Friday yet again........ tragic

Happenings in Japan are awful. I  feel for those who have lost family, friends, homes, lives, livelihoods. Puts things into perspective when you see what can be taken away in  an instant and so dramatically.

On a different note I have an interview date for uni earlier than was indicated  so not excellent but I will manage. Quite annoyed as they told me April and have brought it forward. I had made plans around April and arranged to  visit and talk to people who could help me with the course/interview. Also means no trip to the Land of Whippets as I will need to stay at home and take advantage of the peace while gorgeous one is visiting her other family.

May be busy and unable to blog for a while as now have a list of things to do including job applications, work-  horrible stuff and better more interesting interview stuff - loads of it to read. Boooo Dull as shite.


Baked spuds, salad and Tuna for 2.3 again. Fajitas tomorrow - its Saturday! And Roast on Sunday. Lunch is typically a late bigger breakfast  or rather second breakfast for gorgeous one with later snacks, or beans on toast or toasties or soup. Breakfast is toast or toast or cereal or special days bacon sandwiches - normally when bacon is on special offer. Bacon sarnies mean not a lot of lunch - pass direct to supper, do not pass teatime and do not collect further food! Ok fruit is allowed!  I always have a stash of fruit, yoghurt and ice cream and cheapie digestive biscuits in for the for the gorgeous one. I find cooking therapeutic and enjoyable.Not as much as bargain hunting but not bad.  When I get the time I will budget each meal that I cook on a regular basis.

Enjoy the weekend !!!


Love Eeek
xxx

Rugby!!!! Biggles is bringing beer!  Bless him!!!

Chip shop curry Thursday and a job interview!!

Ahhh another day - and another indulgence. Three quid for a syrup brown leather handbag with a flower motif - Its lovely and I love it - not good as I have a plan but.............

 

In response  to this over spend I have had another clear out and will sell some clothes and curtains - its good to de clutter! Am also stock piling for a car boot sale! Car boots are great  when you are a seller you don't have time to buy!!!

 

I shall also post pics of the finds when I dig out the software for the camera!

 

Job interview is positive - its still about 10k less than I was on and less per hour than I am now but more if I work full time. Its with a local college which is good and only about 20miles away and I can get the bus however its only guaranteed till July 31st when the college is taken over by another college so I don't know if I can take the risk.... I shall go to the interview anyway - good practice.

 

Had the delights of chip shop home made curry!! You know school curry - makway curry sauce special  with onion, chicken and peas and sweetcorn thrown in for good measure with a naan bread and a bag of boil in the bag rice!  Biggles came over for tea again. He is on leave and considering the pressies of this lap top ( his old one) and a TV for looking after him when he was in hospital plus all the other nice stuff we do hes worth it!!!!

 

Small gorgeous one loves having him around too. Nearly time for weekend number two. Apart from another two job applications I may get one or two things from the list accomplished!

Projects: 

• Under stairs cupboard to sort and retrieve software for camera
• Kitchen draws to sort - numerous bits for boot sale
• Clothes to further sort with view to stuff to save for sister, stuff to recycle for cash
• Sewing projects - smock top thing to hem the sleeves, curtains to hem ( I feel a wonder web moment coming on)
• Curtains to re hang
• Car to valet - its disgusting - need to fit wheel trims
• Glass to recycle
• Upstairs floors to sweep
• Shed to sort out - I have a chest of drawers to revamp
• Plan the garden for this year - I have seeds to plant and pots to re pot and ferns to plant etc
• I have decorating also but am waiting for better weather (- prob the same for the garden and shed and car valeting )

TTFN

 Eeeeek

CAP = Highly recommended!

