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.

Should we start a winter thread for everyone? How about this:

WINTER IS COMING - no more cold MN

brilliant!

(You do realise that non-frugaleers will think we're crazy to be considering this in the middle of August?).

Phew should manage a Nsd.

Went to the library and got a DVD too, it was free as part of the summer reading challenge. Have pre ordered one in for a few days time which will be £2 but that's ok.

Should be start this after the kids have gone back to school?
Or
Now?

pink and I are in Ireland, kids are off school from about 2nd last week in June until last week in August or first week of Sept. Dd finished playschool June 19th & starts school 31st august ten weeks.

I looked at lego junior easy to build but they're very clearly girly themes or male themes! Shops or construction vehicles. Ideally I'd like to buy something they both can use. Like you girly I don't go for dolls are for girls, farms are for boys as in my house they play with the opposite, but this might be a step too far unless I go for the red boxes for boys as dd will play with them anyhow.

Does it sell on afterwards?

pointless I'm in Ireland! 9 weeks summer holidays for primary school, think it's 12 or 13 weeks for secondary. I've enjoyed it on the whole, and it's easier for me because I'm a sahm, but we kind of ran out of activities the past two weeks!

A winter thread is a great idea. This is my first winter where I don't want to spend all our money on hear and electric bills, so could do with some tips!

lila It only works if you have so much hot water you dont know what to do with it. Cold showers are not nice.

Myturn Electric is expensive, we had oil filled rads in the old house and it cost loads. Having said that Argos are doing a halogen heater for £13 in their clearance sale that would give instant heat in short bursts. It's a suck it and see situation. Mains gas is very cheap as long as your boiler is working properly and is newish.

Insulations the way to go. British gas are still doing free insulation for the loft and cavity walls.

We should get cracking servicing our boilers though. Mine needs doing.

I made soup for lunch, we obv feel wintry too!

We don't have mains gas here so electric is our only choice.

It' certainly looking wintery here today. Saturday was gorgeous, today very autumnal/wintery.

I do that too collie for the same reason!

Lila am sure it would sell on although dd would kill me if I tried to sell any of it the good thing about lego is it lasts forever and in this house anyway gets lots of use. Plus I think the building of it, following instructions and being creative with their own designs as well is a good thing for them to be doing.

I know I promised no more links but this is fairly unisex treehouse infact most of the lego creator stuff is.

Am back from the vets, another £28 but the insurance claim is going off which should be nearly £100. Plus girlycats mouth is much better and the plan is to reduce her steroids and keep her on a long term maintenance dose. Am happy with this as will hopefully reduce the need to keep going back to the vets.

Spent another £4 in Pets at Home on hamster food and dreamies.

Have also sorted the last 2 days of holiday childcare I needed to, thats come to just over £50 but unavoidable really.

Am so going to go over drawn this month but thats also seems unavoidable.

Pink I reckon I could commute to an Irish school from Birmingham and do my marking on the plane!! Not very frugal though.
I'm trying to cut down on the hair dryer and straighteners too. I only wash my hair twice a week so using the dryer isn't too bad but my hair has a mind of its own and needs a lot of straightening. I'm trying it back and just doing my fringe now.
I just invented, by accident, a delicious veggie pate. On Saturday I made the spinach and feta pies from Jamie's 15 min book but I didn't have enough pastry in the freezer so I had a lot of filling left over. DD and I just had it spread on toast for our lunch and it was delicious. It's just a tin of chickpeas, a bag of fresh spinach, lemon zest, chopped feta and a bit of smoked paprika whizzed up in the food processor. DD loved it. It would be nice with a bit of garlic in too.

I just got told off by the admin on the local fb selling page for not posting things in an album idiot.

Yuuuuummmm thanks spotty f&b is a favourite here!

£4.50 on luggage tags (unorganised! ) and £2 on rolls for lunch. ..in my bid to use things up I got carried away!

All this talk of winter after the glorious 2 days we've just had? It was 25c in my neck of the woods

My fb buyer hasn't turned up Spotty - annoying!

