**Insert witty diary title here**

moving_forward

Does anyone have experience of best gadget to watch TV on without a sky box? We have a firestick somewhere. The Freesat box is in the loft but probably past it as it's about ten years old 🤣
We have a dish and a normal TV Ariel but not sure if it's any good 

WinterWarrior

We have everything, sky, prime, netflix, Disney 😳, but….we hardly go out socialising so tv works out considerably cheaper than nights out, trips to the cinema, etc. And feels like money well spent. I’m sure we could trim it down if absolutely necessary.

Naomim

@moving_forward I would think a firestick would be your best bet.  If you have prime & Disney+ then the free apps BBCiplayer, itvhub for catching up. I think you can add your netflix to it but would need to check.

moving_forward

Thanks WW and NM. 
We don't have Netflix -yet 🤣
We had it in the past but cancelled when we got a bit bored. We don't go out hardly ever, not out out anyway, so we see our subs as entertainment. It's just the tie in with sky I don't like. Prime we have anyway for the postage and Disney is proving worth getting a WW annual sub for but 18 months irritates me. 

Naomim

We have Virgin but it irks me as it's only mainly for sport for MrM. I could live with just the apps for catch up.  I got rid of Disney+ as we weren't watching it enough. 

moving_forward

Not watching Disney + enough? Oooh mega marvel and starwars fans in this house. Though to be fair that's why I keep it at monthly sub incase we get bored.

My friend has encouraged (some might say shamed) me into trying a week's shop at Aldi again instead of my tried tested and much loved lazy Waitrose shop being delivered to my door. Me and Mr M_F have agreed it's a good idea to give it a go for the last week of the month providing the following:
1. No browsing the middle aisle for much covenanted power tools -ooh mig welder we always wanted one of those.
2. No browsing middle aisle for craft stuff -washi tape does not count it's needed 😉
3. No browsing middle aisle for home stuff -can you see where this is going??
4. Just stay out the middle aisle ok 😵‍💫
5. No overfilling trolley with cheap chocolate and biscuits and other junk

You see we find it difficult to resist "bargains" and as Waitrose is slightly more expensive we save money as we don't fill up on stuff not needed. If we can stick to the plan and channel our inner frugalists we should save some dosh.

moving_forward

Morning diary readers contributers and lurkers. 
Yesterday was quite successful as both bathroom and kitchen were deep cleaned by me (BR) and Mr M_F (K). Now our deep clean is probably comparable to a normal persons weekly clean but hey ho.
We ate lunch at home before going off to get a few provisions and visited a localish park during our jaunt to feed the squirrels. We had to walk a bit to find a squirrel as the one we always see when we feed the ducks was no where to be seen. Our one lonely squirrel was very grateful for our left over Xmas nuts in their shells and it was a delight to see him scuttle off to bury his prize before returning and giving us the look of "well I'm here more nuts please". 
We didn't take dog as she doesn't appreciate being dragged out her bed in cold weather unless a nice long car ride is on offer. 
The afternoon was spent catching up on you tube and updating our budget. A check of the sinking funds made me realise we had more than plenty in there so I transferred a small amount to the current account to keep us going and have left another £170ish in a different account. I may put this in emergency savings PB,s but I'm leaving it for now incase anythings forgotten.

WinterWarrior

Good morning mf. How lovely finding more than enough in the sinking funds…living the dream! 

I would love to have squirrels, but there’s a squirrel shortage up here 😖 We seem to have most everything else.
I’m very impressed with your deep clean, are you expecting visitors? 😬

moving_forward

How did you guess WW plumbers coming tomorrow to service the boiler 🤣
I was going a bit gung ho with the sinking funds trying to fund it all in one go but watching frugal queen in France I realised I have a year to fund them (2 for glasses) and as it's not all due at once I'm taking a scenic route 🤓
I've never done them before always relied on credit or bonuses but I was leaving us a bit short for the monthly spends.
We used to have squirrels in our old garden but have to venture out to see them now. Not many trees on our estate. We have planted a couple of small ones but as tiny gardens not big enough for squirrel homes unfortunately.

WinterWarrior

We have trees, just not squirrels ☹️ I think I saw a monkey once 🤣 I’m not kidding either, it may have been a pine marten or a polecat or something, but I’ve never seen it since to get a good look ☹️

Frugal queen in France you say? (Bumbles over to google).