Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

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

999 replies

Laska42 · 30/04/2015 19:48

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 Grin

OP posts:
colliewobbles83 · 22/05/2015 20:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NK5BM3 · 22/05/2015 21:00

Those shoes look great Italian. Do you know if they exist in the uk or where I can find those? I really need some peep toe sling back heels. My current ones need a new heel which I would do but the heel bit is looking rather sorry and scruffy. I don't know if I should repair or I should get new ones. I shall ask the cobbler.

I'm so sorry about your friend pointless. It's v sad. A friend died at Christmas and I saw him only in November and he looked fine. He left behind the wife and an 11year old. He was only 45.

My stepmum now has a lung infection. I think dad is prepared for the worst...Sad

Aldi shop £62. That's it for the big shop.

TeWiSavesTheDay · 22/05/2015 21:35

So sorry pointless - how heartbreaking. And sorry you've both had badnew lachatte and NK Flowers for you all.

Relatively spendy day, had to pay for a preschool trip. Am pleased with thinking of a good, small, frugal leaving gift for someone leaving the country (probably forever) - got a plain tee and have fabric pens here we will take to their goodbye party so everyone can decorate.

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 07:15

Sorry to hear everyone's bad news. It is difficult to know what to do when people you love are poorly, especially when it is potentially life limiting.

Today I am focusing on the good and avoiding thinking about the things that aren't. So.... in a awestruck mummy mode my boy (with his daddy) is doing this It is a 550 mile bike race around Scotland - mostly off road and totally unsupported. last year over 30 set off and only 14 finished so it is a big challenge. To get him back to school on the first day of term they set off a day earlier than the rest of the racers (they have satalite trackers so the time is recorded). Dh is under no illusion - I want the boy back in one piece and breathing. I suspect the end of the month might be a bit tight moneywise as they will be frequenting cafes and takeaways enroute.

DD has made up with her mates so is on cloud 9 - I am not a fan of one of them but it is better than having her mope about the house. She has a full programme of sleepovers and entertainments booked for half term.

babsmam · 23/05/2015 07:22

Oh la chatte sorry to hear that.
NK check out matalan I'm sure they had some lovely shoes similar to the ones described. Not sure about the quality though.

ipsos · 23/05/2015 07:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 07:49

I have my fingers crossed for good weather too - some of the river crossings will be a little interesting if it rains too much and they only have their riding gear and one set of dry clothing to sleep in. If you see a cyclist on the train from Glasgow or Edinburgh next weekend move to another carriage - especially if they have the 1000 yard stare. Last year dh was avoided by the smackheads outside Glasgow station while he was waiting for a train.... he did not look or smell good. The car still had eau de mankycyclist when we sold it a couple of months ago (to another cyclist....)

AuditAngel · 23/05/2015 08:02

Hello everyone, sorry to hear all the bad news.

Mum has another chest infection. I'm not convinced the pneumonia fully cleared as she hasn't stopped coughing.

£19 in Tesco on croissants for breakfast, some chicken wings (4 packs?.. Why DH?-I suspect because he hasn't bought home dog food and we have run out) cucumber and spring onions and Soy sauce. £40 on a box set of DVD's.

I won't be doing a proper food shop this week as we go away on Tuesday morning, but will check if mum wants me to do an order for her. I will be buying groceries on holiday though.

I got my credit card bill yesterday. It is horrific. I left £600 on it last month as I knew I needed cash for my trip/our holiday. I have about £850 coming back from work in expenses, and should be getting about £500 extra this month from work getting my maternity pay wrong when I had DD2 (that was worth complaining about, I was actually due about £800 in childcare vouchers, but as I don't use much in the way of vouchers anymore I opted to take cash instead so I have to pay tax).

So, the bottom line is that I need to stop spending money, clear the bill and get into better habits. Plan 1: don't let DH come to the supermarket Grin much easier now he is back at work.

Plan 2: we have a healthcare cash back plan. I will do the reclaim on that. I am due back about £350, which will help with the credit card bill.

Unfortunately, I also have to sort out our timeshare, which will cost money! We inherited a timeshare, which isn't great as it isn't for the UK school holidays.

We can convert to points every other year (I have to convert last year's week we didn't use to points, which I'll need to pay to pull forward) and we can trade weeks via a club which I have to pay to use. A 3 year membership is cheaper than paying annually, but we may hand it back, so I'll just pay for a year.

But, when DD2 was a baby we had a week near Disneyland Paris, we are hoping to trade our week to get another week there next Easter.

AuditAngel · 23/05/2015 08:04

I have started next month's expenses claim, it is already at £450! And most of that (about £300) is things I have paid cash for, rather than using my credit card.

ipsos · 23/05/2015 08:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ipsos · 23/05/2015 08:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ipsos · 23/05/2015 09:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 09:11

Audit sorry to hear about your mum being poorly again.

ipsos your life will be better without the FT Grin.

colliewobbles83 · 23/05/2015 09:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 09:34

Collie sounds like the willy waving of a person who isn't as confident as they would like to think you think they are. As a SEO you generally have either the time or money to go on swanky holidays - not both!

girliefriend · 23/05/2015 09:41

Sorry to all of you dealing with bad news Flowers

Unescorted good luck to your husband and son!! My friends (who were not super fit) took the train to London with their bikes and cycled home Shock I was seriously impressed its about 250 miles. I take my hat off to you all, I feel proud if I cycle into town and back which is about 3 miles Grin

Today shouldn't be too bad, got dds horse riding lesson later £15 hopefully no other spends.....

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 09:49

Girlie it is the lack of sleep that I am impressed by - the winner last year stopped for less than 6 hours in 4.5 days. Apparently the front runners were halucinating at the end. One of them stopped to cycle through a non existant Mc Donalds just north of Tyndrum.....

Pointlessfan · 23/05/2015 10:36

The cycling sounds very impressive - good luck to them both.
We currently have a man here doing all the jobs we are too incompetent to do ourselves! I wish we were able to do them ourselves as he is charging around £150 although he'll be here most of the day. He is currently fitting our water butt so hopefully that'll help to get our ridiculous water bills down.
Just noticed the cat has an ingrown claw, made vet appointment for next week, hope it's not too expensive. We still need to replace the washbasin too. These little problems always seem to crop up at once don't they?! Nevermind, after yesterday's news I'll take our bit of bad luck happily. I'm counting my blessings.

ItalianWiking84 · 23/05/2015 11:37

Sorry haven't been reading
Friends ds passed away last night, so I'm in hospital now sitting in the car park trying to man myself up to go in

SpottyTeacakes · 23/05/2015 12:03

So sorry Italian Sad lots of sad news on this thread this month

babsmam · 23/05/2015 12:08

Oh no that's awful Italian ]]]

And [[[[hug]]]] to everyone else and I don't give a knack if it's unmumsnetty!

ipsos · 23/05/2015 12:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Unescorted · 23/05/2015 12:29

Italian that is my worst fear - I can't imagine what your friend is going through.

colliewobbles83 · 23/05/2015 12:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ItalianWiking84 · 23/05/2015 13:07

Thanks all
Still in Chock
Not fair at all, babies should not die

Swipe left for the next trending thread