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.

Can't sleep so I'm catching up on a lot of thread reading!

Wreck it was like a week ago now, but did you enjoy the Real Greek? My parents took us there just a few weeks back, before we went to the Globe. LE YUM! We had all sorts of lovely things.

Cag that's disappointing about the travel card. Can you buy a weekly travel ticket in your area? I used to buy DD one when she was going home with her gran on the bus after school. There was enough to saving to make it worthwhile even for one single trip a day iirc.
The nice thing about budgeting is today I have money in my account. Usually at this stage in the month I'm wondering which account we will be robbing paying the council tax with.

It feels good.

em Excellent packing tip. I'm stealing that one. Good luck claiming the delay money.

Cag Yes its money saving expert you need for reclaiming bank fees. It won't be difficult to do just tedious. If you do your package fees I'll do dhs ppi claim which is also tedious.

All 4 smoke alarms went off at 6:30am. The cats refusing to come back in now. I think he's waiting to see if we both survive before he risks it.

cag thanks for reminding me - I have to apply for DS bus card for school. We live just on the border of the free travel to school area. Kids getting on the same bus at the same bus stop have to pay because their road is unadopted and the bus station is within the 3 miles. It is nuts, but saves us £800 a year in bus fares.

It is raining here already - I thought I would get a couple of hours to half dry the washing. Oh well.

Another newbie here today
Really need to start budgetting better as due to circumstances DH now self-employed so only regular money coming is my small salary. Some great tips on this post, looking forward to chatting to you all more.

Totally agree with Need that your opinion on private education tends to be determined by if you can afford it! The socialist in me says its wrong as its fundamentally unfair and encourages a 'two tier' society. That said if I won the lottery the local private school to us is amazing........

Hopefully a LSD today, need to get some groceries and am taking boy cat to the vets in a bit for a check up (diabetic cat!) The nice run of weather seems to be over

Whoops forgot to update yesterday

Thursday 18th August
Money in Jar: £0.00
Money in Purse: £32.25
Money in Bank: £1018.13
Grand Total: £1050.36
Reduction since yesterday: £118.46
Days to Pay Day: 27

Money paid in;
£37.10 – Natwest Rewards
£38.70 – DH travel expenses

Spends:
£160.01 – To Bills account
£ 10.00 – DH owed DS1
£ 20.95 – Out with friend for her birthday meal (I had budgeted £40 but we didn't go for drinks after the meal).
£2.00 – bin liners & washing up gloves

Still to spend:
DH spends: £140

Gyms: £43.99
DS2 Football (cash): £6.00
DS2 Football (standing order) £15.00
DS2 bus fare: £7.20
Petrol Budget: £90 remaining
Grocery Budget: £265.40 remaining
Leaves for everything else: £450.54 (was definitely wrong about this yesterday!)
Birthdays / nights out budget; £225

Wish me luck here:
First proper ever budget (food and wine £100 per week, clothes and toys £100 per month, general items e.g.prescriptions £100 per month, household items e.g new kettle £100 per month, going out £100 per month).
Cash in envelopes, items purchased to be written down on envelopes.

Welcome, LadyPenelope!
Cag that's really annoying about the travel card, you'd think that they'd at least honour it until the expiry date.
Aiming for NSD. Made cakes with DD which we will ice later and we are going to the library. Pleased we made the most of the sunshine this week, it's pouring with rain today.

had the most wonderful sleep IM MY OWN BED (in my opinion thats the best thing about coming back from a holiday!) and am ready to crack on with the day although still in my jammies still on the couch drinking proper tea

payday today! once all my dd's have been taken out and sent to joint account and various savings accounts i should be left with about £400 in my account.

i have hd a quick look and i think that we probably spent £400 while away. which i'm happy with. it was sort of budgeted for and included train tickets, food, drinks and treats. and we didn't have a choice - we had to eat out every night.

the hotel we stayed in in Florence was lovely - although there was a miscommunication at check in in that they said we hadn't paid already for breakfast (at EUR19.50 pp/d) but on check out we had apparently paid it in advance (a charge of EUR90 was on the invoice). I asked them to remove and they were good and did this. Shamefully that money paid our bar bill (not that we had much....maybe one spritz and a g&t a day on average. for perspective a diet coke set me back EUR7!!! i blame dh and his liking of fancy gin...hendricks is expensive (but delicious))

will get on with reclaiming the delay money but may wait until monday for that as need to scan the boarding passes in, and don't have a scanner here so will have to do that at work.

i have a top i bought for my holidays to be returned to store - i tried it on whilst packing and it didn't look right so left it here. to be returned £30 isn back.

turns out that DM had sneaked herself into our flat while we were away and has folded and ironed all the washing in our washing baskets. and put bacon and eggs in the fridge for us for today. she is the best.

todays jobs - meal plan, and small food shop to get us through until tuesday (i forgot id invited friends round on saturday evening so have to cook! and therefore have to do a shop - but am making slow cooker chinese sesame chicken, so hardly any time spent in the kitchen). tuesday is the best shopping day for us as the co-op does double dividends on all purchases and we get stamps to save up for Christmas. our coop here works a bit differently to yours.

