Awesome August Frugaleers..

[Laska42]

Blimey.. It's August Already (nearly)

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.

Just changed my internet and phone package - saved £7 per month, so over £150 over the contract period.

Wow that's great. I really need to change mine too - still with the same deal that I took out years ago when we barely used the internet, so our fees have crept up as we've started using streaming etc

Just changed mine too, still with vodaphone, only save €3 a month, but go from a capped internet usage to unlimited. Seeing as we got rid of sky and use Netflix instead, spotify on a lot, ds 1 is getting an Xbox live account, phones, kindle, laptop etc. We need the extra!
Thanks to myturn for making me think of checking around, I thought my package was the best value!

Whoever was asking about energy suppliers - I've just switched to GB Energy Supply. I was paying £38 a month (electricity only) with Scottish Power, and my tariff ended and they wanted to put it up to £51. GB Energy Supply are going to be £29 a month. They're a new company, online only, trying to undercut all the others and apparently they have some different business model that means they can charge much less. Anyway, I thought it was worth a go! Even if it does go up a bit when I start providing them with regular meter readings (which I haven't done before, really, bar the last 3 months) it's still miles better than £51.

I'm going to check what my hot water is set at. I have a suspicion that it's incredibly hot. Our heating/hot water etc is oil-fired and we have an electric cooker. DH likes baths, though - bath every night and I often get in after him and top it up with more hot.

Interesting buggy chat - just looked up our travel system and I could probably get between £150-200 for it when we've finished with it. Not sure if more babies are on the cards or not, though - I keep changing my mind! DS is only 1, though, and we have decided that even if we do try for another, we want a 3 year gap so that DD is at school and DS has his 15 free childcare hours before another one came along.

Trying for a NSD today.

I've had an unexpected day at home as ds is ill. Dh took him to a&e last night. He's much better now but figured he needed a rest.

Will prob get a big bag of rice later. £17 or so.

Oh no NK is he ok?

£3.35 in sainsburys
£3 something in the garden centre
£12 on a second hand ride on pirate ship

I remember when our fix with edf ended they wanted to put it up £25 a month

Apparently you can insulate around baths using loft lagging. I haven't tried it because dh is a total kill joy on these things

I am going to look at GB Energy supply, see how much mine would be.

NSD so far but have realised I live in squalor! We do clean but rarely have time to get behind things properly so I decided to do one job a day during the school hols. So far every job I've done has been bigger than expected and showed up some other dirt I hadn't noticed. I discovered what I can only describe as a fossilized banana behind the microwave and cleaning the stair banisters has made me realise that the entire hall, stairs and landing needs completely repainting & new carpet I might get someone in to do that as it's a huge, high and difficult area with massive potential for injury!
Going to take a few bits to the charity shop in a bit and go to the library and park if the rain holds off. Might nip in 99p store for more cleaning stuff, I've just destroyed a magic sponge cleaning the front door!

NK hope your DS is ok

TooMature, interested to know how you get on with GB Energy. When I did a comparison they were by far the cheapest but there were also some pretty dreadful customer service reviews. Hopefully just teething problems with a new company.

Hope all is well now NK

Apparently you can insulate around baths using loft lagging. I haven't tried it because dh is a total kill joy on these things

Oy! I asked our bathroom fitter about this and was all about it. I feel vindicated by your comment but slightly miffed that I was ignored by the tradesman.

£40 spent in Asda, but pleased I made it until the 5th without a big shop.

Hope your ds feel better NK
Last day of summer school for my ds, they went to Newquay today for a day of surfing and water sports but it's raining cats and dogs here so I hope they have a plan B too
Did my weekly shop at Tesco for £38 with another coupon they've sent us and managed to get about 5 kg of tomatoes for less then £1 which I am going to roast in the oven with garlic and herbs to make passata; bag of bananas for 20p, some were bit brown but I already cut them up and put them in the freezer to make ice cream for kids; about 2 kg of brown and red onions for 40p - might have to freeze some too.
Had to buy some light bulbs from b&q for £6 and another one for dd's fish tank for £12 from pet shop.
Hope the weather gets better soon, feels like autumn already.

£50 book order (HE'ing, so a necessary expense)
£50 grocery order for the week (plus a few stock ups for winter to put aside)
£20 for gift for ex MIL for her birthday from dcs

Not exactly a NSD here. But all necessary purchases. Tomorrow and Friday should be NSD (fingers crossed!).

£50 book order (HE'ing, so a necessary expense)
£50 grocery order for the week (plus a few stock ups for winter to put aside)
£20 for gift for ex MIL for her birthday from dcs

Not exactly a NSD here. But all necessary purchases. Tomorrow and Friday should be NSD (fingers crossed!).

Complaint taken to ofgem ombudsman 're lec&gas. First utility have acknowledged that they are in the wrong and made mistakes however the most they will compensate is 60 quid. Told them to keep their 60quid....asked for an up to date costing so can get the money ready....it's dropped from 1100 to 750 they are rubbish! Grubb

Gas bottle filled and friends old camping stove checked an working so a save

well, sorry about that

I have so much stuff I need to do but I'm just so exhausted I can't. The dc haven't had a bath since Sunday and I haven't hoovered since then either the kitchen is a mess and I need to start bits for dinner. Dh just says 'yeah I'm tired too' he really doesn't get it I can barely move

Hope all is ok NK.

LtK that sounds like some fab bargains! The passata will be lovely!

I went to home bargains today, I spent £11, £8 of which is for my DS's new brother present. I was very pleased with what I got and think DH will be less annoyed about it than he might be. I spent £3 on pork pies, chocolate fingers and face cream. The face cream will be for my hospital bag. Then I went to ikea, bought birthday present for friends son and some wrapping paper. I picked up the plate for my Christmas plate draft, 50p!

Sorted out the bags of clothes under the spare bed - nothing really worth selling, but I've got a decent size bag of children's clothes for the local women's refuge so will drop those off later this week.

I've found a stairgate and car seat which I can put on FB tonight.

Hi all, we are in Portland Weymouth

Dd still not 100%, have decided it must be a virus or something. She slept all 11 hours last night and then the whole way here as well. Seems better than she has been this afternoon so hopefully over the worse.

So holiday spends so far;
£45 petrol, filled the car up before we left.
£6.50 on parking the flipping car!! Have had to park it at the hotel as no public parking spaces and we went to Portland Bill earlier.
£5 looking round the visitor centre - this was a complete waste of money as the visitor centre is basically one room!
£2.10 on a hot chocolate
We could have gone up the lighthouse but that would have been £12, I umm'ed and ahh'ed and by the time I decided to go for it they had no spaces left!!
£104 on the hotel for 2 nights. The hotel is umm well what you would expect for £52 a night tbh but am thinking its just a base and we hopefully won't be in it too much!! Seriously should have spent a bit more on it really though as we haven't even got our own loo and the one down the corridor is grim