The super savvy savers continue steering their way through September

[northender]

Thought I'd start a shiny new thread as we've filled the other one so quickly.

Pointless I think buzzards are only in a few places of the country aren't they?

Peppa I feel the same I can't remember the last time I spent money without worrying about it!

We get loads of different birds here - Herons, chuffinches, robins, some sort of owl (it scares me because it is so silent when it flys...I will be running along and it comes out of nowhere.), Sparrowhawk (first time I have seen one here), curlews, lapwings, goldfinches, sparrows, blackbirds, magpies, phesants, grouse, kingfishers, kites, kestrels. We have rubbish broadband speeds but good birds. This year has been particularly good for some resaon.

What can I use in the washing machine instead of laundry powder.... we have run out & I can't be bothered to go & get some.

Getting ready to drop DC to swimming lessons, DD2 and I are going to church.

Same here. We particularly like the woodpeckers they're so colourful.

111 are faxing my prescription so that's good. Chicken is in the oven. Wish me luck for my eBay items tonight please!

We recently had a green woodpecker in our garden, I almost exploded with excitement! I love seeing the birds. I didn't know that about buzzards spotty we get a lot round here.
Think we're going to do some gardening today while it's dry.

We're going to church too Audit. It's weird how long it takes waiting for it to start. In my teens I had to drag myself out of bed to get there in time. Now with ds aged 5 we are up and twiddling our thumbs for 4 hours waiting for it to start. Not a NSD as we put a tenner in the collection.

spotty hope you feel ok and get those strips sorted!

Love all the meal plans!

Going to in-laws today, and mil has offered to do lunch, so the food we have planned for that will do for during the week. Only spends will be dh petrol for the week. He has changed the time he goes in and leaves by about half an hour and its saving so much petrol because the traffic is lighter! It's a 40 mile round trip, so our petrol costs are high. Every little helps there!

Have tesco ordered for tomorrow, ??101.
Meal plan is:
Roast chicken dinner (every bloody Monday. I'm so sick of it, but all hell would break out if I changed it)
Sausage and cider stew with mash
Beef with squash, pesto and mozzarella, salad
Beef stew with sweet potato topping
Chicken satay with fried rice/cauliflower (I do half rice, half cauliflower rice. They haven't noticed)
Mexican chicken and sweet potato boats with corn on the cob
Thai coconut curry with chickpeas and rice/cauliflower

Meal plan for this week is

Sun - leftover lasagne / pasta & jar sauce
Mon - Aldi gnocchi & windowsill herb butter
Tue - burger & wedges, salad
Wed - Aldi filled pasta / spaghetti & pesto
Thu - chicken & chickpea biriani
Fri - Baked potatoes, coleslaw
Sat - Out for dinner

Trying to convert dh to monthly shop, our weekly budget is ??120 but we've been averaging ??140. So a fortnight ago I shopped on a Monday spent ??207 then last Wednesday ??20 top up shop & yesterday ??163 aldi ??28 in f & v shop and ??20 in butchers which works out at ??109.50 per week & includes extra milk & fruit this time so hoping only for a small top up next week.

Had planned a trip to feed the ducks but it's raining since ds woke at 7. Will consider rain gear & going anyway in afternoon

Meal plan from tomorrow is:

Monday: Cottage Pie
Tuesday: Spanish omelette with chorizo and chips
Wednesday: Veggie mince pasta bake
Thursday: Fire in the hole (spicey toad in the hole)
Friday: Baked potato with Tuna, mixed bean salad
Saturday: Slow cooked curry & naans
Sunday: Slow cooked bolognese and garlic bread

This week I am baking winter spiced saltana loaf cake.

Freezer defrosting. Over cleaner is in. I'm having a cuppa while waiting for dh to have a shower so we can go a forraging.

Planning a big freezer shop for Tuesday to stock up for winter.

Collie that all sounds yum!

