NST September 2021

thriftylass

Just a quick hallo, not sure where I stand. DH is away for the weekend and should have time to sort through accounts etc. 

Happy Friday

f0xh0les

I am on NSD #4 I think, I have only bought petrol since Wednesday, so I must be.

IT'S THE WEEKEND!!! School pick up over, everyone has had their snack and scampered off to plug themselves into some device or other.   The novelty of school has worn off, and the signs of tiredness are def. starting to show.

Stewed some free apples, just reading and relaxing for a while, DH has been at an online conference all day,  is gaming tonight, so a simple supper and relax.

Cleaned the bathrooms earlier, and all the bedrooms during the week, so just the ground floor to do at the weekend and then it all starts again on Monday.

lcc86

Evening turtles, NSD number 6 today. Did some online training which I had already done in an old job but good to have a refresher. Found out I may have to pay basic rate tax this month due to a mess up by both old and new employers... not impressed as it's yet another month skint but we'll see come pay day.

Managed a swim this morning which my back was pleased with. Walked to the pharmacy this evening to get my painkillers, my back was less pleased with this! 

Do any turtles take magnesium supplements?  I heard they were good for sleeping and for relaxing muscles, took one last night and had an amazing sleep! I've no idea if it was just a coincidence but would be interested to hear if anyone else takes them!

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a meeting with dc's dep Head going well, for praise re my form from a fit bloke at the gym (!!), for a long natter with big sis, for email making for instant communication, for fresh rasps, for dc having a good maths lesson.

Thrifty_Taylor

Oo-er apple 😉 bet it made your day!

Started with the self care this morning & did a beginner's yoga routine before breakfast. Had a great day at work. Went shopping afterwards, managed to use two vouchers in L1dl, then put my dividend in Tosco towards some new pillows for our bed. Hoping I'll sleep through & not have aching temples in the morning. Poured myself my first boozy beverage in 6 weeks, boy does it taste good 😃

Grateful for yoga, a good day, money saving & it being the weekend

Happy Fri-yay!

mothernerd

Wrote a longish post about magnesium and lost it. Found a few funny quotes but they had lots of 'f' words or emphasised the need to not give a 'f' (this may be indicative of my present mood).

Went to b n q last night, spent a small fortune (haven't been in the store for over two years) - this is why you should budget for small 'treat' spends. Some things I would not normally buy (or would buy a scratty dying one and nurse it back to life). Some small herb plants to fill the gaps (ones I don't have seeds for), one or two extravagances (25 pounds for a small but perfect bay tree cone - there were others at the same price in less good condition, one small 17 pound one but it was only a ball on a stick and a bit manky, larger ones for twice the price). Pretty sure the 25 pounds was less than the online ones I have looked at.

Some bedding pansies but passed on the bulbs for spring (will be cheaper at W's or pound emporium) or for the festive season (just say No and cross it off the list). Mum wanted lavender but the 'offer' was 3 for a fiver. I did get something I can use to get water from the gutter to the water butt (they had a 10 pound kit but it was for a drainpipe and we don't have any at the back - which is why I want the water to go in the butt instead of sloshing over the end that dips - so the bit I bought will be a bit of a fudge) and dowel rods short enough to fit into a car.

Bought a bucket for mixing sand and cement but they had no ready mixed (I knew there's a shortage of building materials and they were limiting purchases) and my days of lugging around 25 kg bags of sand and cement, digging out and mixing and then keeping the rest of the bags dry until needed are over. They didn't have any terracotta plant pots and saucers either (for keeping warm during power cuts). Lots of very pretty but pretty useless strawberry planters and some larger cheapish planters. Quite a lot of space outside so was able to sit down several times (plant displays were made from breeze blocks and decking boards so easily coped with my bulk.

Had to wait for 20 minutes for a taxi (no seating in the car park, not even a convenient low wall) but did do a few heel- toe taps and side taps. Good job they didn't have the sand and cement mix as mum had plonked the bucket with the milk bottles on it's stool in the middle of the gate (gate does open both ways but not when you have 6 bags for life - so the plants don't get squashed). First thing mum said was 'not more buckets?'. We have two, two, Two normal buckets and they were a recent purchase. The rest were originally bought for planters (my tomatoes don't mind growing in a builders bucket) and have now all had holes drilled in the bottom.

Young b n q assistant suggested TP builders merchants might have the ready mix sand and cement and I've looked at 2 new to the area franchises (as in I've not been there yet - but as they're at the far end of town/ almost in Cheshire they may have been there 5 years) online this morning. 

