NST January 2024: This is Sparta!

f0xh0les

Today was not amazing.  Had a blood donation session booked for 10, rocked up, not enough staff so my appointment was cancelled - trying to ring  me to cancel 15 minutes before an appointment is rubbish. So £5 parking wasted, avoided coffee shops and doughnuts - fave doughnut shop closed down on 30th December - very quietly. Fell into Primarni and bought DS4 a couple of pairs of joggers to go with his two black sweatshirts, and bought  myself a cheap pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. It feels warm. 

Made Cornish pasties again (Heron 39p jus-roll pastry x 2) and chips ( £1.69 a bag) cheap and filling and no complaints from the boys. 

Nearly finished stripping the top landing - it is soul destroying, but needs to be done.

FrugalAspirations

NDS 5 for me today. As predicted, I didn’t leave the house, which makes not indulging much easier 😄

Have adjusted the heating schedule temporarily to take into account the fact this house apparently just cannot retain heat. Seems fairly ironic given my DD has just been reduced as we were overpaying it seems, although will be back to normal morning and evening blasts once this cold snap is over.

Otherwise, a relatively boring day other than my new dustpan and brush arriving, but boring often also means cheap!

Sorry to hear about your rubbish day @f0xh0les - so annoying when things get changed or cancelled at the last minute.

Gratitude:

1) Backup files, one of which just saved a project

2) Pasta and tomato ragu being easy, cheap and relatively healthy 

3) Comedy podcasts, to balance out the serious ones.

Starlight_at_Sea

Hi everyone! I have only skim read the last few days and look forward to going back and catching up on your news properly. Hugs to those who are worried or poorly (abundant I am about 3 weeks ahead of you in a nasty cold, and finally feel close to 100% again! the 2nd and 3rd weeks were a bit meh, but now, all symptoms gone). Thrifty, hope DS is doing ok now. 

So, Monday wasn't a NSD. DD and I had a morning at a local leisure centre (municipal) that has a spa. We didn't have treatments but a few hours in the heat and warmth of the hot tubs, salt room, steam room etc. Is a nice tradition just before she heads back abroad for uni.  We then went to a nearby health food shop / cafe for soup  ... much cheaper than a half day package at a hotel! 

Tues and Wed were NSDs from my budget. We have eaten very well - lunch out both days - as mum's friends from away came down to our hometown and we had a sort of deferred wake. A chance to share memories and look at old photos together over a pub lunch. Very special. We used a voucher that dad and I got when we went to this pub for a meal in November - 10% off if you came back in Jan or Feb. They honoured it against the bill for a table of 20, I was impressed. Various friends stayed the night before / night after but they came well equipped with their own breakfast makings etc - they are all of an age where they like to know it will be just so, I think. It meant my grocery budget wasn't too hammered, and I have some nice leftovers from a waitbloom meal deal I got to make hosting easy on Monday. Last night's guests took us out for lunch today, we tried another pub nearby with a lovely menu, dada keen to go back another time so that's positive. 

Has been useful trialling time at the flat with more people in it. The bedroom we are hoping to rent out for bed and morning meal worked well - a few glitches noted but nothing expensive to fix. So that project 'just' needs a push from me once I have the bandwidth! 

Somewhat embarrassed to say this here but had lost track of my second mortgage - payments were going out ok, but I didn't really have a grip of the providers online platform, how to make overpayments, how much the interest was each month etc. I've now rectified that and got my head around it, sent an overpayment (tidying up the digits a bit!) and feel ... how do I feel? A bit daunted by the amounts, but informed and information, as they say, is power! 

I am off work this week, soaking up time with DD before she flies off, and recovering from the emotion and the tiredness of navigating everyone's needs and traits at a group event. 

ldee2111

Forgot to check in yesterday but not much to report. I stayed on NSD 10 because I’d to nip to the shops after discovering we’d no frozen chips left to go with our burgers. Catastrophe! 

Grateful for having lunch at Mum’s, a quick work day, and for a quick easy dinner.

