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

Yes the pizza was very nice. Naice even! With posh salami and prosciutto, sundried tomatoes. Good news is there's left over chorizo so that'll go somewhere else. We also had Percy pigs in the damn shopping basket!!

Going to pick up the bike now and get double cream, dates and sugar. Lord. Help. Me.

Afternoon hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine.

Quite a good day here. Tesco shop arrived last night so have made two cottage pies today one for tomorrow lunch and then the other we can eat as a quick meal after work one night next week.
Took DS into town and spent £1 on parking and then £3.99 on a new book for him but that was using his world book day token so saved a £1 as well.

Am off to stay with my mum tonight so will be no more spends today and then should be a NSD tomorrow as we rarely do much other than church, lunch and park on Sunday.

Am listing a few things this weekend. Am finding I am enjoying the clear out as much as trying to make a bit extra. I can open cupboards without things falling on me!

I was £20 under my food budget for last week so have moved that into the savings account to start building up the emergency fund again.

Spotty hope your DS is feeling better. I hate garages as well. My nearest one is a sainsburys and I cannot wait till they get pay at pump as it's off a main road and everyone always seems in a hurry and stressed there. I got beeped at the other day cos I have to get DS in and out of the car and I was clearly taking too long!

Right am off to get another load of washing out before heading to my mums and opening the !

NK - Percy pigs are like crack. So addictive so no judgement here

Haven't been on all week so a lot of reading here, this thread moves fast!!

Dh's new job going well & two wage packets overlapped one from old job & one from new so he's taking me out for my belated Christmas present meal in a gorgeous restaurant and paying for a babysitter too.

I've micromanaged my money this week so I'm ahead of things at the moment. Huge electricity bill paid & regular weekly payments going towards it again, something I had slackened off on doing, & regular payments going towards my catalogue shopping so it'll be paid off before I return to work in 6 weeks, one less bill to think about.

Feeling pleased as went to pick up some baby clothes from M&S (pre-ordered) and resisted the urge to go into the food hall and get some treats for myself for lunch.

Audit a lot of my phone bill is easily reduceable by making using my acres of free mobile minutes, making more post-7pm calls, and hanging up and redialling on the odd occasion I make a longer-than-60-minute call.

Right, need to go and hang out all the cloth nappies which i have just given a strip was and extra rinse to fluff them up a bit (last time they were used we lived in a really hard water area, so they were somewhat crusty). Am watching a couple of sets of washable wipes on eBay too - the ones I made last time are really tatty now and I just can't face making more, so am hoping to get some cheaply.

Yes I did one side was coned off so it was busy anyway. It's a small one so as soon as you drive off the main road you're on the forecourt. The victim was in front of me and infront of him was a mini. The min went down the middle to a space ahead but reversed back (was obv out of order) and went to the left hand side of our queue. Victim then went down the middle and when he realised it wasn't working started reversing back (at which point I'd already moved up). He kept going and I thought he was going to hit me. He wound down his window and said it wasn't working so I said he should go round but he just kept coming! I started going back and he shouted at me to stop as there was a car so I told him I knew that as I have reverse parking sensors ffs. Grrrr anyway in the end he got back in front of me as I didn't have much choice. If I was being a nice human being I would have let him back in with no arguments!

Hope you're feeling calmer now spotty
Have had a lovely quiet day at home so far. Dd made tacos for lunch and has done a banana loaf which is in the oven now. Going out to watch the rugby later at our cricket club where we can all be and the drinks are cheap. Will take snacks with us (and banana bread of course!) so just drinks to pay for.
Tomorrow we're going to go out for a walk I think taking food and drink with us. Roast gammon for tea and then hopefully leftovers for a couple of meals in the week.

had to go to Clarks to buy school shoes for DS2 - Must remember that buying from ANYWHERE other than Clarks is a false economy. The last pair (Stead and Simpton I think) have literally worn out!

Unfortunately, while I was there I had a sneaky look at the sale stock.
And walked out with a bag of school shoes and a rather lovely pair of knee high black boots which were half price. Have tried to justify it to myself as I rarely buy shoes / boots and so these will last me YEARS. But still feel a lil bit naughty...

£16 sainsburys
£32 in Aldi.

