October Frugaleers part deux

[CremeEggThief]

HI all, took the liberty of starting a new thread.

Ooops! Angry face should have been a blush face

Collie have you tried different comparison sites? Plus ones which don't use comparison sites? Also look on topcashback etc.

Made a batch of soup, was whizzing it up as the electrician came and he kept saying how good it smelt

I am sorry to hear about your news NK

collie have you tried to do it with you as main driver, car insurance for our little car was cheaper with me as main driver and I have no idea why.
Should be NSD today
I am trying to do a meal plan but need to get a menu from school so dd doesn't end up with same lunch and dinner.

I have been lurking for a while but I wanted to come out of hiding to say thank you to collie for the Nectar Canvaas link as I already have 400 extra points Thank you collie

underwhelmed I'm back! Anyway, another great tip I got from here was to log into online banking every day. Knowing the exact balance, what was left to go out and how much left really keeps me focused and from squandering. It's also helped me think about what I'm buying. Best of luck with it all, please stick with us, there's so much great advice and support here.

collie car insurance is crazy expensive here too. Dh has an ancient banger of a car, only insured 3rd party, fire and theft, 5 years no claims, and its costing €128 a month. Makes no sense!

I have been reading bits and pieces over the weekend, but trying to cut down the amount of time I spend online, so have missed loads!
Had a lovely weekend, only €3 spent on Saturday after our walk, and yesterday just bought €1 marshmallows to make hot chocolate for the boys after swimming (last few weeks of gym membership, so already paid for). Was thinking of collies bucket list, and definitely going to plan more things like that. Cost so little but was so enjoyable.

Nsd today, apart from the tesco delivery. Pay day is 10 days away and bank balance is awfully close to zero. Hate months like this, but it's only ten days and next month will be much more flush!

Collie Can you add a named driver? dh put his dad on for ages. Sometimes keeping a car on the road is cheaper than off road.

Have you done a quote in google chrome private browsing? sometimes that's cheaper.

I suspect old cars are cheaper to insure because they are more likely to be economically written off in an accident and have less safety features.

I'm waiting for topcashbacks new aviva rate tomorrow before I insure.

Collie do you have a low interest credit card you could use to out the car insurance on? The interest on monthly is criminal, though I am sure someone told me there was one that doesn't charge interest for monthly payments. Worth looking at and then paying it off monthly and matching that into a savings account for next year?

Found a massive joint of pork in the freezer. Made a roast for last night and crumble to follow using apples id over bought for mincemeat. Husband got me a lot of sloes for gin, so that's good! Leftover pork has gone into the slow cooker to make camp fire stew. Not sure how it will be but left over pork is such a pain to use up!!
Sainsvury order came today, free food is brilliant, thanks for the heads up!
I have come down with mastitis and a horrid cold so had to go and see the doctor. Antibiotics for free but spent on colic stuff for the baby and nasal drops for him and some pain killers. Came to £7, infacol is pricey! But after one dose the baby is sleepy soundly and the nasal drops have helped his nose.
Aside from that I have no plans for spending today, meals are roughly planned for the week, muscle food coming tomorrow!

Good afternoon everyone - I hope the weekend brought positive things.

So that I stay accountable
Thurs - NSD hooray!! It does mean that I didn't go into town and return stuff to Debenhams though .

Fri - £16ish top up shop. Bread, breakfast stuff for weekend.

Sat - NSD .

Sun - went to theatre with a friend. Tickets were free through volunteer job. Paid £10.25 train fare into London, we had lunch at Pret rather than Pizza Express so that was about £6. Much less than I expected to spend.

NSD so far, only anticipated spend is a letter to send signed for when I get to post office.

Made chicken Caesar salad for 4 adults last night using £5 worth of chicken breasts from ALDI, there were 5 big ones. Had two left over this morning so made chicken and potato pies for children for freezer - 6 meals worth, just store cupboard stuff with frozen peas and sweetcorn. Happy with that.

