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

Today will be £25 riding. Then cleaning and studying.

I'm borrowing dms food processor and sewing machine and am going to start cooking for my freezer. And finish a cushion.

My newspaper says that the House of Lords is on the warpath in a really big way to try and block the cuts to tax credits. Shall we send them encouraging vibes?

So £58 in lidl including my £5 off voucher. Will teach me not to meal plan. Have got lots though.

£9.50 in sainsburys on coffee and socks for dd plus £10 cash back as need £5 to go in a card for a party later. Dh had the £5 but took it to work with him.

Dc are being really hard work

So meal plan...

Pizza
Chicken goujons chips and beans
Bean burgers with potato croquettes and veg
Lamb mince with jacket potatoes (BBC good food recipe half will go in freezer)
Roast chicken dinner
Bacon risotto
Fresh pasta and sauce with garlic bread
Beef casserole (half in freezer)
Left over roast chicken with mash and veg.

Not the healthiest but it's half term and with all those meals next week should be pretty cheap.

Umm browsing didn't work and I bought coconut oil as my hair is in terrible condition, a new toothbrush for DS and some cheap make up. And then £7 in Sainsbury's on a toy that he LOVES. But I used the money I made on eBay.

Spent £17 in total and DH spent £7.50 on his hair cut.

Weekly shop came last night which was £49.

Nice to have a wee treat collie.

I'm trying to think here about all the stuff I do which is taking up so much time and which I could just ditch, and which I could outsource. It's weirdly hard work to list it all, as I normally just rush around bashing through it all. I'm getting there though.

car insurance renewals zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just had to do a quick top up shop which was about £7. Will need to pay for train to town tonight and taxis to and from the station, that'll all come to about a tenner. Not counting the meal out as we're not paying!
Must pay car tax and get insurance renewal quotes this week.

Hi all, hope you are all well. I will have a read through and see what I have missed.

Right - I'm going to start posting my daily totals again to try and keep me on track.

Purse: £7.09
Jar: £19.25
Bank: £796.74
Grand Total: £823.08
Reduction since yesterday: N/K
Days to payday: 19
Savings: £968.10 (need to get this topped back up to £1000)
Yesterday's spends:
N/K

Budget looks like this
Petrol - £200 / £144 remaining
Food: £300 / £211.42 remaining
Credit card : £39.01
Gyms: £43.99
Football: £15.00
DS2 bus fares; £10.8
Everything else; £358.86 (this seems a little high so there is probably something I have forgotten about)

I don't like flat cola either TBH (actually I'm not mad about cola at all unless it's on tap - tastes different in a can or bottle IMO!) and prefer Dr Pepper... but it's supposed to be good for stomach bugs. Apparently :o

Thanks for the input about the typing thing folks :) good point about the editing - I don't really get rid of words though, it was more just correcting any glaring SPAG mistakes (the author asked me as she is dyslexic). I was wondering about hourly as well. But I don't know! Anyway I'll just wait until she asks me to actually start, I know she wants to find out what happens with the current book first so I won't count my chickens IYSWIM. She's so lovely and the book is genuinely fab.

Managed to take my friend for breakfast as we are in my hometown, I'm a bit miffed though as Harvester have stopped their amazing bargainous breakfast! The £4.99 one is no longer unlimited and isn't even changeable. Ah well I guess it was too good to last! And still much nicer than the Toby Carvery one which is the other alternative here.

DCs spent their 'earnings' after. Lovely lady on the bus gave me a quid each for them as they were so good... was in two minds about accepting and I know it's a controversial one on MN, but she was just wanting to do something nice and they were very grateful. So apparently my DCs are charming, can't see it myself :o anyway they got good bargains as the Entertainer had a sale. Music store didn't have much in the way of 'proper' classical but they had half price exam books so I got an old prep test one for £1.75, it'll be a good next step for my pupils. Bargain!

Yep ursula I teach piano now, just very casually so it's not something I feel I can rely on as such, but then, if work does go completely up the spout then I reckon I could increase it a bit. I haven't really pursued much advertising and just got pupils via facebook selling/home ed groups, and there are a few places I could pay to put a poster up etc which should get some interest. And it is just so much easier physically - I've been so used to doing a job that causes me pain every day (shelving, deliveries etc, most of it is manual handling in one way or another) that it was actually quite a shock to get paid for something that is so relaxed and that actually invigorates me. That's not to say I don't enjoy the day job, I really love it and I was so lucky to get a job doing something fun, but the fun doesn't make up for the exhaustion anymore, sadly.

