We are Resolutely Frugal! Frugaleers continuing their new frugal year. All welcome!

[fuzzpig]

Hello! I hope nobody minds me starting the new thread :o

I almost caved and bought DS new dance shoes today, he has "lost" his. I believe they are in his bedroom, but he is too idle to look. Well, I found one (old one) yesterday, now he needs to find either it's mate, or the newer pair. He doesn't deserve new ones. He has said they are a bit small. If he finds the new pair, I'll replace them fir him (he can't help growing) and DD1 (whose feet have grown 1.5 sizes ) can have DS's ones.

Pleased to hear your DH and DS have apologised to each other audit.
Sorry your work is rubbish NK, are you going to keep looking overseas?

need glad to hear you don't think my idea is bonkers. I think you just say that dmil from now on your 4 children will take care of you. Explain that df has explained it's not easy for him any more. Tbh I'm surprised the maintenance has continued but hey I don't know anything about that sort of thing!!!

If Melbourne rang tomorrow id definitely say yes. If anything to escape this work place. Of course I will miss my friends here (I've been here 12 years and it's really home) but my sanity is important.

I live in hope though.

Today I spent £5 on a black tie purse/clutch (accessorise) and £10 for lunch with friend whom I've not seen in months. Yesterday £5 lunch with friend.

I am with Need on homework. DS blatantly lied he had done his on Wednesday, but admitted the truth when I saw him trying to do it on the bus on Thursday morning. There was a note in his planner, saying he had to do detention, if he didn't bring it today, which is fair enough, in my opinion. I spent far too long helping DS with maths homework in particular in primary school many times we ended up in screaming matches and a few times, both of us in tears); it's down to him now he's a teenager. He's a bright boy, but has a bad attitude towards school authority and won't push himself, so to be honest, I think he needs to learn the hard way. Anyway, I'm glad your DH snd DS made up, Audit.

Girlie, how exciting! I think you have to go for it!

£10.15 altogether. £6.15 lunch out with a friend and £4, I owed her, for picking up a side plate and a bowl from Dunelm for me.

need I think it's lovely of you to chip in and look after DMIL. I wonder would it soften it is one person said they would pay the phone bill "so that she would always be free to ring them without worrying about cost" and that one other person would do the energy bill "so that they would always be sure that she is warm" and so on? Maybe it could be couched in terms that suggest it is a weight of their mind to know that she is properly looked after? She's a lucky lass to have you all.

Sorry to hear about the work troubles NK5. What a bind. Good luck with the tests.

Well done on the house Girlie. Excellent news. Enjoy the excitement.

We are still pottering along here. I've been fiddling with webpages and getting books from the library about javascript, thinking about whether web design is a thing I could do for UpWork. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Girlie that's great news you absolutely must go for it!!
Collie that's interesting the link between pill & depression I also suffered while in college & my sis is suffering now in her final year.

Audit great they've apologised to each other.

I've collected £ for trip to London, paid my car insurance in full today too which was also spendy but having saved money for these things made it much easier.

creme they do learn the hard way, one of my brightest, but extremely lazy yr 11 boys was in tears over his mock exam result. He is retaking it and diligently attending all my extra revision classes!

We seem to be having quite a cheap time at the moment, after all the extravagance of having our hall done up before Christmas. I think the new scheme of pacing myself personally is resulting in fewer little projects to do and so less spending. Good scheme all round really.

I was proud of ds again today. He came home muddy from school for the second time. He'd had a good run around, but without undue argy bargy, which was good.

Pointless, I hope DS will learn his lesson before he gets to Year 11! Maybe I'm too hard line, but I actually think he gets too many chances from the school, and it's only a matter of time before he gets his first detention!

Girlie go for the house if you think you can do it.
Need you sound like a great dil.
Audit pleased you are getting somewhere
Nk rubbish.
Fuzz you sound like a fab DSM. As a depression sufferer keep doing what you are so she feels like you are a haven.

DD school shoes of three weeks are nipping her feet. Shoes shopping today.
Food this morning about £57

I'm sure he will creme!
My policy is to give the detention when they don't hand the homework in but let them off if they give it me first thing the next morning. That way it makes the point but gives them a get out and usually cuts down the number of DTs I have to supervise!
Hairdresser today, £26 but shouldn't be any other spends.

Thanks for all the congratulations. We are still revelling in our new status as Aunty & Uncle North, not as much, I suspect, as sil & bill are enjoying being parents at last . Our only frustration now is waiting 3 weeks for our trip to Devon to meet the baby. It was arranged around the due date and we've got other weekend commitments so can't bring it forward.

girl great news about the house, how exciting.
audit ds (y9) drives dh mad re homework but I have the attitude of need and creme and a hands off approach, hard though that is at times, he is old enough to sort himself out.

Going shopping this morning, dd needs new trainers.
Going out for drinks with friends after the football today and meeting friends for tea tomorrow so likely to be quite a spendy couple of days. On the plus side, I've built up quite a few extra hours at work this week which will be good when they're paid at the end of Feb.

Glad to know my parenting skills are appreciated Seriously, there's not a lot you can do at 16 but hope what you've put in already comes back out, so to speak!

north Enjoy your drinks and tea.

I am liking that your'e still pottering along nicely ipsos. Nothing better than to potter along nicely. Thanks for the perspective on DMIL. It might help phrasing it like that, I just don't know. She such a remarkably fiesty (in a good way) intelligent woman, wasted really in her time iyswim? Wipes the floor with DH at times and is ALWAYS on my side, much to my amusement.

