October Frugaleers part deux

[CremeEggThief]

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

Hmm just checked my account and was hoping to see a bit more money in there I had optimistically put another £100 over to my savings account last week of which I have just put £60 back

This has been a spendy month in all, having got dds Christmas presents, a few new clothes, larger childcare bill to cover half term, parking tickets, Christmas work do etc etc

Realised that there is still another £60 of cheques to come out, cheques are such a pain but make it much easier to trace when showing child care costs for tax credits etc.

For anyone who is going to be affected by the tax credit cuts next year have you all signed the 38degrees petition and emailed your MP?

Cheap eats here:
Jacket potatoes- we are very rural so get 13kg of potatoes for £3 from farm shop. Children like it with ham and cheese, ALDI ham (not their cheapest) is £1.09 for 5 slices or we so tuna, sweetcorn and mayo or use left over roast chicken for coronation chicken or chilli.

Pancakes: children think this is a huge treat, rolled with spinach and cream cheese. I tend to do this to use up left over spinach. They then have one for pud with natural yoghurt and sliced banana (maybe drizzle of honey)

Scrambled eggs and baked beans.

Homemade pizza, we will be having this tomorrow (4 adults, 2 children) with peppers, mushrooms, spinach, an egg if anyone wants on top, passata &tomato purée for the tomato base, pineapple, ham, chorizo sausage, cheese (cheddar and mozzarella). I make the dough - costs pennies and all the veg is from ALDI and has been also used to bulk out bolognaise sauces etc.

Then things like chicken and potato pie, bolognaise, lentil casserole, sausage casserole, chilli batch cooked.

Oh £2.97 today: morrisons, 2 x chickpeas, 1 x cannelloni beans, 1 x cardamom pods.

£3.30 DD1 school trip to see 'Shaun the sheep' at Cinema, that's the coach costs the school gets the tickets free. She hasn't been to the cinema yet so will be a lovely treat.

40+5 today... No baby.

Ifonly We are looking at a speckly grey. Have 22month old DD so nothing too expensive. Well done on the curtains! That's next months budget I think however the old ones will do for a while.

Spotty hope the kitchens coming on well?!

31weeks I always used my car park pass for work (in a hospital) when I wasn't officially at work. You don't get many perks in the NHS. I even made DP park on it when I was having contractions and had to go into maternity. Which is completely different end of hospital but I refused to pay for parking again (we pay a flat fee of £20 a month to park) so I bloody well walked the distance well waddled in mega amounts of pain

Thanks everyone for suggestions! My weekly shop was £50.55 Inc delivery with treats didn't have to buy nappies though. Or toiletries.

My meal plan is:
Lean beef stew
Homemade veggie pizza
Pasta bake with pancetta, veggie mince & lots of veg
Jacket spuds, beans & cheese
Ham, cheese and mushroom Omelette
Veggie burgers (homemade burger bap and homemade wedges)
Toad in the hole, peas and gravy.

I'll be making a sticky toffee ginger cake too.

Tomorrow I'll go through my online shop & try to get it down a few more pounds. I don't have to but I'd like to try.

Thanks everyone for suggestions! My weekly shop was £50.55 Inc delivery with treats didn't have to buy nappies though. Or toiletries.

My meal plan is:
Lean beef stew
Homemade veggie pizza
Pasta bake with pancetta, veggie mince & lots of veg
Jacket spuds, beans & cheese
Ham, cheese and mushroom Omelette
Veggie burgers (homemade burger bap and homemade wedges)
Toad in the hole, peas and gravy.

I'll be making a sticky toffee ginger cake too.

Tomorrow I'll go through my online shop & try to get it down a few more pounds. I don't have to but I'd like to try.

Girl Yes I was thinking that too. Since ds comes home for lunch I only have 2.5 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon to have proper downtime. I think that's why I'm a bit stressy because I don't have time to get properly relaxed before it's all go again. I'm making a housework schedule so I just clean things once a week rather than rushing round cleaning constantly. I think I need to clear a bit of time for breathing. :-)

I'm going to the sainsburys toy sale today so will be spendy.

I've still got a headache but also w bad throat so assuming it's that, should I still get it checked out or is it normal? (Almost 30 hours now).

Morning all. Pay day today! Yippee!

Clarks have received my returned boots so hopefully I'll receive my £60 plus postage in the next 7-14 working months days. I'm liable to forget about this as its going onto my paypal account. Must remember to check...

I've done a brave thing and have removed credit card from my purse. I'm working on the basis that if its not there I can't be tempted to use it. We'll see how this goes...

