September savers/frugaleers continue into October

[574ejones]

All welcome!

Thank you all for making me feel better about spending so much! Money is tight fir October every year, and felt like I was being a bit precious spending so much on shoes.
Ds 1 got pablosky high top style boots. Usually buy that brand for ds2, because they are indestructible, but they were a really good fit for ds 1. Really strong support in the ankle especially.
Got ds 2 geox with lights. They look so gawdy, but they are an almost 4 year olds dream, and they are good sturdy shoes, so I'm happy with that.

ipsos I go to a shop recommended by ds 1 physio, it's called little piggys, they are a chain in Ireland that have excellently trained staff. But they sell brands like ricosta, pablosky, geox etc. Had always thought Clark's were good, but the pablosky especially are miles better.

laska sorry to hear things are so hectic at the moment!

fuzz hope the time off will make a big improvement for you.

I STILL can't get on the bloody app and it's driving me mad!

LSD today, bought 2 ice creams (ice creams at the end of Sept!!) and a fridge magnet on our day out.

MSE email was good today - hints for spotting when items in shops are going to be on sale; apparently they scribble codes on the label e.g. S10 in Next would mean that the item is going to be reduced to £10. Also ALL toys in Argos are on 3 for 2 until midnight next Tuesday - might be good for a bit of xmas shopping.

On which subject... we were planning to get the Ikea wooden kitchen for DD which is £60 plus petrol to/from Ikea which is a bit of a trek for us. Asda also have a wooden kitchen for £40 and they are up the road. Does anyone know if they are any good? I know the Ikea ones are lovely but the Asda ones are all boxed up. I will feel like I've wasted £40 if I get a rubbish one ifswim?

Right, almost Bake Off time...

Bake off yeah.

Burnt my gooseberries jam. Bugger 2k each of fruit and sugar wasted

pointless mumsnet have pulled the app, they think it was a security risk, so are in the process of developing a new one for ios. Think users have been testing it, so should be out soon. That's interesting about the codes!

Hi all, to poorly frugaleers - hope you start to feel better soon.

I have been at work again, also feel like I am there all the time am slowly getting used to doing 30 hours though.

Spends today.

£2.30 on a school dinner
£5 on raffle tickets for school craft fair this wend.
£3 on a swimming badge for dd
£1.80 ish on 4 pints of milk and some polos for dd.

Think thats it, £10 on not a lot really

what just remember happy mum = happy baby. Sending hugs your way and congratulations on your beautiful bundle of joy.

north we did the tour, which involved lots of tasting. The strawberry wine was divine. Bought a bottle for me to put away for Christmas, along with a bottle of special reserve cider, infused with Rum for DP for Christmas. Not to be opened until 25th Dec it's staring at me, I want it DD had a mini meltdown at the end of the tasting but we went and fed bribed her and went back to taste.

em glad you're feeling better. Lucozade really helped me. And dairy milk! Get DH on the case.

I agree about shoes. We needed indoor and outdoor shoes for nursery. Got some indoor boys slip ons for DD from clarkes in sale, £12 instead of £18 and they don't look too boyish, just had safari animals on. And I was chuffed with the bargain.

Pointless couple of my friends have Asda kitchen. It looks absolutely fantastic, really lovely. Build quality isn't great, one of them had a door fall off and the other had a drawer break, but both said they were easy to fix and maybe if you are aware of it on building you can reinforce. I'm in exactly the same dilemma as you, Asda or IKEA. I just can't decide.

I've got my eye on some from GLTC at over £100. My frugal self won't let me buy it though even though they are nicer than my actual kitchen

We've got an asda one and so has my sister. They're brilliant. Lovely wooden ones too.

Pointless - we had the Asda one for a day, it fell apart and I had to drag it back to the shop. I was very sad about iT as it was lovely. We switched it for the IKEA one. It's so sturdy and you can find lovely pimping ideas on Pinterest. They discount it for family members sometimes, I don't know if it is at specific time though.

Hi ladies....I'm racking my brain to see if I've been frugal or not!