Weather is ridiculous today, I have put Toy Story on as couldn't cope with dd moaning she was bored any more!!

It's warm and cloudy here. We're going to watch a film in bed with popcorn in a minute. Ds is grumpy because I woke him up I'm pleased I've got all the housework done.

That's annoying girlie. If they don't contact you, when you relist it, put 'for sale again due to time waster'

I take it back Spotty he did turn up (an hour late ) however paid me £2 more than the asking price! So am now £10 up!

Am also trying not to think about winter, hoping to move gas/electric companies Sept/Oct time.

Have caught up with house work as well which is a first, also sorted dds old clothes into sell/charity shop/give to a friend piles!

Realised that 1st of Sept my registration money to the NMC will come out £120 its such a lot of money to find for one month, they have been promising a monthly DD option for years and its never materialised. Wouldn't mind but the NMC are pretty useless anyway.

girlie in my house pieces would get lost anyhow & dh has a big problem with me keeping boxes from items, he's in a mad hurry as soon as somethings out of the box to dump it, before I've plugged it in or checked all parts are with it!! Anyhow ds isn't even 2 yet so we'll be looking at lego for a long time to come I'd say.

Keep doing links I love them.

Lots of sweets eaten in our house at the weekend to avoid listening to moaning too!

Checking back in after the weekend. Currently sat at home on my one as I'm sick, sore throat, cough and runny nose. Not attractive. But I've managed to do some washing and cleaned the kitchen. DP has told me off as I can never relax, even when I'm ill.

Saturday we had a 2yr olds birthday party and instead of spending £££ on plastic toy tat, I decided to be frugal and do a "baking set". Wilko, Asda and the range for some cookie cutters, bowl, mini sieve etc. Spent about £10 in all but happy as it was a very full bag of baking fun!

Saved on having to cook tea as it was DStepDad surprise birthday party so filled up in party food. Sunday we spent the morning doing the garden and then went to Aldi for a quick top up shop. Didn't have £1 for a trolley or DDs buggy so she had to walk very very painfully slowly and we had a basket which stopped us spending more. £11 total and shouldn't need to top up again until weekend. NSD today as I'm wallowing in self pity!

Put our old fish tank on Gumtree, I've listed it 4 times now and no one seems to want it. It's a full set up for £50 so an absolutely bargain. Will keep trying. Could really do with that money ATM.

Just sat and planned out some finances for next few months. Our Xmas saver I started last November will pay out and give us £300 extra towards Xmas. Saved £25 a month this year but plan on upping it to £50 from November. It's one of those regular savers whereby you can't withdraw cash for the year. Brilliant for Xmas! Sorry to talk so much about Xmas! But I'm so chuffed with what we've managed to save this year for it!!

Right my nsd is no longer. I've got GP to write a letter for dd and I staying we have mobility difficulties so that we can skip the queues at legoland and hitch a ride to the gate at airports so that's £10 but will drop off something I sold on fb for £8 so will technically only be £2 spent. Also getting my prescription which is free luckily.

Hello all have been lurking today catching up on thread. We've moved house and also spent a lot of time in Northern Ireland as MIL's mental health is poor and she needs moved into assisted housing, we have been back and forth all summer. Nightmare and it's costing a bomb too!

Need back on track so meal planning later to use up freezer food.

New house doesn't have a thermostat and landlord has agreed to install one but no idea when..

we have set up a savings acc for house deposit I am sick of renting!

Bing Poor you. You will be as good as new next week though. Plenty of rest is needed.

Welcome back MissA.

Girlie Podiatrists pay £380 a year but we do get to pay in installments.

£40 new bra from figleaves.
£30 petrol
£9 daisy powder and loo cleaner.

I have broken my favorite light fitting putting led bulbs in it, I have thrown myself on John Lewis's customer services mercy to get a new shade for it and when I get one I'm going to put ordinary halogen bulbs in it and then step away from it.

Will send the other led bulbs back I got today, they were no brighter anyway.

As if by magic, my fish tank is sold!! That's £50 extra for the old holiday fund.
spotty legoland is fabulous. We went a few weeks ago. One of the best days out we've had.