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.

Snug ring the childcare vouchers people and check re mat pay.

what does the cashback status say tracked, confirmed or ready to pay?.

Oh how annoying, Girlie. You probably could have done without it too, after meeting up with another friend in the morning.

Spends: £1.59, on a pint of milk for Sunday and Monday and chocolate bars for tomorrow -Sunday. I have just over a tenner until I get my CTC and CB on Monday and I agreed to meet an old friend on Saturday in a town that's 2 hours away by bus (only about 25 miles in a car), so the bus fare will take much of that, but my cunning plan is to put a Costa lunch on my card. I haven't seen this friend for about 3 years, so I have to make the effort. My 'non diet' is going well, but I need 2 slices of toast instead of 1 at lunch and sometimes a small slice of cheese at bedtime.

Dread to think how much I have spent today with DGD in York , but it's a lot. Tried to be frugal. She used her own money for things in the museum shops and DP gave me £40 towards the trip so that helped.

Snuggly I would ring your childcare voucher provider to check, but when I asked about it, they told me that I could just use the vouchers in the account for DC2 when she starts childcare. I believe they're valid until the youngest child turns 15?

It says tracked, it's been due to change twice and now just says it's taking longer than expected. Not sure what I can do.

lilac that was a cool link! Being frugal definitely makes me happier. I find that I'm less materialistic

girlie I cried a little at the photo of that little boy! horrible isn't it.

Frugal win today : Baked a vegan cake and a vegan dinner. Definitely helps the purse and was completely unplanned & random. Was just using up cupboard / freezer stuff. I may incorporate a vegan meal in to our weekly meal plan from now on.

Frugal fails: Had to get new cat food as Colliecat keeps puking up the current stuff and it's vile.

Tomorrow's plan: Carpark will be about £3. Drinks £3.

Snug OK - yes save up childcare vouchers while on mat leave dh and I did this and 11mths on are only just paying the extra money on top as obv still got them on return.

I got full pay for 3mths, half pay p!us stat mat for 3mths and just stat mat pay for 3mths no policy or hr could answer my queries around the vouchers but they can't take then out of stat mat pay but can out of occupational mat pay.

Still with me. Maternity pay is calculated on weeks 17-25 of pregnancy after voucher deduction as they are salary sacrifice so the unofficial advice if you can is reduce vouchers down for those periods and then increase back up - I am allowed to make monthly changes and can do it myself online. (I dropped to £25/mth for weeks 18-26 then upped back to243)

What happened in reality was my pay was worked out post salary sacrifice so that was good move then during full pay vouchers came out as normal but once on mixed pay and stat only they were paid in addition to my pay. Then in no pay mat leave i only did 1mth they are still paid.

Hope that helps

Tricky situation Genie - obviously I am somewhat biased I don't think it would be worth putting that massive amount of money into private ed, if you missed out on a huge amount of other stuff.

From everything you've said about your DS, he's a smart little dude, and you provide loads of learning opportunities for him, it would be a shame to lose that.

We just updated our medal table spreadsheet/graph. The Caglets were thrilled to see the silver bar go higher than 2012's silver amount. :)

What ok tracked means their aware of it but it hasn't confirmed so you can't cancel it yet.

It shouldn't be long now though. Mines only confirmed this week.

I am waaaay behind on the thread, but Heru THANK YOU for explaining what you did about the premium bonds. I'm going to look into that. I wouldn't have a signature though, as my late nan bought them for me when I was born.

Thank you fluffy, I'll keep checking and I'll
Hold on.

I think that your stance on private education is largely determined by financial circumstance, if most folk are really honest with themselves. And also the educational facilities in your local area. It's easy for me to take a moral, socialist stance, as the DC go to an outstanding secondary school, in an extremely affluent area, where most of the other DC of our peer group go to. There are something like 7 kids in the whole school of 1600 kids that qualify for FSM. If they had to go to the local sink school, I might not be so pro state schooling.

Similarly, if you are not in a position to ever be able to afford private education, it's easier to take a stance too. The argument is simply not there in reality.

In the middle, such as AGenie (without wishing to be presumptuous), it's really hard I think. Really hard.

Got to be honest, I've spent more on myself (time and money) this last month than I have for a long time and... I feel great for it. Some is using up old pots and potions, some is buying stuff, some is running again. Folk have noticed. I feel good for it. I do.

Spends.
£18 nails.
£40 skirt.
£60 petrol.

Tomorrow I update the finances. Just for the week. But think we have done well this month.

