Thu 20th June 2013

A question about : Thu 20th June 2013

When we start out on the DFW trail we do loads of big stuff that makes quite a difference to our situation. These include having our lightbulb moment, cutting up the credit cards and cancelling Sky and the gym.

But once we have done the bigger stuff, we often feel that we are not making the same amount of progress, when in fact the small steps are helping us form good financial habits and helping us get closer everyday to staying in control and becoming debt free, or staying debt free.

Examples could be hanging washing out instead of using the tumble dryer or leaving your purse/wallet at home to avoid the risk of spending.

So be proud of those small steps, they really are important.

Best answers:

• Morning DF-Jedis,
  Can't believe I'm the first one up s'morning.
  Sorry I've been off the grid again, been deep in jobseeking-land...for those who've been following by tale here's a brief lengthy update: Went to sign on yesterday (Wed) to be told I was there on the wrong day. I explained my sign-on was changed because I had a job interview. I said, "I know it was today (Wed) because the advisor suggested signing on en route to the job interview and asked what time I'd be leaving the house for the interview so she could accommodate me as I drove past." They said I should have been there Tue and that they did not believe I had been told to sign on Wed! Then another advisor tried to say a telephone sign-on had been booked for me instead, why ask me when I was driving passed so I could drop in if it was to be done by telephone, and they didn't ring me?! I'm getting a bit tired of being called a liar by these people. I am law-abiding but they treat me as though I am non-compliant and don't want a job! Some day's I'm spending 12 hours job-seeking because I want to work. Then they said I had to apply for a job....wait for it...in their Jobcentre. Rant over!
  So yesterday I had a telephone interview and I've been picked for a face-to-face interview on Tuesday for a job in the next town. I had to call an 0845 number for it and it lasted an hour so I was glad I used the Jobcentre phone. That would've cost me Ј21 on my mobile. The email said it'd last 20 minutes and they will not phone you. I think it is cheeky to make money on a premium rate phoneline from jobseekers, especially as this is a well-respected company.
  I also had a face-to-face interview but I don't know if I've got it yet. It went really well and I would quite like the job through it's miles away and the pay isn't great.
  Here's today's list:
  OnePoll, Ipsos and AdPoints.
  Open post as soon as it arrives. (I used to ignore anything in a brown envelope.)
  Deep clean kitchen cupboards. (I used to pay a cleaner to do this; must've been bonkers.)
  Weed garden, again. We should soon have red onions. Yay! They're spring onion size right now. This gardening caper is quite addictive. I never thought I'd be googling "life-cycle of a broad bean" at 2am...
  Deep clean the bathroom using one product. I'm not sure why it suddenly looks so dirty?
  Homemade hash browns for breakfast. (Link)
  Took damaged lining out of shorts instead of buying a new pair. Didn't need the lining anyway.
  Repair toilet seat with glue. One of the stoppers underneath has fallen off again.
  I'll post some offers and freebies on here later if time permits. Hope it's sunny wherever you are.
  Someone on here recently said they made a lentil roast. Would that person kindly supply me with the recipe, I'd love to try it.
  
