Frugaleers chatting and saving even further into August...

[AGenie]

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.

Weber is an American make of BBQ. Very sturdy & well made.

agenie woah! That's expensive! I had no idea it was that much.

Hopefully nsd today.

Wow, citizenship is expensive! It would cost dh similar to renounce his US citizenship. I think the cost of an Irish passport has shot up too!

Yesterday I spent £7.50 on birthday cards, wd40 and super glue, and £45 ish on petrol.

DM is down today to see me and dd. Aiming for a LSD.

need good luck!!! Thinking of you and your DS

Aiming for NSD today. Going to do some jobs this morning and go to my mum's this afternoon. Can't get anyone to look after DD so not going into school for results but hopefully someone will text me.
I'm a big Kondo fan, most of the stuff I chucked wasn't worth selling so went to charity shop. I did start putting cds on Music Magpie but we have hundreds and it was taking too long, we are still stuck with most of them! I sometimes wonder about doing a car boot sale. Has anyone ever done one?

lilac sorry for your loss, I hope the children are Ok.
Need good luck to your D's today & to your y11s snuggly. I can't quite believe it will be D's waiting for results in 2 years time.
The talk of calculating meal costs is interesting. I might try to work out our food spends per day but it's tricky as I freeze lots but might try it over a longish period (a few weeks).
Coming to the end of our holiday sadly, but have had a brilliant time. Not quite as frugal as I wanted but I'm not going to worry about it, we all needed it.

Sorry for your loss Lilac.

Best of luck for those getting GCSE results today!

Great day yesterday - bus/train to a home ed learning club, the Caglets did brilliant presentations if I say so myself :o and we listened to all the other children do theirs, it was great. Then most of us went to the park, and then for dinner after. Friend found a kids eat for £1 voucher so it was cheap. :) Didn't get back til nearly 9pm.

DH has taken the Caglets to Ikea! Mainly for a bed tunnel thing and a crash mat, possibly a rug. Any bets on how much unplanned stuff they'll bring back? :o

cag sounds like a great day! Ooo I hope they like the bed tunnel thing :)

So, Nectar are doing 10 x points on shopping & fuel between 25-31 August 2016. You need to login to your Nectar account and "load to card". Just in time for our weekly top up of fuel and a weeks shopping!

Thanks Collie DD is really excited about the idea of having the tunnel and a lamp to make a reading den! My worry is that DS will be a bit miffed, because his bed won't fit a tunnel (wrong width and ladder in the wrong place).

Right, almost £100 on shopping delivery. Dread to think what proportion is on crappy food but also got stuff for the Caglets' and DSD's lunch tomorrow (she works in playcare and is taking them with her tomorrow to give me a break :) :)).

I have discovered that my favourite puzzle makers (Wentworth) have put a load of their mini puzzles on the website. I've been wanting to get some for stocking fillers for a few years so I'm grabbing the opportunity.

Thanks all. He did well, really well.

6A*'s (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Business)
4 A's (English Lit, English Language, RE, Business x2)
B Systems and Control.
C German (surprised to even pass!!)

The English might even be worth a re-mark, as he's one mark off an A*.

He's pissed off with RE, as was on for an A*.

He should be bloody chuffed to bits, as the grading structure was higher this year.

I'm chuffed for him.

Fabulous need!

Wow! Great stuff :o

Not such a spend at Ikea after all - DH forgot to look for the crash mat! Literally half the reason they were supposed to be going [facepalm] ah well, saves some money for now, and it was the tunnel that was the important thing. They're on their way back already. Lots of tidying to be done this afternoon, I'm on the second washload, trying to get stuff done but rest plenty too.

Wow, that is an immense achievement, Need's DS. Fantastic!

Well done Need and ds. :-)

Weird its GCSE result day yet first official day of term here teachers went back yesterday although some inc our school have teacher days today and tomorrow ds1 was v pleased as he is 6 today been bowling got it half price as completed a survey, he decided he didn't want ds2 (21mths) to go to nursery he wanted him to spend his birthday with us - tip to anyone ese a toddler and bowling dont mix - he thought every go was his me weeeee ball screeched every 3 seconds not too fun he slept for 2hrs after though.