3 NSDs, Sainsbo's order tomorrow will be £48 - ish after vouchers.

Half term here so will have to spend some money next week. Will catch up later.

Back from riding. Dh has turned chef today. Three Soups have been made. Yummy.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent washing. And tidying spare room.

£40 haircut, £10 on deposit for my Christmas turkey and £12 on bits in Waitrose.

LaChatte I am giving you a virtual kick! Have you tried leaving your purse behind?

Yesterday ended up being £17.50 altogether, with my cinema ticket and pre- show g&t. Today is an NSD.

DS is exhausted from his trip to France and sleeping. Seems to have had a good time, but more interested in giving me a blow-by-blow account of what he spent, when and where, rather than telling me about the places, people and food.

Fuzz Thats very sweet of her. You're doing something right.

Ipsos Poor you, it's that time of year again isn't it?.

I've had £12 credited to my energy bill, it's off the government according to Sainsburys energy. Still doing the heating on for 30 mins, off for 30 minutes. It seems to work, I dont feel cold on the off half hour. DH calls the timer on my phone the saddo alarm.

My fleece throw has arrived and is very cozy.

NSD. Going to put the steak pie in the slow cooker again, they cook really well in it. You don't even need to crisp the crust up.

Thanks fluffy.

I think one of the frugaleers hit the nail on the head yesterday. Ds just started coming home for lunch this term and I haven't really adjusted to having an extra block of child care to do in the middle of the day.

I think I'm going to need to outsource some housework, or just accept that I can't get everything done at once. Ds is just so much happier and healthier and the whole house is calmer, so it's all worth it. I just need to adapt a bit.

I have a new solar panel man coming on Monday. Hopefully I will have all sorts of energy saving fun to report.

Sorry to hear that so many people are not well :-( get well soon x

Lovely story about lady giving DC a pound each... Aw, how lovely, that would have made me smile.

Made £110 on an old (vintage! !) Designer coat I put on ebay thanks to this thread... whoop whoop .

Sent £16 on slow cooker miraculously appearing in Aldi week after my one died.. happy news !

Fuzz it sounds to me as if you should go with the piano teaching. That's got to be much better paid than lugging stuff around, and it great that it makes you feel good.

We bought a £5 fleecy throw from Matalan and its superb! Such a good size. Covers two adults and the cat on the sofa. www.matalan.co.uk/homeware/throws/s2610191/fairisle-printed-throw--130cm-x-150cm

My Nectar balance is now near £30! Cannot believe it. Our October goal was to reach £20. So very very happy.

We went for a walk today with a flask of hot chocolate and some pre buttered scones. Frugal win as the local cream tea was £6 per person

Oh collie I'm loving the throw and have just got some matalan vouchers. I also like the kids ones on the Christmas thread from asda.
Nsd but still haven't been to lidl. After church as it shuts at 9. ( lidl not church, Church is 6-7)

Hello everyone. I dropped off the thread in the past week or so, things were tough and I didn't want to be moaning all the time! Got paid yesterday though, which has been a major relief. Popped €50 away in an envelope in case that happens again.

Today, €9 on 2 coffees and a hot chocolate. I was really shocked and questioned it, but they just put their prices up since the last time. A Starbucks has opened a few doors down, so think their reasoning is, if they can charge it, so can we. I won't be going back, which is a pity, as its a lovely cafe.
€13 in tesco on stuff I forgot yesterday.
€30 in a card for dh goddaughter birthday.
€35 on ELC wooden garage for ds 2 for Christmas. He's asked Santa for one, and the cheapest one I could find that had all the things he wanted his garage to have, was €40 and the reviews were terrible. Even looking at it, it looked like it would fall apart. The elc one was perfect, but €70. Saw it today on sale so snapped it up. Thrilled with my bargain!

Quite pleased with spending today:

£9.93, after using 30% discount voucher in Pets@Home
£28.27 in Sainsburys after using £8 Sainsburys vouchers and 2 Chicago Town pizzas vouchers (total before was £42.75)
£12.25 Sainsburys petrol - mini top up as 3p cheaper than our local and triple Nectar points at mo.

DD seeing loads of friends next week so should be cheap - got loads of biscuits in just in case they land back here though.

Does anybody know if it is sensible to freeze things like cake and flapjacks? I have an almond (frangipane) cake recipe that ds loves and I am getting sort of ok at flapjack but always end up with enough to feed an army.

I freeze both ipsos un iced though and they are fine.

Dh offered to buy Indian then changed his mind