September savers/frugaleers continue into October

[574ejones]

All welcome!

How exciting nk and collie.

Wow exciting news NK don't forget your friends here when you go

I'm interested in the spiraliser but unsure if I need another kitchen gadget.

Wish my dh was being headhunted he's miserable in his current job & doing long hours for crap pay. However since he started getting counselling me and the children aren't suffering the brunt of his misery about it anymore

Exciting times nk. DH was offered a job in Canada when the DC were little, which we turned down as he had just started the business. I do wonder though how life would have turned out.

annatha Both DH and DS are like this! A meal isn't a meal without meat. Agree re the bacon, and also chorizo is excellent for adding lots of meaty flavour while being cheap.

bobbly With you on the cost of bras, and don't get me on sanitary products. I spent £8 on stuff for DD at the weekend, all bought on offer and not branded. It should at least be VAT free.

We had a big meat meal yesterday, pork steaks in a sauce I made with cream, mushrooms and spinach. Half a jacket spud and a corn on the cob. Then home made crumble. It felt like a Sunday dinner rather than a Monday tea. Not used to big slabs of meat any more and felt pogged. Didn't sleep so good.

So, todays breakfast is kiwi and beetroot smoothie and tonights tea is carrot and coriander soup (off plan, but actually I have tons of carrots to use)

Also found a Whistles dress that I have never worn but is lovely. Looks like a bag of spanners on me as I have no curves and just hangs there. I will Ebay this, plus some Fat Face stuff of DH's that he had stuck in a charity bag! Will cover the cost of a jumper dress for work, as it's cold.

Todays spends will be dog food and the cleaner.

lila DH is bi-polar. We took the brunt of the illness for many years, completely understand how wearing it is

Just opened a letter that we assumed was just junk mail from L&G. Turned out to have £75 M&S vouchers inside we were expecting £60 cashback via Quidco instead. I doubt we'll get both.

That'll be lovely for Christmas. And its £15 more than the cashback amount which is good but the "cash" would have gone straight into our account.

Really want to get better (physically I mean - my work isn't affected by the anxiety thankfully) so I can advertise for more piano pupils! I'm confident I could comfortably fit in a few more - especially if they come here - but obviously not going to push it right now. In the future, maybe by new year, I'd like to be at the point where I can just shove the cash (I do PAYG lessons so it's flexible, rather than termly fees) into a money box and save it that way. But we'd need to be really sorted in other ways before we managed that. It'd be nice though, having a stash of money put aside. I at least want to save about £100 cash for when we go to the Game Expo at the NEC in June - we are board game addicts and we'd like to be able to buy some there if we try any good ones.

Should be NSD today as we are not going anywhere! Need a few bits from the shop but I'll go to the Co-op when I drop DCs off with the childminder tomorrow. Who still needs paying for next month actually. Maybe not an NSD then. Damn.

I just did the most comical lot of batch cooking. The butter exploded all over the inside of the microwave, and it was so loud that I dropped the sugar bag, which emptied all over the floor. It was an oat biscuit recipe from the internet and when it was all done they didn't stick together so I just had a big tray of browned oats and a very sticky kitchen. Yikes!

fuzz I would love to come and have some piano lessons but I think you are too far from me unfortunately. I grew up playing, my grandmother was an amazing pianist and gave me her piano when her arthritis got too bad. By then I was about 21 and hadn't played for years so I had some lessons and passed grade 5! I find it hard to practise now as the only space we have for the piano is in the living room where the tv is and it's below DD's room so I can't even play when she's asleep. When I do play I get very frustrated that I'm so rusty. Sorry that's completely off topic - I hope you are well enough to take on some more pupils very soon.

Collie great news about the M&S vouchers - are you going to use them for xmas presents or food?
need I'm with you on sanitary products, they cost a fortune. I'm giving the Asda tampons a try but I think they need changing more often than branded ones so I'm not sure if it's a false economy.

Had a better week in the supermarket this week but still spent £59 despite planning for a mainly freezer week. £10 of that was on the posh cat food that PointlessCat likes which was on offer but at least that should last a few weeks and £4 was on a tin opener! Need to go to the 99p store later for toothpaste and I might have a look for a warm jumper in the charity shops then I'm taking DD to the park to make the most of the sunshine.

ipsos ooops! I have a fright everyday when the toaster pops out the toast. I never learn! the oaty things may be scrummy when cooled down! My flapjacks often fall apart until a good hour after baking. Spoon them into bun cases! Or pour melted chocolate over the top so they set? Mix up with yoghurt or serve with milk tomorrow for a homemade breakfast! Or a crumble topping? (Depending on dietry requirements)

My Next denim leggings are wonderful.

Just calculated admission prices into places where we're visiting next week and its bloody expensive! oh well. And I cant simply suggest an alternative because we're going with family & they are so excited. It'll be the jacket potato diet when we come home. worth it though!

M&S vouchers = no idea! We have a few presents left to buy but I'd like some Christmas food too. A few treats.

Having cash would have been much more practical.

