Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Well, I wasn't able to drop off my Simply Be returns at the Post Office as apparently I now need to arrange for home collection by EVRI (there is a PO option but it seemed a bit convoluted). Working from home this isn't a problem, and at least I know now. It should be a £40 refund (or £25 if they take off the £15 discount over £100), and happily because all 3 tops were too big.

I did manage to post my Unison strike ballot letter. It was such a leading question - 'Are you prepared to take part in strike action?'. Sounds like they are asking if you will cross a picket line! May as well have asked 'Are you a scab?'. Well, I'm afraid I voted on whether I thought we should take strike action, which was no, but obviously if a strike is announced I'm not going to cross the picket line.. I've got enough left in me of my east end Glaswegian roots that I still believe in solidarity. 

Also got my library book collected, and the dog walked. Even although it is only low 20s out there and fairly cloudy, it was blooming hot. Both my dog and me are now having a rest 😊.

Thanks for the advice on mending the bras @foxgloves. I'm going to follow it. I am a very big cup size and my bras cost about £30, so need to make them last as long as possible!

foxgloves

@WinterWarrior - Years ago, I actually had a wire poke through while I was on stage singing an aria! I shan't forget that in a hurry.....trying to shove the damn thing in again afterwards before I had to go back on with the chorus!
F

badmemory

Well so far I have actually lost 2 wires (from different bras) I'm pretty sure they disappeared in the washing machine.  The machine is still working & the wires haven't made a miraculous reappearance.  I'm sure one of these days I am going to hear an horrendous noise & it will tear itself to pieces.

WinterWarrior

@badmemory could they just have worked their way up and fallen out of your top? I once had one pointing into my blouse like a third boob. I was in the office so had to push it back down without drawing attention 😬

badmemory

I wish it had but I hadn't left the house & they haven't turned up & its a few moonths ago now.

Elisheba

Oh dear, @badmemory. Sounds like the Borrowers have them! 

Elisheba

Good morning, frugalistas, 

It's a wet one here at Casa Elisheba, and lovely and cool. The forecast says it'll dry off around lunchtime, so I won't have to navigate a dog walk in humid heat with a raincoat thankfully. I might have to wear my walking boots though, which is a bit of a problem. I don't know if I said on here, but I'm pretty certain it was the new walking boots I got from Cotton Traders last Autumn that have been making the nerve pain in my hip and thigh so much worse than normal. They were much heavier than my previous ones, and I think walking with that weight kept pulling at the nerve, and hey presto, stabbing pain whenever I walked any great distance. 

So I'm avoiding wearing them now, which is normally easy enough in hot weather, but not ideal when everywhere is sodden! I'll need to buy some new ones - I keep meaning to have proper look in the outdoor shops near me as at this time of year there are lots of sales.

Ideally I'd love to go to one of the fancy shops where they take about 25 different measurements of your foot and mold the boots to fit you. Only problem with that is I have no idea where to find such a shop near me, and I'm not keen on paying £300-400 for a pair of boots which is what they would likely cost. It might end up being worth it though - I've had to buy 3 pairs over the last 4 or 5 years, which has probably added up to that. They just keep falling apart.

I tried to organise an Evri collection for my Simply Be stuff, but I'm not sure it worked properly. It didn't go to a confirmation page and I've had no emails. I figure they'll either rock up today to collect it, or I'll try again for Thursday if it doesn't happen. It's not urgent. At least it's all packed up now. 

On the to do list for today is logging onto the new credit card website and getting the app for it. All the details came through the post so should be straight forward. 

I made a curry in the Instant Pot last night, and my goodness, it was a breeze! Only took 10 mins from start to finish. I'll definitely be doing that again. I added too much liquid, so I might add some lentils to thicken it up for tonight's portion. I'll probably add the spices individually in future as well instead of using a jar of paste as that's not very good value.

I checked my running totals for this month's spending on Notion (so easy now all I need to do is filter on the type of spending, rather than manually add everything up). I'm way over for the month on food spending, which is what I expected. I think I'll have to increase the food budget. I can be more frugal, but I also want to have things like fresh fruit and vegetables, and a selection of seeds and dried fruit for my muesli, if I can afford it which I can. Now I'm not absolutely brassic, it's about deciding what I want to spend my money on.

Nothing much else on the money front for today. I got all my To Do list done in work yesterday, which I was super proud of, as it has been a while with the old mental health. 

Hope everyone has a fab day 😊

Elisheba

Oooh, I have found a place that do 1 hour boot fittings only a 40 minute drive from me, and they were the cheapest for the boots I was considering.  Have booked an appointment for Saturday

WinterWarrior

I got some Merrell boots, you can get cash back via top cash back and they have decent sales. I had some before and when they died, like you, I tried a cheaper version and like you they caused issues (turned my toenail black where it was rubbing), so I splashed out again and it was so worth it! 

I hope your boot fitting works wonders. 

Elisheba

Good morning, frugal friends, 

Thanks, @winterWarrior. I'm really hopeful getting properly fitted will solve some of the problems I've had where boots have developed holes on the creases. I have plantar faciatis as well so normally need to put an extra insole in for support and want to make sure there is enough room for that. Since I wear my boots everyday except in summer I'm prepared to spend a bit of money on them. I'll probably go up to £200 this time at a push, but I've seen on the website there are quite a lot around the £150 mark, so we'll see what they suggest.

I'm in the office today, but it's a different office so I'll need to drive. It's about an hour's journey depending on traffic, and in a lovely countryside location, so I'm thinking of taking my dog. I know other people there take their dog although I'm not sure if they keep them in crates in the workshop or have them in the office itself. My dog isn't crate trained and would go mental in an office so I'd have to keep him in the car. He absolutely loves the car, but I'm a bit worried about the temperature. Close study of the forecast says it'll be a max of 22 where I will be and cloudy. With the windows open and in the shade with access to water it should be okay. And I can take him a nice lunchtime walk, and if it does get too hot in the afternoon I can just leave early and work from home later.

Speaking of my dog he woke up about ten past two last night and started crying. I went down and I think he must have had a nightmare or something because there was nothing obvious wrong, he just wanted a cuddle. When I went back to bed there were two cats screeching for ages outside so it was hard to get back to sleep! 

I have some of the Instant Pot curry left which I'll take for lunch with some snacks. I added some lentils to it last night to soak up the excess liquid and it was really nice, although it did burn a bit on the bottom of the pot. Dinner tonight will be new potatoes, some sort of Quorn fillet and green beans. 

I remembered to log on to the new credit card online yesterday, and down loaded the app so that's one task done. Noone appeared for my Simply Be parcel (as I suspected) so I'll get it booked properly for tomorrow or Friday. 

Right, I had better go and get ready for the jaunt to the office. It is quite nice not to be at the mercy of train timetables and trains, even if it is bad for the environment. 

Have a fab day, everyone 😊