NST September 2021

lcc86

Evening turtles, hugs to all those who may be in need of them. 

Didn't post yesterday as went to meet a friend after work for drinks and a bit of food. Was a really good catchup, felt a bit nostalgic for my old job and there are some opportunities to progress that have come up and part of me thinks I should've stayed to get those opportunities BUT I was already completely overworked so it would have just got worse. I think I was only nostalgic because I'm not "busy" yet in my new job and feel like I should be.

Today I'm just at my part time job, 12 hour shift followed by sleep-in and then 4 hours tomorrow morning. NSD today. Am lucky I still have half a talk of petrol as every station around here is completely empty.

Took the opportunity earlier to move money into various saving and spending pots ready for October and finalising the budget. Everything is looking good, I have more money than expected so am setting some ambitious savings targets each week!

Thrifty_Taylor

NSD here. Hugs to all, great advice for you Mothernerd, you need to put yourself first for a change!
Went for a walk with hubby this morning (7.3 miles!). Read a couple of chapters of my book on our return, while I rested. After dinner, I painted the front gable end of the garage & a bit of one side, took the trampoline down & pulled up some cauliflowers that had bolted. Quite tired then. After tea, I did the ironing whilst sitting down, then did a big of knitting. Pleased I finally had chance to catch up on reading the last few pages of posts.

Grateful for getting lots done, a dry day, the garage looking better

ldee2111

Hello turtles. Sorry for being absent the last few days - it was full on with DS being very unwell with a vomiting bug. Thankfully he is back to his chirpy wee self. I had to take a few days to recuperate after lack of sleep and not eating from anxiety. 

I’ve been reading the posts I’d missed. @mothernerd, I really hope you take some of the advice from other turtles - you can’t keep this up. No one could. Please put yourself first for a change. 

Friday was NSD 12, DS was still feeling a bit ‘iffy’ but had at least keep a small amount of food and drink down. We had a very lazy day in our pyjamas. Mum came along late afternoon to take DS for a wee play at her house and to give us a rest.

Saturday we got our weekly grocery delivery and paid an electrician for work done last week. DS’s other grandparents came over and took DS to the park to feed the ducks and to giv us a rest again. 

Today will likely be NSD 13 as DS’s papa is coming to visit, and we’re just going to the local park. 

This week OH is working away until Thursday and so I can live out my frugal fantasies: turning off all the switches at night, making tasty cheap vegetarian meals, washing dishes in the sink as I use them instead of using the dishwasher… basically living the dream 🤣 For this week’s grocery delivery I spent about £10 on fresh food for DS and I, and £50 on bulk buy items like toothpaste, shampoo, pasta, rice, flour, tins of tomatoes, etc. I’ve left £5 in our grocery budget to get any small top ups, like milk. 

Extremely grateful for family stepping in to help us, for the NHS, and for DS being better ❤️

f0xh0les

No matter how strong a swimmer you are @mothernerd , you need to put your own life jacket on first.((Hugs ))

It does nobody any good if you ruin yourself trying to make other people happy.  ((more hugs)) - not being judgemental at all, but from the outside, you are heading for a cliff edge unless you start to put yourself first and start putting some boundaries back in.   You and your property deserve respect.  Now, that is all I will say - and I will limit myself to commenting on the wonder of skips and some even offering OAP rates - for the skip, not to take OAPs away. 

Slept so badly,  I'm  in a really odd mood today, so I might as well be productive if I cannot be a positive happy little ray of sunshine.  But first, more coffee and politics...

But you do have to wonder, if the HGV driver shortages are absolutely not Brexit related,  how will offering visas to EU drivers solve the problem?

CEW

f0xh0les said:

But you do have to wonder, if the HGV driver shortages are absolutely not Brexit related,  how will offering visas to EU drivers solve the problem?

My thoughts exactly. Someone obviously didn’t think through their comments when making these statements, or maybe they thought we wouldn’t notice the contradiction.

Still on 18 NSDs.

Went online yesterday in the faint hope of getting a supermarket delivery today, none available but one solitary slot between 8pm & 9pm last night so booked that. Only 1 item unavailable and3 substitutes, 2 of which were rejected.

Today I placed another online order for a couple of items I needed from the jungle store. Should be NSDs now until the end of the month.

Grateful today for lovely sunshine allowing me to clear up a few bits in the garden, lots of fresh fruit and veg in the fridge and time to relax.

lcc86

Evening turtles, NSD 16 today. Finished work at midday, it was a quiet shift last night and an undisturbed sleep-in shift so I can't complain. Came home to an absolute tip, OH has been out all day (lord knows where) but he will not be in my good books when he gets in! How can someone make so much mess in 24 hours!

Was meant to horse ride but there's a race on where I ride so moved it to first thing Wednesday morning before work instead. Did some yoga and have just chilled in front of the TV.

apple_muncher

October is live:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6299971/nst-october-2021-fit-for-purpose/p1?new=1

greent

Have really been suffering with a cold this week. Dh now has it and has spent almost all of today asleep on a sofa... it's wiped me out this week -and you can see this in the lack of housework done and there has been food waste as I have not felt like cooking. Ah well - it is what it is. Things will catch back up (roll on half term....)

Thankful for some easy food items, cups of tea, str3psi1s, warm days and line dried washing (4 loads done today!) Oh - and DS1 sounding OK after his first week back at uni (for his Masters - new house and housemates, fewer friends around etc)

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi all

Been pottering at home all weekend, alternating between being productive (lots of washing, decluttering, food shop) and lazing about enjoying the last of my holiday (reading and eating too much).  Went to Sainz for food and so i could drop off OOD meds at the pharmacy.  Noticed petrol station was shut; hoping i can get some by Tu to get to work...

Gratitudes - sunshine to dry my washing; lovely Sunday lunch with DD1; neighbour for mowing lawn 

Deni x

mothernerd

I've had a very lazy day. I've realised I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically and just need to sit and let things settle and work out some next steps. 

Thanks for the builder's bag suggestion f0xh0les.  They're not open today so waiting until tomorrow to see if I can use my own builder's bag and just pay the 45 pounds for them to come and pick it up (I also need to check they do this area - it says Greater Manchester but then all the places they mention are on the far side of Manchester (further than Stockport) and it's not clear from their little map how far this way they will come. If we have to have a mini skip, I can still put the builder's bag on the gravel bit at the front and move as much as possible into it before the skip comes (rather than rooting things out from the back of the shed etc). Last time I had a skip I moved as much as possible to the end of the back (some drivers can get the skip round the corner to my back gate and some can't). When the driver arrived and saw my stuff lined up, he put it into the skip for me (I went to get odd items I didn't know if he would take) and took the loaded skip back with him.

Think I'm going to do some more shopping - the cost of a taxi to B n M will be more than the savings made by getting the things I want cheaply. I have a page of (food and cleaning stuff) shopping and nearly a page of oddments (must do the light bulb check) as I've gone through two end of life notebooks and transferred things onto a fresh list (the shopping list I took to town 2 weeks ago has holes in from being clutched in my grubby little hand and repeatedly pulled out of the bag and stuffed back in so it didn't get lost between one shop and the next. Think I will buy a few things on my wish list with my present money (most will go in the bank but want something to show - duck egg blue seed tin to replace the Guiness tin which hasn't shut for the past 5 years).

Grateful for finding spaces for a few more bits, easy food (really not feeling up to much again), shortcuts, problem solving.