Abstemious April ... the trials continue

[roguepixie]

Righty-ho, here's the April thread.

After a disastrous March I am more than ready to get to grips again with all things frugal.

[Becaroooo]

Its our 13th ann in May, dh's 40th in june and mine in Oct. Think I may just spend mine locked in a darkened room drinking (cheap) gin

[roguepixie]

spew, what about a cushion? I once cross-stitched a quaker style cushion for DH and then made a border and turned it into a cushion. - he loved it and it was special because I took the time to make it ... you could put a lavender pouch in the middle and turn it into a sleep cushion (lavender is v restful) - I did one of those for my DDad who suffers from insomnia.

chile, mmmmmmm, creme eggs. If you ever feel the need for a fix just pm me ... am happy to post a few your way. A friend in need is a friend indeed ... and there is no greater need than creme eggs . And how sppoky that we have our own CremeEggThief on this thread .

[roguepixie]

Btw, on the subject of Easter eggs ... M&S has the best Easter egg ... it is a giant walnut whip . I can't vouch for it being the most cost effective Easter egg ... A GIANT WALNUT WHIP

[BenderBendingRodriguez]

I thought first anniversary was paper? It was ours last year and I wrote DH a love letter on nice paper. Was quite impressed with myself considering I had only had DC2 about 8 weeks beforehand He somehow interpreted my 'let's not spend any money on presents' as 'let's not give each other presents' so I got nothing

Spent £2 today on water and juice in the park cafe, and £5.53 on posting my Ebay parcels.

[Chilenachica]

Oh rogue you've trumped my new discovery wth your M&S egg, there are few things in the world that match up to an M&S walnut whip, apart from Green & Blacks Maya Gold!

So, today I spent £3 on road tolls, £1.50 on lunch and £1 on coffee then £50 on dog food, never buy just one bag as my mutts have large appetites, and wooden coat hangers, which are really cheap here. I've already halfway planned next week's shopping list, the Easter special offers at my usual supermarket expire on Sunday, so I plan to stock up on Thursday.

Our anniversary is in June too, considerably more than 2 years and I also have no idea what buy the OH. It could be said that he's already had his present, permission to make a large unnecessary purchase.

I'm not worried about the creme egg thief, I have already alerted the immigration police locally and all international authorities- no-one is going to make off with my creme eggs

[louiespence]

Thanks for the tip about the washing machine fluffycloudland I hadn't considered it might not be cheapest, will check manual later.

Something else washing related, I have recently discovered soda crystals, which are great for getting stains out of clothes, but miles cheaper than a tub of Vanish or similar, at only 90p for a big bag.

NSD for me also yesterday, probably not today as off to London for overnight training course, but will try to be frugal and not waste money on magazines, lattes and the like!

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Today won't be a NSD. My car is going in for a service and MOT. Have managed to negotiate a discount with the garage, but I hope nothing expensive needs fixing!

Apart from that I need to buy nappies and Easter Eggs.

DH has taken his lunch with him so no frittering there today. He is taking food about 3 days a week at the moment which I suppose is better than never!!

[duchesse]

NSD yesterday, expecting another today as have to paint skirting boards all day.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Car not too bad. £425 all done. Phew.

[Debs75]

anniversary gifts

Ooohhh creme eggs, giant walnut whips! you ladies are not helping my diet.

Had a NSD yesterday, I'm not counting chippy tea as it is every week so not out of the ordinary. Spent £7 on salad stuff and bread and dp's tv magazine today. Hoping tomorrow and Thursday are cheap as I have about £40 left until Friday's payday.

[Debs75]

And I have 2 weddings to go to this year. The first one in June is dp's best friend and he is best man. No kiddies there which makes it easier for us, DS is at respite all weekend, dd1 can look after herself so we are asking begging dsis to have dd2 and 3 overnight for us.
The 2nd is my cousins, whole family going down to Hampshire and we have blagged a caravan for a week so it will be our holiday as well. We will need it after a 7-8 hour car journey

[duchesse]

Ooh, my approved foods order came with lots of lovely things in it! Did not win the thai curry paste lottery though...

[Chilenachica]

Well, OH has decided against his large purchase, wasn't up to his exacting standards. He has spent £350 on the step-son's birthday present, and is trying to get a pigeon deterrent to bring back. We do have hawks who are trying to deal with our pigeon problem, but they don't eat them fast enough to control the population.

I've spent £3 on am road tolls, and £4 on bread and bottled water for packed lunches. I did try sending the DDs with water from home, but they lost their water bottles on the second day. That's why I didn't buy fancy bottles. When they bring back a half empty bottle I reuse that for filtered to water. Mostly though, they recycle the bottles in school.

I'm going out again soon so will spend a little more. My maid has just rediscovered God and is driving me nuts. I have no problem with someone following any religion, but I don't appreciate the evangelical stylee radio station she has blaring out. Yes, I know I need to have a word but I just can't handle it today. I'm going to have a look for ideas for a present.

[roguepixie]

I know chile, I know. Don't think I've trumped you as finding creme eggs in foreign climes is super-fantabulous but I just couldn't get over M&S giant walnut whips ... I almost fainted in the store when I saw them...I was vibrating with excitement . The offer for creme eggs stands ... pm me when you want a stash sent ...

