Frugaleers hurtling through November... is it too early to mention the C word? All welcome for money saving chat!

[Cagliostro]

Hi all, please settle in for chatting about all things frugal, and all things everything else :o

Well done to your clever children Cag

Glad DGpig is doing better Meadow.

Born One dead easy thing to do to save potentially significant amounts is reviewing your utilities and insurance etc and checking you re on the cheapest deal. Also, go through topcashback or similar for your spends.

NSD today. However the box is going in for it's MOT next week and that's never cheap, dropped it at the garage today.

OH thanks Lists, I'll fire up the laptop later and message you. I don't seem to be able to if I post from the Ipad/phone. Thanks really kind!

Menu plan:
Speedy spinach curry.
Veggie pasta with veggie sausage.
Roast garlic and cauliflower soup
Vegetable and pearl barley broth.
Sweet potato and black bean burgers.
Chilli mac and cheese
Roasted chickpea wraps.
Veggie enchiladas.

Been to b&q and bought...a fuse box for the shed and some cable. Almost can't stand the excitement of it all! £68. Then £28 in Tescos on not much.

And £8.88 on some bonding plaster this morning. It's time to fix the wall from the leak from last year. Bare bricks in the living room isn't festive. Just need to do it.

Good news is I might get work over christmas. The little company I paint for shuts for 2 weeks, and I usually have about 6 weeks of no work. This year they've asked if we want some to do, so I put my hand up. Every little helps. 2018 is pay down my credit cards year, and every penny I earn is going onto them.

cag the caglets are doing brilliantly. It must be such a joy to you, and affirms that you did the right thing rescuing them from mainstream school

Aw thank you. I am plagued with self doubt over it all so often TBH, but for them the alternative was pretty unthinkable. Just glad it's possible really. DD wrote in a workbook without even flinching today which is big progress - she was scared of anything schooly for so long and then had further loss of confidence thanks to that girl bullying her (mostly focused on her academic abilities). But I really do think we are getting there. :)

DH's main Christmas present arrived. Hogwarts Battle card game ordered cheaper from US Amazon. He's always wondered about deck builder type games and he is Harry Potter mad. He is totally going to freak out, he's got no idea this game exists (I only know as I'm on various nerdy gaming groups). I can't wait to see his face!!! Cagletini is giving him a Contigo flask to keep his tea warm on the walk to/from work. :)

Great news about piggy recovering!

There is much I should be doing. Not long till Christmas now...

Excellent about the painting BTW, what kind of painting is it may I ask?

Argh £128 on ASOS. Hoping I'll be able to find something to wear to my works Christmas do Friday.

Well done Cag & Caglets. Not everyone could home ed like you do. Your dedication to those children is lovely to read about.

erg I am here again place marking.. I will post and read but life is hectic right now.. All fine, just hectic. have just got in from a from work trip to Bristol ..... tomorrow hopefully ill catch up!

Managed a NSD today, but that could be because I worked 12 hours of it and drove home with my petrol light on just so I could achieve it

need I recently joined QUIDCO but haven't used it much as I wasn't sure if discount codes invalidate it, and I always search for a discount code... I haven't changed my gas/electricity supplier in years. I really need to get my act together.

Anyone have any suggestions for leftover roast pork? Something Chinese maybe?

You gone properly veggie need? Sounds very healthy! I would like to go veggie but don't think my diet is healthy or varied enough unfortunately. I don't eat much meat though, mostly just chicken and fish.

That's wonderful re the children cag you are such a fab mum

Well done on the Nsd born

Born Try moneysaving experts energy club? It's whole of market.

Call from insurers today. Little gobshite has put in a claim for:

Road traffic accident
No witnesses
Significant damage to car and works truck

I had super fun telling the insurers that a) not a RTC b) no damage c) witnesses d) on private property e) police called due to threatening behaviour f) his car not insured g) his car unroadworthy h)damage already there

They called me and I explained. Passed on the police officers details etc. I’ve also sent an email. Shove that up your arse you insurance frauding little gobshite fuckwomble.

And relax.

Wore my fave top today. Ds clearly doesn’t like it as he sicked al down it. Sigh. This happened at 6pm. I bathed him and popped him in his pjs before dh got home. Just realised I’m still in baby sick top. I thought I smelled strange. Ffs

Tomorrow will be a nsd.

NSD here too. Mainly because I had a headache so didn't go out at all.