So I'm going to put myself on the naughty garden chair (they'll be very naughty when the seat stitching goes and I end up on the floor) possibly under the parasol if it decides to rain, with my owl rain poncho on if it decides to bucket down. I'll play with my new purchases - most will need to go into next size pots/ forever homes and think seriously about my budgets and my life. I would like to escape to my house (or preferably somewhere further afield) but not sure I can be trusted near shops (even charity ones - I do want to do a book trawls soon and look for a winter cardigan or two). Not sorry, feel a bit guilty but not sorry. Looking on the bright side, I was online yesterday and one night in the lovely hotel I stayed in 2 years ago was 125 pounds (it was part of a coach tour so it didn't cost that much) so if I count my plants as my 'escape' I'm under spent. 

So will sit outside and think about what needs to change (a lot), what I really want (balancing short, medium and long term wants) and what I can do right now (baby steps).

Grateful for not losing my temper with mummy, the bed, clean sheets, plants, non-food treats (a pansy won't make me fat).  Will be back later when I'm calm and patient (laptop is getting on and will not benefit from being thrown through a window).

f0xh0les

mothernerd said: (a pansy won't make me fat). 

https://www.marthastewart.com/350345/sugared-flowers 

DH needed to go to town to return the ugliest and  worst shaped waistcoat you ever did see, to the Max of TK (he bought it online but that was still no excuse) and so I bought him a coffee and we sat outside a cafe, next to a water fountain, in front of the town hall, and chatted, he has been at an online conference all week, so has mostly eaten lunch at his desk, and I have barely seen him.

I too am rationing my c/s wanderings mothernerd.  Once every 2 weeks I am allowing myself, and only then if there is excess in the budget.  My money seems to be running away from me, with setting up DS1 with his new household bits, but I am hitting the surveys quite hard, have cashed out £15 already this month, plus have £7  of Big River Vouchers from the postie surveys.  Started entering competions online again, just  with one eye while watching tv in the evenings, or early mornings waiting for kids to get up.  Nothing ventured and all that. Surely it is better than online 'window shopping'??

So a small spend, but still a spend. Might make up for it with a scrumping/berrying expedition later on.

Sticking on NSD #4

mothernerd

Nearly cried around 4 pm. Thought I had the black screen of death and was going to have to go into town to buy a replacement laptop. Turned it completely off (for the third time) crossed everything I could and it came back on. big sigh of relief.

Have had a lovely afternoon planting up herbs and my bay tree, cutting more bottles to be used as water drippers plus a bit of collecting small containers and tidying. Dug out half an old bin's worth of soil out - the bin will  hold the stones, freeing the white tin buckets to be used for catching water when it rains. So today is my second NSD. Pegged out a bed cover and 2 dresses and all dried.

Indoors turned one of the broken drawers (bottom won't stay in) into a bookshelf on top of a chest of drawers. Two of the cube boxes (embroidery threads + and embroidery fabric +) now fit on the bottom shelf of the bookshelves, hidden by the bed so looks much neater and a series I got stuck with part  way through (6/7 of the first 10) are now easily accessible, as I'm ready to try again. This has also saved money, as I was rapidly reaching the point where I needed to buy more shelves - the longer I put it off, the more I save towards getting something I want (long-term plan for the house) rather than something that will 'do for now'.

Grateful for lovely food, getting things done, clean sheets.     

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for finding some clothes for dc in the ch shops, for dropping off 2 bagfuls to the Sally Army, for dc getting through a difficult situation at dance, for good coffee, for being able to deal with the fallout from the dance situation.

CEW

when do you guys count your spends for online deliveries, the day you place the order or the day of the delivery?

I’m on NSD # 8 or 9 depending on the answer to the above question. I placed a small addition to my milk delivery on Friday for delivery today, which was my only spend. So Friday may or may not have been a NSD

Today was definitely a spend day. A trip to The R@nge, didn’t spend anything there. On to MandS Foodhall, did spend £18 there but did manage a few ys items for the fridge / freezer so not too bad. Then on to B00ts and another £11 spend there, some medicinal the rest was face masks for a stay at home spa, possibly next weekend. That falls under my mental health awareness part of the challenge. Finally went to bandq but they didn’t have what I needed so again no spend there.Final stop before going home was an ice cream van outside bandq for a soft ice cream. It was lovely but had Mum not been with me I would have walked straight past.

Tomorrow will be another spend day as need to go to either Mr T or Mr S for some additional groceries but more importantly some doggie food and treats. I have also suggested to Mum that we go out for breakfast. Not very MSE but once in a blue moon won’t hurt too much.

Today I am grateful for free biscuits when I went into a kitchen showroom to check what’s out there, lovely fresh baked bread still warm from the oven in mands food hall, cheap but very tasty dinner of ys quiche, baby new potatoes and baked beans, extra potatoes cooked to use throughout the week.