Fearless Frugaleers Finding Their Feet in February

[SpottyTeacakes]

I've got fruflu

Ugh put my meter readings in and they have increased my DD by a whooping £30 a month Damn you winter

NSD here today.
Should be same tomorrow.

Life just feels like a rollercoaster at the moment. Don't know which way to go x

Feeling sorry for myself was up last nite vomiting only got over the worst bug ever two weeks ago🤕 Had to take off today from work so will have to work that time again😔 Hope I am over it! Spends €5 on 7up & milk.

really need to stay in budget in order to have my holiday saved for!

Girlie They can't if you object. You'd end up with money owed to you in the summer.

The payments should even out over a year.

Will try to catch up tomorrow, semi long car journeys with DH driving so I shall MN my way through.

Loads of NSDs, I spent all last week at home/in bed. Today £5 in Boots. Tomorrow £60- ish on grocery delivery. DH obeyed the DD's orders to get ice-cream today he spent £6.

Hope everyone is well.

Thank you for the warm welcome & advice about the money my DDad has given me. Agreed with DH we will put it in my ISA & try not to use it on everyday expenses. DH has interviews in the pipeline so fingers crossed things may not be too bad.

Spent £15 in Aldi on Saturday on essentials we'd run out of.
Sunday was NSD & today was just £2.00 on milk I forgot to buy on Saturday.

Won't spend much in the week– don't leave work during the day & have no access to online shopping there! Joys of being a teacher!

Sorted some stuff to eBay this week, I did very well before Xmas selling clothes I hadn't worn for ages so felt it was worth the effort.
Loving reading the thread properly & getting on board

Holy crap Collie that is... I have no words. Other than a few four letter ones that could describe this so-called 'recruiter'.

Sorry so many seem to have been having a rough day today (erm, yesterday). to all.

I've done ok, DH moved furniture that was displaced by having a bigger bed (which is brilliant, paid £50 to a friend for it, included a really decent mattress too as well as storage drawers). Lots of reorganising done. So feeling like we've made some progress on the house.

Forgot I need to put an Amazon order. Getting DCs a toy hammock (there is nowhere else to put their teddies) and have decided to bite the bullet and order some compression gloves (supposed to be good for pain in hands etc)

collie that's very unprofessional of recruiter, I'd report him to his superiors anyhow.
wreck sorry for outing you
booty hope you feel better soon

Great to hear decision about inheritance money

Em does this mean you're trying for baby or just letting your body return to normal? Tell me to p off and mind my own business or ignore question if you wish

Can I join you? I need to save some money.

No worries lilac.

Collie what a twat don't worry something will come up.

Welcome CheerfulYank!

Working today so should be nsd. Oh actually I'm going to go to tesco to buy stuff for overnight oats anyone tried them?

Nsd planned today

Welcome yank

cheerfulyank, welcome! What is your goal? how do you plan to achieve it?
wreck, overnight oats are amazing!!!
I do a cheap version in the summer: a layer of oats, a layer of Sainsbury value pain yoghurt (37 p and really really nice) and a layer of frozen berries from Lidl, a tablespoon of honey drizzled over the top, put the lid on, in the fridge, OMG, it's an exquisite breakfast, it's like having cake. :)
I have opened all the 5%accounts I could. Now it's all a game of juggling to feed these accounts. One of them matures in April, so one less thing to worry about, the account gets automatically closed and I can put the money to one side and forget about it.

What's NSD?

AllGunsBlazing we are behind on our mortgage and apparently to get caught up we need to pay $1400 every month until June. It is doable but I will have to stop my terrible Amazon habit

I also want/need to put in a really good fence this summer, which we've priced at between $1500 and $2000. So I will need to save for that.

We have medical bills (good ol' US healthcare system!) and DH has student loans. It's very cold where we live and heating costs a lot though it is starting to warm up now.

So, I'll have to be careful for a bit. I'm not sure what to do really, hoping you all will have some tips for me! :)

Thank you all for the welcome :)

lilac sort of both. Trying to let things get back to "normal" whatever that is but not actively trying for a baby. I don't want to be obsessive about it. I have friends who've actively tried charted everything etc and it only happened when they gave up trying iyswim.

So yeah. Just being casual. "Girl time" has arrived and brought with it horrible stomach ache. Hot water bottle is going in my bag for work today. And tonic water (no gin) apparently the quinine is a pain reliever.

Also it's abs day at the gym today. 😭

Need to do my boots shop and probably a supermarket shop today. I'm estimating £50 at the coop for a week or so's food.

