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..

Doing just about ok here for the month but need to keep a tight rein on spending. Released around £200 from paypal with various earnings but need to bid on more freelance work to keep up the stream of new clients. We are at least doing ok with using up food and trying to be more frugal but I do need to try and generate extra income as we will need to buy a new fridge freezer as it is getting older. . Hoover also had accident as dropped downstairs (my fault but clip broke and down it went) so that will cost £45 to replace but DH paying.

A bit miffed at no Aldi voucher but hopefully it will be back next month!

I think we're at the end of budget and not got food yet (it's a small list though) plus going out to dinner tomorrow.

I suppose we did have guests some of this month, plus my birthday but overall not pleased!

I seriously need to get my head out of the sand this month. We seem to be spending left right and centre. Dare not look at the account. I'm going to have to though aren't I!?
£105 in sainsbury but £34 of refunds at the same time so £70 ish which is better

At least the lunar pays are being kind from next week and dh comes into line with mine for a bit which will budgeting for a few months

creme I love green smoothies,
I do kale/spinach, banana, flax seed, almond milk.

So spends today;

£1 parking
£9.50 on daps for dd
£15 horse riding lesson.

My mum kindly bought dds school shoes, they were £40 but by the time we had finished trying on about 20 pairs (ridiculously fussy dd) we would have both probably paid £500 just so we could leave the shoe shop hell!! I tried to give my mum half at least but she wouldn't have it.

I also ended up buying another boden hoodie for dd, they sent me a £10 off voucher plus 20% off and I couldn't resist. Its one of the fleecy ones, originally £38 but I got it for £20. Naughty but it is very nice!!

Spendy day. Food shopping from morrisons and Aldi came to about under £60 which is fine. £16 on dry cleaning.

Then... Went to town with dd who needed summer clothes and we spent £17 in primark (shoes £6 for dd, rest on ds a t shirt and a pair of jeans), £17 in h&m (summer clothes for dd). £31 on a top for me in phase 8. £14 on soling my new lk Bennett shoes. £1 tesco for yoghurt coz she was hungry.

Sigh, it's been a long week and work has not been great. Not so much the work, but the sort of politics I hate.

£130 theatre club fees, £32 tickets for the show they are producing, £21 swimming lesson. Owch.

Someone hasn't paid for something after 10 days on ebay. I've put a non payer report thing in. V frustrating, not just the money but it has spoilt my flow! I did have a stack of bits and bobs I was going to ebay, but my work start date is nigh so I gave it all to the charity shop. It would've got possibly £10-£15 but I'd rather have the space and not the hassle. Will recoup that money elsewhere instead. ...

Grrr after my triumph in the supermarket yesterday I arrived home and DH said we'd run out of dishwasher tablets and eggs, needless to say he'd used the last of each and not written them on the list. Nevermind, we all had a nice walk to the shop!
Made some delicious soup last night with half a butternut squash and a couple of carrots that were lurking in the fridge. Added a chilli, fresh rosemary from the garden and a tin of chick peas. It was loosely based on a Jamie Oliver 15 min recipe but I also found half a lime in the fridge so squeezed the juice in at the end. That will be lunch for today and tomorrow.
Should be NSD today but the fence has blown down yet again and I think we are going to have to buy new panels now. I don't think they are very expensive though.

Panels are about £20-£30 each around here depending on size.

My aunt is treating us to breakfast today then we're going to exchange our money into euros. Mil gave us £100 and bil £50 so hopefully we won't need that and can use some of it to pay my dad back.

Ds needs new shoes which is annoying. He has really narrow feet.

Just a couple of pounds for the church collection today and that should Brit. Will take the kids to the park as they seem to have an excess of energy at the minute.
Still haven't checked the bank . Paydays next thus and Friday.

Got to get back into habit of posting here. Am still doing relatively ok, staying on track etc

In a dilemna now though ds is getting much more adventurous and we live on side of the main road with only a timber fence & no gates. I've gotten a fantastic deals on blocks at work but we don't have money to fund building a boundary wall & put gates in. I think I will need to get a home improvement loan from credit union to fund it as if we wait until we saved the money it could be years! It would be amazing to be able to let the kids out to play without needing to be there for every second too

It is such a beautiful day here - the forecast said cloud and rain at times. It is crisp blue skies.

