NST Penny Pinching GoSober Stoptober

sashanut

Hi all :j


Challenge: Oops forgot this one yesterday! Don't smoke & rarely drink either, so it has to be giving up unhealthy snacks. All snacks fruit or nuts, however DD did kindly buy us 2 slices of cake as she went out to eat. It was 2 different flavours of those cakes that are 4 layers - look terrific BUT Tbh did not eat it - either of us - as the cake was dry & the icing so thick & very over sweet. Wouldn't tell her but threw it away....


Organise. Start as you mean to go on. Know the contents of your fridge, freezer and cupboards. Plan your meals around them. Cook from scratch. Don't buy anything you can make unless cost /time taken dictates otherwise. If you are new to turtle challenges or still have full cupboards you could try living from the cupboards. Lunch bacon sandwiches & supper HM chilli with pasta. Hand slipped as I was adding the uncooked pasta to the pot (large 3kg bag). Have now enough cooked pasta to feed the street...slyly added the rest of the stir fry to the chilli, hey no-one minds a bit of broccoli in their chilli right? No complaints anyhow. Sent a couple of portions over to DD.

Regular budget items should be set by 1st October. If you don't know how much you are spending on food or petrol, now is the time to find out. No purchases today.

No Spend Days. Aim for 20 (high target) or 15 (low). Am aiming for 15 but hoping for more. Now 16/15.

Improvise. Make do and mend with a creative twist. think of a substitute ingredient, how to make an old/broken piece of furniture last a little longer. Creatively shoved the rest of the stir fry in with the chilli to avoid waste. Well it did have edamame beans in it, so not a million miles away..

Exercise Four times a week at least (20 minutes minimum but can be done 10 minutes at a time). Get outside in daylight as often as possible. Outside with beasts but very cold & a bit rainy so efforts today indoors rather than outdoors.
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Christmas Found more hamper kits in sun room as I was clearing it out, so no need to buy for this year's gifts. Also lots of items in spare room can be used for gifts.

Banned Will only be chippys normally with the odd takeaway planned for a celebration etc. No takeaways today.


Extra Income and Extra time Survey done for extra points. Another one to do today. Cashback tracking on previous purchases.

Report in, daily if possible I'm here..


Go turtles !!

f0xh0les

Wastenot fair was crazy!
Some was buy-a-bag for £2 and you could fill it, some was free, some was pay-as-you-feel. Bit confusing, and it felt a bit rude to ask - do I pay for this bit or is it free with the bag, and I think one lady took it the wrong way, but hey-ho. I will now know for next time.

Also had a scoop stall for things donated to the junk food project - jam jars to fill with wholemeal flour/ sugar/ salt / pasta etc. again pay as you feel. Lots of bread, rolls, muffins, cake etc from supermarkets who were going to chuck it. So much stuff saved from being wasted, but still, it really brought home how much is quietly going to waste, and nobody knows......

It made me plug in my satnav and go places I don't usually go to. Some have been 25 mnutes away, some 7 minutes away and I have realised the borders of my little world have been getting smaller and smaller as I have not been going anywhere, in order to not spend any money. This has to stop. I am channelling my inner Freddie Mercury and breaking free.
Yay to satnavs, yay to driving licenses, yay to the big breakdown truck lit up like a Xmas tree that picked up the car with no insurance or tax that it had clamped last week, and the owner had just cut it off with bolt cutters and left it by the side of the road, and then parked in the same place three days later. Mug.

Picked up a whole box of books from a lady wanting rid - pure pulpy tat. Perfect for curling up on the sofa for an hour while the rain hits the window.
Picked up some DVDs and books I have put away for Xmas for the kids from a lady moving and not wanting to take them with her - one of which was The Lost Boys which I am planning on watching for Halloween. No doubt it will cause a case of time travel. Funny how certain films remind you of the men you saw them with..... least said on that one.

Oh, yes, yesterday I also put on a new loo seat that I had bought previously and it has sat next to the bath, looking at me. Had a bit of a panic as I realised we were down to the last 7 loo rolls (large family problems!!) then realised honestly, we would be fine until Monday... no drama... I am not a nutter....honest.

Time to hoick your gloves and scarves out of hibernation.

dolly84

Someone tried to kick our next door neighbours front door in last night, the banging vibrated our house and we scared him off before he got in, our neighbours are away and worried sick now. We are nipping out today to buy some digital timers for the lights, some extra security for our front door and a new lock for the gate.

f0xh0les

Well done you for being a good neighbour!!

Kicking in the front door? That is brazen!

We were burgled in 4 houses on the bounce - in one, they tried to get in through the back, couldn't get in, so kicked the front door in.. our neighbour complained our burgular alarm had gone off all afternoon. Well we had been burgled! What did he expect? Confetti?

dolly84

f0xh0les - it was brazen, it was only 7.30pm, we would have seen him going down the drive but we had the curtains closed as it's so cold now. Your wastenot fair sounds right up my street, was just a local thing?

Kerry_Woman

clc and apple muncher - Thank you.
NSD achieved today 23/20.
Went for a walk in the park.
Had a very good night's sleep.
Survey done.
Used what I had in.
Chilled out day and self care.

mothernerd

A good day. Five boxes of craft materials have left the house (going to a craft group in Greenock to help young mother's socialise and avoid depression).



More rubbish/ recycling/ washing up and cardboard boxes collected. I ahve approximately 8 bags in the kitchen to deal with. Recycling bin (cans and bottles) is full so will have bags waiting for when the bin has been emptied on Wednesday. Did a brief flurry of taking cans back out of the bin and crushing them, to make more space. Will continue when I can but it was very cold.


Washing up is waiting (collected from my room, their room and the front room including stuff from under both couches). Paper bin is nearly full. Front room has been swept in stages after all the stuff was cleared from the floor. My ankle is throbbing and back is also sore (probably from couch moving). Windowsill has been cleaned (it's behind the couch which is DS3's office/ workstation . Had to pick up about 20 cables to get rubbish out of the corner. Found some boxes trapped between furniture last night and more today. It was hidden by the mountain of stuff on the little couch.


If possible I would like to go back in their room and bag as much rubbish/ recycling/ washing and washing up as I can but it's getting harder each time I do more. If I can get it out of there, it can be dealt with in stages.



Today I am grateful for a lovely day (cold but clear), for Mr Blackbird sitting on my wall, totally unafraid and for getting things done - so easy when I'm not trying to work round those two.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for being able to help a neighbour, for the extra hour of sleep, for mending a few of dd's toys that she had put in the 'toy hospital' for me, for getting some paperwork done, for homemade egg + chips for tea, for warm socks, for having a car, for dd not going back to school until Tuesday.

f0xh0les

dolly84 wrote: »

f0xh0les - Your wastenot fair sounds right up my street, was just a local thing?

It is a whole keep stuff from landfill / plastic reducing / community cupboard / supermarket waste redistribution hub mixed with freecycle and fakebook giving site crossed with a jumble sale and coffee morning.

Totally brilliant. :T

Do a search for wastenot + your county, and see what pops up.

lcc86

dolly that's crazy re the attempted burglary, I hope your neighbours are okay! Hopefully the fact that you acted so quickly will deter them from trying again.

Pretty long day today, on my feet in the rain most of the day. Had a nice ride out though this afternoon and timed it well so didn't get wet. Volunteering also went well, finally have more helpers so it's not such a mad dash any more. Absolutely knackered already though so an early night is in order! Last week in my current job starts tomorrow so at least work will be quiet, will be strange to leave after three years but the time has come to move on.