Marvellous Frugaleers - Chatting and saving through November, and into December.

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Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

By popular request - copied from an old thread

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.

Hip hip hap hap happy birthday cag

Happy birthday Cag!

Thanks Cag yes I think I'll see this dietician and then go back to the private GP. I'm sure there must be more that can be done.

I'm writing food diaries in huge detail now, which is always interesting.

I thought you said you were snorting laundry which brightened up my day immensely. Thanks for that.

Em I'm learning such a lot from getting to know you, and hearing about how you document everything and cover your back all the time. I'm a shocking doormat in my native state - and listening to you and understanding how you work is helping me to understand how to deal with the world, iykwim.

I spoke to my new NHS doctor's practice and asked again if I could switch GP and they are thinking about it. I'm trying so hard here. You would be proud of me.

Ooo! Happy birthday Cag!

Just marking

cag happy birthday!!!! 🎂🍿🍰🍧🍡🎊🎉🎁

crt know what you mean. Dh thinks I'm crazy but I have documented everything. Buying our flat - have all the emails and paperwork scanned in and on a pen drive and saved to the cloud.

Leaving my old job - forwarded all HR type emails to my personal email saved these. Especially salary and holiday ones.

Current job - all HR type emails salary appraisals holidays etc. All saved. (Also all positive feedback emails)

All other important things - saved emails. Got it in writing.

It's a useful habit to get into - I'd recommend especially with ds and the headteacher. If you have meetings take copious notes (I have developed a skill whereby I can write notes of meetings pretty much verbatim then type up later) or ask head if you can record it. Especially if they agree to do something. And make sure you follow up on it relentlessly.

Have been at work since 7.15. The world is quite a nice place at that time. Saw the sun come up. ☀️🌞

Happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear cag
Happy Birthday to you

I'm a bit like em with regard to emails and paperwork.

I pay a subscription of €1.99 to Google Drive to store my stuff and make great use of it. I never delete an email and all bills or paperwork I get is scanned at work and stored on my Google Drive. This is also helping to reduce the paper mountain at home too. It's great though if I'm out and about and someone asks, what are you paying for this or where did you get that because I have the answer right there on my phone [geek]

CRT I'm glad that you are making some progress with GP/diagnosis. It's so frustrating when no one is listening to you.

I've got an appointment booked with my GP for Friday, it's her last appointment before lunch so there's a chance to talk. I'm having a smear done. I've not regained my periods since taking out the implant almost two years ago now, finishing up on the nuvaring three months later so contraceptive free since Mar 15 and nothing! I want it investigated properly this time.

In other news dh's sperm sample came back clear so he's officially infertile Our family is complete and I almost died after having ds so it's not a risk we want to take anymore

Well done em on making the morally correct decision to return the skirt.

Em That's good to know about keeping all docs. I'll write up everything that's happened in the last couple of days.

Good luck mammy. That's pretty strange about it not returning. Good to check it out. Seems very strange that a hormone cycle like that couple just give up without comment.

em it's like we're the same person!

dh thought I was mad keeping everything to do with our house build in 2008, 3 years ago when there was an issue with our roof I was able to direct him from my hospital bed to where the dockets, receipts and guarantees were.

I also find that sometimes I mightn't get a chance to read through some paperwork but when it's on my phone if I get a quiet minute waiting for dd somewhere I can peruse it then.

Off to check if I can get google drive on my Kindle Fire!

CRT I still get bloated, cramps, headaches but no cycle and maybe a little spotting every few months. I'm 2stone overweight despite my best efforts to lose it and I blame it on hormones. I had hoped when I'd be hormonal contraception free that it would all just fall off and everything would fall into place.

£39 vets.

Swimming lessons in a bit. Ds hates them and cries I'm pretty sure it's a confidence thing so am considering a couple of one on one lessons, does anyone have an opinion? I really want him to swim but at the same time I don't want to force him to do something he hates!

