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.

spring we have a cleaner and it's amazing. To be honest she isn't the best cleaner in the world but it makes us tidier as I'm aware she can't clean if there's crap everywhere and I come home from work to a very clean and tidy house.
ATM she comes once a fortnight but I'm thinking of having her once a week when DH starts his new FT job in September - right now he can work from home quite a bit and tends to stick a wash on or mop in his "lunch break".

Thanks for all the well wishes, I got diclafenac (sp?) which er, is administered much nearer the site of the pain, and it seems to be working, also some meds for kidney infection which is their latest idea. Scan letters hopefully here soon - I naively thought if you needed one they'd send you on up rather than making you wait 2+ weeks.

I didn't make it through my evening duty and cried in front of my manager. Fail. Have offered to come in and cover early morning or weekend duty to make up the time, the ironic thing is that I love evening duty, but it must look to him like I'm trying to skive.

MissAnn pleased the painkillers are working and hope you get some news on your scans soon.

spring I had a cleaner about 20 years ago for about a year. I went through an agency and they charged for a 'house clean' rather than per hour, on the basis that then your whole house would be spotless etc etc.. it sounded great and the cleaner was brilliant to start with and everything was done thoroughly. She went downhill after a few months though and I was finding that when I was around, she was cleaning the whole house in about an hour - bathrooms, dusting, hovering, kitchen everything, so she probably spent even less time when I was out. I let her go after putting up with it for longer than I should, as in the end I figured I had an hour a week to spare on my house. It just became a 'quick wipe round' I am sorry to say.

I've had a Tesco delivery with a £2 delivery charge and have spent £78 - loads of stuff so I'm really pleased. At least doing an online shop, I am not tempted with all the other stuff I see in the store.

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about agas running 24/7. Won't be a problem tho as DH is going go all Bear Grylls and chop down trees find his own firewood and food and everythng. And it's much cooler in the south of Chile so 24/7 heating would likey be a good thing. Oh, and with winds they get we'll get all our leccie from wind generators. He's got this all planned out

Am meeting a friend for coffee today and need to pick up a few bits while I'm out.

MissAnnersley hope you have a better day and the scan appt comes through quickly.

Ugh! Lost my previous post.

missa glad your pain is under control. How long have you had the pain? It could be kidney stones? Sorry for armchair diagnosis . Hope they sort it out soon.

Under £70 for Wed-Tues grocery shopping. Not bad for us. I have bought loads of stuff with it too so I am struggling to get up to £40 minimum shop for Ocado.

Anyone been into Morrisons lately? I have really noticed the reduction in prices. Had a good chat with a Morrisons employee today about the price war .

Clubcard vouchers have arrived today, thinking of swapping mine for restaurant vouchers this time. Have got £30 so would get £120 to spend. Does anyone use there's for anything else good?

£15 spend today, play centre and lunch.

Freezer tea tonight and back to work
Tomorrow so should have a couple
Of NSDs before the weekend.

Btw, if anyone is into Pimms, Morrisons are doing 1L for £10.

I've never had your dh down as the bear grylls type adora.

He was a boy scout Fluffy, he'll keep his shoes nice and shiny whilst wrestling wild animals for the cooking pot and wipe his hunting knife on a handkerchief rather than get his trousers dirty.

I'll be back at the cabin laughing my head off

flossy I have used some of my clubcard vouchers for restaurant vouchers - 4 times the face value is really worth having. I also got a half price railcard for DD with some of mine.

Crap. I've relapsed.

Ended up spending a fiver to get in to the farm, £13 on a birthday present, and £3 on coffee and cake

It was going so well

We all relapse from time to time.

£5 on petrol.

Dh had a row with Aviva car insurance, they wanted to charge £40 cancellation fee! He argued back and got the fee waived & £25 compo for them not understanding the issue.

Dd threw half a loo roll in the bath frugal fail!

We all need to relapse sometimes, Mcphee. Tomorrow's another day.

£2.93 in Tesco on salad, cereal bars, crisps and cat food and DS went for milk from Lidl. I think it was 95p.

