I can't think of a witty title, so here is July's Frugaleer Thread! All welcome.

[Cagliostro]

Hello :)

[Star2015]

Thanks everyone Xx

[Whataboutwhathuh]

Morning

Prime day so I am starting the Christmas shopping 😅

[Sierra259]

Hello! Thanks for the new thread

[SnugglySnerd]

Thanks Cag.
What is Prime day? I want to start Xmas shopping but not buying anything online until the cc fraud is sorted, bank hasn't got back to me yet.
Weekly shop was over £70 - eek! I hardly bought any food either, mostly nappies, wipes, cat stuff and cleaning stuff.
It's yet another dull, wet day here. More like October than July.

[needastrongone]

[CremeEggThief]

Thanks Cag.

[AdoraBell]

Thanks for shiny new thread Cag.

Supermarket delivery today, £83 that included Kilner jars on offer, and cider on offer too. Am still stuck the on the sofa. Just tried to put a trainer on because I need to post something but it's going to have to wait a while longer. Yesterday I sent DDs to the bakers after school, they spent £5, and I gave one £15 for school dinners, DH got that out for me when I sent him out to get provisions for lunch on Sunday.

Looks like that will be all for the week, or until I can get a shoe on

[Tryingtosaveup]

Hello. Thanks for new thread, Cag
Hoping for another NSD today because tomorrow will be spend your as the plumber is coming to look at refit of downstairs toilet/ cloakroom.
I'm eating up all the leftovers still from when friends came round on Friday.
I have just systematically watered everything in the garden and finished washing all the bedding, and, guess what, it is now pouring down. Sod it.

[SpaceKablooie]

Thanks for the new thread Cag .

[Cagliostro]

Nice playdate this morning. Off to DD's writing class in a bit. Got DH to get some lunch stuff so we won't be tempted in town. Need to order a delivery for tomorrow though.

Travelodge have 20% off hotel stays until October 12th. I'd like to do a little educational trip with the DCs (we did that last year, when we went to Southampton for the Titanic stuff) - was thinking Stratford Upon Avon because there are some museums there we want to go to, but even with discount it'd be really expensive. And the train too - when I looked it was crazy prices but last year my mum got a ticket for £6 on some offer?!

[ipsogenix]

Cag sorry to hear about your birthday blues. I'm 41 in two weeks. tbh I really don't mind.

Sierra Sorry to hear about dc2. I hope things improve for you there.

A man from the water company just came and tested out water and said we might still have lead pipes, so they're going to come and dig up our front garden to find out. Sounds highly exciting. Glad I don't have to dig the hole.

I still haven't really spent any money. I even forgot to do any grocery shopping for a whole week somehow. This geopolitical chaos fairly keeps the household spending down. Turns out it's not a recession, it's just that we're too busy reloading the BBC news website to go shopping.

[lilacclery]

Hey all - I never properly caught up on the last thread but I'll join in here and be more dedicated to this one

[lilacclery]

I used a living social deal to print photos last week and they arrived today. I'm unsure if it was the quality of images sent to them or the quality of printing that is poor but there's a lot of photos that are poor quality
and waste of €'s too

[lilacclery]

Thanks for movie advice cag Totoro was definitely there

[lilacclery]

em very interested in No Contact Mondays although tbh most evenings are like that in our house cos we're busy with the dc and exhausted

[lilacclery]

trying you sound like a lovely granny, my dm is time poor rather than € poor. She's a busy retired teacher and lives 100 miles from us. When I need her for childcare she never lets me down and when I visit is always willing to have them so that I can get visit friends or have a night out. Unfortunately she's not nearby and dh's parents are deceased

[WreckTangled]

Thanks Cag.

Nsd so far should stay that way. I've got a headache

[DontLetMeLetYouGo]

Checking in here for today. It's a NSD here for me.

I'm off to work 4pm until midnight. These are my shifts for the rest of the week until Saturday. I'm doing all the hours I can to factor in for next few months spends.

I discussed my hours at new job yesterday. Will be doing 37.5. However if I feel it is too much I will ask to drop to 30 to balance it out. I'll be glad to be back in a secure job title.

I've not much else to report, I won't be seeing DS for bedtimes for the rest of the week. He's understanding though and I'll see him in the mornings before school. I'm going to leave him a letter before I go to work just to tell him I love him lol.

So far this month I've not put any petrol into my car which is good for me. However it's usually all sucked up through milage from work.

I'm using up food in the fridge to eat before work. I've got breaded camembert in the oven as I type. Yum

[ipsogenix]

I just had weird urge to buy the same handbag as Teresa May has got. I really need to leave the house and stop staring at the news.

[lilacclery]

Anyone follow this blog Blonde on a Budget I found it interesting she has just finished a two year shopping ban and lists out what she bought.

warning rant alert yesterday I mentioned that dh had toothpaste on the shopping list, well this morning I discovered he had opened the new one and thrown the one which would have lasted us both at least two weeks away and in the outside bin so I couldn't even retrieve it

[lilacclery]

don't congrats on new job and a set no of hours per week.
Who minds ds while you're at work or am I mistakenly thinking you're a single parent?

