Marvelous Frugaleers - May the Money Magic Continue into June

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Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

By popular request - copied from January

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

orchard.tesco.com/ Sign up to this.

www.topcashback.co.uk/home And this.

www.quidco.com/home/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ditto.

www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

That's what we're aiming for ipsos. I cleared and power washed all the patio and concrete (took me nearly a week it was that bad!) and have been mowing the two smaller bits of grass but the rest of it is unusable :( we inherited the garden when we bought the house 18 months ago and the only changes we've made so far are removing a load of spiky bushes (pet hate!). The elderly lady before us couldn't maintain it properly either. It's in a sorry state sadly :(

Blue I would get a price for the lot and take it from there. Maybe you can't afford or don't want to pay for it all but maybe a bit at a time. Once it's under control it's less daunting to maintain or time consuming and expensive .
Hope a sleep helped collie.

Quick update, I really will try To catch up soon.

Last Friday £7 on veg for this week because the store had 30% discount

NSW

Today £13.20 on food for dinner, 2/3 days as I got a mágica Chicken, snacks after school and sandwich bits.

Back from holiday yesterday. Got to Eurotunnel REALLY early, they offered us an immediate train for an extra £83 or wait 2 hours for free, so we waited, unfortunately DH topped up on 2 cases of wines, 2 litres of Vodka and 2 bottles of brandy, but all cheaper than buying here.

Got home to discover our fridge freezer hasn't been working. Although mum has been here, she is a bit dippy not very switched on about these things do we have just had to dump the entire contents (just about) if the fridge and freezer. (Well, DH cooked all the meat to feed to the dogs, including an entire loin if pork, a pork joint, gammon joint, pork chops, belly pork........)

Need to see if we have freezer contents cover on the house insurance (I think we do), also try to get the household emergency cover on my bank account to send someone to look at the fridge, but it is over 10 years old, so am expecting it will need replacing. I'm only surprised that DH hasn't already picked one out.

Fortunately we do have another fridge for short term use, so are not fridge-less

Poor you Audit, that happened to us once and the smell......!
Luckily we didn't much on the freezer

Hi, had to namechange so will try and be a bit vague so I'm not outed!

Good things: DH found a good 0% credit card deal so we're transferring our overdraft and the £70 we were paying in interest plus some extra should pay it off much faster.

Also discovered local community cinema, films are older of course but very cheap.

Glad you are feeling better Collie when will you get the results?

Blue i am at you having a garden you can't tame!! Would love a garden but have to make do with a few pots sounds sensible to pay someone to get it under control so that you can then use and enjoy it.

Audit that is so annoying, I would cry if the contents of my freezer had to get chucked - that is what we are going to be living on this month!!

So day off today, have done a bit of housework and am waiting for a chap rom the council to come and fix a leaky tap. Not a lot else planned really other than coffee with a friend later. Should be a NSD though.

Was going to try hang on until tomorrow to get diesel but I was too tired to make lunch this morning so will buy lunch get diesel & pick up contraception prescription in my 30 min lunch break instead.
It's psychological waiting another day for diesel really!

Thats annoying Collie I have been slobbing on the sofa as well!! Could do with a nap now actually.....

Checked my account, rent and gas and electric still to come out which will leave me with £214 for the whole of june I suppose roughly £50 a week for food and fuel is achievable and will just have to not buy anything else!!

£57.43 on petrol
£3.90 parking at hosp and £4.10 on restorative coffee/muffin at Costa Lotta!

So June is going to be a bit of a tight month all told! But on plus side i have got more work coming in than I thought and it looks as though my temp contract may resume sometime soon.

Did an Aldi shop which cost £134 but which is a whole months shopping and we seem to be going through a lot less food these days. Having quite a few NSDs which are helping but am going to pay for festival tickets this week which will be £77 (fortunately DS goes free) and I need to find cash for DS passport update soon.

Will need some more work for next month though!

So far today I've done bread, soup and smoothie making with dd. £2 to go swimming and £1.70 on a couple of treats for lunch. Tomato soup and HM focaccia ready for tea. Ds has a cricket match tonight if the ground dries out. Nothing else planned.

Tomorrow we're going out for a walk and taking sandwiches with us but at the end we'll have a drink and scones at our favourite cafe.

Nsd.

peppa
I hear ya about Costa I was railroaded into visiting there yesterday for first time by dd. Two adults & 2 children had lunch & drinks in a lovely restaurant during the day for same price as three miniscule cakes, one brownie, 2 hot drinks and two kids drinks in the evening. Will never visit there again.

Will give my business to the local cafes instead

Absolutely clery, such a con.

My au pair loves it there & it was the finish off of a day out to treat her too.

The cakes looked fab at the restaurant we went to mid day I'm just cursing myself that we didnt get them to take away

NSD and working a few hours overtime tomos

Was talking to my friend earlier who is really savvy with money and all her DDs seem cheaper than mine So annoying, I really try to keep mine down and ring round but obviously can still do much better!!

NSD again, but God knows when I'll have another!

Lost my message Argh! Essentially it was: don't forget free coffees at Nero on a Monday with the aviva app, thank you for all the votes of garden confidence (ipsos I hope mine turns out as well as yours!) - girlie you are welcome to come garden it for a wee holiday to northern Ireland lol! I think you get a little more here property wise for the money. We bought a fixer upper (all sound and working, just 70s) so have been pouring our time and money into that rather than the outside. So much still to do! Currently trying to work out how to makeover the kitchen with a budget of next to zero lol all ideas welcome!

Sold an unused double buggy on Facebook for 45 quid so pleased about that and it frees up space for OH in the garage lol :)

Otherwise a NSD here

Sounds like there's lots of yummy frugal food happening, we had savoury mince, veg and chips done in the halo to use a few bits and pieces up :)