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.

Trying: cougettes can be freezed if they are for instance slices . I use the slices for eg lasagne.

I have namechanged. I hope you like the new one. :-)

Hi AGenie [wonders who this is]
My nsd changed as I spent €60 picking up a baby gift. Prior this I debated takeaway, stopping at an icecream bar & stopping to buy icecream enroute. I ate dinner before going, I thought of frivolous lending & distracted myself & kids until we forgot about icecream. Everyone happy & no unnecessary spends

I like to post graphs a lot. :-)

Thanks for all the courgette tips. I will freeze some and I will definitely make a courgette chocolate cake and report back.
My neighbour has gone on holiday for a few weeks and said help myself to his crops so there will be more courgettes. I will use them all.

Okay, so going to try and avoid posting an essay but I feel it's inevitable, congratulations if you manage the whole thing!

Past 48 hours have been a emotional, financial awakening rollercoaster-I'm exhausted. Will try my best to sum it up:

1.We're at bottom of overdraft so realiased usual spread sheet budget format wasn't working.

2.From advice on here, joined YNAB on free trial. Realised disposable income is more like £200 not £800+ per month. Also becomes obvious where extra money is going.

1. DH and I have split new (true)disposable so will have £100 each (monthly) to spend as we wish, this way we can feel accountable for our own treats etc. We will have to discuss joint things (e.g. meal out with kids) and both chip in out of our individual pots. All other accounts (bills/ (future)savings etc) still joint.

1. Made easy 'cuts'- basically only pain free one was swapping electricity tariff (about £30 per month saved) and joining topcashback.

1. Made uncomfortable cut backs- DH and I both swapped work union to get free year with new one. This is awful as we both agree with principles of original one but switch will save us £400 this year (!) And about £18 a month in subsequent years.

1. Made really uncomfortable changes. Told eldest he has to pick between expensive school trip and hot dinners at school. This was tough (he still hasn't decided and I feel like a shit parent asking him to pick). We agreed to school trip when we thought we wouldn't have expensive family holiday for years but since have been offered to stay at friend's house abroad next year (part of reason we are desperate to save). Dinners are thorny issue as vast majority of friends have dinners and they get in earlier so (socially) a big deal. But all he gets is sandwich, drink and biscuit for £2.25! I could do these for so much cheaper! So basically he can have £350 on school trip or lunches... (Will let you know).

1. Found out we only owe £600 on cc now (we have paid off £12,000 in 2 years!) which was £300 less than I thought-good news!

1. But had to put £650 on cc today (it's interest free) for materials for new flat roof. DH is doing it with my DDad (retired roofer) so actually saving about £4500 than if we were having to get tradesmen so great that we are saving but a bit sad we don't have £ and it's on cc.

10. Finally (anyone still reading???) I am going to see friend tomorrow for lunch. She is giving me lovely clothes/ toys from her DC for one of mine, plus making us lunch- need to try and think of an inexpensive but lovely gift to say thank you. I was planning to bake but didn't have time with looking after kids and all budget sorting! Any ideas welcome.

Sorry-that really was an essay!

That was great Methenou. You've really figured out a lot and solved a lot of problems there. I love it when I manage to figure something out about where the money goes. I hope you also got a feelgood buzz from it.

I think that's absolutely brilliant Meth. So truthful, and realistic, and honest. It's very tough for your DS, but these are real and tough choices, that's a life lesson.

DD has angled for so much Harry Potter stuff today, as we have been at Universal, so Harry Potter world encompassed. A myriad of shops and opportunities to spend. She realised it's all basically overpriced crap eventually. She bought HP Pumpkin Juice, which came in a lovely bottle which she can keep. $8.00........

methen that's fantastic you've been able to see things so realistically and write it down. You're not a bad parent for giving your ds that choice, as need says, that's real life. So many children are so sheltered these days from financial realities, it's really not healthy for them.

Our church do lunches on a cafe style basis on a Wednesday and one of my aunties is in charge today so dd is going to help. It'll keep her occupied and out of the builders way. My illness has been hard for her and I'm not able to do the usual day trips/activities we normally would in the hols, but family & friends have been great in helping out. Ds just does his own thing with friends and we barely see him!

That was great me. Looks like you've identified some really key areas to work on.

www.pottytraining.co.uk/member/claim-a-free-coupon/

Redeem this at morrisons for free pull ups.

me Excellent work. Can you swap broadband suppliers too? Often lots to be saved there.

Me that's brilliant

Spendy day today as we're off to London to see Matilda I paid £42 for the train for the three of us. My step mum will give hers back to me but I might just ask her to pay for lunch instead. Going to go to the real Greek mmm.