I've stopped taking my credit card out with me now. Was tempted to cut it up but figured will keep it and just use while travelling. Missed flight in London the other week taught me the value of it.

I've also deleted it from all my online shopping accounts.

Cheerful NSD is no spend day, lsd is low spend day. Not sure how us systems work but first tip is always review every bill and see if you need it, if you do find a way to possible reduce it by shopping around, threatening to leave. Not always possible. Delete your card from Amazon. Meal plan all meals and snacks, keep every reciept and write down all I mean all spends for a month to see where your money does. How is Dh with being frugal and any DC?

Off to a pharmacy today as have conjunctivitis thanks ds so will spend after all. I look like I've gone 10 rounds so will have to ask if a week at a computer is ok.

cheerful can you pay mortgage by direct debit? If so, set that up first if you haven't already done so and then look at the rest of your outgoings.

Delete card from Amazon.

Look at mobile phone bill - can you reduce it by switching/downgrading.

Do you have 2 cars? Do you need them?

Can you downgrade sky tv/cable if you have it?

Shopping wise - meal plan budget and shopping list.

I've found I've become more creative with cooking since I started meal planning.

Thanks fluffy for encouraging me to question my overlimit fee - it has been refunded no response to my email but the money's back in my account

Welcome cheerful as babs said delete your card from amazon and like em off all online shopping sites. I hadn't carried my credit cards with me in over two years up to recently but was still shopping online with them a little up to last year. Recently tried to pay with one of them and couldn't remember the pin, luckily I had cash on me also as it was for diesel

I recently brought them with me on a trip to London and didn't use them, it was the security of knowing I had them if needed.

em I came off all hormonal contraception about this time last year, not to conceive but because my body is wrecked from taking them. I find Evening primrose and starflower oil capsules really help me with cravings. I have never actively tried to conceive yet both dc was conceived quite quickly. I would think it becomes a chore when it's that methodical, although I realise if nothing has happened after a long period of no contraception this is necessary.

cheerful put stuff you wish to buy from amazon on your wishlist, when you've successfully paid the $1400 to your mortgage each month then you can allow yourself one little purchase. I bet you'll find you're not interested because you'll already be thinking about the next $1400 to pay. I've got it into my head I want a kindle fire. I'm using reep rewards app which only pays out at €50 when I've got to that I will allow myself to buy the kindle fire. My balance is €5 I'll be waiting a while [hmmm]

wreck I'm a fan of the overnight oats. I do same as allguns except without the honey, if you shop in aldi their fat free vanilla in 500g pot makes the overnight oats so luxurious. I make in the morning and the defrosting berries keep the yogurt cool until I have it at 10am or 3.30pm snack The frozen berries seep out some juice which helps flavour the oats, fresh berries don't and frozen are cheaper too frugal win

I'm been very frugal with my emails since January, anything that will cost me money or doesn't interest me anymore I'm unsubscribing to

Thanks all :)

DH is okay with being frugal but doesn't plan well. We have three DC (8, 2, 9 months) and I childmind two others 3x a week.

We only have one car as I don't drive. No TV. (We just watch stuff on iPad/phones/DS's kindle.)

I don't know if we can do direct deposit on the mortgage or not, I will check!

We were doing really well with meal planning and shopping only at Aldi but that kind of fell by the wayside. I will have to get better at it. DS gets school lunch.

cheerful is public transport a big expense when you don't drive
fuzz found that getting a season ticket type thing works pretty well for her, maybe might be something you could use

Do you read a lot? I see you mentioned Kindle. I've signed up to daily emails from Bookbub.com and it gives me links to free books everyday. There are probably sites that do this for children's books also.

If you have a slow cooker they're great for cheaper cuts of meat too

Welcome cheerful, whereabouts in the US are you?
Just spent £18.80 on a dental appointment and have to do the weekly shop later. Also have the phone interview for the new life insurance. Hopefully I'll be able to cancel the old, more expensive policy tomorrow and save £30 a month.
We've managed to put £450 in savings this month, target for March is £500. Really on a mission now as TTC.

£20 payment towards ds 2 day trip, 3 for school movie night, £74 asda shop but included £10 off code and savings so £90 shopping, £25 TV license. Spendy spendy for what seems not much but all necessary.

Having a difficult time at the minute ds is so moody and miserable not being naughty just really draining being with him because he is always moaning about everything feels awful saying that but it's constant. He is also going through a stage of ignoring when you are telling him not to do something especially dp, it's really having an effect on us.