I took the jeans I found back to Next assuming they'd give me a credit note or gift card and the lady gave me a full refund so that's £52 that I wasn't expecting!

oh no ipsos! That kind of thing is precisely why I don't bake. I always do stuff like that

pointless I empathise with your frustration, I can't play at night either as our house is so tiny. There are some pieces I hardly ever get to play because DD insists they are 'too sad'! You could look out for a local teacher though. Even once a month just to push you a bit, as you've got a grade 5 already you wouldn't really need to pay for weekly I reckon.

So embarrassing, offered my friend some tea this morning and then realised we had no milk out of bread and butter too, but reeeally too tired to go to the shops today.

Hi everyone!

collie that's fab about the m&s vouchers! You can get loads of lovely things for Christmas with that!

ipsos I can never get flapjacks right. But it makes lovely breakfasts with fruit, or a snack with yogurt if you eat the dairy free type!

nk congrats, tough decisions, or is it not an option?

Spendy day. Wire has popped out of two of my bras. To be fair they are just cheapy ones and I have big norks. Been complaining about how uncomfortable they are for a while now, so bought some on sale from Evans. €50 for two, just hope they fit. Got £2.60 cash back from quidco too. All adds up!
Met two friends I hadn't seen for months, and spent €6 in the cafe.

Thanks for the ideas :-) I'll try some of those.

well done on the m&s vouchers Collie. A NSD here, I am studying at the min while the kids nap, then DM has invited us up for tea. Hopefully shouldnt need anything else

Sorry I'm always posting and flying these days, I am reading the thread though. It's keeping me on track.

Yesterday spent €80 on tickets to a Santa Village, we're going together with our kids and hubbys children and grandkids as a Christmas outing instead of adult presents considering there are 6 adults to buy for if we go down the presents route it's a good tradeoff. There will be a meal out too.

ipsos I don't think dh has been diagnosed with anything he just describes it as getting on top of him but I would describe it as a lot more, having grown up with a schizophrenic aunt.

theonlypink is quidco available in Ireland too? Didn't know that.

Availed of the 3 for 2 on crayola twistables sets in argos got 6 for price of 4 so that's the next 6 birthday parties sorted @ €7.32 a go

Not frugality related but does anyone know about FB privacy settings please? I think I'd like to reduce what colleagues see of my posts (not that I put much on there really) but I can't figure out how to do it!

lilac good thinking with the 3 for 2! Ya, quidco pay out to PayPal, so can use it here. Think it's the only one that doesn't require a UK bank account, but I'm not 100%. It's money for essentially nothing, so well worth setting up. I keep forgetting to go through them, so haven't racked up much, but it adds up quickly!

fuzz I have no idea, I never post on fb! Hope someone can help you!

Spent €60 on Amazon. A board game I wanted for ds 1 is back in stock, it's been out of stock for a few months, or was only available with extortionate shipping costs, but it's free delivery now. Had a camel alert for a Lego set for ds 2 and a Lego set I want for dh was lowest price too. Really needed to make a start on Christmas, only 2 pay days left and hadn't gotten anything apart from lego dimensions for ds 1.

Do you use FatCheese? I am constantly forgetting to do my Tesco shop through them usually remember BookDepository but nothing has cleared in months with them.

Must set up quidco

No! Had never heard of it! I shop online with tesco every week, so thanks for letting me know!!

Hi all, been working so managed a NSD although written cheque for the cm but not going to count that

Got an information session on writing at dds school later, I normally avoid these sort of things but thought maybe I should make the effort every once in a while!!

I just celebrated our nice new teacher by taking ds out to buy nice soft pencils for his homework book. We came home and he did great writing quite happily. Yay!

afternoon all
yay for sensible teachers!
fuzpig my dh teaches piano and is just trying to build up a few students at home. Hope you feel better soon

well, my new bra has been comfy all day - so that is good at least...now just need to find the £££ for a couple more as it is now the ONLY bra I own that actually fits!! and yes to at cost of sanitary products. I currently have to buy for myself and dds 1 and 2. dd 3 and 4 still to follow!
spent £3 in the co-op for cereal bars to put in my office draw...will hopefully last a while though. No other spending yet today.Yay!

Fuzz that happens to me all time. I don't drink tea or coffee, or milk, and I don't eat wheat, so these days if I offer someone tea and a biscuit on reflex I often find that I don't have any of the parts except for boiling water. Eeep!

It's shocking just how many people suffer with anxiety and/or depression. I have suffered on and off with depression for years but am okay at the moment, sending positive thoughts to all of you .

Haven't posted for a few days so here goes with asummary of my last few days. Took dd to a car boot sale on Sunday which she loved. Then went for a walk (all 4 of us) in the afternoon as the weather was glorious. We finished off with an ice cream so not too spendy.

Dh & I have both been off work today so went out walking (glorious weather again). Jacket potatoes for tea, haven't meal planned this week yet.

Off work again tomorrow, lots of jobs to do but also planning to go to the Range to try to find some Christmas crafty bits.