Spends today will be minimal, some compost I think as mine isn't quite ready.

Spent £45 at Aldi yesterday, stocking up on supplies for the horse box, as the season starts soon, and £27 on a take away, we had to cancel our meal out, as DS needed taking to karate, we don't usually have to take him, DSIL does.

£51 lidl
£39 petrol

Meal plan:

Today out for lunch courtesy of bil
Tomorrow out for lunch with work but have bought dh a steak
Mon: roast chicken
Tues: chicken rice and peas
Weds: roast chicken and salad wraps
Thurs: shepherd pie
Fri: spag bol

Not very imaginative this week! Also have pasta bake and chicken goujons if things change

My meal plan is
Today: pizza.
Sunday: veggie sausages, mash, broccoli, peas and gravy.
Monday: pasta.
Tuesday : tofu and veg stirfry.
Wednesday: lentil and mushroom cottage pie (enough for 6 portions, so 2 will be frozen).
Thursday: same.
Friday: veggie burgers and wedges. We currently have the sweet potato, lentil and quinoa ones from Sainsburys and they are delicious!

I have to take DS to his archery lesson and I expect we'll have a café treat afterwards, but that should be all for this weekend. I'll post spends later.

need I think that even at 16 a lot of listening can still be massively helpful. Proper, non-judgmental listening can help a person to get their thoughts out and give them a good airing. Very often that helps a person to figure at solution for themselves.

I still talk things over with my Dm in a lot of detail and I find it incredibly helpful. I'm 40.

Hi all thanks for the encouragement its exciting and terrifying in equal measures I already feel completely out of my depth though, spoke to someone at Connolls this morning and she said have I got a preferred solicitors -to which I replied 'errrrrr' and then she asked about who I wanted to go to for the mortgage and once again I completely floundered!!

Going to speak to my friend tonight who recently bought a house so hopefully she can give me a few pointers and have arranged to speak to someone at Connolls again on Tuesday.

I worked out this morning it will cost me an additional £120 a month compared to what I pay in rent currently which seems achievable plus am hoping will save on some utility bills as it has super economical heating and solar panels. Plus will be on a water meter which I think has to be cheaper than the current extortionate rates I'm paying.

The deposit is an eye watering £10'000 which is my entire life savings will still need to borrow some money from my mum for solicitors fees etc. It is very scary but hopefully well worth it to finally own our own brand new home

Spends ystd and today £20 in Boots on cosmetics, £2 parking, £20 on meal out with colleagues (a very rare event) and later today £15 on dds riding lesson. Am aiming for a NS week next week - well at least until pay day

Girlie when we bought our house we got advice from a good mortgage broker. He found a good mortgage for us and he also phoned round all his solicitor friends and found someone who wasn't very busy at the time to do all the legal work for us. It was really very helpful. We found the mortgage broker through an estate agent, even though we actually bought our house in a private sale, without an estate agent. Good luck!

btw Girlie do you know about fixed rate mortgages? It's a good idea to get one that's fixed for about 5 years at least because interest rates are likely to go up at some point and if they do that, and your mortgage is not fixed rate, then your repayments will also go up.

Girlfriend don't be talked into using the estate agents solicitor and mortgage advisor. If you want to of course you can but do go out and find your own deals - I bet you end up with better.

£67.50 in Tescos for the week. Here's my meal plan:
Saturday - slow cooker chicken korma
Sunday - beef stew
Monday - pasta bake
Tuesday leftover beef stew
Wednesday - frittata
Thursday - chicken and roasted veg
Friday pizza
Saturday - curry from freezer.

Have £50 of my grocery budget left this month and I'd like to carry forward £25 into Feb - will only need to buy top up fruit, bread and a meal for Sunday.

Girlie

Very exciting. Check your credit report online first to make sure there's no errors on it that would stop a mortgage being given. You can get cashback on that too. Print or save as a PDF, then cancel because they charge a monthly fee. Noddles free but apparently not as accurate.

Moneysupermarket will compare mortgages for you, when we applied some gave free legal fees to Ftb.

Is there a facility for you to buy a bigger share over time?.

Solar panels sound good and it will come with water saving toilets as part of building regs. Does the kitchen have a dishwasher?. You can easily take out a cupboard to fit one in.

No shoes as none in the shop were comforable or right for Dd. £1 in sainsburys, £5 in boyes, £40 in water stones not budgeted for. Shopping was £53 but Dh got what I forgot which will be about a fiver more.

Just wondering if anyone has set entertainment budget & is it for family or individual? We don't. Just kinda go along & if occasion comes up just get on with it?
For example we are going to birthday party next weekend this requires hotel, diesel presents & brunch next day(as breakfast not included). I am thinking €150 all in... I started back t meditation that's €60 for ten weeks to me it's an investment in my mental health! I am beginning to waffle now! There is a day's cookery course in Feb if I can get on it! That's is on gluten free recipes (I ve recently gone GF for digestive reasons). It's €55 but I see these things as good for my mental health!! But wondering how other people budget for these things??

Spent €75 in aldi have enough dinners till 1 Feb! May need small top ups but have €50 left... My budget for next month is €440 after school dinners!

By the way if getting take away is that food budget or entertainment budget for people?

We do, booty, we have a budget for family treats then some money each per month for going out with friends and that sort of thing.