May the frugaleering be with you - frugal chat and support for frugalers old and new.

[babsmam]

I took the liberty as we were nearly at the end of the last one.

Cardigan jam :o :o that's all kinds of W.I. :)

Aww Ipso that's so sweet :) it's lovely when children are so tender and careful with toys. If you'll forgive me getting all soap-box-ish for a moment, I really hate that boys are often criticised and mocked encouraged away from that kind of play even in toddlerhood, I've seen it all too often. Don't play with that, it's for girls, etc. Oh sod off. Anyway. It warms my heart when a little lad is so nurturing.

East aww I shall think of you when we are in the Inn :o

Good to know about that museum as we're thinking if we (well, DH and the DCs) have any energy left on the Sunday then they can fit a quick trip in there. Also my friend's flat is pretty near the hotel (his building is over a canal apparently?!

I've done nothing else on my list. Need to order Tesco delivery. Yawn.

Yesterday £3 on bus fares, going to a birthday lunch. £20 on drinks. DH paid the rest.

Today £5.95 some crackers and a treat for the children, then £4.92 on lots of tins of tomatoes and a pastry and large biscuit

How is your mum doing Audit?

Have been pinteresting high protein Asian dinners. Vietnamese lemongrass pork sounds like it might be my new Saturday night dinner!

I've just added my savings up. In total. £10,000 (or thereabouts). since January 2015. And minimal cc debt. About £300.

Well done em that's brilliant frugaleering

£22 for the cleaner today.

I think we can scrape through two more dinners from what we have already. Tonight will be JPs with egg, tuna, ham, tomato, cucumber and tmrw pasta with some kind of mushroom, courgette and pepper sauce.

Spent £185 on car tax last night so healthy bank balance is now under £100 for rest of month.

Well done em that's great

Well done lilac! I'm having to take a break whilst we're away which is annoying.

Em that's amazing!

What tip 1: it's freezing in the morning! We're in a silver plus caravan so have central heating but obviously we had to turn it on what we woke up (or rather when the dc woke up at 5:30)

That's amazing Em, well done.
Supermarket this morning then we're going to have a day out, NT place for a picnic most likely.

Well done em - I cannot imagine saving that amount of money. Perhaps pre-children. Perhaps when dh was earning similar (then got made redundant!!).

I'm happy if we have £100 left over. But when things like holidays and other bills come up, we just start to haemorrhage money!

Wore the new shoes yesterday and they were Fab. No pain at all. Admin person who decided to wear 3/4 in heels may well be wearing lower heels today!

NSD.

Thanks guys. I'm a bit in shock. Can't quite believe that I've got that much saved up. Considering at the end of 2014 I was a credit card queen. And loved shopping. It took changing my job because I was stressed af to make this change. More money coming in, paid off debts. Have started saving. I big chunk of the savings I now have were my bonus from my current job. Ordinarily I'd have spent it on shoes handbags or a holiday. But. Sensible hat on I squirrelled it away. The majority of my savings I can't touch for at least another 6 months. Feeling proud.

Abs are hurting from the gym last night. Must be strong. breathe through the pain. No pain no gain right...?!

Oh em I feel your pain my abs & thighs are killing me but it's all good right

I'm starting to fall into the habit of putting a few extra treats and things in the trolley which I've never done before. I blame all the nice summer things e.g. asparagus!

I'm being doubly good today and both doing some cleaning and slacking off to stare at mumsnet. Actual personal growth here.

Does anybody else spend money online and then forget and have no idea what the parcel is when it arrives? That's definitely a post-baby thing with me. The spreadsheet is a definite help with that as it means I write all spending down and can't just totally black it out of my memory.

Yes, Ipsos, Amazon for the most part, and small spends too. The odd recipe book, bit of stationary etc. Nothing that will break the bank. If I don't write things down immediately, I can forget easily.

Yes definitely found this ipso when ds was a baby and I was sleep deprived, hasn't happened since I took strong control of my finances. Great that your dh is on board too.

Just had to say no to Bruce Springsteen tickets for Sunday night, can't afford them with a communion this sat, dh's vasectomy on tues and upcoming holiday.

Wow, well done Em! Frugaleer of the Year award to you I reckon! :o

Amazon spending is a massive weakness. I've cancelled all my subscribe and save items and really trying to resist. Somehow it never feels like real spending. I did pre order the last Roy Grace book for download so that just came out. I'll enjoy it but I didn't need it.

I'm the same with amazon, I go through big phases with ebay as well, and succumb to thebookpeople a few times a year! And occasionally the happy puzzle company. I'd got really good with it all but starting home ed has really put a dent in my willpower... there are so many amazing books, games and other resources out there. Charity shops too. I could probably set up my own little school with the amount of stuff I have. :o (Which incidentally is my mum's dream for me. She is convinced that when the DCs are all grown up I'll set my own school up with a patented educational method... )

Feeling slightly more positive today. Last week was a bit of a wash out but I'm kind of clawing it back now - laundry underway, and have done a much more respectable amount of learning stuff with the DCs. Including a little maths out in the den they made before it got too cold. And they've been playing with a plastic tennis set I won in a raffle at DD's dance show thing (which was fab too).

Little frugal win - we've started making our own bird feeders as there are loads of birds visiting and they (with the help of a rather athletic squirrel) are getting through the bought ones ridiculously quickly. So DH got lard, seeds, mealworms etc. They're proving really popular and the birds are happy. Including a pair of great spotted woodpeckers! I'm thinking matingy thoughts in the hope of babies!

Got paid my final pay packet. Big relief to get that as I was expecting it to end altogether after my final sick pay last month. Ironically, the 'memories' bit on Facebook threw up my first post about the job - 5 years ago today was when I was offered it.

Oh Cag, that's a bittersweet memory. Hope you're okay.

Does anyone know how to email Topcashback? I've looked and looked through their support pages, but can't see an email address. My cashbook for switching energy suppliers is still pending, but it was supposed to be available within 12 weeks of the 18th February. I could really do with it, as it's £40.

Spends: £7 bus fares and £6.80 lunch in a café.

Em, that's excellent!

Thanks Creme :) yeah I'm ok really, I think it didn't help that I got an email this morning also detailing how I'll be taken off staff ticket etc! Which is to be expected but still. Anyway, I need to throw myself into sorting out everything out for the trip! And DD's birthday too! :) Oh yeah and all the housework and the freaking HUGE to do list on the desktop, staring accusingly at me...

DD's writing teacher has set up another course for the summer and this time she wants payment upfront (fair enough, I think she had some people drop out last time which would've left her short, and I'm planning on asking for upfront class fees as well) but she PMd me to say I didn't have to do that, as she knows about the job etc. I thought that was really sweet and thoughtful of her. :)

hello! I've just NCed. still buzzing around though. ;)

another NSD although may be an LSD as going out for dinner for work. may have to pay for car park.

Cag that's a lovely gesture by the other teacher. It's nice when people work together isn't it?

Do any of ye do wishlists for things ye would like to buy?

hope you're ok cag - it's abit rubbish when work is so quick to take you off systems etc. I've already received my 'your IT account will be shut down when you leave' (like in 5 months time...)

Aha, I've just worked out who you are, Apivita.

Cag, I am glad you have lots to do to take your mind off it, but please don't get overwhelmed. Maybe you could break your 'to do' list down into urgent, important, can wait.