NST April 2026: Thrift and Thrive

beanielou

Welcome to our lovely community @FrugalAspirations.

apple_muncher

Wotcha FrugalAspirations! Welcome to the turtles!

f0xh0les

NSDs 1 and 2 in the bag. I am in a field in the middle of nowhere .ie, so no spends should occur tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday either. Marooned . No rum either. 😕

beanielou

NSD no 2 today. My pledge for this month is NO spending on Vinted as all the little amounts add up.

apple_muncher

Great pledge, beanie . It is very easy to spend money on there!

f0xh0les, in a field ? Not in a hostel? Are you having to spend much time with the relatives?

Today I am grateful for getting everything I wanted at Liddle, and using my £5 off £60 spend, for doing some needle felting, for reading a really good Stacy Sims book, for the phlox starting to sprout, for fresh bed linen.

grandmanerd

Well my body isn't hurting but definitely not enough energy to go out. I completed a couple of admin tasks that have been hanging around, updated DS1 on my health situation (did DS2 last night but too tired to repeat it all). I pulled out the clean semi-dry washing and I've ferried a few things through to the kitchen. Some food items need using up but I decided to eat what I wanted today. Ate sweet potato falafels with boxes of red and green peppers, cucmber and celery. The remainder of the peppers will be added to my next ready meal. My other main meal was from the freezer.

I hadn't spent any money until the last hour. I had a voucher on a £40 spend + free delivery and used it to stock up on basics I needed (eggs and bread) and trawled through the offers for items I use regularly with 50% off. Then I did an order of chinchilla treats and some hay. I had told DS3 that they needed these things but not sure if they've done it. I didn't buy the grand chinchillas a Christmas present as they still had most of the treats I bought the year before. These have now all been used up. I added a couple of practical items - food bags to compost non veg items and an organiser to attach to the wall for holding brushes and brooms. I put one of these up when I was living with mum and it really helped.

Grateful for getting overdue tasks done, for Only Connect and some information about my referrals.

f0xh0les

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81948206#Comment_81948206

Yep, in their house, in the middle of fields, nothing interesting for miles around, being talked at from 7.00 til 23.00, it is an interminable monologue about people I don't know and will never meet.

Now I feel bad, as obviously the woman is alone a lot of the time and lacks company, probably, but I am trying to get them to spend time with their adult children and grandchildren. I quietly took myself off to the bedroom late this morning to force them to spend time together, 15 minutes later his mother appears knocking on the door … her kids can be rude to her if they choose to be, her kids can ignore her, I don't feel like I can be.

Being popular is hard sometimes 😅 or maybe it is just good manners? I dunno. Whatever it is, it is flippin difficult.

weenancyinAmerica

Today was a NSD just because I refused to spend anything. Tomorrow will be my big spend day: bills, grocery order, and a trip to the Dollar Store (where things are no longer a dollar, but close). Then I hope to get buy without spending for a long time.

Managed to read another book today. Ready to go to the library on Saturday - I have a full bag ready to go.Plus another one in the trunk already.

Finally got my roommate to get her laundry ready for other roommate J (who is her official caregiver) to get her laundry done. Mine gets done tomorrow. It involves going down stairs which I can't do at the moment so roommate J will also do mine, including the comforter from my bed.

Cleared out a full box (12 inches deep) of papers. Already in the trash.

We actually had 4 hours of rain this week. And none in the future weeks is predicted. They measured the snowpack for California yesterday - usually it is in feet - yesterday it was zero! No snow at all. We are under drought conditions now.

DawnW

OH has a cold, so we are not a happy household 😄

I woke up with a sore eye for some reason, which is a nuisance. Took the dog for a route march - it is quite cold outside.

Yesterday I cleaned and blacked the stove, which was a horrible job, but it does look nice now. Obviously I did other things as well, but that was the 'big' task for the day. Today I will do some garden tidying, and try to figure out where on earth I am going to put the extra bins that the Council seem intent on foisting on us. 5 bins is too many for those with small outside spaces. I hate looking at the ones we already have. I remember when I first got married each household had a small metal dustbin which was emptied weekly, and it was enough. I suppose excess consumption and packaging are to blame 😔

I might also make some scones for treats. No plans to spend today. I need something to rest my strawberry tower thing on, but will have a look and a think and see if there is something we already have that would do the job. Come to think of it, I don't think I have had any spend days for April at all yet 😊

Grateful for the freebie heart shaped crumpets I had for breakfast this morning (a freebie from W*itrose where I get the top up items that L*dl don't stock). There will be enough for another breakfast as well, as OH doesn't like then.

grandmanerd

Yesterday was a lot of sleeping and a bit of struggle. Woke early and was frightened to go back to sleep because deliveries were due from 8 am. Food came (still not put away) and some chinchilla supplies came before 1 pm (the ones I'd ordered not their's). After the delivery window I showered and washed my hair. Felt 'flat' for the rest of the day - meal times one good but later was tempted to just go with baked beans.

Slept well but had extra sleep after checking where today's parcels were up to. They include a long handled shoe horn and a wall thing that will hold broom sticks and mops. I have put lots of bowls to soak in the washing up bowl (since taken out to drain and more put in) and I put a sheet, small towel, bath mat and a dress in to wash (it wasn't full but was more than half full).

I updated DS3 on the recycling yesterday - I didn't need to go through it once he realised it was on the Council website. I need to move my food through into the kitchen, then today's big task is to get to grips with the recycling. Lots more things are now allowed in the different bins and it's less restrictive (food waste was unbelievably complicated before) but we are going to need more bags and collection points - front room and kitchen and extra bags for crumply plastics (crisp packets, rip off tops etc.).

Luckily I have lots of empty boxes which will help (might even be able to sort tools into smaller useable categories) and hopefully I can do part of a shift round over the next couple of days

Grateful for no pressure (it honestly wouldn't be productive atm, will just amble along), good books and taskmaster/ Black Books