• Morning all,
  was up at the crack of dawn as is becoming the norm on my day off, I'd love a lie in, just once.
  So today washing on line already
  second load in machine to get out on line before it rains ( fingers crossed).
  Dishwasher on
  Pork ribs ( free) in pot ready to become BBQ ribs for tea.
  Make potato salad from whats in the fridge and garden.
  Weeding.
  Find more boot sale items.
  Look at euro rates for holiday money.
  General house tidy up.
  Read sundays paper, as havent had a chance yet.
  Lunch from fridge - eggs need using.
  Try not to spend to much at Sains later, make list and stick to it.
  Do surveys.
  Cheers
• Hi everyone
  Although it looks like rain I'm going to chance putting the washing out - I have a load of towels.
  This will be a NSD day - I am off work and will stay at home.
  Don't ignore brown envelopes - I got one yesterday from HMRC and inside was a juicy fat cheque with a tax rebate. Yay!!
  I want to do some cooking today and put the surplus in the freezer.
  I also need to tidy around and get stuff ready for recycling tomorrow.
  Have a good day peeps
• My DFW things today.
  Do washing whilst the solar panels are paying for the electric
  Pack small suit case for visit to family
  Put hoover over flat (after washing has finished) again on free electricity
  Tidy kitchen
  Tidy bedroom
  Have late breakfast from items in cupboard
  Have late lunch again from items in cupboard
  Adjust money tracker spread sheet after getting nice letter from Northumbrian Water reducing my payments for this year - totally agree with Lizziebabe always open letters, they can have nice surprises in them. :-)
• Hi everyone
  Great news from lizziebabe there - hope you're able to do something useful/fun with the money!
  Still debt free here which is great but need to keep on the straight and narrow as hoping to have a 2nd baby next year so all money needs to be saved as much as possible.
  So, my things for today:
  1. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks all from stores.
  2. Recycle padded envelope to send back hubby's electric toothbrush as is faulty
  3. Walk to Waitrose on way back from the post office for free cup of coffee
  4. Also drop into The Body Shop for free lipbalm from freebies thread
  5. Swagbucks/check bzzagent
  6. Stay out of Tesco tonight as we don't need anything.
  7. Remember to use McDonalds free smoothie voucher on phone
  I think that's everything. Happy saving everyone! xx
• Hello hello
  Hope we're all doing well.
  Here's me:
  - Cheapo brekkie - porridge
  - Packed lunch
  - Downloaded Qu1dco app
  - Raised claim for qu1dco claim that didn't track
  - Nudged boss to sign off expenses…
  - Covering pal's yoga class tonight
  - Trip to Wilkos at lunch for cheapo essentials
  - Trip to @ldi for essentials until Tuesday payday
  - Put confidential waste into work's confidential waste bin rather than buying myself a shredder
  Good luck with the job hunting Ally!
• Afternoon all!
  Thanks to ally for starting off the threead. That jobcentre gets more ridiculous all the time! Glad the interview went well
  Had a quite productive day yesterday. Did some overtime, had an NSD, racked some wine and tidied the garden a bit. Also, when I rang Vodafone to end the broadband dongle contract, the did an early, early upgrade for me so as of last night, I am on a sim only tariff and so have saved approx Ј10 a month
  Today's mission:
  Check online banking
  NSD again
  Charge phone in work
  Tend to garden. Will sow more grass seed on the bare patches on the lawn tonight.
  B/L/D from stores. Lunch was tuna and sweetcorn wraps with homegrown lettuce and tea will be stirfry (I keep saying this and then making something else!)
  Logging calories on free app. Need to keep on the straight and narrow!
  Not much tonight as I have a friend coming over after work. Have a good one all
• [QUOTE=lilian1977;61960519]Hi everyone
  Great news from lizziebabe there - hope you're able to do something useful/fun with the money!
  Thanks for that Lilian. Well, I had already given my (grownup) son and daughter some money, so the cheque will cover that and plenty left for me. I am wearing my Karma necklace
• Hi everyone,
  Thanks for starting us off Ally. Fingers crossed you get one of these jobs, I think that phone interview situation is dispicable.
  I wonder if no DNMS means her DD's baby is on the way? Hope everything is ok!!
  Today I have/will:-
• Making use of free water at work
• Food from stores
• Dinner from meal plan - HM cottage pie
• Staying in for my lunch break to avoid spending
• Log calories & exercise on free apps
• Checked postcode lottery & birthday bingo
• Heating off
• Check online banking
• Check for new mystery shopping opportunities
• Enter some comps
• Do some surveys
• Declutter & flylady
• Free exercise tonight, either a DVD or on my pole I think
• Ring vet to update them on our rabbit & see if they think she still needs to come in for the dental tomorrow, she's eating more & is much more herself so hopefully they'll say we can leave it!
• Washing on eco setting using less than the recommended dose of washing liquid
• Hang up to dry
• Try & de-stress a little! Still feeling it...

