Austere April Advances (even though it's mid March.....). Frugaleers Unite

[needastrongone]

New thread. Can't link.

Hi all love the shine new thread thanks Need

Am proper in awe of all the frugaleering going on, well done Collie and 8 amazing! Makes me want to try harder!

Had a crazy busy day at work, got staff off sick and the case load has gone crazy. Oh well, can only do what I can do I guess.

Spent £3 is on milk and sweets for sweetie Friday, working all wend so that should be LSD plus my mum is going to feed us which is a bonus. My plan for the rest of the month is to only spend money on food and petrol well other than giving the vets a load more money! Boy cat starts on insulin Monday dread to think how much thats going cost

Checking in for new thread, can't believe how quickly it moves!

DH braved Aldi on Monday, by himself, no other adult supervision! He managed but did seem traumatised by the checkout routine!!

NSDs all week due to the joys of being crazy busy at work, DH spent £25 in Asda today on top up stuff, I'm bound to spend tomorrow as I've got to go & get my dad new pyjamas & some bits I need for next weeks lessons at school.

Em the house sounds amazing, we bought a derelict house & made it our forever home, it was a really good decision & a good investment.

I've had the reminder that my car insurance is due for renewal-£325. I'm going to shop around this weekend, got to be a saving to be had. Our house I surance is also due soon so I need to do the same for that.

Busy weeekend but looking forward to catching up with friends

Oh, I think I'm buying the yellow biros that you all hate to take into work - the Bic Crystal ones that write nice and finely...?

Yep. Those are the ones space I hate those.

Yellow biros are shit :o

Maybe if you have female staff you should get a supply of these (I'm not sure where the link ends up, but check out the reviews if you haven't already seen this floating around Facebook)

Then also read the reviews of veet for men. And the giant bag of sugar free giummi bears

em we bought an ex council house that had been squatted! ( some pretty hardcore renovations were needed , but I was a lone parent with very little money left aftre divorce , and it was all I could afford )

It turned out to be a great investment, we were there 16 years in the end..and turned it into a lovely home with loft extension , when we left i couldnt believe how much it went for..

Hi everyone

Ohh yes I have read the gummi bear ones! Turns out I am also intolerant to sucralose (but please be assured it's nowhere near as bad as in the reviews :o) so avoid it like the plague.

I will have a look at the veet ones thank you :o

Took tablet late again. Got some computery stuff done so quite productive... Oreos helped

Minnie I have seen many men confused by aldi packing system!

Wreck guessing you work for NHS with the smartcard under your pens in pic!

Yes reception and admin though.

Have to go to lidl today so will be slightly spendy hopefully not too much.

I don't hold my pen properly so if the pen isn't comfy it really hurts my finger.

Worst drive ever. The fog was so bad we could only see about fifteen yards in front. I feel exhausted now!

Spoke to dh last night re house. We're still going to look at it. But there are so many things we need to get sorted here first.

I don't think we'll go for it. We think the plan is. Spend this year getting our place ready to sell (get bathroom fixed get plastered in to fix cracks hound property manager to clean gutters and sort roof etc). Then sell it. And look for a cheap ish rental for a few months. Save our pennies. Then look to get something when we're cash buyers.

It'll be good to go view the house anyway. Just to see what sort of thing we could cope with.

laksa I'm all for a fixer upper. Spend less outright to get exactly what you want makes so much sense. It takes longer. Houses are so expensive here (we are almost central London prices) we've said were not spending more that £500k on a house. And to go near the top end itd need to have everything in the wish list (3 bedrooms, garden, medium kitchen, stairs, two bathrooms (or at least two toilets) and scope to extend either up or out) and be in a walk in condition. No point spending loads of money to rip things out because we just don't like it.

I'm not afraid of DIY. We did our kitchen pretty much ourselves. Except for the electrics and plumbing. We pulled old one apart and knocked a wall down. Then put new one in. I learnt to tile. And am ace at painting.

Very lucky our bosses don't dictate what we order from office supplies but after coming home with ink up my forearms one too many times I mainly bic biros now clear ones though not yellow ones

I've spoken before about my dhs undiagnosed mental health problems, this has culminated this weekend in me figuring out & getting him to admit that he has been lying about attending counselling and being on a list for assessment & diagnosis for past 12 months. I'm torn between anger/upset & sadness.

He's at work today, I'm at a conference tomo & back to work then again mon to fri. I can't even look at him.

Game face on now for the kids, chocolate pancakes made for them by adding cacao to the mix, I'll be having porridge swimming lessons next & must call into work for a while before that

Going to usual Saturday activities today £12 ish.
Will have to try and do my normal day of stuff this weekend to do need to get food but will go tonight. Will meal plan today. Bless my dc stayed downstairs and let me lie in until 8. bet they want something

I remember your dh aldi fear Minnie. It's fearsome until you get used to it.

Ordered two swimsuits with 20% discount to return one, typically the dearer one is one that fits right & is least revealing at kids lessons

£500k house. In my dreams. There is an awesome one near me for that but needs loads of work.

Oh lilac both reactions are understandable. Maybe the space this weekend is a good think while you work out in your head. Do you know why he hasn't been going? You don't have to say here but just to help you think it through

babs we used to bring dm a cup of tea and biscuits in bed if we wanted something.

Lila. Message me if you need. My DH is bi-polar. I took 7 years before he agreed to medicate, and he has come off the tablets in the past without telling me. I totally get your anger/sadness feeling. It's extremely hard living with someone with a MH issue. Very hard indeed. DH is just coming out of a low himself.

Em Good look with the viewing. It's a useful experience, even if you don't get the 'vibe' from this house. Absolutely nothing to lose.

Laska We switched, but didn't close the old account, so still qualified for the gift card.

Spends today will be at the garden centre, but just seeds. And a lesson for DD at £7. DH is angling for a take out for tea. I don't mind if he and the DC get one, I don't fancy it.

The weather is stunning this morning.

I've sold some eggs for a fiver!

34 eggs for the week. Guess the girls are laying again! And I have 5 baby anconas and a baby araucania (lays blue eggs I can't wait) that are yet to come into lay!

We don't sell our eggs need even if we get a glut (we will, had nine dozen in the fridge last summer)-so many people have chickens round here. Lots of poached eggs and endless quiche and cake! I also give my parents lots, but they look after my kiddies so much it's not much back to them.

Right will stop delaying, rally the troops and go look for a swimsuit. Ugh. Hate clothes shopping, underwear and cossies especially. Have a good day in this lovely weather everyone

Dur, araucana is the chicken, araucania is my favourite brand of yarn! Wonder why my predictive text picked that up too many ebay searches

£62.93 in lidl that included £5 flowers for my nan.

We've had a no spend morning. Hoping to spend all afternoon on the beach as it is so warm and sunny!

I'd like to pop to the garden centre and get our garden looking snazzy for Spring/Summer. I'll have to use Pinterest for ideas.

Frugal-ish trip to Morrison's and M&S. I find that my mindset has completely changed from a spendy one to a not spendy one (just keeping up with this thread really helps). I'm going to batch cook a one pot beef stew later and some vegetable soup for tomorrow's lunch and for work lunches.

My refined sugar-free diet is going surprisingly well. Although I did have a treacle tart dream recently .