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.

Well done Em. Just enjoy Italy.
Me, you are doing really well, I am impressed. I can't be easy with 6 of you.
8, I am in the same position as you, moved house and used all my savings. I don't regret it, I love this house and area but I need to do a lot to the house ( bathrooms, windows) and that's why I am saving up.
Should be NSD, I hope.

Day off with ds1 today we have been bowling he was free had voucher from a bday party was £6.20 for me one game and done in 30mins so if had paid for him to would be £11.30 which is a lot for half hr..

Just made 2 cottage pies with left over rib beef from sun dinner it looked and smelt fine bit dry so lots veg added and used up last potatoes put the garden for mash.

Have a fabulous holiday Em

Yesterday £45 on family pizza delivery (DSD is here) and £14 booking a couple of gymnastics sessions for DD (hoping to get her on the waiting list for the regular class).

Been watching lots of Olympics. Inspiring stuff! Trampolining tonight which will be great for the DCs to see as they both started it last year.

Wrecked here, brought 2 eggs and a pitta to have for lunch as was very hard to drag myself out of the bed this morning. I caved and went to the shop at lunch and got a hot chicken wrap and a bar of choc for €5.35, I needed a break from the office just for that 30 minutes

Also went to chemist and got two cough bottles €10.50 cough cough, sure they'll be used anyhow. The dc are coughing a little.

At least it's Friday, eh, Lilac?

£4.35, on milk, eggs, bread and salad. Looking forward to my day out in Lincoln tomorrow. I'm aiming to spend no more than £15.

Soft play with friends and their son, 15£ which I personally think is very pricey but the place is brilliant. Last holiday day here, Monday is back yo reality...

Nothing really Lilac. I just woke up and want for a potter round the house to get me back to sleep faster.

We've had a nice quiet day today so far. Good weather and some reading books in bed and playing shops. Very nice.

Agenie that sounds like a relaxing day

Lilac hope you're OK! And that the DCs are OK too.

Well this morning was madness. Glad I can just escape to the beach in the evening. I'm feeling a little anxious about selling up and moving. It's a big step even if it's just "local" (well, in the same county) and the cost of selling up is scary! I don't like wasting thousands just for fees. But it is "investing" in DS's education and our careers. It's worth it! Gotta keep telling myself it's worth it.

Bought two lattes in the museum earlier. So not a NSD but a LSD.

Hi all, glad flight went o.kay Em enjoy your holiday

We have had a nice day, had a lovely long lie in this morning and spent rest of morning tidying and catching up on washing (helped by lush weather to get everything dry!) Have been out to Morrisons and spent £66 but the cupboards were pretty bare so don't feel too bad about that, it also included 6 plants which we have since planted in the garden

8 have you moved now? I am loving our house but think we are going to be permanently skint for a while I still need to get a hoover and a lawn mower but have had to stop spending now as will end up seriously over drawn!

We are going out tonight to an anniversary party so going to have to tart myself up a bit from mud covered gardener

Hi everyone, sounds like people are enjoying the weather/holiday.
Spent £30 on eye test, but have no problems.
I'm off to a girls night in, so that should be fun.

Happy Friday everyone!

Spends today:
€3 bread
€3 Lotto

Also spent €20 on cleaning today, first day with a new cleaner, decided I really wasn't happy with the old one. We agreed 3 hours but then she said that 2 hours was enough for her to clean the house; the only problem is the house isn't as clean as I would like it. I'm not sure how to proceed, maybe I should just go with having a reasonably clean house for €20 pw, and then spend an extra hour myself getting it to the standard I would like (and pay myself the extra €10 from the joint a/c ).

Ugh, really spendy and emotional day. Best part of £80 at the vet on 2 injections, some tablets and the examination. The vet kept emphasising how old the cat is. I suspect he may not be with us much longer.
Then went to my aunt's funeral which was terribly sad. Another £25 on a charity donation there plus we got a couple of soft drinks at the bar afterwards.
Have had to dip into savings to see us through the month. Haven't had to do that for a very long time.
I'm exhausted now and have a headache. Early night planned.

tryingtosaveup and girlie, seems we're in the same boat :)
girlie, we've moved a couple of weeks back! Loving it! Glad yours is lovely too!
It felt very scary doing all that spending after so much saving, but I only bought what we needed.
It's hard to change after such a long time of saving, feels almost wasteful!
My next task is to save £6000 for an emergency fund.

