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

Oh I have for pork loins. I got the recipe of a slow cooker Facebook group. It's pork stacks. Place the pork loin on a price of fool then add a slice of cheese, fried mushrooms onion and apple, a spoonful of stuffing and then another pork loin on top. Wrap up as many as you need (I did 3 for a family of 5 with my two oldest boys who eat like men) place in slow poker with an inch of water for 6 hours on high. We had them yesterday for the first time and they were stunning. I sliced them and served with roast potatoes and green beans.

Piece of foil not price of fool sorry

Ursula That sounds like infection, I would get that checked out pronto.

Pork stacks sound amazing. There's free pork and lamb schwarz seasoning on quidco clicksnap at the moment. Good for jazzing up cheap meat from aldi and lidl.

One of my residents was telling me he used to go to scotland with his wife on the train and they took the car up with them. It all sounded most civilized.

Slow cooker dump bags sound idea for us

Hi all...

Mincemeat - make it s early as you want. I usually do a batch when dried fruit is cheap. I haven't tried it without brandy, but I guess it would work. You might want to add something that will cut through the richness, but not be too front of mouth. I am trying to think of something - possibly orange juice and Coram plus a heavier hand with the chilli. I like my mincemeat quite savoury so I would cut out some of the sugar too.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts - mum has been sent home from hospital today. At lunchtime they said tomorrow, but then decided that was being too cautious (each day she is in hospital is a day when she isn't having treatment).

I love the idea of a long posh train journey.

I need to stop falling off these threads when you change month.

Not doing quite as well as I hoped on reigning in the budget although it was a slightly optimistic budget. However, I keep acquiring money so I'm actually saving more than I was aiming for. It's not really helping me see whether this is a realistic budget, but it will provide me with a bigger cushion for losing a lot in tax credits next year.

Hi all, busy day here had my friends children over for the day so been out and about doing stuff. Managed to not spend too much other that £5.50 ish at the shop on few basics and sweets for the kids.

Also filled the car up with petrol for £45 which I thought was not too bad for a full tank??

The children watched a film this afternoon and I spent the time very productively going through my clothes and filtering out all the clothes that need to be gone! Have filled 6 carrier bags needed to be done though, however it is clear that I do need some new clothes! In particular jumpers, cardies and another pair of jeans (only have one pair.)

Have sold some of dds old clothes on fb made £8 so far, not bad.

God I so need DCs to go back to school - £10 on nothing in Sainsburys and £7.50 in the cafe.

£4.70 spend in bakery....goodies for dtweens.

Sorento sounds fab! Had a quick google and very envious hope you have a wonderful time and watch the sunburn.

Loving the slow cooker dump bags!!! at how simple that sounds and the pork loin stack in the slow cooker will have to try!!

collie how did you do your cottage pie? never cooked it before and its in my meal plan this month....all the recipes on the net vary so widely.

I batch cooked, chicken ginger and coriander burgers, yesterday....they're delicous in a wrap with salad and mayonnaise. Might have made one too many (I made them smaller this time to fit a few in a wrap)

Someone mentioned Thai green chicken curry and freezing....I shall let you know as I froze a portion yesterday

My monthly shop total spend so far is £231. Very chuffed. After that we'll just need a few fresh bits (apples, salad, milk) each week. My monthly spend on shopping was easily 600 pound plus this time last year not including the, popping into Tesco, asda for a few bits here and there. Frugal win.

Help. Is there an easy way to book/find the cheapest train tickets? Is there a railcard that can be used by 1 adult that I'm missing?

I might just bang my head repeatedly against the keyboard at this point.

raf have you looked on websites

www.thetrainline.com/train-companies/east_coast.shtml

www.redspottedhanky.com/

and info on railcards....

www.railcard.co.uk/?gclid=CNGJ48vF1scCFWPnwgodnNQG8A

Moneysavingexpert do tickety split.

First day of new (first proper) job today, so nsd. I won't be able to go into a shop until Saturday, as I start and finish when everything is closed.
An expensive bit of work kit did arrive today, but they don't require payment until the first pay cheque which is brilliant.

For my cottage pie I tend to just chuck it all in but it's something like this:

Diced onion, celery and carrot
Minced beef
Beef stock
Worcestershire sauce
Spoonful of marmite
Pinch of sugar
Seasoning
Mixed herbs
Maybe some garlic and tomato purée
Peas

If I want to thicken up the mix I'll add some gravy granules.

But on the downside, they've put the tax on electricity back up again today, here. For a long time it was on the luxury rate, then they brought it down to a non luxury rate (seeing as it's not really a luxury to have electricity these days ). But this government have decided that for austerity reasons it needs to go back up. It's not a small difference either (almost triple).

Thank you. The trainline is what I am looking at and trying to manipulate. Thanks for the tickety split idea. I've just had a look and they can't find a split.

I was thinking that if I bought a ticket from a station just inside the network rail area to another one just inside, then I could get a network railcard and use the 1/3 discount. I can get to the station this end for free on the bus, then a cheap day single to take me the 2 stops outside the network rail area should be fine. Except that option is more expensive than just buying a ticket from my home station to where I want to go. And that's before buying the railcard.

The train is expensive I feel for people using it every day. It's always cheaper to drive or fly ime. Hope you manage to get something

I wouldn't mind if it was a little cheaper, but it's £94. The first class open return was over £500. I think I'd expect 1:1 waiter service for that.

That's crazy. I've got a network rail card and have definitely made my money back.

I am trying to work out when to get a new family railcard. When we had it last we made our money back on the first use, and will again (when we go to Birmingham).

I was amazed when looking at thetrainline that it will be far cheaper to get two singles than a return. I always assume returns are better but not so!

The trainline don't seem to be taking a discount off with the network rail card. It's the same if I try with and without ,although I'm not sure at what point they take the discount off. Maybe playing about with stations will help.

dh says have you tried www.brfares.com/#home for train fares?

But I don't know when to get the railcard as I don't think we will be taking many train journeys for the rest of this year - one trip down to the coast but that's probably it, whereas I'm hoping if things are a bit more sorted in the new year we will be able to take more, so might start doing it Jan-Dec, although if I see a voucher code I might grab one earlier.

Although looking at the train prices for Brighton maybe it'll be worth getting now, assuming it'd arrive on time.

Rafa are you travelling at peak time because you can't use railcards before 10ish