are a goldmine.The more info you have,the less expensive certificates you have to buy!
I am certainly willing to spout off about my family tree. A new audience would be nice as my kids are either bored stiff or shocked by what I've found!

But not now,I am off to make dinner - roasties (as ever) carrots, cabbage, beef.
Plus do an Asd@ home delivery list. Its a month since I had a delivery,really happy that I managed not to do one this fortnight,just used up stuff got for the visitors,and did top up shopping locally,but I do need a lot of things now,including fruit and veg, drinks and tinned stuff,and laundry stuff etc.Takes about 15 minutes,but sure beats dragging a wobbly trolley round the supermarket,searching for stuff,adding lots of unnecessary extras,packing them,and then waiting 20 minutes or more for a taxi!

dustydigger

mark88man wrote: »

Ladies

I understand your bother about football. But imagine 2 or 3 programmes that were on 365 days a year sometimes 3 times a night.

Yes I am talking about the soaps. So I think you probably end up on top of the deal. Or maybe that's just our household xx

So 3 times a decade for world cups and euro cups isn't too bad is it now?? And it is at least quite MSE apart from the odd beer

You are right,Mark. Mind you ,I never watch the soaps at all,ever. I watch very little live TV,my computer is on all the time,but when I do it is on demand stuff - history,art,pop culture mostly on BBC4,or gruesome detective stuff from 4 on Demand,much of it in foreign languages with subtitles! Mr Dusty watches news,nature documentaries and sport,and though he has his own TV in his ''den'' he likes the big screen downstairs if possible,so I see an awful lot of news.:mad: Soaps are an extinct species in our house,but I can imagine how trying it must be for you.:(

mark55man

Hope Mr Dusty is enjoying the football and not being too raucous. Hope he's having a break now half time is here

dustydigger

End of fortnight,and actually had a tenner left in the HBB (household budget box):j

Then I started sketching out the next fortnight's budget -£291 from Mr D,£71 pension,my usual total of £362.Ouch! Instead of the usual surplus going into various accounts I was £38 short!:eek:
Of course there were reasons for this,the first time since starting on MSE to exceed the budget. I have set up a new DD of £50 pm for the USA trip,and a SO of £20 for a miscellaneous ''pot'' for recurring expenses, like saving for yearly laptop and home insurance,plus things like birthdays,passport etc. etc
Also my Asd@ shop was £73,at least £20 over normal,but it was a full month since the last shop,there was a lot to refill!:D
I will use that £10 surplus from this FN.and add the other £28 from my ''float'',ie my current account.There should be a surplus next FN when there are fewer DDs etc to come out, to put away some money for Xmas - but not this fortnight:D:D

dustydigger

Grrrr! wanted to check out my online banking situation,only to get apologies that the site was down,and they were striving to correct the situation.:mad:
Oh well,will try again tomorrow.
I'm off now to do a bit reading,have never opened a book today.:(Mr D has had footie on all day and in between he has wanted me to look for things on his phone,find out football results,send emails and texts for him (he's rubbish at typing,ten times worse than me!).Supper is in progress,I have a free hour.YAY!I should be able to finish off Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost,and I have 6 days left to blitz through possibly 2 more books I have in progress.That will be 11of my original 14 books read :j

dustydigger

Wow,its a scorcher today,my head was burning just from walking to the bin!:)
New fortnight,and also I am getting back into the MSE stream again,after 2 weeks chill out.
chores still to do:

+clean outside of back door.Why make white doors?:)
+hoover sitting room,clean fireplace,clean glass TV table -it collects so much dust!
+do the salmon for Mr D.(potatoes already on),and a big salad for me.I always sigh and wrinkle up my nose about salads,but when I actually get round to eating them,I enjoy them!:D
+prepare my Frugal fortnight budget.,and finally get all my various bank accounts sorted with cash tranferred if required.Ready for a new regime of saving!
+go for a walk.but not till evening its far too hot.supposed to be 21C but it feels hotter than that - because our normal cold sea breeze has completely died down.We are so not used to no wind.The ''real feel''is usually 4 or 5 degrees less than the official figure.Not today:T:rotfl:
+ dig in reading the last few books on my June list.Already got most of my July reads lined up
+look up a few more ancestors,my subscription runs out 6 July I think.I am back to the 1710s I hink with my paternal line,but there is a scarcity of info:mad:
+ start intermittent fasting,which cuts down a few calorieswhile I ponder which slimming regime suits me best
.........oops.I should be in the kitchenlots to do

