September savers/frugaleers continue into October

[574ejones]

All welcome!

My dh is great. When he got home I said the place was messy and it's stressing me out so he's tidied the kitchen and my very messy bed side table. Dd tidied the sitting room too!

We had beef stir fry for dinner which was nice.

I just had an ex-offender at the door selling sponges and things. We did buy one once to be nice and it turned out to be a tenner for a sponge and then we thought "Eeeep! We've been had!" and looked up the internet and it said it was all a con. Today I just told the guy that the police had told us not to buy from them and he got really shirty with me. I have reported him to police 101. (And booked a survey for a burgler alarm installation).

Yep, this is why I don't answer the door. People trying to sell you stuff you don't want. We had charity collectors at 8pm last night.

I turned the bell and the security light off months ago as if that wasn't a massive hint to fo.

Get a chain on the door. You can get signs for the door saying you don't buy from the door etc but that's like having a neon sign saying "vulnerable person lives here".

I have a sign on the door, just a local council one that says no doorstep traders. Makes no difference though. One time I pointed out said sign, and the chugger just gave me a head tilt and said "oh... why do you have that?" FFS

Peep holes are good, i'd love video entry like in flats.

I am very unsociable though.

We have two peep holes one at my height and one at dd's (which I assume is for wheelchair users) very handy though.

I'm writing from the new app!! It looks v different but a good different I think. Can tell the difference between who wrote what, and op's posts are highlighted.

Spent £70 yesterday for work but will claim at some point. Today nsd. Tomorrow too. But am at work. I am beyond tired.

Have a good weekend everyone.

ipsos we had very similar a few months ago. The chap looked so innocent but luckily I was in the middle of feeding DS and he could hear him yelling. It was my excuse for having to abruptly say goodbye and shut the door. I googled it after and it was a scam just like yours. The bastards!

Love my peep hole thingy. People ring my doorbell but also bang on the door. Does my head in!

I'm on the new app too! At last. I much prefer it it's so much faster than the bloody mobile site.

hello , can I join you all
I really, really need to find ways to cut back spending. At the moment I am working lots of extra hours to get by each month. Which I know I am lucky to be able to do, but I am so totally and completely exhausted. The house is an absolute tip and I just cant really give enough to dc. ( I have 6 dc and already work 4 days a week.) so for the sake of my mental health and family well being I really need to cut back on my extra hours. So I really need to reign in the spending!
I have a few options, for one I am going to cancel sky. I need to try and keep our food bill down to (although with dc aged 17, 15, 13, 11 , 9 and 7 that is a challenge!!)
DS1 is hoping to go to uni next year and I am already having sleepless nights wondering how I'll afford it......

Thanks for all the eBay advice! I'm terrified of fb groups, I don't actually want to go meet people or have strangers to my house. Might give ebay a go.

Delighted to hear the new app is out! Just downloaded it. Mobile site works well on the kindle, but not on my phone, so glad to have it back!

I don't answer the door either, had a man put his foot in the door to stop me closing it when he called to ask about gutter cleaning. My neighbours now knock on the window if they want me cos they know I don't answer the door!

WRT having people come to collect / going to collect, I get very anxious about it but it takes a few seconds usually. My sister is the queen of buying and selling on groups and has never had an issue. I find things sell for more as I stare a price and it's done.

lovetoknit I'm currently sat in a caravan in Perranporth! Small world! Might have even walked past you at some point today! How strange. Hope you had a lovely day, the weather was fabulous. We are finally at the end of our week here, home to the Midlands tomorrow. I'm so jealous of you all loving this way. It's beautiful.

Holiday has been frugal enough, budgeted £40 a day and we have damn well stuck to it! DP is now on the frugal wagon. I've just sat and ordered some presents for DD for Xmas on the Argos 3for2. All budgeted for.

Paid today, and DP paid Monday! Not looking forward to this month. Hen weekend next weekend, I'm MOH so organised it and have bought lots of bits for hen "party bags". Then a weekend off, then the wedding, then a spa day with friends on 24th. It's the petrol that will stump us I think. I've budgeted £130 for hen spends and wedding spends, not planning on drinking too much, and taking lots of wine myself.

Hair appt booked for Friday. It's £70 I don't really want to spend but my hair needs evening out for wedding photos. I think I worked out this wedding has cost me about £500-£550. It's not even my wedding

bobbly Welcome, you might find this helpful. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

I thought we were doing really well but just checked the joint account and she has been spending little bits over the last week from the joint account when I thought he was using his own. Grr

Thanks for I for re lidl voucher.

