Super Scrimpers sashay, save & --squander-- their way through September

[lilacclery]

Thought I'd start us off!

Hi there , collie and Girlie

Girlie did you move into your S/O house?

Hi Laska, lovely to hear from you, that's great news about your granddaughter, I can't believe she's 6 mo already!

Thanks for the new thread lilac .

NSD here, I don't always usually spend money on work days.

Lovely to hear from you, Laska.

I just noticed that Tilde Wholemeal rice is now half price for 500g at Tesco.

Normally a 1kg bag is a fiver, and I buy 5kg bags for £15, which is a big saving. However, it's currently £1.32 for 500g in Tesco so 5kg of those (10 bags) is only £13.20. Score!

That works out at about 13p a meal which is great.

I'm a bit quiet at the moment as school is back and I'm stuck in a mire of communication between the GP, the school senco, the pediatrician and whoever else fancies sticking their oar in. Much drafting and redrafting of emails is going on.

Ds was getting bullied at lunchtime today. We had a chat about it after school and he said he realises now that those people are not actually the "cool kids" as he thought they were, but just some mean people that he no longer wants to hang out with. He's going to try some other nice kids that he thinks might be less cool, but actually nicer. I was really proud of him for making that leap. It took two years, but it's a heck of a big growth step. Well done ds.

Collie I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your house buying. Good luck!

Hello everyone. I really am proving quite crap at keeping up with these threads!

AGenie well done your Ds! I had very destructive friendships as a teenager and wish I had realised at the time!

Today I spent £16 on lunch out with some lovely MNer friends, from my £100 monthly budget.

Tomorrow I am going to spend £1.50 on a baby group and £2.80 on posting a parcel. Plus side is its nappies I have sold so I am making a £18.20 profit for nappies I don't use and have sat on a shelf for ages. Better than a kick in the teeth I suppose!

Hi Laska nice to see your name on the threads again! :)

Genie that is BRILLIANT. Well done to your awesome miniGenie! :) Hopefully he will find a group of nice kids. Being nice is the most important part of being cool anyway :) :)

Hope house buying goes wel Collie. Have you actually found somewhere?
Wreck, childcare is the bane of my kids lives. I end up looking after my DGCs so often because childcare costs are ridiculous. Sometimes it's not worth working.
I try so hard to save money and then overspend on the DGCs. And it's DSiL's birthday tomorrow. Sometimes I think I will just give up trying to save.

Thanks Cag and Honey. I agree Cag that being nice is the foundation to being truly cool. I tried to put my best foot forward at the school gate today and went and introduced myself to a man who's just taken on sole responsibility for his children. He was very nice and I was glad that I had done it.

Laska yes moved at the end of June, I love my shiney new house! All going well so far

Genie well done to your ds

Laska hi great to hear from you and hear that your dgd is doing so well after such s worrying time.
I joined ynab & freaking love it!

Getting up for work now & i am wrecked. Both dc are in the bed with me dh came home from nights & had to go to spare room I guess, I never heard him come in.

Yesterday I paid €3 in library fines but have now set a reminder in my phone to renew online or return books a few days before they're due back.
€8 on a river island clutch for a wedding from a fb selling group, it has tag still on & stuffing still inside
€3 on a Thomas school bag for ds & lady kindly put a Thomas book inside too
€50 charity donation to my former cleaner who's cycling the Camino for the Irish Guidedogs.

Gained a bottle of wine & big bottle of west coast cooler from a neighbour for taking her daughter to work
It only took ten minutes

Thanks lilac.
I'm way behind but still trying to be frugal.
£14 Morrison's yesterday

Aiming for nsd number 2 today.

welcome newbies
Waves at laska
Good luck collie with the house

Back full pelt into work/ school routine.

Aiming for nsd today. Am walking to work to save on petrol and parking.

It's looking like a hot one today so may end up having a sneaky ice cream at lunchtime.

Faltered this morning and considered not bringing lunch to work, I overcame that as we're going out to lunch on Friday paid for with a tip that a subcontractor gave us
Will probably go to Unislim tonight €10

It's a big day in the Collie hous for various reasons! Max spend is £10 as budgeted for but I'm hoping to just spend £3.

I need new glasses but I keep putting the order on hold. That's a bad idea, isn't it?

So I'm thinking adding my surname in by deed poll is the best thing to do but I can't find a free template for a child one anywhere they're all adult ones.

Morning.

Good for you and for your Ds Genie. Cool kids are universally attractive aren't they? Goodness knows why.

Exciting Collie, keep us informed.

Waves at Laska, hope you are ok.

Frugal win for the morning is an email from EE with my final energy bill (I left in 2015........), credit of £140.

Genie may I pick your brains please?
The Caglets are LOVING the electronics stuff I got (it's basic components - wires, a switch, lamps and batteries - rather than a kit) - they just kept going back to it all day and experimenting, and drawing circuit diagrams. :o DH suggested that we make a lighthouse next (with a kitchen roll tube etc). Apparently if we get some kind of motor spinny thing we can make the light beam rotate as well. But I have NO clue what kind of thing would work for that - I've googled motors but no idea how to figure out what to get. Any ideas please? :)

Wreck I think it's just the one form. We used an adult one for ds ( I cocked up and called him a first name that I didn't like. We changed it when he was four.)

Cag that would be really quite hard as you'd need the motor to go slowly. Most motors will spin at the speed of a fan, and your lighthouse will look like a helicopter. If you want to do it you need a stepper motor driven by a raspberry pi and a python script. If you get the O'Reilly Raspberry Pi cookbook there is a page in there that explains how to wire up a stepper motor and has a pre-written programme that will do it for you. It will cost £25 for a raspberry pi, £20 for the book, and the rest about a fiver, max.

Really genie? I suppose I just change the signed by to parent/guardian. Good for you for changing Ds' name

Thanks Genie :) yes DH did say that when he did it at school (yeeeeears ago) it went very fast! Not too bothered about that really. I know they have raspberry pi stuff at Maplins, I'll have a look. We just got given a Micro:bit as well so will be having a play with that soon. :)

Well done minigenie. I think it much harder being a kid now than it was even 15 years ago. Blimey Cag, I am impressed with your electronics skills. I would be useless and I did a science degree!
Spends £8ish on birthday stuff for DSiL. Present already bought.