Frugaleers chatting and saving into August...

[ipsogenix]

Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

Useful links copied from last year:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

orchard.tesco.com/ Sign up to this.

www.topcashback.co.uk/home And this.

www.quidco.com/home/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ditto.

www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

Hope all is ok collie.

Spends Saturday:
€20 on fresh fish and meat for weekend.

Also spent €7 on lunch on Friday as I had forgotten to bring the lunch (delicious lunch!) I had made to work, very annoying frugal fail.

Ooops sorry I clearly meant 'le yum'

£2 on painkillers.

Thanks to Collie I am going to fleece line the lounge patio door curtains & use a 3M patio door window film kit. Dh won't like it but it should make the room cosier. It was the coldest room in the house last year.

I put the summer duvet under the sheet in winter. It saves on storage space too. We don't put the heating on overnight.

dwinol, that's a good tip about about taking out £10 less at the ATM each time you go, and I bet that it works for me, cash gets frittered as DH delves into my purse a lot.

Collie Hope you are ok. x

We have literally no snacks in the villa, apart from wasabi peas for DS. Amazed at how little we are eating. Definitely the case of, if it ain't there, you won't eat it.

We had a quiet day at the villa yesterday, as today we are having another long day out. We went for a Mexican for tea. $60 for 4 adults (teen DC), insane portions and a cocktail for me in there.

Budgeted money does feel quilt free, doesn't it What? DH still would look at the bank account and not realise that the money in there is for EVERYTHING and go of and buy a new telly or something.....

Where is nk/bees?

Collie hope you are OK .

Housemovers If you are between 23 & 40 and want a new builld house hhanfg on for a Starter Home. They will be at least 20% of market price. If you are an old gimmer like me there is a new Shared Ownership product coming out that is a lot less restrictive than the old style Shared Ownership - good for those that are sick of renting but can't muster up a huge deposit.

All MM we do about £80 per week on food - but that is us ( 2 adults 2 teens) being spendy. When we were paying off debts we got the monthly grocery shop down to £200 (ncluding top ups). To get it to this level everything was made from scratch - bread, alcohol, spice mixes, anything with any joy.... it is doable but it can be a bit grinding at times as there is no spontaneity with eating. You also need an encyclopedic knowledge of what is in the cupboards and what those things can be made into if you see something barginiferous in the Yellow Sticker department or if something is in season. Prepper and no waste websites are a good source on how to preserve the most weird & wonderful things... just ignore the hairshirt weaving and the gun sales. The great thing is we have found that a lot of the "artisan" and "foodie" things that cost a fortune are really easy to make at home - they just take time. Also groow things that are expensive - herbs, soft fruit and salad leaves are all worth doing. Onions & carrots aren't worth the space & time it takes.

person asking about coffee we used a stovetop espresso machine. It uses less coffee than filter or cafetiere makers. To fluff milk - heat in a saucepan and whisk it.

That doesn't seem like a lot for the rest of the month collie. Have things got worse for you financially generally or is it just a bad month?

Had a brilliant time with my friends last night. They treated me to the meal out- I had mushroom pappardelle and ice cream with a wine spritzer. They left around midday after croissants. We definitely won't leave it so long to meet up next time. So, apart from 30 pence on Thursday, I haven't spent any money since Wednesday .

Collie, hope you are all okay. Take care. X

need my dh does the same so I now take out the budget money from the cash machine / add £20 to the shopping bill & get cashback & put it into a savings account that he thinks is closed....

Collie hope you're okay.
Glad you're having a good time need
I'm trying to rest up here while dh & the dc sort through the contents of the loft!
It should be an NSD though. Brisket in the slow cooker for tea which should be enough for 2 meals. Tomorrow I'll do a chicken curry which should also be enough for 2 meals.
Dh will go to Aldi for a top up shop tomorrow
Dd going to cinema with friends tomorrow to see Finding Dory but she will pay for that.

