Frugal February continued....

[SpottyTeacakes]

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Oh Need that's terrible. Hope DH gets home quickly, he'll be in need of TLC, maybe even some councelling after an experience like that. Hope the other passengers recover well.

Personal spends today, £20 on a sunblock for me, only factor 50 works for me in the summer months here and I find the standard ones too heavy for my face so I indulge in Clinique. Also spent £3.50 on a coffee and some water for DD2. DD1 bought her own coffee because I refused to buy the £4 option.

Then I bought 95% of the school uniform, near on £600 and I still need to get shoes and a coat for 1 and sports bits for the other. School have now decided only a uniform coat/fleece is acceptable

Need what a horrible thing to happen, Im sure yoi are all very shaken. Might take time to sink in :(

Today was spendy, £27.85 in M&S - lots of YS stuff and freezer now full. £34 in MrT but 5.75 and 4.85 cashback with shopitize and checkoutsmart and £2 was bits for mum. Lots of freebies eg crisps, pepsi and snickers, flavoured water, and quite a few discounts on things we buy :)

Another season / size inappropriate outfit for DD returned to next - £29 back onto a gift card for when she really needs something as her wardrobe is currently bursting at the seams...

Xx

Ouch adora that's a lot.

Need that's so sad I hope your dh is ok and that poor family

I think I've got thrush it's so expensive to buy treatment I'm going to see if one of the drs at work will prescribed for me.

Food shop coming later.

Need take care that's such an awful thing to happen that poor family, hope your Dh is ok and to you. Be gentle with yourself.

Those recipes sound good bread I think I'll check out your blog for the bread making as have bought flour and yeast a while ago with every intention of doing it but not yet got around to it. I'm going to try and get hold of some polenta to make broa, which is a Portuguese corn bread, it's super filling so you don't need much to feel full (it's so heavy it can also be used as a weapon in the event of burglary too). I do need to get back on the healthy eating regime, I did try 5:2 (and have the book) but with stress at work last year stopped doing it. Might be easier as we get towards summer when salads are more of an option.

LSD yesterday, around £2.50 on milk and potatoes, should be NSD today as will be working all morning, then maybe taking DS to park if he's well enough. I'm still slightly I'll and DH is still ill but has had to go back to work because of ridiculous sick policy, apparently people don't get ill according to his work, strange that coming from a well known healthcare brand .

It's payday!
Have been delighted with first month frugaleering, here goes for the second.

Have family coming tonight to stay til Monday. Have some homemade soup in freezer they will like and a roast of beef bought on offer also. Will go to Aldi for weekend shop, and take my Mum who has never been, that will be a treat for her!

Going to have a baking session too, DP takes rather too much rubbish in his lunchbox, my fault really as I get crisps and biscuits for him from the pound shop. Will make scones and banana muffins or something like that.

Need to make a festive dinner for Sat night, must not go overboard re spending.

Needastrongone, hope your husband is safe home with you soon. What a horrible thing to happen. Be kind to yourself.

PAYDAY!

Should be a low spend today. Credit card paid off. Remainder of money in savings. Have allocated spends for the month. Eek!

Thanks bread, I have a silicon cake thingy so will try that.

Tesco order done, under £30. We will do one other (hopefully small) shop this month.

I've got good at batch cooking but not so good at actually organising when to eat what I've cooked! I think I'm addicted to having it there in the freezer so don't use it as much as I should

Today will be a bit spendy, need bus passes as I have a hospital appointment (getting a 24hr blood pressure monitor as mine is too low when I'm standing - I have something called Postural Orthostatic Tahycardia Syndrome), but I'll get a two day one for myself as I'm also working tomorrow.

I've promised the DCs we will go to the town park after if they behave themselves at my appointment, and we might get an early lunch at Maccy D as I don't think the three of us have been at all this year. DH has had the odd takeaway fries (one of the few hot things he can guarantee is gluten free!)

We may also have a quick browse in WHSmith, one of the very few things we are actually going to buy is some exercise books (squared especially) so I'll see if they work out cheaper than Amazon/eBay.

I'll have a look at the maths/English workbooks but won't be buying any of those in there (mum may be able to get them much cheaper via her work).

sporting I am :o :o at your bread weapon! Reminds me of the duck pond scene in About a Boy :)

Another cooking question - I've ordered a load of chicken breast, if I marinate strips (uncooked) in soy sauce, honey, lime juice, ginger and garlic, can I freeze them raw? And if I do, should I leave them in the fridge a while to marinate first?

