Marching into a miserly march with the mumsnet frugaleers

[Fluffycloudland77]

Newbies, helpful tips & lurkers always welcome.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

Spent £12 at mcdonalds for dinner with kids. But the plus side - didn't spend any at play gym. Usually get fleeced about £5 so.. That's ok.

DS has an ear infection. Poor baby he's not happy

Apart from the taxi it was a NSD and the taxi came from the £50 emergency budget I keep in the freezer. I top it up again at the start of each month and hope it will last. Anything left goes into savings. Last month I only used £10 of it so not doing too badly over all.

NSD! Now visiting my mum for the weekend so hopefully low spend.

I've made banana flapjacks before, think they had dates in as well. Felt very virtuous as no butter or golden syrup needed!

Horray. Good news. I lent my friend £50 in November to help her out as she had a problem with her benefits and told her to pay it back when she could. I didn't hold out much hope of getting it back to be honest but couldn't bear to see her without electrictiy and food for her and the children.

She's just sent me a text to say she's paid £25 back by bank transfer and should be able to let me have the rest by the end of April :)

Had another takeaway near miss last night, was really busy ferrying the dc around, but managed to resist and did aldi fish and chips in the oven instead!
NSD today.
Have a good weekend everyone, stay frugal!

Kazza recipe is from a blog - Penny's Recipes, I'll post it over the weekend. Oats don't have gluten, as far as I've been able To find out, I just use the regular ones I would for porridge.

Lists hope DS recovers quickly.

Will read through properly soon, Spent £60 , £10 on cheese and crackers, found some new ones made from corn, £10 on 10 note books for DD and the other £40 on various bits because I really don't want To be shopping over the weekend.

DDs may not have school on Monday, it's been closed down Due To poor higiene poisoning the pupils. We'll have To see what the Gov Dept says.

Hope everyone has a good weekend

Thanks AdoraBell.

Poor hygiene poisoning the pupils? Hope they get that sorted soon!

Sorry to jump in adora lurker here oats are cross contaminated with gluten in production, so not gluten free, but unless your husband has coeliac disease the amount is probably small enough not to cause any issue. But if he is having problems and you can't figure out what it is, this may be the reason! Just wanted to mention, as you said the info on it is hard to find. My husband was diagnosed with coeliac late last year!

silk I have this too but I get my credits paid into a different account and then I move it into my main account when I get paid my wage. I then do my budgets for the month ahead.

list hope your DS is okay. Ear infections can be nasty.

Yesterday I spent 40 on petrol. Went out for lunch but it was my friends turn to pay.

I had an Aldi frozen pizza last night. the 4 cheese on for 1. I put some ham and oregano on it and it was pretty good for a quid.

This is the first weekend in a while that I've not had DS so I might treat myself to a trip to the pictures today.

Today is going to be spendy.

I need to pay the next installment on DD's ballet costume £15
I owe my friend a coffee - she paid last week and we nearly always go when dd at ballet
I need to go to butchers and buy some meat for this evening plus various other bits for good meal and some wine

Frugal win though. My friend just phoned and asked what I was up to today and I mentioned I was going to get DS a stack of nappies. She said she's got 2 bags in his size plus 2 bags of pull ups which she hasn't used as her dd potty trained much faster than she expected. She's bringing them over later and insisted she didn't want any money for them. Will still get her a box of chocolates though as a thank you :)

DS seems a bit better today. I think he's got a tooth coming through on top of ear problem as his left cheek is hot and red and the other side is fine

£57.03 in lidl. Still need to get:

Nappies
Carpet cleaner
Mould and mildew remover
Squash
Pate
Pitta bread

£50 off next account

£30 petrol (idiots at the petrol station were only using one lane so I went round them all and got a good six cars in front mwahaha)

Trying to meal plan today

Fuzz pig we've got:

Bacon and leek risotto
Beef casserole
Spag bol
Roast chicken with rice and peas
Pizza
Chicken enchiladas

If that gives and inspiration

Off to Aldi after work for smallish top-up shop, hoping to avoid the "bargain" aisle of random crap...

DH has another job opportunity coming up, he's been recommended for a post by a senior colleague, it would be so amazing if he got it! (He didn't get the last job and they didn't even get back to him after the interviews to let him know, he had to contact them himself after 3 weeks )

Thanks spotty :o

I really need to decide exactly what I'm doing and when. I flounder otherwise!

We're trying to drive frugally - keeping below 3000 revs as much as poss, looking ahead to avoid using accelerator and then having to brake, etc. What I like now is that when OTher drivers overtake and race ahead only to get caught at the lights, I think "well you just got fined a few pence for being impatient by using up extra petrol".

Near miSs in Asda though. Paid by cash and was shortchanged by a fiver!! Lucky I noticed at the till.

Late comer here, can I join? Am trying very hard to cut down on my spending. NSD today.

missanne it's so frustrating when companies don't tell you if you have been unsuccessful at the interview stage. Downright rude. What, you didn't have 2 minutes to write an email? It's happened to me to so I understand your pain. But great news on your DH being recommended.

Dp offered to buy a take away tonight as he got paid a bit of cash. I said no though was the right thing to do though!

welcome cool I was furious on his behalf, it's common courtesy to get back to people who have taken a day off work to go to your stupid interview and prepared for it etc. How rude!

Frugal fail on the top up shops... £23 in Aldi on mostly veg, some tinned food, fish, salad stuff and strawberry plants for garden and £20 in Waitrose on more top up stuff, loo rolls etc (DH will only get recycled loo roll and Aldi don't do them).

It was a bit more ££ as I bought a bag of frozen salmon at £3.99 from Aldi which wasn't on the list, it has 5 fillets and should last ages as it's only for me and DH.

Not too bad though as off on another school trip tonight, rest of today and tomorrow should be NSDs, getting free buffet dinner tonight at the trip venue too.

Off out for a run now - a colleague has agreed to run with me at least once a week and it's great because I feel like I can't let her down so I always go.

spotty go you! I similarly had to casually talk DH out of some mixing bowls he wanted for £7.99 in Aldi. Honey definitely catches more flies than vinegar in this regard...

Those salmon fillets are nice, not fatty like farmed salmon.

NSD. Wanted a babyliss big hair but resisted.

place marking as I am being frugal to save for a holiday :-)

£18.95, on travel, lunch out and water.

7.25 on going to the pictures. 3.75 in Wilkinsons and then 1.06 in asda.

I planned on doing all my housework today and I've barely done anything. It's getting close to the time when surely it must be illegal to not be relaxing on a Saturday night. Will force myself to do 30 mins.

Welcome newcomers
Well done on the takeaway resistance spotty it is worth it.
The aldi salmon fillets are lovely and great value too, a nice treat.
Quite a good day here, we have a PTA event tonight (wine tasting) so we've got the cost of that but there's also breads, cheeses, crisps etc so we won't need tea. The dc are going to a friend's for the evening instead of us having a babysitter. It means us probably leaving a bit early but worth it to save twelve pounds.
My cousin and her family are coming for lunch tomorrow so I've bought a piece of pork shoulder with bone in to slow roast a la Jamie Oliver. It's the nicest roast and should be enough to feed 7 of us tomorrow and 5 of us on Monday (my aunty coming for tea) and hopefully leftovers too. All for fourteen pounds which I reckon is a good deal. For entertaining it looks really impressive too.