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The Fantastic Frugalleers Meander into May.....

1000 replies

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 25/05/2016 14:38

Thought it was about time I started a new thread Grin

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26
SpaceKablooie · 25/05/2016 19:58

Girlie, thanks for the new thread Smile .

LSD, only one or two things in M&S. I then made a right idiot of myself trying to pay on my credit card. In the end, the staff member talked me through contactless payment in front of a long queue Blush.

Ememem84 · 25/05/2016 20:06

£95. 😭😭😭😭😭

And a good telling off.

Fluffycloudland77 · 25/05/2016 20:14

Ouch.

What did you wear?

WreckTangled · 25/05/2016 20:15

Oh no em!

Ap we are in the IOW.

DD loved her surprise meeting with her friend we had an awesome afternoon Smile

Ememem84 · 25/05/2016 20:18

I did not go for short skirt and low cut top. I just went for sensible work outfit. They lowered the fine. It would have been £150. But it's a first offence. So they let me off a bit.

Lesson learned. Expensive mistake.

Ursulatodd · 25/05/2016 20:49

Thanks for new thread! I've just caved and put the heating on for half an hour too! However it has been a NSD!

blueteapot · 25/05/2016 20:54

Ouch Em! There's something quite quaint about having to go cap in hand and say sorry in court for speeding lol. Expensive lesson but hopefully learned!

Lilac I would be in two minds about the job. On one hand, as the kids are in bed (?) when you are out I would say crack on and reassess when the debt is gone. On the other hand, you can't buy the time with your kids back. I've taken a huge pay cut recently in order to spend more time with the kids and as hard as it has been financially it's been worth every penny.

Re: recipes the 7up scones look interesting... I could almost pass those off as healthy lol. I tend to find a good recipe and stick with it - my 'never fails' are scotch pancakes, sticky ginger cake, pizza base, basic sponge using the weigh your eggs method, 'twink' hobnobs off MSE and the mug microwave chocolate sponge... everything else I have to search for a recipe online and it's all a bit hit and miss.

Payday tomorrow, can't come quick enough. May has been the first month of my new lower wage and I have to confess it's been a complete fail. We have put zilch into savings. Onward and upward, lesson learnt - time to get stricter on myself now and try again for June.

Wins for today: took DH to the dentist and his lovely dentist replaced his filling for free! Was expecting a crown so that was a little bonus. Went over the border to fill up with petrol which is about £10 a tank cheaper. Was hoping to stretch it out until tomorrow but I needed it today unfortunately! Ended up in sainsburys with DH and picked up a nice tunic in the sale down to £7 and also a lovely flattering blouse which was marked half price from £14... but went through the till at £1 and then the 25% off all tu made it 75p!!!!! Win of the week lol. £33 in total spent in sainsburys. £20 on a cooked breakfast out for the whole family, extravagant but with work over the past few weeks it feels like we haven't been all together in ages, so we took the opportunity to treat the kids. Need to avoid this kind of thing for June if we want to stay on track. Another win was we needed loo roll and I had to pick up DHs prescription.. the chemist was selling 4 packs of cushelle loo roll BOGOF at £2 which I thought was very good. Took the kids to the park and then we had a picnic tea in the back garden - they are so easy pleased at their age, I wonder how it will go when they are a bit older!

Girlie I am so excited for your house move, I remember that feeling transferring our deposit! It's been a long and expensive road but worth it to own the roof over your head :) good luck with the move.

Ememem84 · 25/05/2016 21:46

7up scones sound interesting. Might give them a go.

in bed now. Sulking and feeling poor. and browsing shops online Credit card has gone back in its drawer. Far too dangerous to keep it in my purse.

Tomorrow will be nsd

Laska5772 · 25/05/2016 21:46

Hi there , thanks for new thread and hope your Big day for you house and new start went ok Girlie

Oh and hello wreck you are just down from the road from me then! shame the weather is a bit cool still.. Hopefully wil be ok for the weekend though.. ive just been out in the garden and the bats are flying ( thats always a good sign) .

I cant say ive been that frugal this week , £65 in supermarket
£35 in garden centre ( but was for must haves like growbags , compost slug pellets , bug spray , seeds etc etc ,)

I also went to dentist today for the first time in 4 years (bad me) .. new dentist as of course i had n been struck off last one , and they are not taking back on. B ut that was a frugal result! Nothing needed to be done!! so just £19.50 check up fee. (I was amazed , had thought i'd need something .. oh and no telling off either , not like old dentist .. which is kind og why i'd stopped going there )

PurpleRibbons · 25/05/2016 21:48

I do the mug microwave chocolate cake too blue, it's delicious!
When are you actually in Brum cag?
Just realised we are seeing MIL at weekend so she can take niece's present with her instead of us posting it. I wish I'd worked that out before I shopped for something easy to post though!!

Tryingtosaveup · 25/05/2016 21:52

Congrats Girlie on your house. It is exciting. I moved house a few months back and it was stressful, but well worth it.
Enjoy Blackgang chine, Wreck and well done for getting a return included as I believe it's well worth 2 visits.
Oh and Thanks for the new thread Girlie

Tryingtosaveup · 25/05/2016 21:59

I always fancied living on Jersey but not any more....not with fines like that. But I have 3 points on my licence and that's worse because it makes the insurance premium go up. So at least you won't have to worry about that Em

blueteapot · 25/05/2016 22:12

Ok guys I have to confess as I'm at the complete opposite end of the British Isles I had no idea where the IOW or Jersey actually were...