Also, I was doing some surveys online today, the surveymonkey contribute one where it donates to charity and you get a (tiny) chance of winning an iTunes voucher. But I seem to remember there's other sites where you build up points etc - can anyone recommend any please? Or ones to avoid? (Sorry I'm sure this has been covered before but my memory is pants)

Omg Need that is awful, hope your dh is o.kay he is probably in shock still. Will take a while to sink in for all of you

We have my friends kitten here for a few days, he is full of beans and so confident, both my much bigger cats are scared of him!!

Going out for the day today but will take some food with us so hoping not to spend too much, although this is the only day out we have had over half term so may treat ourselves to a cake or something!!

Hello all! back from Rome at 3.55am this morning, we had such a mare getting home, the plane was delayed for ages with no explanation while we stood in a queue and it as already a late flight so loads of people missed the last trains from the airport, our friend had to get a taxi the whole way home from a random station as he refused out offer of a lift and jumped on the last train to London only to find there were no trains from there home!

We then realised we had written down our car park zone wrong and it took us an hour of walking in the rain and dark to find it, I was starting to really panic by the end., what idiots we are!

BUT Rome was AMAZING. We had a brilliant time, ate our body weight in pizza and pasta (seriously. Need a proper diet and exercise regime now!) and saw so many beautiful things.

fuzz I usually freeze them strayght away because I figure they'll marinate as they're defrosting.

need here's a couple of strong ones, take your pick . It's things like that which make me want to give DP and DS a big hug and never let them leave the house. Hope he's home with you soon.

Haven't posted for a couple of days because it's been full on in our house.
Anyway, headlines - MOT yesterday (plus fixes to pass) just under £300.
Dentist tomorrow for a filling (my dentist, who is also a mother of small children, said that if she doesn't have time to brush she'll still floss - nice to know even dentists don't always manage the full lot!).

DP and I have finally reached the decision that we won't all be going to his brother's overseas wedding this summer. It's been really stressful trying to decide. He's going (his mum will pay for him) and me and DS will stay at home. It sounds lovely in theory but it's just out of our reach financially (I don't even have money for passports in our budget) and I think it would be hard on DS with all the travelling and waiting around and keeping still (it's a big formal wedding). I don't like DP being away from us for over a week and we'll be apart for a couple of important days in our little family's life (anniversaries, etc.) but there you go. Expect DP will have fun if he doesn't have to be a responsible grown-up! and I'll have a little holiday at home with DS

need, hope DH is coping okay, and you too.

hopefully NSD today. Just remembered there is still a bit of cc to pay off from Jan which is a bit annoying, but we've done really well so far this month so hopefully we can pay it off and break even overall.

Thank you all so much for your kind words and understanding. DH has been very much further than Turkey, but he's never felt so far away at the minute. I badly want to see him. I think that yes, someone was looking down on him, and absolutely we are all in shock. I also can't stop thinking about the family involved.

Glad you have had a lovely time MissA, Rome is supposed to be lovely. I worked in Italy for a year, but didn't get to Rome.

mystic That seems a sensible decision in my view, but hard to make nonetheless. I am sure that DP's brother will understand the reasoning. At the very least, young children and weddings don't mix brilliant, never mind the costs involved.

fuzz I imagine either way would be fine, but you can definitely freeze in the marinade.

Hoping for a NSD, LSD at least if something comes up. Just feel like doing some meaningless cleaning and pottering. Been a bit of a week!!

Morning all - my last day of annual leave - why does a week at work never go as fast as a week of holiday?

Bank: £945.10 (was £964.62)
Purse: £28.46 (was £42.36)
Jar: £4.00 (was £8.20)
Grand Total: £977.56
Reduced by £37.62
Days to payday: 21

Spends:

£19.52 – Groceries
£10.00 – Slimming World joining fee
£3.90 – SW Bars
£4.20 – athletics / kids bus fare

It's a good job I went back to SW as I've managed to put on 5lbs in five weeks. I lost 34.5lbs last year in five months and I've put over half of that back on. Ugh, so depressing!

NeedAStrongOne – OMG I can't imagine how you are feeling, it sounds like your DH had a lucky escape. I hope you are soon reunited.

BreadandWine – you mentioned that the slimmer upthread (I think it was me) should consider the 5:2 plan. I've had a go at that, but I can't do with the hunger pangs even for 1 day at a time, and I overeat on the 5 days, so no good for me I'm afraid. But a male GP I used to work with thought 5:2 was a brilliant plan and he advocated it!

Lilaclery – it's more expensive to feed all the family SW friendly recipes just because of the way my menfolk eat. They will tolerate pasta but only once a week, same with jacket potatoes, loathe rice and like HUGE meals, stodge and variety. Taking pasta / Rice / Jacket spuds out of the equation means that all that is left is lean meat and fish which is all expensive for a family of four in portion sizes that would satisfy my lot. There are some meals that all four of us can have cheaply but it's just easier for me if I carry on feeding them the same way and making something separately for myself. Although to be honest I am overweight due to excessive between meal snacking rather than meals, I just need a few boundaries which is why SW works for me.

