NST February frugality and frolics

GlendaSugarbean

Checking in! Still on 6/25, grocery shop yesterday. Budget looking a bit tight with 1 week to go until I get paid, but a mini refund from a train delay has helped there. Savings pots intact, EF has increased, so all good.

Mothernerd: love the TV story! We had some of Youngest's friends over at the weekend and one exclaimed at our 'titchy' tv - 'How can you actually SEE anything on it?' It's certainly not small - maybe 30-odd inches? - and seems massive to us. It's a small room so a 50 inch telly would look ridiculous and dominate the whole space. I didn't point out that we had no TV at all for over 10 years, that would hand blown his little mind :rotfl:.

Hugs to e retime soldiering on. Spring is on its way .

Kerrymum: I'm coming up to the second anniversary of Mum's death next week. Then her birthday a couple of months later. Anniversaries are hard.

SpekySquarehead

Morning turtles,

Woohoo, finally managed another NSD yesterday #4. Today should be one too actually. I've probably jinxed it now though.

Glenda - I'm the same as you actually. My colleagues came round to my flat for the first time last week and asked if move the chair closer to the TV so I can actually see it!! Like you, it's a decent size!
Mothernerd - Those are some lovely little lumps of inspiration, I like that

dolly84

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

Checking in! Still on 6/25, grocery shop yesterday. Budget looking a bit tight with 1 week to go until I get paid, but a mini refund from a train delay has helped there. Savings pots intact, EF has increased, so all good.

Mothernerd: love the TV story! We had some of Youngest's friends over at the weekend and one exclaimed at our 'titchy' tv - 'How can you actually SEE anything on it?' It's certainly not small - maybe 30-odd inches? - and seems massive to us. It's a small room so a 50 inch telly would look ridiculous and dominate the whole space. I didn't point out that we had no TV at all for over 10 years, that would hand blown his little mind :rotfl:.

Hugs to e retime soldiering on. Spring is on its way .

Kerrymum: I'm coming up to the second anniversary of Mum's death next week. Then her birthday a couple of months later. Anniversaries are hard.

Same here with the tv, I don't know what size it is but it's a normal size for the room to me, I hate the big ones and think a massive tv mounted about the fireplace is the height of tackiness. TV does not dominate my life I suppose, in most cases I can take it or leave it.

Lovelifeloveliving

Hi all

Happy Valentines Day my lovely turtles

CCL My post must have passed your post in cyber space last night. Enjoy your well deserved holiday.

Sashanut Glad the car hunting has been productive.

Glenda Hugs

Mothernerd I hope you are feeling a little better today. Thank you for the inspirational quotes. After a trying morning with dealing with divorce paperwork and my ex husband's non compliance with court orders I found your quotes uplifting and they put things into perspective.

F Food Expenditure. Decide on your food expenditure for the month - do not exceed it.
£200 per month. £85.53/£200

E Excursions and entertainment should be planned before the month starts.
BF 50th birthday party 23/02/19
Concert - 2 night City break 24/02/19. Paid previously. Frugal efforts in February will provide spending money for the trip.

B Budgets should be set before the start of the month.
Spreadsheet updated with recent expenditure.

R Reduce your planned food expenditure in accordance with the table below. Will be tough, but will attempt it to keep as close to it as possible.
Reduced my food budget by £50 this month and will evulate at the end of February.

U Useful leftovers. If there is anything from last month or a previous challenge which you found useful, keep on doing it (tackling those frogs, ditching bad habits and replacing them with good ones). Small changes that last are preferable to dramatic ones that peter out.
Two more frogs dealt with. However, my list seems to be increasing weekly. On a positive note every frog completed is one less.


Aim to take your lunch to work every day (unless you have a free
or heavily subsidised canteen. Similarly prepare for hospital appointments or days out by taking your own food and drink when possible.
3/12. On annual leave today. Back to work tomorrow and I plan on taking my lunch.

R Remind yourself of what you have and be grateful. This is a tough challenge but I am not asking anyone to live on a bowl of rice a day. You can choose to add your gratitudes on here or to record them privately.
Grateful for a dry day, the washing blowing on the line, completing my paperwork and the evening ahead with my DP.

Y You should pay to your debt or savings first and live on what is left. Ideally pay it on the first of the month/ payday. I appreciate that some of you have money coming in at different times and may need to accommodate existing standing orders/ direct debits.
Credit card payment made.

