Super Savvy Savers Skid towards September Saving Spree

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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

Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

Kudos to PeoniesforMissAnnersly for the links

You can pay monthly!!
HOW!?

Ipsos...me too...and I have a ds with only 80% lung function and bugs knock him for six :(

I like colouring too!
I haven't bought special pens/pencils though. Any recommendations?

Em...thank you!
I have just signed up for £5.99 per month!

Morning all,

£4 yesterday on some wool to finish a scarf for DS, £3 on ribbon and £8 on christmas wrapping paper. Planning a NSD today.

My Book People order arrived yesterday - I am so pleased with it. :) £37 for Xmas presents for 7 children and 1 adult, as well as a couple of smaller 'tree' presents for my DC.

Hope you all have a good day.

badders sign up then go into your account and I think there's a tick box. I saw money saving expert talk about it on gmtv. It took me ages to find as its hidden away. But it's there. So we pay £6 a month or so which is easier to budget for than £70/80 once a year.

Ah badders x post.... You found it!

unescorted did you mean "all the things that are really easy to make that don't cost a fortune"?

I would love to see a recipe book of things that are easy to make and do cost a fortune. That would be hilarious. I gather that some restaurants put gold in the food just because they can.

Thanks Jones A few hours in bed and some serious planning has done me a whole lot of good.

badders - how interesting that the lungs affect everything else like that. How did you find out that his lung function was reduced? My breathing is also a bit wonky but it never occurred to me that that could affect other things like that.

No - but I worded it badly. It is the things that are cheap to make at home, but cost a fortune to buy.

Did you see that recipe for a burger that had gold leaf in it? Bonkers

Oh! That sounds great unescorted

pointless I hope you're feeling a bit better...in risk of sounding controversial do you not think house-bound quarentine is a bit much? I always think a bit of fresh air is a miracle cure for many ailments. As long as your symptoms have passed (which I'm sure they have otherwise you wouldnt want to leave the house), you are scrupulous with hand hygiene and are not in direct contact with people the risks of contamination are small. Go and enjoy your fresh air - you must be climbing the walls!

Sorry everyone this is gross but I'm counting it as a frugal win. Just managed to get a corn out of my foot so saved money on hospital parking and petrol to get there. Fluffy I have already slapped my wrist as I know what my podiatrist would say

Hmm Amazon prime monthly aye what other benefits are there then? Other than the post obv

You get TV too with Amazon prime. With the postage etc I find obviously I'm only saving if I buy prime marked items.

For me the next day delivery is great (even though there's no way they can get things to me next day -Channel Islands so things have to hop on a plane...) but I usually get them within 2 days. Which is much better than it used to be.

They recently had a "prime day" and I think a lot of stuff was ridiculously reduced. We bought a few bits we needed.

Because we are limited to shops here we tend to check Amazon first before anywhere else.

I love a post poorly walk - it gets the cobwebs out of the system. But now mum has a compromised immune system I am more aware of staying away from people if I have been ill - It never previously occured to me that having a cold prevents someone visiting someone one with a compromised immune system. While my mum is having treatment our whole office is banned from coming anywhere near me if they have been off ill. They have to video conference me from across the office. It wasn't me who put this rule in place - it was Mr Big Boss. Personally I think it is a bit OTT as with good hygiene (hand washing, binning tissues, covering mouth with inside of the elbow when you cough & sneeze, avoiding drunken snogs of collegues ect.) keeps the bugs at bay. Unfortunately I see people not washing their hands after going to the toilet..... errrgggghhh.

Thanks I might give it a go in the run up to Christmas. I tend to buy most things online anyway.

Re mot the council one is twenty miles away and out of the town centre plus only open mon-Thursday so it's not plausible for us unfortunately.

Spotty - still do the obvious checks first. A new bulb from Halfords is only ?5, but is a MOT fail. Same with washer blades etc.

Yes will do.

I'm being thick but I can't work out how to change the prime to pay monthly

£1.30 on a coffee this morning at the swimming pool while DS and DD1 gave their lessons. If I need one, I normally take one with me, but found out late last night (9.30!) that my sister is gracing us with a visit, with my long lost nephew and his fiance (not really lost, but my brother's ex wife stopped him having contact years ago)

Only problem is the house is a tip and DH is off today, so he will be made. Since I found out so late last night, having dinner took priority over tidying up, and I overslept this morning. Sigh

I need to go and try to get DS's school coat today, so
I can't even sneak in a quick tidy after swimming.

fuzz they were definately meant to be :o faces....do you know though I was too embarrassed to cancel the appt...I plan to ring on tues to cancel after bank holiday hahaha

savage I agree if you've found someone that does a fab job with hair, it's worth it.