Just google mapped it.

The IOW is approximately where I thought it would be.

Jersey is right by France! In my head it was somewhere near the Isle of Man lol. I bet the weather there is lovely compared to NI!

AuditAngel · 25/05/2016 22:31

Heels all. Good news today, mum should be home from the hospital tomorrow. I am working near Soutampton, so when she announced she was coming home in the morning, I asked how she was planning on getting there?! I told the nurse I might be able to get away at about 2, but that would mean getting to the hospital at about 4. The hospital have said they will arrange transport. DH will be at home for her to arrive (however I forgot to check this wax ok, his mum had planned on him taking her shopping Blush )

£5 parking at the hospital.
£9 to get the car washed (Dan reclaim form work) this was recommended prior to fitting the roof box
£55 in Tesco. No food. This was socks for the girls 4 packs, flipflops for DD1, jellies for DD2, swimming costume and sun glasses for DD2, hair bands, hair clips, Alice bands for both girls......

Cagliostro · 26/05/2016 01:47

Purple we're in Brum Friday-Sunday - going to the NEC on the Saturday. DH is hopefully taking the DCs to the ThinkTank on the Friday (we got vouchers for it) :)

Glad to hear the news Audit hope she makes a speedy recovery Thanks

Cagliostro · 26/05/2016 01:48

Fri-Sun being 3-5th June, so not this weekend but next.

babsmam · 26/05/2016 06:31

Ouch em that's pricy.
Audit good news on your Mam
Blue I thought the channel islands were closer to. It always surprises me how far they are. There were some good frugal wins there.

Spendy day as of to aldi for camping stuff and cupboards

8FencingWire · 26/05/2016 06:49

Found you!
Thank you girlie
Spendy day, I went out with friends. But it was worth it, we had a nice meal and a good laugh, much needed.

WreckTangled · 26/05/2016 07:22

Laska I managed to get a burnt nose yesterday! We're going home tomorrow anyway. Today is looking nice though Smile

Blue that's so funny!

Great news audit!

lilacclery · 26/05/2016 09:19

Ev and blue thanks for your thoughts on my second job. Blue the dc are in bed when I come home but if I came straight from work I'd have 2 hours with dd and 1.5 with ds.

I love my second job but it's a lot of hard work. I think I'm not giving my all to it now as I used to prior to having ds too. I'm a franchisee and the company are putting more pressure on to do extras(not so much in my region atm but it will come) and there's no extra reward for it. Well theory is you get more people in the door so more € that way. My area manager is away for a month or so now so I will take that time to decide. I think the ideal would be cut back to one night at end of summer, giving someone else a chance to get the fresh market in Sept and then rethink the other night at end of the year.

great news on your mam audit did they decide what was wrong with her?

Just googled iow as I had no idea where it was! And despite having visited jersey and knowing how long it took me to get there I'm still surprised at how far from England it is. I'm hopeless at geography. Surprisingly though I'm good at driving and finding places though.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 26/05/2016 11:27

Hello all Smile

blue bargain in Sainsburys - I love it when things like that happen Grin sticky ginger cake sounds yummy, any chance of the recipe please?!

Lila work/life balance is so hard, I guess you have to weigh the pros over the cons to know if it would work for you.

I have just put a huge amount of money over to the solicitors, my bank has a daily limit on how much I can transfer so am actually going to do it in two payments! Scary but exciting that it is actually happening at long last, I have dreamt about having my own home for so long and there have def been times where i thought it would never happen.

Been quite productive this morning, cleaned kitchen and living room, two lots of washing on the line and piles of washing on my bed ready to put away. Am also doing this glucose curve on my poor cat today which means lots of blood sugars all day - poor puss.

Yesterday afternoon I drove past my new house and noticed the neighbours have already moved in!

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Girliefriendlikesflowers · 26/05/2016 11:33

Oh and have had my renewal quote through for my car insurance, it was pretty good £270 for the year which includes break down cover so think will stick with them, I have also booked the car in for its MOT and insurance which is due end of June.

Em ouch.

Blue I live in the South West and would struggle to point Jersey out on a map Blush I only know where the IOW is as I used to live in Southampton and you can more or less see it from there!!

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lilacclery · 26/05/2016 12:16

girlie did they look nice? The neighbours I mean Smile
I definitely think you're right about the work life balance and we've had much less money before and managed, although that is the reason for my cc debt too.

Whataboutwhathuh · 26/05/2016 12:20

Hello all. Pay day! Hooray! No big spends planned this month apart from the preschool bill and a wedding next week. So hoping we'll make it through this month with savings and overdraft in tact. Off to aldi this evening hoping to spend less than £20 this week

Fluffycloudland77 · 26/05/2016 15:31

Girlie The best bit is that you can decorate with no one else having opinions. I've wasted so much cash buying things because dh said I was wrong in my preferred choice. He shuts up now. I think he's lost his decorating mojo.

£1.80 in Aldi
£3 superdrug mascara. It's not tested on animals and vegan.

Investigating puff pastry for pain au choc. Gotta be a cheap way of doing them.

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