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Cost of living

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Fantastic Frugaleers Continuing Austere April!

998 replies

Cagliostro · 15/04/2016 17:49

Hello! :)

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babsmam · 01/05/2016 15:05

Congratulations Ursula

CremeEggThief · 01/05/2016 15:32

Glad you have heard back from an actual EWO, Ipsos.

Stuffed after our veggie Sunday roast and cheesecake. Probably the last one until Autumn, as I don't usually make them in warm weather. Going to wash up and curl up with my book for the afternoon Smile.

NSD.

northender · 01/05/2016 17:34

Congratulations & welcome back Ursula.
Should have been at a BBQ this afternoon but it was called off due to the wet weather. Have had a pretty lazy day instead but have done some more sorting out & de cluttering.

WreckTangled · 01/05/2016 17:49

Oh no north it's been sunny here all day dd was out in a vest but I think it was still a bit chilly (it was the wind).

Had a lovely roast for dinner yum. So nice knowing we still have another day off then Tuesday is an inset day and I've got the day off work Smile

Spent £178 today on a new bed for ds (he's still squashed in a toddler bed) that's cabin bed, premium mattress, duvet and duvet cover.

Tomorrow will be a lsd we are going to bird world but have £40 of vouchers from tesco clubcard (£10 worth of those) think it might rain in the afternoon but that's ok.

Ipsos · 01/05/2016 18:27

Thanks Creme, yes that really helped.

Good day today. Had family visiting. Expensive lunch but it was very nice to have people round who properly know us.

Ursulatodd · 01/05/2016 20:36

£10.94 on ingredients for tonight and frugal win we've bought home enough left-overs for tmrw's dinner!

We've had a bit of a chilly day here too - weird as yesterday was t-shirt weather.

Wreck that sounds like an amazing deal on the bed!

Fluffycloudland77 · 01/05/2016 20:46

Wreck I think it's good to buy kids comfy beds, I remember sleep overs where friends beds were horrible. Well off families too.

Em Envy At that time of day I was wearing mucky clothes, hadn't showered for two days and had been doing the floor since 7:30. I'd have taken the wine willingly.

ursula Many congratulations.

£15 on stuff for the vinyl removal. £5 of it is being returned though.
£2 on beer.

Ememem84 · 01/05/2016 20:55

Nsd. But have spent most of the day in airports. Arrived at hotel. It's 18 degrees. And almost 11pm.

Hotel is nice. Flights were good. ipsos It's not the turbulence - I don't like it but who does?! It's more the lack of control. I made it through today with no tears. So am proud of myself. Yay.

Enjoy the bank holiday everyone! tomorrow I'll be working-boo!

Cagliostro · 01/05/2016 22:04

Beeees big thank you for the Japanese coins! DD got home from Brownie camp this evening and was thrilled to open the envelope :) especially excited that one has a hole in just like the Spanish one :) Thanks

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Cagliostro · 01/05/2016 22:06

And well done em enjoy your travels, hope you get some time to play as well as work :)

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needastrongone · 01/05/2016 22:15

That's lovely bees, super gift.

Girlie, drop me a line if your DD does wear the jodhpurs, if there's one thing we do have its pairs of spare jods!

NSD, in bed waiting for DD to show up, she's wandering round the show ground somewhere with her mates, so safe.

Rain cleared, first session was tough, second session much better. Two more sessions tomorrow then home.

Hope you are em. X

Ipsos · 02/05/2016 01:21

Well done em. Glad you got the travels done and that you are enjoying some warm weather. :-)

The climbing frame that I bought turns out to be comically larger than I thought. I think the child in the photo online must be much larger than I realised. We are now trying figure out where to put the climbing frame in the garden that will not entirely blot out the sun. Ooops. :-) Ds and his friends are very excited.

WreckTangled · 02/05/2016 07:06

I've just seen how warm the weather is going to get so I've just bought sun cream on Amazon and some tongs as ours got stuck in the drawer and are all bent. £22 all together, I get the all day sun cream it's £££ but good for the dc at school and dh at work.

babsmam · 02/05/2016 08:53

Which suncream did you get wreck. I need a new all day one the doesn't stain. Looking at you boots all day

Ipsos · 02/05/2016 08:55

Oooo! That's very good news indeed about the weather warming up. I'll be glad to see this winter gone. :-)

WreckTangled · 02/05/2016 09:53

I got ultrasun Smile

lilacclery · 02/05/2016 10:07

Girlie it's not chicken pox after all he was swimming & dh said the chlorine was strong, I'm still watching him like a hawk because he was in contact with chicken pox.
Hope your dd wears the jodhpurs. My dd isn't fussy at all about clothes ds is completely the opposite had a strop going the bed fri night as I wouldn't let him wear a princess dress Grin

All still asleep in my house I'm afraid to move in case they wake, yesterday was a 7.30am start.

Spends this weekend new food processor €49.99 had €30 in vouchers from shop & scan. Had to return aldi one a few weeks ago it didn't blend soupAngry

€51 in tesco on flowers for children's sisters birthday, cards for her & christening & €30 voucher for christening gift plus two children pizzas yellow stickered & grapes used a €10 voucher from Irish opinions surveys

€30 sponsoring my db on a charity cycle

€83.76 on a much pared down aldi shop (our joint account is tight) we've meat in freezer. Usually budget is €150 need to get this down.
Ynab is really showing me where we're making progress & where we're not
Sat returned €16 worth of stuff to Penneys & purchased a €15 top €1.50 parking. I'm now fully sorted for dgd communion
€70 hairdresser this included €15 on hair oil & hairdresser gave me the Christmas gift set for this price

