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.

collie they had some puddlesuits reduced in argos (random I know!)

mrsd thats an impressive amount of dresses! I counted 15 black cardigans when I was putting my washing away earlier!

blueteapot the tiles stuck well and look good. the vinyl was a nightmare to do as it was bubbling but looks good and doesn't chip that easily. the paint my mum had to do a couple of coats but only just done it so not sure on how long it will last. I think she took the tiles off the windowsill and repainted it.

today spent £13.50 coop on top ups - bread, milk, fruit, juice etc annoyed though as didn't realise I was charged twice for something till I got home

on a plus note dd2 (total veg and potato avoider) ate pretty much a whole carrot and a sweet potato - I told her they were crisps! found the recipe in an old annabel karmel book I bought with dd1 and never used definitely going to try a few more recipes

Thanks for the lovely welcome

Hello again pointless

Hi everyone. Today was not very frugal. £75 on DS"s next sailing course. 90p on a sausage roll.

£90 in Lidl, this included £8 on a colour in playhouse for the girls, plus lots of canned fish for DH (4 big tins, 8 tins of anchovies, 4 tins of tuna, 2 jars of fancy anchovies, 4 tins of sardines) I like to stock up on these as they are much cheaper here than Tesco.

I need to buy the girls milk, plus a few more bits that Lidl don't have. Will try to not get too much else.

Need to go to Kingston tomorrow DD1 has pulled the sole away from her school shoe. I only bought them at Easter, so I'm taking them back. They were Startrite ffs.

Quick update, iPad permiting

Today - súpermercado for fruit juice and chocolate £4-ish
Lunch out because the day just turned out that way £11, I had Pudding too

Yesterday - travél crates and micro chips for 2 dogs £700 - ish

Contracts finally exchanged Today so we can at last get things moving

Ipsos I'm Sussex/Surrey border.

Adora that's great news!

Spendy day today as it's dds birthday party.

Brilliant adora!

Thanks for the info collie and coconut! The kitchen is approx 3.5x3.5m and off at a right angle is an approx 4x 1.75m utility room (down a step) housing washer, dryer, fridge, freezer and 4 high and 3 low cupboards. There's definite scope to alter the layout if we did a full new kitchen. Was chatting to dad about it who thinks we should wait or do a little makeover rather than redo at the min. He's right I think as always!

Picking up the new car this morning. We took a slightly higher loan than we needed to get a better rate, and I will put the excess into a higher interest account for now as I had allocated it to kitchen.

Off to investigate the vinyl! Our worktops are horrible, like a creamy fake marble complete with steel joining strip :/

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Ipsos If you register with mysupermarket.co.uk you can input a tescos receipt, it will take a few minutes, and it will tell you how much everything will have cost at all the other supermarkets. Aldi is pretty comparable to lidl.

Adora Thank heavens for that!

I forgot, Wednesday I ordered DD1 a dressing up outfit for school on Monday 12.99, just ordered DS a Knights outfit, sword and shield for £16.49 to arrive tomorrow. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime (which DH pays for!). They are celebrating the signing of the Magna Carta, which happened near where I work. Hopefully today will be cheap, but will need to pay parking to return dd1's school shoes

The rain woke me up in the night but there was a disappointing lack of thunder and lightning. It's still pouring with rain, trying to think of a cheap/free way to entertain DD as we are brassic until DH is paid on Monday.

No storms yet but lots of rain. There's an outdoor community event today, feel like we should go but it's not going to be much fun if it rains all afternoon as forecast.

Does DD stamp her feet yet pointless? Puddle jumping is always popular here.

Agree to puddle jumping, DS especially spent hours doing it. Have you got enough stuff in to make simple cookies/scones/buns/flapjack? Jigsaws? Cards?

collie Poor you. Are you sure the car will cost that much? I have no advice to offer sadly

fluffy Can you input a receipt from another supermarket, as I rarely go to Tesco?

Rain isn't so bad here and I was exhausted last night, so would have slept through a tsunami.

I have spent this morning so far doing the finances. Jigged stuff around a touch to take the pressure of the monthly budget. Feel a bit more organised. DH's little consultancy business has been a goldmine this last year, after 3 years of breaking even or making a loss (last year).

Going to get DD's birthday present today at a local horse trials. She has asked for a new back protector rather than a new laptop (was only thinking of a chromebook, nothing fancy). Any birthday money will cover the laptop if she fancies.

Otherwise, we are having a quiet weekend.

Does anyone know the cheapest way to buy DVDs? Want to get Theory of Everything for DH and Amazon is selling at £9.99 - can I get it cheaper elsewhere?

If you go to new and used its a bit cheaper £8ish

Thanks Spotty

Collie where do you normally take it? Local mechanic? Is the MOT booked for Tues or just due then? You could put it through, see if / what it fails on then you have so many days grace to fix it? MOT are different in NI though, all cars have to go to government centres who have no interest in fixing up the car or anything so you get an honest account of what's wrong if it fails, then take it to your own mechanic. Many times we took the two older cars through to see what they failed on, retest was then only £18 and you have (I think) something like 10 days grace. Are there any government MOT centres where you are? X

Thanks for the suggestions, she is 14 months. I might give puddles a try but we haven't let her loose outside much yet, only in the garden or the park as she's still a bit unsteady and also a complete law unto herself! There would be puddles in the park though I guess! I can't wait until she's big enough for baking - when do you think that is likely to be? At the moment she would either eat the mixture or rub it into her hair and she's already had one hair wash today that didn't go down very well!
If all else fails I'll take her to the garden centre to see the pets.

Had some really upsetting news last night that a colleague i worked with in Southampton little girl tragically died suddenly while they were on holiday in Portugal she was nearly 3yo. They are trying though fb to find the Dr that helped try and save her, if anyone wants to share the post pm me and I will let you know the name to search for.

Girlie, I read about that on FB this morning. So sad

Girlie that's awful. I hope she does find the doctor. I don't use FB otherwise I'd help.