Judiciously June frugal thread now including Christmas bargains.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everyone is welcome.

Happy anniversary adora! You are obviously converting the costs Into pounds from where you are but.... Isn't the pay lower there? Doesn't that make the cost of living there quite prohibitive??!!

NK yes, and it's beginning to cause big problems now. We have someone who does the ironing and she has never bought meat. They eat wild rabbits that her sister hunts, home grown veg and they buy some veg, fruit and beans. She is now struggling on 2 FT wages plus the money we pay her and had to ask for an advance to buy meds for her toddler who recently had a mild case of pneumonia. We really could do without the cost of keeping her on but I don't have the heart to stop it.

About the only things that aren't prohibitively expensive now are beer and cigarettes, just recently crept over £1 for 20. And petrol was cheaper until this year, but then road tax is a percentage of the car's value so can be very expensive. Servicing on cars is expensive so most people don't bother with it.

Fluffy it seems a lot but it's been building up since Feb. The bloke is never there when DH calls in and today he turned up at the house as DH called me to say that he'd tried again but Rodrigo wasn't there again. Anyway, it's done now and we can't afford to go away any time soon so no more bills for kenneling for a while.

I used Nectar points to get DH chocolates for our Anniversay

Dp should have been paid Friday, surprise surprise he hasn't yet

I don't think I could sack a woman too poor to buy drugs for a baby with pneumonia either.

DS needed some new track suit trousers for dancing. One of his pairs has a hole in the knee, the others look quite faded. With rehearsal today, theatre Monday/Wednesday/Friday and class on Thursday too, one decent pair won't be enough. He also asked for "casual socks" (as opposed to school socks or black ones for dancing) so £10.80 for trainers socks and track suit trousers in M&S.

97p in Sports Direct, returned the Spain shirt DH bought for DS (but rudely turned his nose up at) so swapped it for 2 bikinis for DD1, one bikini for DD2 and a pair of trunks for DS (because they won't give refunds).

£10 in H&M busting DS 2 pairs of shorts and a t-shirt. £12.06 for lunch in McDonalds. £2.50 for parking.

cool yes I had the free birds eye stuff, I liked them but no I wouldn't pay for them.

I would get dh to download the app so I can get them again.

Adora you reminded me of an article I read recently which said the squeezed are more charitable than the rich. The thinking is the squeezed can empathise more. I've never really needed the nhs until I had dc and have since used it far more than I would like but you make me so grateful for it. I can't imagine how awful it must be to have a sick child but just pray they get better because you can't afford drugs.

Back to being frugal. £12 in b&q yesterday so we can stop the house decaying further but that's a long term saving. Very nearly bought Disney Frozen figures from ebay £30+ but then realised I'm being ridiculous. Dd's birthday WILL NOT be ruined if I can't put Elsa and Anna on her cake. It really won't .

£2.45 on French bread and tomatoes. That's it for today. ..chilling in the garden in the sun

Tues I am going to be fleeced at the school fair. ..dps arms don't quite reach his pockets for such events!

Oh and feeling impatient for my checkout smart to be updated to see if u did it right! Got the birds eye infusions and a bottle of volvic. How long does it take?

been reading but not posting, well done everyone so far. Think we've done ok, will see at the final tally up on Thursday! Had to pay for various things by cheque so had money from other pots sat in our current account waiting to go, and think we've managed to do all that successfully.

Wishing our new school does the group presents thing for teachers - a fiver sounds a bargain! I've previously spent £10 - £15 a go on the teacher and TA.

iamnotanugget How about this or even this?

Like trinitybleu I've been reading and not posting. Doing well enough though. This thread definitely makes me think twice when buying something.
My grocery bill has crept up past few weeks but there's extra in freezer and a few other bits building up too which'll mean a smaller bill next week when I need extra money for my future sister in laws hen.

Was a bit spendy on dd's preschool teachers presents but she's going again next year & I gave nothing at Christmas.

Had hubby's grandson to stay last night & weaned ds off the breast too so today is a total chill out in the sunshine day!

£5 parking at a forest for the gruffalo trail plus ice creams. Dp paid though from 'fun money'.

NSD & I to my washing line refunded.

£9.30 in Tesco. Using some coupons saved me about 85p.

I forgot £26 in the poundshop yesterday. Mainly a big stock up on snacks etc. I like going there as they are half the pride of Tescos, but to make it worthwhile I do a big shop.

£3.70 for parking. Visited DH at work to get to kids a lazy (so I don't cook) lunch. Met DsIs who was minding DD2 while DS and DD1 had rehearsals.

We're having fish and chips for dinner shouldn't cost too much and will save electricity not using the oven

£7.50 on sunshades for my glasses so I have prescription sunglasses now! Yay. I can't have regular prescription sunglasses as my prescription is too high - yes.

£8 on m&s school trousers for ds - 20% off.

£3.10 on ice creams at park. Brought picnic. Saved a bomb.

Have a good work week everyone. We get paid only end of month but am optimistic that the food grocery bill is going to be decently low. Spent on average £40/week on family food. Excludes the school dinner money etc but that's much better than normal!

rather spendy day (for us) but was an occasion. parking £2.50, birthday present £10, ice creams almost £10 (they were huge!)

But had a fab day. En masse birthday picnic with 14 kids and 12 adults, rounders, birthday cake, presents, miniature railway ride, park ... 12 of the kids have birthdays within 4 weeks of each other so we do this instead of 12 parties in 4 weeks!

NSD - first one in ages

When DH got home half an hour ago, he told me that on top of everything else I owe him, I also owed him £1,400 from the holiday spending money. I took great delight in showing him that I had transferred £1,200 to him a week after our holiday (he had forgotten about it).

I also reminded him that I had paid a cheque for £333 into his bank account last week for our medical cash back that was for my claims (plus a separate £150 for his claims). So I said for him to give me £233 back and he had then had back a further £100, leaving only £100 of holiday money to pay back. Well, he gave me back £200, but he did pay for his own Father's Day lunch!

Thing is, Fluffy, she's not poor by local standards. She and her husband are both working and earn a bit higher than average wage. They have their own home, rented, as opposed to sharing with parents and both DCs are in school/ nursery. The really poor can't afford to send the DCs to school and can't take them to the Dr or dentist.

Nugget yep, I get really annoyed when I see people complaining about the NHS and what it doesn't hand out free of charge.

NSD for me, DH bought ink, pens for school, fruit juice and bread.

Hi guys, really interested in joining in but was hoping AdoraBell (and maybe other non-UKers if there are any), could let me know how you work out exchange rates etc? For example Adora I notice you are giving your grocery bill etc in £. Should I just give the numbers in local currency? Might be easier but might also give the wrong impression as don't want a lot of confusion saying I spent 400 on groceries when the equivalent in £ is much less.

Should be a nsd. Does anyone know how morrisons compares to lidl/aldi?