an Ostentatiously Austere October...join here for a frugal month ahead!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

All welcome to join the MN frugaleers for another month of recording our spends, frugal wins and frugal fails!

NSD = No Spend Day (let's have as many as possible!)

LSD = Low Spend Day

Oh no Adora hope you sort your leak out.

NSD yesterday and I finally got around to listing some Playmobil on eBay. Today Should be low spend as I need hospital parking and yoghurt at Lidl.

Yesterday was the first day I have actually felt cold, but still resisting the heating.

Italian glad baby is doing ok.

574 I think it felt colder than it was yesterday as it has been so warm here it was 12-13 degrees n raining n v windy.

Today it's raining again not good at nearly 33weeks pregnant n refusing to buy anymore maternity clothes I am wearing a coat undone n using an umbrella!

Sunday I ordered some jewelry for kids Christmas presents came to £40 but they sent me a £5 code for signing up to the newsletter. It didn't work. I really wanted the stuff so paid anyway and emailed a complaint, they are going to refund it to me. Before I would probably have let it go.

£15 buying some old Avon stuff from my sister. 23 items including jewelry, kids conditioning spray (curly haired girls who hate being brushed) and loads of stuff.

Parking and train fare to London, but will get refunded, lunch was included and I resisted eating on the way home.

Chinese take away for dinner, DH paid. It wasn't good, the place was recommended to us! We won't be taking any more suggestions from them!

Fluffy please can you post a link for the ex hotel bed linen? We gave a super king too and the linen us soooooo expensive. Especially when DH has now refused to use a set I bought last year in Debenhams. The material is a red and fold mix and he says it irritates his skin (most stuff does!). Even more annoying was the fact I caught him trying to throw away a red duvet cover he was insisting he was allergic to, but it was the other red one I bought in Debenhams, which doesn't make him itch. Thank God I caught him. I wish he was as free about throwing away things he paid for.

Red and gold sorry

stores.ebay.co.uk/Express-Supplies Here you are Audit. It's 100% cotton unless otherwise stated. Some of it might have a laundry pen dot on it but I can live with that. Complaining is the way to go isn't it?.

ATM I've got white company linen, the qualitys awful. £500 wasted .

Adora, even the cat wouldn't eat the chicken. How did you get a leak that serious?.

It's chilly here in the midlands, we put the heating on for an hour last night.

Should be a NSD today.

By 6am this morning I had spent €328.24 on a tonne of wood pellets. The last tonne lasted us 4+ months but I don't expect the next one to last as long with weather being colder now. If it got us through to January I'd be quite happy.

On the website when I was ordering there was a coupon valid until end July for 5% off, and it still works! This delivery came in cheaper than the last one by €17. It is more expensive to buy this way than in bulk but it's helpful to us at the moment. If anyone uses wood pellets, this is from brites bagged pellets.

I'm very jealous of your wood burner lilac. Dh won't even consider having one. Do you collect random wood too? I'd be ferreting around in skips if I had one. Which is probably why dh says no come to think of it.

£24 in boots, my fave skincare brand was on offer so I got 5-6 months worth.
£30 on two duvet covers.

It's a wood pellet boiler, not a wood burner. Runs the radiators and heats the water same way gas or oil would.

We have an open fire too so we do use random bits of wood for that, dh cuts up old pallets, old furniture etc for the fire. We have never bought starting timber since I met him!

I need make up now I hear you talking about skincare fluffy, have a wedding at end of month so must stock up before then. I tend to use eyeslipsface.co.uk and buy about twice a year - any other recommendations?

I use superdrugs MUA. Best eyeliners ever and fantastic eyeshadow palletes. Lots of its only a £1!.

I used to head to chanel for all my makeup.

Thank you Fluffy and Ohhelp Have put ad on Gumtree and a chap wants to come and take a look this evening. It's quite a lot of wood and should be useful.