Hope everyone is ok & has a great, MSE day x

• Successful lunch break - two Body Shop lip balms and a Waitrose coffee, zero spend! Now off to have my YS fruit salad
• Afternoon Moneysavers,
  Today's positive money saving activity:
  *Rubber Chicken Day 5: Cream of chicken & celery soup for lunch. And THAT, friends, is the end of the rubber chicken! Could I have got more out of it? Yes, probably....if I'd made the fajhitas half chicken & half red kidney beans, I'd have had enough chicken for a spicy pizza topping or for a pasta bake for the freezer. All in all, this week's rubber chicken did 8 portions of dinner, 3 lunches plus a spare portion of soup & 2 cartons of chicken stock for the freezer. I'm happy enough with that.
  *Started bread crumb box in freezer as got recipes coming up which need them.
  *Assessed pantry prior to writing shopping list.
  *Ditto fridge. All veggies on course to be used.....several destined for tonight's butterbean crumble.
  *Did surveys
  *Did today's task from extra project I got from 'Toluna'- supposed to be Ј5 per task.
  *Watered veggies & checked for pests/problems.
  *Dug out our cover for cat food again.....a new biscuit robber on the block & the food our cat has to have is so expensive. He's not happy about having to come & tell us he wants his bowl uncovering, but tough!
  *Campsite confirmed, booking made so that's 4 days away in our new tent in Sept & I can't wait! Cost Ј56 to book. We'd have paid over Ј400 to get a cottage for that week, so that is a good saving for us. Still trying to book the city break in budget hotel........what a performance.....will include it as separate post, so that anyone who doesn't want to be bothered with this saga can just skip it......
  Still to do:
  *Consult meal plans & write shopping list.
  *Cut lettuce, watercress, etc, for dinner.
  That's me! Cheers, everyone,
  foxgloves x
  Debt-free since May 2011 & determined to stay that way.
  Foxgloves' mantra for avoiding debt: "If it has to go on a card, an overdraft or a loan, that's not my money, that's sombody else's, so I obviously can't afford it!"
• Hotel booking saga (rolls eyes, dramatically.....)
  First, thanks Ally for your reminder that these budget hotel chains do sometimes offer discounted rooms. We found some available at Premier Inn in the city we wanted to stay @Ј35 instead of Ј75 for double room. Good start!
  -mr f goes to phone hotel....notices it's online bookings only if you want the offer.
  -He goes to the booking site. There's a Tuesday in the middle of our chosen 3 nights which for some reason is Ј75 instead of the Ј35 discounted rate. We choose a different 3 nights.
  -Tried to pay using credit card (so we can get the M&S vouchers). Card is declined. Tried again. Card used earlier that day, no probs. Card declined again.
  -Rings hotel branch. Receptionist vaguely sympathetic. Asks to book by phone. Yes, that's possible but we have to pay full price! Ј35 rooms only available if booked online. Points out online booking is not working as perfectly good card declined for no reason. Solution offered: Pay online with a different card or pay full price.
  -Completes entire booking process again using Visa card. Card is rejected as expiry date is before the time we will be staying. Ditto my Visa card (joint account, both expire same month) & my credit card (expires next month).
  -Phones Premiere Inn's general customer services number. Chap says could be MasterCard problem, try tomorrow. Mr f asks to make booking on phone but is told, no, you can only book at these rates if it's online.
  -We give up, watch some comedy, have a coffee & a Big Moan!
  -Today....mr f has left for work, phone rings while I'm doing exercise dvd in my bra & pants! It's M&S Bank wanting to speak to mr f urgently. Woman will tell me nothing (tho the heavy breathing from doing my box steps may have put her off....) Says he must contact them asap. I ask if it is connected to the problems we had last night while trying to use card. She says she can't discuss, only that it's to do with 'querying transactions' on his account. Have to leave him a voicemail as no ring tone will penetrate the base on his headphones on drive into work.
  -Manage to get another routine completed but not in the mood for jumping around if one of our cards has been used fraudulently & there's going to be hassle.
  -mr f rings me back. M&S bank stopped his M&S card as soon as he attempted to book a stay at the Premier Inn. Apparently this triggered an automatic alert because he hadn't ever booked the Premier Inn before (tho card has often been used to book other accommodation) & he was trying to do so at 9.20pm. Surely this can't be unusual for people who work, when we are in a pretty much 24 hr online culture? According to man he spoke to, booking the Premier Inn or similar budget hotel chain late at night is a common pattern for card fraudsters, so M&S Bank has an alert which is triggered whenever this is attempted!!
  We feel sort of pleased that the bank is strict on unusual card use, but at the same time, we wasted a lot of time on this, & are hoping the discount rooms won't all have gone before we try the M&S card again tonight to make sure the 'block' has cleared. So what a tedious saga! My mind is running overtime now on why card fraudsters immediately think of booking into a budget hotel chain.....I mean, if I came into a chunk of money, it wouldn't be my first thought.......oh well, there's no accounting for folk. mr f asked a few questions just to be sure there wasn't anything else, but no, they were adamant that the alert to block his card had been triggered solely because he tried to book a stay at the Premier Inn 'late at night'. Chap even suggested he did the booking earlier in the day on future occasions! Crazy!
