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

Ok, so I bought the sunglasses, but I'll claim my overnight allowance and use that towards them.

Last week we didn't visit the butcher & did a small top up like shop. We all survived we all ate well. This week was meant to be similar, however €35 in butchers, €99 in aldi & €60 Tesco delivery says otherwise - €140 is the weekly budget.
I plan for a small top up shop next week to balance the books we're away some if not all of the weekend.

Found a new restaurant giving free cooked breakfast on Fri the day we travel so definitely visiting there!

Yes plenty of room in our tent, feel free!
As predicted got a bit carried away in Go Outdoors. Got cheap walking trousers for me and waterproofs for DD which is what we went for but I also bought a jacket and we got one of those big rucksacks that you can carry toddlers in. It was very expensive but we are quite outdoorsy so I think we'll actually enjoy our camping more if we can do some proper walks unhindered by the pushchair! £280 in total - bit ashamed of myself this weekend

Blimey I think some of you seem to have gone a bit spendy £100 on sunglasses my sunglasses cost £14.99 from Boots

My spends today have been £5 at the opticians for a routine check up, found a voucher on line (would have been £25 otherwise!) Dd and I have perfect vision!!

£1.50 on a new tin opener, hoping this one lasts a bit longer than the last one which was rubbish!

Umm think thats it, my mum kindly bought me some cropped jeans from m&s which was very kind of her. She is being really generous at the moment, she paid for adds horse riding lesson ystd as well bless her.

I am patting myself on the back for having done quite well this month, am hoping to have a couple of hundred left in the bank for London over half term.

Pointless the toddler rucksacks keep their value on eBay (or used to). Ours saved us money in the long run - less chance of sitting in a cafe or mooching around expensive honeypot towns waiting for the others to get back.

I am concerned LaChatte seems to have slinked off.... do you think she has got wind of our cunning plan to help her with her wine problem?

NSD today. Yay!

Nah she's busy doing the housework in preparation

I'm going to have to look into those leave-in contact lenses, although I'm not sure I'd like to sleep with them in (I might have done it once or twice with my normal ones and really regreted it!).

As for gate crashing , I was really sneaky when I bought our house in that I chose a really big house but with no guest rooms! Even my Dparents have to sleep on the sofa bed with the cat ang dog when they come to stay one of the reasons I didn't want a spare room actually . However we do have a patch of land down by the river which you're more than welcome to all come and camp on for free, although there are NO facilities you can bring a shovel , except for the wine of course.

Other than that, NSD, as have spent the past 48 hours doing prep for work almost non stop (and I haven't even started on my marking). Poor DD has spent all weekend sitting at the desk next to me drawing, painting and making things, none of us have set foot outside despite it being glorious weather

NSD. Afternoon tea at home was lovely.

My parents did the same when we came over from Oz.... didn't stop all the gap year kids crashing for months at a time. It was like a boarding house at times.

Don't say that Unescorted , I've got my 18 year old cousin coming over in June for "a week or so", I took that to mean 7 to 10 days... Travel prices go up around the 20th of JULY so he'll have to leave by then, oh ffs he's going to be here for a month isn't he?

Loud early morning vacuuming and arguements were my parent's way of lettnig people know they had outstayed their welcome.

£14.99 is too much for me for sunglasses, basically because I lose them in days

My Nutribullet came! Only ordered it last night at 10pm. Bit shocked, as was DH I made a smoothie of a carrot, grapes, manky banana, some celery and water (haven't had chance to buy almond milk or soya milk). Was lovely. Tomorrow, I plan carrot, orange and spring greens for breakfast. Nom.

I bag the prize for the most spent today, as we have just booked a week in a posh hotel in Sorrento. Just realised that my DC aren't actually back at school until 8th September, so we have taken advantage of the prices. We were not supposed to be going this year, as the DC have other holidays sorted already.

fluffy I did get £900 discount and went through topcashback but still came to £3k as we have to pay full adult prices for the DC. This is definitely a dividend spend, but I will now budget for spending money (we are half board) and extra clothing requirements out of my monthly money.

DD is over the moon, as she wants to go to Pompei

Loving the house with no guest rooms. You and I are on the same page there.

The good thing about Oakly aviators is that they sell well on eBay. Dh sells stuff for about £20 less than he paid for it. He keeps all the original recipts, cases and cloths and flogs them when he's bored.

I would love to go to sorrento. Also Capri.

