Right. Am fed up of whatever is going on in my noggin.

So I've rung the doctor to chase up my ENT referral and I'm going to the opticians to book an appointment and to check that my glasses haven't been adversely affected by the donks they have received.


He reckoned my glasses were pretty much ok but did make a slight adjustment. Hopefully it will be a bit of help. Appointment booked for eye test.

Good Afternoon All

CLF - Hope you feel better soon, where are you jetting off to?

Feeling much brighter today so we will:

Check Bank & made PAD - Done
Gym - Done
Washing & line dry -
Ironing -
Purge a few emails -
Enter a few comps -
Surveys -
Swagbucks -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check: Tombola Stars, Lucky Bob, Luckyphone, FPL, WinaDinner -
Read -
Knit -

Have a great day all.

C x

Oh I am so not in the mood for a meeting tonight. Still some prep to do

Was up early to the supermarket as i desperately needed cat litter and a couple of bits to make a minestrone soup in the slow cooker.
First time doing this soup so anything that was looking a bit jaded in the fridge got thrown in. It's smelling great. Will have some for supper when I get in tonight.

Going thru a soup phase at the minute, weather not overly sunny here at the minute, we've had some overcast days and still cold at night.

Cat cleaning all done first thing.
Downstairs hoovering done
Soup cooking.
Banking all checked-d.debits all up to date
Balanced my spends book-everything now up to date
Phoned about a hospital appt yesterday. Had a very shirty woman on the phone saying we don't send out appointments, I said well you have been doing with me, went off to check and came back with a completely different attitude of when they could next fit me in. Think there was a slight botch up there but at least have an appointment now.
Hope DawnW is doing okay.

Right off to get a bit more sorted
Have a great day everyone x

Thanks ziggy! We're off to Berlin


Weirdly I often find that the light headedness improves in the afternoon. Perhaps because I can consciously clear my ears more?

Hi all,
A no spend day today, as have been busy in the garden for most of it. Got a bit of free exercise taking my new bike out for a practice....haven't cycled for well over 20 years so it was a bit of an experience! Fab sunshine here....in fact TOO hot, but I got the rest of this week's laundry pegged out & dried for free. Planted out quite a few bedding plants for some summer colour & a flowery buffet for useful pollinators. All grown from free seed. Tonight's meal involves more rubber chicken. That's it for today....oh actually I did do a Toluna survey - 12000 points. Not sure what came over them!
Not money saving.....Beanageddon. Still time to re-sow. Will wobble myself & new bicycle down to village garden centre tomorrow to buy a new packet.
Cheers all,
F x

My first post on one of these threads! Enjoying reading everyone's 'tips'!

The big thing I have done today is address the joke that is the service we are getting from our banks. Our business account is TSB and I am still suffering with their inability to get anything fixed, or deal with the no doubt millions of complaints they have. My personal account is with Barclays, who, when I called up telephone banking last week told me my accounts were frozen(!), making me dash to the branch in a panic only to be told they have no idea what the lady on the phone was talking about!
So.....
- Opened Nationwide account on a friends referral, so we will both be getting a £100 referrers fee! Hands down, the easiest account I have ever opened, it took me about 10 minutes in total, and am using the switching service so nothing left for me to do....seriously impressed so far.
- Nationwide offered me (on the same credit check) their credit card at 0% for a year. I have a card just about to end its 0% period, so this is seriously good timing for a balance transfer so I can get it cleared quicker!
- Put in application for a new business account with Santander - a years free banking, and I can escape this whole TSB debacle

- £850 PPI refund from Lloyds confirmed for OH
- Went for a lovely walk (free exercise and sunshine!)
- Persuaded OH to eat all of our nearly out of date leftovers from the fridge...its fine, he had an iron constitution!
- Eating the last of the cottage pie I cooked last night
- Still have three days worth of meals in the cupboards
- Loaded triple nectar points for BP fuel onto my card - I am saving all my Nectar points up so I can pay for our staff's Christmas presents out of these this year (booze and chocolate for 20 people!)

Hope you have all had a lovely day in the sun x

Evening all , and welcome Gemsy81

I presume that no news from Dawn is good news, and hope that all went well yesterday.

