My weekend...

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd tell you about my weekend... it has gone so quickly and not that much achieved! I always have a plan in my head of what I want to get done each day, but normally only achieve half.

On Saturday we went to Toys 'r' Us and Mothercare in Northampton. What an eye-opener! I cannot believe the amount of money being spent at these retail parks, yes it's Christmas,and some people will have saved up for this time of year, but I saw people just pick up toys and throw them into their trolley without even really looking at them. There were loads of families getting cross with their children because they wanted to pick up toys and look at them. It's a shame that the children had to go too. They were bored and started to mess about! There's enough stress at Christmas without creating more for yourself. Shopping online would have been a better idea???

Why do so many people feel the need to be glued to their phones while shopping???

They could be looking at a shopping list, or calculating how much they have spent, or comparing prices with another shop, but I suspect they were on social media. I saw lots of men (mostly older than me) playing on their phones. They didn't appear to be actively shopping (no trolley or goods), just busy not looking where they were going! I wonder how much time each day is spent on a phone? I use mine to phone people, text and for the calculator. I don't have a smartphone. I am a blogger, I write a blog and I read blogs. Sometimes it's for entertainment purposes, but mostly to learn new things, but I don't sit on facebook all day. I tend to watch videos on youtube rather than watch the tele, but it is while doing something else like my ironing. I would love a smartphone to nosey around on instagram for ideas and interest, but I cope fine without. 

We purchased what we needed for Daisy, having written a list and thought about each gift and how much fun and enjoyment she would get from them (as well as their educational value). We couldn't get everything we wanted in there, there was a load of rubbish looking toys for older children, but thankfully the pre-school section is good, so we headed over to Mothercare...

They has 20% of all toys!!!

Daisy loved the freedom of being able to walk around with Grampy safely while Grandma shopped. She did choose herself a rather large pair of Spiderman boots though! The 20% savings really did make a difference and we travelled home again.

The day was finished off with my favourite tele programme...Strictly Come Dancing! I love it and have my two favourites...Susanna and Sophie. I have been voting for Susanna and Kevin for the past two weeks (I only vote near the end) and was convinced they would go. I was planning to switch to Sophie if they did.

Yesterday we did our usual fortnightly shop, only getting the turkey towards my Christmas stash. What a nightmare! I hate shopping when it's busy so we go early, but everyone else now has the same idea. It amazes me how rude and ignorant some people can be! I waited for some to pass without so much as a smile in return, I even had a staff member give me a cross face when she was in my way. I stood back to let her pass with her trolley of rubbish and she didn't thank me and a smile was definitely not going to happen. MANNERS COST NOTHING!!!

Another moan... the prices are good in Asda compared to some other supermarkets, but some of Daisy's toiletries that we purchase every time have jumped up by 25p!!! They were not previously rolled back or part of any offer, they have just gone up. Her skin is sensitive, so I won't switch brands, but I am annoyed. Our shopping bill is creeping up every time we shop. Things will be changing in January for us and I will be blogging about this after Christmas.

We got our turkey, a small one, because that's all we need. It isn't actually that small and it cost £12. I wanted a crown, but they were £16, so we went for the whole turkey and I will use the darker meat for different meals...any ideas??? I only like the breast meat and actually prefer to eat it cold. 

The remaining Christmas shopping will be done this week by my OH (armed with a list of course) and we won't be going over the top! Our next planned shop falls between Christmas and New Year, but we will only top-up locally with a couple of fresh things and not do a massive shop. I have a huge store at the moment (although I am working through the freezer at the moment) and this will see us into January. We always crave 'gravy dinners' after Christmas, casseroles etc.

Would you like me to post my menus as I work through my stores, saving money on the food shop throughout January? 

Back to my shopping experience...

The till ladies in Asda are always lovely. Daisy has her own fan club! The lady who served us yesterday said that she thought it was quiet in there and next weekend would be horrendous. She said that people seem to be getting a few things in their weekly shop towards Christmas this year and the remainder will do a huge shop at the weekend as they normally would for Christmas. We are doing a separate Christmas shop, but we will be using our savings tin which we have been adding to throughout the year.  So maybe shopping habits are changing to spread the cost, but there is so much choice and Christmas convenience out there to tempt people into spending too much.

As I was leaving the store with my heavy trolley, I was faced with very rude people who barged past me and I was struggling to control my trolley in the wind and sloping path. They could have let me pass as I had the full trolley, but no, they barged past, eager to shop. Not one person let me through! It was my right to walk on that path as much as there's, it's just that I have good manners and they don't. I suspect that all they could think about was getting out of the wind and getting on with their shopping. We get up early on a Sunday to travel to Asda to get on with our shopping. Incidentally, not one person said thank you for me waiting! I accidentally knocked a lady as she barged past me (well I suppose she knocked into me as I was stationary) and I said sorry...she ignored me, didn't even look at me.

MOAN OVER!!!

After putting the shopping away and a spot of lunch, we took Daisy and the dogs for a walk. Daisy loves it in her back carrier, all wrapped up snuggly in her snowsuit, watching from up high. It was raining and really windy, but she was happy and dry. I'll share some photos soon (I haven't loaded them onto my laptop yet).   

The evening was Strictly again!

I was so pleased to see both Susanna and Sophie through and look forward to the final next weekend. Does anyone else enjoy strictly?

Thanks for reading, I would love to hear from you.

Mandy x