It is fixed now thanks 574

Fluffy we have very hard water here and can't get those Calgon tablets, but we did get a thing (tech term) that passes the water through a chamber of salt crystals before it goes to the machine. And that split, with the water flowing through under mains pressure.

Because I was in the shower I didn't hear it and only noticed the water when I came out of the bathroom. Luckily my bathroom is on the same level as the kitchen/futility because with the washing machine going the sound of the water was almost completely masked, I wouldn't have heard it from upstairs.

We may have to replace two base cupboards in the futility room, depends how they dry.

Audit is it the colour he's allergic to? I bought a purple bedspread and my DH started making noises about getting a nice twee floral thing when before that he hadn't wanted to spend any money.

So spent 30£ in aldi and 15£ in the other supermarket on groceries.
Spent 20£ on gift for a little baby boy who is fighting for his life in the hospital
I only buy make up in body shop, its more expensive but I support their value and me only use a bit.

£5 for tea and a cake with my friend, so nice to catch up with her. Other than that, just £4 on milk and fruit.

£4 nappies. Got my flu jab at work this morning.

Right,

I've done my ppi letters to sainsburys & northern rock & filled an online claim form in for Barclay card. I don't think I had ppi with the cards, only the northern rock loan that I have no details for. But you never know. I requested some statements from natwest years ago & they offered me £25 to go away.

£11 worth of DVDs going to ziffit as soon as I get a box off dh, that includes 10% topcashback.

Adora I hope those cabinets dry out, is it getting warmer there now?.

Audit when I ordered my duvet covers this morning she had 3 sk left afterwards.

italian that poor little boy. I hope he gets better soon.

Yes Fluffy, very warm in fact, but these are cheap ones and the fascia looks like it's delaminated. I'm leaving the doors open and have taken contents out so will see how it goes.

Good luck with your PPI letters.

NSD today got a bill from HMRC for double what they originally said they owed me, suspect that when I requested a second letter it somehow reduplicated the amount. that'll be another hour on the phone then
Back at work as of today, that will help with NSDs as normally I simply can't spend Mon-Fri as I work 0845-1810 and can't be arsed to get to the shops before/after, even if they were open.

Going to theatre on a school trip tomorrow eve which will be lovely (and free )

I owed them! I wish they owed me money

You know it's cold when fluffy has put the heating on! Dh did suggest we put it on on Sunday but I'm really trying to make it until half term without it. I was originally aiming for November but my parents are coming up for a few days so I'll need it on then.

Nsd. Tonight's dinner is a vegetable curry made from assorted oddments left in vegetable cupboard/fridge/freezer. I might add eggs for protein, 1970's style. I received my cheque today for not loving velvet toilet paper. I've sent away one for Leerdammer cheese now.

Hope work was ok missa and you're feeling better.

My third NSD in a row! I needed milk but for the first time ever I'd actually followed that little gem of advice to keep a carton of UHT milk in the cupboard (bought as part of weekend shop) I was so EXCITED this morning when I realised I'd get another NSD because of this

Heating question...we have a little electric heater - would it be cheaper to put this on in the sitting room to take the chill off the air rather than turning on central heating? Or is using electricity to heat a crazy idea?

nugget I love egg curry!! I thought I was all modern doing that, didn't realise it was a 70s thing

I think central heating is cheaper than leccy, we had oil rads in the last 2 houses and it cost a fortune but the heating was crap so we needed them.

If you've got radiator valve thermostats you can always turn all the other rooms off & just heat the lounge etc.

A lot depends on how modern the boiler is & how well insulated & draught proof you are.

There was a lovely throw on the Christmas bargain thread that I missed out on, it was only £4.

If we can pay the mortgage off early I'm going to have the heating on all day & float about in my summer clothes all year.

We're going to have to turn the heater in the dc's bedroom on as dd's asthma is bad I'm worried she's getting another chest infection. I feel really crappy with a cold and have just realised tesco sent 'normal veg' ie beans and carrots instead of the stir fry veg I ordered so can't do the beef stir fry I had planned.