Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

Fizz2015

Hello Dusty,

Played the Game of Life lots as a child, still own the game and also the Adventure version. My DD is almost old enough to play it. She does enjoy playing 'Deal or no deal' boardgames.

I might give your reading challenge a try though and see what delights the library reveals.

Fizz x

dreaming

dustydigger said:

Some stuff trom Asd@ George came yesterday. Of course they didnt fit Two tops purportedly the same size were very very  different. One was a green top to wear under my black jacket. It didnt even meet across the chest,it was a struggle to even get it on the back was so narrow. I would have expected it to be at least 2 sizes smaller than it claimed! The other was a corduroy cream shirt,and it was huge,hanging over my shoulders and at least 4 inches overlap,could have tyrned it into a double breasted item. I would have said it should have been at least one size larger than the label stated. At least I can return them to my local asd@ shop. Returning any of the Bonmarche stuff - if it ever arrives,already 5 days -  will be more of a pain,as they closed down our local branch. The next nearest is 12 miles away.

I just cant pull myself together enough to physically go shopping in town. Little choice in large sizes anyway,and the shops are 10 minutes walk - or limp - from the bus station.Its only 8 or 9 days till the christening. .

OK,I must stop making such ginormous posts. Instead of starting a new paragraph,I must remember to make a new post!

Have you looked at Debenhams for clothes? I am a size 24 and have just bought 2 cardigans  for a total of £25.20 with free standard delivery -ordered Sunday, arrived Tuesday. They are both BooHoo brand (coincidentally) and I think good quality and correctly sized. I have also bought Principles jeans from Debenhams in the past. I used to be a Bon Marche customer and do like their cheap tee-shirts for summer, but found jumpers and cardigans tended to be too short in the body for my liking. I'm not that tall but prefer a longer length. I probably would have thought Debenhams to be a bit expensive for my tastes but they do some good sales. Our Debenhams in town has closed down (as has one of the Bon Marche branches - in fact we don't really have any major shops left and it is pretty much a ghost town where I live so I do tend to shop online. I don't actually buy that much as I spend most of my time at home but sorting out winter clothes realised I only had 1 long sleeved cardigan that wasn't completely worn out as most of them were from my working days which is over 9 years ago now. I do like Damart as well although they can be a bit pricy. I have put on a pair of their (probably 5years old) fleece trousers today or the first time this autumn as my thinner leggings were leaving me feeling a bit chilly now my mobility is getting worse.

dustydigger

Dear me,its all go 

Fizz2015 said:

Hello Dusty,

Played the Game of Life lots as a child, still own the game and also the Adventure version. My DD is almost old enough to play it. She does enjoy playing 'Deal or no deal' boardgames.

I might give your reading challenge a try though and see what delights the library reveals.

Fizz x

Hope you enjoy the reading challenge.

 I chucked out Game of Life a few years ago. half the stuff missing,kids hadnt played it since they WERE kids in the 80s,and it was just collecting dust. But the furore from the family! You'd think I had tossed away some precious heirloom. I think the whole family have inherited Mr Dusty's packrat gene.DS2 still berates me for chucking out his Millenium Falcon 10 years after he had given up playing with Star War stuff. According to him it would have been worth lots of dough. I pointed out that the expensive stuff was still pristine and unused in the original boxes,not something played with heavily for a decade,no box,bits fallen off,felt tip pen marks etc etc. But no, poor old Dusty is a mean bad person who lost him hundreds.

as a kid back in the 50s we spent a lot of time playing cards and boardgames. No TV.........The evenings were very long.

dustydigger

@dreaming. thank you for your post,lots to think about there. I did look at Debenham;s last night,and have ordered a frilly blouse to go under the black jacket.

I do like the stuff at Damart,its my sort of simple style. I need long or  elbow length sleeves and a longer length to hide a multitude of sins,ie fat! but the sizing is problematic. They make size 22/24 sort of combined,it would probably be too large,but size 20 was only 44 bus

My Bonmarche stuff arrived yesterday,The trousers were fine though the legs are a little wide,but its ok,they'll do. Two of the blouses were too big,so I have 2 parcels to return to the post office. And the search goes on. Hope the Debenham's frilly blouse fits.

dustydigger

I still had loads of stuff to talk about yesterday,but Mr Dusty was particularly demanding. Dont know how much time I spent helping him with his phone,and its a waste of time anyway,by tomorrow he will have forgotten everything he has learned. Then he spent much of the day remote in hand and watching moronic TV. He isnt too keen on me spending lots of time online,plus of course my back limits time I can sit at the computer,so I never got back  to rant/discuss other items.

Scottish Power got in touch at last with the new tariff info.My estimated yearly cost will be around £2600,compared with my old fixed tariff at £1270 a year. .

I did reduce my yearly usage down by around 1900 KWh,I will certainly need to curb usage a lot more. But already Mr D is shouting down the stairs ''I'm freezing!'' several times a day. He's already wearing a fleece in the house. I just unearthed my good old overshirt which I use as a cardigan for my bare arms. Just a few dais of delaying put on the heating till absolutely necessary has already shown some effects. I was pleased at how my fingers were almost striaght. Well,this morning I notice the little finger is definitely curling under,and the end joint is throbbing a little. I dont need thermometers,by fingers foretell the weather fairly accurately!