Me well done on the post. It is hideous at first but you will get there and we are here to support you. I think dc need to know it's not a bottomless pit of money.

Shit night. Massive amount of pain from coil change but weirdly feels like it's in my hips/nerves. Been feeling melancholy last couple of days so not posting much. Kid's being hard work and missing ddog. Probably lack of sleep not helping.

Morning all, I'm jumping back on the wagon and hope to keep it up this time...can't remember the last time I managed a no spend day. Especially with the kids off.

lifelong oh no hope the discomfort settles down. Are u keeping up with pain relief?

Frugaleering is getting to me. I dreamt last night I was doing a massive budget spreadsheet and trying to remember how to do conditional formatting so the cells would be red/orange/green according to how close I am to going over budget! It was a very vivid and quite stressful dream. Incidentally, can anyone tell me how to do conditional formatting please?

Well done on sorting all that Me. I know it seems like a lot on the cc but that is an amazing saving by doing the roof yourselves.

Thanks for the pull ups voucher, fluffy.

fluffy at the 2p!! Haha!! Also - wish we had a Morrison's nearby because that coupon would have been great!

me I'm in awe of how much you've accomplished with YNAB. I wonder if I should try it too. I'm still using old fashioned spreadsheets

Should I give YNAB a whirl?

You can use it in other supermarkets too, plus boots. They'd be 74p in boots.

Everywhere else their £4+. I wonder if you can register a Dh and get another coupon?.

Methenyou - that's brilliant, and I'm.super impressed with number 8, you've done amazingly well. If your child is PP at school, the they're entitled to free school meals.
How long do you think you'll have to live on only £200 - is there light at end of the tunnel.

Lifelong - maybe go back to the doctor and check it's all okay? Don't think it should ever be more than very mild period type cramp?

Fluffy- thank you for code! WI'll look into broadband, think we are a bit limited as we don't get great Internet here.

Collie-I would defo try it, especially for free! I'm not sure if I'll keep it up past free trial as I don't find the software very instinctive at all so quite confused about how to do a lot of things. Thst said, I'm going to try doing some of the classes etc to get my head round it. I think it may be a lot better if you are in the US as it works alongside your bank account . I've 'allocated every pound' which was really helpfull but still struggling with how to put in all my direct debits dates etc.

Other than using cc for roof yesterday it was a NSD yesterday (or rather, no waste). Today I want to buy a small thank you to our friend for having us over/ gifts but other than that should be NSD (actually, I need to buy milk too). I'm also picking up a couple of things from a free cycle page so that should be some money saved.

Later I need to do a review of what food we have in before I meal plan for Aldi shop on Friday.

Allthebest- not entitled to FSM.

In theor, we don't have to live on £200, we could livery on about £350. However, if we do that, we would never save for a holiday next year (as mentioned above, offered to stay at friend's house abroad so would just need to saverify travel/spending costs). So I guess for at least a year.

In about 5 years (long story) we will be much better off financially but we have to muddle by until then and anything above and beyond the usual (e.g. a foreign holiday ) will mean we have to scrimp and save. Feel I can't complain too much as it's ultimately our choice to have such a luxury as a holiday abroad. We also are very lucky that Aunty and Unclean have caravan we can use. It's a squash now (2 small bedrooms, 4 kids) but it costs nothing other than spending/travel and we always have a lovely time.

Ok. Today's tiling day except no ones turned up yet I'm anxious enough about flying tomorrow so didn't need this.
Have been up since 7 as tiler was turning up at 8. Also didn't sleep well. Grrrr

But. Am off riding in a bit which always soothes me. It's a lovely day. I'm meeting dsis this afternoon for coffee and a mooch around garden centre. And have to pack. Eeeeeeee!!

em got any Bach's rescue remedy? I have the pastilles and they work for me after an asthma attack (I'm usually in shock & shaking) even if it's a placebo - it's a good one or press your forefinger hard with your thumb. Apparently that's a good trick for anxiety. Hope the tiler comes soon. If it were me I would tell him "if you can't be arsed to arrive on time then you'll have to come back when we're back from holiday!" Grrr. I can't stand people being late - it's like they think their time is more valuable than yours.

Me I honestly can't work it out I think I'll stick with my spreadsheet. I must be having a very dim day ha!

Snuggly LOL! about the conditional formatting. I have no idea unfortunately. Is there anything in particular stressing you about the frugaleering? It seems a shame to have nightmares about it.

Good luck Em.

I am taking ds for a hearing test which the insurance has paid for. Phew! Hearing tests cost an astonishing amount of money.

Em I know you don't want anti anxiety meds which I completely understand but what about propranolol which alleviates the physical symptoms? I find it makes such a difference