Actually Eastmids I think that's what my mat pay will be too, I've forgotten since last time. You're not a teacher too by any chance?
I think reducing it for those weeks then increasing it again sounds like a good plan. It would certainly help us out to have some saved up for when I go back to work. Thank you.

Spends today:
€125 on a sat nav, a very practical anniversary gift for DH. I planned to buy online but I popped into a shop and the man I spoke to was so helpful and informative, I just bought it from him. Not sure if I want to look the one I bought up online now, if it's cheaper online, I'll be tempted to return the one I bought, but I would feel very mean benefitting from the expertise of the man in the shop and then spending my money elsewhere

Sounds good need, it's important to look after yourself I think.
I'm going to a wedding next weekend and I'm going all out with tan, nails, new dress etc, I haven't done it in ages and I'm really looking forward to it

Same for our holiday Bertie. You just feel so much better. Hope you enjoy the wedding!

AGenie we have looked into private schooling - purely because the private primary and secondary are closer and OFSTED slammed the public primary. (And temporarily closed it down)

The daunting thing about private school is that the fees are only just the beginning of what you pay. The "fees" are the absolute minimum.

We thought we could afford it if I worked full time - until I saw the additional costs

In theory, I don't really approve of private education and I would never consider it for DS, but DS is at an excellent comprehensive. In fact, I'm almost a bit daunted by its standards. 75% got A and B grades and 50% A*- A in the A Level results today! DS is only going into Year 9, but he's going to have pull his socks up quickly!

Just walked through the door kettle on and suitcases are in the washing machine (well the laundry is). We were clever and relaxed all our dirty clothes into two bags - one light and one dark- and I opened suitcases into the floor and threw one bag in the machine timer to go off tomorrow.

Flight in Pisa was delayed an hour which meant we missed out connection at gatwick. Sigh. So BA put us on the last flight. Which was then also delayed.

But it's ok they gave us a £5 meal voucher (dinner cost £30...)

Will be sending my reciepts and an email re the eu travel directive thingy to them tomorrow. I think we could get €500 back... I'm sure that's the rule. I have it saved somewhere not my first BA rodeo

Will hopefully get paid tomorrow!

Good article lilac

Tough one about private school. DH is totally opposed, while I would certainly consider it if money were not an issue (totally can't afford it).

LSD today. £20 diesel, £1 bread buns, £1 pack of 6 lollies, £3 local arts and crafts group (which included coffee, cake snd cost of materials).

Went to NT place today and had picnic in the grounds-lovely day.

I think that your stance on private education is largely determined by financial circumstance, if most folk are really honest with themselves.

Yes I totally agree. We have not a snowball's chance in hell of affording even a week at a private school :o so we have never considered whether it would be right for our DCs. If we won the lottery or something, maybe it would be different. Schools aren't good round here really. But in the middle, there is a huge amount of compromise and sacrifice, so there is more to consider.

Mind you I was meant to try for academic scholarships to some private schools, having looked round I decided not to and I was lucky there was a state grammar that I got into. I have often wondered though, if I had gone to private school, what it would've been like being markedly poorer than the kids whose parents paid, IYSWIM? It's an interesting thought. As it was, I was certainly one of the poor kids at the state school, it was in an expensive area, but it may well have been far more pronounced if I'd gone to private school.

Not frugally connected but I think dh has fallen asleep on the loo in our ensuite

I forgot to mention, got a letter the other day from the council, saying that they're stopping the discount card for children. This was a card (free for those on FSM, £50 for 3 years otherwise) that got quarter price bus fares instead of half. So quite a substantial saving given how often we use buses.

I knew they were going to stop it (they did a consultation in which 95% of people said please keep it, but hey) but I thought - as did the lovely bus driver I often chat to - that they would honour the cards until their expiration date. Which for DD is mid 2017. But no, the letter said they are no longer usable from January 1st. :(

They apparently will send out letters about how to claim partial refunds - not relevant for us as we got DD's free, because she was still in school and on FSM at the time - DS never got one, as by the time he was old enough we were off FSM and I wasn't sure if it was worth paying out for it given the uncertainty. I'm glad I didn't now, as I don't think we would've had it long enough for it to pay for itself IYSWIM, even with a partial refund.

So, more budgeting needed for travel. I haven't loaded our electronic passes for a while - TBH I'm barely going out at the moment, so I'll wait until the new term when all the activities start. Still need to get DS a pass as well so we can all have the same.

lilac euwwww! Don't let him live that down :o