October Frugaleers part deux

[CremeEggThief]

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

Evening.

Fab news about your DD girlie. My DD was signed off yesterday after her riding accident. The consultant was surprised how quickly her nerves had healed, but remarked that is the benefit of being 14 and not 40, usually these injuries take 6 weeks to 2 months to heal

Spent £1 today on milk.

electro Been thinking of your water. Ours is high at £80pm. Too high. It's a large house with 4 bathrooms a huge garden (DH waters the grass, saddo) and 2 teenagers. I would query, or a least speak to their customer service and explain that paying this bill has wiped you out?

Hope you feel better soon pointless

fluffy I agree, any mortgage savings will remain as an overpayment. We pay £200 additional anyway, but this will help enormously.

Pasta bake with sausage and roasted veg and salad for tea.

Salmon tray bake tomorrow.

I got home and changed out of a jumper dress into sweatshirt, leggings and woolly socks.

Girlie Could they fit it and then take it away if it's too pricey?. Your dd must be so relieved her hearing is improving. I wonder if specialists err on the side of pessimism? rather than get our hopes up.

I think most of us will need the heating on tonight.

I've done the 45mins on, 15mins off tonight with ours tonight and cant tell a difference in temperature so I think the chop cloc makers are onto something.

Yeah maybe Fluffy its been a loooong slog with dd and her hearing, chronic glue ear, two lots of grommets, adenoids and tonsils removed plus countless painful infections. They told us the infections had caused permanent nerve damage so I think the consultant was genuinely surprised today (as were we)

Am really hoping to move next year so will leave the water for now, if moving doesn't happen then yes will trial a meter plus get a shower installed!

I caved and put the heating on for 10 minutes as the thermostat was on 15. It's now a cozy 16 again
Pleased dds are getting well.

My heating is on. I've switched it on the odd evening when I've had washing drying but this morning it was geniunely cold, and is again tonight.

£61 spent today on a supermarket delivery.

For head Lice I use olive oil To kill the live buggers and viñegar To get ríd of the eggs. Had To go au natural because DD2 reacted To everything available in Chile.

Bank said no to extending our loan. Back to the drawing board.

We've got the heating on tonight, I was shivering when I put dd to bed so it's on for an hour to warm the house up. Downstairs is fine but really chilly upstairs.

electro you can get head lice treatment for dc for free from a pharmacy that participates in the minor ailments scheme. Same for threadworm treatment and antihistamines for dc (or anyone entitled to free precriptions)

Been out to do a couple of extra hours work (extra money yay! ) now tucked up in bed as I'm really hungry! Roll on breakfast time!

Freezing here tonight too. Kids are in bed and dh is out, so not turning on the heating just for me! I've myself bundled up on the couch with layers and blankets!

girl missed the news on your dd! That's wonderful!

Water charges are very new here in ROI, we just got our meter last week, so will be interesting to see. I haven't changed any usage yet, I want to see how much it costs, and then try to improve on it.

Thanks for the well wishes. Have run out of both tissues and paracetamol so will have to venture out to the shops tomorrow. I might have another attempt at getting DD's new shoes while I'm at it, nearest Clarks didn't have her size and the website froze both times I tried online. Hoping her feet might have grown some more in the meantime so I can get bigger ones that will last longer!

Evening everyone! I am frozen solid here tonight.. that's with the heating on this past hour! (Good old NI!). Doesn't help that its dark and raining :( Electric blanket is on heating in preparation.

We stayed home today so a NSD.

Got form done to claim back tax on my exam fee (and a few other bits of paperwork that need posting done)... always satisfying getting stuff ready to post lol although the 35 mins on the phone to HMRC to clarify something wasn't enjoyable.

We are still going strong on last weeks lidl shop for dinners although DH topped up our fruit / bread / milk on Sunday. Snacks are all gone though, but I've been good and rather than hit the shop for junk I've made myself some air popped popcorn... healthier and it was here anyway :D

Got invited to a tesco orchard on frozen veg, if anyones signed up maybe check your email? Also printed out a few supersavvyme vouchers but I dont really need the stuff so they may just end up staying in the purse.

We will need to head to the shop tomorrow for stamps at the very least.

my quidco 25 quid from June finally became payable so hopefully that will hit the account this week.

Not sure if I'm due a final mat allowance on Friday or not, time will tell I guess as I cant find the paperwork anywhere.

Yes only some pharmacies do the minor ailment scheme although its worth trying to locate one nearby if you can.

Our water charges seem to be just included with our rates (council tax) here in NI so there's no real watching what we use. When we lived in England I remember paying separately although it was never huge amounts, but we always lived in flats so maybe that helped?