Doing a special meal for dh as its his birthday next week so I got wine & treats.

£34 in Aldi, £3.75 in Waitrose (oats and sugar-free peanut butter), £6 in Sainsbury's (dairy-free cream, orange juice, eggs)

Making peanut butter and orange zest cookies tonight with the sugary peanut butter I bought in Aldi and which DH rejected!

Frugality has gone out of the window...spent a fortune in the supermarkets this week and have not to show for it?! Bought the kids fake crocs in peacocks for the beach, £4 each, and annoyingly had to buy rip off Mother's Day cards (cheapest in shops were £2.99! Must check if moonpig is cheaper for future reference..no card fair near here)

This weekend is probably a wipe out in terms of frugalling! Thanks Ellis for the comforting thought re Percy pigs!!

So when I went back to collect ds' bike, I went to get some supplies for dessert. And came out £15 poorer with dates, double cream, sugar, 4 salmon and 1 chicken (tomorrow's roast methinks!). The positive thing is I suppose, someone else is cooking my dinner for me whilst I've just come out from my bath, and am able to mn and confess my sins on here!!!

Went for a bike ride too (well the dc did) and I had a stroll and a chat. All good.

What is it with M&S this weekend?! We came out 18 lighter this morning just buying things for a (supposed to be) frugal picnic to take to NT property (we have membership). Have also bought petrol and food shopping so probably another 120 altogether.

adora I need to think more often that food is necessity, even if eaten out rather than in! I do get frugal-obsessed (tight?!) when occasionally I need to see the value of time well spent with the family in more than just monetary terms (just as long as its not the Ritz!)

Oh gosh, Mothers Day. I'm off to peruse the frugal mothers day thread for ideas. I will only have given birth a couple of days previously, but my mum will be down to help. Would be nice to have something sorted to present to her!

Am slightly that the combination of nappy wraps, new net bags for the nappy bucket, some new babygrows, a bunch of muslins and a couple of baby hats has come to £95.08. If I'd been asked to guesstimate what that would have been before seeing it written down in black and white on YNAB I probably would have assumed I'd spent about £50.

We also did marks Spencer today had a 15% off food coupon n spent £20 on 60 sausages 3 chickens punnet peaches bbq sauce n Percy pigs. Sausages were 20pm 3 for£10 n chickens were also 3 for£10 n the 15% comes off before the deal.

We get sent the coupons every now n then as both have marks Spencer cards.

Mothers day sorted with sanctuary gifts that were 25% off n 3 for 2 before Xmas then got couple in boots 70% off after Xmas.

It's very interesting reading about everyone's financial arrangements. Just me and DS so easy peasy. He contributes 80 off every four weeks

NSD for me. Visited friends I haven't seen for years. They made lunch and then we went to the park.

Tomorrow DS is going cold turkey with his dummy. He doesn't even have one at nursery and im sick of always having to know where one is. Dreading it but figure it'll be worth it in a few days. So I'm planning lots of activities for us to do tomorrow.

£2.40 on a coffee and muffin in our local cafe, £3.50 sending an eBay package and £1.99 on crisps and chocolate from the newsagents.

Am I the only one here who did NOT go to M&S today?

I didn't I even walked past waitrose and resisted going in!

How did you manage THAT, Spotty??

I'd just had my ocado delivery

M and s seems to have done well out of us frugaleers

NSD for me.

spotty did you get all your free meat?

Yes thanks! Except the bacon which was substituted for waitrose bacon but it didn't effect the voucher

well done spotty! I haven't been into M & S either

Am determined to get out for a run tomorrow, I can feel the weight creeping back on in my trouble spots, grr.

Frugal win: we scored 12 pieces of wood at the tip for £5 which Dh will combine with some of the unused boxes of laminate flooring in the garage to make planters for the allotment. They'll be like raised beds but with no floor to them to mark out all the beds.

No Creme I haven't been to M&S either

Gave DD2 £4 for snacks. NSD other than that.

DH has paid the obligatory (3rd party) insurance on the cars, about £20, and got 4 packs of scissors as free gifts. 5/6 pairs of scissors in each. The full insurance comes out monthly but this one renews for every car in March.

He also bought those plastic things to protect the carpet from office chairs.