Someone said earlier in the thread they'd booked through group on on one of those voucher sites. Will look through, see if I can get a deal.

To all those feeling poorly...hope your feeling better today including the poorly cats!!

Off to do the monthly shop...wish me luck with it being bank holiday wkend.

fuzz hahaha they've come up wrong again....they were meant to be shocked faces hahaha definately not smiley. Missing the mobile app mucho!

Hey everyone. Checking in after pay day! As BingDog only did 1/2 a month with the dog walker due to his asbo lairy behaviour we have a bit extra in the food budget this month.

Did an asda shop for delivery Thursday, which as I ordered it for pay day, got cancelled as they tried to take payment before wages went into account (early hours). My own fault, should order for day after pay day. However it's all a bit weird, as the asda app says "order unauthorized" not cancelled. Phoned up Thursday and they said it was cancelled so I reordered for Friday. Guess what turned up on Thursday. They still haven't taken the payment and it's still showing as unauthorised! Anyone ever had this happen!?

So since payday:
£65 asda shop (if they decide to take the money)
£39 on some new clothes for DD for nursery as she's had a spurt and everything's too small.
£15 Aldi for some top ups we couldn't get at/are better than Asda
£50 cash for Butchers
£20 in tesco for fruit and veg as the Aldi stuff seems to go off.

That's us done for the bank hol now. We are off on holiday to Devon on 19th September and have saved £300 spending money for that as well as the £140 caravan rent (DMs friend). So only three weekends at home. I've given myself £20/weekend to spend on me and withdrawn that this weekend. Still got £10 left for this weekend. And not going out today. Doing well this month so far but it isn't even sept yet
Got to finish making my friends hen party goody bags. Budgeted £30 for bits this month and have bought some pretty things off Etsy. Anyone got any good frugal ideas to put in them. I've got:

Yankee "wedding day" tea lights £6.99 for 12
Rude soaps £5ish (Etsy)
Wine charms £13 (Etsy)
Personalised chocs £4.50 (Etsy)
Pretty rosette for the bride. £8 (Etsy)

Looks really expensive written down but I've done it over a few months. Other bridesmaids aren't really forthvxoming with helping/paying towards them but I've told them to buy their own Sashes if they want as I'm not doing everyone. Might try and make her a veil and garter to wear if we go out but I really want to stay away from Tacky.

Have a fab Bank hol weekend ladies. I've got got back from my second spin class of the week. Determined to get fit and actually use the gym I pay for each month.

Wheely the shop will go one of 2 ways either rammed because everyone is getting ready for school or really quiet because loads of people will think it is going to be really busy.... Good luck in case it is the first.

Just thought of a 3rd option .... whole family shopping events. Why do people do this? You end up with 5 different types of crisps and nothing to eat for dinner with the wine.

unescorted what a brilliant idea for the cook book! Have you got kids heading off to uni soon? I would have loved a book like that when I moved out first, been 8 years now and only feel like I'm getting used to it all now! So sorry to hear your mum is so ill

I would love prime. But it's €121 and we don't qualify for the free delivery in Ireland. So it would just be the tv. But we are back to our free sky and we have Netflix, so not worth it.

Meal plan done and dusted, spent a bit of time looking through what I already had, and have done lunchboxes and afternoon snacks. Dh wants to start eating a bit healthier. He's coeliac, and a lot of the gluten free things are very high in fat and sugar. So he wants to replace them with some naturally gluten free stuff. Suits me, it's way cheaper!! Will only share the main meals, but can share gluten free lunches too, as I have a coeliac ds too if it will help anyone.

Mon - roast chicken dinner
Tues - chilli con carne salad bowls
Wed - Mexican rice and bean salad
Thurs - Bacon and Beef meatloaf with potato salad
Friday - crispy honey chili chicken and noodles (gf spaghetti actually! )
Sat - Greek style roast chicken thighs with nutty roast squash
Sun - pork stroganoff

Got my online shop for just under €100, so on budget. And will get €10 back with voucher.

Need to get some fruit and veg today to supplement batch cooking from freezer.
Meal plan:

lentil and cabbage bake with poached eggs or sausage
sausage and bean hot pot
squash and kale curry + rice
slow cooker dahl + rice
bolognese and courgetti
veggie chilli + rice
fish cakes, salad, carrots