2021 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

3secondmemory said:

but one of the ladies who had been in at 6 to stock shelves saw my address and offered to deliver it all to my house when she finished at 11.00. What an angel!

I hope her manager (and higher) appreciate her

Viking_mfw

rolorich said:

So my frugal achievements this week....
1. signed up for the 4 months supply vitamin D distribution for clinically extremely vulnerable on the LAST day NHS offer open. 

2. Took advantage of a free annual neighbourhood pass to a local Manor House gardens. 

3. No takeaways this week.  

4. Continued knitting through my yarn stash and reading books I already own.  I finished a pair of Pink socks for my 3 yr old grand daughter and I’m 1/2 way through a jacket for her 10 month old sister. Will post them out to them hopefully this week when finished. 

Not so frugal...

1. hair clippers broke so had to buy a new pair but managed to get a branded pair 1/2 price so same as cheapest pairs available. Spent £20. Still save on hubs hair cuts massively this way!  

2. As shielded can’t take advantage of yellow sticker buying.  Using Iceland’s and milkman for delivery so food bill increased. 

3. I have a passion for small indie published books and ordered an annual subscription from Peirene Press for £35.  (Next 4 books they publish) They do translated fiction which I adore. 

4. I had to buy a mouse and mouse mat. 

Thought you'd bought the most expensive nail clippers in existence and thoroughly confused myself for a moment!!

3secondmemory

cw18 said:

3secondmemory said:

but one of the ladies who had been in at 6 to stock shelves saw my address and offered to deliver it all to my house when she finished at 11.00. What an angel!

I hope her manager (and higher) appreciate her

I’ve rung or messaged Customer Services in the past to praise the staff in the past. I shall be doing so again when I’ve recovered – it’s quite overwhelming going out when you haven’t been out for long time

YORKSHIRELASS

@roblou27 I enjoyed your post, its lovely to hear what other people are up to and it sounds like you have got things very well organised!  And @3secondmemory so lovely to hear of the kindness of that shop assistant.

Cooked breakfast eaten, going to do some tidying and sort DHs December accounts, so there wont be any spending here today.  I am trying to find things to do on an evening to stop the temptation for browsing online shops.  I am not crafty but when DS came home for Christmas he brought a crossword book and I enjoyed that so have dug out a puzzle book we had lurking in the back of a drawer.  I am missing the library and proper books, not very keen on reading on the kindle.

We had a lovely frosty walk yesterday.  I have had this idea about keeping a record of walks and cycle rides that we do this year, I got a very dodgy photo of a deer we saw yesterday and maybe I could make a scrapbook of some kind.

Right, I need to get out of my pyjamas, it's the afternoon!

3secondmemory

YORKSHIRELASS said:

@roblou27 I enjoyed your post, its lovely to hear what other people are up to and it sounds like you have got things very well organised!  And @3secondmemory so lovely to hear of the kindness of that shop assistant.

Cooked breakfast eaten, going to do some tidying and sort DHs December accounts, so there wont be any spending here today.  I am trying to find things to do on an evening to stop the temptation for browsing online shops.  I am not crafty but when DS came home for Christmas he brought a crossword book and I enjoyed that so have dug out a puzzle book we had lurking in the back of a drawer.  I am missing the library and proper books, not very keen on reading on the kindle.

We had a lovely frosty walk yesterday.  I have had this idea about keeping a record of walks and cycle rides that we do this year, I got a very dodgy photo of a deer we saw yesterday and maybe I could make a scrapbook of some kind.

Right, I need to get out of my pyjamas, it's the afternoon!

In hindsight I could have just got an Uber but I wasn’t thinking straight or quickly. Also trying to save money. 

I really enjoyed the walk to the bus this morning. It was crisp and clean, and for some reason I get more oxygen through my surgical mask when I’m in a cold atmosphere rather than a warm one. I find it quite easy to walk with a mask on but very difficult to talk inside with one. And the glasses steaming up – that really doesn’t help. I rest them on the top of my head which distorts the frame, then I pull multiple strands of hair out when I go to put them back on 🤦‍♀️

StrawberrySuze

I made a lovely frugal tea last night of spicy Italian style roast veg and tomato topped with goats cheese, the goats cheese was free using Shopmium or CheckoutSmart, I can't remember which! I usually check them before I do shopping at any of the big supermarkets, it is a good way to try some different things. For anyone who is not familiar, if you click on the words it should take you to their websites 😊

Today I have invested £3 in a magic bag via toogoodtogo from a local bakery, I am quite excited, my last magic bag contained 2 cream cakes amongst other items, I am hoping for more today! little things.....😅

StrawberrySuze

3secondmemory said:

When I got to the checkout and said that I wanted a home delivery, she said they couldn’t do it because they had too many online orders. I was almost on the verge of tears but one of the ladies who had been in at 6 to stock shelves saw my address and offered to deliver it all to my house when she finished at 11.00. What an angel! I managed to get the 10.48 bus home and arrived just as she did 😃

How lovely of her 🙂

roblou27

3secondmemory said:

Finally decided to do a shop in person so I caught the 9.45 to my local Iceland and went straight in, checking on the way that they were doing same day deliveries. Knowing this I stocked up on milk, long life milk, and fizzy drinks because I have an unquenchable thirst, plus lots of weight-inducing treats. 

When I got to the checkout and said that I wanted a home delivery, she said they couldn’t do it because they had too many online orders. I was almost on the verge of tears but one of the ladies who had been in at 6 to stock shelves saw my address and offered to deliver it all to my house when she finished at 11.00. What an angel! I managed to get the 10.48 bus home and arrived just as she did 😃

I bought 1kg of topside which I will do in the slow cooker. I will get a couple of roasts out of that and use the rest of the bases for my meals/sandwiches for the rest of the week. 

Aww what a lovely thing to do, there are some lovely people out there. We had a similar thing happen to us over Christmas. We had our meat booked to be picked up by us at the butchers but come the Tuesday we had to self isolate and get a COVID test done as precautionary measure, long story any way we didn’t want to risk going to get so rang up the butchers and they delivered it to us on Christmas Eve. They don’t do deliveries but took time out of their busiest day to bring it to us. We got our negative result back the day after Boxing Day. Am picking up a thank you card tomorrow to thank them. 

roblou27

YORKSHIRELASS said:

@roblou27 I enjoyed your post, its lovely to hear what other people are up to and it sounds like you have got things very well organised!  And @3secondmemory so lovely to hear of the kindness of that shop assistant.

Aww thanks Yorkshirelass, I think the same I have picked up so much information and tips that over the years of lurking that  have made a real difference. I am  a worrier so need to see things in black and white and create it so I understand it. Over many years when I was younger my dear departed Mum tried to show me how to budget. She was excellent and accounted for every penny. I never did understand her system but have found one that works for us. She would be amazed.😂

MazzieD

@roblou27 I agree with the others, it's good to read your posts and I'm impressed with what you're doing!.

Think I'll walk and pick up the plant pots, it's not too far and they are unlikely to be heavy.  So much free non-food on Olio but still hoping that I might manage to grab some food.  Can't believe how quickly any fruit or veg gets claimed, there really isn't much available here.