Husband had as good a birthday as was possible under the circumstances. He had some nice cards (I made him one, which he liked), and gifts....a couple which I know should be coming from others haven't yet arrived, no doubt delayed by the covid situation. So he's still got a couple of nice surprises to come.
I still haven't got round to having my dead laptop looked at, or replaced in the event of it being terminal. The Amazon fire tablet I bought to temporarily replace it (what I'm typing on now) is ok but limited in what it can do....still, it serves a purpose and I'm grateful to have it. However, husband's daughter told him the other day that her husband bought her a new tablet for Christmas - there's nothing wrong with her present one, the new one is simply a more up to date version. It's not an Amazon one but a proper tablet....Husband didn't know the make, but his SiL is a computer technician working for one of the big computer companies and gets a discount on products, so it's a good one. Anyway, his daughter said I can have her old tablet so she's sending it to me, which is very kind of her....saves me having to worry about paying to get my laptop fixed. The next time they come down to visit us (whenever that may be allowed!), her husband will look at my laptop and see if he can fix it.
Husband and I are going to be saving towards 2 specific things over the next year or two, so I've been having a look at our finances to see where we can make savings. Changing our big, expensive to run, gas guzzling car for a smaller, cheaper to run car is one thing that should save us quite a bit. I've gone through our direct debits and cancelled a couple of small ones that weren't strictly necessary....small savings but every little helps. Food shopping is another area where I think we can make more significant savings. This month I'm aiming to do just 2 shops (both online), rather than weekly. We had one delivered at the beginning of this week, I have another booked for the 20th. They don't contain any extras, they're both average weekly shop amounts, as we have plenty of freezer and store cupboard stocks in. So that will be 2 weekly shop amounts saved for this month, which I can transfer over to the savings account.
Not going out anywhere is saving us fuel costs too, so that's one advantage of lockdown - have to look for the positives in this situation.
I am trying to 'shop in my cupboards' this month and avoid the shops where possible. I will only stock up on any decent offers like the coffee DH drinks, the large Lurpack tubs and some cereal.Food is so expensive now it is getting harder to shave anything off the bill - they will need chairs by the checkouts soon so you can sit down before hearing the total!!
ReplyDeletePS Happy Birthday to husband.
the chairs by the checkout made me chuckle
DeleteEvery little helps as they say! We upped our annual mileage when we got our current car. Haven’t actually used even 10% of it so far due to not travelling up to our son!
ReplyDeleteI find shopping online more expensive, we don't always notice the best deals and often something is on special when you make the order and then goes back to full price by the time the order is delivered, BUT still I prefer to have my shopping delivered.
ReplyDeleteThat's nice of your hubby's daughter to send you her "old" tablet. I get my computer stuff from my son, but did end up buying a chromebook as the laptop he gave me became terminally ill. I'm hanging on to it so he can have a fiddle with it (whenever we can see him again!) and try to revive it, then he'll pass it on to someone who needs it. Good on you for making savings. With a goal in mind, it should make any sacrifices easier, but don't forget to treat yourselves every now and then! xx
ReplyDeleteI am trying to use the freezer and store cupboard this month and just do a top of fruit and veg. I over shopped before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying my best to re stock my bank with the savings I used over Christmas time. It's good to know they are there!
ReplyDeleteVery wise plans, the pounds will start to build in no time. Moving money straight away to a savings account is always a good move.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's surprising just how much we are all saving on petrol and diesel at the moment isn't it. Maybe I should have been saving up the £30+ a week I used to put into my little car just to see how much I would have had ... possibly enough for a new car if this carries on ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have an Amazon tablet Fire and love it but I go through one a year, something goes haywire with the charging slot. So, we received our stimulus check and I have switched to an iPad Pro. It should arrive next week. I am hoping it will be a one time purchase. Have a great week!💖
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