A Bit Of A Windfall

Good luck always comes in threes. Of course bad luck comes in threes too.

But today is only a story of good luck!

Over the weekend, I won £100 on the premium bonds (1), then 3 numbers came up in the lottery - £3.80 (it was a shared ticket with my friend)(2), and finally last night I came home to an unexpected cheque for £78.44 for an insurance policy I had cancelled when I moved out of the flat (3). You see these things ALWAYS happen in 3s.

£182.24 in unexpected money.

What would you do?

After I finished screeching with delight, and running around the garden naked singing “Hey Big Spender!” I calmed down and started thinking about what I would do.

My overdraft is now cleared (thanks to The Chap who got fed up with me having it – Yay! for him) as are my credit cards and car loan.

I wish, I really wish I could save it, but the truth is it could not have come at a better time.

My car tax arrived on Thursday, I was going to only buy 6 months for £66, but now I can get 12 months for  £120. Which means a whole year before I have to think about it again. Yipppee!

£52.24 left.

That is a tank of petrol, and will last me 1 week.

God, that’s spent quickly isn’t it? How bloody depressing!

However, I am feeling very lucky. Some money arrived when I really needed it and so my savings do not need to be raided.

March has turned out to be such an expensive month, even with a nice amount earned in commission.

The Chap and I had to book flights for our summer holiday quite suddenly to secure the villa for the required dates in September (£265). I spent £100 on train tickets for 2 weekends away I have planned, the car got serviced (£149) and I had a spend on some new clothes (£60).

Wouldn’t it have been lovely to save my unexpected money and not use it to live?

Oh well….. I promise I am not moaning about free money! :o)

Of course if my life were different, I would pay to have my hair professionally dyed to get rid of the grey highlighted in a sunkissed understated elegant way and then go and blow the rest on overpriced nik naks.

“New Me” is of course so much more sensible now.

But “Old Me” had so much more fun!!!

So come on, if you had £182.24 to just blow on anything, and not to use carefully, what would you have bought?

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

Domestic Drudgery

A woman's lot is never done...

Saturday

11AM - Go to Rugeley and pick up a present for my Mum for Mother's Day. Stop off at Home Bargains to pick up cheap biscuits and cakes, plus two Easter Eggs.

12.30AM - Stop off at a friends to drop off Easter Eggs for the children, and enclose £5 in each to make up for forgetting Christmas.

1PM - Pets At Home to buy Royal Canin complete cat food. Buy 1 get 1 half price. At £19.95 per bag I hope Twinkle and Belle enjoy it as they will never be having it again.

1.30PM - Into Lichfield to pick up MIL's gift, also to drop off my mum's dry cleaning as I have a 3-4-2 voucher.

2PM - To Aldi to pick up some food - cost £25.

3PM - Home and a sit down with a drink before clearing our "conservatory" (aka plastic outhouse) of all recyclable material which includes cutting up all the cardboard from the kitchen units with a stanley knife. 2 full wheelie bins later.

4-6PM - Cleaning lounge. It is covered in tile dust, so I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing then polishing the floor. Hoovering everything in sight and cleaning the leather sofa with specialist product. I also emptied the cats litter tray....again.

7PM - Argue with The Chap.

Now to clarify the final point, TC and I made up very quickly within the hour. It is very rare we "have words". But after he has been tiling for 48 straight hours and I am feeling that all I have done is spend money and run around, then we are both pretty fraught.

I know a lot of people spend their weekends catching up on chores and errands. It rarely gets to me. I always do the running around as The Chap has the DIY skills, so it seems reasonable for me to take care of everything else.

But sometimes, just sometimes I / we get a bit fed up... is that allowed?

I think the odd argument is pretty normal when The Chap is being unreasonable. isn't it?

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

Just Popping By!

Morning Folks!

Just a quickie, I had to tell you about my fab new slippers.

After spending 12 hours a day in heels, there is nothing I like better than kicking off my shoes and putting on my slippers when I get home.

I like a slipper that stays on my foot and for the last few years have been wearing ballerina pumps style slippers that i pick up for £5-6 a couple of times a year.

I have a tendancy to wear slippers outside, grab some shopping from the car, take out the rubbish etc and so my slippers do not last long.

So this week I changed style and bought these cuties from M&S

They look super on, very elegant, and are really comfy.

I also like the proper sole, which means I can pop outside without fear of risking my footwear. The downfall of it's predecessors.

Of course this means The Chap wants to know if I will now be taking out the rubbish?

lol

Frugally yours

Abigail

xx

The Cats

Our little girls are growing up. We currently have two furry teenagers that dart and roll about Southfork with all the exuberance of an Olympian.

They can now jump from standing still to kitchen work top height without batting a whisker (however much we scream and moan at them for doing so)

They can also eat us out of house and home.

They ignore us when we call, have failed to learn their names and refuse to sleep at night anywhere but on your knees, ankles or tummy.