Just ordered a new swimming costume from Asda for dd, £5.50 from Asda, finally found one that was acceptable (to her) as I was worried that I'd have to pay speedo prices eeeeek

The kids keep listing what they "need" and tbh...they aren't being too grabby and have even suggested that they will use the money in their purses if it costs more than I want to spend. Dd "needs" a rug for her bedroom as sitting on the laminate makes her bum cold. Ds "needs" a football kit as wants to try football after school and won't look cool in what he has (I agree there)....so now I'm on the case of seeing what bargains I can find!

pointless we are having the same dilemna re: Ikea vs Asda wooden kitchen! Our nearest Ikea is a few hours away but DS loves it! I've been checking eBay for a second hand one. I saw the Asda ones were £20 in our nearest store but when we arrived they had sold out. Now they're back at £40.
I think we'll just save up for the Ikea one.

what we didn't start with cloth till DD was 4 months and when we did the sums we still saved. I sold them on afterwards too. Take it easy and hope you feel better soon.
Just did online shop -£72 but we'd run out of a lot and included extras as my parents are visiting at the weekend. Wasn't much more than normal shop at Aldi + top up shop I suppose. I've done my back in and came home from work early so online seemed sensible.
Meat box for the month will be delivered soon so that will be another £55.
In frugal news we are getting a water meter - hurrah! Wanted one when we moved in as there are only 3 of us and we are out the house mon-Thursday, but the water company said the supply was shared so they couldn't do it. They have now written to say they will fit one and I am sure we will save. Also queried a charge on my interest free credit card and it was in error so £120 refunded. Win!

Hope Em and Fuzz feel better soon.

Welcome back to Laska .
£17 Matalan (socks, underwear and a Scandinavian log fire scented candle) and £10.81 Aldi, on wine, two types of cheese and their version of Ben and Jerry's.

Right, "Dr. Foster" time .

Frugal win- I'm selling some baby stuff at the next NCT sale and noticed they take maternity wear too, and in my wardrobe found 2 pairs of next maternity jeans still with tags! They don't fit (I ordered loads of maternity wear in May in the size I was at 40 weeks with dd but I'm already bigger at 32 weeks) but they can go back for a credit note which will do nicely for Xmas gifts/some nice non maternity clothes for me in the January sales.

We started a new tactic with our spending this week. Every payday (15th) we're withdrawing enough cash for a month of food and petrol, and once its gone, its gone. Hopefully seeing the cash will stop us frittering money away as its so easy to grab a £3 coffee or some chocolates during a top up shop and it all adds up. We shall see anyway. We've moved some money to one side for Xmas too so hopefully we'll not go overboard with that either.

Icy cold sprite is amazing!!!! That's all I have to say.

Wish there was a like button em

£80 today on swimming. Does anyone else whose dc do swimming have experience of them being 'stuck' at a stage. Dd has been at the same stage for a year and I'm not sure whether to pay extra for 1-2-1,kick off or let it go if she isn't moved today.

Why do you think she isn't being moved?

Spendy today as I'm going to sainsburys. I need new knickers and dd needs bits too.

babs that happened to my child a couple of years ago and I kicked off. Said that whilst I was happy to pay the next term's fees, I'd like to know why he hasn't improved. We ended up changing teachers and half way through the term he got moved. And it was a genuine move too, so not just something to please the crazy mum. Good luck.

Will be spendy today but will charge work.

I've spent about £16 this week on a bit of top-up shopping but everything else has been from the freezer. NSD yesterday :)

DD had her swimming lesson yesterday which she's been going to since March. Lessons are packed at the moment (September enthusiasm!) and yesterday two children were given forms to move up to the next level. Part of me wondered whether this was just part of marketing tactics to get more people in! DD has shown improvement but don't think she'll be moving for a while - spends far too much time splashing around not listening!

I don't know as we don't get feedback from the teacher. At the end of last block it was, using my lay eye, she couldn't get the butterfly timing right. (this is stage 5 of the swim levels). The block before I changed teacher, so this is the second with this teacher. Now I think she is going backwards. I will see what tonight brings and if she doesn't move up will kick off.

God I sound so pfb. Sorry.
It's more disheartened for her as people move around her and she doesn't know why.

Our feedback is all online but doesn't appear to have been updated! I think it's worth asking what the instructor thinks. I'll just be pleased when dd goes without crying

Collie I think you may be right. Ds's hayfever may actually be a dust allergy. I hoovered the (already clean-looking) bedroom and living room carpets over and over for hours until there was no dust going into the hoover box. Afterward the air felt warm but not prickly on the eyes any more and Ds's breathing was impeccable all night.

Thanks for that. Major breakthrough! I am going to boil wash the duvets next.