Frugaleers saving and chatting through April

[SunnyLikeThursday]

Newbies welcome to join us for a bit of chat about budgeting, saving, paying off debt, and everything else that comes along.

Well done bacon!

Aww girlie poor thing :( RIP Hammy 💐

Appt was good, midwife really lovely and reassuring. She's getting me the booking in appt ASAP because of the dates uncertainty, so I have blood test forms too.

She said I could go straight to early pregnancy unit for a dating scan, and wanted me to do it today, but luckily I phoned first (takes over an hour on the bus) as they said no, I need a proper referral for a dating scan. So went back to GP reception and they said phone up in the morning for 'triage' and they'll sort out the referral that way. So not sure how long it'll take after that.

I'm sorry girlie about your hamster. Hope you are all ok

Well done, Bacon.

Sorry to hear about the hamster, Girlie.

Just realised we are down to our last pouch of cat food. Bugger.

Thanks snuggly totally forgot to order cat and ferret food...will be back later

Sorry about the hamster, Girlie.

Hi all girlie rip hamster, hope your dd is ok. I just went camping for first time last August & dh had been before so he knew what to do with the tent but we bought our own shortly after & I put it up by myself first time.
What you're doing sounds like perfect intro to camping though!

Cag that was a pity that you'd to tell dc so soon after finding out yourselves but better than your dd worrying

Your poor hamster girlie alwats sad, be it hamster or horse. Hope your dd rallies.

Went out for 30 mins on my Rollerblades. 4 miles round the industrial estste. I can feel my inner thys and bum and waist now, so I figure this is excellent exercise. I always wanted to try roller derby, but nothing anywhere near here, and can't justify going off for hours every week when I've 4 little kiddies.

Went to Morrisons, kept just under £30, aldi £14 and £9.50 on chicken food. Set up for the week now. Its getting so much easier not to fill a trolley. Then spent £53 in zooplus on a month of cat, dog and ferret food. Hope it comes soon as we have very little left.

Have balance transferred off my most expensive credit card to my 0% one, but will make a payment too so this should help it a bit.

Hope I don't out myself with this but just got news today that a local man has died and another(a customer of ny work) is in custody. It was a dispute over land.
Two families that will suffer the loss of a man as a result.
I'm in shock

Lonely that's some super fast rollerblading! Sounds like great exercise. Great budget shop too

I got my second cc transferred to my low interest new cc too

Our bootcamp class was cancelled this morning but a workout assigned instead which I did at 6.15am

Gosh mammy how scary! And sad too, when a dispute gets to that level :(

Excellent blading lonely 🌟

Quick poll inspired by another thread I'm on where all but one MNer were like WTF is that. Who has heard of the cereal Grape Nuts? They are le yum IMO

Kitty You need one of these if you can stretch to it. It's 20% off using the coupon code on the page & free home delivery. I reckon you'd recoup your losses fairly quickly if it's meat that's spoiling.

Cag Ooh I hate them. The baby was going to come out, literally, at some stage.

Girlie I am sorry but it's better he didn't suffer.

NSD.

Sorry kitty, www.tesco.com/direct/russell-hobbs-rhttlfz1-freestanding-table-top-freezer-white/329-9746.prd?skuId=329-9746

Ffs.

Sounds like something out of "The Field", Mammy.

Good going, Lonely. No way would you get me on any sort of skates!

NSD.

Mammy that's scary. I thought you lived in rural Ireland not the Wild West.
Oh Cag, it's as well they know. I am sure everything will be fine anyway.
Never heard of grape nuts!
Girlie, sorry about little hammy, but better that way. Hope DD is ok. It is very hard for kids.
Roller blading sounds amazing Lonely, well done you. Wish I could regain my youth.....it's long lost I'm afraid.
Hope you hear good news about the job Bacon.
NSD. Spent all day cutting wood for next winter's fires and potting my little plants on.

Blimey Mammy, sounds shocking!

Oh I am so sorry about your little hamster Girlie. Better not to suffer. I am sorry your DD is upset, pets do give us lessons in life don't they?

Grape Nuts are indeed fabulous things.

Fingers crossed for the job Bacon.

Seacow You were understandably upset at the play centre. It was the culmination of a very difficult day previously, feeling that you had let someone down, probably hormones and your little DS having a tough time.

Wow Lonely at roller blading 4 miles, brill work out for the leg muscles I imagine.

You can get little packets of chopped chorizo. It's probably not the cheapest option, but it's one of my 'cheat' things I have in the fridge. You can stick it in a casserole, make a risotto, frittata etc pretty easily then.

Actually Kitty a risotto or frittata (sp) would be good and cheap options that don't need a freezer?

Todays spending.
£49 M&S.

Oh my mum and dad always sprinkled a spoonfull of grape nuts on their cereal (I wonder if they still do), I always thought they were like eating gravel... but I never leave cereal to soften (actually prefer it dry usually).

My ds is eating an omelette. I am literally. After 3 years of turkey dinosaurs/sausages/mini pizza I am in awe of this new development! Dd2 and dd3 made their own!

mammy thats crackers, bet all the locals are feeling a bit weird, hope you are all okay.