What a lovely organisation. Really understanding and very supportive. Technically I am not behind with payments at all but the savings are significantly depleted and I am not earning enough to deal with emergencies as they present and require savings.  CAP  ( Christians against Poverty) people were brilliant and will negotiate with my creditors (3 of them) on my behalf. I pay CAP and  CAP pays them. I agree to not take out anymore debt and only deal with CAP ( this is not an issue- really its not). Am still sour about things generally -  having to do this and not have choice in my life and that being debt free will take longer than I had hoped ( unless the house sells) but at least its manageable. takes the fun out of  thrifting a bit - as I always went for preloved and new to me on point of principle and green leanings. Will  keep you posted re the progress with CAP. Have a new bank account to open next week - they got the time mixed up today so only got bits of it complete.

Biggles paid for coffee and cake ( nice chap that he is) and Gorgeous one had an accident. I had to buy trousers from Oxfam £2 and socks and pants - not from Oxfam but M and Co which came to £9!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Should have made her put up with being commando and barefoot  in shoes but we had a while to go before home and she would have created big stylee!!! I will put the socks away for next year. No pants a larger size either only smaller or far too big so that was a bit of a waste too. Oh well and she is normally so very very good! And its one of the only high street kids shops in the town!!! ( Sainsbury's, a very posh shop, and a local one with outlets in the wider area - mostly school outfitters but not that much cheaper and closed half day on a Wednesdays!!) I really miss Woolworth's in cases like this! living in a small town this is a draw back not having cheap high street shops at your disposal in cases like this.

Quick tea this evening - oven chips ( they have to be used up and chicken/fish fingers/ beans etc. I may have egg as I am a fan of the family Friday classic of yesteryear! )


Saw a  fabulous blue Edinay Ronay short mac style jacket on sale for £20 in Oxfam - was really tempted and got as far as trying it on - was a bit too tight so I am really really glad!!!!! After yesterdays find I am unable to justify further  expenditure and it was rather lovely............ and another Paul Smith skirt that I refused to pay £15 for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gorgeous Day earlier - bit cold after 1pmish.. can't wait for warm spring days heralding summer!!!

I need to find my camera!!! Positive finds and 'new to me' kitchen stuffs!!

or rather the discy thingamybob that means I can upload photos of finds, gifts, fun stuff to the laptop nd illustrate the blog. Methinks it may be in the old standalone PC which is hiding in the back of the cupboard just in case!!!

I have loads of new kitchen stuff - well new to me! Biggles was having a clear out!! I have had a habit over the years, since my mid twenties of deserting, running for the hills taking only the cats after a relationship cohabitation break up. Even in non cohabiting relationships I never ask for stuff back. I just go - has always been me heading for the hills - I figure if you decide its over then off you go! Anyways my haul of kitchen equipment has never recovered! When I think about the gems I have left behind...... Proper hardy equipment built for longevity - stuff inherited from my mum and granny built in the 50's, 60's 70's to last!

Todays' donations are all  modern type things but am not complaining (- I do enjoy therapeutic cooking - doesn't always turn out how I want but I do enjoy the journey! ) Cake tins, pans, dishes and a deep fat fryer  to be used for special occasion chips!! I can make proper cakes now!!


(Later we christened the 'new to me goods' with cauliflower cheese  avec les bonuses- with added bacon, onions, carrots and broccoli and a few home made oven chips .............followed by pancakes for the Shroves of course)

We had some goods to donate to the Charity shop. - bits that no one needed. (That man had 7 frying pans -for example - I now have three and he has two) While donating  I found a find!!!!!!!!!!!! Brand new dark grey marks and spencer dress suit - for job interviews/course interviews for only £15 - the gods of finds and bargains hath blessed me. It is very 'boring' and only really good for interviews, funerals, serious work days. May be this is a sign of positive things to come...........hmmmm Will have to wait and see...............
 Can't afford it especially after the hike in bills but I really need to keep the good omens on my  side!!

Lots of  fabulous kitsch crockery and If I had the time and money to start a collection then........ahhhhhh sign. lol


Muchos lovos!

Eeek

A new really useful frugalling site!