They are also voyeurs, and will sit perfectly still whilst watching you in the shower. (photo shortly)

But my goodness when they are tired they are so loving, they are super cute.

One thing is for certain, they adore each other more than us!

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

Appy Days!

My iphone is my most favourite piece of tech ever!

It costs a lot of money to run and I got it back in about November 2011.

My old contract ran out and I got a new one with O2 offering me the iphone 4 for free, 600 free minutes, unlimited text messages, 20 picture messages and 500MB of data.

The Price? £42.00 / month for a 24 month contract.

That is £1008.00 across 2 years. Wow! Guess the handset was not free after all.

Now my phone has become old technology, and since I picked it, the iphone 4S and 5 have been issued.

But I do love this phone, I mean I just love it!

I will look into it in more depth towards the end of the year, cheaper options that allow me to retain this handset.

One of the reasons I love the iphone are the Apps. I thought I would tell you about my favourite.

WhatsApp

This gets used every day. And is so very useful especially if you are on holiday and using Wi-Fi. It allows you to text and contact your friends / family and even send pictures and videos. If you are not on Wifi and you are abroad then do not use it as it will cost a fortune. But if you are in the UK and have a finite amount of texts, then this costs nothing to use and everything is instant. Very useful at New Year when you want to text but not wait as everything gets clogged up.

Con- Your friends need to have it installed too.

Price – 69p

VoucherCodes.co.uk

It keeps you up to date on all current offers and deals. At the weekend I just tapped on the current Dorothy Perkins offer at the till and showed the sales assistant the code to get my discount.

Con – Never a lot of deals to choose from but enough to make it worth while

Price – FREE

O2 Moments

I get a lot of freebies and discount using this app. It works exactly the same as the above App, but is only for 02 Customers. Recently I have discounted M&S meal deals for £8, free chocolates and sweets, half price toiletries in Body Shop, and a free scraper / de-icer etc

Con- Sometimes it can freeze as you use it, I redeem the voucher before getting to the check out to avoid embarrassment, but beware often vouchers are only valid for 60 mins.

Price – FREE

Blogger

Very useful for any blogger out there who wants to be able to blog on the move, this handy app allows you to write text and upload anywhere. You can also take photos and include them in your post. Incredibly user friendly.

Con- Photos can only be added at the end of a post.

Price – FREE

Amazon and Ebay

2 very handy little Apps to download. I have sold and bid on items from Ebay on my iphone. The gizmo also allows me to pay using PayPal and give feedback. It is very user friendly and gives great opportunity to bid in the last few minutes whilst on the go. Amazon allows me check prices and reviews also on line and the option to buy second hand if need be. I like the ease with which I can purchase on the go. Last week I ordered a new kindle charger using the amazon app, it arrived within 3 days to work for under £3 incl P&P.

Con- Ebay selling does not give the same amount of depth of description as using a PC, but otherwise both are great

Price – FREE

Green Flag

A new download, but so far I am very impressed if I were to break down again this app would allow me to pinpoint my exact location to give when I ring up. It also has live and local traffic alerts and a route planner. It also has a handy little reminder tool for car MOT, Service, Insurance etc. You do not need to be a green flag customer to download it.

Con – None

Price – FREE

I do have a lot of other apps that I have downloaded since getting the phone, but these are my favourite.

Can anybody recommend any others?

Frugally yours

Abigail

Busy Busy Busy and A Trip To Dorothy Perkins!

Hello Folks!

Good weekend?

I seem to go in phases, nothing on for ages and then suddenly everything is on at once.

Friday night, The Chap and I stayed in, but Saturday I was up and out by 8am. I had a dentist appointment at 9.

Three fillings, a deep clean and £23.00 later (I paid the other half of £25 when I had my check up) and they also took xrays. Luckily nothing else to worry about for another 6months. Thank goodness for an NHS dentist. Getting onto to the list was so difficult and involved basically begging. They are 30 mins away from where i live, but they are BRILLIANT!

Adam, my dentist know how pathetically frightened I am and keeps rubbing my cheek with his hand saying things like "Come on, Open your eyes Abigail it will not be so bad if you open your eyes as the system will concentrate on the pictures and not the sensations". He is very kind, and cheap. All a good combination, and after careful consideration, I would gladly give up a couple of minor toes before parting company with the practice....:o)

I was out and completely numb in the mouth at 9.30am, so I popped up the road to see my friend Emma and her 3 kids, she lives about 200 yards from the surgery. I think I gave them a bit of a shock turning up early and a bit tearful, but she let me use her loo and we had a nice chat for half an hour.

