From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - I'm absolutely loving your food photos! - so colourful and enticing💖

Watty1

Dearest GP that food plate looks delicious. What time is dinner this evening? Please set my place!

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81989736#Comment_81989736

Ah ha - unfortunately it is club for LG tonight, so it will be a random assortment of grub, with leftovers - rice and chilli probably for DH and I. You're most welcome to join us, but I don't think it'll be owt exciting 🫤

I'm really trying to use what we have - imaginatively - that way, we (hopefully) won't get bored (of lentils etc), and also we won't see the food as choices of a low budget. Dearest VintageHistorian has achieved some wonderful meals and freezer stackers with a haul of YS'd/on offer foodstuffs from MrW, and I'm inspired by her thought process and planning - on the hoof - to make the best of the ingredients. By my own admission, we're operating on a tight budget - but by choice and we are benefitting from having the 'saved' cash to divert into other experiences. I've re-joined the GC, as I do find that there is inspiration from others who are using their budgets in wise ways, and there are people on similar budgets/household make-ups, so they are abley illustrating that it can be done.

DH has work worries again. The teams are being expected to do more - in less time, and with pitiful organisation from management. The teams are always fire-fighting, or waiting, or losing time looking for things that eventually turn out to never have existed. Naturally, DH is getting stressy, instead of thinking what his own circle of control looks like, and how he actually can't influence the bigger picture of ineptitude. Mind, it's draining turning up to chase your tail everyday, isn't it. And no, before you ask, he hasn't chased his GP, and he hasn't chased his pension provider for more details/contacted pensionwise etc. There is only so much I can do for him. Although to be fair, he did sort out another auto-enrolment into a new pension scheme at work - firms shouldn't be allowed to just take your money and shove it into whatever new scheme they've entered into. The firm just took his cash out of his wages, and he had to wait until the next month to get it refunded 🙄Yet another reason to try to get to a position where you're at least a 'month in hand' for the bills etc rather than relying on your wages being X without fail every month.

I've pegged out a whites wash. It is supposed to be OK weatherwise today, so I should achieve some drying.

I am going to do a non-food shop today, and I will pop into MrS to pick up a cucumber. Is it just me, or have MrS stopped putting how many n*ctar points you can accrue on your weekly "offers". It used to say if you bought a cucumber, you'd get 10 points, a turnip 10 points, a box of ice-lollies 20 points, a block of cheese 40 points etc etc. Don't tell me they're going to stop doing points, in response to MrL's changing their plus app 🙄 MrS is already making themselves my 'not go to' shop, without further shrinking any of their benefits. I was looking on the laptop at my account, I don't have the app for MrS - but it used to quite clearly tell you how many points you'd get for picking the selected items for your shop.

Anyhoo, better get going. Greying X

peb

Just checked nectar - still tells me. Hopefully its a temporary glitch for you

rtandon27

I too am seeing points on the desktop nectar. Hopefully the Fates will untangle that string for you soon!

beanielou

Still showing points on mine.

Greying_Pilgrim

Are you all on computers? Not the app. As interestingly, I've just been to MrS, bought some stuff - only one thing had points in its own right (cucumber), and on my account, it HAS updated today's visit, virtually immediately, but it doesn't do the breakdown anymore - ie 10 points for a cucumber, 40 points for a block of cheese, 40 points for milk etc…….. Very strange.

Anyhoo. I went to hB primarily to get some non-food stuff, but as it happens, I picked up some 'food' too, as they actually had stock in of certain things, and I find you have to buy them when you see them. So I need to comb through my £30.27 total spend, and split out the food spends. I then went to MrS and spent £15.95 which is more than I was going to, but I did some n*ctar offers and bought some frozen veg too (we're running very low). So everything will get used, but it has bumped up this week's spends.

Right, I've done my sums and I spent £23.13 on non-food and £23.09 on food.

I'm away to update my siggie figgies.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

And just one more thing about the n*ctar thing. The layout of the n*ctar pages has changed on my computer - not massively, but there is a difference in how it's set out. Plus, I've just been looking on the 'Activity' part of n*ctar, and my visits to MrS are listed. And points are still showing as what I earnt with a spend on shopping, ie 15 points for a £15 spend, and then separately there are points that you'd earnt on your 'offers' = ie today was 10 for the cucumber. But if I trawl back to previous trips, where for example I may have earnt 140 points for purchasing 'offer' products, so cucumber 10, cheese 40, baked beans 10, chopped tomatoes 10 etc, the points breakdown has been removed. So I think it must be something bigger than just a glitch on my account. I don't spend as much at MrS now, and I've been much more erratic with my shops there, but they're still giving me points, and my shop is still earning points, plus the n*ctar offers (SEL) are still open to me. Most odd.

Greying X

BookWorm

Re N**ter app. Mine has 2 parts. Nectar prices which doesn't show points, just revised prices. Then offers, which have xx points for xyz item, etc. Not sure if that helps any?

ETA just looked at computer version and its the same

ETA 2 - for past purchases have to click into each line to get the further breakdown (if that was what you were after)

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81990152#Comment_81990152

Bookworm - that is exactly my understanding of the n*ctar account. Ref your ETA 2 - I understand that, but if I look at the part 2 that has the points accrued on 'offers' it no longer has the 'breakdown', so I can't see that I got 10 points for a cucumber, 40 points for cheese, 10 points for baked beans = 60 points. Coupled with not being able to see what points my offers are actually 'offering' this week, I'm wondering what's gone wrong. I mean, I know I earnt 10 points for buying a cucumber this week, but that's because I recall what points are usually offered for a cucumber purchase.

Very odd. But your description of the nectar acc on the computer is just how I did view my account, up until today.

Greying X