The friendly frugaleers natter on through November...

[blueteapot]

Hope you dont mind me starting a shiny new thread

I need to add up specifics, but in the last quarter I have saved the following pcm by shopping around.

£15 switching gas/electric
£15 house insurance
£300 mortgage
£35 equine insurance.

£365, wow! Plus, the new car will be less in tax, not sure how much but circa £400 is a massive difference by trying to be savvy.

Need I am doing something wrong if your dual fuel is only 2/3 more than mine. I was wondering about wood flooring, is it warm to touch?. I wanted solid but it's £100 psm . We need a good floor in the lounge and engineered wood might be the way forward.

Do you think the new floor will help your ds ipsos?. You'll have to post an after photo too. It's better to frugal and get the house done than fritter and not like your home's decor.

£1.50 on dolmio and choc for dh. Bought a few things for the xmas stash but I need a new tray for mince pies.

Amazon are doing prime for £59 a year on sunday. Might get it because I want to watch their top gear show.

Thanks for that Needa had a feeling you were a Mossisons onliner as well!

Yes if this works think it will be a regular thing, much better than going to the shop really as no impulse buying of unnecessary crap!!

I also couldn't work out if they had added my points to my match and more card, will ask the delivery man I think!

We need a dvd player, the one that in integral with the tv isn't working, any recommendations anyone?

fluffy I put it down to a few things. Switching often in terms of suppliers. New house, built to a high specification, particularly with regard to energy consumption. Our builders were small, concentrating on quality not quantity, so it's energy efficient. The boiler again is a highly efficient model. You can run the heating on two loops, upstairs and down. All the white goods were installed as tripe A rated.
I have never ever felt the wood was cold. My kitchen (which is massive, one of the reasons we bought the plot) is all tiled too.
Overall, I think it might be the quality of the initial build, I paid more in the old, smaller house.
Plus, energy costs are falling.

I could easily reduce it though, the electricity definitely. I have teenagers. Anything that can be left on generally is. Even if I was super vigilant, they are still crap.

Oh and water has gone down £30pcm, due to paying for a shortfall the previous year.

Match and More isn't that clear imho. You have to go to the M&M section and choose either to accrue the points online, in store or knock them off each shop. If I remember correctly.

Bit of a mixed day at work. Turns out they'll probably be able to claim back off the supplier so it should be ok. (Which my supervisor knew yesterday and didn't tell me).

But, it's a definite no on increasing my hours. So it's back to the drawing board there. As far as I know it's just a financial decision tough rather than any objection on the basis of my health. If I could just get a few people to leave...

We've got the separate loops but our builders put in electrolux and while they are A rated it's still more expensive to run than a triple A machine.

If I built my own house I'd put triple glazing in and insulation between floors.

We pay £36.50 a month, most of that is gas this time of year. Dh insisted on using the heating all the time in Feb and we used 2000kwh in 28 days. Thats £80. It's really pushed up the estimated use for the house.

Today dd stood up in front of the whole school and told some jokes for the talent show. Parents weren't invited but I'm soooo proud!

Aw, bless, Spotty. Aw, that's great!

Well done Spotty's DD. Were they good jokes?

They were just knock knock jokes from Google

I am so glad this week is over - everyone is fraught with the spending review week after next.

Pointless glad things are a bit better.

Ipsos I love your hall / stairs.

Spotty awwwww

Collie I have a pair of toddlers snow trousers - unused as by the time it got cold enough for the child it was intended for they had grown out of it. Let me know if you want them. PM me & I will post them down. They should keep him toasty in the poor weather.

I have had such an unfrugal day...it is DH b'day so I spent a fortune on presents and food.

mixed day here i was very unfrugal and bought my lunch from the little van that conmes round £4.80 nearly fell over.
£4 beavers fees, £4 CIN, £7 in iceland and £20 in aldi.
just got a plumbers bill for £97 to pay but at least the leak is fixed.

