First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go

[Laska5772]

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

Hi hope everyone is doing well. Em sorry you haven't found the home that's right for you yet but better to wait than go for something you know isn't really right I guess, plus you know you can stay with your parents for a bit if you have to so that's good.

I am just about managing work...I got in at 10am yesterday which is my earliest yet so will try that again on Monday and I've booked the Wednesday off again to break up the week to make it easier. Struggling with fatigue, and coccyx pain...it seems to be getting a bit worse rather than better, and the cushion work got me was making only minimal difference. DH bought me a big, thick one from Amazon which I'm now using and the benefit of that is I can use it at home as well but again the difference is only minimal and I'm still in constant pain and unable to sit properly. I have booked a GP appt but the earliest I could get is the 19th, had a big cry as I'm finding the pain really difficult to manage at work .

Also our washing machine is broken, it won't drain the water out properly basically - DH drained it all yesterday but it's not working still, water is getting stuck in the bottom of the machine and won't pump out at the end of a cycle. So we will have to wait until Monday to call the Letting Agents about it but I guarantee it will take weeks and weeks before they sort anything...luckily now we live in the same city as my parents we can go over there and do some laundry, but it's still a pain.

Having a lazy weekend really to recover from work-related fatigue although am doing some household chores sporadically as well.

Also em's no heating story reminded me of a flat we viewed in our previous city when we were looking for somewhere to live after we moved back from abroad, we were shown a flat with no heating once. We were both very and even more so that the letting agents feigned confusion over why we wouldn't want to rent a flat without any heating...

We don’t have heating downstairs (well technically we do but the storage heaters don’t work 🙄) and that’s crappy enough! We use an electric radiator in our room and a plug in heater downstairs. I am super excited about potentially having actual radiators when we move

Soooo tired! Shitloads I should be doing today but meh

Ride was good. £27 well spent. Got out of my head for a bit which was nice.
Also got absolutely soaked through so not so good. Had my big waterproof coat on too. But because it’s a short one the rain ran off the back and onto the saddle....so I was wet through to my pants.

It had been my intention to stop at car showroom get petrol and then maybe have a look at cars. But I just stopped for petrol (£35). Figures they probably wouldn’t let me sit in cars with a wet arse!

Stopped at Waitrose on the way home. Diet cokes (Waitrose essentials which actually taste more like “pub” coke than Diet Coke), dark chocolate digestives, scones, jam, pop chips, ginger cake and instant coffee. £19.

Ds and dh are watching rugby. I’m going to take myself off to the bedroom and binge watch something on Netflix with tea and a scone and catface.

meadow have you had the filter out? Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but ours clogs with hairbands and lego all the time, and the symptom is not draining and a hand bail. On the front near the floor there should be a little door or flap, its in there. The filter/trap thing just twists out (mine then wees all over the floor while you pick the crap out of the bits trap). I have to do mine about once a month.

My desk and light box are done! I managed not to break the bulb in tge move too. Bonus.

lonely I’ve never emptied the filter on our machine. May do that this weekend.

Coles shop came today.
I made proper pizza for the first time. Easier than expected! I usually use the 2 ingredient recipe tbh but this was perfect..
Have my meal plan on track, I'm glad I got my shopping today because downpours mean that the main bridge (only way in or out of this town - there's one small food store here and everything else is ordered in or people go to shop almost 2hrs away) is closing due to flood risk. I've had my order cancelled due to rain before and another time due to a possible cyclone (dispersed in the sea and didn't hit thank god). Just
Glad I got my slot for when I did!

Have done another order for next Saturday fingers crossed it goes well!
NSD today (shopping was paid for in advance).

I haven't sorted my meal plan yet so here we go...

Honey and mustard chicken pasta with leftover chicken from yesterday
Gammon with potatoes of some sort and veg
Pea and ham soup
Chicken quesadillas
HM puff pastry pizza with salad
Out so prob macdonalds as it's cheap
Kievs with mash, cabbage and leeks
Pizza
Pasta and tomato sauce
Veggie burgers with wedges and veg
Fish and chips from the freezer
Shepherds pie x 2
Chicken and lentil dahl

That's in no particular order thankfully have two weeks worth of meals so if I'm strict with the top up next week it shouldn't be too bad.

Woohoo I finally sorted out my nectar card(s). I’d set up one online a while back as I couldn’t find my original one... it got deactivated 😳 today I found my old one and rang up to activate and update it. Ordered new keyring things. And of course fluffy I have signed up to e rewards! And linked my eBay account too. Yay!

Also amended taekwondo standing order to pay for DD as well (now £46 rather than £26 💸💸💸)

Wreck great meal plan. I like the sound of the honey mustard pasta.

North poor ds, glad he’s back at cricket and, speaking from experience, he will feel like a different person when the loading dose of vit d finishes. It’s amazing the difference a little tiny vitamin makes.

Looks great merry, I've never made my own pizza dough either, I really should.

Well dd and Dpony managed to win the dressage competition ha ha!! Despite him doing everything a tad quickly in places (he does everything at breakneck speed to be fair...). But he has been beautifully schooled at some stage and has wonderful clean movements, did his best pretty boy outline too. Idiot.

Blimey lonely the cost of a skip shocked me too! I had no idea, but agree it's a necessity.

Oh north your poor DS is really going through the wars at the minute. I feel awful for him at the minute. Breaks your heart doesn't it. He's got lovely supportive parents though who fight his corner, that counts for a lot.

