We aint no April Frugalling Fools.. There may be Showers ahead, but we'll sail through together ...

[Laska42]

Heres a new thread for the April Frugaleers!

Spring has arrived and summer is a-coming..

Good luck everyone trying to save money, There's lots of good support here..

We are back from our cycle ride, was nice and dd should sleep well tonight with cycling, swimming and a play in the park!!

Ended up getting 2 ice creams in the park £3 - I dread to think how much I spend on ice creams over the year, as soon as the sun is out I can't help myself!! Also 50p on a train ride thing for dd.

Nice day and now debating what to do for tea!! Something and salad I think, maybe pasta or pizza!

Starting to dread taking the car into the garage tomos - praying it won't be something awful and expensive, if it is that will be our holiday gone

Oh and gave a cheque to the swimming lesson lady it was £58.50 for the term, she reckoned it wouldn't be cashed until next week so hoping it won't go out till pay day!

girlie hope the car doesn't cost too much. I really feel your pain having had some huge bills for mine over the last couple of years.
audit hope your mum is on the mend soon.
Adora wow, you're coming home! That's fantastic news. Hope dh doesn't end up having to stay there too long.
Dd and I have been staying with friends for the weekend which was pretty frugal. The friends have a smallholding on the edge of a village in beautiful Staffordshire countryside and dd was in her element helping with the animals, walking the dogs etc.
I've got a hen weekend in Derbyshire next weekend which is costing £135 which I reckon is pretty good. It includes 2 nights in a rental house, all food including a 3 course meal done by caterers on the Saturday night. The wedding is in May and will be minimal cost as both have been married before, don't want presents and are just having a BBQ for the reception, beer and wine provided but you can bring other drinks with you. It's local to us so no accommodation needed either.
Nothing major in the week ahead as far as I know. Need to meal plan though, might post that later.

£26.30 in Tesco, using a £2 off voucher.

I hope your mum feels better soon, Audit.

Hope your mum feels better soon audit.

Nsd for me today as I was sick at home. Bad cough and a cold/hayfever thing. Not sure which it is so I've been dosing on lemsip and loratidine! As I get asthma too it really isn't v pleasant at the moment.

Dh took the kids out swimming after lunch which gave me some peace. I tidied up some clothes away and put some in the charity bag (I've given up the hope of going back down to an 8 - am now a small 10 mostly due to y baby belly which hasn't shifted in 4 years!!) and watched some movies.

Tomorrow back to work. More frugalling!

lachatte I read that at school, not surprised he's fed up with it!
Spent about £20 (DH lost receipt) in Asda on cat food & litter, 3 packs of nappies and a couple of groceries we needed. That should be it for spending until Thursday when nursery fees are due and I'm going out with some colleagues, but only for a drink so should be cheap and I'll probably drive.

Q: made a lovely slow-cooker lamb tagine today. Boiled up my own lamb stock from left-over roast, added loads of chickpeas, apricots, carrot, swede etc. blummin lovely. Planned for it to do dinner tonight and tomorrow = tick. Problem is it's so huge from stuff I've added that there are at least 6 portions left. We physically cannot eat it all in the next few days. Can I freeze it? Previously frozen lamb is probably about 10% of the whole recipe but it has been frozen before. WWYD?

I'd freeze it.

I'd freeze it too.

Yays! I'm gonna do it it's probably the only frugal thing I've achieved this week :( !

Well it's better than nothing.

You can freeze things twice if they're raw the first I me round and cooked the second time.

Hello all have been away first with work for 7 days then 14 days in USA with DH.

Not very frugal at all (except I got 3 pairs of designer jeans for $80 in total, which was a bit of a bargain!)

Now we are in need of a strict budget, DH is very resistant to it for some reason, normally he is very amenable but every time I mention it he tries to say we shouldnt budget/save until September/Christmas/next year.

lachatte wow' that's a heavy homework, what age is he? The Met is rather adult in theme at places! (Latin teacher here)

Great that you are coming home Adora. Fingers crossed that it all works out.

girlie I wouldn't buy a second hand back protector to be honest. A correctly fitted riding hat and back protector are the most important bits of kit for a rider. They need to be professionally fitted. DD's protector cost £100 two years ago, but still fits her (they adjust) even after going through puberty. It's really important that they fit correct at the back. I would happily buy all my other bits of tack second hand, but not these two things.

unescorted Wow, brilliant find

They're in yr6, so all 11 and 12 yo Peonies , it's really difficult IMO, even if they're not actually doing it in Latin! DS is very dyslexic as it is, he's finding it really really demoralising, and when I try to help him I have to look up every other word (I'm an English teacher in France).

Hospital parking was only £1.40 yesterday.

I forgot I had given mum £5 in change to keep at the hospital in case she needs anything.

Am regularly checking the Centerparcs website (including under private browsing) to try to save €220 on a weeks holiday at half term. Currently one site in Netherlands has reduced what we want, the weekend at the start of our week has been reduced, I thought it would go down today

Forgot, yesterday £4 buying paper plates/cups/serviettes for party at dancing tonight.

£9.97 on waffles, coffee and ice cream

Looking into the detail of the Centerparcs booking. Sheets package compulsory €36.25, tourist tax €54.25 and administration fee €29.50. That is on top of the price of €749, so €749 has become €869,

Aaarrgggghhhh definitely holding on for a discount........

£13.89 on grocery top up, £2 on iced coffee

About to go to gym (free via work) for first time ever, scared

Good luck MissA!

Nsd as been at work to try and pay some time back

So car was £110 in the end, could have been worse I suppose. Will take the money from my savings as that is what why are there for I guess!!

Other spends today, £4.50 in coffee shop on drinks and cake for me and dd.

£2 in pets at home on dog treats for my dads dog they we are looking after next wend.

£5 in Tescos on chamomile tea, squash and an ice lolly.

So over a tenner on not much really, oh well am counting down to payday now - can't come soon enough!!

Needa thank you that is good to know, where would I go to get one fitted? I am a bit clueless about horse riding, there is a Go Outdoors type place that sells them but not sure they would know much about fitting etc?

Lamb will be fine because you've cooked it so not freezing in the same state as previous freezing.

Good luck MissA just take it slowly to start with.

Need shopping today but no expensive M&Ms because of bad 'tude yesterday, which turned out to be NSD.

NSD. Free gym? What's not to like.

Free gym would be great.

I often refreeze after cooking tis fine.
Lovely day here. Kids to the park after school. Dd borrowed some horrid Henry books from school. Saved buying them and our library is not particularly accessible for us. Frugal result saves a fortune in book shops