Someone at work told me a similar story today fanta think I might end up like Monica stalking the cleaner around the house! However I already know il reap the benefits of a tidy house as like miss i know it will encourage me to tidy up!

adora DH is just the same...wants to go all tribal but is the first one slathering on anti-bac hand gel!

Great frugal win fluffy!

NSD today!

Fluffy, the house is pre war. I think the original house is from about 1881, with a couple of later extensions.

I have seen the solid insulation, but we already filled between the joists then boarded onto the joists. It definitely has draughts! I have to check the stuff in the bottom of my wardrobe regularly and wipe over to avoid mould from the air brick.

I like the idea of the spray on wall insulation, instead of cavity wall insulation (no cavity walls as far as I can tell) but for a house this size I dread to consider what the cost would be.

Fantasia, I know about the prescription season ticket as my sister has one and my mum too before she became an OAP. The fact is I normally have 3 or 4 prescriptions a year, based on this it is really not worth the season ticket.

This year I have had 9 prescriptions since January. Probably still not worth it. I should be grateful I don't need them more often.

Sorry Fantasea, I didn't spot the autocorrect.

I'm so glad I get my prescriptions for free they're extortionate!

Nearly 10 for softplay and lunch there for me and DS.

Audit is it carpeted up there? We lived a newish house,

DiscoDancer the cash plan is a separate top up to our health insurance. We took a cheaper plan with Axa 2 years ago with the top up as it was cheaper. The cash plan is with SimplyHealth. In theory it is a company policy, but DH's family businesses have the contract and we repay the company monthly.

MissA, I don't mind waiting for the money back in this case. It is money we were spending anyway (going to the dentist, my contact lens programme), we pay £20 per month (so £240 a year) and we pay more than that usually for the dentist. We can claim back up to £150 a year for dental, the same for optical, physio etc. it will also pay out the excess for private treatment. For us, it makes sense to have the plan.

Saturday £131 in Sainsburys, but my mum gave me back £52 that was things for her and my dad (still staying with us), parking 80p, cards for first communion and birthday £3.45, gift card for DS to take to party £10. Two jars of fancy pickles for DH £5.

£60 on diesel, but can claim back from work.

I agree with the earlier comment about complaining more/asking for refunds. 2 weeks ago I bought DS a new PE shirt as he claimed he had lost his bag. He found it under his bed. I took the shirt back and asked the shop to swap it for a school cap (DS wanted one after I had bought DD one), previously I would have kept the shirt as a spare and bought the cap.

Sunday -NSD

Monday £3 on a meal deal lunch as I left my sandwiches in the hall at home (ate them today)

Tuesday -NSD

Fluffy, the loft is boarded out just for storage, we don't use it as a room. We looked into it but apparently not enough of the floor area has sufficient head height to be worthwhile, we would need to lift the roof up (sounds too scary, the house is likely to collapse!)

It gets really cold in winter and stifling in the summer. If we did use as a room we would need to insulate much better. We have proper but steep stairs up to the loft, from inside a big cupboard in DD2's bedroom. This extra separation helps keep the rest of the house a more even temperature.

We have laminate in the hall/reception 3, but we have rugs on top. The other rooms are all carpeted except kitchen/bathrooms/downstairs toilet.

The front door is draughty, we have a double glazed porch which helps, and in winter we have a draught excluder we use (plus one of the dogs likes to lie in front of the front door).

I have sent EDF my meter readings today. I am going to recheck the dual fuel deals and do the switch.

Paid for school photos today £18? And church parking £30 for the year... Brought lunch to work. Should be NSD tomorrow... Think work is doing lunch as we have a super long meeting!

I use an M&S credit card (for petrol, groceries etc) and pay off in full each month. Yesterday I got £22 in vouchers back . Not sure whether to keep hold and use at Christmas for presents or use them now.
Also have some Tesco points vouchers so need to check how much and decide what to spend them on. Some friends are moving close to Alton Towers later in the year so may use them to get one admission. Dd has a Blue Peter badge which will get her in free so then we'd just have to pay 1 adult and one child admission.

On a different topic, am feeling tonight as ds decided to quit scouts (has done it since age 6 and is now nearly 13). He told the leaders tonight and was quite upset although it is the right decision for him. Rather than me being a tower of strength for him, I was a blubbering wreck .