CLF - hope you're feeling better soon.

Another quick check in from me today as I'm so busy. The first exam went ok by all accounts - the students seemed quite positive about it all so fingers crossed. Next one is on Thursday.

Bagged another nsd
Busy day at work and got through my to-do list again
Took 2 of the cats to the vet for annual boosters (although one of them seems a bit grumpy and unwell since we got home bless him)
Popped to the travel agent for a couple of holiday brochures. I am completely determined that I am going to give my kids one foreign holiday before they grow up
Sat down and had leftovers at 7pm
Now feeling utterly exhausted and desperate for an early night, and hopefully a better night of sleep than I had last night.

Hope Dawn is feeling ok.
Welcome to the thread Gems - I moved to nationwide and did have a problem (they didn't pay the £100 referral) but I rang and spoke to their customer services and it all got sorted with 2 phone calls over 10mins. I would recommend.
Had a lovely time with the kids and their bikes, ds1 was using my dads bike that was a £400 bike about 15yrs ago but still looks like new, he was thrilled with it ds2 has moved on to ds1s old bike and they both just looked so grown up. (and I gave ds2s small bike away to one of our tenants kids last week )
Dh and I just had soup and bread to eat tonight as we weren't hungry so have adjusted meal plan for tomorrow.
Shared bath water and continued use ups of lotions and potions

I think thats about it. Lovely reading about everyones day.

Morning all, quick one before I'm away out the door. This week has been productive so want to stay on track despite a long day at work today:
Check banking
Check surveys
Smalls left over bolegnase from last night for tea
I made lunch for work today, made eldest packed lunch. DH day off so he will eat from stores
Have something out of freezer yesterday for tea
DH to hand deliver card for friend today
DH to talk about mortgage tonight and me to do some comparisons on life insurance rather than necessarily go with the broker, whose a bit pushy to say the least but has found us a good deal so I'll let him off
Try and paint my toenails before the sun comes out again
Hot drink for commute

Right must get on want to leave by 6.30 and still need to eat breakfast. Have a good day.

Morning all

Welcome aboard Gemsy81

Dawn - I hope all is ok xx

Feeling a bit better thanks. I've took some anti-histamines which is helping a bit.

Today's list:

• B/L/D from stores
• Pack suitcase!
• Ring taxi for airport - done
• Water seedlings in greenhouse. Bring them into the house while I'm away to prevent slug attack
• Ask my neighbour to keep an eye on garden and put bins out
• No alcohol - it's normally a bit of a ritual for me to take myself for a pint on the way home from work on my last day in. It's a happy ritual that only involves 1-2 pints but I'm doing so well on cutting down. Depending on how I feel, I will either go home and sit in the garden, or go for a walk instead.
• Knit sock. I turned the heel last night and am ready to pick up the gusset stitches. I hope they don't mind the dpns on the plane.
• Bedding into the wash and out on the line to dry. - done

Have a good one all

clf x

Welcome Gemsy this is a great friendly thread that keeps me on the straight and narrow!!
CLF hope things settle for u soon. A friend has an ENT problem and despite surgery he still suffers with his ears badly. Berlin sounds fab
Thinking of DawnW. If u just managing to read, sending hugs and hoping u have a speedy recovery

The minestrone soup was a success but have bucket loads of it. So that's lunches sorted for today and tomorrow and the rest can go into the freezer. Also feel like I'm eating very healthy and having my 5 a day (ignoring the fact that I ate a big bar of chocolate that was part of a birthday present yesterday!!)

Cat cleaning still to do-about to start in a minute
Banking all checked, all good
Some bits to do in town this morning
Housework when back home.
Didn't get a lot of sleep last night so may need to have a catch up this afternoon or leg really swells badly
Nick to pick up an item from sorting office that has been there quite a bit. Need to pick up today otherwise it will end up being sent back to the sender.
Can't think of anything else
Have a great day everyone x

Cocoa is a bean and so chocolate is def a plant

Afternoon all,
Its raining here today and quite cool, such a difference to yesterday! Luckily the nice weather is forecast to be back tomorrow
to all who need it.