I need to buy chicken thighs (enough to feed about 6 - i think we have 8 in total for dinner), spring onions, onions, garlic, honey, BBQ sauce, soy sauce and probably some prawn crackers and some sort of dessert.

frugal fails of the holiday - i love the longchamp bags. but couldn't justify paying almost £50 for what is essentially a nylon bag. so i bought a replica one from amazon £14 for my trip to Israel in May. it was great - held everything i needed to for the plane etc. sadly on day one of holiday, getting off the plane in Pisa, the strap broke. dh tied it up but its had to be binned now. i emailed amazon who have sent another fee of charge. but maybe the lesson is don't by cheaply made replica bags from china via amazon. they should last longer than 3 months.

as of monday (as am still in holiday mode) am back on being healthy, and will be using my gym membership to the max.

i need to follow up on my topcashback cash backs. and make a list for things we need from boots. i am sure dh has run out of shampoo, and I am almost out of night cream. i was tempted to buy some in duty free yesterday at gatwick, as it was £35 as opposed to £42 (clarins) but i think i get the VAT off here in Jersey anyway must check and if i buy in boots i get a gazillion points... also DM is off to France next week so hopefully its on special offer on the ferry - she's said she'll top my clarins stash up for my birthday in Oct. (another reason why she's the best).

Thanks for all the thoughts on private school. tbh I think the biggest advantage of state education is that the kids don't then grow up carrying the pressure on their shoulders of feeling they have to privately educate their own kids. That's a huge burden to put on the next generation I think.

I went to a state secondary school, and one of the big advantages is growing up with the kids from one's own neighbourhood, who can then be friends for life. I did a few years at a private primary school, and the teaching was rubbish and I felt divorced from my own local community, which was no help in life at all. I really am pretty happy about sending ds to a state school. I think it will give him a very realistic expectations about life.

Just a quick checking in, we have been promised to be allowed to go home today yai. Dd is drinking and eating again and no fewer which is a relief. She's a lot more active again and even trying to charm the nurse to give her sweets

agenie private school is a big talking point for Dh and I. He was privately educated. I wasn't. When I first met his family they assumed I went to the private girls school here. And mil was shocked to discover that I went to probably the "roughest" school on the island. She couldn't quite fathom that I went there then went on to do a levels and get a degree and don't have a criminal record. Incidentally I think that my parents had a lot to do with this I was pushed to work hard. Dh not so much. this also annoys mil - that a "common" state schoolgirl like me (!) could have gone on to achieve what I have

If we have kids and if boys we have places at Dhs old school - priority is given to sons of old boys- so Dh would be keen for any kids to go private. I'm of the opinion that I'd want my kids to go to the best school for them and it may not be a private school at £4000 a term (!) so far we've compromised that any hypothetical kids will go to state primary and then we'll see.

(I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the private girls schools here. They seem to breed arrogant self absorbed idiot show ponies. (I work with a lot...) they're taught that they're better because they go to X school. There are companies here who will only employ people who went to the private schools. Because they think they're getting a better class of person...)

enemem I love coming home to my own bed after a holiday, definitely the best bit!

My first foray into frugal erring is going to be emptying out my freezer and writing a list of everything in there, checking cupboards and then making a meal plan and sticking to it! I do a half hearted type meal plan now, but really going to stick to it.

italian glad your DD is better. Fingers crossed she's home later.

I also have mixed feelings about private schools. We might have considered it if we only had 1 DC but the fees are something like £9000 a term! I'd have to work full-time for it to be affordable, even with one child. I think I would rather use the money for holidays and family experiences.

Dh & I both went to private schools. His was the posh grammar & mmine was the hippy Steiner. I loved mine & did really well - despite the lack of structure. DH hated his - although this may have had to do with some of the teaching staff. If you watch the League of Gentlemen Christmas special - the blond choir boy is a little close for comfort. DH & one of the actors were in the same class at school.
It really depends on the child & the teaching ethos of the school. Both of mine are going to the local comp (but it is rated Outstanding).

Italian glad your DD is on the mend.

Hi LadyP

Off to buy school shirts, jumpers & trousers (ds only) - it is going to be guess the size for Ds as he and DH are still in France. He has cycled over 1000 miles in the last couple of weeks so we are going to struggle to get ones that will stay up, but be long enough.

Back from vets and Lidl!

The vet didn't seem to have a lot to say about my boy cat other than to increase his insulin slightly.... poor boy. Spent £15 in Pets at Home on cat and hamster food.

Spent £53 in Lidls and got a ridiculous amount for that! Have completely restocked the fridge, freezer and cupboards for that.

Am tragically excited as the local paper reports that an Aldi is coming to our town and is going to be built about 5 mins from us excellent!