Mammy that's really really odd. Good idea to see a specialist. I wonder if something just needs a bit of a kick to set it in motion again, so to speak.

Wreck me ds hates water too, but is getting to enjoy it a bit more now he is 6. Maybe you could just wait a few years?

Aw thank you all :o

Piano/maths lesson next but not earning as it's in exchange for the wool used to make my awesome scarf, my friend is a great knitter.

DH and the Caglets adopted a sloth at London Zoo for my present! Woohoo! Will make a trip there next year. I love love love sloths :o

He will be swimming twice weekly at school from September so I really want his confidence built up before then!

wreck maybe in the group of classmates he might be happier to do it because everyone else is?

crt some people have suggested I go on the pill to kickstart my periods but after going hormone free all this time I'm reluctant to do that, and I'm sensitive to oestrogen and this is the reason I became overweight 15 years ago but only found out this about 11 years ago!

cag fab birthday present!! Really good in this world of consumerism!

Today I chased up €75.99, dh's insurance on au pairs car autorenewed, he didn't read the letter properly, don't know how much of it we will get back.
I also chased a £10 hire deposit with haven from our holiday in June, I had already made phone calls about this in June. Thanks to a conversation on live chat this morning it's being refunded to me in next 7 days.

I chased my broadband company who haven't billed me since the installation in Oct and that direct debit will come out in next 10 days, I'm guessing for 2 months payment. I don't usually look to be billed for anything but I don't want to face a big bill either. Ynab has really focused me on when payments are due. I have decided once I cleared my cc's I will pay for a yearly subscription to ynab.

Oh dear wreck we're the same. My ds really wants to start swimming. That's one of the reasons why I'm urgently trying to get myself fixed, so I can take him.

The thing that made the difference with my ds was reading him this book:

www.amazon.fr/fait-Ole-K%C3%B6nnecke/dp/2211201059

It's in French, but it's entirely pictorial so it doesn't matter. It's about a baby bird who bravely jumps from his nest and gets a huge applause from all of the other birds.

Mammy I know what you mean. I don't like taking drugs because they always mess things up more than they fix things.

Happy birthday cag

I love sloths too!

Cath I know, it's annoying, I can't take him as I can't walk barefoot

Hippy Hoppy Happy Birthday Cag hope you have a lovely day sloths are one of my most favourite animals, I have a friend who feels the same and we have promised when we retire we will find a sloth sanctuary somewhere to volunteer at

Wreck private lessons may well be worth it, how old is he? I think with swimming you just have to persevere, its the one thing dd has had to do as I think swimming is so important, a life skill really. I was gutted when she was about 6yo that we had to stop lessons for a while as she has chronic ear trouble. Funnily enough tonight will be her last swimming lesson as now she is nearly 11yo and a good, strong swimmer I felt it was the right time.

Could your dh take him to the local pool just for a muck about, dd always moaned about lessons but enjoyed having a mess about in the pool, this helped with confidence as well.

Have had a busy morning with my brother popping over to help get the christmas stuff out the loft (I am an independent girl but draw the line at attempting to get a Christmas tree out the loft on my own!!) Then my friend popped over with her little boy for a cuppa and catch up which was nice.

Plan for the afternoon is to pop to Lidls! Exciting times

He's just turned four girlie. I feel the same way. Dh said he will take him this weekend but as he only has one day off a week he doesn't want to have to do it every Sunday, which I get. Well done to your dd!

Yeah thats fair enough wreck 4yo is still pretty little and a bit of a transitional age when learning to swim so am sure he will get more confident soon anyway.

I 💜 Sloths!!!!

That's quite young Wreck. My fella didn't want to swim at all until 6. Shame it's mandatory at school. It isn't here until year 3, at the moment.

Happy 30th Birthday Cag, 30 is the new 21 IMO.

🎂

btw, if it's really a problem then the school might let him get out of swimming at that age if you talk to them. Worth approaching the senco.