We are the Marvelous Frugaleers - Mindfully Managing our Money in May.. Come join us!

[Laska42]

So here is a new thread for all the Magical May Frugaleers!

All are welcome to come and join our friendly supportive group if you'd like to take control of your finances in May and beyond..

We are working together to support each other, live within our means, pay off those debts and save for the life we want!

Good luck everyone for another month

Just got DH to cut out my verruca. It was hurting today after I put on the Verrugon. He is now slicing off hard skin with scissors. I want beautiful feet for my trip. I'll hit the bikini line tomorrow with the IPL!

Should be nsd today.

Audit I like to pick out corns my chiropodist would have a heart attack!

Definitely going to be a very spending day today.... Going to buy dp wedding suit and dd birthday present...

I don't have a wine fridge. I live in the Côtes du Rhône region. Our house is literally next door to an award winning wine place, I occasionally look after the owner's daughter, in return she gives me cases of wine. Neither DH nor I actually like wine, it's a tragedy really. We do use some of it for cooking though.

passthecake that was me with the half a daim bar, I'm 28lbs overweight & I run slimming classes so needs must. Must check out € shop for them. They're 2 for €1.30 in Tesco & I'm getting a delivery tomorrow so might get a couple there just to have.

I haven't spent much this week. €15 on paralink suppositories & urine sample bottles. Dd5 has a raging temperature but no other symptoms & the suppositories combined with nurofen (fenpaed Actually) are just keeping it at mildly raised.

Oh dear, I hope your DD is ok lila.

Thud.... that's me, hitting the floor, at someone NOT liking wine

collie Well done on finally (hopefully) getting the Npower thing sorted.

Today I need to get some cash out. Sounds daft, but if I use the cash machine in the village, I get charged £1.85. However, I will then have to drive to local town, and I do need a few bits anyway...

Actually not competing this weekend. So I am getting my nails done as a treat tomorrow and DC want to see the new Avengers film, DD then wants a sleepover. A 'normal' weekend. I will do a bit of gardening too.

Need to get some shopping today, have a £6 off a £30 shop in Sainsburys so think will go there. Don't need too much food as seem to have made it last this week.

Am going out tonight! Woo Hoo its a 70s theme night disco with a buffet included, was only £10 which seems really reasonable. Going to have to pull out all my clothes though to find something suitable to wear!!

Thud.... that's me, hitting the floor, at someone NOT liking wine

I know, ridiculous isn't it? And such a waste!

Right have spent all morning on the phone trying to reduce my DDs

So

BT are officially useless, kept me on hold for ages and could only reduce my bill by £1 my contract with them comes to an end next month so will definitely change.

Scottish Power were much nicer and have stopped the increase, I am going to make much more of an effort to use less electric though.

Contacted tax credits eventually, they were their usual helpful selves but hopefully everything is in order so will wait and see now.

Also looked at changing car insurance as that runs out in June, looks like I can get fully comp and breakdown cover for nearly £200 less than I paid last year [happy] so feeling bit happier about that!!

Have also contacted my life insurance people as had some how lost the policy details, it seems I pay in for 15 years and if I don't claim (hopefully I won't!!) get all the payments repaid. That seems fair enough so will stick with them.

Still need to sort out my mobile contract and am thinking of changing unions, currently with RCN who are useless imo, may go to Unison.

BT are useless, when we changed our bb suppliers I used Fon for one day, it kept dropping the line so I complained and was told "ooh yes it's is a bit patchy there, have you thought of having bb with us?".

I paid by PayPal so I went through their complaints procedure and they refunded me .

If you've got car insurance and Bb up for renewal that's a lot of cashback. I reckon your Christmas could well be sorted after all this.

Try E2Save for mobiles, they do plans where you send copies of certain months bills in and they refund you. Dh used them years ago and I've just started. If you get an O2 plan you get freebies on things like wh smith cards and free coffees in Nero.

Spotty yes, your podiatrist would despair at you picking corns out!. Put Doublebase on twice a day. Hard skin just vanishes.

Nsd

Oh yes fluffy forgot about cashback as well!! That is good excellent!

