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.

Hi can i join please. I have just moved onto SMP :-( so income has dropped massively.
Good news DSS only needs new school trousers and shoes. He has enough shirts. DS doesnt need any clothes until he is about 2! He is currently 4 months. Mine and DP wardrobe needs sorting desperately!
We have loads of essentials such as cleaning and laundry to last until new year due to bulk buying and plenty of meat in the freezer.
Bad news went through past two months finances and past two months we have speant nearly £1200 on food! £250 of that was bulk buying and £60 on bulk meat. Massive learn was that i was going to our local shop nearly daily for bits and bobs. Food budget is now going into a seperate account so cant overspend.

I day away from PC and you have already started a new thread and 4 pages already
Went to the theatre in Plymouth yesterday, DH works for Vospers and they sponsor TRP so he was able to buy cheaper tickets through work last year to see Shrek. It was great and dc really enjoyed. Our eldest ds was at home from the Navy and was able to get a ticket near us too.
Went to Pizza Hut for lunch, luckily dc like the buffet. Bought couple things at Primark for kids (£25) and also went to Build a bear workshop for dd's birthday present from ds he promised her back in May. Got stuck in traffic on the way home and had no electricity till 10:30 pm. Had to use candles when I gave dc their tea.
Had to take ds back to Devonport today so did some shopping in Tesco in Plymouth.
My frugal win this week is the granny square baby blanket I made for dh work colleague who had a baby boy 2 weeks ago from my wool stash.

Bit of a spendy day all told. The last for a while.

£5 in B&Q on tester tiles for utility room and 2 car air fresheners.
£?? Taking 2 pairs of trousers in for alteration (won't be much as the lady I take stuff to is really cheap and brilliant)
£16 new head collar and lead rope
£25 cooler rug for new pony
£5 rice, milk (forgot to 'check out' at Morrisons for the delivery, but will knock off the order online)
£30 bones and dog food.
£10 numnah for new pony.

Oh and £180 on new luggage. This was budgeted for, for months. The car crash that DH was in wrecked one of our ancient originals, another had a handle snapped about 3 years ago and we promised we would change them this year using some of the dividend. I used topcashback and bought from Debenhams.

My excuse is that the pony we are buying is an awful lot cheaper (£1.5k!!!) than the one we recently pulled out of (medical issues after vet check).

Stir fry for tea, using a lot of the veggies recently delivered.

olive welcome to the friendly, supportive group that we have here.

needastrongone if you havnt already found it equestrianclearance.com is fab for pony bargains also not sure where you are but RandR country in howden have a massive sale on at moment. I have banned myself ginger horse does NOT need yet another rug

ipsos my bulk buys are costco for laundry and fruit juice. Musclefood for meat and a local butcher who does wholesale. DP eats chicken fillets everyday for lunch (ans breakfast/dinner if given the chance)

Another NSD!! (I am so proud of myself). Resisted the 'last knockings' of Laura Ashley sale when there was a dress i really liked reduced right down .. (As you know I can be a bit susceptable to sales)

No breakfast, Frugal lunch of the last of the pea and lettuce soup ( it was a v small portion though and didnt fill me up ) and so just got home starving and yomped two small chicken breasts stir fried with cucumber .. a bit of soy and chilli and a splash of sesame..(was just like chinese takeaway , but without the rice - 5:2 fast day today so i was hungry )..

I have lost 4 lbs this week ( YAY!! and much needed ). I intend to keep this up until I lose that jeffing stone and half ive manged to put on since last on 5:2, especialy as i have lots of summer clothes that dont fit anymore However am NOT buying any more , having a v restricted wardbrobe is keeping reminding me that I cannot cheat !..

My plan for August and hopefully now on now we are out of debt and have now paid off mortgage is to live like im already retired!! I want to finish work in two years when I'm 60 ( how did that happen?.). This means i'm concentrating on saving as much as possible now, as I wont get much pension if I take it early .. Luckily I have an old work pension that pays when I'm 60 , though its not enough to live on, and another one when I'm 62.. But still that wont be really enough.

The trouble is with this plan is that im now finding that i'm getting very 'Frugally Mean' in some ways .. The other day I refused to buy Mozzarella for a recipe because i wasnt going to pay £1 each for them.. ( we had Feta instead as I already had it ..) perhaps that was a bit over the top

Will read posts in a bit but need some help now.

Fluffy, spotty? I think one of you did a wine course before and you'd recommended some wines before? Would you be able to recommend a good bottle? Have a party at boss's house. Need to bring bottle. Help! Anyone else out there who knows their wines - happy to hear recommendations!! Thanks.