Both dc still really under weather dd's temp is up to 39. I've paid for a workshop in school tomorrow and now she's going to miss it! I can't send her in like this.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2949/homemade-tomato-chutney I'll be buying the ingredients for this on Thursday so we have something to go with our Winter bacon rolls on Sunday mornings. It was so cold this morning! The heating still hasn't been switched on though the sun does a good job of warming the house up.

spotty your poor DCs.

I had a "fuck it" moment and almost booked a short UK break via Hoseasons for next year. But then my brain "smarts" kicked in and I decided to wait.

Good morning, sunny rugby practice for ds this morning,no spends so far but will probably top up with diesel this afternoon and buy a loaf of bread - likely to lead to a few other bits going in the trolley as dp coming too.

ocadco shop coming Tuesday - the fridge is bare. £160 but this includes some items for a member of staff's retirement cake and toiletries/loo roll Tec. I'm quite pleased that this is only the second supermarket shop this month - I'm trying to get down to less shops than there are weeks in the month.

Meals for the week - in no particular order:

Roast lamb, New post, carrots and probably peas as we're pretty much out of veg today
Lamb leftovers, probably with chips and peas
smoked mackerel, bread and butter and new pots and asparagus
Chicken fajitas
Veggie mexican bake
Chicken stuffed with emmental and prosciutto, probably new pots with this again and broccoli
Baked pots
Something with mince - probably not chilli as we had this last week
Pizzas (shop bought for a quick tea)
Spaghetti carbonara
Slow roast lamb leg (we have half a lamb in the freezer), cauliflower cheese, roast squash, broccoli and green beans
Corn beef hash
Pasta and nduja sauce (we have a jar knocking round the cupboard).
Weekend lunches will be soup and bread and butter one day and then beans or egg on toast the next

I reckon that should take us to the 25th before needing another shop

I will post properly later, but just to say what a lovely, mellow way to start off a Sunday, reading about all those amazing birds.

I did a fair amount of housework whilst waiting to leave for church ipsos was up at 6am £2 in the offertory, will buy Yorkshire puddings in sainsburys on the way home, should be a low spend day.

Just in the park with dd's, it's not far from our church so they like to pop in after the service, dd2 is collecting 'helicopters' and blackberries here.

Spotty it might be worth taking your dc to the doctor. My ds's temperature was up at 39 with a bad cold in the spring and after three days he got almost meningitis symptoms really suddenly and it turned out that he has scarlet fever. The GP said I really should have brought him in when his temperature went up to 39 as that almost always means that an antibiotic is needed.

Collie well done for resisting the holiday. I've noticed that a lot of people who live very frugally seem to blow a huge amount of money on holidays. I'm realising now that my dislike of travel must be saving me a bunch of money without my even knowing it.

Hmm dd's temp was 39 AFTER ibuprofen. I'll keep an eye on her she is prone to chest infections. Ds just has a bit of a temp. I won't be able to take her until Tuesday evening anyway.

£2 for church offertory, 20p gro DD2 to light a candle. Normally we go to church on a Saturday evening, but DD2 (who loves church) threw a hissy fit.

Went to town to buy DS watercolours for his art homework, rather annoyed really. I suspect he should have done more in class. Hobby craft had a set of 24 water colours reduced from £15 to £7.50, also bought a set of brushes, palette and storage box, £15. £2 for parking.

Spotty I would definitely get her to the GP asap with that temperature. ds temp was only coming down to 38 after calpol but 39 after ibuprofen doesn't sound good. I'd be calling the out of hours gp for that.

Can I join please?

Welcome lavent

She's perked up now after calpol, eaten some lunch and her temp is 38.2. I'm not worried atm but she gets this quite frequently in the winter so I'll be keeping an eye on her chest.

Welcome Lavent - everyone is welcome . Currently watching paint dry (literally) and catching up on here.

Oh and dh got my test strips and the guy said 'you do know you can buy these?' Yes at £20 a tub