Superscrimpers on Channel 4

Watched this earlier on - how the fuff can a couple that earn over £108,000 still overspend??? The mind boggles!

2 of the tips (dying underwear and keeping the cardboard out of loo rolls) made me laugh as I am currently wearing a very fetching pair of purple dyed Sloggis and have a carrier bag full of cardboard loo roll holders in the shed waiting to be filled up with seeds - nothing new there then! (note - the Sloggi pants have a lot of lycra in them and the dye doesnt exactly take to some bits and they have come out looking a bit like mens old fashioned y-fronts!!!!)

Did like the tip about putting crushed up eggshells down your kitchen sink waste to catch any nasties lurking there.....and the recipe for h/m nettle pasta looked interesting....will have a look at the website to see if there is any more info. Looking forward to next weeks show.

Had to give in and get some stuff from Asda but was very good and only got exactly what I wanted on my list - so thats £7 left over from Marchs h/k to put into my holiday fund!!

March housekeeping left - £7 left (£6.04 vouchers from Asda price guarantee)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £39.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £57.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

I love a jumble sale!

First one this year and its always the best! A better class area and its amazing the things you get....

Took a picture of some of it but somes been washed and is on the line....bought the following...

Pet carry box
2 mugs
5 books
Christmas pot holders
Plastic jug and 2 cups and tray
6 small and 2 large cotton retro placemats
Soap/shampoo dispenser
A slanket (fleece with arms)
2 jumper for dh work
2 polo shirts for dh work
2 games for the caravan
Hot water bottle and fleecy cover
Mixing jug
4 pasta bowls

Including £1 to get in I spent £17 - very pleased indeed - my youngest dd got 2 tops and a skirt and my eldest dd got too much to mention but spent less than £10

Then went today to our first car boot sale of the year....and got nothing! Nothing too my fancy at all. So since we were in Edinburgh we went to the big car boot at Greenside car park. Its indoors and feels like the bowels of the earth - its huge but I think something that big you kind of get "car boot blindness" as it all merges into one - so came away with nothing there (did spend £8 on rolls for us)

Washing drying on the line, chicken in the slow cooker and an afternoon devoted to being on the internet - nice relaxing day!

March housekeeping left - £18 left (£6.04 vouchers from Asda price guarantee)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £39.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £57.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Money out...lots of it!

Hummed and hawed today about going for a wee lunch before me and OH went for a walk that we haven't been on by a nice river.....so we lunched it! - £10 from my entertainment budget - were good and refused to buy the inviting cupcakes! So had a lovely stroll and on the way back popped in to collect a spare tyre which we had left - guy checked all the tyres on our car and it appears we need another one - so that was £130 thank you very much....

Then got out our tent we have had a few years as my and my eldest and youngest dds fancy camping but just at a weekend when its nice weather. We camped for years before getting our caravan and still have all the stuff and it seems a waste not to use it.

Anyhoo, the tent has built in poles and you pull a top spring down to tension them - its bust! it was only a cheap Tesco tent so we had our moneys worth. We also had a 3 man tent which I have just sold to my pals dd (you had to crawl into in and those days are loooong gone for me!) So after spending ages looking at tents I have bought one from Ebay - its brand new and a tepee but with a wee porch so the rain doesnt come in very time you open the door. As I said, its really just for overnights or a couple of days if the weather is going to be nice. Its an eco tent as its made from recycled plastic and its quick to put up and lightweight.



So both of those have to come out of my savings :(


March housekeeping left - £30 left (£6.04 vouchers from Asda price guarantee)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £31.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £40.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Spring day

Had a lovely day today - walked round the garden centre, wee tea and cake (£6) and had a lovely walk round Smeaton Lake - carpets of snowdrops - sun was shining - at peace with the world!

Did my on-line shop - £100.35 for 2 weeks - actually got a lots stuff to stock my cupboards with so pleased - had £6.04 in vouchers sitting when I got the the checkout - must have been from previous price guarantees so that was a nice bonus! Will have to check as they have charged me delivery but as I used my Asda card delivery should be free if its over £100 unless they have changed their policy....we'll see.