Need that's awful, I hope you are both ok.
MissA pleased to hear you enjoyed Rome.
I've gone completely off the rails this week with top up shops, going to soft play and buying THREE coffees whilst out and about. Today should be NSD for me but DH is going to the butchers on the way home. He is going to make his own chicken nuggets and meat balls for himself and DD. Asda shop arrived last night and I remembered why I hate online shopping - loads of carrier bags with about 2 items in each and they substituted some odd things too. What's most annoying is that I went out with mum yesterday and we ended up in Aldi so I could have done the shopping there anyway.
On the subject of bread we have made our own for years. We got a bread machine as a wedding gift which is cheaper to use than heating the oven. We get about 3 loaves put of an 80p bag of flour and no waste. DH is actually very good at making bread it's a bit of a hobby of his so he sometimes does more fancy bread at the weekend as a treat. It is definitely cheaper and so much nicer too, we can't eat shop bread anymore!
At least the weekend should be low spend as we are going visiting various friends for birthdays and things and have already bought the pressies.

Not been on in few days. Got a bit of a land when we got a bill that was much higher than we thought! Have savings to pay off but it means planned home improvement works will have to be scaled back...

So far this week I have just been writing down what we spend and to be fair dh is also tracking so I get a realistic idea.

It's half term here. Cost nothing extra till yesterday. DS1 got €25 for cinema and sleepover and bus fare (he might have change but doubt I will see it!). Dh then picked up take away? That was €17. Today have to get few things in town will update later.

Also owe colleague €14 for nite out next week and going out with BF for belated birthday treat tomorrow night.
So looking very spendy weekend...

Hoped to only spend 1 euro yesterday but dd broke a pack of more expensive eggs so I had to buy them instead so 2.30 on eggs. We'll see how today goes

MissA Rome is somewhere Ive always wanted to visit, glad you enjoyed it!

Mystic I think you youve made the right decision, and now its decided you can stress less about it at least.

Feeling a bit annoyed today, my work are hopeless with salaries and once again Ive received a payslip with what seems too much mat pay but not an amount for it to make any sense (very long story!). Need to extra tighten the belt in case I am asked to pay some back :/ will set aside the value of SMP which is what I suspect its wrong by in a separate account just in case.

£100 mortgage OP otherwise should be a NSD. May open a bottle of wine later (first since last May!) X

Enjoy your wine, blue. I have that fear with my work too - they forgot to pay me at all once! I'm also worried that they might forget to pay me next week now that I have returned to work, especially as we have to pay nearly £680 nursery fees on Monday. That will come out of the bank OK but will leave us short for the mortgage the following week if I'm not paid.
I have been to a baby group today that was already paid for. DD is asleep and I have no plans to go anywhere later so I might finally achieve a NSD today!

Argh I wrote an epically boring long post earlier and my iPod died. And I missed the lightning deal on the longer charger cable, hmmph. The shorter one is annoying.

Anyway thanks I will marinade and freeze straight away. Will be prepping some stir fry packs too (spring onion etc).

Mystic I think that's a sensible decision about not going to the wedding. Plan a lovely time for yourselves at home - eat food/watch movies etc that Daddy doesn't like :o

£4.90 on a bus into town. Omg I couldn't believe the expense!!! We did go in there with a friend and her kids so it was a nice day out. Went to library and gallery to look at an exhibition and then lunch out £23.

Looked at nice handbags... Might buy one... We shall see. This month has been quite spendy but more to do with ds birthday and washing machine then anything else....

Happy weekend everyone!

I managed to get DS out today and away from all his technology for the first time since Tuesday. We got the bus to a farm cafe lunch. When I checked online, the route showed it was just over a mile and a half walk to the farm from where we got off the bus, but I think it must have been as the crow flies, as our walk was more like 2.5 miles (each way). Needless to say, it inspired lots of moaning from DS! Still, he perked up for lunch, and he pointed out it was all downhill on the way back. So, £12.50 on bus fares (two separate bus companies) and £16.70 on lunch, but getting fresh air and exercise into a 12 year old on half term AND meeting the challenge of going somewhere most car drivers wouldn't think you could without a car, are priceless!

£58.73 tesco delivery.

Got a prescription so saved some money.

MissA so pleased you enjoyed yourself airport parking is a nightmare we were lucky when we went to New York as we managed to park right next to one of the bus stops!