I've just paid a chunk off credit card too. Have halved it. So it will be paid off by next months payday. This should be a fairly frugal month.

No big spends coming up, am going out a few times but these are already paid for and I have to study. So while I'll be going out, I won't be drinking much. Need to keep a fairly clear head.

Today's spends - £3 on my fave sandwich (piripiri chicken, lettuce cucumber and tomato on fresh white pumpkin seed roll from my local Portuguese bakery. Like a cheeky nandos. But cooked by actual Portuguese people. And way less cheeky. And more delicious).

Saves - £7.50 on parking by walking to and from work.

DM informed me yesterday she's found a great deal on earl grey. In tesco. £2 for 80 teabags. Not sure if this is the same as someone up thread suggested. But DMs on it. And has bought me a gazillion boxes. just have to wait until the 30th before I can drink it....

spotty i hope you feel better soon.

Spotty I hope you feel better. I'm now in week two of the awful cold and will be seeing a doctor today. I'm wheezing constantly despite my steroids and beginning to struggle to get enough air moving. My two year old was worried about me yesterday as I was struggling with room on the broom! Definitely see a doctor just to get checked im sure you'll feel better for it.

Trying to decide if I need anything From the sainsvury toy sale, someone is coming out to change a tyre for me so depends when they come.

Sainsbury refunded my clothes return so £35 back from there.

Yesterday I spent £25 on 12 milk feeding bibs, ds2 is six weeks now and very sicky so these help a bit in saving me and the sofa! They are very absorbsbt from the four I have but I can't turn them around quickly enough. Also spent £6 on more muslins from eBay for the same reason.

Trying hard to stop spending, im going back to old ways of just buying things immediately from Amazon. My birthday and Christmas present pile is healthy though, I was able to wrap three books for one of ds1's birthdays and had a card available too. The books look nice and have a good rrp but were bough from the works on a ten for £10 offer.

Thread is nearly full which means I've about 25 pages to catch up on. Life is hectic but still flying the frugaleer flag, will pop in to post properly when I've caught up. Hope all is well with everyone!

Emem when I was a student, one of my friends and I once swapped credit and debit cards towards the end of term to stop each other going horrendously overdrawn. It worked a treat as we had to ask for it back and justify what we were spending if we wanted to buy anything!
Should be NSD today and I might go to Next to return a top so I might end the day £15 better off!
Noticed we have a couple of very ripe bananas so I might make a cake later.

Hi lilac. I hope it's going well there. How's the wheat experiment? Don't worry about reading back. A lot of us are getting confused as it moves so fast. Just join us again.

Congratulations electrolux! You must be so proud. Well done to your DD.

Hello, I am a long term lurker and just wanted to say 'thanks' to you for all the great tips.

I have just started making jewellery (glass beads etc not silver/gold!) and am planning to save some cash this Christmas by making things for female friends and children.

Spotty, how are you feeling? If you get any worse or get any more symptoms, then it might be a good idea if you contact the doctor - a doctor normally wants to have a word at my surgery for an emergency appointment, but at least you speak to one.

Whata - hope you're appointment goes okay. If you're struggling to get air in, that does need checking.

Electro - congratulations to your DD. It's so nice when they do something like that, no matter what it is.

Definitely a NSD - I'm determined to not go anywhere near a shop. The only thing I have in house to put in a sandwich is cheese though and that's earmarked for my jacket potato tonight, I'll have to see if I've got any cans lurking for something on toast.

I'm feeling ok thanks no headache right now!

Electrolux amazing well done to your dd.

I've just spent £79 at sainsburys Christmas for the dc sorted though and got dd Halloween outfit.

£48 filling up the car with petrol.

That is excellent news, Electrolux.

Nearly time for a new thread!

Electrolux That is bloody marvellous news. Some schools do grants for uniform if you get fsm. Talkinpeace on the debt thread knows all about grants etc and says loads go unclaimed.

I remember the cost of my dn uniform and that was hundreds.

Well done Decca

Glad your headaches gone spotty.

well done Electrolux!! We are in an 11+ area too... ds is in year 3. dd in year R. Parents evening tomorrow!

I know in our area on the FB page they have people giving away or asking for uniforms particularly for the grammars. Maybe you can keep an eye out? or might they have a thrift shop where they have second hand blazers? At our school which is very middle class (I think?!) has a thrift shop where every polo shirt, skirt, trousers, jumper goes for £1. I picked up a few bargains!

Just made a new thread, hope I did it right