dustydigger

Phew!Just returned from my walk. Thought it would be much cooler by now but it was still very warm and close.I was struggling for breath coming back,and was a bit wobbly.
Took 35 minutes to do 1.15miles (abt 30 minute mile),3629 steps.Pretty pathetic by most people's reckoning,but considering that 6 months ago I couldnt even hobble the 80 yards to the corner shop in less than 5 minutes and in agony its a big improvement.:)

And when you start low,the only way is up!:rotfl::rotfl:
Still things on my list of tasks for the day not done yet. No budget done,very little reading,no family tree. Instead I fell asleep in the afternoon for more than an hour.Only 4 hours of broken sleep,so by the afternoon I am shattered.And even after I wake up I feel so sluggish it takes another hour to pull myself together.:mad:Didnt even have Mr Dusty watching footie today, he watched it in his ''den''.

dustydigger

Dusty's Frugal Fortnight : 25thJune - 8th July
Budget : £291 from Mr Dusty,£71 pension, £10 carried forward from the HBB and £39 which I had to transfer from my ''float'',my CA. - £410 in total,much more than my normal £361

Outgoings ;
Save the Children DD - £3
Water Aid DD - £3
USA fund DD - £50
Mixed Bag DD - £20

duel fuel - £81
phone and broadband - £28
Asd@ home delivery - £73
monthly delivery charge - £5
hairdresser - £6


total outgoings £269
cash for HBB (home budget box) - £141
total budget- £410

---

It looks like I am going to have to think more on a monthly than fortnightly basis to some extent. I intend to only use cash this FN from the HBB,and will try to be very sparing with my spending,so that there will be money to carry forward for Xmas savings in the next fortnight.It seems now with all this big extra saving £50 p.m.for the USA trip, while saving £80 for Xmas and bills, life is going to be somewhat harder than in the past!£180 a week has to go a long long way.
Nothing going to the Xmas fund at all this fn.:(

dustydigger

Woke up to cold fog,but its melted away now,looks like another nice day.
tasks for the day;
+ load of washing,already in
+empty and clean out the kitchen swing bin,make it smell sweet!:)
+sweep and wash down stairs,and clean the phone.It gets so grimy as there is a main road and a bus stop a few yards down.All those greasy fumes! (if the phone gets grimy,imagine what is happening to our lungs.yuck)
+ remember to check on surveys. I sent a stroppy text to MySurvey and got a grovelling apology,seems they have been having server problems.Its still dodgy getting onto the site,it can take up to 2 minutes before my sign in works,and I am screened out of many surveys as usual,but I did get 120 points for one this am. On another one I had completed 27% when I was suddenly ejected,was not amused.So around a quid for 40 minutes onsite,hardly excellent,but I now have no cash available for books at all,and if the darned site actually works I can make £5 in Amaz*n vouchers every 3 weeks or so,which is useful for books.Most I can get free at the library or read online,but sometimes I need a book for a group challenge etc,and the vouchers come in handy.
Its now 14 days since I had a OnePoll survey,They only pay 10p-15p a time anyway,but I have £8 accumulated and I dont want to lose it.But when I finally get to £30 (!!!!!!!) it will be bye-bye OnePoll.
+make Mr D chicken pasties for dinner. Potatoes just been put on. Am feeling very frugal this a.m. because I checked the prices of ready-chopped spring greens at Asd@with their unchopped,and unchopped costs about half the c.hopped price.Ouch.So I bought the unchopped.:D
once again it will be salad for me.
+hobbies:spend the afternoon doing family history stuff,and some reading.Several books in progress and have read 320/443pp,229/363pp,and 82/211pp. Should finish at least 2 of them before end of the month,but probably not all three.
+ do a 4000 step walk,but after 6 pm,nearly killed me in the heat yesterday:rotfl: