Juggling July - Frugaleering into Summer

[roguepixie]

New thread for everyone here.

Hi

Can someone please give a short summary of the challenge. I saw post saying they are doing booklet and envelop etc. thank you so much and apologies for making repeat.

Maybe good idea to always state in OP every beginning of month for newcomers?

Thanks....

We don't really have rules

We try to minimise excess spending, share tips and knowledge.

We don't do judgey.

AdoraBell - yep they passed the test!

Picked another kg of fruit today as well from the garden but realised someone has stolen my lavendar and my mint from the front garden. They were both in big terracotta pots that my mum gave us when we moved into our house. Bastards!!!

51p on crisps
£2 on 2kg of red lentils from tescos ethnic food but no halva in stock so I hate them
£4 on loose powder off amazon.
£2.50 on emergency cheese and bourbons (pmt)
£20 petrol

Tomorrow will be nsd.

Finally got paid some more money today too. Phew.

Today has been NSD, hooray! And yesterday was indeed a NFD, booked my tickets to Belgium which constitutes the very opposite of frittering...money well spent :)

Hi all, can I join again? Keep dipping in & out of these threads, was previously jenduck.

Financial situation is pretty good atm, as we have sold our house & are living with my dparents for now, so no mortgage/bills to pay. I do buy their groceries & do their washing etc as they won't accept housekeeping/rent from us, so grocery bill has grown quite a lot. We are hoping to move to our new house this month, but the tenant who was supposed to have moved out a fortnight ago is still there . But at least it gives us more time to save!

The only problem is that we seem to be aware that we have more money, so we spend it more readily! So I need to stop that.

Costs this week:

Monday - Tesco for nappies, DS toothbrush, pork pies, potatoes - £15.
Tuesday - Sun paper for £9.50 hols. Next tshirt from charity shop for DH, £1.
Weds - Going for coffee with mums from DS1's new reception class for September, while he has induction session - but am owed coffee by other mum. Then long afternoon so planning to take DSes to zoo with friend, she can get me in free, so £13 for DS1. Will take drinks etc with us.
Thurs - Splash park - £2 each for DSes, plus probably ice-creams for all, plus parking. No more than £10 for day.

Nice to see you back jen/confused. Glad your house sold.
I got a cashback cheque from Swinton today related to my car insurance so am going to pay that and tax rebate into bank tomorrow.
Hoping to sell double burner/grill camping cooker we have and get some money back by taking the empty gas bottle back. A very simple small stove is fine for what we need and takes up much less space.
Ds needs an adult sleeping bag now so will try to sell our childrens one to ease the cost!
Keeping spending down quite well at the moment

£42 in supermarket plus £13 on antibiotics and antinflamatories for DD2's ingrown toe nail. Dr consult was free because of the accident insurance, she can't swallow the huge ibuprofen capsule.

Roads £2.40
Parking £3.50

Dr suggested DD needs minor surgery, I'm hoping this episode will put her off wanting short toe nails.

Posted too soon, will catch up later as running out to collect t'other DD from a classmate's more bloody petrol

Confused really glad your house sold, and only a leeeetle bit

Tommee Well done on the muffins but what útter bastards stealing your plants

Right, Tomorrow I need to pay for this week's Pilates classes and that school related Bill will have to wait úntil Thurs as I can't get my head around writing the cheque tonight. Also need to pick up some school tights for señorita stroppy DD1

Fluffy cheese and bourbons is an entirely reasonable spend

Adora, ask the dr if he uses phenol to destroy the nail bed of the sliver they remove, if they don't then wait until you are back here to get it done.

One NSD so far this week so three so far this month. Hoping today will be another.

DH discovered he's being overtaxed so we should be getting a bit of a rebate.

BBC has a budget food show on tomorrow night Great British Budget Menu on at 8pm I think. Might be worth watching?

Ok.. DH still hasn't been paid - he's self employed and we are waiting for the invoice to be paid. We are now totally out of money and I don't get CB or CTC till next week. I have made a mistake and thought I had £20 left in the bank so I bought ds2 a paddling pool and am supposed to collect it today (tesco click and collect) . The money hasn't left the bank account yet - is it possible for me to ask them to take cash instead (as I have cash given to me for school uniforms & I can replace it next week)??

I'm going to go through my present box & look at what I need to get for b'days/Christmas now so I can continue to bargain hunt. I'm also going to go through freezer & store cupboard and list everything to try and reduce food costs a little more by using up what I have (& I have plenty of meat as I'd bought stuff on offer).

What's everyone doing for the summer hol activities? We have plenty of parks, ds1 will be out with his friends so I'm wanting to make sure ds2 has fun. There is a swimming pass offer on - £21 for 11+'s for unlimited swim/fitness & gym but nothing for under 11's as 'we have a full range of activities arranged" at £20 A DAY I can get ds2 12 swim tickets for the price of 10 though - is £43 in total a reasonable expense for 6 weeks? (That is an 11+ pass for ds1 and swim tickets for ds2)

Another question (sorry!) how can I explain to parents that we won't be visiting as we can't afford the fuel? It's £40-60 for fuel for 2-3 nights or I can spend that on swim passes for 6 weeks. They keep asking when we are going up and I'm not sure how to deflect any more. If I say, we can't fit it in then they'll ask to meet "half way"....