  Oh well, you'll need a cup of tea anyone who made it to the end of this.....
  , I know I do!
  foxgloves x
  Debt-free since May 2011 & determined to stay that way.
  Foxgloves' mantra for avoiding debt: "If it has to go on a card, an overdraft or a loan, that's not my money, that's sombody else's, so I obviously can't afford it!"
• Foxgloves
  Oh nooooooo...what a palaver! Kinda wish I hadn't mentioned it now.
• That's ridiculous Foxgloves! Good luck booking again!
• Afternoon all,
  Day two of posting...today's list has mostly been completed.
  - NSD
  - check bank account
  - all meals from stores
  - clean the house with HM cleaner
  - check veg bed for slug damage (Tried the beer trap last night after discovering the critters weren't even a tiny bit discouraged by the heaping mounds of coffee grounds we put down. Anyone have any suggestions / tips?)
  - work extra hours
  - watch a free film later
  foxgloves - a freezer breadcrumb box is a great idea that I may just nab as we always have ends of bread that no one wants.
  Hope everyone gets a chance to spend some time in the sunshine today!
• ally - I think the lentil roast mentioner was me, as I made one last week. This is the recipe. Sorry it's in imperial.....it's an old recipe.
  Lentil roast
  8oz small red split lentils
  2 onions, finely chopped
  2oz breadcrumbs (not those bought neon orange ones you can see from space....just stale bread grated or whizzed up into crumbs)
  1 small apple, peeled & finely chopped
  1 tbsp oil
  2 tomatoes, skinned, seeds removed, chopped OR 1 tomato & a small stick of celery, finely chopped.
  1 tsp dried sage or to taste, more if using fresh
  1 egg, beaten
  salt & pepper
  -Set oven to Gas mark 6
  -Rinse the lentils. Place in pan of water, bring to boil & simmer until soft & water absorbed. (I just wait till they are soft, doesn't take long, then tip into a sieve & drain off most of the water) Return to pan & beat till they are a thick sludgy consistency.
  -While lentils are cooking, heat oil & fry onions, apples, celery if using, tomato & herbs until soft.
  -Add to lentils along with breadcrumbs, beaten egg & seasoning to taste.
  Turn into a greased lined 2lb loaf tin & bake for 45-60 mins (I use bought-in loaf tin liners for this as a pack lasts ages, it saves time & roast turns out really easily but that's just my preference). At half time, you may wish to cover the top with foil or baking parchment if it's getting too brown.
  Good things about this roast:
  -It's really cheap & good for using up things like wrinkly apples, bendy celery, sprouty onions, etc.
  -It's really filling. This easily does 4 portions.
  -It freezes well both as an uncooked roast in its tin, or cooked, sliced into thick chunks, foiled then reheated.
  -You can vary the ingredients. I sometimes add red peppers, more summer veg & it gives it a different vibe.
  -It's just as good cold with salad.
  -It's dead portable so we use it for picnics with hot chutney.
  -If you add slightly less egg & a few more breadcrumbs, chilli flakes, garlic & a bit of cumin/coriander, you can shape this into spicy lentil burgers. They are nice in bread buns with salad. Also freezes well as burgers & can be fried from frozen.
  Hope you enjoy trying it, anyway.
  foxgloves x
• Hi All
  Ally - I really feel for you going through the job centre hell every week. Hopefully your interviews/applications will be fruitful very soon. You are right, why should honest people who have paid in all their lives be penalised and treated like dishonest criminals?
  Foxgloves -Horray about your holiday being booked! Something to look forward to. Will you have update withdrawal Annoying about the card being stopped, glad alls well that ends well though.
  Hampsterpoo - Annoying when a day off doesnt mean a lie in hey!
  Lizziebabe - Well done on your NSD.
  Hello to Plainandsimple, Datlex,Lillian1977, La Escocessa & Perni
  Me today:
  1) NSD here too. Horray!
  2) Bellypork and roast veggies in the oven for tonights meal. All from stores.
  3) Checked banking.
  4) Took snacks when collected son instead of getting something in Tesco.
  5) Used up a whitening sachet that I found, for the washing.
  Plodding along towards OH payday on 25th. Looking forward to seeing the CC balance come down again, even by a little bit. Balance to Ј5,100 after next min payments come off. Exciting to be edging closer to the 5K mark even if it has taken me a lot longer than I ever thought.
  Night all.
  Bob x
• Good Evening All
  ally - Thanks for starting us off today, sorry to hear about the jobcentre debacle - a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing!!
  Hi to all the regulars and lurkers and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.
  Todays little listy :
  Check Banks - Done
  Check swapits - Done
  Check www.freepostcodelottery.com - Done
  Work (9.00 - 2.00) - Done
  General Tidy up - Done
  Shopping with list - Done
  Catch up on emails -
  Surveys -
  Enter a few comps -
  Nectar Adpoints -
  Meals from stores - Done
  Update Food tracker - in progress
  Read/Knit - in progress
  Hope you have all had a great day, love to you all.
  C xx