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

Sorry for your loss Ellis and welcome back

Spendy Sunday, went to a farm that is huge and free (just buy a large bag of feed for £3 and kids are happy)....but the fresh air made us ravenous and we ended up buying Sunday roast in a posh farm shop totalling £52....

Reigning it back in today, just exchanged tesco clubcard vouchers for our ferry crossing to The Isle of Wight (August). Then half a chicken tonight between 2 adults and 2 kids and the rest tomorrow.

Has anyone made kids sweet cones themselves? Just wondering how I work out how many packets of loose sweets to buy to fill 40ish cones....I loooooove jelly sweets etc so any spares won't go to waste, but that kind of defeats the object of trying to save...

passthecake, you could get bags of sweets from the poundshop and make the cones not too big?

I rang virgin today to get rid of my landline. they said I could have broadband only for £9 less than I'm paying now, or keep landline and upgrade my broadband speed for £11 less than I'm paying now So I went for that! Always worth calling your suppliers and seeing Whst they can do for you, I guess!

£10.25 in Tesco and £1.49 in the discount store, so £11.74 in total.

Ellis, sorry for your loss .

Helena, fingers crossed for your DH.

So sorry ellis but welcome back. You're DS sounds v cute.

3.90 on travel for work so I'll get that back.

I need a new electric toothbrush and they have the one I want for half price in boots. I resisted buying it today as I realised I hadn't put my advantage card vouchers in my purse. I am pleased with my restraint!

About a fiver buying eggs, loo roll, biscuits and apple from farmshop.

Good luck for the job Helena.

Ilove keep the old toothbrush plus charger, last year two big manufacturers did exchanges, you sent in an old electric brush & they sent you a new one. I got two. I found out about it on www.free-stuff.co.uk.

NSD but the cat needs the vet so I will have to take him tomorrow after work.

:) NSD phew. Going to try again tomorrow but doubt I'll manage it though can't think of any reason I actually NEED to spend tomororw although I still need to get DS shoes

I sent DP out for 2 tomatoes, 1 pepper and a loaf of bread - he ended up spending over £8 on various items.

I really must start menu planning, even if its a loose menu plan ie this week we are eating such and such but be flexible about the days. Today, I made naan bread, made loads so chucked 3 in the freezer. I wonder if they will turn out ok?

Tomorrow I am using the slow cooker to make a mountain of dahl. I really need to buy cheap freezer boxes so that I am not wasting money on freezer bags all the time - does anyone where where I can get some from please?

Yeah Helena! Positive thoughts coming your way!

I swapped my walk/bus day to today and with a lot of walking managed to keep to just 1 bus leg out of 3 again. 1.50.

Needed a couple of items from supermarket, stuck to list. 4.95.

Frugalness = slow cooker dinner, collected 4 free strawberry plants from a friend (I'm on my green-fingered way!). home manicure.

I'm off to a day spa on Sunday (Christmas present from dh!) and its got me feeling all pamper-y! Any frugal beauty tips? Especially good value skincare ranges and make-up. I've been trying some value moisturiser and an Avon foundation and my skin is awful! Really congested and feels grubby. Has anyone tried the superdrug vitamin e range?

Too rushed and tired to catch up now, will endeavour to do so later.

Went out just before 1 this afternoon for shopping, 30 min trip. Used the old road to avoid high toll charges. Spent 2 hours in the traffic jam after a sever crash. Then of course we were all hungry so had MacD's before shopping. 10 pounds in there, 80 in supermarket, 2.40 roads there and back, 2 parking. Used 20 quid's worth of Nectar points.

Just snatching 5 mins before I put dinner on.

Marking my place!
need all the help I can get, things are going to get very T.I.G.H.T around here y'all!

turnoff

One tip is, if you have a face wash already, just add a teaspoon of sugar to a blob of it when you want a face scrub, or you can use porridge oats mixed with face wash if you have sensitive skin. My skin is really easily congested and needs a lot of exfoliation but this way I don't have to buy wash and scrub.
Also Waitrose do a brilliant own-brand face wash called "pure" - it's on sale now for 1.32 (usually 1.99) and has hardly any nasty chemicals in. They do facial oil and cream in the same range for v cheap too.

Frugal thing- didn't buy arborio rice at £4.95 Per. Kilo. got Two kilos of long grain for less than £2. Plus, in MacDs I didn't have fríes or a soft drink. Here almost everywhere you Get a coffee they give you a small glass of fizzy water, so I had a coffee and nicked a few chips of each DD.

I should have a nsd today but dd's got a fever and I'm nearly out of the ear thermometer covers. They're so bloody expensive but I do get a discount at the chemist below where I work

NSD yesterday. Was meant to have lunch out with colleagues but because I had an ulcer, I brought my own ham and cheese wrap which was softer, easier on my mouth!! Got bought a hot choc.

Hi, just spotted this. We really need to cut back a bit so marking my place. Off to read the thread now.