Oh lord I can see me NEEDING a nutribullet. Is it dishwasher safe? I don't wash up.

NSD.

Sounds lovely!

We have spent nought all weekend :D admittedly this is because I've not been well... also the oven now appears to have broken.

Ooh, online shopping says I have cumulated €1.43 on my new points card

girliefriend my sunglasses are even cheaper, one pair came free with a phone I bought a few years ago & the other pair were €1.50 in primark!

need that holiday sounds amazing!
We got an appointment for ds in Dublin in August so thinking we might make a mini holiday out of it. It will be the week before dd starts school.

Got 10 copies for her starting school for 99c - delighted with that bargain.

fluffy - The beaker is dishwasher safe, you just swish the blade section the tap, simples.

I do find that 'decent' stuff retains it's value a bit more. One of the reasons I bought an expensive chicken coup, as an example, they sell for almost full price!

My menu planning consists of me choosing lots of meals that I know I have ingredients in for, but reserve the right to be flexible on days. As below.

Chicken curry, rice.
Smoked mackerel risotto with leek and mushroom.
Thai curry.
Pasta and sauce (jar)
Vegetarian hot dogs
Mexican (Old El Paso is on offer this coming week in Aldi)
Frittata.
Liver and Bacon casserole with veg.
Vegetarian bolognaise
Spinach and lentil daal
Bacon and kale casserole
Roast dinner
Chana Masala
Roasted veg and baby potatos, med style.
Cajun chicken.
Soup.
Tuna and cheese quiche.
Stir fry.

Thanks ladies. ..will "go compare" or something!

£5ish on lunch bits and that's it. Very good compared to the spending by some

waves .. Ive been away for weekend and few days before that were mad..
will catch up tomorrow but just saying hello again before I read back .

Some idiot clipped my car on the way home and is now accusing me of being on wrong side of road and smashing her wing mirror .. My car was totally unmarked (and I wasnt over her side) .. . anyway she went apeshit even though she was in the wrong, (but did admit she was in a rush to get to see her care patient so i think I can also argue she wasnt driving with care and attention)

..Anyway im hoping she would have seen sense.. she got my phone and car number , but i dont have to give her my insurance details if she calls do I? ..would the police bother in a case like that and should i report it? no witnesses , hers was an old car , so cant have any proof it was ok before ( if it was even)

Stupidly I now realise i didnt take a photo of her car or the location (its two counties away from where i live and im not even sure of the road name ) ,, or even look at her supposed 'damage'; was too busy trying to get away fron screaming banshee.. . ah well, we will contest if she does make a fuss ..

Worst case is 50/50 laska. That's what happened to us when some twat crashed into us when I was pregnant and wrote off our car. I'm still so angry about it. You don't have to give your details her insurance company can do all the chasing.

Bad news about your car Laska some people just like a fight I reckon.
Sorrento is beautiful and Pompeii is amazing! Have been there twice but both times with 40+ year 10 students in tow, I'd like to go back and see it properly!
I should have looked on Ebay for a toddler rucksack really. It's one of those things we've been thinking about for ages and never got round to so it wasn't a total impulse buy!
I just realised my cheapo Asda gravy granules contain beef fat, proper Bisto ones do not. As a veggie that has annoyed me and massively spoilt my dinner which was meant to be sausages, mash and peas with onion gravy. It was a bit dry without the gravy! Does anyone know how to make veggie gravy from scratch? I know how to make proper meat gravy but not any that I can eat.

Hello Laska wondered where you had got to! That is so annoying about the car, maybe wait a few days she may not even bother to claim.

I haven't got any hot water, so annoying! Am now thinking the hot water may have been playing up for a week or more as I had noticed it was much hotter than usual before it stopped working. Wondering if thats what put my electric bill up

Will ring the council tomos to get someone out but am already dreading a cold strip wash in the morning - brrrrr

me me I know how to make vegi gravy from scratch!!

Fry an onion in some oil (I use olive oil but any oil would be fine)
Fry until its soft but not brown iyswim.
Add a large spoonful of plain flour and mix into a lump - cook that for a min or two.
Then slowly add vegi stock (about a pint) stirring all the time to avoid lumps.
I also add in a good slug of red wine and a large spoonful of marmite.

I then blitz it with a hand blitzer thingy.

Depending on how thick you like your gravy you add more or less flour at the beginning.

ah just had a snotty call from womans husband.. told him i wasnt discussing it with him.. looks like it will go to insurance then ..