Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

Hi people! Just been reading my last few posts,and what a downer for anyone visiting,I have been a total misery,havent I? Sorry!:D

Health-wise,some improvement - Hives have gone down,I was sick of feeling greasy from the ointment I was using. Ears - only one really bunged up now,so some improvement on hearing,I got sick of saying ''Whaaa?'' to Mr Dusty
Mouth ulcers,some improvement,not so painful ,but still agony to try to eat anything hard.Did manage to gingerly eat lots of veggies yesterday,though it was difficult to only let food touch the teeth,not the gums or roof of the mouth. Hate to think what it would have looked like to others,but ate alone,so no problem!:D
Feet fine,even after walking up that hill to do the shopping:T hands ditto,fingers straightened out,so can do my hunt and peck. Some grating of the bones but nothing compared to last week.I am convinced that it was the arthritis flareup that set off all the other things. No fun having an immune system that attacks me instead of invading enemies,but thats the way the cookie crumbles.
On the mental side,still not good. Remember last week I miscalculated my 3rd shop to get a £5 Icel@nd bonus,underspending by 12p? This week I was determined to get it right.So what did I do but leave my debit card behind? I had been online paying off a bill,and forgot to return it to its usual place in the purse. Had started off in Asd@,and had a basket full of stuff when I realised I only had £12 cash in my purse. Had to put everything back except the £1.50 bag of Maris Piper potatoes I needed for Mr D.Then went to Icel@nd and carefully got a few necessary things like milk,bread onions,etc,came to £11 odd,leaving only some silver in the purse,so I thought I was doing well,till I got outside and realized I hadnt swiped the bonus card,so I got nothing!
You couldnt make it up!Sunday the 19th is the last possible day to achieve the fiver. I am going to go to the Icel@nd in the city instead of that little place on the hill see if I have better luck. This will make well over £30 spent to achieve the third stage of that fiver bonus. I will certainly have earned it.:rotfl::rotfl:No I only bought stuff that I would have had to buy locally myself,or Mr D would have bought there as part of our regular shopping,so its not a disaster moneywise,though a disaster in the mental health area!:D
At least I am recovered enough to see the wry side of things,certainly couldnt a few days ago.

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

I was thinking of you this weekend, I was in Sunderland at the National Glass Centre , a very interesting place to visit. Then we went for a drive on the coastal road , and headed back to the A19 to takes us back to Middlesbrough way. The more I visit the area , the more I enjoy the place.

I hope you get your Iceland fiver this weekend .

Glad you enjoyed your Sunderland visit,cumbria lass! Did you get a chance to walk along the riverside? My granddaughters(now 22 and 19) still have great memories of the sculptures scattered here and there,especially the ''exploded house'' and the door set into the cliff wall. They really believed that that was a magic door leading into Narnia,if only they could discover how to open it!
check out - https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/seagullcity/riverside-sculpture-walk/
I think once the schools are back in September I will make an afternoon of it,exploring there. 10 years since I was there,the knees couldnt have made it before now.:D


And yes,I FINALLY earned my fiver. It will come on the bonus card on 25th August,has to be used within a fortnight.No problem,Mr D goes there once a fortnight as it has the tikka masala sauce he likes,and also some barbecued chicken wings.Otherwise he's not a user of frozen stuff or ready meals.Just as well,its a 10 minute walk back to the bus station from there,not fun if carrying a lot of frozen stuff!

New fortnight,new budget. Got to rein in the spending! Lately I have been obsessing about topping up my Xmas savings on my shop cards as I didnt start till half way through the year. Doesnt look much each time,but I counted up how much I actually topped them up this fortnight and it came to £18,which is a sizable chunk.and a bit of a shock. No wonder I was so skint this fortnight with only 10p left in my purse. It reminded me of the other bad old times when things were tight and life was anxious. I didnt like it!:(
So.more awareness of what I am doing,a lot more frugality with shopping for instance. I definitely want to get back to doing as much shopping online as possible,doing the shopping myself is far too tempting. So Mr D can get those little odds and ends at Icel@nd when he is in town,and I'll get as much of the rest of my shopping from Asd@ as possible,with a Tesc* and Ald! alternate weeks top up shop,whisking in and out - and with a shopping list!
At least there is some leeway this fortnight,I will tuck away the excess in my spare purse where I collect for my hair etcI will then have cash available to supplement the budget for 3rd Sept fortnight without raiding the CA. That money is for paying utilities and other bills,with usually a little left over,which after a while I have beentransfering to the savings accounts,which are ticking along satisfactorily. But this saving for the USA trip,the big chunk of home insurance due in October,and the passport fund too have all put a bit of a strain on the normally very adequate income.Best part of £100 a month is no easy thing to come up with.

.I was not happy last fortnight when I had to supplement my budget from my current account just to account for every item on my zero sum budget.My CA is now at its lowest for two years,which is not nice.Of course I do have plenty of cash in the savings accounts so its not dire straits,but living within the budget has given me peace of mind. Just have to make adjustments,put aside something the easier fortnight to add on to the budget.