Me

Me

Monday 16 December 2013

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


16 comments:

  1. People get all of a flap at Christmas. I agree they are blooming rude. I am always hiding doors open for people and not even a grunt of thanks. I actually was standing still the other day to let a man out of a shop. He just kept walking at me expecting me to move and when I didn't just walked right into me. I did say sarcastically, " oh, after you." He was quite shocked.
    The country is going to the dogs, people spitting and urinating in the street in broad daylight and no, not all men! Revolting! Standards are dropping. I shall continue with my manners as I will not stoop to their level. X

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    1. Good for you!!!

      Lovely to hear from you xxx

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  2. I suspect Daisy's toiletries will be "rolled back" in a few days. This happened with asda dog food earlier this year. It jumped from 55p to 70p (causing me to have a sobbing meltdown in panic - how embarrassing!) then rolled back to 56p the following week!! I don't trust or believe supermarket pricing.
    As for manners, what has happened? Did their parents not raise them properly? Although the older people are just as bad in my opinion.
    OK moan over lol.
    x

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    1. Lovely to hear from you Susan xxx

      I do hope you're right about Asda pricing. They are all out to get as much money out of us as possible. My shopping habits are going to change in January!

      I think manners don't exist in some people because they are too busy to care.

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  3. Hello Mandy from Australia!
    I have been "stalking" you for a while but this is the first time I have commented.
    I am hating shopping at the moment and am living with lists which get updated daily. We live in a country town and I only buy emergencies there as too expensive, so I stock up when I go to our nearest city. Parking is getting a problem now, but heyho it is only once a year.
    Have a lovely Christmas!

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  4. Hello Mandy from Australia!
    I have been "stalking" you for a while but this is the first time I have commented.
    I am hating shopping at the moment and am living with lists which get updated daily. We live in a country town and I only buy emergencies there as too expensive, so I stock up when I go to our nearest city. Parking is getting a problem now, but heyho it is only once a year.
    Have a lovely Christmas!

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    1. Hi MaryJo and a warm welcome from England!

      I would love to hear more about what Christmas is like in Australia.

      Lovely to hear from you xxx

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  5. Hi Mandy, glad you survived the shopping, its horrendous at this time of year, people can be so rude. I actually apologised to someone the other day and it wasn't even my fault, they bumped into me, but when I realised just how ignorant they were I actually turned around to them and said loudly "No actually im NOT sorry, that was really your fault but you are too ignorant to acknowledge that". my daughter was mortified that I has said something but the person still ignored me!
    We too shop at Asda and have noticed that their Smartprice range has shot up in price recently, the basic stuff like tinned spaghetti, ravioli etc, all of which my grandson likes.
    I only have about a dozen items to get for Christmas like fresh salad, a gammon joint and some sausages but these can all be bought from Doncaster market maybe next Monday or Tuesday. I was hoping not to have to enter a supermarket but unfortunately m daughter does want to go at some point this week :-(
    I hope you have a very happy Christmas and look foreward to some frugal recipes and meal plans to help out in the New year. take care, jane

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    1. Hi Jane, I think I'm an easy target when people barge past me because I'm short!

      I've also noticed that either the smartprice stuff is missing from the shelf (sold out), or just disappeared and no longer available. Maybe it's a tactic to not restock those items to encourage us to buy the asda own brand and take a step up in price?

      My OH is braving asda again after work to get the last few bits. The list is short. I can't get into it this year (YKW is spending Christmas Day with us and will no doubt ruin it) so I've been quite minimal really (not like me at all when it comes to Christmas).

      Same to you...have a wonderful Christmas with your family and a good rest from work.

      I hope to use my blog (and lovely readers/commenters) as my motivation. There will be lots of thrifty ideas that I regularly do coming in the new year. I have to discipline myself to take photos of food etc and upload them. I will be making plans for my blog over Christmas to start fresh in January. Watch this space!

      Mandy xxx

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  6. My list is getting longer but I'm not sure when I'm going to do something about it. I hate shopping.
    I hope you have a lovely Christmas with

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  7. Oops I meant to say with Daisy

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    1. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family Sylvia xxx

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  8. HOT Mandy!! If it is anything like todays temp which is forecast to be 39 deg! I have just got home from town, walked into one store and turned around and came right out!
    I was born in UK so remember my UK Christmases well. I have a bit of a problem getting used to having cold but it is necessary. We had the aircon on today but I think it is going to get a bit cooler by the weekend.
    Best wishes to your family. xo

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    1. Hi MaryJo, I didn't actually cope very well in the heat.

      Do you eat a Christmas dinner as we do, traditional turkey and all the trimmings? When it's hot here, we just want to eat salads etc and I would hate to have to cook a roast.


      Same to you...have a wonderful Christmas with your family xxx

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    2. I have 2 cooked chickens & cooked turkey breast in the freezer. I flatly refuse to cook on Christmas Eve as there are too many other things to do. I like roast turkey but my family don' t so I am outnumbered!! Then we have different salads & I think I will make a cheesecake for dessert. The grandchildren like that, mind you 2 of them will eat anything but no2 granddaughter is fussy! We start with prawn cocktail or smoked salmon. I think that is about it and then I go on strike!!

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