DS5 got grade 4 and 5 in trampolining, but I'll pay for his certificates next week as he's on Cub camp this weekend.

Well done to Cag's lovely kids. They are superstars.

Need, your menu plan looks good. I'm trying to make more veggie meals, bought loads of pearl barley last week so will sort out recipes for it. Chilli mac and cheese sounds lovely too.

Yay to mywhatDS :o hope you feel better soon.

I'm watching the IT crowd box set online. Never tried it when it was first out.

We've been watching the IT crowd too. I'd seen the odd one when it was on before and liked it, we're all enjoying it. But then it's written by Graham Linehan who wrote Father Ted and we're huge fans of that!

Just caught up while alarm is snoozing
Sunday & Monday were NSD's yesterday, haven't looked at bank account so direct debits May have gone out but they're budgeted for.

I looked at duvet sets on Littlewoods then thought to myself we're away for Christmas no one is staying here so why buy them now.

Work gave me a prepaid cc as Christmas bonus yesterday €500! It's for my car insurance but that's not due until feb & I've flights of €500 on a credit card so I'll use it to pay that & then when df gives me money for Christmas €500 I'll lodge that to an account for my car insurance instead
Need to catch up on my ynab & pay credit cards today - all three bills are in

Born your can still use quidco for your insurances. Be careful though it's sometimes a slightly higher price through cashback sites. Check both before your decide which is best.

Nsd yesterday.

I use topcashback. Quidco take ages to pay out.

Em That's a bit fraud-y isn't it?. I hope the insurers take action against him.

I just heard that I got my science grant Yay! I get to do more inventing.

Morning. Will catch up in a bit but haven’t posted any balances for a while so:

My account £200
Joint account £196.02
Credit card £110

I’m due one more payday (this months) from work and will continue to receive £209.94 a week Maternity pay this will continue until the end of March.

I have around £200 left on a gift voucher for our local department store so if I want anything from: joules miss Selfridge warehouse river island Reiss mac clarins (Although I buy clarins in boots for points...) I’ll use that.

I have £68 on my boots card.

I will need to get ds the basics for the next size up (vests, long sleeve onesies etc) but that shouldn’t be too pricey and we’ve asked people to give vouchers for morhercare etc for him for Christmas - not presents as he’s just too little to remember anything or appreciate things this year. There are some presents but not loads.

In January I’m going to sort out things for eBay selling.

I don’t need any new clothes at present it’s more a want. I’ve bought some bits on eBay this last week my best win being a pair of £250 brand new lk bennet shoes for £43.

Dsis has asked what I want - i am desperate for new pjs so she’s on that for Christmas. I may need new pants and maybe bras (but can use the dept store voucher for bras if I need to).

Ds slept from 10 until 6. Again. I’m very much aware it probably won’t last. He is grouchy in the afternoons because of his nap refusal so will work on this. We’re having an indoors day today.

Need to do some chores, some admin etc.

fluffy yup. Just a smidge fraudy. They’re sending an engineer to Check both cars this week as dh and I disputed the damage. His car has also moved - no longer parked here so I’ve told them that and they’ve said it’ll have to come back so engineer can look at it. Other party will have to pay for engineer and obviously return of car. I said o could get my car to engineer but the insurance people noted I’m on mat leave and it’ll be fine here as we both live here.

He will be fuming when he finds out we’re disputing it and dragging everything out. But fraud. If he tries to withdraw the claim (which now were dragging things out etc I suspect he will do) it’ll be noted as potentially fraudulent. If it goes on and is seen to be fraudulent then there’ll be bigger issues for him. Oh well.

Sunny Congratulations!. What will you invent?.

Em I think he's a bit stupid. This is like these Brits who claim for stomach bugs & get counter sued. At least he didn't claim for whiplash too.

Oh em, naughty neighbors.
Well done sunny

Thanks Fluffy, I'm doing photography stuff of things that nobody has every heard of.

Haha true. The insurer was a bit when she asked what speed I’d been travelling and I said no more than probably 2mph - I said that 10mph is the lowest that registers on my Speedometer so it was effectively just past 0. Have also had to give ds’ name and details as he was a passenger in the car. She asked initially if the passenger could provide a witness statement. Until I told her how old he was. Then she laughed.

sunny good work on the pitch and well done for getting the grant. I don’t know what you do really but I imagine it to be like Amy off of Big Bang theory - except less biology.

cag well done to dc!

need we’re trying to eat less meat.