Congrats needs DS.

lilac sorry I missed your sad news.

Need pass on congrats to your ds. That is an amazing effort.

Congratulations needs DS!

Wow, Need that's amazing! Congratulations to your DS.
I'm disappointed with my kids' results, expected them to do better. Full analysis at start of term I suppose.
Anyway, managed an NSD which is good and had a lovely afternoon with my mum.

Need.- amazing results well done.

Also, can anyone help with ynab question? I've put in a budget amount of £20 a month to cover haircuts when they crop up, as I wanted to allocate an amount each month rather than trying to find a big amount when I have an appointment, but because I've only just started ynab I'm in negative for that specific budget. What do I do? Wait for that amount to build up?
Thanks

Snuggly, if it's any consolation, there's a report on BBC news website saying there was a steep decline in A*- C GCSEs this year, so I suspect you won't be the only teacher feeling confused and upset. The papers must have been marked very hard.

THURSDAY 25TH AUGUST
Money in Jar: £0.00
Money in Purse: £10.00
Money in Bank: £733.99
Grand Total: £743.99
Reduction since yesterday: +£50.55 (Got my £100 board money today)
Pay Day: 21

Spends:
£32.47 – groceries
£1.98 – my personal spends – kindle book
£5.00 – my personal spends – Slimming World*
£10.00 – DH Petrol

Still to spend:
Gyms: £43.99
DS2 Football (cash): £3.00
DS2 Football (standing order) £15.00
DS2 bus fare: £7.20
Interest: 0.55
Petrol Budget: £58.98 remaining
Grocery Budget: £161.88 remaining
Leaves for everything else: £453.39
Birthdays / nights out budget; £180

I joined SW Online last night. Someone on MN had posted a code (AVIVA2016) which gave a good discount for the 12-week programme. I opted for the silver pack which I think should have been £65 and I got it for £49.95 which is quite good as it includes the magazine. This works out at £4.16. Membership would be £4.95 so it's a bit of a saving and I don't have to go to class (I really hate classes). I've paid for it from my savings and are paying my savings back at £5 per week as if I were going to the classes.

And I pinned DS1 down today to get his mobile phone bill money (which still comes out of my account) and I said as he was paying me his phone money, he might as well give me his board five days early. So my everything else money looks a bit healthier (phew).

Grocery budget will probably be blown this month due to more spends on SW friendly food though
….........................................................................................................................

Snugglysnerd

I did a car boot sale - going back a few years now though. The things I remember being very surprised at were

Smellies - I used to do Avon so had accrued a bucket load of Avon stuff which I had sampled - so they weren't new - but people couldn't take them off my hands fast enough.

Suitcase - I'd taken clothes over in a few suitcases. People could see the cases and although the baby clothes didn't sell well at all, I could have sold the suitcases umpteen times over!

Clothes for older boys. I took loads of baby boys clothes but they didn't sell at all, and people kept coming and asking me if I had any clothes for older boys. The consensus was that older boys are dead rough and their clothes get tatty fast.

Books - just didn't sell at all. I ended up bringing 90% of them back home and listing them on freecycle just to get rid. The lady who I would say bought 10% was buying for her son who was in the armed forces and she managed to beat me down from 50p per book to 20p and she just took as many as she could carry.

Take lots of change with you - people just don't think, and turn up with notes expecting you to be like a shop! (or maybe they do it on purpose for some reason)?

Also, when you arrive, there are already tonnes of people there wanting to know if y ou're selling any mobile phones, and who try and dive into your bags and boxes before you've set up.

Hope I haven't put you off.

need well done to ds! Amazing achievement.

snuggly Eugh car boot sales. I have a love/hate relationship with them. We've done well before doing them last time we got in over £100. Agree though you need to watch out for the vultures. They'll swoop in and try and grab your stuff before it's even set up. Take a big burly looking man. Or two to guard.

Last time Dh had the bright idea to label and price everything up. Great idea. Until I was the one to do it.

If you can make signs to show prices for groups of stuff.

Nsd for me today.

My eBay things are selling well. So far three items have bids totalling £15.20.

Dh in a shitty today. Apparently his birthday wasn't special enough. ungrateful fuck