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

missymoo81

Hey @Elisheba sorry it’s taken me so long to catch up. Sounds like you’ve had a lot going on. I’m so sorry about your bereavement big hugs. Also that’s rubbish about your job. Hopefully others will struggle with the idea too and your  boss will decide against it over time. How’s your dog doing? 

Love the sound of an open fire but we live in a relatively new house which doesn’t have a fire and can’t afford to put one in. What are your Christmas plans, are you seeing family?

Elisheba

SuzeQStan said:

 I wish I had an office to go to mainly because I miss seeing real people and also am fed up of paying to heat my home office. We lost our office premises during pandemic and it’s all cloud based working for the foreseeable for me. 

Christmas do sounds nice tbh - sometimes it’s worth the extra effort & expense - often find that you have the best time when you aren’t expecting it / not looking forward to
it so much. 

Nice one on the BB savings for your bro - you will have him converted to the ways of the MSE 😊

Yes, I quite like seeing everyone, it's just expensive and a long, tiring day when I do go onto the office. I was quite happy going in once a month - once a week seems excessive to me 😂.

Elisheba

jcriyadh said:

Hi Elisheba, I’m really enjoying your diary, so thought that I would say hello and add that I bought my Instapot Duo from FB marketplace for £25, now that everyone has gone air fryer crazy.  Might be worth a look?  Loving your journey so far.  

Welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying it! I keep meaning to read back through it myself - I'm very forgetful, so I'm sure all the things I've forgotten might inspire me!

I was after the Instantpot that is an air fryer and pressure cooker, and as its only been out a couple of years it doesn't really appear in the second hand market yet. 

Elisheba

Makingabobor2 said:

Shame about the bad weather. We had rain this morning but the sun was out by lunchtime. 
Could you not have a word with your boss and explain the reasons why you don't really want to have to travel to the office?  Some bosses can be quite understanding.  I must admit I'm quite glad I don't work anymore. 

He seems to be in a bit of a strop about the whole thing for some reason, so I think I'm best just getting on with things until whatever has irked him ceases to be irksome 🙄

Elisheba

missymoo81 said:

Hey @Elisheba sorry it’s taken me so long to catch up. Sounds like you’ve had a lot going on. I’m so sorry about your bereavement big hugs. Also that’s rubbish about your job. Hopefully others will struggle with the idea too and your  boss will decide against it over time. How’s your dog doing? 

Love the sound of an open fire but we live in a relatively new house which doesn’t have a fire and can’t afford to put one in. What are your Christmas plans, are you seeing family?

My dog loved having my brother down, and followed him everywhere. My brother kept sneaking him food as well, so since he left my poor dog has been heartbroken and is apparently starving to death, or so he tells me 😂.

Yep, going up to Scotland for Christmas to see the fam. We are all going out for Xmas Dinner (which Mum is very kindly paying for) so that will be lovely and minimal stress. 

Elisheba

Evening, frugal friends, 

I have been treating myself today. I finally decided on the 8 litre Instantpot Duo Crisp +Air fryer. It was reduced from £200 to £160 in the BF sale, and I bought it from Argos so was able to get 7% off an Argos gift card through work, so payed £150 something for a £160 gift card. I also bought the gift card with my Amex card, so will get 5% back on that, so altogether I think I will pay £142.50. So, if I must treat myself I am pretty certain I got the best possible price. Its all budgeted for, albeit its December's budget! I don't feel bad buying something which should be an investment and will save me money in the long run. 

The 6 litre one was about £30 cheaper, but all the reviews I watched seemed to prefer the 8 litre one. I figured better have room for various things than it being to small. So I'm glad I didn't compromise on the size. 

It's going to take me a little while to get the hang of it. I used it tonight and added too much fluid. I always do that with my slow cooker as well. I'm so used to evaporation. 

I asked my siblings and my brother would like my old slow cooker, so I'll be able to get that out the way. It was a gift years ago from my former mother in law, so will be nice to gift it forwards. 

I had to drive a 30 mile round trip in the wind and rain at lunchtime to collect the new Instantpot. Turned out (after I had bought the gift voucher) that the Argos 5 minutes from me didn't have any in stock 🙄. The place I drove to was in an absolutely massive Sainsburies, and I only resisted having a look around and buying some bits through sheer will power - you should be very proud of me 😂.

Other than that excitement, it has been a quiet day. Got quite a bit of work done, and spent the time after work playing with the new toy 😂. I just barely managed to resist buying some 99p Kindle books. Making sure I don't have card details saved on Amazon is probably one of my biggest moneysaving tricks!

Tomorrow is just work really. I'll have an early night tomorrow as I have an early start on Saturday as need to drive down to Ashford for a friend's charity quiz, and it 3 1/1 blooming hours away. I'll need to make more bread tomorrow, and if I do that in the morning I'll have toast and cheese and beans for lunch. Dinner is more veggie mince and tatties, and Greek yogurt mixed with my home made plum and cinnamon jam (utterly lush).

Wishing everyone wonderfully sweet dreams tonight. 

Cheery_Daff

Very impressed at you not buying anything in the big Sainsbury's!

Makingabobor2

Bargain on the airfryer, but a pity you had to drive so far. I keep thinking of getting one, but its a bit of a minefield and I'm not really sure which is best or what I could actually cook in them or how. Think I need to research more. 

Elisheba

Makingabobor2 said:

Bargain on the airfryer, but a pity you had to drive so far. I keep thinking of getting one, but its a bit of a minefield and I'm not really sure which is best or what I could actually cook in them or how. Think I need to research more. 

Yeah. Its worth watching YouTube videos. They gave me a really good idea of how they worked and what they could do. I wasn't sure at first, being veggie, that it would be very useful for me, but with the energy costs just now, even using it for stews, risottos, and potatoes done most ways, seems quite economical. 

Elisheba

Evening all, and happy Friday, 

I've been curled on on my sofa most of the evening with my heated hoodie and a blanket, reading Remainders of the Day by Shaun Bythell, his third book about a year in his bookshop in Wigtown. I visited the shop in the summer, and bought and read his second book then, so as well as being amusing and enjoyable, reading the third one is reminding me of summer days.

Had a quick glance at Amazon earlier and some of the Stanley flasks I have on my wishlist were reduced. However, I've bought the Instantpot now and that has used my spare cash, so the flasks will just have to wait until next year. I have some much poorer qualities ones I can use in the meantime.

I took my dog a walk at lunchtime, and picked up a prescription and popped into Waitrose for some bread and eggs at the same time. Managed the get the bread and eggs with yellow stickers, but they were still more expensive than Lidl. A lot closer to me though I suppose 😂. 

Other than that I'm just super glad it's Friday. I finished work at 4pm because I really wanted to read my book 😊. It's been cold today. I've managed to keep all of me warm without the heating on except my feet. They have been like blocks of ice most of the day, until I eventually filled up a hot water bottle and plonked it on them. It does seem to have solved the problem though and now they feel fine! 

Early start tomorrow. I'll try to get up at 6.30am but I'm not the best at early morning starts. My dog won't know what's hit him, being shuffled to the car at 7.30am. He's not a morning dog either.

I'll head to bed soon. Must remember to set my alarm!

Sleep well all 😴😴😴