Spends £7.50 on four beautiful fat quarters, a zip and some thread in sewing class today.

While I've been out dh has made a veggie curry for lunch tomorrow. Yippee!

Had the heating on for an hour this evening ( as was expecting a friend over who then cancelled) .We also had it on a bit over weekend as had chilly guests.. .

I have sorted out the budget and have £165 left for month .. but all bills are paid and freezer and car is full .. However its Mums 90th this weekend ,and family are clubbing together for a pearl necklace or similar ,and a nice lunch out.. so I expect that will be about £200 out of my savings ( but then thats what savings are for isnt it? ).

DS stil lin first month of his new job , so i expect ill have to help him out again with some ££ for food before payday.. Im hoping though that his revised housing benefit will come through before his next rent is due,, (his pay is so low he still qualifies!, but its great that hes in work after being unemployed for just over a year.. and hopefully he will get some opportunities to earn more after a few months there .. )

HM chicken and veg casserole / soup for dinner (frugally made with a chicken carcass, as i jointed a whole free range bird I got reduced yesterday freezing e the legs, thighs and breast meat ) . I will eek that out for the rest of the weeks lunches now ( as there was only me to eat it this evening and until friday ) .

I was pleased that my water bill DD came down on this qtr statement .. (however i did think they were overcharging us efore b... its now £27 per mont.
We are alos in credit on gas and elec too. Im not planning on putting the heating back on this week (except when mum is here on Saturday). However I have now put the heavier duvet and quilt back on the bed..

They've told us thathey are planning on reducing the heating in the office down to statutory minimum this winter (due to cuts) ..and its bleedin' freezing where i am anyway . Im in open plan office between large 60s plate glass windows ( not double glazed ) , and right next to the stairwell opening onto outside door(arggh) . So i have purchased a pair of (2nd hand) ugg-type sheepskin boots on ebay to keep under my desk ( Bearpaw for £20!!)..I hope they are ok .. supposedly only worn once.. I have a poncho also I can take in.. (who cares about 'office smart' if thats what they are going to do eh? ..)

Oh yes... ive also had to renew mine and DS passports this month £152 (sigh)

No heating here yet but that will change on Saturday as my mum is coming over while we go to a 50th birthday party. Mum always calls this the cold house. Not much spending yet this week here. I've seen a recipe book from the Book People at work which I'll get for DS for Christmas. It's a book of various "mug cakes" and is £4. Not sure whether he'll use it much but he does love doing a chocolate mug cake so it seems appropriate.

Get yourself some arm warmers too laksa and some of those heat pouches for pockets.

I had a hot water bottle in my old job. Used to pop it between me and the back of me chair. Lovely and toasty warm.

ohh can you link that northender would be good for my DS also I think.. (we get book people at work also) .

This is the one I think laska. I noticed it today briefly but must remember in the morning as it's tomorrow they are coming back.

Welcome to the newbies.

Sunday £1 at Chessington. DH bought all the drinks, I had already got all the passes using Tesco vouchers. Renewed DD2's pass, as hers is a different date.

Monday £15 for a dance costume. Current rate on second hand is £25, I offered this to the mum, but she said it was too much, took £16. She also gave me a bag of blacks (dancing uniform is anything black, plus logo t-shirts for shows) for DS that her son had grown out of.

£5 at slimming world plus £1 for raffle tickets.

Previously someone mentioned that they lived in a similar sized house to mine (5 bed) but had a great deal on insurance. Mine is coming up for renewal, paying about £56 a month, but would love to reduce this.

Our house has been cold today too. I pressed the "+1" button on the heating controls just to give us an hour of heating to take the chill off, with the thermostat on 19 degrees and the radiator thermostats set to 1. The gas monitor shot up to 25p an hour.

Interestingly though, it's now down to zero for gas and electricity (3am). Normally it sits at 3p an hour of electricity over night. All I did was turn off the extension cable that I use to charge things.

Now if only I could stop waking up at 3am.

This is what my graph looks like now the heating has been one. The blue bumps early in the day are the gas hob, and the hot water cylinder, and the later blue bump is the central heating. The long orange bump is a shoulder of lamb slow cooking in the oven.

Should be a nsd as at work and need nothing.

Should be nsd as working today, am walking in, have a packed lunch and am going to the gym later. Membership came out my ac yesterday.

Wish I could get it cheaper but am already at the cheapest gym here. £43 per month. but terminally skint friend goes to posh gym and pays £80 worked out I need to go twice a week (ish) to make my money back. I'm averaging three times a week and it's on my way home. No excuses really.