Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

The frugaleers jovially jostle their way into June July and joyfulness

999 replies

Ememem84 · 22/06/2016 22:06

ta da!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
35
Whataboutwhathuh · 28/06/2016 22:16

Oh no, that'll be an interesting parents evening! My mum's neighbour ran over his cat, my step dad had to go out and deal with it and he was broken. I'm not sure there is much worse to endure.

Taytocrisps · 29/06/2016 09:27

LSD yesterday - €3 for cubs

Should have been a NSD today but DD has some friends over for a playdate so I've to pick up another pizza and some garlic bread.

lilacclery · 29/06/2016 10:16

fluffy Mitsy is a Siberian Husky and her partner in crime is a Japanese akita(this is just a google image but almost identical to our Axel!)

I think I'm addicted to Ynab, I misplaced letter for my bank fees for my self employed income acc (have to keep this account open until end of year, kills me to pay fees on a bank acc) and I thought it was €22.44 but it was actually 20.33 so it freed up €2.11 to take off my cc Sad but true

The frugaleers jovially jostle their way into June July and joyfulness
lilacclery · 29/06/2016 10:18

tayto my dc love pitta garlic bread, toast a pitta and spread the top with garlic butter, put under the grill and cut into fingers. Had a friend of dd's out with us on sun, we had a picnic I think she ate some marshmallows, then came home and put on pizza and chips, all she ate was the chips because she doesn't like pizza. I was pretty sure she'd eaten pizza at our house before. Said it to her mom and she says you do like pizza dd [hmmm]

Noodlebrains · 29/06/2016 10:51

Had a post written but lost it. Long story short - after a look at our budget and bank account - DH and I have enough coming into the account to cover all outgoing a but we've started frittering so I need to start a spending diary again (we always do better when we're tracking what we spend)

Any of you use an app?? I've had YNAB in the past but to be honest it's too involved - I just want something simple.
The biggest thing is I want to be able to track my 'Sinking fund'. This is the money I put by every month to cover the big expenses when they come up so for example - I put by €50 a month to cover car insurance, €25 a month to cover insurance.

Anyone know an app that could deal with that?

DontLetMeLetYouGo · 29/06/2016 11:11

Morning!

Today is payday for me and wasn't as bad as I expected. I now have a clearer idea of money I can play with for the next month. I am going to work that out and see how I get on.

I think I've had more NSD this past month then ever due to not going out. This must be a good thing.

I have a friend coming over later. Will be glad to catch up with her. I made cookies yesterday which are wonderful. They are just like millies cookies. I did double choc chip, chocolate orange and white chocolate chip. Yum.

I'm loving all the pictures of pets. I wish I was allowed a dog but not until I move into my own place.

I have a big list of things I'd like to get done. I just have no energy to do them.

Each day just seems to roll into another lately.

lilacclery · 29/06/2016 11:48

noodle the new ynab is accessible online so makes it heaps easier than having to access it from one particular pc. Why don't you try it out for 3 months and see what you think? Link 3 months free trial There are lots of pocket money type apps but I've never committed to them like I have with ynab. Excel sheets app would be a good one for keeping track also. I used that prior to ynab and still keep it updated as my progress tracker

How are you feeling don't?

Tryingtosaveup · 29/06/2016 12:00

Back on at last. My wifi went down. I was bereft and feel so much better now. Well, I have just had a puncture and been told I need 2 new front tyres. So that will come out of my savings for building work.
Going off to catch up.

Original poster
Ememem84 · 29/06/2016 12:03

At the bloody dentist. Teeth are still hurting so figured even though it'll be pricey it's worth getting checked out.

OP posts:
Noodlebrains · 29/06/2016 12:18

lila I've had YNAB for a year before as DH was a student we got it for free but we don't have debt and I just want a general idea of our money so just stopped updating it after a while. I did like it - it just wasn't fo me.

WreckTangled · 29/06/2016 12:25

Is the app fixed yet?

WreckTangled · 29/06/2016 12:25

Yes!

£11.50 haircut for ds
£12 top up shop Angry
£20 petrol

lilacclery · 29/06/2016 12:48

Excel is quite good then noodle and you can download it as an app too.

ItalianWiking84 · 29/06/2016 13:06

Just needed a bit of stuff in the supermarket so approx 20£ which included some drinks and chicken for the next 2 nights dinners.