S Spend Free Days (SFDs).
Aiming for 18 SFDs.
8/18.

R Regular check ins are recommended, daily if possible.
I'm here.

V Turtles generally avoid the consumer fest of bad taste on the 14th of the month. If you and your significant other choose to celebrate, make it yourself. If there is no significant other, then celebrate your singledom in whatever way you choose - pampering, slothing, singing a la Bridget Jones or hiding under the bedclothes. Think I will be doing pampering. See when the day comes around.
Looking forward to a relaxing evening with DP.

I Indoors/outdoors. Regular exercise is important. Will try and go out for a walk each day.
Indoors - I mentioned being a hermit. I would like you to see this as a positive step. Spring may be around the corner but winter often has a sting in its tail. Nurture and protect yourself. Huddle by the fire, go to bed early, read, have hot drinks and comforting home made soup. Recharge your batteries. Rest and conserve your energy. Guard your mental health. Write down 10 things that help improve your mood and practice them regularly.
No exercise apart from a little cleaning and tidying.

V Vending machines, coffee shops, takeaways (everything from an Indian banquet to a pastie or a bag of chips) are forbidden (except for those who have them as part of a budgeted family evening).
None

A Advance planning.
Meal planning and making meals from scratch (no food waste) are your friends.
Need to write a list of frogs I need to address.

Take care all. Xx

Toni'sfriend

I hate it when you can't figure out how to use the ipad and the resident tech expert is asleep.....because he's five and it's past his bedtime.

I love this. It could have been written for Himself and me. And it doesn't just apply to i pads. Anything to do with technology or anything practical elicits pitying looks from the neighbourhood children. And I am so glad it's not just me who hates enormous TVs. I thought it was just because I was a technophobe.

Hugs to Kerry Woman and CCL and anyone else who needs a wee bit of encouragement.

NSD No 4 today and a major achievement in that Himself has started a clear out of all the possessions that he has managed to hoard over the years. Going to take a long time but it's a start. And I've managed to eat a few frogs myself today.

Major row has broken out in the neighbourhood. The council have refused to empty recycling bins that contain non recyclable material. Problem is that some residents are using just any bin and shoving anything and everything in them. In our block only ours and one other were emptied and ours was only done because I'd removed rubbish that wasn't ours from it. Just can't understand the laziness of some people.

Hope everyone is well.

Kerry_Woman

apple muncher, Lovelifeloveliving , Toni'sfriend - Thank you.
GlendaSugarbean - Sending you hugs.
Walked to/from gp appointment. Don't have to go back for a while.
Gave some bits to cs on way to gp.
The hotel booking from yesterday I cancelled as the travel agent charged me more than what they said on the phone. Went to the hotel directly - was £52 instead of the £65 I was charged. Booked the shuttle to/from airport/hotel - £10. Overall total £62 compared to £75.
Watched a romantic film this afternoon.
Chilling out this evening.

mothernerd

Toni's friend I used to be in a union full of draughtsmen and engineers. We had a weekend school at an hotel and the only person who could operate the video player (was still VHS tapes in those days) was the manager's 12 yo son.

After years of telling my sons that technology goes wrong the minute I approach it, DS3 asked me if I was magnetic or something because he doesn't know anyone else who has these issues with their laptop.

Kerry Woman hugs from me too. Look after yourself. I was a bit hit and miss yesterday in my responses, sorry

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for lovely pupils, for a run in the sunshine, for getting some tidying up done, for deciding on a small present for mum - balm tissues! She is constantly using the loo roll - and squirrelling it away - so I hope a box of nice-for-noses tissues will stay out and be used. For hugs from dd, for my valentine's butterfly cakes staying risen, for plenty of birdsong.

mothernerd

apple if you google daa tamworth twiddle muff you should get links to ideas and patterns. Good for using up bits of ribbon, buttons and other bits you no doubt have lying about. Mum's partner was given one by the staff when he was in hospital. I don't think his children liked seeing him with it, they kept hiding it. So he fiddled with his hearing aids and glasses until he broke them, mum has a drawer full of shavers he took apart.

