July Frugal thread, Just chatting and saving.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everyone welcome.

Hi peeps. Been a while .... work and family commitments keeping me a away. And IT isssssuuuuues.

Thanks for all the recipes - I am out of cooking ideas at the moment.

Frugality has been forced upon us this month - I can't work it out where all the money has gone and my brain is so mashed from work and mum's tratment that it is beyond me. Instead we are eating a lot of caugette and cauliflower with everyday pasta this week... On the up side dh has a job. First non self employed job since he stopped working to look after teh kids 13 years ago. I am so happy for him. And our bank balance

Another thank you for the recipes from me too.

Did someone earlier talk about Costco/Makro?

Am staying with a friend who has a Makro card. Does it work out much cheaper for own brand pasta, rice, washing powder etc? Would be great to bulk buy but not sure if it's any cheaper than Aldi?

Great news on your DH's job Unescorted.
I'm meeting a friend for coffee today and I also need to buy a pressie while I'm in town.
We're also going to get our work shoes as I need sensible ones for my bad knee and DH's are falling apart. Unusually DH has spotted a bargain in Clarks sale but we're going to use Quidco too to see if we can get a double bargain!

Sorry girlie

I can't post pics as on the app and no idea what my password is to go onto the desktop/mobile site

Spendy day today, dc getting their hair cut and feet measured. IF they have school shoes suitable for dd I will whip them up but I expect I'll end up having to buy lots of different ones online Need to go to boots too. Hoping I can park on the road free.

Spendy day yesterday as we went out for dinner which was £40.
At the beach today so shouldn't be as Spendy today. Although will be fish and chips for lunch

very jealous of all the beachgoers - I live in the south of Ireland on the coast & only one day have the kids been to the beach 2 miles from our house and I haven't been at all!

Went to shop this morning for fruit for myself today, ended up with a huge pot of berries topped with a dollop of yogurt and granola for €2.50 & a banana for 26c. Either I didn't buy enough fruit this week or we've eaten loads! Tesco coming tonight but that's joint account money.

Made the curry with chickpeas, butterbeans, coconut milk & bns smells fab, had different dinner but that could be this evenings. We're not big on vegan dishes so it may be blended into curried veg & coconut soup yet!

Bought a schoolbag online for dh €11.50 from ebay, he saturated his with diesel & it stinks - so does the washing machine after him washing it too - should have gone straight into the bin but he's frugal too, and that was a waste of a perfectly good tattered and torn bag!

No shoes that fit dd. typical.

Made burgers for dinner last night for 8, some leftovers for lunch later. Did another supermarket shop yesterday, €135, but cousin gave us €50 towards it.

Frugal fail, cousin's son arrived yesterday and took his car which we had borrowed, unfortunately the 2 beach chairs were in it. Can collect later, but not in time for beach today. I may need to stay in the sea for the whole visit will see if local shop has any.

girlie DS is 16 in September, so well able to cope

Hope your mum is ok unescorted and good news about your DH's job.

Shattered today as up all night on camp duty.

Chicken and pasta bake for tea.

£20 haircut for the dc

£5 something in boots.

Nothing on school shoes

lilac we are about 4 miles from the beach and haven't been yet this summer either. Weather just hadn't been good enough. Went to tramore yesterday, it was freezing!! Only the surfers on the beach.

Will be a NSD today, the weather was nice enough this morning, bit cloudy now tho... will take the kids to the playground with my sil and niece for the afternoon. Have the washing on the line for the first time in ages.
Forgot to take chicken out of the freezer, so going to have to get creative! I'm not buying anything to replace it!

Well, now I'm grumpy. DH just called and said that his area manager is basically wanting to demote him :( Really not good timing either as due to a funeral fraught with family tensions tomorrow is going to be incredibly stressful for him.

Basically he went straight in as manager and was doing really well (store top in area on most things, he even won manager of the year for his area FFS) but their IT systems have been completely buggered for ages and he's had to do things differently. But now they want to bump him down a level so he can 'learn how to do things properly'

This will mean moving to a different store (really hoping it will still be in this town because we are screwed if he has to start travelling by train rather than bus or walking) and I have no idea if they'll cut his wages too :(

Apologies for ranting. Off to throw myself into cooking and decluttering now. Bah.

Oh well at least it'll be a NSD other than bus fare and childcare fees...

Ah fuzz that's sucks. Hope things work out.

Collie bad news on the car.

Sat on looe beach and it's chocca. Get yourselves to the beach,but bring a wind break. Even got the suncream out today.
SW mns where is nice in looe for food? Fish and chips and dinner? Is the pizza place near East beach nice?

Sympathies fuzz that sounds really badly timed

fuzz That's crap, and very worrying, rant away.

My spends today will be parking, as I have a bone scan booked. Doc thinks I need it as I am very slight

Thank you everyone just got to wait and see now as he has a meeting about it in a couple of weeks. He's still waiting to hear about an interview too - he actually ended up being the only one there, not that it guarantees anything of course as they were going to rearrange to see some of the others, but still, they had said that unsuccessful candidates would get a phonecall and feedback within 5-10 days (it's now 14!). Hmmmph.

ANYWAY. Onto more positive things eh? My slow cooked curry actually smells bloody delicious. Bit thin, but I think on reheating in a pan before eating would reduce/thicken it a little. Or I'd maybe add some natural yoghurt?

Sorry fuzz that's rubbish.
After all my talk of chickpeas yesterday I forgot to soak them last night so it's going to be pasta for tea!
Had a bit of a frugal accident in my favour today. Met friend for coffee, we ordered 2 coffees, a cake each and a sandwich and drink for her DD and it only came to £7. It was in a cafe we've never been to before so just assumed it was very cheap. Afterwards we looked at the receipt and they hadn't charged us for the cakes! Feel slightly guilty as it's a small business but it was too late to go back anyway. I also got an ELC game for DD for £1.25 in the charity shop. Went in Boots to get orthotics as instructed by physio and found several other things I needed e.g. baby toothpaste on offer. Spent about £25. My friend spent about £35 and as I had a double points voucher we put them all through as one transaction so I got loads of points towards a new electric toothbrush. Only about another £50 worth of points to go!