Another visit to the garden centre today. Why? I hear you ask!!!! Because I went to pot up all my lovely plants and found I had no potting compost!!! What a complete dork, I am! So two big bags of organic compost, some seed compost and some cactus compost later and we are ready. Went with DMIL, who paid for the lot, along with some tomato plants, two blackberry bushes, one redcurrant bush and lots of other bits and pieces. What a star .

So tomorrow is now going to be devoted to potting and planting. Good job DS is up for some digging.

Is Approved Food really good then? I haven't bitten the bullet, so to speak with regard to making an order with them. What is the delivery like? Do they give options?

[jenduck]

I stand corrected regarding the anniversaries! Although, in my defence, Wikipedia informed me that in the US it was paper then cotton, but in the UK it was the other way round

Spent £2.99 today on a helicpoter for DS1 for Easter, instead of an egg

[Leilandri]

Almost a NSD here today. Spent most of the day sorting through DS2's out grown items and listing on Facebook selling page, but in doing so spotted some lovely tops for DS1 froma lasy just up the road, so £3 later and I have 2 nice long-sleeved tops :)

Spent most of today baking snacks as I'm looking after my friends 2 kids 2moro, aswell as my own 2, so have stocked up on yummy things. To make it even better they were made from packet mixes that I got from Approved Foods :)

Tomorrow I shall have the little terrors running riot playing until lunch, then going to the park followed by a trip to our local surestart centre where they have Easter crafts on for £1 per family.

[Leilandri]

*from a lady!

Damn keyboard!!

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'm using vetsuk.co.uk for the cats advocate, £4 per vial for 6 months supply and a £8.50 prescription charge from my own vets.

It's £8 per vial at my vets usually.

I think it's free delivery too.

[CremeEggThief]

NSD here, but only because we haven't left the house all day. It's been raining, sleeting and snowing all day long and a good inch or so has settled. It's enough to cover the car, the garden and the shed anyway. I hate it! See, I told you all it was tempting fate to have that pedicure last Friday!

[spewgloriousspew]

Thanks for the anniversary present suggestions. I feel it's going to involve cake...

Today has been a good day, in that I earned £30 doing some admin/filing work and then another £11 in freelance editing.

However, spent £8 at Aldi as I seem to have invited half of the baby population (and their mums) round tomorrow and needed drinks and top-up cake making supplies.

Also discovered that the refilled ink cartridges I bought for our HP printer don't work in it. Well, the black one worked for a bit but has now given up, despite having lots of ink in it. Cynical me thinks that HP have done something sneaky to make sure you can only use HP original cartridges in it...

[Leilandri]

So much for a NSD, just placed a £50 order with Approved Foods lots of suet, curry paste, casserole mixes as we have loads of chicken thighs in the freezer, also some very scrummy starbucks frappacino drinks, that I can close my eyes and drink and pretend I'm in a coffe bar instead of my grubby, child-infested lounge and lots of snacky things so I don't have to feel guilty about the cost aswel as the waistline!

[Chilenachica]

I didn't get as far as looking for a gift for OH, school closed early after the water was cut off. No idea why, but having already decided I needed to be out I continued with my pan for lunch, DDs had padding while I enjoyed my salad and then we went to the cinema-again and got next week's BOGOF

[louiespence]

Well not quite a NSD for me yesterday, as managed to nip and get a haircut (much needed!). Only £31 at Supercuts on the plus side. Am planning to try to get costs of hair cut down by going to the 'models required for students' evenings that some salons have, I usually spend over £100 fir cut and highlights every couple of months so this will be a good way for me to get my spend down!

Managed to get through day in London yesterday without buying cappuccino or a magazine, so that's an achievement for me! Today should definitely be a NSD, although I'm desperate for a creme egg thanks to all this mention of them! They were only 99p for pack of 3 from Aldi last week, so will probably head down on Thursday!

[roguepixie]

NSD envisioned for today as DH informed me that he has a delivery coming today (the delightful delivery firm can commit to the day only , saying it will be here between 8am-6pm)!! I have absolutely masses to plant and re-pot today though, so will be doing that with DS (who is quite the keen gardener). Think the replanting will extend into tomorrow as well but will have to be done after work in the morning.

Cooking a curry tonight so need to get the meat in a marinade this morning ready for cooking later this afternoon and need to do some baking when time allows ... methinks I might run out of time.

I know what you mean louie, all my talk of of chocolate has got me eyeing DS's mahoooooosive Easter egg from Nonna (it's a Green & Black's too) . He's got quite a stash of them now, what with the bags (I kid you not) of eggs that my DParents and DSis have put together for him .

On the topic of days out: DS went to the cinema with his friends on the weekend. I was really quite shocked to see that a child's ticket was now £8.50/90 in Vue!!!! How on earth can they justify that? It just seems so high for a child ... a fiver, ok, but nearly £10.00!!!!! And don't get me started on the exorbitant prices they charge for drinks/popcorn and sweets - they hold you to ransom over those things. I even had my bag searched in one cinema as they check that you aren't bringing 'contraband' in . Our local Cineworld has the same god-awful prices for food and drink but doesn't charge so much for tickets.

Ooooooh, just seen two magpies ... a joyful day for me today, then .

[BenderBendingRodriguez]

Spent £6 on DS's haircut yesterday, plus £1.30 on parking. Went to the park but dodged the cafe! (This is a first for me )

Frugal snacky top tip: Morrisons Basics grissini (I love that these are now considered 'basics') are really delicious.