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.

[ItalianWiking84]

cool perhaps a collegue has it, if it perhaps has been laying somewhere or feel on the floor... Hope you find it tomorrow...

[Thetimes123]

I sold baby items to a lady at work, they were on eBay, so I got a good result.
My mantra this months is 'I will not over spend, I will not over spend'

[SpottyTeacakes]

I found a cheap broadband and phone package!! Southern electric FREE broadband for six months then £11.99 after (18m contract) and £14.49 line rental evening and weekend calls. Phoned Sky and they begs they could do was £25 a month which would have been £50ish more over the 18 months. Currently paying £32 with them so quite a saving

[PolkadotRosa]

Can I join in? Catching up on the posts so far- very inspiring.
Do we post our daily spends/no spends? Trying to have as many NSD's as possible, so need to get planning! Took leftover pasta for lunch today, had homemade soup the previous two days (did I really used to buy my lunch every day?!)

[ItalianWiking84]

Welcome to the new people :)

Needed to top up phone, so 10 euros. But think its quite good that I have managed to spend only 10 euros on a months calls to Denmark :) Given that I call ALOT its a fair price I think :)

[ItalianWiking84]

Dont live in the UK, but someone posted this on FB, www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/trialcard/, so thought I would share in case others can use it

[AuditAngel]

Mum's operation seems to gave gone well, the main worry was that last time mum had an anaesthetic she also had a heart attack. She is currently in the high dependency ward but that is a precaution following the drama last time.

Was nearly a NSD today, but then I paid for the 3 children's dancing Lessons in cash, £110 (after borrowing £10 from DS's cash in my purse).

More good news today. DS is appearing in Evita in June at one of the local theatres. It's starring Marti Pellow who I've always considered to be gorgeous, being a proud mummy I obviously have to go to see Marti DS.

[AuditAngel]

Sorry, I forgot to say thanks for all your kind wishes for my mum

[FantaSea]

Polkadot welcome

[Fluffycloudland77]

At least she's out of theatre and recovering audit

spotty will they let you pay upfront for line rental? Most do and then it's only £10-11. Can you get cashback for it? One of the broadband comparison search engines might give cb for a search that leads to a sale.

Bt charged me £60 to leave and I wasn't even in contract. I hate bt. It's on my ever growing list of companies I won't use again.

[NK5BM3]

Hello! Back from Paris. Will catch up soon!

[AdoraBell]

Glad the op went well and I'm sure your mum is in good hands Audit

We've sold the gas guzzler lovely peeps at the Toyota dealership have actually bought it from us in exchange for us buying one of theirs. The place DH bought it from would only put it on the forecourt and let loads of people drive it before steering them towards their new ones . Anyway, the replacement is half the price and running costs will be too. So I'm happy and DH is less stressed.

We're swapping them tomorrow and I'll also buy honey and nuts to do granola when I get back here.

Hope Paris was good NK

[SpottyTeacakes]

Glad it went well audit and wow to your ds!

Fluffy I can't afford to pay it upfront there's no cash back and they don't seem to come up on the comparison sites I asked for my mac code from sky and it's not enough digits I was hold for half an hour too...

[Fluffycloudland77]

[springbright]

Welcome polkadot yes the little savings do add up and leftovers are brilliant for lunches. I hate making sandwiches (I'm genetically unable to spread butter) so most of our lunches are dinner from the evening before.

audit get well wishes to your mum and well done to your ds, what a superstar!

spotty and adora great news on the frugal wins!

fluffy I will never use British Gas again after a billing dispute 7 years ago! Funny how these things stay with you!

[elvislives2012]

Aiming for a NSD today by sitting on the couch all day! Just hot to stay away from the amazon app

[CoolCadbury]

That's great news about the car adora.

spotty well done with the frugal win! hopefully sky sort themselves out soon.

Another one who hasn't used the services of both BT and British Gas in years, on principle.

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

My no-go company is Scottish Power - we switched from them to another supplier and they continued to bill me for 6 months, I've calked endless times, sent emails, tweets, anything I could to try and sort it out. It's with the energy ombudsman now ...

[FantaSea]

Audit hope your mum continues to improve and well done to your DS, that is brilliant .

All this talk about energy suppliers reminds me of when we first moved into our house 12 years ago, and we wanted to change supplier. It was British Gas we were trying to change from, and they continued to bill us even when we had cancelled, so we had 2 gas bills for about 6 months too, and then we had a fight and a half to get them to stop. It was really stressful at the time.

Hoping for a NSD today - DD is home revising and I won't be passing any shops. Have had a rummage in my freezer for some food for tonight so all ok there .

[ComfyLeatherChair]

Afternoon
Please could someone tell me what YNAB is?

[annielostit]

Have set may budget at £560 for food/diesel/night out with DH. This may seem a lot but i didn't have a budget before and then this time next year we will be broke. Seem obsessed by not wanting to spend. Would love the night on the tiles with drinks and dinner but should really wait till at least next weekend. Aldi wine and home made curry it is then.?

[annielostit]

You need a budget - an app/budget/finance related. Highly recommended on this site.

[annielostit]

Comfy leather chair- I say app but its a system for PC/ Mac etc. Not very tech minded myself, someone else will explain it better.

[NK5BM3]

Audit - glad your mums out of
Hospital. Adora - thanks for asking. Paris was fine. Bad weather although we didn't get out of the hotel much due to all the meetings! Amazingly though we managed to get the worst French food ever. I am blaming it on the touristy fare that we had to endure (and pay lots of ££ for!! Although it was paid for by work... But still!). I never waste food these days and yet I couldn't make myself eat some of it.

Another £20 on mcdonalds for lunch today and £17 for 2 jumpers for ds who has outgrown his. Argh.

[SpottyTeacakes]

Nsd