What small DFW things will you do w/c 31st January?

foxgloves

Hello all,
Welcome to all newbies. We love new folk on here.....especially if they know any daft little money saving ways we haven't yet thought of! mr f back at work today after a nice long break. House has felt really quiet & cat didn't know what to do with himself! Some useful frugal activity:
*Tonight's meal based on leftover Christmas bacon & chipolatas, etc.
*Leftover winter fruit compote & skyr for lunch - it was a lush combination.
*All of downstairs cleaned using minimal products & washable microfibre cloths.
*Two old hand towels cut up for the rag bag (first port of call for cleaning cloths for mucky jobs, windows, shoes, car, etc)
*Waitrose vouchers received in the post - more useful than last time, as they are all £4 off a £20 spend, which we are more likely to use than the bigger total spends.
*Finish writing up my new 2019 diary - converting from 2018's bullet diary - think I'll save my thoughts on that for my DFW diary update.
*Did next week's meal plans, bearing in mind that calorie counting resumes on Monday.
*Wrote shopping list.
*Made list of all useful stuff I can do in town tomorrow to save having to go in on the bus next week - We are still in a hire car (now a very long saga) which I am not insured to drive & I can't ride my lovely bicycle atm because of my sore tendon. Bah to all of that!
*Another 2 items added to charity shop bags - not money saving but they will both be nice finds for somebody else.
*Recycled our Christmas cards into gift tags for next year.
*Froze 50g leftover candied peel for my 2019 Christmas cake. I've done this before & it freezes fine.
*Baked the sourdough loaf I mixed up yesterday.
*Sent an email to chase a £5 voucher I am owed.
*Started researching B&Bs for a family get together in early Spring. I think we can get away with just 2 nights, which will be much cheaper than a week, even if we stay somewhere a bit more expensive per night than our usual preference. Shame it's too cold for camping, as that would be our preferred option.
*Now the festive break is over, I've gone back to having the downstairs heating off until 5pm. I do put it on earlier if it's really freezing outside, but I am conscious that our monthly energy payment decreases from this month & can go up again just as easily if we start using more than usual. I was so chuffed to see that reduction, I'd like to try & preserve it for at least a little while!
OK, I think that's it.
Hope everyone has a productive day.
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Evening everyone :hello:
Just a quick one from me this evening - I've been out all day and I'm tired.
It hasn't been mse but its been wonderful. I try and catch up with a good friend every school holiday - we're about an hour away from each other and take turns in visiting. She's been quite poorly over the past year, so when I visit her we tend to be out and about rather than in her house with her 'entertaining' me. So today was a long and leisurely pub lunch (I did have a voucher but there was me and ds eating), but worth every penny for the good food and even better company. We had a little walk about the shopping area and I spent a small amount in the £ shop (cat food, stuff for holiday and a box of tissues) followed by taking the kids to the park and letting them play while we chatted more.
Didn't get home until almost 7 - thankfully ds and I just needed snacky bits for dinner and dd had been out into town with her friends and eaten while out. However, I'm not used to all the fresh air and I'm feeling pretty tired now. I've done the dishes, another load of washing (always seem to be on with that), hoovered, changed the cat trays and am getting ready to relax for the night.
I've also looked over my frog list again, which is looking massive. I have on there that I need to start using my pressure cooker. Any tips DNMS?

Shortie

Evening all

A bitty day for us here - a bit pf tidying, a bit more loft sorting. I'm at the stage with the loft of making more mess.before it gets tidy - urgh

Dinner was made up from left overs from last night and I've done a menu plan

i can't believe wherr this week has gone!

Baileys_Babe

Today we plan to spend a couple of hours playing the new board games the children received from our friends earlier in the week. Our friends are passionate and knowledgeable gamers and are very good at selecting games for other people. We will also be enjoying the selection of home made goodies we received along with the games. Very good games, lots of fun had by everyone, the home made goodies were delicious

Me and OH need to sit down and look at the finances and make some plans for the year. rolled over

Todays plan:
NSD done
PAD done
Dry washing on airers done
Make bread done
Soak porridge done
Make muesli rolled over
Meal plan rolled over
All food and drink from stores done

Hopefully I will add more later.

Other things we managed were:

Collected OH car from the body shop, from when it had been hit by a stolen car at the beginning of December, about to week's earlier than anticipated, nothing to pay :money:
WM set to run over night.
Return something for a refund as parts missing.
As the fire was lit, the kettles were on top heating hot water, which has been mainly used for numerous pots of tea.
Home educated children for free.

Spent most of the day together as a family making lasting memories, playing games, reading stories, watching a film, doing some quizzes and crosswords, no cost and joyful hopefully when my children are adults they will remember the time they spent with my parents.

PurpleFairy26

Morning all :hello: it's the weekend :j time to think about getting back in to a routine so Monday doesn't hit us too hard

Today will look like this:
All recycling out to be collected bu council leaving more space to sort stuff
Something from freezer for tea
Portion up chicken and freeze
may make a big batch of chicken curry and freeze some
Investigate 'bread product' shelf in freezer and see what can be eaten as a priority/ worked in to meal plan
Continue tracking water intake, definitely making me feel better
Use some more of my product stash, having one by bed helps
List 10 things on selling sites, have a bid on one thing I listed earlier in the week, this will involve some sorting so doubly productive
Cook some chicken legs I bought for new year and we didn't use. They'll do for packed lunches
Put 3 items to be returned in my car. We may go tomorrow if we're feeling like it.
Vacuum my car
Small to party, regifted present and card from stash
Make a list of cards needed for the next 6 months so no impulse buying

Have a good day everyone. Purps.