Quite happy with last few months lower usage,around 200-300 less usage than last year. Good old heatwave.

Ouch! checking last Septrember's total usage,I used 1100 units. So far this year for September is around 600,probably will be around 800 for the month. Last year was one of those miserable months with loads of rain,heavy mists off the sea,and those nasty sea breezes which lower the temp by about 5 degrees,though feeling like 10 degrees.

One thing I noticed from Sps info. We will get that £66 reduction in October,but we have to pay the full amount first,then at the end of the month we will see the rebate in our bank accounts. That looks like a sneaky way to make even more profit from us. I pay them an extra £66 on 6th October,they hold on to that till end of the month,and then repay us. £ million households paying £66 unnecessarily is a nice littlewindfall. For 6 whole months,too.........sigh....................

dustydigger

Will do little today.

+ I have fish already prepared,so just spuds to roast,so not much standing,back is super sensitive at the moment.

+Must get up to the corner shop. I have a box of birthday cards I got 18 months ago,and have been using them up bit by bit,but Mr Dusty always wants a nice sentimental card with ''Husband'' prominently displayed. The cards will be limited in choice but high in price of course. His birthday is 29th.

+Got my home insurance quote. £65,down from last year's £79. Cool

+ ouch,forgot to phone surgery yesterday to make appointment for 3rd October for B12 jab. Am off now to sit around on the hard stairs waiting in a queue for at least 15 mins. Probably I am too late to make an appointment for that day.I stupidly did the same thing last time,my appointment should have been Wednesday,but couldnt get a jab till the following Monday,and that was around the same time period to get an appointment 8 days. . My old brain doesnt remember things too well. Its written on the calendar,but thats over the page on 3rd of next month so not in sight. I also forgot last week to order my statins. Phoned last Friday,but I am still waiting to pills to come. Eked out my 4 tablets over a week. I would have confidently bet a million that I had another box of pills in my medicine chest,but nope.

Right,off to sit by phone.

dustydigger

That was quick! Only 5 minute wait,never been known. But no appointments possible for a whole fortnight,so 4.20 October 10th was earliest possible. I'm already weak  and foggy in the head,so an extra week is irritating. My own fault,I should have phoned last week. But with royal funeral distractions,a host of birthdays to sort,and thinking about christening clothes,the jab and my statins went right out of my admittedly meandering mind!

tooldle

Is there a pharmacy nearby who could deal with repeat prescriptions for you? Mine order on my behalf and text me when the items are ready for collection. They also operate a delivery service. When I pick up, I confirm what I need for the following month and the pharmacy do the rest.
we also are having the £66 returned to us each month. We’re with Bulb. I suspect this is the easiest and clearest way to make sure the bill payer receives the cash. I have control of my direct debit via the app, so can reduce that by £66 if I wished.

dustydigger

tooldle said:

Is there a pharmacy nearby who could deal with repeat prescriptions for you? Mine order on my behalf and text me when the items are ready for collection. They also operate a delivery service. When I pick up, I confirm what I need for the following month and the pharmacy do the rest.
we also are having the £66 returned to us each month. We’re with Bulb. I suspect this is the easiest and clearest way to make sure the bill payer receives the cash. I have control of my direct debit via the app, so can reduce that by £66 if I wished.

 Our surgery make you call in a repeat prescription each time,the doc signs it off and your pharmacy of choice collects the script and sends stuff to you. I also deal with Mr Ds prescripyions too,and between ordering his items,one month his eyedrops,the other his pills,then my own stuff also two months supply at a time,but the metformin is in weekly packets,and they send six weeks worth at a time,so no wonder I get mixed up at times!

Not happy.This afternoon I got an email from Scottish Power saying that I must raise my DD from £150 to £237 before 6th October,if I dont they will do it for me. They are not focusing on the fact we are going to have that £66 taken off each month for 6 months.,nor that I have almost £500 credit balance. They say they only adjust the credit balance thing once a year end of January,so for another 4 months my balnce is going to stay high,and they are going to make interest off all those hundreds of pounds till then. I am sure £200 a month from November would be totally adequate,but they are adamant that I must pay commensurate with expected annual usage,they dont care about anything else.

I too thought I could control my DD,and did put it up this month from £106 to £150,but no soap,they want £237. Evidently the figures they gave me around £2600 was only consumption,I needed to add on  standing charge too More determined than ever to cut my consumption,if only to spite them!

I havent been on variable tariff for decades,so I seem to be wrong about how it works. I thought there would be a bill every month,or quarterly,and you would pay for your consumption levels only,so each time your bill would be different. Seems I am wrong,I am still going to pay as if on a fixed tariff,a fixed payment each month.  up till end of January when our tariffs are supposedly readjusted.

dustydigger

Huh! Checking out Scottish Power website,I see that the usual January review has been moved to March,but since they think  that is too short a period to get accurate estimates they are - I kid you not - moving the review to March 2024 That is a total outlay of £4500plus over the 17 months...Doesnt help when they keep moving the goalposts