Daisy just tell them the truth. They've raised children and know money doesn't go as far as you want it to sometimes. My dparents occasionally pay our petrol as we have quite a hefty bill seeing them too.

Dp gets paid on Friday but dd is having a birthday party on Saturday so will need to buy some bits for that. I think we've just about made it through the month ok but am looking forward to having some money in the bank. Have been making plans for summer holidays. They mainly involve being outdoors so I hope this weather continues.

No plans for the summer hols. Dd is 12 so hope her friends will be around and they can play out lots. I have to work the first two weeks of the summer hols so she may go to my parents.

Just a quick note - I am back from travels! Rather jet lagged. Baked some cakes as the fruit was going off and wanted to do rhubarb crumble too. Had three v busy days at work (one day no time for lunch, another no time to wee!!) and so it's now Wednesday evening!

Made my claims for the expenses. Ended up with a couple of NSDs and then bought some stuff for the kids as am feeling guilty for travelling. Probably amounted to £100?!! Damn.
2 swim outfits, 2 t-shirts, 1 bag, 1 water bottle and some food items.

Monday - paid for school dinners
Tuesday paid cleaners
Wednesday - NSD! So i reckon I am on 5 now?

Will catch up with all posts soon. Excuse me whilst I crash!

Welcome back takeaway2 :)

Another NSD for me

Fluffy thanks for that tip, I wasn't going to rush into surgery as some places here see can't see passed the dollar signs. I'l talk to her own Dr, at the other clinic.

Spent 28 quids on Pilates, works out dearer paying per class but I'll pay monthly after the school holiday, which starts on Friday.

5 pound on frozen veg and milk, no roads or parking.

Daisy I agree, just tell your parents you can't afford to travel

Welcome back takeaway

Just a quick post as got to do DC's bath & bedtime.

Spent £19.31 on diesel yesterday, but Ddad gave me £10 towards it as some of the travel was for work, plus I used my Santader 123 credit card so should get about 60p cashback.

Today spent just 85p on a packet of biscuits, to keep DS2 happy whilst I had coffee with some other mums from DS1's new class. One of them paid for me as I paid for her last time. Just wish I knew whether he will definitely be going to that school, it's the one near our old house, 3 miles away & he is 2nd on the waiting list for the school in our new village, as we hadn't exchanged contracts in time for the application. 60 miles a week extra diesel is definitely noticeable and I worry about him being unsettled if we have to uproot him halfway through the year (apparently a space could become available any time from now until next September and we'll only know at the last minute)

Trip out this afternoon was picnic in the park then a country walk ending with a paddle in a ford, so completely free & the kids loved it!

confused We had exactly the same worries last year as dd was down for school local to our old house. It was about this time that she was 7th (!) on the waiting list for the school we wanted her to go to but come September she started at the school of our choice so the situation does change very quickly. Have faith.

Woke up too early this morning thinking about all the things I need to get done in the 2 weeks until we move. Gah. Very excited though.

Confused I feel for you - we narrowly avoided that situation by DS getting into a school halfway between new house and current house (about 6 miles apart). If he'd been sent to the school in our current village it would have meant waiting list or long and inconvenient round trip. There is a school within walking distance of the new house but the one he got into is a really lovely school so we'll stick with it even though it means driving. Fingers crossed for you.

Thomasland trip was not too £painful - turned out we could get parent & toddler tickets (fibbed that DS was under 4) cheaper than the voucher offer. Bought icecreams and DS a couple of engines for his collection. DD was happy with a £2 toothbrush.

NSD on Tuesday, £42 yesterday on this week's grocery shopping. Didn't shop at all last week, still going on stock up 2 weeks ago and trying to run down cupboards prior to move.

Thanks, I'll pluck up the courage and will just tell them we have no money...

Today I have to take the dog to the vet.. am dreading the cost but he really needs to be seen.. thankfully DH has a little stash of cash for this sort of thing (though there'll be none left after the vets visit).. I just hope the invoices get paid today so DH can pay himself...

I'm looking at jobs, have been for a while but I have Fibro and I'm struggling just to do the housework/kids stuff.. I just can't see what I can cope with.. am wondering if I can apply to supermarket but ask for a till job only....

Spangle - hope house move goes well

Confused - fingers crossed you hear about school soon

Good luck to everyone for a NSD!

£69 for the vet... and he has to go back next week.... Ouch(!) oh well, as long as he's ok

Juggling July is perfect for me this month. We have had the guttering, soffits and fascias replaced on the house. Just waiting for the scaffolding to be taken down and wondering how many days I can wait to pay the bill! That's going to take us into overdraft as the money that we're using to pay for it won't go in until the end of the month.
Need to sit down and meal plan from now to our holiday (4 weeks) as I think we have almost enough in (apart from fresh stuff) to see us through.