Made carrot and apricot breakfast bars earlier from HFW, there's loads and they are very tasty

Merry You can freeze it in blocks too. Just make sure you label it, I didn't and ended up making a pizza with shortcrust pastry by mistake. It was a bastard to get on the pizza stone. Do you have a breadmaker? I did mine in the breadmaker.

Cag You are on fire. You'll be minted soon .

North I had a bad virus for over a year once. One day I woke up and it was gone. I had a craving for horlicks the week before & was drinking it all day. We should all be taking Vit d oct to march anyway.

Need Who would have thought dpony could do dressage? Did you do his mane?.

I did some overtime again this morning. In anticipation of my overtime money, I treated myself to a filofax. I've been wanting one for a while now. It was expensive (€60 + €18.50 for a diary insert) but I'm hoping to get at least 5 years out of it. It has a bright flowery cover. I didn't want a boring black or navy one. Hoping it will help me to be more organized.

I also treated myself to a latte and jammy croissant (€4). It was kind of a 'I survived January' treat.

I'm in my Dad's house at the moment. He cooked me dinner . Frugal win. Unfortunately, he always over cooks his veg so I had verrry soggy broccoli and carrots.

DH and I are meeting up with friends tonight. MIL and FIL are babysitting so they've invited us for dinner tomorrow. We're saving a fortune on groceries this week. .

DD has signed up for the basketball team at school. I was delighted when I heard. I was thinking of all the benefits of the exercise and team sport etc. Then she told me that her friends talked her into it because they get to skip classes to play their matches .

em can't believe the house didn't have any heating. Good thing you found out. Did the estate agent tell you or did you ask?

Lonely I know it's a lot of money but sounds like the skip is a necessity.

Girlie congrats. on your new nephew.

I'm half watching the rugby and admiring the physique of the rugby players (drool emoticon). C'mon Ireland!

£23 in the butchers, £9 greengrocer and £2.30 on coffee. I walked so the coffee break was needed due to carrying all the stuff. That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Ooh awesome I can freeze it!
Thanks fluffy! I have a little pizza oven but used my actual oven because I couldn't be bothered to get it out. I don't have a breadmaker though!
I think we've all had labelling mishaps. I once made a cottage pie with bolognese sauce instead of the pie mix I make up (gravy mince veggies and some lentils) for it not envy! It was just about edible but I've been v anal about labelling ever since lol!

Ooo need they look good, I'm going to google the recipe.

Tayto I LOVE it!

Grr, the new printer arrived on Thursday and we’ve spent a couple of hours trying to set it up today. It’s a mission! We Might have done it, though need to set up printing from my iPad too. It will be a massive help to be able to print knitting patterns paperwork etc at home.

I had to go back to bed this morning as I felt truly exhausted. I was out last night but didn’t drink much (my first wine wasn’t very nice but I didn’t want to waste it so it slowed me right down!). I shouldn’t be as exhausted as I am . I had loads to do today but between napping and printer I’ve not done any of it!

About to make chicken arrabiata with leftover chicken.

Breadmakers usually come up on second hand sites, people buy them and don't make use of them.

Panasonics are the best for reliability & consistency.

Have just had my first alcoholic drink of 2018 and (zero cal) T ! V lovely . That will be it for this week though as I am determined to lose another stone.

Dinner tonight is Madhur Jaffrey fried chilli prawns, mushroom bhaji and spicy courgettes- with added red peppers out of her Curry Easy book (which is fab BTW and she also has a Curry Easy veg book I use a lot .. ) . plus a spinach dhal of my own recipe . DH has Nan bread to go with that..

I didn't spend anything today , but DH bought Tonic water, prawns and the newspapers

I am pleased to have also got my printer back working today by finally getting around to putting the new ink in

need I like the look of those breakfast bars... might be good for DGS

seacow Chicken Arr/seeabiata!! ..Mmmmm .Have you ever seen the Eddie Izzard 'Darth Vader in the Deathstar canteen' sketch? (all done in in Lego)? I can never hear/see the word Arrabiata now without laughing! ( its on You Tube and really funny )

Chicken Arrabiata.. I meant (silly editing!)

Love your Filofax Tayto

Yay need 🐎🐴 excellent result

Glad you had a good if rainy ride em
Had a lovely walk-resisted the NT cafe and had a flask when we got back to the car .
Free entry with NT cards .
Also had scones,jam and clotted cream (in that order ) when we got back .
Scones reduced to 80p .
DC is going to a "gathering" of friends and staying over /needs to take food/wine ( all over 18)-so hit Sainsburys again
Another £13.50 points won as put through in £10 lots at self service checkout.
Went to kiosk and cats bum mouth lady informed me 3 coupons wouldnt go through until I informed her they did yester day
Thats £25.50 on my nectar card this weekend and DH and I are going for petrol tomorrow !
Pork steaks with dauphinois pot (sp?) And lots of green veg tonight plus sweets for when we watch Spiral.

Yaay!

How long does this nectar thing go on for? Is it an annual thing?
Laska I love that sketch, I’ll have to watch it again

Filofax is awesome, I do think it’s worth getting nice things like that if it encourages you to use it more. I always get a lovely diary. Very excited about our bus pass holders too, mine has cacti on it :o (forgot) to say I also got it on free click and collect so saved money on that, paperchase is in the mall so easy to pick up