Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

Okay so I have just signed up to the jam doughnut app (after seeing it spoken about on the GC thread) which gives cashback for s'burys (well it gives cb for lots of places but I have a shop due from s'burys so..) I loaded £50 on to there, feeling quite nervous tbh wondering how this worked, then went onto s'burys and amended order to load the £50 voucher I just bought on to there (£50 per order was the max) and clicked through to finish the order. All went well it accepted the £50 off the shop and I think I have £2 joining bonus and for using the app for the first time and 3.5% back on the £50 I spent- £1.75? Took me about five minutes from downloading to signing in, to purchasing and amending order, so I would say that was worth it, for £3.75 back! The cb rate was boosted too from a usual 2%. I haven't been paid yet obviously, you can't withdraw cb until you reach £10 but if it all works well it does seem to be worth it to me  

~FlowerPot~

Thats an excellent O/P well done.

I can feel some similiarites between our diaries. Sounds like you have been working hard in the garden and made it clearer and ready for spring. We have so much to do in the garden. We have a very large garden and didnt manage to get it ready for winter !!! SO have a lot to catch up on, plus we have to remove the box hedge that has died and we have metres and metres of it. my DS2 is tackling it with me (for some pennies!)

debtfreewannabe321

Hi @~FlowerPot~ thanks for dropping by 👋🙂 I am really happy with that OP I don't think it will be that big next month as it was a bonus month this last one. Our garden is the biggest I've ever had but it's probably not that big compared to many, gardening is hard work after winter. And like you we didn't get ours winter ready as we were still really busy with DIY up to Christmas to be honest. 

Well DD has been sick and I've spent ages cleaning up. She tried to clean up herself and bundled towels into the washing machine. Complete with sick in them. 🙂 Hmm yes we all know how that one went down. Like a lead balloon. I had to stop the machine ten minutes in as all I could see was food. I was totally confused. And then DD 'fesses up, I've been sick I tried to clean it myself. So I stopped machine mid cycle with a drum full of water, poured it all over me in my panic 🙃 and have spent hours shaking off sick off all the clothes that were already in the machine. Sopping up the water off the floor. Putting more washing on again minus sick and cleaning floors properly. Bleeding 'eck is all I will say about that one.

I'm off to Mr T in a mo, I promised DD some popcorn and we've run out. I will get the cook your own type and make it with a dash of Himalayan salt to help with electrolytes. I've also banned her from dairy till she is better and promised a movie afternoon with popcorn, lemon water (exciting I know) and told her she can choose the movie. I have a voucher for Mr T too so hoping that won't cost me any extra. Cheaper than the cinema and she is clearly full of some sort of bug. I think it's the same one people were off work with last week. I felt dizzy and sick for two days but was never actually sick. 

All direct debits are moved to new account now too, including DP maintenance he has to pay we set up a standing order for the first. So on pay day we will transfer that all out to the new account and can see how much is left a little more clearly. 🙂 Okay off to do the shopping and put the next wash on (there goes my plans on cutting washing down totally scuppered for this week!)

LadyWithAPlan

The tweed jacket for DP sounds great - something like that can last for decades so price per wear is good

Well done on getting the cushions refund - I also hate bad quality stuff.
I did spend an hour then an hour the other day as Vodaph b/band had charged me early as in a month early on my acct so £15 goodwill coming from next bill - but given thet were supposed to call me back (bus team) as it was booked and did not - then I was more indignant

On your dal - do you soak your red lentils first before cooking in your recipe ? (I assume they are dried

debtfreewannabe321

LadyWithAPlan said:

The tweed jacket for DP sounds great - something like that can last for decades so price per wear is good

Well done on getting the cushions refund - I also hate bad quality stuff.
I did spend an hour then an hour the other day as Vodaph b/band had charged me early as in a month early on my acct so £15 goodwill coming from next bill - but given thet were supposed to call me back (bus team) as it was booked and did not - then I was more indignant

On your dal - do you soak your red lentils first before cooking in your recipe ? (I assume they are dried

I do soak them. And rinse really well. Same for the rice.