The first harvests have made their way to my kitchen - rhubarb I made a lovely crumble last night and there is still enough for rhubarb and ginger jam. I also went to check on my seedlings for the garden - looking good.

Pointless I have the JO Save With... out of the library at the moment. He has some good tips for jazzing up things but they aren't ultra cheap receipes because there are too many ingredients. I am still peeved that the supermarkets hoiked the price of whole chickens when he did the TV series.... I can hold a grudge for a long time.

Spotty are you panels all the same size? B&Q and Wikes do multi packs which might work out cheaper. Unfortunately who ever built our fence didn't think of this.... they are all different, but we have a local fence manufacturer who do good deals and delivery is cheaper than the chains.

NK I feel your pain about the politics - it is about to kick off on our team because there are now 2 senior managers who do ostensibly (sp?) the same job. You would think we had enough with the election ...None of it will be helped by the new office / hot desking & shared office that we return to on Monday. I feel the hard hat and flack jacket coming out this week. I will take the penguin's mantra "smile & wave boys" as my weekly motto.

unescorted My dad had that book but he goes to the poshest butcher in the world to get his "cheap" cuts of meat!

Had a nice surprise ystd, logged onto check my account and the tax credits people had given me an additional payment of £130 apparently it is to do with the end of the tax year. Has meant that I have ended the month still in the black which is a minor miracle

Aiming for a nsd today, we are looking after my dads dog this wend so going to take him for a nice walk on the hills in a bit, will take food and drink etc. Dd has her swimming lesson later, not sure what to do for tea - will have a rummage in the freezer I think.

£6 for salad and water at airport. Flying home as found out my godmother passed away on Friday and her funeral is tomorrow. work have been amazing and given me 2 days off with full pay.

So sorry to hear that MissA

I don't need fence panels if I do I usually get them on account from a local place or free from my dad!

£7 something in boots on shower gel, hair bleach and panty liners.

Sorry for your loss, MissA.

Another NSD. I have made £95 on eBay today, less fees.

MissA I'm very sorry for your loss

Sorry to hear that MissA hope you are o.kay.

Had a nice day and a NSD to boot! Took the dog for two long walks, dogs are good for encouraging exercise - have walked miles in the last 3 days!!

Home now, having a rest before thinking about dinner.

Sorry to hear that missA

An actual NSD....finally!

Sorry for your loss MissA.

Spent £25 at Sainsburys. Top up shop of things I didn't realise we had missing or running low until I started planning food and actually cooking it!

Tonight we are having lasagne
Tomorrow leftovers and whatever dh can get together for a quick dinner (he and ds go to chess)
Tuesday sausage casserole
Wednesday fish and chips (frozen)
Thursday fried rice
Friday salmon with rice
Saturday no idea

Have a good week everyone. I need to survive this week and every week till end of June.

Sorry to hear that missa x.
£28 in lidl. Moral of that story don't shop with kids and dh.
About to save £100 as taking the kids out of judo as they do too much I think. Aiming to move swimming out of the weekend so we can have days out without worrying about kids activities

I am sorry MissA, what a horrible reason to go home.

£2 on a ready mixed Jack Daniels and cola. I asked for g&t but it'll do. We've been out tidying the garage, painting the gate and all the hinges etc and I've weed treated the lawn plus salted the brick paving so weeds can't grow, re-blacked the railings as a stop gap, cleared the soak away drain, been to the tip and hung up all the garden tools. Just got to water the turf again when the suns gone down.

We're both knackered but the house is starting to look nice now and I can get my car in the garage which makes me happy for some reason.

Sorry to hear about your loss MissA.
NSD today thank goodness and payday on Tuesday.
Does anyone have any good slow cooker recipes for aubergines please? I love them cooked so they are falling apart either with mozzarella/tomato type things or really sticky Chinese style but can't find a good recipe for the slow cooker.