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

Check me out with being organised! Switched energy to Ovo - will be a small saving every month, have also got into credit with Eon despite keeping my DD payment £30 below what they said it should be - very happy with that, frugalling is working!
While I was on a roll I phoned my car insurance company to get a renewal quote and they said I'm too early as it's not due until December!
Also paid car tax £30.

If anyone banks with natwest (or is thinking about switching) they're launching a cheap cashback account (reward account) pay 3pounds a month and get 3% back on your direct debit bills every month. Also get 1% cashback on contactless payments and in certain shops.
There's a calculator on their website to work out what you would earn from bills. I reckon this would make us about 60pounds a year just from bills.
It's intended to compete with the santander 123.

Hope the toothache goes soon spotty.

Spotty you are in the wars :( do you think they could be related, an infection in your tooth might make you sick I guess? [clueless about science emoticon]

I caved and got some stuff on the Book People. Only 2 things for Christmas (that is remarkably restrained compared to previous years, I just got a set of puzzle books as the DCs are obsessed with them, and the new Shakespeare version of Where's Wally :o) but also grabbed the opportunity to get the Roald Dahl audio set (they don't have them at the library so can't borrow them as we usually do) while it was actually in stock. Audiobooks seem to be the one thing that vaguely helps DD to sleep.

I wish I knew how to get onto my iPod to get my memos - I'd been recording all Christmas spends on there, but now it won't even charge or switch on so I can't fully update the spreadsheet I'm now using. Annoying as it's the first time I've tried keeping a record of all spends (with the plan to use this year's spend to set a slightly lower budget for next year) and I'd actually managed to do it rather than forgetting. I didn't have enough storage to back up to the cloud either. I'm disgruntled because now my total won't be exactly right .

SSE just asked me to read my gas and electricity meter and put the numbers into the website so they can send a bill in two weeks. That's good isn't it?

Whirlwind we bank with NatWest and I just put in our details and it said we could earn up to £129 a year just from the bills! thank you for mentioning it

Hi all feel slightly better this morning although the cats managed to wake me and dd up twice last night was my own fault as fell asleep before getting them in and shutting them in the kitchen.

Oh well have a Halloween craft day, have done one pumpkin and have one more to go plus some other bits and from last year to put up. May make some cakes later if I can be bothered dd about to watch Hotel Transylvania!

I've had a wee bit of luck today. I sent in a little thank you letter to the Loop monitor people saying how great I was finding the energy monitor, and they are sending me a £50 M&S voucher to say thank you for letting them post it on their website (Anonymously). Yay!

Great result ipsos!

Thanks Hair. Very happy about that.

Thanks everyone. I feel fine no sickness or anything so weird. My tooth still hurts I've taken a look and gum has receded exposing part of the tooth which is sensitive. I've booked an appt for Monday but no idea how I'll pay for it!

Oh good Collie! It's new, I had an appointment at the bank a while ago and the person I was speaking to mentioned it was coming so have been waiting for the announcement! We're definitely going to switch to it.

That's great ipsos - very useful.

Thanks for the tip whirlwind. I bank with natwest so will have a look.
Well done ipsos on your voucher!

I spent £15.25 today taking the dc out to a Halloween event. It was at some local gardens and they had loads of fun doing a trail (in the rain) then doing crafts and having their face painted.

Ipsos that's amazing! Well done

Just popped by to say rather late congratulations to breathless on xander! I'm being induced 2 weeks early THIS Sunday so running around like a headless chicken nesting getting food ready etc. Today is going to be a pricey day as doing a few weeks shops in preparation, getting formula, and lots of treats for me like comfy pyjamas and slippers to lounge in I will try to catch up with everyone when I can, I'm so busy these days and I don't know how! X

Good luck 31weeks!
Managed to keep well within my lunch budget, only spent £9 although I think she gave me too much change. Setting a budget for that was a good idea as I tend to get a bit carried away in restaurants and then wonder why the bill is so large!

Hi everyone...been awol, so busy with working full time

The fixed rate on our mortgage is ending so I have refixed (saving about £16 per month on the rate that we were going to be put on). Main goal is to try and overpay by about £60-£80 per month as I am very keen to reduce the mortgage term and take advantage of the low interest rates. On the flip side I've had a letter saying that the fixed rate on my ISA is stopping and I'm going to get 0.25% unless I change it...so more (boring) online investigations to be done.

Spends today - £4 carousel for dcs, £1 animal food, £15 top ups, £5 party bag tatt for dd's bday, we are just taking 3 others soft play so the party itself should cost about £40-£50.

Dropped off 5 bags of stuff to the charity shop. I have zero time for Ebay and FB, and I never have any takers anyway, I now have an empty corner in the bedroom and have done my bit for the environment and the charity

Good luck, 31weeksgone.

Go ipsos! Fantastic result!

NSD.

Pass I know what you mean about ebay. I really do well about getting bargains from there but I never do well with selling.

Good luck!! I've had two pre term inductions. Is this dc2? I can't remember sorry

Good luck 31weeks. That's a good long time your baby's had. Well done!

ipsos, plus is really selling something for 99p worth the effort of packaging it up and standing in a queue in the post office... I used to manage when I was on maternity leave/worked part time, but time is precious now.

Yes I know what you mean Pass. I put some of ds's shoes on ebay, and I did say that they were quite well used and I just wanted to pass them on to someone who needed them. I put £1.50 on as the price, so they were really cheap. But then someone talked me down to 99p and in the end it cost me money to send them. I was a bit cheesed off after that.

Having said that, I once got a nearly new sewing machine for £100 that would have been £800 new, so it definitely has its uses.

These days I just put used shoes on freecycle and the people come and collect them and they are definitely going to people who need them then.

I did consider free cycle but the last time I offered through there people were downright rude, emails purely stated I'll have your item"....no recognition of what it actually was, as if they sent out the same email to everyone. ..

Long time lurker here - I have just done that cheap energy club thing that Fluffy linked to and apparently we can save £430 per year on our energy bills . Which says something about our inertia AND our use of energy! To be fair I think last winter our energy use was exceptionally high as we were having some home repairs done that rather exposed us to the elements throughout January, but even so... Gulp. Thanks anyway Fluffy, switch now in progress!

Really enjoy this friendly thread.