Spent nearly £50 in Sainsburys but had £9 off in vouchers and discounts so actual spend was £41 (even the man on the till was impressed )

Although realised when I got home that have somehow forgotten bread not sure how i managed that! Also decided that other than essentials (bread, milk, fruit and veg) will not do any more shopping before the London trip over half term. Am well stocked so no need to get anything else.

£19 in Primark, got a playsuit for £7 that will wear tonight for fancy dress but it will be fine for normal wear as well, plus some shorts, tights, wrapping paper and hairbands (my girl cat has a fetish for them so they need constantly replacing!!)

£2.50 in Wilkos on bubble bath, shower cream, face wipes and toothpaste.

35 in morrisons as out of fresh stuff. That's it for the last couple of days. Should be a lsd weekend fingers crossed

Ps I don't like wine either

£4.65 on brunch out (our water supply was off all morning and I was so hungry and gasping for a cuppa by 11, I went to the local café.)
£28.50 on DS's school bus pass.
£8.99 on wine, pizza and pastries from Tesco.

I don't know if anyone remembers me wondering about putting in for social housing a couple of months ago. Well, last weekend two estate agents came around to appraise the property, on behalf of the receivers (house has been in receivership since just after I took on the tenancy almost 2 years ago), so it gave me the kick I needed. I viewed a decent 3 bed yesterday and I accepted it today. I am picking up the keys on Monday. The location isn't as good and there are meters in the house, so travel and utilities will cost more, but it's £99 per week for rent and water rates. I will also have to pay for all new flooring (thinking of carpets upstairs, laminate in the sitting room and vinyl downstairs. I might be able to do the vinyl myself.) and a cooker, as social housing locally never have these, but in the long term, it will all be worth it... I think!

Would anyone care to roughly estimate how much 3 bedrooms (2 double and a single), a landing and stairs will cost me? I have never had to think about flooring before, so this is very new to me.

Arg, cafe!

Bloody hell creme that was quick! That your rent is cheaper than my ha two up two down!

Not sure on the carpet. It depends how cheap you want. I think we did our upstairs for £800 but our sitting room was £500 as we went for expensive underlay. That was an off cut.

Really pleased for you

Thanks Spotty.
I am incredibly lucky to be in a cheap area, with plenty of social housing. I am in the lowest band priority and only actually bid on this particular property 2 days before I viewed it.

I remember you looking at housing. Can you get the meters taken out? It's a bit archaic.

I've been looking at flooring, it seems to be like kitchens ie as much as you want to spend.

Wickes have packs of flooring reduced all the time but eBay is good too. You can get offcuts of high end carpets on there plus thick underlay.

YouTube videos help us all the time with jobs we've never done before.

We never use the big oven now, I use it to keep the halogen oven in instead. I think some charity's shops do electricals but you'd need an electrician to fit it. Could you make do with a halogen oven?.

Congratulations on the new house

www.carpetfactoryoutletskidderminster.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_394_155_160&my=2&sort=20a&page=1&manufacturers_id=sort

Lots of cheap but good quality carpet here. If you look on eBay for seller:flooring-online-uk, they do good quality underlays for carpet.

You'll possibly need to use underlay for the laminate too, if nothing else it'll keep you warm in winter.

Lots to think about, Fluffy. I don't know much about halogen ovens at all. Do you use yours all the time, instead?

I think I will have a try at the vinyl, but carpet is definitely beyond me. Ideally, I don't really want to spend more than £500 on upstairs and the stairs. I've seen some online at £3.99 per square metre, so that might be achievable. Once I know the property measurements, I can hunt around.

Who would I ask about the meters? Housing Association or Utilities? Even if I do manage to get rid of them, bills will be higher, as it's a 1950s semi -detached, compared to a 2007 built mid terrace.

Thanks for the links, Fluffy.

We had really cheap laminate for downstairs to start with. It was £70 for the sitting room. Dh fitted it all himself so that saved some money

I've done carpet before, it's v similar to vinyl (but obviously a bit more pricey if you muck it up!) very sharp strong knife and a good eye required.

Congratulations on the house btw, brilliant news.