As I've said before, i think you can only adjust to the new version of the person you love. We provide things to help our children at each stage of their development, as we age we need things that help us to hold on to our faculties (physical and mental) as long as possible and accept our current reality.

sashanut

Hi all :j

Up early & off to DDs house to meet electrician friend to try & see what is wrong with her oven (has been broken for ages. After checking it out thoroughly he just had to replace one double switch plate & another plate thingy (technical term) - both were faulty. Oven & extractor now working perfectly, cost £15. Plus another boxed set of RU DVDs (different ones) to go with the other set I gave him. He did seem pleased, but astounded that someone should take the unopened set to the CS....

F Food Expenditure Aiming for £225 for the month, down from about £275.. already done a bit of spending so no NSDs as yet. Shopping already spent £139.56/225 . Made some purchases today/yesterday so need to add those on. Still to do.


E Excursions and entertainment should be planned. ...No excursions but planning a trip to Ireland before B-day but looks like they have changed the ferry crossings to make it vastly more inconvenient for us. However, DH is on the case & looking at alternative routes. Will be in March. Looks like we can make an alternative crossing & even though we need to stay overnight in a B&B it will be cheaper, so should book this week. Trip out planned for Monday.

B Budgets None set as yet - other than food - & all DDs already out.

U Useful leftovers Will also carry on with frogs. Need to make a list for DH also, there are plenty of things he can be doing. Massive frog today - inventoried one of the fridges -yaay! OK as we didn't go out I finally inventoried the other fridge, tons of stuff in there, quite amazing really..should mean hardly any more shopping although I've said that before. Started on the bedroom frog today - which is very big. Cleared out some paperwork for recycling bin & found a truly hideous teapot which will be going to the CS with me on Tuesday. Didn't take teapot as DH thought it might be worth selling, so will check first. No frogs today, out all morning then friend round all afternoon..Only garden frogs today

A Aim to take your lunch
Don't work outside the home other than volunteer at a CS but will aim to take snacks/lunch/etc when we go out. Didn't eat whilst out but waited till we got home, sandwich then. Will do.

R Remind yourself Lovely day, kindness of friends, supportive DH

Y You should pay your debt or savings first Have no debt other than a cc paid off in full each month. However, savings needed for dental work & also for house renovations, so will take care of that. Paid back joint account for dental work again. Will make another payment after this post. Still to do.

S Spend Free Days (SFDs still 7/18

U Use it up Keep using up what we have, have done some shopping already but should only need fresh F&V & bread, plus animals food/litter. Used up some things from fridge as I now know what is in there & what needs to be used up first. Food from stores for Valentines meal at home. Well Jamie Oliver might be able to make those meals in 30 mins but I sure as heck can't!

R Regular check ins Here

V Cards only .. in the nut household. Well it should have been but a plant mysteriously appeared with the card!

I Indoors/outdoors My only regular exercise is gardening, which I try to do most days. Walked a lot when away need to have slightly better weather to do much around here. Out with beasts at lunchtime then an hour in the front garden - which normally gets forgotten..

Indoors - being a hermit. Knitting at DDs whilst electrical work being done.

V Vending machines etc Rarely use but do have the occasional takeaway as part of family meal. Maybe once a month, but no plans so far. Had family meal out yesterday, no plans for a takeaway AFAIK. none planned.

A Advance planning This is a problem for me, I don't plan in advance but decide what to have on an almost daily basis. I know I have to get more organised, so will inventory both fridges...as a starting point. Have not inventoried yet , will do tomorrow. Done Fridge one. Fridge 2 to go. Done fridge 2.....have a loongg list on my phone. Need to see if I can meal plan for this week now I have an idea of what we have. Wont need tomorrow as we should be eating out, but for rest of week. Still WIP. Friday will be inventory day & meal planning..there, I said it now.

Garden prep - up to today - has been going on apace, not with planting as the ground has been frozen but with pruning & some greenhouse stuff. No veg as yet but it's a bit early for here. Will go through seeds - I have loads - and see what I need if anything. Also have lots of pots of paint for projects inside & outside the house - once decluttered enough to decorate.. Mulching borders is in hand although it will take me forever. One more load done. Amazingly DH has offered to help...well he will cut down some stuff that is too big for my loppers to cut. Fills me with fear tbh...he's not handy! Scheduled for rest of week if fine, dependent on car viewings too. Looks like Friday..weather predicted to be fine so it will happen.

Go Turtles!!!