I'm very for both families
The Field has been mentioned a number of times today creme

I'd €9.28 in my fun category & an hour to spare in town so ordered Asian food via website €10 with 10% discount so €9. I've been dying to try this restaurant so excited to be collecting my takeaway

Not surprised there, Mammy. Very sad for both families though. Passions run very deep over land in our country.

I'm back from my travels now.

The second trip to the dentist was a bit of a washout. Ds was too tired and couldn't manage anything really for the dentist, so she just smoothed some temporary filling material on his tooth and we left. I think he may need a general anaesthetic for the tooth unfortunately.

The two trips together cost about £600, but at least we had a little go of travelling, and we even stayed over night at the B&B this time, which was a big step up. We haven't done travel of any kind really in three years.

I managed the train okay except on the way home today when I felt decidedly grey, from the movement of the train, so now I'm hugging a hot water bottle. I think this is the time to be glad of the achievements and put the problems down to experience.

Nice to be home though.

Woop to the omelette Lonely, with all your chooks.

Hi everyone, just read back but you all know I'm terrible at remembering who said what so hopefully the right messages will reach the right people!

Bacon Good luck with your job interview I have my fingers crossed for you, either way as you say it's always good experience and you can get feedback. I hate job interviews as well and get really anxious blergh.

To whoever has the tiny freezer box - this is the first year DH and I have ever had our own freezer, the last few years we have always had a small fridge like yours with a tiny freezer box. So for us frozen food now is a new thing. It is hard because frozen is cheaper than chilled usually. But there are strategies we used. So firstly we didn't hardly ever buy frozen desserts like ice cream etc so we could use the freezer space for food. Secondly regularly de-icing it means you can maximise the space. Then thirdly we used and tbh still do use lots of tinned food because tinned food is really cheap, stores easily in the cupboard, and doesn't go off. Things we buy tinned are: soups, peas, carrots, tins of mixed peas and carrots, baked beans, spaghetti hoops, chickpeas, borlotti beans, tomatoes (plum, chopped, cherry), tins of mixed pulses, butter beans etc, tinned potatoes. Beans and pulses are cheap and filling and versatile for cooking. Then also a small collection of pre-made pasta sauces and curry sauces for when I'm feeling unwell and/or we are lazy/in a rush. Then we also have good packet staples always so pasta/spaghetti etc, rice, couscous, lentils, soy mince, tofu (we are vegetarian but they're good for anyone if you're willing). Oh and eggs last for ages and don't need to go in the fridge. Basically reducing buying fresh veg and replacing it with tinned a lot will really mean less wastage and cheaper bills. Hope that helps sorry for the ramble!

Lady from the Council came today to see the damp in our flat and that and said she will write to lettings' agent and advise them on things they could do to improve things for us but that it's not bad enough for them to be forced to do anything . And seeing as they've completely ignored all correspondence from ourselves and the Council for the last 6 months obviously this won't change anything. Sigh. So next step is to decide whether to start complaints procedure through the Property Ombudsman or not yet but tbh I don't think I have the time/energy atm.

Work was boring again but ah well. Awful fatigue today though, had to sleep for a few hours after the Council lady left and DH is making dinner for us.

We rang a local staffie rescue to enquire about fostering but they said we couldn't as we don't have a garden .

Sonny Well done at the dentist trip to you and your DS.

My grandad used to eat grape nuts for breakfast. I never fancied them.

Thanks Meadow. Sorry to hear that you can't foster a dog. That must be frustrating.

Does anybody know what to do about damp walls that get damp again after replastering?

One of our outside walls is damp up the inside but the damp stops rising at a line about 2 feet above the skirting board. We had it replastered and the damp has come back after about 4 years. I'm wondering if maybe my neighbour has things too close to the outside wall or something.

It doesn't happen on any other walls, even the same wall on the next door room.

Thanks for the kind messages about our bad couple of days. Back to normal this week - life is what it is but we don't tend to dwell on it too much from day to day. Just really hits me from time to time.

Topped up for some fruit and salad today, about £9 in our lovely local greengrocer. That included a 1kg tray of strawberries which is now down to £3.99 - so much more affordable than winter prices! And a perfectly ripe avocado. I have been really craving them through this pregnancy, mmmmm.

No other spends today, just admin and lots of paperwork. I have been watching really crap 'guilty pleasures' tellly while I did it too, it's been quite relaxing!

I tried taking the posh buggy that my Friend gave me to the local bike shop today as the brake is a bit unreliable and they sometimes can help. Unfortunately they can't fix it as it needs a funny internal part. I think I will have to send it off, which is bound to be expensive as it is a fancy brand. Oh well, buggy was free (just swapped for some of DS's nicest outgrown clothes).

Sorry about the hamster Girlie. Poor DD

Shame about the dentist Sunny. Was DS scared of having someone do work on his tooth? It's very hard for kids, even many adults aren't keen. I have to take my DS, I might wait until after I've had the baby so I can have a nice gin afterwards - I'm sure I'll need it!

Lonely I am excited for you re. Omelette triumph! I really do appreciate how exciting such developments are. My DS still won't eat a variety of meals but will eat more than 2 different fruits now. Doesn't sound much but it is for us!

Cag sounds like the dcs took the news well, fingers crossed everything will be fine from here. I knew grape nuts were a breakfast cereal (from reading American fiction probably) but haven't ever eaten them.

Mammy . I don't know what The Field is but I get the gist.

Fingers crossed Bacon