Frugaleers Frolick Frugally through February

[Ipsomatic]

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.

DH has taken the Caglets out to a birthday party and getting a few bits in Tesco. I'm mooching at home continuing to plan the world book day event. So excited! Just hope I'm over the fruflu by then.

I'm very happy as there was this item that I bought with one bit missing from ebay recently - I'd asked the seller if it was complete and he replied saying he'd just realised it wasn't and he offered to drop the price. So I got it insanely cheap. Well I emailed the manufacturer and they're sending a replacement part. Yay! :o

All well done on the SIPP. I'm very pro-pensions. I have a stakeholder pension which dh pays into for me and I also just started a stock and shares ISA. I'm not a tax payer so we have all our savings in my name. It's so hard to get a decent return at the moment but I do think a lot about it.

My db just recommended this site: www.mrmoneymustache.com/
I'm going to have a little look. It's tag line is "Financial Freedom through badassity"

Well done Cag. Good win.

£2.50 on milk and lots of chocolate.

Meadow, hope you're feeling a bit brighter today. Take it a half day at a time.

All our Easter hols in the Midlands are 8th-24th.

Hope you are ok, Meadow and having a better day today.

NSD here and my mum sold a few CDs for me at a jumble sale so I have a whole £2.50 coming my way. I'll try not to spend it all at once!

Been doing more sorting and getting more baby things ready today. We're nearly there now!

Not going to win any prizes for best in show but here are my adventures in pastry for today... minced steak and onion pie for tea, worlds largest quiche for tomorrow and an apple and cinnamon lattice with the leftover pastry :)

Weather has taken a turn for the better here so my washing is actually out on the line too

Cag thats a win, well done you!

Pensions scare me I really need to get a grasp of what I have and what I need to do with it

Ooh pie. Looks yummy.

Am trying to have a nap. But catface has other ideas. She's jumping from bed to windowsill and back.

We're off out to dinner later. Not getting dressy dressed (if I thought I could get away with it I'd stay in my jodhpurs...) just comfy. The place is sort of like a Italian pub. Which also serves Portuguese food. So I have a choice of pastas pizzas (4 of each) espatadas steaks calamari.... mmm and they're doing an evening menu for £19.99 for 3 courses includes a large glass of wine.

Am tempted by calamaris and then meatballs. Mmmmmmmmmm then T. I. R. A. M. I. S. U. My absolute favourite Italian word.

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling much better today. Funny how quickly my mood can change. By some actual miracle I managed to go into the city centre (on a Saturday ) and go and volunteer atthis place I've never been to before where they do a meal/social meet-up for refugees. I didn't really speak to any adults just hid with the children and I think the other volunteers thought I was weird but they were nice enough to me, except the other woman who normally runs the kids stuff I think wasn't happy I was there...she is a SEN TA which is great but I got the impression she just thought I was stepping on her toes especially as I don't have formal childcare experience. But there were quite a lot of kids and apparently normally there are way more so I think I was helping not being a bother. They were all lovely and well-behaved and I don't feel anxious at all interacting with the little ones. Most of them were Syrian refugees. I did a lot of colouring and drawing with them and some jigsaws and playing with dolls and teddies.

So I am feeling very happy and proud of myself after managing that .

Spends:
£44 in The Body Shop, it was buy 2 get 1 free but tbh the sales assistant was super pushy and I got anxious and didn't feel like I could say no otherwise I doubt I would have spent that much .
£2.30 latte
£65p chocolate doughnut
£3 on colouring pencils and crayons to take to the refugee children
£2.50 on a book for the refugee children

Oh well done meadow x

Blue they look awesome.

Well done meadow! You know feelings like the other volunteers thought you were weird and the other one thought you were stepping on her toes is just your anxiety. I am sure she was grateful to have you there.

£10 chines. I've eaten so much shit today can't wait to go to bed!

Well done Meadow that sounds like a very worthwhile day. Never mind the grumpy lady, I bet the kids appreciated someone to play with them and take an interest.

Teapot those pies look lush! I want to bake a minced beef and onion one now... I never think to cook that but it reminds me if my childhood (in a good way!)

Em I love tiramisu. I avoided it in my last pregnancy because some recipes have raw egg yolks in but the advice isn't so anti-egg now so if it comes my way unlikely I am piling in.

Result on the eBay thing Cag.

Busy day today - I went for the other half of my 29-week scan this morning. Baby was cooperative so they finished the checks, heart etc looked fine. I got a rubbish scan picture for the record!

Then we went to a friend's birthday lunch on the other side of London - just a dozen or so people, informal buffet. His wife is Italian so she made a delicious lasagne and few other bits. I was a bit worried about DS - he has been there before but quite a while ago and he can get upset going to new houses (this normally manifests itself as an hour of screeching). So I asked my friends to send photos of their sitting room and themselves, and have been showing them to DS for the last few days. I don't know whether that did it but... no screeching today. He still got anxious when he thought his trousers were dirty (and stripped off) but that happens at home so overall quite a good day. And no traffic jams on the M25! We have a referral to a clinical psychologist for DS's anxiety, fingers crossed we don't wait too long and they can suggest some strategies. It is very sad and worrying to see such anxiety in a 4-year old .

