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.

Nice charity shop haul there! Bloody love charity shops. My friend and I were chatting about them yesterday and sharing our tips for the best ones in town :o

Good charity shopping and a good result with the bra!

Thank you for recommending flooring superstore, the website is fab! We are going to order some free samples.

2£ on panodil for dd and 6£ for bread.
Agenie: glad you call the doc
Cag: did you pay the transformer with credit card or debit card. Often here you can use the transcript from that to show the store and then often they would replace.

The GP phoned and says that my very picky inards probably just took exception to the slightly undercooked chicken. She says in future stick to cooking it the way that works for me. I seem to be able to drink properly now which is a big improvement. I'm going to do a lot of that now.

Not a frugaleering question at all, but has anybody else noticed that once we get past 35 a lot of people seem to have named health conditions? I have IBS and I have friends with MS, Fibromyalgia, and Meniere's syndrome. Last week a friend of mine was diagnose with Parkinson's and he's only 45. It seems as if this is the age where we find out what annoying thing we're going to have to live with. Is anybody else noticing that with their friends?

Don't know Genie - I was 25 when diagnosed with mine! :)

Thanks Italian I will get DH to have a look, I know he bought it but not sure if cash or card.

Well, I saw my IFA this morning.
£55 for critical illness and life insurance?! I am now on my own, so I need to make sure DD is ok should anything happen. It's cheaper than a husband, that's for sure!
Should I? Should I wait a bit till I know what my finances really look like? I don't know. Got a few days to think about it.

Interesting genie I was thinking the other day how when I was a kid there were hardly any kids in my school with "named" things (autism/asd etc). Now there seems to be loads. I suppose medicine has moved on and diagnostics are easier?

Appt was ok (wierd but ok). They showed me my cervix on a. Screen. Bizzarro. And they took a sample for further testing (the dr I saw was fairly certain it's nothing but just to be safe 100% she grabbed a sample) . Ouch! So went to the shop after and bought a calming comforting pot noodle for lunch.

@ the Pot Noodle. Glad it went well Em. Or at least as well as it might..

I've got the opposite here Genie. I'm not sure why. Some of my peer group are runners, so probably I hang around with a certain slice of the population that are fitter than your average person maybe, or not the norm? The other lot are equine related, so years of building up antibodies from shovelling shit . I also think, after the madness of small children, a lot of my 'normal' (!) peers are coming through this, and taking better notice of weight and fitness maybe? It might not be any of this though and just random!

I do have my friend how has had breast cancer, who is mid 40's I guess. Did I mention that he DD got 11, yes 11 straight A*'s, despite all the shit their year has thrown at them.

Spends today.
£16 M&S, 2 bunches of flowers as we have been invited to 2 'open house' things over the weekend various things.

Pot noodle wasn't that great

em, glad your appointment went well. Try chocolate, pot noodle is way too healthy :)

Bit of a wwyd slightly frugal related!

So I have to re register the dc's births and I'm considering double barrelling. I can do this at no extra cost BUT dd needs a new passport (which I would want the new name on) so would mean changing the name of the flight ticket which could be ££££

OR I can add my surname into their middle name by deed poll which would be about £38 each but no change needed on the tickets.

I've emailed to see how much it would be to change the ticket which would probably be my preferred.

Bit of a wwyd slightly frugal related!

So I have to re register the dc's births and I'm considering double barrelling. I can do this at no extra cost BUT dd needs a new passport (which I would want the new name on) so would mean changing the name of the flight ticket which could be ££££

OR I can add my surname into their middle name by deed poll which would be about £38 each but no change needed on the tickets.

I've emailed to see how much it would be to change the ticket which would probably be my preferred.

AGenie I was diagnosed pre 30

Spent £3 on straws. So a very low spend day

I worked out that I have a problem with gluten when I was in my 40's, but I've had the problem since childhood. Also, DSis finally got a defined diagnosis in her 40's for things she'd be suffering since her 20's.

£60 on school shoes yesterday.
not sure about today yet.

Wreck glad the new toys stopped the squabbling.

WreckTangled What do you mean it would cost £38? The cost of the deed poll is free. freedeedpoll.org.uk/

Hmm not sure about that I always go through the gov.uk sites for things like that as I trust them more! Will look into it

£2.85 posting a parcel to my friends, of stuff they left behind, and 79 pence on burger baps.

Em, glad it went ok at the hospital.

Wreck, can you leave any changes until after your holiday? I didn't bother re-registering DS when his dad and I married 5 months after he was born. He has his dad's name as his surname and my surname as his 3rd middle name.

Had a lovely afternoon playing mini golf with DC1 and my mum. She paid, so I treated us to cake and drinks in Costa after. Glad your appointment was ok em.

genie we've been generally lucky in our friendship groups apart from one who had an accident and now has chronic pain, and another who has intermittent episodes of depression. We are at the stage of parents getting stuff though, especially varying forms of cancer

WreckTangled It's a legal site, accepted by tax credits, banks, uni, dvla, passport, I've done it years ago. Here's a guardian article. www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jun/29/deed-poll-websites-avoid

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll Gov't site stating it is free.

Quote from guardian article ''But one of the key reasons so many people fail to realise they have a basic legal right to change their name for free is the lack of an official, one-stop government-backed free advisory service.''

Of course you can pay for this service if you prefer, in which case you may be interested in this too www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/man-sells-british-fresh-air-to-wealthy-chinese-elite-for-80-a-jar-a6857461.html

No creme because I want dd's passport in her 'new name' and it needs renewing. We've had problems at the airport before when Dh and I have gone to different queues at passport control

Thanks Pandy that's really interesting

I might change my name too

Well done Em! Seeing one's cervix on a screen... that must be weird!

Yes, in terms of ASD at least, diagnosis is MUCH better now. I have certainly always been an Aspie :o but in my day (born 1986) it wasn't nearly as well understood, and also it was really still thought of as a boy's issue. LOADS of women now get diagnosed in adulthood, because they were missed as kids. Girls tend to present differently too (more passive, just get on with things quietly and hide the difficulties etc). Some experts believe now that the prevalence is actually an even split between the sexes, rather than like 9:1ish as previously thought.

Sorry, went off on a major tangent there :o

ANYWAY. DD just tried a new gym class and enjoyed it. It's local, but there's another one a little way away that is more likely to have spaces long term, AND it includes parkour! So need to look at bus times etc.

Agenie that's true about the milk defrosting! I just shake it up but I don't drink milk so it's only in porridge or baking I use it and it's fine for that.

methenyou that was a great haul from m&s
frazzled & hungryhippo welcome we love lurkers delurking here! How many are lurking at the moment I wonder?
italian that was loads of stuff from parent to be event, congrats on your win. Your work sounds fabulous with their acknowledgement of how hard you've worked to stay working throughout your pregnancy

I'd a win with work this week, last week there was a cancellation that could have cost the company thousands. I offered to return to work for an hour or longer to see if I could fix it some bit and was successful in getting more work to fill the place of the cancellation. Work paid me double time for an hour and a half that I'd taken off to go to a funeral plus double time for the hour I put in also It's nice to be appreciated.
em hope things go ok with your doctors appointment, I've been through smears with abnormal results, colposcopy, smear during pregnancy, more colposcopy giving me the all clear eventually 3 years later, the earlier something if there is anything is found, the better it is for you
wreck that's so dissappointing about dc finding their christmas presents
need your fitness monitor sounds fab, my cousin has a fitbit, it's a gorgeous piece of kit. She pays for it weekly with littlewoods.

Dd's first tooth fell out tooth fairy excitement

Up to date as far as end page 31, will do the rest soon!!