Money-managing Masterfully into May - Frugaleers unite!

[needastrongone]

Thread continued for old faithfuls, new posters and anyone else that would like to contribute.

Financial talk, tips and discussion, with quite a lot of other stuff too.

We are a friendly bunch and there's lots of support for new and old.

Thank you girlie

Gotta say that was the most humiliating hour I've spent for a good while

Oh cag how did they treat you? Not nice is it.

I've put heating on.

It's a little bit snowing here, which is kind of exciting. I have been bashing away at problem solving, but I'm going to have an hour off. Phew!

I tried getting the prospectus of a local private school, and it's the most hilarious thing I've ever read (It's meant to be). I feel much better about our school though. The private one seems to have many of the same problems.

Oh Cag, you poor thing. It's over now. Was it terrible? Take care.

At work but didn't want to not post xx

Cag Sorry I missed your post about the PIP assessment. Well done for doing it. I was doing something similar this morning and it was also craptastic. Hang in there.

Thanks lovelies. 💐 I think actually I was quite lucky compared to so many I've spoken to (I'm in some support groups and the stories you hear are horrific). The assessor was quite nice, patient etc. So I'm grateful for that. It's just... the questions are designed to break you down I think. Being asked the minute details about all the stuff you can't do and need help with. Whether you can use the toilet, put your bra on, how often you wash etc. Then a brief physical exercise too.

I think I did ok, a lot of people said to make sure you don't hold anything back through pride/embarrassment and I don't think I did, I was very frank about how much DH and the Caglets do for me and how much I just don't do at all. Which on all but my best days is an awful lot . It can be hard to quantify though because it varies so much, they do say go by your worst day though, so I did. But was honest too about the fact that some days I can do more.

1-2 months until I find out, I have never expected to be awarded it first off anyway (very rare to with the kind of invisible conditions I have) so won't be surprised with the rejection letter. The weirdest thing is that it's not even the person who assessed me who makes the decision, it's some random behind a desk reading what this assessor wrote down!

Must be organised and send off my travel expense form. Also bought our bus passes on the way home so can use them from tomorrow. My parents (who met us there and watched the Caglets while I went in) took us for lunch after which was a really nice way to chill after feeling so sad.

Hope you're ok sunny x

Well done on doing it cag and hope it works out.

£19 in morrisons and forgot some bits for tomorrows pack up so will have to go to sainsburys in a bit. Cant find dd pe shoes (i think she has outgrown them and ive chucked the old ones but not replaced) so will have to shell out for those tonight but just supermarket ones. I dont buy expensive for PE bags

Cag . Perhaps best to consider it as an impersonal exercise, a fact finding interview that is exactly the same for everyone going through the process. Good it's over!

Any chance of having a cheaper month this month Girlie?

Any news Em? We do the lump sum way of chipping at the mortgage too, a healthy sum this year will go towards this, but DH is 55, so it makes even more sense in our case.

Our offer has been accepted for our art, and they have offered another at a vastly reduced price that we loved, but the amount in question is well over what we envisaged spending so going to have more of a think.

Spends.
£30 M&S
£70 wine 25% off offer for 2 cases. Will be BBQ season soon.
£10 race entry.

In frugal wins (close your eyes Creme...), one of the farm pigs is er, no longer a pig (!) but we have a massive bag of sausages and I really mean a massive bag of sausages for free. Bacon next week...

Here's a photo of the woods I walk the dogs in at the moment. I'm really lucky as this is the farms land so most don't get the chance.

House news. They declined our offer. So we're back to square one. Sigh. We don't feel comfortable increasing it. We could. But don't want to.

This evenings chores are: washing, eat pizza, trawl agents websites and book more viewings.

Dh and I need to have a chat. We may need to increase our budget. We've exhausted everything in our existing budget. We can afford to go up to gulp £650k. But have so far been looking up to gulp £550k. For £650 we can get 4 beds at a minimum. Maybe closer to what we want. Maybe less work to be done. Looking higher may mean my hypothetical plans to go back to work 3 days a week after baby are scuppered but I could settle for 4 days initially. Financially though if it's the right house and the "forever home" I'd rather spend more money go back to work full time 5 days and work for it iyswim. I want a home and if it costs that bit extra so be it.

cag sorry you had a tough time. Sounds like you did well though. Just sorry you had to go through it. Over now though. Xx 🍍🌺🌸🌹🌷🌻🌼💐

Spends today £10 in "tesco" on pizza and salad for tea, and washing tablets. Ran out yesterday. Aaaah.

In other news the fibre drinks are working. 😐😶😳

girlie what's a high rope class?

Love bluebells and bacon we have lots round here.

Cag glad it's all done for now must have been horrible.

Sorry about that em something will come along.

£4.50 parking.

em it might be worth you increasing the offer on this house, rather than going the hole hog for a 4 bed at a much higher price. If you have 2 dc then the 4th bed is unused or just an office. Think about location location location 😊

72p in lidl on chips 🍟

Thanks again yep definitely glad it's over, I''ll have a think about what extra evidence I can find in case I need a tribunal, but at least this bit is DONE!!! And although it was horrible, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I daren't say this anywhere else but can I please admit it freaked me out because it reminded me of just how disabled I actually am. I kind of don't think about it most of the time because I just get on with doing what I can manage and try (not always successfully but I do try) not to feel bad about what I'm not managing.

And yet here I am, having a baby. A whole new person. I've been so focused on getting through the pregnancy and birth (and worrying about what my friend, who I mentioned the other day, was going to say next ) that I haven't actually given so much thought to what comes next. Especially after the relatively sedentary bit when they are just stuck to the boob all day. Fuuuuuuck.