Have a decent day all x

ladybird1106

So we have 2 weekends booked, each will meet the needs of those going. The 1st (YHA) will more than likely involve lots of walking. I have put a limit on the height I'm prepared to climb and distance I can walk. So today I've download an app to count my steps. Could do with one that shouts get your butt off that settee you lazy bleep. Anyway the goal is to try improve my fitness in the next 9 wks. 2nd weekend (YHA) is later in the year and will therefore be warmer for when I stand and watch the youngest horseride (RDA). Mum has offered to pay for them to horseride as their birthday present. Hopefully we will be able to book into the accessible (warm) pool. Checked the fun pot and it already has £14.14 in it. Gold sent off today, hopefully will raise enough to pay for part of the holiday

Grateful for
1. Having something to sell
2. Nobody objected to holiday plans
3. Ear infection is improving 
 Love 🐞

Thrifty_Taylor

Sending hugs to all the poorlies. Well done on booking an appointment for your shoulder & meds @beanielou. Hope things improve for you all soon.

DS1 is doing a bit better now, thanks for all your good wishes. He is recuperating well in his room, & managing to go out to buy food. Another 3 nights & he can start his journey home 😍

We've had quite a bit of snow on our island (a rare occurrence), so yesterday & today they've closed the schools, so I've got time off 😃 finished my book, then went for a walk with DH, the snow was nearly knee deep in places!

I opened a bank account last month, to use for switching & earning extra pennies. Spent ages going round in circles with the chat bot, eventually spoke to a helpful man & all sorted. Standing orders set up & direct debits for charity too, so pleased to get it done.

Unpicked & replaced a zip after tea, then did some of my jigsaw. Only stopped at 12.05am, don't know where the time went! 🤣

NSD#9

Grateful that DS is doing better, snow days, a good TV series, finishing my book, my new car windscreen has arrived, so can get it replaced (the crack has increased another 15cm with the temperature!)

Stay cosy!

Flying_By

Wow, @Thrifty_Taylor Can I have some of your energy!
I bet you will be so relieved to have DS1 back home with you in a few days - good to hear that he's feeling better.
We've avoided snow in this part of the UK but apparently it was -5 last night, luckily I was oblivious 
Keep warm!

f0xh0les

-5 in LeShire last night too.  Poor living room got to 14- 15 degrees and stalled there.  Could not get it any higher for love nor money. The rest of the house was toasty warm though, and going to bed was a pleasure.

Went volunteering, did my thing, made sure people got help, or at least left their number with the relevant people who can help them when they get their head together.   The benefits system in this country sucks.

ldee2111

The car told me it was -6 when I was dropping DS off at school this morning. Could really feel Jack Frost nipping at my nose! But thankfully returned home to a cosy house. Some of my colleagues live in old tenement flats in Glasgow and are living in 10C! I wouldn't be able to function at all in those temperatures. 

Pleased to reach NSD 11. Looking forward to my aqua aerobics class this eve.

Grateful for a warm home, for tea and big cosy throws, for colleagues who deliver, and for Thursdays being the end of my working week. 

laura_lau

Hello everyone. Happy to report it was an ok week, managed to be blissfully unaware of work dramas until this afternoon, and luckily I was working from home, so I could easily continue with my day without seeing the tension growing on the floor. Bliss.

My crochet club resumed on Tuesday, which was lovely, and we also had 2 new friendly people joining, so I had good fun.

I need to find the energy to take pictures of some dresses and other clothes to put up for sale on the vintd app, but it always takes so long to take good pictures and publish listings, that I haven't got around doing it yet. January is a very good month to have some extra cash, so I should really do it. I will do it. Tonight. Or tomorrow. By Sunday at the latest.
The only thing I really feel like doing tonight is sitting on the sofa, knitting or crocheting (or both, alternated) while watching the next episode of The Traitors. I am so addicted to this program that the other night I started watching the Australian edition, and I can proudly say that it's nowhere near as good as the UK one. Obviously I will watch the Australian one until the end, and probably the US version too, regardless. I find it so fascinating seeing how suspicion can change the dynamics so quickly and so dramatically. I should have studied anthropology, I suppose! 

Another credit card payment went down earlier this week, only one to go and then I'm done with all payments for the month. 

We've decided to buy our friend's car, as it's in good condition and they are really offering it to us at a very good price, so, if everything goes well, we should complete the change of ownership on the 27th. All the council tax savings for February will go in my share of the payment for the car, so no credit card overpayments for another month (I'm sorry to disappoint the people who were irked by the uneven amount of pennies in my CC balances - I will rectify it in March, I promise).

Today was NSD #11. Slowly getting nearer to target.

Hope you are all safe and warn these days!

Today I am grateful for:

1. Resuming crochet club
2. New Traitors episode tonight!
3. Having the opportunity to get a car we can afford after almost 5 months without.