Thanks everyone we're all OK here. Just exhausted and confused. (Neighbourly rude awakenings at 1am & haven't slept much since it all calmed down!) Unfortunately I didn't have wafflesbut I bloody wish I had!

Ipsos I think £56 per week is pretty doable. We have loads in the cupboards and freezer. If it wasn't for stupid nappies it would be easy! DS is in no rush for potty training.

I keep missing out on some epic eBay bargains!

DH has no access to anything financial Unescorted, but I think I can do better with my purse, by hiding some of the cash. I often have a fair bit if I need to go to the farm and pay the farrier or the like.

Glad you're ok, Collie. Any chance of a nap this afternoon?

Need, how goes the holiday?

I should do that with my dh ... do you think he will notice If I close our bank account and open one in my name only?

DD & I are off to see Finding Dory this afternoon. We have a local independent cinema so it will only cost £7 for both of us.

Nope, I would give it a go . We agreed, 20 years ago, this works best for us, I like sorting things out financially and he has no patience for this at all. He's good at earning it though, so it works well .

Holiday is wonderful Creme, thanks. It helps that we done it before. The first time, you kind of feel you have to do EVERYTHING, and the DC were quite small, and it was more frantic. Having a villa has helped too. But mainly 'cos the DC are essentially adults, life is easier.

Sounds like you enjoyed your visitors, very frugal too...!

Methenyouplus4 I live in Denmark so not sure how uk bankers advice but I'm trained as a bank advisor and we advice calculating all your standing orders/direct debits/bills you need paying per year and divide with 12. Take the amount and round up to nearest number and that's the amount your budget account should contain every month. We get our payslip paid in to budget account who keeps this amount and the rest gets transferred to our usage account. We have beside that a saving account for dd where the money is not accessible before her 21 birthday and one saving account for all other saving. I then have a private note book where I allocate our saving in to house, car, Christmas ect. I do this because I have negotiated a higher interest on this account so makes more sense to have all the money in here and also the more accounts you tend to have the more difficult ppl tend to find it. But this is of course just how we do it and it's the most used set up here in Denmark

Spend 70£ in lidl, 18 in rema and 30£ in building store. But got loads of stuff for next weeks last holiday week where we are planning to go and see different places

Nice morning. Brunch picnic with my friend. We took a pop up tent to the beach and had banana pancakes with fruit and coffee while husbands played paddleboarding.

Was nice. Even if it rained.

Now home and have done washing up and have done one load of washing.

It sounds amazing, Need. How long have you left there now?

Sensible advice for any country Italian.

Fly back Friday Creme, so 5 full days left. Wish it were more. I was born to life in a hot climate I feel......

Thank you again for tips/advice.

I'very been looking at YNAB but I'm still really confused- it's not a system that actually handles your money? So the money stays in your normal account but it provides you with virtuAl envelope/spreadsheet type thing to keep track of things? I'm pretty baffled. I'be read links but they mention only starting with the £ you have in your account (not future wages)- we are currently in overdraft so how would that work?

Also, our laptop is broken at the moment and only have phones, so would it not work?

collie Sorry I misread. I thought you meant £56 for the whole of the rest of the month and with it only being the 7th. Yikes! Glad all is well.

Collie - Amazon v often have playmobil deals we have loads and only ever buy at half price - black Friday is a good time to buy, ds1 is 6 in couple weeks and we have got super 4 playmobil hideout brought in Jan/Feb for just under half price and he asked few weeks back for iit for his bday :)

Thanks guys, I'm feeling inspired to budget and I had a look at the ynab and will try that.
We had a family day out today and spent £20 which is excellent for us as it would normally be double that.

Oh, I forgot to say, I also pay myself my savings when I get paid rather than waiting to see if I have anything left at the month end...because there wouldn't be.
BFG is brilliant Em. I did't succumb to buying rubbish going in but £3.75 for small bag of sweets coming out. Frugal fail!

Collie there are some tesco playmobil links on Christmas 1 thread