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.

Sorry I forgot to say welcome to jolly, welcome to the friendly thread.

50p on conditioner because I had a JL voucher for £5.

Welcome zing and jolly (sounds like characters from a children' TV show ).

Interesting that you can get Calpol on prescription. Didn't know that.

£1.98 on 2 punnets of strawberries. £3 on lunch but will get that back on expenses.

Adora I use Olay Complete Care with SPF 15. I used to use Clinique and tbh, my skin is still the same as before. I have dry sensitive skin. A lot of the people on S&B boards swear by Ponds and Nivea.

Welcome jolly and zing

I have a backlog of free kids paracetamol from DS's various infections/bugs etc. One gp asked me if I could pay for it myself once but then changed his mind.

Last day with my family today. Looking forward to home! 35.68 on petrol and 8.17 in Tesco. Have made sandwiches for the journey and will be taking what me and mum affectionately call a 'pity bag' away with me. This includes random bits and bobs of fresh and tinned food from my mum

That's sweet ilove!

I only found out about the prescription calpol as dd's nursery won't give anything unprescribed due to their (militant/ott) admin of medicines policy. I had to drive back to nursery in my lunch hour to personally give her a top up as it was an unprescribed bottle. Same with any kind of nappy rash cream.

Spring that's ridiculous! Dd's nursery have their own supply of calpol they will give if they feel your dc needs it and will happily put any creams on etc. OTC meds don't need to be prescribed only POM ones which are obviously labelled anyway.

On the note re nurseries and meds, yes ours is the same. Even sudocreme needs to be prescribed.

NSD! But the other cc bill came and that's quite a bit of money. Need to check in and see what bank balance is! Am hopeful this month won't be too bad as the tremendous eating out has stopped... But the bloody shopping at Lakeland has begun!!

NSD.

Welcome to the newbies.

Zing welcome

Totally ridiculous. Especially the sudocrem/mitanium. Dd gets awful nappy rash so this point has caused much stress over her time there. Btw, who was potty training recently? Dd seems to be getting it! Largely thanks to nursery rather than anything we've done however she still has awful nappy rash (still wears nappy at night). The last time we saw the doc a reaction to the cream itself was mentioned - has anyone experienced this?

Anyone got lots of nectar points, the last day for the double up is 13th May

Last weekend I doubled up £10worth to £20 on my nectar card and bought clothes

This generated a till spit of £6 off my next transaction of £30

So I doubled up OH's card £10worth to £20 in clothing and bought £30 clothes using the till spit and the double up voucher

Total spend £4 hard cash for £50 clothes

Oh and all the nectar points were free in the first instance from doing nectar adpoints online (boring as can be but I do it in the evening with 1 eye on the tv)

I like free (or as near as dammit)

spring A friend of mine, her son is allergic to the nappy cream and gets a special allergy friendly, neutral one, one prescription.

Thanks italian, this is really where my thought process is going now. We started potty training relatively early as I thought out of nappies would mean no nappy rash. I've carried on using mitanium and often her poor vagina looks like it's been burnt despite having no happy and fresh air all day.

NSD today.

Meal plan is running 3 days behind due to recipes making massively more portions than they said, which is cool as it means I won't need to shop until well into next week. Am doing the determined no top ups even for fruit thing, with coins/cash set aside for DH to pick up one or two specific items on his way home from work (he is so good, has tunnel vision and will literally only buy the one thing I have asked for).

Made a delicious asian noodle soup this evening, it was ridiculously easy and really cheap. A keeper.

I have a meeting with the BIG BOSS of my whole work tomorrow about my new job, so nervous, I am really bad at negotiating for things like money.

springbright Oh your poor DD .

DS used to get very bad nappy rash when he was teething. We got Cavilon from GP - it really helped.

Have you ruled out things like thrush or another type of infection and tried a different brand of nappy in case it's an allergic reaction? I remember DS didn't take to one brand of nappy (I can't remember which, it feels like a long time ago).

Marking place to get done tips

missanne Get them to make an offer and then ask for much more. You'll be great.

Yep MissAnnersley do what Cadbury said.

I think tomorrow will be an NSD, need to go into 2 estate agents to see if they'll take the house on but that's local so no road tolls.

Spring I hope you can find something to ease DD's rash.

Off to search S&B for moisturizer tips, thanks Cadbury

Frugal thing, switched to a leave in conditioner to use less water in the shower. My long hair takes a lot of rinsing with regular conditioners.

Thanks for welcome!

@ zing & jolly sound like cartoon characters!

spring

the only thing that worked on my kids sore bottom when teething was good old Vaseline.

and by sore I mean raw and bleeding from tiny "pinpricks", the skin looking like they sat on a hedgehog.
I used to shower them down, cleaning bottom with E45 if needed (any soap or wipes were intolerable), dabbing skin dry with kitchen paper towel, then applying Vaseline.

do try it

Dd (who's no longer in nappies) gets an awfully sore bottom sometimes. The dr prescribed fucidin hc (antibiotic hydrocortisone) and Metanium over the top.

Should be nsd today.

There's a !!!! Very frugal...

Thank you! Lots of new ideas here for us to try!

Feeling more positive this morning. The is a sign! Plan is to get further quotes for the roof. I've also added £3 to summer savings pot and bought a few stocking fillers for dd last night (£15 for chunky chalks, a torch, temporary tattoos and water balloons). I'd started to doubt that small things make a big difference but after a stern talking to myself I realise that without small changes we wouldn't even be in the position of being able to pay some of the roofing costs. Another year as a frugaleer and we'll be able to pay for all of it!

Passing on positive vibes to anyone who needs them today!

Hoping for a NSD today - just had a rummage in the freezer to see if there is something I can find for dinner tonight, and there is .DD is at home revising again today so I won't need to take/collect her from the station so I won't be passing any shops!

Another vote for Vaseline for nappy rash. I do remember needing quite a good layer on though.

Is there a shortage of diesel? Had to go to three different places to find diesel . Was running on empty as well. The stress levels were sky high.