Is anyone else pregnant? I got my RCGP 'Labour' pack today at my MW appt. they are actually worth having, it had 6 pampers nappies, mini pampers wipes, fairy tabs x 2, comfort sachet, dettol wipes x 20, and nappy cream sample in it. Much better than the bounty ones and worth asking for.

NSK so sorry to hear about your friend hope you are having a gentle day.

Collie Have you tried direct line? They're not on the comparison sites and I save a whole bunch of money moving to them from one on the comparison site. I've even claimed on my direct line house insurance and they were really good.

underwhelmed

Big windows is screaming single glazed to me. If they are the temperature difference between outside and inside across the glass is 1c. So basically zilch.

Talkinpeace on the debt thread would say use ebay or freecycle or charity shops for curtains, anything to get you through the cold months.

British Gas will insulate lofts and cavity walls for free for anyone who hasn't got the regulation 11 inches lagging in the loft.

We fitted brush draught excluders on all the doors when we moved in here (newbuild) and it was noticeably warmer the first night.

Thanks for the tips everyone! It's DHs car & policy but still bonkers that it's gone up again. Will do loads of investigating tonight after DSs bedtime.

I'm glad I helped Nursey I had an invitation to do a 60 pointer earlier. Wasn't eligible and they gave me an 80 pointer to do instead! Haha!

Going to bake Yorkshire Parkin later. Perfect for Autumn & can be kept in a tin for ages!

I'm managing to spend nothing by staying home all day! In my PJs.

DH is taking DS to Beavers, it's at a craft shop in the retail park so I've sent DD with him. They'll have a hot chocolate or something while they wait and I've asked them to get some clay tools (we're making canopic jars for our Ancient Egypt topic) and some trousers for DS now it's too cold for shorts.

In other news, DH got a pretty good time on the half marathon. Beat his son (who's in his early 20s - DH is in late 40s!) so he's happy :o seriously though considering DH spent over 2 years on crutches barely able to walk it makes me VERY happy that he can now run as well as before :)

Not fully caught up yet. Lovely to hear about lots of frugaleers close by. Durham is a beautiful city. I do miss living in Cumbria though, it's a little busy for me after a few years out in the sticks.

NK So sorry to hear about your friends, it's awful when something like that happens out of the blue

under I know its rubbish when you look at the figures and realise that there isn't much left over at the end of the month but it's better than being blissfully unaware and spending blindly (like dh and I up until last year). When I sell baby clothes I've found that dd's best stuff (nice dresses, outfits from Next etc) sell better on eBay separately rather than as a bundle. I may only get £2 or something for a dress after pp costs but it adds up if you manage to sell a few. My bundles have never sold on eBay but I've soldna couple (vv cheaply) on Facebook. Almost all of dd's and ds's clothes are second hand- lots of barely worn gorgeous bits from eBay for a couple of quid. I don't even go into Next, Mothercare etc anymore as I know I'll spend £££ on things that I could get lots cheaper.

collie I'd love some parkin right now, perfect for this kind of weather!

toobreathless I picked my pack up earlier this week and was pleasantly surprised after all the rubbish in the bounty pack. I generally fish out the freebies and bin the leaftlets. The mini sudocrem pots are brilliant though, I got one with dd last time and just refill it from the big pot for the nappy bag. When are you due?

£40 food shop today! It probably would've been nearer £30 but dh wanted chicken breasts to make homemade KFC and picked up a couple of cakey things. Still cheapest weekly shop we've had in a while.

Haven't had time yet to properly catch up but welcome under! Honestly, just being more aware of your finances on a daily basis can make a big difference!

NK so sorry about your friends. That's heartbreaking

Very spendy weekend here - went to the rugby on Saturday so spent £30 on travel/drinks and dinner when I got back. Yesterday £22 on nieces birthday presents, and about £30 on bits and bobs for DD now the weather has turned cooler (tights/vests) though I did get 2 poll necks and a dress for her in Mothercare - they're doing 2 for £10 on some clothes.