Day off tomorrow. Got lots of errands in town to sort out, but I promise to treat myself with something nice for working non stop. Like a coffee at my favourite place. And I might just pop into patiserie valerie on the way home :)

Fence I got a groupon for afternoon tea at patisserie Valerie when we were in London in January, gorgeous place!

Bertie we went from €45 for 3 hours cleaning, she was a friend & had to travel so this rate was fair to our current cleaner €26 for two hours. House is still cleaned but not to same extent but it has enabled me to save towards bigger bills & that's a good compromise. Next week she's coming for 3 hours & has asked for a list.

Bertie we went from €45 for 3 hours cleaning, she was a friend & had to travel so this rate was fair to our current cleaner €26 for two hours. House is still cleaned but not to same extent but it has enabled me to save towards bigger bills & that's a good compromise. Next week she's coming for 3 hours & has asked for a list.

Only recently started having girls nights in allthebest they're great & very frugal enjoy

So happy for everyone with their new houses. Collie did you see anything you liked?

I worked 7.10am to 6.30pm with 30 min break for lunch & 7.15pm to 8pm. I wanted to avoid working tomorrow as we're going camping so I'm tired but happy.

I moved here after 27 years in previous house. Very scary but well worth it. Spent every penny I had on selling, moving and then some essential upgrades to house and garden. Trying to save for more stuff that needs doing. But I spend my time wondering why I didn't move 10 years ago. Need to be frugal to save.
4th NSD in August today but taking DGCs out tomorrow so expecting to be spendy

Exactly Creme its Friday & because I budget fun money for myself that lunch out is allowed

I'm good collie dcs have coughs but nothing serious

Frugal dinner & yummy too. Last of pack of rashers, grated garlic clove, last of pack of spinach, 3 cheese triangles, spaghetti. Yummy carbonara

lilac, I love their cakes :) and your dinner looks yummy!
tryintosave, glad you're enjoying the new house. I've got a newbuilt, everything is brand new, so at least for a bit I don't have to worry about stuff. The part I love best is it's insulation and soundproof, it's fab!!!

Have just eaten my body weight or thereabouts in gelato. After a huge bowl of pasta pesto (but fancy deconstructed pesto - so tonnes of basil leaves pine nuts and Parmesan loads of black pepper and lashings of lemon juice..) and a glass of Pinot Grigio. Yummy. Dinner was €50 for 4. We didn't pay this time. But I bought gelato €6 for three cups.

Walked almost 20k today. Exhausted.

snuggly sounds like a hard day

girlie at tarting yourself up. Hope you had a good night!

lilac Not today :( the houses we saw were disappointing. We'll try again next week! it's good though because we're building up local knowledge and getting a feel for it all.

trying you make me feel more optimistic! Thank you

cag was watching the trampolining earlier! It was brilliant!!

Dinner sounds fab em and good value too

Pity collie but if it's possibly your forever home it's worth taking time over it

Sorry I can't remember all the names yet but...

Holiday in Italy sounds fab and totally reminds me why we're trying to be frugal.

Person with the cat- maybe a nice nine spend treat like a book and long bubble bath would help you unwind?

House movers- we bought are (most likely) forever home nearly 3 years ago. It's not 'finished' as still lots we want to do but love doing things to our own taste and not worrying about resale value etc.

Went for our Groupon afternoon tea which was (strangely) at Patisserie Val something or other (mentioned above). Spent £2.20 on parking and 25p on a Chomp bar in order to get change for parking.

Aldi shop was £100.03- was pretty smug until I realised I forgot milk but thankfully was on offer at Spar so extra £4- should last us most of the week. That was with loads of extra treats such as beer, posh nibbles for picnic for wedding anniversary etc.

Ds1 has friend over tonight, asked if he could do various £££ activities tomorrow (meaning we'd need to pay for both of them and usually would without a second thought) but suggested a few free activities and they seemed quite happy with them.

Just about to go and wrestle with YNAB again, still can't quite work out how to do it.

Methenyou if you need help with ynab just ask, I'm only using since April but I'll help you out as best I can.

After weeks of working early I woke at 4.50 this morning and persuaded myself to go back to sleep, and am awake now but don't think it's going to work this time