Marvelous Frugaleers - Just Jiving through June

[Unescorted]

Ooppps filled up the old thread..... carry on

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.

Sorry cross post myturn you def have some bargaining power, the company should have been checking their meters at least annually anyway!! Which company is it? Ask them to check you have been on the best rate etc? Also when they come up with a random figure i always say thats too much, can you not do better? 9 times out of 10 they do!

I'd be as unreasonable as possible, don't take any excuses and make it all about how rubbish they've been which has resulted in a lone parent being in this situation.

Dont ring though, email the CEO (the address will be on the internet) and make it VERY clear you will only communicate by email so you have a paper trail for the regulator to view WHEN you ask them to investigate them for their terrible system errors.

You might have to ignore any caller withheld numbers or 0800 numbers on your phone because they will still ring you.

You've done their job for them in even noticing. Don't take any shit off them though.

Welcome to you both though.

Dishwashers

Daisy Dishwasher powder, £5 for 3kg. Lasts ages (one dessert spoon in each wash) and if you chuck it in it starts to dissolve straightway unlike tablets.

Returned school trousers littlewoods refunded to my bank, going to return other pair to dunnes this morning as I need to go to town to buy a new kettle other cheapy one turned itself on & burned out element!

Cleaned out washing machine filter so gained 1c

Oops. Just booked a sun holiday

ohhel loving that website!!! mortgagefreeinthree . Considering a breadmaker which will either be a waste of money or help me save money in the long run....anyone have one and find it useful?

collie I'm after the slow close too...going to sit and search after tea, Will keep you posted

myturn keep strong...things will become easier....your laying the groundwork at the moment for your future life...

fluffy where do you get the dishwasher powder from?

spotty ooo where have you booked your Sun holiday?

Isle of Wight £70 for four nights. Will still need ferry etc but still cheap. It's in term time too but dd is only 5 so I will just suck up the fine.

Daisy is Tescos own brand. It isnt tested on animals either like the brand names are

Yeah the hsbc one you need to pay in £1750 pcm (or similar) we will be using it as our bill account so will do this. It'll be our third account in as many years.

Well we don't have any savings so don't worry about that too much. FYI we have found first direct a really good one

wheelycote I use my breadmaker all the time and it has definitely saved me, not only on the bread but more so for not doing so many top up shops for just bread and coming back having spent £20! See if anyone you know has one they don't use as lots of people have them collecting dust in their cupboards.

£10 on topping up DS phone. He is off to France for a week today with school - I'm going to find it quite hard, but am going to take the opportunity to deep clean his room!

Really hoping for a low spend week this week.

I have discovered Wilkos own brand dishwasher tablets to be the best, you get 30 tablets for £2.50 and all dishes etc have been gleaming have heard good things about the Daisy tablets but I never shop much at the big Tescos.

So back from Pets at Home and the vets,

£29.10 at the vets, girlie cat has another flair up of her autoimmune condition should be able to claim this back on insurance though, this included 30 steroid tablets which should last a while.

£22 on 2 bags of cat biscuits, a new brush for the cats (they are malting loads at the moment) a mineral block for the hamster that dd said she had to buy for the hamster and 2 packs of dreamies so quite a lot really.

Noticed when i tipped the cat out onto the vets table that the blanket I keep in the cat basket had been wee'ed on was mortified can't believe i hadn't noticed a smell!! Its now on a very hot wash spinning about in the washing machine!! Honestly cats who'd have them?

Halifax is the quickest to pay bonus money, I opened mine on the Sunday night and I had the £100 on the following Friday. It was all done online too.

Who did you speak to at Tefal? email the ceo.. It's not good enough and they know it.

I had similar with "Prestige" kettle and toaster set. One broke so Sainsburys took them both back and I bought something else from Tescos.

I have a Stellar pan set bought from tk maxx, 2 years old they still look like new.

We use our bread maker all the time and it def saves us money. We can get 3 loaves out of an 80p bag of flour (or 75p in Lidl!). We rarely buy bread. We like to make it from scratch too but the machine uses a lot less electricity than the oven.

Ok, email sent to electricity company. (Just to clarify that I have no children).

In my massive, "Thriving not just surviving" spreadsheet I have just added a page with some daily goals. E.g.

• Dishwasher not used (I used to put it on every day, even just as a half load).
• Washing machine not used (I used to like doing a load every day and love clean bedlinen and towels).

And one inspired by you lot,

• NSD (am aiming to achieve this one tomorrow).