White or red? we'll ignore rose.

Red or White? How Posh? Expensive?

Fleurie is always good.. sainsburys they do it in M&S also

for White I like a nice Albarinio (ditto)

If you want a really good Fizz how about English? Nyetimber is very good ( Sainsburys . Waitrose . about £30 but def worth it ..

Not me I'm afraid. I have a cupboard of champagne though, if you were closer I could give you a nice bottle of veuve to take

I was going to say Fleurie too

Georges Duboef (can not spell) is in sainsbos, I took it to dhs cousin and they loved it but I tried their Brouilly on them and it didnt go down so well.

I like white burgandy but not macon villages

Barolo (italian) if you are feeling flush.

I think I will spend a lot less on maternity leave than I do working. Money just slips through my fingers at work. I work at hospitals and vets all over the place and whilst I put most of my spends on expenses it never covers everything. Today I bought a drink for £1.05 (wrvs charge so much for a diet coke!!) and had lunch at McDonald's (last work lunchtime) and £4 of that will be covered but not the other £3 it cost. That was in many ways a low spend day, but illustrates how unfrugal I am at work.

I have started buying for Christmas, my son will be 2y8m and will have a stocking and two or three bigger gifts. The baby will get a new outfit (poor thing is not going to have anything new!) and a gift from us and brother.

I'm finding food shopping quite easy to be tight on, I have a sainsbury delivery pass and it has paid for itself. Minimum order is £40 so that is what I spend. Husband has tried a couple of times to do a Saturday shop instead and comes home with nothing and has spent a lot.

My challenge this month is to buy DS some happy land as cheap as possible. He's had some in the bath for ages and just become interested. I'm thinking of giving him a box as his brother present.

A nice New Zealand Sauvingon would never disappoint.

olive A horse can never have too many rugs I feel . I am rug obsessed too, and not that far away from R&R. He is coming with tack (fairly ancient, but will do for now) but I suspect not the other related items. I have some stuff the same size (5.3), even if he will have to look like a girl rather than a boy. But you probably know yourself, you want it all matching and lovely to start with, then one roll in the field or wear and it's all filthy anyway

My plan for August is to take certain tasks per week and sort them, with the bit of extra time I have, while not overwhelming myself.

I just want to say (in case you might think I is vair, vair, posh..) that we only have Nyetimber for veryvery special occaision sand just for the two of us .. Its far too good to take to a party!!

How about Ebay for Happyland whatabout?

I'm watching several lots on there, it seems quite expensive still, I'm surprised! Definitely will be preloved needastrongone and sold back on afterwards!

Wonderful!! Thanks for all the suggestions. Think I'll bring the sainsbos version.

Another question - quite urgent. Ipsos - are you the IT expert?! Or anyone really who knows anything about websites and domains.

Dh has his own practice and the emails and website are of the usual www.homework.co.uk sort and his email is [email protected].

It's currently being supported/run by this person who we kinda fell out with (not entirely sure why, I blame it entirely on the Wendy of my SIL but that's an entirely different thread). So we want to move away from this person and get it supported elsewhere etc. how does one do this, and how much does it usually cost?

Ideally I want to get the domain back - dh is being a wuss and is 'not free' to go find out. I think we can just pay for it and get ownership of it. Which will be great as it means that we can upload our own stuff on the website rather than rely on his work fb page to update stuff if that makes sense. And of course it means that we still keep the email add. Or do I have to go through a company and do all that through them?

Help! I'm quite bright really, but I don't understand these things. Thanks v much.

Enforced confinement caused by lack of child car seat means I didn't spend any more money today but I need a top up shop plus a prescription tomorrow and we're going to a wedding so will probably buy a few drinks, presumably at extortionate wedding- venue prices!

Welcome olive
I've had a good day. The car is good, smaller than I'm used to but economical. £30 road tax as opposed to £170 with the old car. I've managed to get insurance for much cheaper than before, with cash back too of course fluffy . I should be due a decent refund on the insurance from the old car and am getting £118 scrap value for it. All going to the driveway fund of course

Holding a place.....it'll be September thread shortly! Can't believe it's August and new thread!!! I've so much to catch up on from the last thread yet too!!

one more day at work then off for a week lots of time to catch up....hope your all well

Aaargh lost message.

Any 2013 NZ sav blanc, according to wine buff friend.

I love it!

Thanks need and peppa! Will see what Sainsburys has tomorrow. Hate this annual pilgrimage to his place. Only a few get invited and although I'm pleased I'm considered, what I want is not to be with my boss! Grr.