Went to our local Sunday market - only spent £2 on 2 growing kits (wild rocket and red peppers) nice little kits with their own mini greenhouses which are just the right size for a windowsill.

March housekeeping left - £30 left (£6.04 vouchers from Asda price guarantee)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £21.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £40.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Happy day!

Had quite a good driving lesson today - might be actually getting the hang of it!!

And - I am beginning what I hope will be a degree course in History with the Open University - sweated blood over my first assignment (first essay in 35 years!!) and got the marked one back today - 76%! I am soooooo happy!

March housekeeping left - £130 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £27.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £38.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Few bits on ebay

Won 3 tops (total inc postage - £11.20)and 4 red seat pad covers (my dining room chairs have cushions on them but you can take the covers off to wash them) for £3.90 inc postage

March housekeeping left - £130 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £27.50
Spent - clothes - £50.20
Spent - household - £38.90
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Bargains at Asda

Had to go to Asda to get the stuff that was missing from my order (they offered me substitues but not what I wanted) and hit lucky at the reductions again...

4 tear & share breads- £1.57 to 10p
2 packs rolls - 70p to 10p
Cake - £1 to 10p
2 packs cornish pasties - £1.37 to 10p
2 packs cheese pasties - £1.37 to 10p
3 packs steak bakes - £1.37 to 10p

So got £26.95 worth of goodies for £1.40! Had to buy sandwich stuff, stew, fish and vinegar and treated my dd to some nice ice cream cos shes had a hard week at school bless her!

(and bought a bag of pots from our local farm shop for £7 which lasts us weeks)



March housekeeping left - £130 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £27.50
Spent - clothes - £39
Spent - household - £35
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Been busy with the Family Tree

Bit of a hobby of mine over the past 3 years and have got mounds of info - got a lend of a dvd from John at work (ta muchly) called Family Tree Maker and have spent days putting in info. I have only done one lines (Bells) and never realised I had so much info! Its great to keep it altogether and the dvd prints out great reports. Its going to be a real labour of love putting all the rest of the stuff I have in! Even managed to resurrect my scanner which has been lurking in a cupboard and scanned loads of old photos in.

What spurred me on is I left a message on Rootschat.coms forum and got a reply from a lovely lady in Canada who husband turns out is my 3rd cousin once removed - she has loads of further info and we have been swapping photos etc.

So while thats been keeping me busy I havnt been spending money!

Magazine treat for me

In my pre-frugal days (loooong time ago!) I was a bit of a magazine freak. Not so much the glossys but every week I bought the Woman, Woman's Own and Bella. If I was bored I also got the Best and if desperate, the Woman's Weekly. Every month since it started I have bought Prima. I have been known to buy Essentials and home magazines.
Now I only get the Prima through using Tesco clubcard deals and don't buy any other mags - I can get what I want off the Internet. I do however, buy rubbishy mags (celebrity ones) while we are away in our caravan as a treat.
So when I saw a special offer for 12 issues of the She magazine for £12 I decided to treat myself...

March housekeeping left - £161 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £27.50
Spent - clothes - £39
Spent - household - £35
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

I actually like Asda today!

My Asda delivery arrived yesterday a whole hour early!! The driver said he thought he would take a chance to see if I was in which was good.
And did my Asda price-promise guarantee and am getting a whole £4.71 back so well chuffed!
Got my hair cut this morning and another driving lesson - slowly but surely but I am a long way off even thinking about a test.