Todays list from me
* ds1 had a free breakfast at school
* went to the gym, spoke to the staff who are going to give me a new programme to follow to avoid using my troublesome knee whilst I wait for x ray results. Did a class but changed the squats that I couldn't do for some overhead presses instead. Refilled water bottle there twice
* home for brunch, todays use it up was mackerel, beetroot, cauliflower rice, spinach and a hard boiled egg, it was so tasty and luckily I have enough to have the same again tomorrow morning
* make families lunches for tomorrow
* check banking/update spreadsheet
* put away washing dried yesterday
* iron 3 of dh's shirts washed yesterday
* continue tidying up as I go and add anything not wanted/needed into the charity shop bag I have hanging around
* do some surveys
* order a bra strap extender thing my mum suggested yesterday (I've put some weight back on and my strap is too tight but hopefully the weight will come off again so that its back to a perfect fit) yay ordered a 3 pack for £1.99 on amzon - and used survey vouchers to pay for it too
* got to get rid of a hotspot on the end of my kitchen counter, its attracting paper clutter and its annoying me. I will move the fruit bowl to this spot once cleared!
* clean kitchen using stardrops

Thats my starter, I hope to add lots more to this as the day goes on!
Rm survey done
a yougov survey done
emailed the council as our streets bin collections been missed
rang ds1s school to see if they had had his bag handed in
sorted out my purse and got rid of vouchers I won't use and filed receipts
chopped up ds1s breakfast banana skin and put at the bottom of my rose bush, seen mixed reporsts about doing this so not sure if this is a myth or not but worth a try I thought.
a onepoll survey done
ordered some eating out vouchers from Mr T club card before the value drops

Hi all! Welcome Gemsy and hope everyone else is getting on ok.

I seem to have found my mojo again so normal frugal service has been resumed thankfully.

Happened to be in the nearest city earlier this week so did my shop at the new massive Lidi thats just been built there - was fab and i got everything i needed with no need to go to @sda afterwards. Went slightly over budget by £10 but i got Some stuff which will last for 2-3 weeks so I hopefully wont spend as much in the coming weeks. found most things were significantly cheaper and also got their nappies which are fab and half the cost of my usual ones (which adds up quickly when you have twins!) we've been very impressed with what we've tried so far so will definitely go again - probably not every week as it's too far away to be viable but maybe every 3 weeks or so for a stock up?

I've also just had some vouchers from morrisons - £40 off over 3 shops - just need to work out if i will actually save by using them as morrisons does always seem to come out quite a lot more expensive.

In moneysaving news this week:

cashed out £21.73 from prolific
cashed out £5 amazon voucher from swagbucks
cashed out £4 amazon vouchers from ipsos
cashed out £6.97 from various other surveys
paid £45.50 to MBNA card now at £799.50 in extra payments since Feb.
found £1 roadkill in LIdi trolley
planted some more beans, peas and strawberry plants
£7.40 cashback from checkout smart
sorted and listed some more junk online £5 worth sold and collected already.
no top up shops done this week due to mega lidi shop
NSD yesterday and today hopefully

Think thats it for now. Have a good day all

Wow spudsmum - you've done some serious moneysaving this week!

I lost my nsd today by forgetting to pick my lunch up on the way out of the door - so I spent £3 at work on a sandwich and a drink. Also spent £2 on a charity pin at school. Other than that though I'm busy and keeping the faith as best I can moneywise.

Leftovers for dinner tonight

Hiiiii

I've had a crazy week so far and it's only Wednesday, hope everyone else is having a good one.

I worked an overtime shift yesterday so have been extra tired today, back tomorrow for another 12 hours but then it's 3 days off. As for the all important money saving....

Today I met up with a friend, spent £1.60 which am quite pleased with as it so easily could've turned into a lunch for £8
Went to the gym and used their shower too
Finally sold my old mobile phone so just need to send that off on friday
Posted 2 eBay sales
2 loads of washing done on the quick setting
About to batch cook for tonight and tomorrow's dinner / lunch / dinner
Aim to also make some bread - I don't know why I haven't made this sooner, I used to love baking but now it just feels like extra work, but I really must use up my cupboard contents as my moving day looms ever closer.
Oh and I managed to answer 2 swagbucks surveys, not far away from a £10 amazon voucher now.