Last night I finally confessed my dire financial position to DH. I've been hiding it for about 7 years, now owe about £32,000. I slept better last night than I have for years.

I did join in (I think January) but didn't stay. This time I need to.

DH has said we should stop DD2 going to nursery (£250 per month) and stop using after school club(varies but generally £150-200 per month), at the moment I get child are vouchers so save £100 on this in tax so net save around £300 per month.

I'm worried if his mum can manage DD for an extra morning while he works.

He is going to transfer some money from his inheritance to clear my debts (trust me I will never hear the last of it). But this will allow me to clear my bank loans and credit cards £550 per month and so that is nearly £1k less per month (plus interest accruing) so I can put some into saving for Christmas/emergencies/school shoes etc and some back into his savings account.

He wants me to cancel our tv package, but I think we need a landline for the house alarm so I will look around. Can get basic tv/phone/broadband from Sky for £42 per month rather than about £115 paying now to Virgin. I'm going to call them to see what they will do.

I'm going to do a wash daily and use my heated airier rather than do it all at the weekend and use the tumble drier to reduce electricity bill.

DH said to cancel kids swimming and karate lessons (£90 per month) DS will be happy but DD sad. Said I wanted to keep up dancing lessons, but show costumes for October will be ££££££ so I need to start a fund now for those.

I need diesel soon, but can reclaim that from work.

I need to see you all here regularly.

Today will take soup I forgot yesterday for lunch and try not to spend anything else.

Thanks for all the nice words again

Audit - well done on telling your DH that cannot have been easy but at least it is now out in the open and you can focus moving forward. These threads are really good for helping keep motivated.

Hoping for a low spend day today didn't bring lunch to work as it's hot food day in our work cafe and it's subsidised so can get a huge meal for around £1.50 so I will just have a snack at home later for dinner. Doing two days overtime this week and my boss has said I can up my days from 3 a week to 4 to bring in a bit more. Am going to sort out childcare vouchers with work today as well.

Spotty - have you looked online for the thermometer ear covers ? I bought a box of 500 about year ago from eBay and it's so much cheaper than at the pharmacist.

Well done for speaking to your dh Audit, it's great that he's being supportive. How old are your dc, do they really need all these classes? Have a proper shop around for your phone. You could get a land line, unlimited broadband and freeview tv for about £20 a month. Ours is £15 on average over the duration of the contract, with cashback.

Have done nearly a months meal planning. I would normally shop on Friday, pay day, but am going to try and eek out what's in the house for another week first. I'm making a real effort to put washing on the line too. Even if it doesn't totally dry it cuts down on the tumble drying time a lot.

Well done audit that can't have been a pleasant conversation. But better now it's out in the open.

I'm hoping for a NSD today. And I get paid on Friday - yay!!

This months pay will also have to include a speeding fine 90 quid, DH not me! 2 tyres for his van and my bike insurance. That totals to 270 quid - ouch! But at least we have the money to pay for all this in our envelopes. Normally this would have gone on our credit cards. Feels good having the money there for a change.

Well done Audit. I've had to confess debts to dh years ago and I still feel ashamed of myself now.

£48 in the vets.

well done Audit. That must have been hard but its good your he's being so supportive and has come up with a constructive way forward. Over time it will save you as a couple so much in interest it will be more than worth him helping you.

NSD so far but my washing machine has sprung a leak. Sadly I think I need a new one as this is the 3rd in 10 months. Looks like my savings are going to take a beating :(

NSD for me. Took ds to the park after drop off as it is dry for once. Was organised and remembered to take flapjacks and a flask of hot chocolate for us to share. Much better than the £5 I used to spend at the café.

Spending the afternoon making bunting for a friend's party. Got lots of lovely free fabric to play with and hopefully will have enough left over to make something for one of the dd's.

While I think of it, I'm doing jury service next week.

I've dealt with child care issues (as long as they don't sequester me!!) but not sure about the rest. I know they'll cover some of the costs but not really clear how it works. Will they pay for lunch or should I take a packed lunch? Do I even get a lunch break? What about tea, coffee, etc. Are they provided or should I take a flask?

Luckily I've got a monthly bus pass so no major travel costs.

Please come and help me frugalise my jury service

Dh did jury service last year and he could either have a pre-loaded card to buy lunch from the canteen or he got given a lunch allowance daily. He didn't have to provide receipts so he took that option and ate packed lunch. I doubt we made much £1-1.50 a day but it all helps. They provided tea/coffee and I'm fairly certain there was a small travel allowance too so he took the bus which meant we saved his usual £60 per week petrol costs.

See if you have a British Heart Foundation near you lists. They are springing up everywhere. They sell second hand electrical goods for a fraction of the brand new price but everything has been tested by an electrician, comes with a small guarantee and can be delivered. I bought my breadmaker from them but will definitely make them my first port of call when something needs replacing. Hth.