Nsd today, yay!

I wrote a nice long post earlier and my phone had a moment and didn't post it.

Welcome all newbies.

NK Sad news about your friend. It's terrible when things like this happen. Especially when they are young and with small children.

spotty Loving the tiling. We have the decorating bug. Can't remember if I mentioned it but we got our lovely neighbour to come and quote us to plaster our lounge as we didn't know quality of walls underneath paper. Quoted us £280 for all four walls inc materials. Which is a fab price for our lounge. But DP spent all weekend stripping the paper and walls are sound and won't need plastering. Yay! So spends:

Sat:
£1.99 on an elf door for Xmas
£3 on notebooks for me and present drawer
£2 on crochet hooks for work colleagues (will get back)
£30 in IKEA on curtain rail, towel for DDog, jars for hm Christmas chutneys, a bathroom stool for DD and the obligatory IKEA photo frame.
£5 collecting the doc Mcstuffins toys I got from Gumtree. Just need a wash and they will be excellent for DD for Xmas with her wagon.
DP spent £50 in wilko on paint and new rollers.

Sunday:
Made £35 teaching swimming
£10 in card for christening
£2.20 for drinks at christening
£25 ordering wallpaper.

Today:
45p on tea at work

Phew! Underwhelmed DP and I give ourselves just £80 each month for "spends". Means we can spend it on crap and wine whatever we want and not feel guilty. It's hard to get used to but it works.

Polo necks, not poll necks!

NSD today thank goodness and I'm just making bubble and squeak with last night's leftovers.
Sorry to read your news NK hope ur ok.
I'm exhausted today, need to do meal plan/shopping list but then it's an early night for me!
New throws are making the living room much more cosy.

Nk That's just awful news, it's so hard to take these things in. Life is monumentally unfair. Sudden adult death is more common than we realise.

Ipsos I knew you'd love the energy monitor. I think we have a smart meter and it came with a free one which alerted me to the immersion heater being on. The builders had helpfully left it on. Have you got an open fire too?.

NSD.

£14.05 Amazon vouchers came through. £10 was from the mobileexpressions app. It monitors phone useage and you get about £40 a year back.

I wanted a chop cloc for the heating but dh has said no so I've downloaded a kitchen timer app onto my phone. I'll put the heating on, set it for 45mins and then switch it off for 15mins. Rinse & repeat. If the gas bill is lower then I will be happy. if possible I'll lengthen it out to 30mins on, 30mins off.

I'm giving regular readings to sainsburys energy because they work out how many gas kWh I've used which is easier than me working it out.

Sorry to hear that nk.
13.50 in aldi

£8.55 Aldi, £30 for cleaner. Our house is in desperate need of updating. We moved in 8 years ago and repainted but didn't have the inclination (but had plenty of time pre-did) to replaster (thought we'd only be here for a couple of years!) now we're looking to stay here for even longer I'd like to do it all again properly but now never seem to have the time (or the funds!). £280 seems very reasonable for plastering. Not that I have any idea but that seems do-able for a room. Has anyone had thermal boarding type stuff put on the inside wall of a house? Our bedroom wall is north facing and very cold.

fuzzpig I'm also googling Parkin. Want.

nk sorry for your loss. So sad.

Lsd here. £1.29 on a litre of milk. Damn you jersey cows and your delicious creamy milk. it's cheaper for me to buy in the uk sadly that from the dairy here

Have worked, walked, gymmed, slow cooker spag Bol and now it's tv time. Yay

Nk things like that are scary but a good reminder about making the most of life now.

Under that is expensive for gas and electric, have you gone through cashback and looked at switch.com etc. Plus make a big effort on turning off lights etc! Do you work full time?

So have managed a NSD, was going to pop into a shop earlier as wanted a drink (forgot to take my water bottle to work) but realised I had left my purse at home! Thats one way to avoid spends!

Dd is very sad as found out her best friend since reception is moving schools