Was aiming for NSD but ended up spending £6 in Iceland, mostly on lunch for tomorrow. They had a whole chest freezer full of clearance/end of line items so got a few boxes of bits for the DC'a lunches. Should last a while!!
Really need to scale back. Dp actually had a pay rise, not somehow with tax credits reduction we seem worse off!!

bobbly welcome!

binglet glad you loved Cornwall. Come back soon!

Welcome Bobbly yours sounds like a busy household!! All those teens and tweens must eat you out of house and home!! When I started the really cutting back I went through all the direct debits and anything unessential was cancelled there and then and anything I thought could be reduced was put on a list to be sorted!

Do your older kids contribute at all? I think I would be wanting the 17yo to be working and saving for uni, would a year out to work full time and save lots be an option for him?

My big news is that i have been paid and for working an extra day a week I am ridiculously better off so happy! Will still need to be careful but not quite as careful as have had to be!!

Spends today have been quite low as working all day however been out to a memorial this evening for a local lad who was killed 10 years ago, bought some chips and hot choc £5 ish.

Also took £50 out in cash just because I could Woo Hoo - reign me in Frugaleers!!

Spent £20 on ebay bits and pieces for dd. The £30 voucher didn't include postage costs and had to be used at once which was sneaky, but everything I bought aside from a £2 Next dress for dd's birthday were things we needed- coat, cosy toes, rain cover etc so I would've had to pay for them anyway.

Food shopping tomorrow thankfully, the fridge is actually empty aside from milk and some kiwis. Really fancy a Chinese but we can't really afford it and had a takeaway earlier in the week.

annatha I'm craving an Indian but I know we shouldn't.

Girlie great news about the pay!

One of my Amazon orders has gone missing so they've resent it and extended my free prime trial for another month!

I'm considering cancelling sky and doing something else I have some questions:

We don't have a normal TV aerial so will be still be able to watch freeview through our sky box?

We watch a lot of things on Sky Atlantic so which supplier would we still be able to watch that with?

Will we still be able record?

If anyone know I would be grateful for the answers btw the emoticons on the new app are going to give me nightmares

I have some fleece fabric that I'm going to attempt to make into a cosy toes for DS (1) for this winter.

I bought the waterproof trousers in lidl for him as he has just started walking and they look so warm and comfy being fleece lined I can see them getting a fair bit of use!!

Oops just spent £48 on Amazon on Christmas presents for dd, got 6 items for that though and a hanna bead set that she has asked for was 50% off so that was a bonus! Planning on getting her a hudl as her main present, the lady is Tescos told me to wait till mid November as there will be some sort of offer on them then! Hoping they won't have all sold out or something though

Spotty, you can still use yourdish sandbox with freesat. We also have no Arial. Sky will charge you £25 one off fee for the decoding card for the free channel. Now Tv (also sky) is good if you like the sky shows.6.99 per month for entertainment channels but no contract so you can just buy a month when you want. Some programmes can't be watched live but pretty much all end up on box sets or even better on catch up straight after they finish running "live". Look for a now tv box with a few months free entertainment or movie pass in and look out for boxes on offer. If you have an Xbox or.similar you won't need a now tv box, just download the app

Welcome Bobbly

Wednesday NSD, Thursday £10.20 parking plus a travel, all to reclaim from work, lunch £14

Today NSD

today's spends

£3.74 postage eBay item
£1.85 soup
£10 in bucket for Macmillan bake sale at work - was supposed to bake but had ick bug so didn't feel it was appropriate
£20 in m&s on treats for dinner(gift card used) and
£2 or so on Peppa pig lollies for kids in the queue behind me. For making me laugh. See below.

Today's outfit included a leopard print stretch mini skirt. Comfy. And with black tights Tan boots and denim shirt rather stylish I thought.
In m&s in queue. Lady behind me. Man with his 2 kids behind her. Girl and boy. Prob not older than 6. Boy says loudly "daddy. Look. Look at that lady " dad sssshhs him. "No daddy look" says boy. Girl then pipes up " daddy is that lady a slut?" Dad sssssshs louder. Me and lady look round. Giggling. "But daddy" says girl "her skirts shorter than mummy's and the same type. Like a leopard". It's at this point I realise who they're talking about. "Daddy you said mummy looked like a slut in her skirt. Is that lady a slut? What's a slut?" Etc. cue dad getting red in face and probably uncomfortable.
I almost died laughing. He apologised. They made my day. Proper cheered me up. So I bought them a couple of lollies.