The Friendly Frugaleers, figuring out our finances with furry feline photos!

[Cagliostro]

Hello all :)

Em She sounds really delightful. I'm thrilled for your dh that he married someone with nice normal parents. That will help him a lot I'd think. That's great that your dh is setting boundaries. We've started that too. It's not well received but I think once it becomes an established thing then perhaps it's a trend that heads toward general betterness. I think definitely the fact that your MIL is in NZ is something to be cherished. It would be a whole lot worse if she was next door. Well done for the skype rule. That is great.

btw, I gather it's a good idea to periodically namechange if you want to discuss personal stuff here in case you get outed. I've started doing that too. I imagine there are not too many people with your circumstances in Jersey.

True. Although I've not said anything g here that I wouldn't say in person. And I'm too lazy to actually namechange....

We ditched our Henry due to weight too wreck. I could barely manage it! We're currently using a very old knackered Dyson.

£2.50 on 2 carparks
£8 on pasties

Beginning to think I need to buy shares in the bakery.

trying that's amazing savings well done.

LOL! Well done Em. :-)

I made cheese scones for lunch. Feels like a free lunch really due to the minimal ingredients

Em I was told I would have difficulty conceiving (medical stuff), so came off the pill 18 months before we had anticipated trying. I was pregnant in the first month of coming off. I was also very very pissed 3 times before I knew I was pregnant, as it was over Christmas, so both DH and I were drinking. Said resulting child is now 17 and has just got 6 A* and 5 A's at GCSE . Two sets of friends endured hellish IVF to get their children, then both were pregnant naturally within 6 months of giving birth to their IVF babies. 2 different examples It happens when you least expect it and are not thinking about it, whatever you do or don't do sometimes!

That said, I egg donated after having my 2, as seeing the stress of not conceiving to folk close to me made me realise how lucky I was.

Can I big up my MIL who is simply the best ever, I adore her and would miss her dreadfully if she were not there. She always take my side over DH

Need my mil is awesome too I prefer her to my own mum

That's useful perspective Need

Good idea to highlight that there are also nice MILs. Fwiw, my MIL is also nice. It's FIL that I find a bit tricky.

Em Has your head cold gone away? I still haven't shaken mine.

Me too Wreck, me too

Nope. Cold is still there. Just carrying on though.

Dh's mil is great!!! Haha!!

Weve checked travel insurance and it covers cancelling for pregnancy. Dh knows that if that happens I'm likely to be a bit more anxious about travelling which will obviously have an effect on any pregnancy.

We've just been for a walk on the beach. Super windy but loads of kite surfers out there. Lovely day! Nsd.

I love my MIL too!

I currently pay £55 a month for gas / electric but we're moving to a 15 year old house that's EPC E. I can't really afford more than £65 on gas / elec. But shall be prepping for Winter as soon as we move in! I need fleece blankets galore and Lidl are doing rubber seals and draught excluders from today. So will stock up!

Em that's gorgeous. It looks just like Cornwall!

Oh I need draught excluders! Hope they have some when I go on Saturday.

Lovely beach Em.

Obviously, I don't recommend drinking while pregnant, and would never have done so had I known!

Snap Genie FIL is tricky too, but we rarely see him.

My cold didn't materialise thankfully!

I now have the info needed to cancel 2 SIM cards and a cinema membership I was paying for DSDs so that's £30ish saved each month. Should've done it a few weeks ago but better late than never eh!

And I may have a new piano pupil :) a neighbour's DD who stays with him on weekends. So that's another tenner each week. :)

cag I'd love to learn piano. I can do chopsticks but that's about it.

Just made granola bars. Healthy snacks for work. hopefully these will stop my 3pm craving for crisps.

Dh is hoovering. I'm watching gossip girl and making lists of chores/tasks to be done.

Stunning, Em. I wish I lived closer to the beach.

NSD here. Croissants and coffee for a very late breakfast and going to make veggie toad-in-the-hole soon, for an early dinner.

Hello! I would like to join and learn more of your frugal ways!

Welcome Meadow. You will certainly learn a lot on here. I did.
Another NSD. And yesterday. So that's 15 this month. YAY.

welcome Meadow

Collie

I bet there's little in the way of loft lagging. Try the numbers on here & see if you can get free lagging www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-cavity-loft-insulation#freeinsulation

£37 on some bras (desperately needed), £3.88 TCB cashback and free postage. Happy with that.
I'll try 5 NSDs this week coming :)

NSD
£10 John Lewis voucher requested from valued opinions.

Big vat of chilli made for lunches next week.

Cake tasted ok but the slow cooker burnt it around the edges so I chucked it. Meh.

I will stick to syrup steamed puddings instead.

Is NSD 'no spend day'?

Do you guys all keep a log of every spend you make? My dad tells me it's a good idea but I find the idea overwhelming!

Literally joined this thread today and then spent like £15 on a takeaway order for DH and I . BUT DH is ill so hasn't washed up in a few days and we are all out of clean stuff for me to cook with (I can't wash up due to my disability). So it didn't seem like we had much choice really, we don't even have bread in to make sandwiches or anything and my anxiety has been too bad to pop out to the shops today.

Feeling a little anxious about our finances because we've just moved and had to spend a lot of money on furniture and stuff for the flat. DH has been unemployed for a few months, he has a job offer but there is tons of bureaucracy before he can start and I reckon it could easily be another month before he is allowed to. And I'm a student, my first loan and grant installment is due tomorrow I think. But I am starting a part-time job in a couple of weeks time as well. At the moment we need to clear up our overdraft debt, blergh.

Just been catching up. Good luck with ttc Em.
wreck don't know whether you got your insurance sorted but don't forget about the companies that don't appear on comparison sites. Direct line is one that springs to mind. I've switched all our policies to them this year as their quotes were competitive and they also had good tcb deals too.
collie there's plenty you can do to make the new place warmer and to keep yourselves warm, it will be so worth it.

I had my angiogram yesterday and was told there and then that there are still no abnormalities in any of the arteries in my head....woohoo!! It was a much better experience than last time too which was great as I was dreading it. So, my bleed was just an unlucky event which has healed itself and is unlikely to happen again. We are all so utterly relieved and can finally move on again . I'm taking it very easy today as I'm quite sore and tired so being looked after well. Dd is baking a cherry Madeira cake and I'm going to talk DS through making toad in the hole. Dd spent yesterday with my dm and made our tea which they brought here ready to heat through when I got home.

Just ordered a North Face waterproof for ds. We managed to find it at Zalando £15 cheaper (£70) than anywhere else and Zalando had 15.75% on tcb ending today so that saved £9 more. Frugal win.