I know these things happen. I'm not by any means the illest person to have a baby. Midwife etc being super reassuring. And I can't help but be excited despite all this! But oh god. One mistake! (I forgot to mention after my scan BTW that it turns out my ovaries are now polycystic?! They said this may explain why I got my ovulation dates so wrong and therefore didn't avoid it as we thought... goodness knows what's going on in there, they also suspect I have a fibroid). One mistake changing eeeeeverything.

Sorry for the rant!

Cag, you're a star for going through that today and keeping it together. Let it all out; a vent will do you good.

Em, I agree if that house ticks all your boxes and you can afford to, think again about increasing your offer. Imagine all the time and energy you'll save. It sounded perfect for you and your growing family.

I won't hold it against you, Need. I was never that keen on bacon when I ate meat, funnily enough.

Girlie, the high ropes course sounds like a great bargain. I'm sure your DD will get a lot out of it.

NSD.

Another NSD.

We've done a trawl of the agents websites and have requested viewings on 11 more places.

Some in the locations we wanted. So this may be for the best. A similar house to the one we offered on in the same estate was on for £585. And it was a 5 bed. But it's under offer. And in better condition.

I love bluebells, remind me of being a kid at my grandparents.

Tough one em. If you don't think the current house is worth more then fair enough but think carefully about being full time while the dc Are young to stretch for a house. Some do it, hell i did for a year and now 8 years later in back full time, but you might not want to while miniem is young. Ikwym about wanting the home and not settling and don't want to be the voice off doom, sorry.
But is the stretch and the need to work full time for it worth the time away from mini em and potential siblings.
Whatever works for your family long term.

Rant away cag.

Cag it makes me to so mad that you have to go through that, well done and remember the unplanned babies are the best ones

Em i agree with the others if the house is fab then why not increase the offer? High ropes is a sort of ariel assault course, have you heard of Go Ape? Its a bit like that! It is going to be a logistical nightmare but I agree dd will get a lot out of it Creme

I bloody hope so Need in theory it should be...... poor piggy I bloody love bacon though

Rest of my day has been o.kay, think did quite well on the colleagues leaving do gifts, spent £44 in Sainsburys though. That includes cat litter, cat food and should last a week, hopefully...

Cag I'm quite sure it's designed to catch people out. Don't take it personally though, I found signing on humiliating. The people signing on in work clothes while the works van waited outside clearly didn't though!.

£17 Tesco, £2 coming back off checkoutsmart for dog food for the rescue dog collection bin. Bought sandals, looked orange in store. They appear to be red.

£30 boden Blazer. It was more but Dh gave me £20.

Sainsburys are doing their 10 X nectar points from Friday.

cag at least it is now done. You are going to do great with the new baby, don't worry

Been a long day, I can't remember what anyone else has written. Sorry!

Hope my MN name isn't offensive to you creme , hadn't thought of that!

Spent another £2 on lunch

Early night here for me zzzzzz

Of course not, Bacon. Don't be daft!

Well done, Cag.

NSD, yay! Totally exhausted though, going to bed in a minute.

Cag, you will be great with babyCag. You are am amazing Mum with the Caglets, I really admire you for all that you do. I think you took the brave option by taking them out of school and look at how well you are doing that. BabyCag is going to a wonderful home and family. And sod the PIP. I am sure they are designed so that most people fail them. But it's over.
Em, you'll know when you get the right house. Hope it's soon so you can get sorted before miniEm comes along. I pay £1495 per month for this SMALL 4 bed detached. But that's overpaying £150 per month. It's hard and I do lots of extra stuff in order to pay it off. 4.5 years to go. But I only bought it last year....hence all the bathroom work. Financially it's very hard but I love the house and the area.
Oh dear Girlie, everything always comes at once or seems to. DD is probably at a very expensive age but I'm sure she loves all the clubs she does. And they do get such a lot out of them. And it stays with them. I always think that people remember and appreciate the things they do rather than the things they buy.
Need, I'm veggie too, but I won't hold it against you. ( poor piggy!😥)
Sunny, hope your problem solving was successful. When is the journal out? Hope you are celebrating your success.

We had more Beavering tonight and ds got his first badge. It's heck of a lot of fun for costing nothing. Much better than lego. I've got about a thousand tiny videos to watch for my training.

I know what you mean Em about the house stuff. A proper house costs £700k here which makes my eyes roll.Good luck working it out. I'm a bit inclined to think that you might be better in a smaller house but with the freedom to work shorter hours. Baby years go awfully fast, and a big house can always be bought later. We bought smaller so I can stay home and dh can take unpaid leave in school holidays.

Cag Well done for confronting all that stuff. I had a similar thing today as I went to the GP all pleased with myself for epic progress I've made recently, and just one technical question. In the short appointment he didn't have time to hear about the progress so I just asked the one question and he told me right off for being a worrier. I nearly caught fire I was so frustrated.

On the plus side, I've worked out why my middle gets so tense when I'm angry. I bought a punch bag for ds for when he's angry, and I tried hitting the punchbag when I came home. It turned out that having super-tense abs really helps with punching hard. So that explains a whole lot. Mr punchbag and I are about to become real good friends, I suspect.

Copper yes I think these are the 'club years' and i'm guessing won't go on forever (well the riding might) I am very lucky that my parents are so generous, they help out a lot with money towards them. There is no way I could afford it otherwise, she is a lucky girl and is grateful to do the clubs. Currently she is doing; drama, football, tennis (alternate weeks), high ropes, clarinet and horse riding ridiculous!! She also def benefits from being an only child!!!

Glad you are getting on well with the Beavers Sunny sounds like it will be a really positive activity for you and your ds, thats a good idea re the punch bag! I used to tell dd to punch her pillows if she was feeling angry which i don't think is quite as satisfying!!