Pointless glad you had a better day
Rafa pleased the mistake can be sorted, most usually can,
ipsos i have hallway envy
Spotty - its rubbish insnt it. DM grew up in a seaside resort town (well nearby) and she says it was awful in the winter.

im looking at engineered wood floor for my kitchen diner (still looking for cookers too)

£1 donated to children in need, i did a "fill this picture of pudsey with coins" and donations at pre school earlier in the week, so I feel we have supported sufficiently. No other spends. DH rang from the US to say what did I want from the mall and I said nothing! Usually I'd ask for various things and he'd spend quite a bit, but as I said we don't need anything.

Ds1 has been talking about what he is going to ask Father Christmas for, he has come up with a fire engine, a baby (note not a doll, he already has one and a buggy) and a car garage. Using camelcamelcamel I have already bought him a playmobil 123 fire station at the lowest every price so I'm very pleased.

Tomorrow I've got to go and fetch DH from Heathrow, we'll go out for lunch probably so slightly spendy. I've had to back out of an evening out tomorrow as I'm just not well enough but I'm glad as its money we could do without spending. I feel like I'm beginning to really get into a frugal mindset. Thanks team!

unescorted that's very kind of you. he already has some but thank you so much for your offer.

Just reading about the events in Paris.

No spend weekend here. Hopefully!

I've been doing some serious thinking and realised that if I want to carry on my technical writing job then it needs to pay enough so I can outsource my other duties properly. I looked up online and it seems that contract technical writers usually charge £40-£80 and hour (eep!) and I'm charging £20. So I wrote to the man who's employing me and explained that I'm run ragged trying to do the writing and everything else, and about the costs that I would have to pay to outsource my other work, and asked for a raise. I have no idea whether the man could afford to pay more, but even if I lose the job, it's better than being permanently knackered.

It's weird because in one moment I have suddenly realised a) why the pay gap between men and women exists. and b) why unemployed people can't afford to take a job.

How's that for an economic epiphany?

Well done ipsos. It's certainly worth the email. There is no point making yourself ill and you can always readvertise your services for someone else at a higher rate.

Spendy day today, lunch out with the girls then shopping. I'm raiding the savings

My heart goes out to those people caught in the Paris killings. What is the world coming to. We have "free" economies that work "best" when the gap between the rich and the poor is widening that are operating on a global scale and nutters who want to take their "share" of the resources by force - but they aren't dressing it as a war between the haves and have nots, but as an ideological one so they can more effectively exploit people to keep the inequality gap wider. Blood suckers on all sides who aren't content with living their own lives but want to control other peoples as well. I am beyond angry.

Full of sadness today for the Paris victims.

Ipsos First rule of business DH would say, work for a decent margin.

LSD - £10 for a riding lesson for DD.

Me too, need it's just awful.
Well done on the letter ipsos I hope you get a good outcome.
Spent £25 last night on drinks and a taxi. I'd budgeted £20 so went slightly over but had a great night so worth it.

It's so awful

Just bought ds a brand new pair of timberlands off of a selling site for £18 going to collect in a bit. Then off to a Christmas fair at the Weald and downland museum £5 each to get in ds is free so £10.

Can't believe what is happening in France, wtf is wrong with the people that can do this?

Ipsos I am thinking I should leave nursing and take up writing, £20 an hour sounds like loads to me

Today the plan is to have a quiet morning and catch up with housework and dd has horse riding this afternoon.

Hello... Been Mia for a while but have been reading on and off.

Am at airport now heading to Asia. Hated reading about Paris - can't believe the atrocities.

Be good y'all!

Girlfriend 20 an hour is more than a junior Doctor too! (But freelance is less hours and no security so needs to be more like locum rates I guess) -Ipsos well done for asking. If you would have had to give it up otherwise then you have nothing to lose!

for Paris. Shocking news.

It's my birthday today but DH had to stay over for work last night so won't see him until later on. He did manage yet more overtime out of it so hopefully all this hard work will be reflected in his Dec wages.

Still have quite a sore throat but very much on the mend. I do have a very wriggly 9 month old today though and a bored toddler so we may have to venture out in the cold if DVDs and duplo don't cut it!