March housekeeping left - £161 left (March price guarantee refund - £4.71)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55
Spent - entertainment - £15.50
Spent - clothes - £39
Spent - household - £35
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

New curtains - before and after - pictures

I now remember why I dont often change my curtains - its taken me ages - ironing, taking the old ones down, taking the hooks off, putting the hooks on the new ones and back up again.....also I am going to have to take up the new curtains so they will have to come down again! Anyhoo - heres the pictures - before and then after - I'm very pleased with them.(also took down my fleece liners as we havent been using them recently)

Spending on the house

Probably about time! I cant even remember how long ago I bought my sitting room curtains - we get the sun all afternoon and although they are just plain cream they are yellowing badly in the middle.
Have been on the lookout for new ones but I need 2 pairs 60x90 and haven't been lucky at car boots. The price of ready made curtains is shocking so was amazed to find some I liked in Poundstretchers - £12.99 a pair which I thought was really good. Haven't put them up yet (they are patterned which I normally avoid) but will do it this afternoon and post up a picture. Also bought a 3 pronged device with microfibre cloths on it to clean Venetian blinds - 99p - as I had only put my blind up in the back room just before Christmas I though it wouldn't be too bad - WRONG! didn't realise how much dust accumulates on these things - so its all dust free now. Am going to attempt my bedroom blinds (wood look) later on - they have been up a lot longer! (sneaked another lunch in at Kentucky FC - must try better)

Did my Asda on-line shop - decided to try fortnightly to save on the delivery charge - ordered it to come earlier that the fiasco last week. Spent £101 but that included a new hair-dryer as ours is making funny smells so only £93 on food but that is stocking my cupboards with soap powder etc so I got free delivery by using my Asda credit card.

March housekeeping left - £161 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - £15.50
Spent - clothes - £39
Spent - household - £35
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Asda apology and ebay purchases

Been a busy bee - eventually after 3 emails I got a phone call from Asda apologising and giving me a refund of my delivery charges - ok I suppose but could have done better....

And have been on ebay. As I am a more traditionally built lady I find it hard to get clothes in shops to fit me so tend to rely on ebay. This time had a good haul but its getting more and more expensive. The days of real bargains are gone but I still managed to get some tops for 99p but the postage is £4! Anyway, got a grand total of 2 t-shirts, a cardi, a spring jacket and 3 tops for work for £39 (including postage) - seems dear but most of them were Evans and you would be lucky to get 2 tops for that in the shop (and the jacket would have probably cost more than that)I also got a nice melamine blue and white picnic set of 4 bowls, 4 beakers and 4 plates for £3.20 including postage - will do nicely in the caravan as I have noticed my old ones were getting awfully scratched.
Did have another lunch out with my daughter this week - shes just got a conditional offer from Edinburgh University so is chuffed to bits.

March housekeeping left - £254 left - £4 delivery charge refunded
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £30
Spent - entertainment - 50p
Spent - clothes - £39
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Disgusted with Asda

Ordered my on-line Asda shop for between 6-8pm yesterday - don't normally like doing it this late as they are always late but I was at a training course and couldn't get my usual time.
8pm came and went....no sign....9pm came and went....no sign....started phoning Asda customer service line..on hold...5 mins..rang back...on hold 10 mins...this went on until 9.50 with still no answer and by that time I was furious - why have a Customer helpline that you cant get through on????? Sent a stonking email off about their decided lack of customer service and asking if I was ever going to get this delivery.
At 9.52pm the drive actually phoned - he was down at Duns and would be at least another hour - did I still want my delivery? Of course I wanted the delivery!!!! why did I think I made an order? Cos my cupboards were full????? So at 11.05 he turned up - no apology just very grumpy "I'm supposed to finish at 10"
I have received an automated reply from my email and so far, nothing else - not a happy bunny.

(but I did get £1.34 in vouchers due to their price promise!)

So yesterday before I went on my course I had lunch with my job share partner - she works Mon/Tues and I work Weds/Thurs/Friday so we don't see each other so it was great to catch up. Also raked round the charity shops and got a bargain video set - The Barchester Chronicles - BBC costume drama from the 1980's featuring a very young Alan Rickman - for 50p

March housekeeping left - £250 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £5.95)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £15
Spent - entertainment - 50p
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)