October continuing into Novemeber frugaleers part trois

[Lovetoknit]

Hope it's okay to start the new thread since the other one is already full
£1 at Cornwall Ambulance shop for 3 books for dc after I dropped off my old slow cooker and some books and £1 at Prospect hospice for some wool and fabric
Just made cauliflower cheese with some bacon and cavolo nero for dh who had it for lunch and there is enough for his dinner too, the rest of us are having homemade burgers, buns and wedges

I know just what you mean need. I love that you live this exciting life, and I get to have a little tiny bit of it through your posts. Was it you that said dd was aiming for the horse of the year show ages ago? My jaw nearly hit the floor. I'm still excited about that.

We had a really frugal but totally delicious dinner - had a tiny bit of Bolognese left so made a pizza base and topped it with the Bolognese and grated cheese. Also saved the skin from DD's jacket potato yesterday and covered it with jalapenos and cheese then rebaked. All delicious!

I just spent five hours comparison shopping for printers online and then decided to just move the one we have to a different room. I am getting good at this!

My life is as exciting as cold porridge, I promise!!

DD went to horse of the year show two weeks ago. She was there for the week with the team. Exhausting but an amazing opportunity and an honour, which is why her school were fine with that length of time off. On the last day, their stables were inspected by the queens stable manager! I have no idea whether she will make a career in the equine field. We have plans for the next three years, next year being the busiest. I can now see that a person has something intrinsically in them, a love or need of something. I never found that at her age.

If you find a printer that doesn't eat ink, let us know ipsos, I have never found one to this day!

Oooo! How exciting! I'm so sorry I missed it. I was hoping to watch for her. Of course I have no idea which one she is, and I wouldn't ask, but it would have been hilarious to shout Go littleStrong at the tv. :-) That's brilliant that she went. I'm sure the school were proud as punch.

I know what you mean about some people having a destination built in. I'm a botanist, and there was never really any alternative. The pay's rubbish, but it's what I can do.

need This is what we consider to be the sweet spot for printers:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Colour-LaserJet-4600n-4600-A4-Network-Ready-Workgroup-Printer-Warranty-/201449963915?hash=item2ee75a818b:m:m6ySO_Tk5Surcx4RTblv8vw

It's a big office laserjet printer that's been sold on after being replaced but it's an indestructible workhorse. The key thing to look for is this:

"Toner Level; All Toners Above 40%
Fuser & Transfer Kit 100%"

The fuser and transfer kit are not easy or sensible to replace so you want them at 100% but the inks are easy and cost effective to replace.

The toner lasts years at normal rates of use and they don't dry out like inkjet. Lovely machine, and sturdy enough for ds to stand on.

I'm getting totally confused by the time change this year, partly because of being in bed instead of constantly clock-watching to feed ds. I forgot to eat dinner tonight until 10pm and when at 8pm I realised it was past ds's bedtime, I went downstairs and found him asleep on the couch. D'oh! This must be what relaxation feels like.

I've decided to add a new column to my spreadsheet called "Stuff I did not impulse-buy this month". So far it says:

garden shredder 300
printer 160
shredding man 2 hours 50
solar panels 3500
external wall insulation 16000
printer 300

Good grief.

Guess what everyone? Not only have I been paid a day early but we have also had our final loan payment come out!! £175 a month. Can now go on credit card. Just have to hope that the car keeps going now.

Fingers crossed spotty.

Going to an arboretum today. About £20 to get in but taking a pic nic of soup. (tinned I'm afraid as dd is a fuss arse and I didn't get round to making more). I have more than 6p in my purse now so will be OK.

I love autumnal trips out. It's my favourite.

We're all full of cold & sore throats here again and DS is not coping well at all.

Turned the night time heating off (we only tried it for one night as the temp was really low) but the boiler is too noisy. So we shan't be using it at night again. A bit of a frugal win I suppose.

Spotty that is amazing!

Having the heating on at night makes for a fuzzy head and worse night sleep here.

Sorry you are ill again collie

We all have coughs and colds too. Ds had me up loads then they got up at 5:10!

Wow spotty that's great!

Babs I love soup on a picnic. Souper fun!

I'm angry today. Bloody upstairs neighbours came home at midnight and had a party. I wasn't feeling great last night so had an early night. Woke up at just after midnight. Couldn't get back to sleep. Had to go buzz their door but they either couldn't hear it because of noise, or ignored it. Rude.

Strongly worded email will be sent to their landlord today.

£12.50 made on eBay last night.

Well.
October has been a disaster.
That is all.
:(

Well done spotty!!! Feels amazing doesn't it?!!

Have a good week ahead....