I do love aldi, we have two here and I go to the further one as its better stocked. I manage to spend £40 a week and I get tonnes. I used to do ssinsbury online and this is so much better.

(I've name changed, I'm a regular)

That's good news, girlie.
I went to a private secondary school and it was wonderful in many ways but my friends were all very rich, we were not. My mum was always a bit embarrassed when they visited our little terraced house as they all lived in massive houses in the leafy suburbs. It also meant that I lived miles away from all my friends and we couldn't really socialise without parents to drive us about.

girlie that's very handy about Aldi!!

Italian very happy to hear your DD is feeling brighter :)

lilac that made me laugh so much!!

Welcome to ladyp

all good luck! I'm very interested to see if it works out for you. I'd love to do this too!!

Our drinks were £6 today but the carpark machine was out of order! Yes!! So carparking was free. Frugal win! £3 saved.

unescorted what was it like being at a Steiner school? I'm quite interested in that as I'd like ds not to be pushed so hard. I understand it might be harder at secondary level as there is no Steiner secondary here. I would seriously consider Steiner if you think it's worth a go.

Em That's a very weird situation you have there. There's almost no private education in Scotland where I grew up and it simplifies things enormously. It means that all the show-pony type kids are in the state schools with everybody else and so there is no division.

Solar panels and now an aldi 5 minutes from home Poor boy cat though, he's not having an easy time of it.

Private schools can only work with the raw materials given to them. I liked the old grammar schools, two of dhs relatives went to them and they've both done really well.

I went to comprehensive secondary and it was beyond crap. A lot of our teachers were nearing retirement and just didn't seem to care and my class was full of kids from four oaks park & moor hall. They played up in every class and when they got told to behave because they'd need to do well in their GCSEs they'd come back with "no I don't, I'm going to work in my dads company". One was still stacking shelves in sainsburys at 28.

agenie there are 4 main private schools here (2 boys and two girls - one of each are catholic schools). then two uber private ones (both charge something crazy like £10,000 a term and the kids go there until age 14 when they're shipped off to boarding schools in the UK).
each area of the island has its own parish school, and then there are 4 state secondaries, plus a grammar school (where i did my A levels).

there is defineltly an attitude here which is taught along with general school curriculum at the private schools. i worked with someone who went to the girls school a while ago, and she was stunned to find out i went to a state school. she was going on about the "type" of person who went to a state school and how they're all pregnant at 16, and into drugs etc. I let her waffle on for a while before letting her know that i was indeed one of "those people". "but you have a degree" she said " you're a nice person...!" go figure...

my jersey grandparents were outraged at my parents for not sending me to the girls school. not that my parents couldn't have afforded it - it would have been a struggle for them to send both me and my sister, but they could have done it. but my dad didn't want me to feel left out that i couldn't do the things that would have been expected with it (school ski trips, trips abroad, etc). so they felt it was better i went to a "normal" school and had all the other opportunities. I think i've done fairly well so far...

i also find it funny that a lot of people here still put a lot of importance on the school they went to, i suppose its because we're a relatively small community (only about 100k people) and its seen as a status thing.

to me the only benefit i could see to the private education system here is that the class sizes are smaller (my sister teaches and there are 26 in her 1 form intake state primary school) at the private schools they limit classes at 20. and maybe the facilities at the schools are better. but statistically GCSE and A level results are better here at the state schools.

anyhoo.. so far today we have filled the car with petrol £40 which should last another month. it is raining - which is actually a welcome change to the 37 degrees we had while we were away. I've done one load of washing, and the second it in the machine. boots shop has been saved in the basket (via topcashback) and I have put suitcases away.

Interesting reading about private schools, I live in a small town in rural Ireland so there are almost no private schools here, although the wealthy still tend to send their children away to boarding school. Obviously they must like the opportunities that gives them but it seems a little sad to me that children sent away to school almost never come back to live in their home towns as adults; it seems that by sending your children away to school, you are making up your minds to them never living near you as adults.

Spends today:
€16 Tesco

€28 shoes for DS but I bought two pairs and the more expensive pair are going back so will be getting €20 of that back.

Yes fluffy I do feel sad for my boy cat, he doesn't deserve it

I had some friends that went to a Steiner school and got on very well there however everything I have read about the schools on mn has been very very against them. I think it probably depends on the individual school and teachers.

My secondary experience was much like yours Fluffy really rubbish, they separated the whole year down the middle and the brainy lot were put in A band and the rest of us thickos were B banders it still winds me up how we were just written off. All the effort went on the A banders, the expectations were zero for the rest of us. I bumped into a bloke I went to school with the other day through work, he was in a role senior to me and had likewise been a B bander, he said when he went to college they realised straight away he was severely dyslexic With the right support he has gone onto to do really well (as have I!) Sorry gone off on a bit of a rant there!!

(However all that said I made some lifelong friends from school that made it worth going there.)

Have spent the afternoon catching up on paperwork - ugh.