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- Persuaded OH to eat all of our nearly out of date leftovers from the fridge...its fine, he had an iron constitution!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.

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

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.

Good Afternoon All

CLF - Hope you're feeling better, enjoy Berlin

Feeling much brighter today, we've had very little internet or TV over the last few days so will dropping V*gin a very strongly worded email, on the plus side all the ironings done, we've talked more and read lots too. Today we will:

Check Bank & made PAD - Done
Gym (no review as short-staffed re-arranged for next week) - Done
Car in for MOT -
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

Hi all hope you've had a good day and not been blown away! The wind was so strong here. Not much going on today just been working but I have snagged another NSD as a result of that - that's 3 this week.

MSE stuff today

not had tv on at all - resisted turning it on as usual for background noise.
done online shop at Mr M using £15 off voucher - bought all the heavy stuff like pop and wet wipes
made a list of stuff that was too expensive from Mr M and will nip to Tesco tomorrow
meal plan done
bought a neck of lamb cheap to cook in slow cooker
cashed out £2 on surveys
more surveys done
tea was chilli made with ys mince - kids had ys bread rolls with freebie cheese spread and freebie chicken bites.
two loads of washing done with gloop
took boys out of cupboard to nursery pickup and avoided the usual £3 trip to the bakery

Think that's it for now

Happy Friday folks!

Quick post to keep me on track. Today I have/will:

Packed lunches all round
Hot drink for commute
Chicken out of freezer for tea, will use up some veg out of fridge
Flylady of bathroom whilst supervising tooth brushing
Check banking
Check for surveys
Check to see if a survey I did yesterday credited
Print off return label at work to use their ink
Smalls to prepaid activity tonight
Send mums details of which pick up they are on for rest of school year and try and plan School holiday cover
Emptied bin and cleaned bin and left outside to air in the sunshine (the bin not the rubbish )
Relax with DH tonight and watch something on tv.

Right, must get to work. Hope commute is kind. Have a good day everyone. Purps.

To be honest I'm really just starting to do the big things, and funnily enough I'm already quite good at some of the little things (I've been buying from charity shops and trying to reuse things or do without etc for the last year, while we have thousands a year going out in interest payments!!) but I'm going to try and step up the the little things too.

I'm going to take home a load of felt off-cuts we've been given and make a new cushion for the dogs with an old throw to save buying a new one

I'm going to get my week's money out in cash and when it's gone, it's gone

The freezer has got a bit frosted up and my inventory of what's in it is really out of date, so i'm going to go on a drive to use it up rather than buy more food, including the 'mystery' things which I've put in old ice cream or takeaway tubs, then the writing has worn off - and then defrost and start again!

Walk as often as I can

Not buy any more clothes even from charity shops as I have enough to see me through the summer

I love puzzles and I've just subscribed to the magazine I buy which has a really good offer (cheap anyway and just in before a price rise) and set a note to myself to cancel the dd before it renews next year at a much higher price - and as I don't necessarily get through the mag in the month, hopefully that'll last me for years and save the cost of using the TV or my laptop when I'm having a break (I've got a new rule about no TV before 6pm, switched off at the wall otherwise, and laptop only when I'm working from home, hoping to see some drop in the electricity bill!!)

...the other biggie is that I'm resisting having the cracked screen on my phone mended. it's been SIM only since October and I want that to last as long as possible, but recently dropped it and cracked the screen. It's still perfectly usable so I'm not going to pay £60 to get a new screen. I'm treating it with kid gloves now!!