By 10, I was back on the road and 15 mins later dropping my car for it's service (6 months late, oops!). The MOT was fine back in September, but I just have not had the £150 required for the service until now. The beautiful little thing only needed a new filter, 3 new spark plugs and a new registration bulb. Those were all included in the price of the service - Brilliant. Thanks Mr Tyre! As a female who knows as much about cars as I do Quantum Physics or Chainsaws, I am always incredible grateful for a garage I can trust. The Chap was asking about oil changes etc. So I nodded and sagely agreed with his advice before doing exactly what I wanted to do initially. The sign of a happy relationship!

Whilst waiting for the car to pass its physical, I tootled off to meet a good friend Lisa for a drink, she had some exciting news, so we had a good catch up that involved copious amounts of tea and chocolate brownies. Yum!

I then went for a bit of a shop. I really needed some new jeans. My current pairs have started fraying at the hem. I like Dorothy Perkins for jeans, as they fit nicely and come in multiple fits, colours and lengths. My lucky day they were doing 2 pairs for £25. I have two pairs of skinny jeans and a denim boot cut pair, so over the weekend I picked up an indigo and a black pair of boot cut jeans. The fit over the bottom is lush!

Of course, we all know it is rude not to then have a wander whilst in store, and I just fell in love with this jacket.

Really Chanel like, and it fitted so beautifully. It is a perfect wardrobe staple that works well with the black jeans I picked up and can also be worn for the office with a black skirt or dress. Cost £45.

I then picked up a little T-shirt to go under and be worn out on the Sunday lunch 40th we had been invited to yesterday.

I am a huge believer that jeans must be tried on, so I stalked my way to the fitting room with about 15 items. Jeans in every variation of length and size and colour and fit, plus 2 sizes in the jacket and tshirt.

The girls in Dotty Perks are always cheerful and helpful, it is a pleasure to shop there. Not bank breaking, but most items are good quality, and affordable.

But the best thing about DPs??? You should never ever pay full price. As high street shops go they are continually recognising the hardships shoppers face. And offering deals and vouchers. If you sign up online for their emails, hardly a week goes by when they do not offer a % off everything.

Whilst in the fitting room I used the Voucher Codes App and managed to bring my bill down by 20% from £80 to £64. That meant a discount of £16, so basically a pair of free jeans plus another £4.

I got an email today from Dorothy Perkins offering me 25% off everything, which would have been more useful, but it is unclear whether that is just for online ordering and you do have to pay a delivery fee for orders under £75.

Anyhoo, a friend at the same event on Sunday said I looked like a Beckham in my new duds.

Check me out guys!!!!

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

Win!

I did my shop last night and bought the big ticket items we needed / wanted.

Cast iron casserole dish                

Whiskey

Mattress cover

I also bought a pyrex dish with plastic lid (I chucked all my old Tupperware during the move as it just looked tired and stained, so now is a good time to restock at a discount)

The final bill came in at £163.59. I nearly fainted!

But this thrifty blogger got it down.

The promotional stickers I have been collecting reduced the casserole dish to £29.99 from £79.99 and the pyrex dish from £7.49 to £2.99.

I bought some minced meat 2 for £7 and that went straight into the freezer, I am not planning any mince dishes over the next week, but yesterday was a good opportunity to stock the freezer.

This brought the shop to £107.09, at which point I presented my other voucher of £9 off a £90 shop, bringing the total spend to £98.09.

And finally, I used some additional vouchers to get 50 extra Tesco points on the shop, so managed to clock up 169 clubcard points including some “green points” as I always use a collapsible pallet to store the items at the checkout – another Tesco purchase when they were on sale for £2 over Christmas (very useful when I was moving house) and I do try to do my bit to save the environment.

Tesco then gave me enough stickers for 2 more pyrex lidded storage containers and a voucher for 5p off a litre of fuel valid until 14^th March. So I will run my current tank down, then fill it back up next week to get full use of the discount.

The Chap was pretty impressed I have to say, he does not have to watch his money like I do. But I think it amuses him to see my penny pinching ways.

I appreciate not everyone would want the casserole dish, but I have wanted one for ages and a similar item from Le Creuset comes in at £115. Now that is way out of my budget.

As a full time worker and being in charge of the cooking, I am currently trying a new system. Not killing myself to produce culinary heaven every evening for my beloved.

Last night, after walking through the door, dinner was ready 20 minutes later. Chicken breasts sliced into quarters and dipped in beaten egg then coated in breadcrumbs. I fried them off (should have grilled but we still have not found the grill pan after moving and fitting the new kitchen) and filled some reduced seeded buns. I teamed it with a salad and some coleslaw.

Probably not the healthiest of meals due to the frying, but I am happy that we ate chicken breast and not reconstituted rubbish chicken burgers and the salad counts as good stuff doesn’t it?

I am never going to be Nigella in the kitchen, but I am giving TC considerably healthier meals now we live together. I cannot remember the last time a chicken nugget or microwaved burger was eaten by him now.

By the way he tucks in, I don’t think he will be complaining any time soon.

Frugally yours

Abigail

x