Dickenslass

Morning all!
Am chewing a great big frog today (boring admin online job) sat with my feet on a HWB without heating on, as will be out from midday so no daytime heating here!
Have watered indoor plants from cold hwb - not sure if rubberised water is ok for them!?
Lunch out today but combining a planned social with a long coast walk so that’s ok.
Have carefully planned use of car for next few days to get plenty of jobs done.
Freezer-use-it-up stash will provide dinner for DD, her mate and myself later. Am enjoying knowing what’s there and will blitz both remaining food cupboards over weekend. The concept of a use it up box has been really helpful for me, thanks!
Determined to visit the gym, probably late tonight or more realistically, tomorrow morning
Have been more mindful thanks to others updates about timing jobs like the washing carefully. Have avoided having the machine on for a few days and it’s scheduled for tonight, with by then muddy jeans added!
There are some bananas that now really need to be baked or turned into something, probably tomorrow.
Right. Onto the frog. No more prevaricating!

determined_new_ms

Morning purps & Dickenslass BB you were posting late! The family times you post about always sound so lovely

So in order to finish my book that expired today I ended up staying up til 1.30 :eek: (the fact I've put a :eek: next to it tells me how far I have come from my party animal days of my young adulthood! :rotfl:) which meant we woke up late for pup handover & taking madam to swimming lesson. Cue mad dash to get madam, and myself, out the house for swimming lessons. Made it in the nick of time just to be told they aren't on till next week! :rotfl:

So have come back home to have a proper cup of coffee and get ready!

Things for today:

[STRIKE]* soak gammon joint [/STRIKE]
* friends coming late afternoon for playdate and roast. Will play games while they are here. All food with the exception of carrots & broccoli from stores
* hopefully I can palm off some of the junk while they are here
* sewing!
* quick spruce round but due to my insistence we try to be tidier haven't got a massive clean up first :cool: (I think I might be winning the battle! :T and only one row to get oh to take notice!)
* check onepoll - not expecting anything as I rarely get them at the weekend but you never know....
[STRIKE]* look through books and see what I'll start reading next[/STRIKE]
* need to cast on this second sock not sure if I'll have time!
[STRIKE]* made a batch of plant feed seeping a used teabag[/STRIKE] - house plants love cold tea!
* be nice to go for a walk this afternoon
* cut, peel, dice, portion & freeze massive squash

Ok that'll do for now

DawnW

Morning all
Got up early to go to a seriously rubbish flea market
It is cold, but not so cold as yesterday, and it was actually quite nice walking round picturesque neighbouring town just as it was starting to come to life. Had a coffee out as consolation
Home now for more coffee, and plotting what to do food wise - cauliflower cheese soup for lunch, haven't thought about dinner yet, but rest assured it will be something we already have! Got steak out of the freezer, allowed it to defrost and had it with a small jacket potato each and a big salad. Determined to shift the excess weight I have been accumulating since the end of the summer and what is more to shift some of OH's!
Other plans:
DD2's birthday today, not sure if she will come round (as she usually does on Saturdays - and other times....) or if she has other plans, but I have already given her a present, and posted her card Unfortunately DD is not well, which is a bit rotten on her birthday - baby also poorly

Kitchen cleanup Done
Put a couple of breadcrusts out for the birds - thought about making breadcrumbs and freezing, but I already have breadcrumbs, and I felt sorry for the birds this cold weather. Birds seem grateful! Done
Sort out overflowing airing cupboard Done
Fold washing currently on airer and put in tidy airing cupboard Done
List some more things on FB marketplace, and possibly ebay Done, but been messed about by one FB buyer which ended up wasting quite a lot of time
Dog walk later Done
Heating is on, but will go off later if it warms up / or when we light the woodstove Stove now lit, and kettle on top for 'free' tea

Two things done today that we have been putting off; OH replaced the rotten wood and support posts on the raised veg bed, and I phoned to make an appointment for measurement / quotation for the stair carpet. I am using the local company that did the carpeting and wood flooring when we renovated the house - not the cheapest, but we know they do a great job. In any case, 'cheapest' carpet for a high traffic area like our lower stairs would be a false economy.


Hope everyone has a good day

Baileys_Babe

DNMS As you say I was late posting last night, which is rare I was awake as I'm often asleep by 22:30. Like you in my young adulthood, I would have still been out partying for another couple of hours, no way could I do that nowadays.

Another grey, cold day.

Dd and I are going to an activity session this afternoon.

Plans for today:
Make museli rolled over from yesterday To be rolled over again
Talk to OH about finances rolled over from yesterday to be rolled over again
Meal plan rolled over from yesterday to be rolled over again
Make bread done
NSD done
PAD done
Turn off lights and appliances, not in use done
Home educate children for free done
Dry washing on the airer done
All food and drink from stores done

I'm expecting we will light the fire today if so place kettles on top for free hot water. done

After the activity session, we went to friends for a catch up and in the case of the adults, coffee and cake (children ate at the activity session). Her daughters and mine had fun playing and doing some crafts.

I'm off to bed now so good night folks.

Dickenslass

It’s taken me three weeks to get everything I needed together for this admin frog, only to log in (three times, in case restarting the computer helped) and discovered the system is offline for the weekend! Frustrating!
Have instead made my list of frogs for the year ahead. Got to 72 things that are bothering me but never get around to without even really trying. Some require significant £, but in most cases it’s just time and effort and maybe the odd small spend. Am retreating to the sofa to consider! x