Frugal January, part two.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everybody is welcome.

Nsd. Cough, cold, temp of 39.4c all day. ...not ate much so saving money there . Was meant to be meeting friends up London, saved £40 there too

Need, I don't really know tbh. M&S & JL are less rubbish than Curry's or The White Company.

Laska email the ceo of Hush. You might get a voucher.

NSD. Also going methodically through the store cupboard and trying to use up some of the random stuff that's in there on my packed lunches - Puy lentils for tomorrow, with a bit of left over roast pork and some onion and mint.

Pass and bantam, really hope you feel better soon. DD and DH have a lurgy here - so far I've escaped but I fear it may get me just in time for the weekend.

£9/h, 4hours per week. She does the whole house (just a 3 bed semi) and irons and tidies. We are in the se. I think if we went to an agency it would be in double figures and the cleaner won't get that much either.

Ah, I am ooop north!! £20 for approx 2.5 hours. She gets through the house, like a bloody whirlwind. Sometimes she does a bit more, sometimes a bit less, time-wise. Make life so much easier don't they?

pass oh dear, you too!

laska I will link to the recipe I basically used which was also called dragon pie, just added in a few spices, mushrooms (did the original have any, can't remember?), used mashed potato and some veggies that need using. I am a bugger for doing this to recipes, using the 'theme' of them!!!

Sorry, she does three hours!! Not sure where the 2.5 comes from

£20 for 3h !!! Man. That's v cheap (says my dh who's from up north!!!!).

Not quite NSD £3.40 on peppermint tea and a dairy free bun.

I sinned today and spent money on food at lunch time at work, only £3 though and no other spends. Feel so devoid of energy after being under the weather since before Christmas. After a stressful 12-8 shift today dh and dd made my tea (well warmed it up) and poured me a glass of wine while I watched the wonderful Not Going Out on the tv

Not really laska it's already in the freezer

Pass that sounds horrible hope you feel better soon

Ds has been awake over an hour and has just gone back to sleep. I now can't sleep feel hungry

Dinner tonight is the hairy bikers sausage casserole again. It was so nice.

Just under £10 on fruit yesterday. Aiming for nsd today.

We're out of coffee, nappies, tissues and kitchen roll

peonies what peppermint tea do you drink? We always used to insist on Twinnings but the Asda one isn't bad....and half the price.

spotty do you really need to use kitchen roll? We only have ours out for guests ha ha.

Took paracetamol before going to bed and didn't wake up feeling top awful through the night. Still got v heavy cold and bad cough. Will go docs if it is still here Friday as I might need steriods (asthma)

My leargy has made me think of life insurance. I used to have a death in service payment of twice my annual salary but I don't think it's enough. Dp has £50k that doesn't seem enough either. Does anyone has anything? I was looking at quotes on money supermarket and for 20 years for £150k for the both of us it was £23 or something for death or terminal illness. I think 20 years would be adequate as by then the kids will be paying their own way in the world and the mortgage will be paid off?

Yes we use kitchen roll all the time it's one of the things I won't compromise on

We have life insurances... I have about 4 I think. Covering both death and terminal illnesses. Plus the work ones.

I think much as we would like it, the 'free NHS' and the 'pension' that we'd get are no longer sufficient and we need to be self-reliant. I grew up in a country and culture where everyone has life insurance of some sort. It's almost a ritual that when you have a baby, you register it's name, buy a buggy and get some insurance. This is primarily because we don't have free healthcare (well, as free as it is here)... But it's necessary. So when my mum had cancer, her insurances paid out much to our relief. That meant that we could afford her care, meds, treatment, and life continued as we knew it.

Opal I've been looking at Economy Gastronomy so far. It's a bit meaty for me (veggie) but I like some of the ideas about using leftovers, even coffee! I was hoping to discover something revolutionary about meal planning but it is pretty much what I do anyway. The pages about wasted food etc are interesting.
Started planning our garden makeover last night and looked at reclamation yards on line. We are going to try to do it as cheaply and ethically as possible. Bit of a challenge as we are both rubbish at gardening and DIY! We saw reclaimed slabs for £3.50 each that were nearly £20 each from the garden centre. I'm now wishing we'd thought about this for other things we've done to the house.

Pass, I'm festooned with life insurance as I'm the main earner: I have a policy that I took out to cover the mortgage which pays out on death or critical illness, plus death in service benefit of three times salary. Then when DD was born I took out more life insurance (but not critical illness because I was older and it had got a lot more expensive), so if I died DH would have the mortgage paid off and about five times my salary to look after DD with. The life-only cover is £12.72 a month, and the life and critical illness is £50 a month (relatively cheap because I was in my mid-twenties when I got it). I'm only covered for the next 15 years or so: after that DD will be grown up and the mortgage will be paid off.

There's also critical illnesses that would bump up the premium by another £35 p/m. Not sure on these. ...what threw me was that motor neurone was included? My aunt had that, I am really not sure why it is not classed as terminal...so if the classifications are a bit wooly maybe we need both? How on earth do I work out what we need as a lump sum?

Thanks Robin

We have insurance on our mortgage already. So how did you arrive at 5 times your salary? Gross or Net....?

This is the project of the day while on my sick bed.....sorry ladies!

Pass dh's grandad died of motor neurone disease a year ago. He only lived a year after it was diagnosed.

pass I'm not really brand loyal with peppermint tea, I just get whatever is around and I store the bags in a large jar so no one can tell they're "different"/"cheap"

spotty that was similar for my aunt, hence my confusion that it isn't classed as terminal....

Hasn't Stephen hawkin got motor neurone? I think they class it as progressive rather than terminal although I suppose you can say that about most things?

Ds' drs appt isn't until 4:10 so I won't be tempted to buy a nice lunch whilst I'm out!

Life assurance was on our priority list last year. We do have quite a substantial amount tbh. This was after having a financial review with our IFA, who was of the opinion that life cover should be priority for us, given that the business (therefore DH) is our income, pension, investment pot, basically the whole thing. Due to the field he is in, the clients essentially are paying for DH's technical expertise (he's easily the best in his small and specialist field), so, while it would carry in in some form, the company would be severely compromised if he were unable to work.

So, we have quite a lot that is related to the business and it's continuation and also two substantial policies we pay. One to cover the mortgage, one to give me a lump sum and there's also one that was a straight death policy from years ago that we pay. Although, as he is 53 and bi-polar, the combined payment for our side is over £200 pm which is quite hard to swallow at times.

Given the equity in the house, the pension pot and the value of the business, it's a wonder I don't bump him off when he's annoying

Will be a LSD. I need some feed for the pony. Going out to a meeting at a pub later, but that will be cheap at I am driving.