Will try and put my feet up sometime this evening :-) I hope you all do too

Wotcha Moneysavers,
Useful day with all on my list achieved except for my old favourite the weekly ironing:
*Posted ebay parcel & a knitting commission.
*Potted up 4 pepper plants & re-sowed climbing beans in my recycled cups from free Waitrose coffees.
*Cast on B-in-L's 2nd sock for presents box. Bought the yarn last year so no new spend.
*Did a couple of surveys.
*Mr f's Ugov cash-out arrived in bank so updated this year's survey total in my sig.
*Moved some funds around to keep my budget system straight.
*Did meal plans.
*Wrote shopping list.
*Did online order as we are busy on Fri & Sat & would prefer to go out somewhere more alluring than the supermarket on Sunday.
*Paid another 50p into my sealed pot.
*Fed sourdough jar ready to mix up a loaf tomorrow night.
*Found a reasonably diabetic-friendly recipe to bake for Mum when we visit this weekend.
*Had a bicycle incident this morning which was so annoying as only my 2nd trip out on it. Was quite close to village bike repair business when it happened & almost called in for a repair, but then I thought that as mr f put the bike together, he can hopefully sort it out for me for free.
Just going to update my dfw diary then intend to read my book.
Love to all,
F x

Hi everyone....a few good things from me today.....

- Got some £10 off Waitrose vouchers in the post today, as long as I am careful about what I buy in there (i.e. cheapy essentials only, I should be able to save some pennies here)
- Found some Compliments vouchers that OH and I won last year. Have a birthday party to take my son to this weekend, so will use one of the vouchers for his friend's present.
- I could not eat all my dinner tonight, no idea why(!) but I fed the leftovers to the dog instead of putting in the bin, therefore not using the actual dog food...which is quite expensive as she has an allergy.
- I need to make some cushions for our business - I picked up a bargain piece of offcut material earlier for £8, really chuffed!
- Just done my online shop, having done a meal plan and scoured my cupboards before shopping, a mere £50 for the three of us for a week, this is about £30 cheaper than I have previously managed
- Paid £200 off my Barclaycard, it was spare in my account so I thought I would use it for something constructive instead of it sitting there tempting me!
- Got invited to a swanky 'do' with OH in June...all expenses paid drinks and dinner in London. It is work related but will be fun, and can be our entertainment for the month!

x

Moening all,
On today's list:
*Deal with online grocery delivery.
*Iron as little as possible.
*Continue planting out summer bedding - all free seed.
*Water veggies.
*Mix up sourdough.
*Make 2 pasta bakes - primarily fridge round-up ingredients, peppers, l/o chorizo, olives, etc.
*Prolific survey. If I do this one, I apparently get an addirional £4 bonus so will do it next before I forget.
*Soak fruit for Mum's cake. She appreciates home baking & it is more economical than buying a gift each time.
*Lots of useful 'use-it-ups' going on - a lipstick I don't much like, last of a foundation being scraped out with a coffee stirrer, shampoo dregs being rinsed out before starting new bottle, etc.
*Plan low spend trip out for Sunday.
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch.
Ok, best crack on.
F x

Morning all quick post and I need to get on with my day. Annoyingly the smalls let the gate slam this morning and it's now stuck, so we can't get out the house that way. Was planning a run in the sunshine but that's not going to happen now for reasons I won't bore you with. Hmm, have a relatively tight schedule today and don't have time to try and fix it either. Hoping DH can fix it when he gets back. Anyway on to better things:

Free facial today, wouldn't normally pay for them but was sent a free voucher for the spa at hotel where my gym is. So it'd be rude not to
Will see if I can time it to run there first instead
Pork I got out of freezer for tea with some anchovies I also froze. I will reclaim the freezer at some point
Check banking
Check surveys
See if pushy man comes back about mortgage today, still need to do more comparisons on the life cover stuff
See what might be causing tap to drip annoyingly
Out for some exercise with pal tonight
Call pet insurance company now I've finally dropped form at vet
As much washing out as possible to dry in the sunshine, should only be 2 loads and I'm done
Quick tidy round, hoover downstairs

Enjoy your day folks.