I have messed up tonight though - I have an Ocado order coming between 7and 8 PM but I will have to put DS to bath and bed in that time. I forgot DH is out and I can't leave DS in the bath unsupervised even to answer the door so I am in a pickle! I am going to put a note on the door and hope they will leave the shopping in the porch. Duh!

meadow you are a , I would never have the guts to go and join in, well done. I hate a bossy pushy shop assistant too. I have been known to run out of shops!

blue those pies look ace! Have loads of eggs so must make quiche soon.

Spent £70 in morissons, but will get about £6 back in more points. All meat etc for next 10 days. And £13 in b&q on some netting and potting compost.

When we got home I spent an hour putting the netting round the boundary fence where the chickens are, just to stop the tiny garden birds getting through. The wall was slippery and I got tangled up in a spiky bush/honeysuckle/netting muddle. But I have done all I can to protect my chickens.

Homemade burgers for tea, ds had one! And ate it all. This is the second time he has eaten red meat.

That's annoying seacow hopefully it's come already and you won't need to worry. RE the photos my friend has photos of everyone. When we go to visit she shows her Ds the photos all morning and talks about us and she does it for everything and swears by it. She did the same with toilet training. Her Ds (was 4 in November) and is just out of nappies now, it took her over a year and lots of tears from both of them we never thought he would get there.

Glad you are feeling better Meadow I really want a chocolate doughnut now

Good baking Blue

Had a lovely day, my friends were staying in a very old cottage in the middle of no where but it had a hot tub dd loved it, she was in there for about 2 hours!! I picked up some bits to take (cake, wine etc) spent £10 ish.

Have got my laptop back, my saintly mother paid for the repairs bless her.

meadow well done. You're a braver woman than me btw - going into the city centre on a Saturday as the mere thought of it makes me shiver. I actually can't remember the last time I ventured into the city centre.

Blue your pastry looks fantastic.

allthebest I really enjoyed Sing too and it's great about your pension. I worry about pensions a lot but I don't seem to do much about it - it's a gnawing anxiety at the back of my mind.

My friend came round today and DP and DS were kicked out so that we could have a good natter without being interrupted (she is going through a lot at the moment and is feeling vulnerable).

NSD today.

I need to buy DS some trousers as he only has 1 pair of trousers left without holes on the knees and they are about to go.

Spendy afternoon. £50 diesel, £45 chip supper in Whitby.

Well done meadow.

Nice baking blue

Oh well done meadow

Hope Cag is feeling better, your friend was so nice to take the caglets when you were unwell

Thanks blue for the Boots points tip

£66 spent on Amazon on a printer and phone cable. Been struggling without a printer so is a useful buy and due to get £15 cashback too

Just checked my payslip for the end of the month and work haven't paid me my allowance I can claim. Annoying. Will try to be extra frugal next month so when it is paid the following month it is more like extra money

Ooh and getting £8.25 in the post soon as some compensation. Will try not to spend it all at once!

DP found a £15 gift card in his clutter for Sainsbury's so that's a bonus too!

Can't remember who was talking about pensions but that is on my to do list too once I have a printer to send off the form to pay extra into my work pension. The tax relief means if I pay £50 in then it only "costs" £40 less pay. Need to crunch some numbers to check this is affordable though

ipso that website/blog was the inspiration for my change in attitude towards money and my life, mr mmm has basically saved me from a life of consumerism and debt. It inspired me to create my blog. He's inspired a lot of people along the way 😊

I opened my sipp with Hargreaves and lansdown in their new launch fund, you need to do it by 1st March to get the intro offer. www.hl.co.uk/
My stocks and shares Isa is with Fundsmith and am very happy with their return so far.

My teachers pension (for 10 years service) will give less than £5,000 a year pension 😒 so while I'm not working I thought I should do something. Id like a pension return of at least £10,000. That would mean id need £200,000 at least saved in stocks and shares. That means I need to put away £800 a month. At least.

That's £800 for about 20 years as I'm 40 now. If you're younger then you probably want to save the same amount each year but you'll have longer to save and for the nest egg to grow.
I read that if you maxed out your Isa from next year (which is 20 grand) in 20 years you'll be a millionaire allowing for growth and inflation.

I'll stop now!!! Off to be more frugal...

Fucking wbd. DD wants to go as a mine crafter as she has a book or two. Not really a fictional character reader, prefers fact books.
Can I let her?

Life do whatever is easiest. It's still a book that she reads.

Ocado came at 7.30 - bath run but DS not in it do I could answer the door (good job as man said he couldn't read my note as eyesight not good - BUT HE'S DRIVING A VAN! )

Wreck it is supposed to help and I think it does for us. I am interested in the toilet training though - DS knows when he needs to go but is terrified of the toilet so we are getting nowhere. And he will be going to mainstream school in September

I would, Life. It's a recognised merchandising rip off brand now. I even saw figures/dolls of 'Steve' and 'Alex' in the shop at the Royal Armouries the other day. Sounds like you've had a busy day, with shopping and Whitby too. I ❤ Whitby.

That's great, Meadow. I'm sure your help was valued as much as the others and you didn't step on anyone's toes.