Em that's just awful! When we were tenants of an upstairs flat we never even considered parties. We even took our shoes off so we weren't noisy. And only hoovered and used the washing machine when our downstairs neighbour had gone to work! Some people are so selfish.

souper fun! Love it.

We were woken up ridiculous o'clock too spotty Today is going to be horrendous. DS is full of tantrums and tears already.

Sainsbury's TU sale is tomorrow. Im browsing their website so I know what I'll buy. We've got £120 in eBay funds which we made in the last 5 weeks. I sold everything that doesn't fit (and have more to sell). My goal is to spend £30 on a few clothes that do fit!

babs we're off to an arbotetum today too! You're not going to Westonbirt are you?
We're taking a picnic but we still have some money left over from MIL so we're going to have tea at the very lovely Gloucester services on the way home and perhaps get a treat from the farm shop to bring home.

collie it's rubbish. There are rules re loud music etc (not between 10pm and 8am) and other "nuisances" (washing machines etc) but they choose not to listen. I've found an email address for their landlord and have sent them a message. And will leave a polite note in their letterbox today.

It's frustrating as they seem to just not care. I'm home studying today but can guarantee that they will Hoover about 12 times (wooden floors....ocd much!) and at some point there will be iPod Kareoke.

Usually I wouldn't mind. But it was a school night.

To add to my gloom today - there is nothing for breakfast. Dh has used the remainder of the milk for weetabix (after making us tea) there is no bread. And no eggs. So I'm going to have to go to the shop. Sigh.

On the plus side. My sister is with my parents in the uk at present and they have apparently trawled asda, sainsburys tesco aldi and lidl for earl grey tea. I was sent a picture of a box in grandmas kitchen. Full of earl grey, washing powder, pasta, tinned veggies, and a primark bag (hoping jeans and tights). The food stuff is way cheaper over there than it is here. So when they travel across we put orders in.

Study day today. Yippee!!

Em noisy neighbours make me really angry, I personally feel anyone who lives in a flat should not be allowed to have music on or do anything else loud between 10pm - 8am. I have had to knock on my neighbours door at 3am in the past but tbf to him he did at least have the decency to look and turned it off!

Hope all the poorly frugeleers feel better soon, are you all taking a good multivitamin?!

Ipsos was looking at the printer info with interest, I have had no luck with printers and seem to have to buy a new one every year as they just die on me!

Thanks for the encouragement re Tesco. I've emailed the CEO as I wanted them to have documented in writing what happened to us even if it doesn't result in us getting any more than the compensation offered. I did tweet & Facebook on Saturday night too, I'm certain my years on this thread helped me be assertive with them, but always polite, even when I was really angry on Saturday.

Soup for winter picnics & lunches is fab. The dc aren't so keen but dh& I love it. I'm sure one of our biggest frugal wins over the years has been always taking lunches, snacks, bottles of water & flask out with us, whether it be to work, out on a picnic, on a trip to cricket/football or just a long car journey. Obviously there are times that we don't for whatever reason but the vast majority of times we do and it has saved us a fortune.

Cinema is really expensive, we're lucky and have an independent cinema local to us £5 adults, £4 children but DS wants to go to see the Bond film this week while we're away so it'll be the silly prices.

Payday here too today. Not expecting much above baseline this month.

Waiting for £600 payment from our cancelled life assurance policy. We had just carried on paying into it as the premium went up each year. This year it reached a point where it just seemed too much so dh & I (both public sector) checked the life assurance part of our pensions and found that gives us plenty of cover so we have cancelled the policy. I suspect we needed a small amount of cover initially but probably haven't needed it for some time now, better noticing late than never.

Should be a LSD here today as not much to get. Just work to plough on with and then tea to get. DS is watching movies and playing, which isn't ideal but not to be helped.

Em noisy neighbours are awful, our next door seem to let their kids charge about on laminate floors around 9.30 which when you have to be up at 4.30 isn't funny. Hopefully their landlord may spell it out to them...

Looking forward to halloween but got to do the pumpkin soon which does involve a bit of sticky smelly effort. I have invested in battery powered tea lights this year which should make it less smelly and safer, especially as we have kitten, who is very curious and uncareful!

Pointless ours is in North Yorkshire near beadale. Souper fun
noisy, inconsiderate neighbours

Babsmam I'm off to that place tomorrow, glad it's good. Off to see the poppies at YSP today. Used our sweet Sundays tickets to take ds to an evening showing of hotel Transylvania last night. Dh bought dinner and I bought pudding beforehand. Payday Friday thank goodness it's been a very expensive month

Audit thank you sooooo much for the coat you're right it's absolutely gorgeous! Ds is being grumpy and won't try it on right now but it looks perfect. It's so soft I wonder if they do adult ones....