A new really useful frugalling site!!!
Chose the option to find alternative tel numbers to the 0870, 0845 numbers that you cannot ring from your mobile without being charged for them - IE they won't come out of your minute allowance.I am assuming this would also be useful for landlines that have free calls and only charge for certain tel numbers!!


http://www.saynoto0870.com/

Bills, Bills and More Bills..........

After a lovely weekend Monday heralds the arrival of Bills! Broadband and mobile have both gone over download limits and I have some call charges - extra tenner on broad band and seven quid on the mobile! I will investigate. Also service charge has increased for this year by  £10 and my electricity by £20. Ahhhhhhh that's an extra £47 to find this month!!!!  Am on track with shopping however and I will not compromise further as I have a child to feed who deserves decent food. £ 40 for our entire food, household stuff budget I feel is pretty reasonable.

I shall monitor the  electricity and give another reading in a month. I am incredibly frugal int his area. I only use one storage heater - living room and it will be turned off very soon.  I think it may have been the rotten winter we had. Last year I was away for three weeks and did work full time to I suppose less electricity used during the day. Though TV and PC really can't use that much for an additional two days. I am a bit flabbergasted re the increase by 33% effectively!!!!!!!!!

I have a download monitor now- I really don't get how I have gone over my limit as I don't download anymore as I have a BT Vision box. Also the mobile must be 08 numbers or something as I never use my limit!!! One shall investigate and analyse more tomorrow.



Plus side I went to the tip and got rid of the wood weighing down the car. I as late home framework so we had pizza for tea - They cost £1 each and we had 2.5 and a garlic baguette with cucumber and extra cheese.  Biggles collected the gorgeous one from nursery so we had tea together. I would have been completely stuck without him. On that note I need to really find a more compatible job with some integrity. The wages are barely acceptable and I have to travel lots even for three days so financially less money  may make sense in a strange kind of way. And I hate it.

Ho ho on with the totaling of pennies spent in the frugal notebook!

That Friday feeling!!! Enjoy the Weekend fellow frugallers!!

Another week comes to a close............ I took a fellow frugal bloggers advice and when popping into Morrison's for a single pepper stocked up on the pasta for 20p - got three times the amount I would have in Lidl. well ok 2.5 approx times as much their pasta was 49p a bag - same size bags. As I am away to Whippetland for Saturday I bought a few essentials that I will need at the start of the week as well and purchased the things I will need for next weeks shop that are cheapest in Morrison's - tuna, beans, salt, frozen pizza. I indulge in frozen pizza as a quick meal on Monday nights when I am typically later home form work and need to feed gorgeous one pronto before BBB time-  bath, bed, book. Have managed to go over my broad band limit and also mobile phone limit by ten pounds each. tut tut. I shall query the mobile and request itemised bills again. I need to know where this money is going. I have also downloaded a free download monitor. I really do not understand how I am going over my 10gb or whatever it is broadband limit. No unchecked broadband in the area - no talk talk or other cheap deals. One of the issues of rural frugaldom!

Am also pondering frugal driving. I typically go faster than 30mph as there are many country roads around me and the typical speed of traffic is 40mph+ I also drive on motorways a lot and so am doing 60-70 on a regular basis. To conserve I think I will have to decide to do so with rural frugaldom in mind - 40mph on country roads only and 70 max on motorways preferably 60mph.  And its better for the environment. I have however been driving with the boot full of wood for the dump. In my haste I filled the car in prep for the next visit to Alnwick and completely forgot about it! tut tut - the heavier the car the greater the effort the greater the fuel consumption!!!

I have popped my totals in my little monitoring book. £15 49 spent today. That leave only £25 max for food next week.

Enjoy the weekend fellow frugallers! Find lots of free, satisfying free things to do!!! I shall be charity window shopping and generally window shopping in Sheffield and seeking bargains in poundland and other cheapie home bargain shops!!

This weekend will cost me coffee for the driver which is cheap at half the price!!!