I'm finding that with dh on nights, I'm eating fewer proper dinners and more easy dinners like egg fried rice, cous cous etc. Going to make a steak sandwich tonight with lots of fried onions on a spelt bake at home roll from Aldi(they're amazing if anyone hasn't tried them yet)

[AdoraBell]

Fab news on the job Don't

at steak sarnie.

Grr, my DH is chucker of bits that can be used too lilac.

I've been on Amazon since my last post £99 on lots of bits for Christmas presents.

[Taytocrisps]

Spendy day yesterday as I brought DD into the nearest big town, to the cinema.

Bus fares - €8.40 (me) and €5.20 (DD)
Cinema - €8 (me) and €6 (DD)
Treats for cinema in Tesco - €9.70

We had an hour to kill after the cinema so I got a latte (€3.40) and DD got a smoothie (€2.95)

Total spend €43.65

It was good to get out for the afternoon as the weather has been really dull and rainy for the past few weeks. There's no kids club but the cinema has a small discount on Tuesdays, so I might look into that next time - the discount only applies to two movies though.

I was a bit shocked when I got to the till at Tescos and was presented with a bill of €9.70. I thought I was being frugal by not buying sweets and popcorn at the cinema! Looking at the receipt, It was the large bags of sweets that did the damage. I got Minstrels (€2) and DD got M&Ms (€2.99). Next time we're buying the small bags. I might add that we didn't eat them all in one go.

Today's spending was €15 for a haircut for DD and €2.48 for lunch ingredients. And I will have to give €3 to DD for cubs later.

I had a quick look back over the last few pages.

north did your passport turn up after? Hope you didn't have to pay to replace it.

Em I'm so jealous (in a nice way) that you live so close to a beach. I would love to be able to walk along the beach whenever I wanted. My dream is to buy a retirement house or apartment beside a beach. I went to a wedding in Jersey a few years back and I remember being told that there's a big Portugese community there, so I'm not surprised that the celebrations were so loud.

need you posted about your DD going to her first party. Glad I'm not at that stage with DD yet. She has started walking to school and walking to the shop by herself and even that feels a bit strange.

Star are you going somewhere nice for your holiday? If you'd rather not say, that's ok. Sorry to hear you had such a bad day at work (and a bad night too). Hope today is going better.

Cag DH and I did a load of shredding last weekend. We filled a whole rubbish bag! I heard somewhere (years ago) that you should keep two years worth of bills and I had two or three ring binders full of paperwork. In all these years I've never been asked to present a bill for anything so we've now taken the radical decision just to shred everything and to shred everything on an ongoing basis going forward. We'll keep a small folder for current bills and shred them once they've been paid. On the odd occasion we've applied for a loan, we've been asked for the last four payslips so we'll just keep the last four payslips. Hopefully this will help to avoid building up large amounts of paperwork in the future.

I was also surprised at how much paperwork DD generates - notes from school, cubs, dance class etc.

Also, Cag you mentioned something about paying for prescriptions. I was under the impression that you don't have to pay for prescriptions under the NHS but perhaps I'm wrong about that.

Sierra hope your little one is better today.

A lot of people have mentioned making money by e-baying clothes. Is there much money to be made from this? I presume you also have to take postage and packing into consideration. I'm a complete e-bay virgin so I have no idea how it works.

[WreckTangled]

Our Hoover won't get the cat hair out of the carpet. What shall we do?! The Hoover is about 16 years old...

[needastrongone]

Tayto. Yes, it is strange re DD, but you do get used to it, without realising you get used to it iyswim? As the freedoms come slowly, you get your head around it.I couldn't have imagined the DC getting the bus and going to Nandos then to the cinema by themselves, but they do itand get home ha ha!! DS is 17 in a few weeks, and DD gets more freedom than he did. I really trust them to make the right decisions though, they know this too. They get treated like adults (with guidance!), and it seems to work! Plus, they have a really solid set of friends each, which works well. I was far more of a rebel at that age

Re clothes, I find 'labels' sell better. Nothing too posh, but I've got some Joules and Fat Face stuff up, these sell well. I don't ask a high price either, and this seems to draw sellers in.

Spends today are non spends as they were all work related. Apart from the dogs being groomed, which I am waiting for the cost of when I collect them later.

NSD yesterday too.

Weekly work update, still busy. No sign so far of Brexit issues, but it may come in the next few months. It may not though.

Had to send the bailiff into one of our customers, which I hate doing, but it's a big hit at £11k. If we don't protect our financial interests, then it's us that go under, but I always feel crap suing folk.

Pulled pork in the slow cooker for tea, with salad and wraps.

Sierra Hope your little DC is ok today.

Ipsos What do you think about May? The vibe seems to be positive in term of steadying the ship and how quickly this has been sorted. She's a bleedin' tough cookie.