ItalianWiking84 · 29/06/2016 13:07

Em, isent dentist free?

ItalianWiking84 · 29/06/2016 13:09

Ordered a new baby alarm because ours is getting old and not so reliable, new baby alarm was 44£ on sale and then I get 4 new bottles from Phillips as a goodie for purchasing the alarm yaiiiii. Dd1 never used bottles so we never bought any and now we don't need to buy for dd2 because we can start with this and if she's not going to use them, then sell it on Grin

CremeEggThief · 29/06/2016 13:13

£1.72, on milk and a chocolate bar. Such a miserable day here!

WreckTangled · 29/06/2016 13:30

Italian no free dentist here (England) even NHS dentist (If you're lucky enough to have one) you have to pay. Em is in the channel isles though.

I need to learn to make humous as I'm currently going through four tubs a week Blush

Miserable here too creme so much for summer.

Noodle I just do an excel spreadsheet which I downloaded from moneysavingexpert to work out our monthly budget (I only update this a couple of times a year) then do a monthly expenditure on excel which I just did myself.

WhatsGoingOnEh · 29/06/2016 13:39

Hello! Haven't RTFT all the way through yet, but I'm halfway and you all sound LOVELY. Please can I join?

I've just stopped smoking and saving £9/day is inspiring me to try to save more, to save properly. I've been awful with money and waste it every day. I'm weird -- way too stingy to spend £100 on something fantastic, but I'll regularly fritter £20, £25 on food bits, clothes, beauty stuff...

Are there any "rules" to being a Frugaleer?

ipsogenix · 29/06/2016 13:52

need I used to never buy clothes but I've started buying a little bit every month as it means we all look a bit better, and don't end up with a massive bill all at once. Right now I am struggling as all of my shoes have fallen apart at once, and it would have been much easier to pick them up in various annual sales along the way rather than getting caught short now. I'm trying to adjust my shoe-buying habits

Welcome WhatsGoingOnEh That's a great saving you're making with giving up smoking.

I'm having a good sort of month money-wise. I looked at my spreadsheet and found I hadn't spent much on the house so I have bought a couple of things that we've always wanted but that have never got to the top of the priority list. Very excited as one is a garden shredder which should be great fun.

I also sold our old robot lawn mower on ebay so that made me £400 and more than cancelled out the shredder. Smile Yay!

Canklesofglitter · 29/06/2016 13:55

Hello can I join too?

I was on these just over two years ago when we were on our knees with maxed out credit cards and with DH having lost his job. (I have nc since then though as was outed by my SIL). Well we cleared £15k of CC debt and have managed to build up a buffer of around 12 months income in savings - in part due to the support and the inspiration of threads like these.

BUT Brexit has snookered us. DH works in an industry which is very affected and his contract has ended. There's nothing around at the moment so we need to eke out what we have for as long as possible. In short I need the frugaleers!

lilacclery · 29/06/2016 13:55

wreck that's funny myself and my colleague were just discussing hummus at lunch break! I make this one tin chickpeas drained(save the 'juice'), 2 cloves garlic, tsp cumin, dash lemon juice - blend, add in juice until you get consistency you like - you can vary it by adding different spices or roasting the garlic/ roasting peppers/add nat yogurt etc

Hello whatsgoingoneh and welcome to the thread. Lots of us have become in debt due to frittering. It's better to spend 100 on something fantastic than 200 on rubbish though. No real rules. Some of us post account balances, some bargains, lots of different tips, we have links to good inspiring threads too. We're a friendly bunch. Do you plan to save just the cigarette money or more than that? Have you a particular target for savings/goal of when to reach it etc?

lilacclery · 29/06/2016 14:08

Hi cankles how did you make the savings & build up the buffer

Badders123 · 29/06/2016 14:20

Cankles..well done! And sorry about your current bad news Sad
May I ask...how did you pay off the cc?
We have £10k on a 0% cc (nothing frivolous...much needed house repairs Sad)
It just seems insurmountable atm and I'm worried re the interest rates after our 0% ends in a years time
Any tips gratefully received!! Smile

ipsogenix · 29/06/2016 14:30

Welcome Cankles it sounds as though you are an expert. Smile Sorry to hear about your husband's job. I had no idea that jobs were being lost because of the referendum already.