The jacket actually had another 15% off when we got to the till. So cost even less. I checked the receipt today logging it all onto my budget book! So even better deal than we thought. My son has one like it that cost him a couple of hundred at least. 😁

redofromstart

My youngest likes the MW salted popcorn at 3/£1 in BnM

scraping child honk off things remains one of the worst jobs ever. Much sympathy

debtfreewannabe321

@redofromstart it really isn't great cleaning up after sick people ...I had all the windows open and washed her carpet and the rug and sorted all the washing out from the machine finally. She luckily seems much better today! So hoping that is the last of the sick I need to clean for a while  

debtfreewannabe321

I can't believe it is Friday already. Pretty bummed about that as it means I need to go back to work on Monday, DP to work, and DD to school. DS is still at his dad's house with no idea when he wants to return home *rolls eyes* I could have foretold this one happening. I am not going to push it though as I know ExH step daughter who lives with him now is off next week not this week. We live in different counties and the half term seemed to fall at different times. I suspect exH will want to keep DS until next weekend. Suppose it will be cheaper on electric, water, food....but costs DS dearly in mental health because of exH drinking tendencies and then his despair which he likes to share with DS and bring him down. Sigh... I can't do anything though. The more I insist he comes back the more that DS pushes me away. So I will ask again but I need to brace myself for the answer I am expecting.

On the positives today, I woke up with a horrendous back pain, but decided rather than sitting on it and being in pain to walk it off- always what my chiropractor suggests to get me moving and more flexible. It worked, we walked the dog for a good hour around estates in town and I felt more agile by the time I got home, enough to be able to exercise it for ten minutes (I haven't updated my goals list but I have been keeping up with all but the sugar thing...that will be parked for another month where I feel stronger haha). We took all the garden rubbish that I had been collecting in a pile to the dump, three car loads I think it was! And the garden looks ready for spring, I even found lots of bulbs popping up under branches, leaves and other garden debris! DP also helped me clear the log house out as that was becoming a bit of a junk pile. We had collected every bit of wood we have come across over a year I think and thrown it into that corner So we had old project wood from shelving etc from the house, old pallets cut up from deliveries, twigs from the garden, old fence posts- well you name what a bit of old wood might have come from and I suspect we had some of it!
All gone, much to DP dismay. I let him keep his wood pile in the garage for odd jobs, at least that was clean and dry. I also emptied out around a dozen big boxes, some we had collected and some I had been saving for a friend who is moving house next month. They were all dropped to her home on route to the tip. 
I surveyed the contents of the fridge, it's suitably empty for my shopping to be delivered tomorrow. I had some random leeks and potatoes in there though, so I made a leek and potato soup. DD didn't want any, actually turned her nose up at! But DP & I enjoyed it with some naan. I have enough for tomorrow's lunch too. Will make dinner a little later today as we ate after finishing the garden and it was quite late. And  a NSD for me today   

debtfreewannabe321

Cupboards and fridge and freezer looking chokka again after our s'bury delivery. I sent back the peppers as they were mouldy. I know these pickers are just doing a job, but if I were doing the job I would be checking the fresh stuff for signs of mould before putting it into bags ready for collection. I wish I had a shop nearer me where I could do a full shop in person, because I have kind of reached the end of my patience with mouldy food turning up. Every week there has been at least one thing, usually two or three. 
Anyway it's been and the delivery driver was nice and friendly and took the peppers away so hopefully that will be refunded back to my card. I am still waiting on the refund from the next returns, haven't heard anything from them yet *will check my emails when I have finished here*. Has to be a NSD today, pretty much all pots are depleted, and if I spend any more I will have to WAM from another pot which I don't want to do.
I will update my signatures in a bit to reflect all the TT/PAD and shopping which hasn't been added up to date yet. If I have any money left in the food budget for the end of month I will be happy because I really thought I was going to over-spend this month!

debtfreewannabe321

Wow the food budget after substitutions pushed it up a bit, but the peppers and a couple of things that were refunded last week reduced it a little comes to £500.79!!  

£488.59!!!!

Okay so I am technically over, but I am still pretty impressed with that as I needed a lot of cupboard stock at the beginning of the month including bulk rice, potatoes and tins! Okay so my new mantra for this week is, I do not need any top up shops, I have enough food until next weekend

I miscalculated!!! LOL
I am actually under budget!!! I was looking at the subtotal before they took off all the bogof, and 3for2 and n3ct@r prices, doh.