A miserly May on Mumsnet for the fantastic frugaleers!

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Saw April was getting very full so thought I'd start this off early!
Welcome to all who want to save cash, live frugally and pay debts, or just trying to live within our means!
Full of hints and tips on how to save money in the supermarket, meal planning and daily life.

Chaz welcome - a 2 week rolling meal plan sounds like a good idea. I tend to plan one week ahead and we do seem to have the same things over and over!

Italian so sorry to hear about your experience yesterday, that is just dreadful that no-one helped you. How are you feeling today? Hope you are feeling a little better and have managed to get some rest

Italian that's terrible!! I believe that it is very normal for dutch people to give birth at home, I have a good friend who married a dutch man and moved there, she had trouble being allowed to give birth in the hospital, have you had that experience?

Hope you feel better today!

Thanks fanta I feel a bit better today but still very irregular heartbeat, we called my cardiologist and he wants to see my for an emergency check, because its one of the strongest "attacks" Ive had for years.

MissAnnersleyismyhero Normally you give birth at home in NL, and if you have a low risk pregnancy and no medical reasons to give birth at hospital, you have to pay yourself if you want to give birth at hospital.
Because of my condition, I need to give birth at hospital, no choice given, because I need an EKG all trough labour that is monitored by the cardiologist.

Italian pleased to hear you are feeling a bit better today and hope you can get your mind put at rest with the cardiologist. I didn't know that most people give birth at home in the NL - at least giving birth in hospital you have the reassurance that you are being closely monitored.

Yes, I think my friend had to pay in the end and her in laws were really judgy and made her feel terrible over it, they thought she was being a drama queen

italian that's awful. I hope you feel stronger today.

MissAnnersleyismyhero yes that's dual fuel. I made a real effort with with house though, it's all led lightbulbs & dh paid for an induction hob because they use less electric & you can time each ring to cook and then it shuts down. SSE haven't even emailed me back

£3 lunch (claiming that back on tax though because I wasn't meant to be out that long]
£140 going halves on a new laptop. Ours broke down and I need it email my invoices.

SSE emailed me, basically low users like me get less back on the green tariff reduction so that high users can get a bigger rebate.

So that seems fair . The list of companies I won't use is getting longer by the day.

Italian that's awful. Hope all goes well with the consultant.

Nsd for me but I've asked dp to pick up nappies, lentils and calpol

Thanks for the advice fluffy. I actually have a tesco credit card which I've never used. I took it out to get bonus club card points but then never activated the card. It had a 0% for the first 16 months deal. I wonder if that's still valid? And if so, perhaps I could put the roofing costs on that so that I can spread the cost thus preserving my savings but knowing it's there to pay off the card if needed?

£1 milk. Only milk. Avoided all extra top-up shop temptations!

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

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

Italian hope your appointment with your cardiologist goes well, sorry you had that bad experience. I really can't imagine people not even offering to help. Even in the UK someone would have offered you a helping hand.

Boffin has some weekly meals plans on her blog, she linked a couple of pages back.

Fluffy that is rather of the companies. Here people use as much water on their gardens through the winter as in summer to avoid paying a higher tarrif for increased use in the summer months. It's crazy, IMO they should just say winter use is X per unit and summer use Y.

I haven't been out yet but will spend some money later.

Oh italian I hope you are feeling better and the appt with the cardiologist goes ok. What a horrible thing to happen. The Dutch can be an unsentimental lot - I used to hang around with a whole group of them when I lived abroad.

86p on milk today. You and I did well spring sticking to buying milk and just milk.

Can anyone tell me where I can get the biggest bottle of distilled/white vinegar for the smallest price please?

What's it for?

Dp was meant to be paid yesterday and still hasn't

Italian - that sounds quite harsh of the Dutch... Let's hope it's a one off.

NSD! Well as close as... I paid my cc bill. Tomorrow should be another NSD. I think now that the days are getting longer, I really should make the most and come home just that bit earlier. Kids can play, I can get dinner on and work shouldn't complain too much. If they do, I'll just casually mention the next few trips that are being booked up, and how that's not helping my work life balance.....

£14.55 on the Indian takeaway last night. £51 on a Pilates course with a physiotherapist and £1.90 on my bus fare. I collected my new vacuum cleaner today, but I'm disappointed with it, so it's going back. Annoying!

Hope your appointment goes well, Italian.

You need a miele creme, they are pricey but its so worth it. I've tried bosch one & electrolux and a dyson but the mieles the best.

I got the cat and dog cylinder from John Lewis last year, it was £160 or so. John Lewis price match too.

fluffy science experiment

Fluffy, I know, but I just can't afford it at the moment
:(. The Zanussi I bought had really good reviews, but I was very disappointed with its suction and it was hard to push as well. I was hoping it would last a year or so, until I could get a Miele. My last one was a Bosch, but it only lasted 18 months. That was bought to replace a Miele I had for 8 years and was still just about working. :(

New (to us) car arrived today. DH starts his new contract on Thursday. Managing low spend days but no NSDs yet this month.

Doing very little food shopping atm as we're running down stocks prior to moving. Need to crack on with removal quotes tomorrow. We're trying to save money by hiring a can fit a weekend as we have a 10 day overlap. Hopefully we'll be able to get away with just paying removers to move the really bulky stuff.

Need to buy some mattress covers tomorrow too.

cool try a Chinese or Asian supermarket.

Morning all, and thank you for the kind words... The appt went fine, the cardiologist were satisfied at the end, that it was a one off, so was allowed home instead of having to stay over night, thank heaven for that. They think it might be because I am so close to my due day that my body is having problems with taken the pressure of it, so have my next appt with the gynecologist Tuesday and then they will see if they want me to go until labour start naturally or perhaps start it.
I didnt mean to be harsh on the Dutch, my partner and family in laws are Dutch/Indonesian and I love them dearly. Lots of friends of my partner are Dutch and great people, but all say, that Dutch is very bad at helping strangers, that becomes poorly, so its just how they are and perhaps they simply didnt know what to do, so instead ignored. It wasent so much the ignoring part, that hurts, but the comments my DP had to listen to, I find them unnessesary rude, there were no need for that.
Yesterday was NSD and our Ewan the Dream Sheep arrived, think we need rechargable batteries, otherwise its going to be an expensive sheep in the long run.
Have a great day all and again thank you for the nice words