Sun was a NSD
Ursula guess the leftovers balance out what you spent in the cafe Wink

em glad you got there safely

northender · 02/05/2016 10:43

Glad you arrived okay Em
Good luck with the pony need
We use ultrasun wreck and have been happy with it. Still have some in the cupboard so don't need to buy any more yet.
More rain here this morning, but it's supposed to brighten up for the afternoon. Sending dh to the garden centre for a few bits so we can get cracking with the veg this week.
We need to sit down and plan the week ahead as it seems it'll be a mad one. Dd has now decided she does want to carry on playing cricket so now we have 2 sets of fixtures to manage again.
Going to order some new towels from Debenhams today while their sale is still on. Our existing ones are 20 years old (wedding presents) and are still just about okay but it would be so nice to have new ones. I'll keep the best of them for guest towels and the rest will go to the Salvation Army.
The sewing machine is coming out this afternoon to do some mending & finishing unfinished projects
Have a good Bank Holiday everyone.

babsmam · 02/05/2016 12:42

Thanks wreck. I've emailed them and asked for samples
Pleased you arrived safely em.

PurpleRibbons · 02/05/2016 13:51

Cag it's just occurred to me that we have some Norwegian coins somewhere. If I can find them you are very welcome to have them, I'll let you know!
Spent another £30 in the garden centre but they didn't scan a big bag of compost so got it free! Didn't notice until we got home, feel slightly guilty but it was their mistake and we spend loads in there anyway.
Been very creative with leftovers this weekend and we've had some really nice meals that have used up lots of odd bits. Made a pie last night out of a leek, a carrot, half a pepper and some broccoli with a little bit of parsley and half a tub of cream cheese topped with filo pastry. It was lovely and made enough for lunch today. DH had his own pie made with frozen turkey (from Xmas!), mushrooms, sauce made with turkey stock (also from Xmas) and a bit of cheese pastry I found in the freezer.
Also made lemon & poppy seed pancakes for breakfast which were lovely. Made a compote type thing with frozen blueberries to have with them.

AuditAngel · 02/05/2016 14:54

I think I lost a post. I was asked which show the DC were in? It was War of the Worlds which closed on Saturday. They will really miss it, but I will appreciate having a bit more time, will try to use it constructively.

Spends this week, can't remember everything! Thursday I had a night out with some of the other Chaperones. We went to a cabaret performed by the cast of the show, ticket was £22, raffle tickets £5 and, feeling ultra generous, I paid the drinks bill for all 5 of us. We were in the Hippodrome Casino, but since the drinks ran to a bottle of fizzy water and 2 Diet cokes, it was less than £13 (I did see the bill before paying it quickly!). Managed to win a signed programme in the raffle.

Friday was the kids last night at the theatre, we had planned to all go out for tea before the show, but got an early call time so tea out was postponed. Quick foray into M&S £65, that was lots of reduced meat and ham, some veg, ready meals for tea etc. Had to pay congestion charge as call time was early, £14 as it was after midnight by the time we were home and I managed to log into the account. £4.05 parking in London just to cover until 6.30 when it becomes free. Had a coffee, and the kids had a cake and a hot chocolate, but the dancing teacher treated us. She doesn't drive in London (she is 87) and likes to treat you to show she appreciates being picked up and driven into town.

Saturday was a lot of mad running around, trying to catch up. Took back DD1's suitcase that a zip broke on, they didn't gave any more the same, so got a refund £36 and will go back to the other branch to try to get the same one.

£23 in the pound shop. A bunch of snacks, some cotton buds and a few bits for DD1, including three little bracelet and ring sets instead of party bags.

AuditAngel · 02/05/2016 15:02

DD1 spent £10 of her birthday money buying herself an art set in the Works, I bought her a couple of colouring books, plus one for DD2, £9

£1 on parking. Popped in to see a friend for coffee. She has been really ill, and really appreciated the visit, I collected some bits of ribbon/material for DS's geography homework. Saved money as I didn't need to buy things for the homework.

Sunday we took DD1 out, plus 2 friends to Thorpe Park for her birthday. Tickets for us are free as we have annual passes. Tickets for the friends cost me £5 in Tesco vouchers then £15.99 each, instead of the normal £32 each in advance.

Lunch was £44, annoyingly, we forgot to try to get the annual pass discount of 20%! We also bought some queue jumping passes £44, which was 4 rides for the girls, and 3 bigger rides for DS, he went off on his own, and loved the independence.

AuditAngel · 02/05/2016 15:07

Today £50 for a new scooter for DS. I had a £10 gift card I got when I bought DD1's scooter for her birthday, and DH gave DS £20. Unfortunately DS got teased about his old Ben 10 one at school. It was getting too small, so we had said he could get a new one, but don't want to give them a reason to tease him.

Quick run to Asda £31, bought wedge trainers for DD1 (so she will have reached the magic 140cm height limit for the big rides at Thorpe Park for our next visit in 2 weeks) manicure set for DH, apple sauce and a couple of lip balms for DS and DD1 who have both got dry lips.

Fluffycloudland77 · 02/05/2016 15:24

You can register as a mini cab to avoid congestion charges. £100 or so but cheaper if you have to go in and out of the zone daily.

NSD.

I want an electric potato peeler, £30. Better get ebaying.

CremeEggThief · 02/05/2016 16:07

Wow, Audit, I feel exhausted just reading your posts. I bet you'll be glad to take it a bit easier, now the show's over.... at least until the next one! Wink

Do electric potato peelers really exist, Fluffy? Gosh, what a marvellous invention!

Spends: £8 electricity meter; £7 gas meter; (hopefully this will be the last time I have to top up at the shop, as my smart meters are meant to be installed next Monday, yay!) £5.47 on milk, bread, jam, 2 packs of biscuits and a 4 pack of Crunchies.