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First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go

999 replies

Laska5772 · 23/01/2018 22:52

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

OP posts:
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31
MeadowHay · 31/01/2018 13:41

Unescorted Hope your dad is ok.

Shoop eek, what bad timing, hope you feel better soon Brew.

Wreck I have a few of those spots -cries-. I have battled with acne since I was 13. Coming off hormonal birth control to ttc made it flare up worse and I wasn't allowed to use basically any other medicinal products to control it when I got pregnant either so it's really bad right now. I don't know anyone my age who still has acne like this, it really affects my self-esteem and makes me look about 17 Sad.

Laska and Sunny Hope you both feel better soon too. Lots of sick frugaleers atm Sad.

Today is super spendy as we have gone ahead and booked our hol to Dublin...£110ish for our flights, £190ish for 3 nights hotel - we are staying at some place called the Celtic Lodge, thought it looked nice enough, good reviews, central, and cheap, just apparently might be bit noisy but we've got ear plugs at the ready. Then £8ish travel insurance which we did through Compare the Meerkat so now we have 2-for-1 cinema tickets and we are planning to go the cinema later today and have a quick dinner out before it, so that will be more spends. Feel on one hand we should be saving for baby given we are skint, but then we also want to make the most of this time before it comes.

Weather is insane here today. Literally every 15 minutes it changes from snow to sun to rain to hail back to sun to hail etc. Confused

Wolfcub · 31/01/2018 13:52

Meadow I think we are having the same weather

Fluffycloudland77 · 31/01/2018 14:04

Free Peri-Peri fries on shopmium. Two bags if you have a partner with an account.

MissingMo · 31/01/2018 16:24

@seacow she's similar age to your dd. Just over 7 months.
@meadow when I was pregnant dp and I used a hotel experience voucher we got given for xmas along with a 2 for 1 voucher for London zoo to make a mini holiday before the baby came. I think if it's important for you to have time together before the baby comes then it's not unreasonable to spend a little money on it.

needastrongone · 31/01/2018 16:41

Fluffy Frugality is in your blood isn't it?!!

I have a friend who is a consultant anesthetist, he's always told me that it's very hard to overdose on Calpol and that if a baby was admitted, the first thing they would do is provide pain relief. This isn't meant as a piece of advice to ignore the warning on the bottle or exceed the RDA, just a bit of reassurance.

DS used to nap for 2 hours in the afternoon and still be in bed by 7.30pm. He used to need to sleep in his cot though, curtains closed etc so it was a bit restricting but definitely beneficial. DD was more flexible but the 2nd has to be!

I've set up a 'mule' bank account. This will be my switching account, I'll be switching as often as I am able, some folk on ML radio 5 had earned over a grand or more in about 18 months.

£50 in feed for the pony.
£4 at Boden, I used a £10 voucher and bought some pyjamas for DD for Christmas 2018, the voucher expired today so needed using.

Loveabaconsandwich · 31/01/2018 16:44

I managed to be the crap parent today and managed to miss ticking the box to book DD1 into before/after school care. Fortunately they still took her but I owe £11ish

I did tell DP that he needs to help more with admin type stuff like that. He leaves it all to me but I am struggling with head space at the moment so he needs to help more! I’m not always getting stuff right at the moment

£3.30 in subway
£4 Poundland

No more work until next Wednesday. Yay!

Shock seacow I once leaked all over the back of my light blue school skirt whilst at school. Horrifying.

em if you beat my PPI reclaim amount of £5.93 then you will be winning at life

Considering giving up chocolate for February. I did buy lollies today to help Grin

Loveabaconsandwich · 31/01/2018 16:45

Just seen your pm cag . Will hopefully post tomorrow or Friday. You have the same first name as my DD2 Smile

Fluffycloudland77 · 31/01/2018 16:48

Sort of Need, that and I haven't found sandals I like better for years so I might as well re-vamp them.

I bought cheap H&m ones last year & they rubbed a bit. Also Dh said they looked cheap Sad

I never get a boden voucher. Dh gets them sometimes & I nab them.

I even signed up for catalogues once & Haven't recieved a single one. It's the oddest thing to ever have happened to me in my entire life.

Fluffycloudland77 · 31/01/2018 16:51

Well done on the mule account, can your Dh set one up for you to "manage"?.

The one to wait for is the Clydesdale, they were offering £250 last year but very briefly.

Laska5772 · 31/01/2018 17:04

can some on explain a 'mule account' to me please? i did think if getting another bank account which pays out interest on on balances for a year (but they all seem to need direct debits gong out of them) is this what you mean need? . I have already have a nationwide one which paid out 5% but that past its year now.

My only frugalling tip for today is that over the last couple of days at home when ive boiled a kettle and use it all . i can quickly pour in some extra warm water out of tap while kettle is still hot to swish round and it picks up extra 'free' heat to use straight away in in washing up !

OP posts:
needastrongone · 31/01/2018 17:22

Mine was a birthday one they sent Fluffy for a tenner. I didn't see anything I liked (I'm not massive on Boden, but like the odd bit), so I looked in the sale and found the PJ's.

I could set up a mule account for DH and double the switching. My other 2 current accounts are joint, and too much of a hassle to get DH involved. I'm not lying when I say he had a company credit card and one other card, that's the full extent of his involvement. Cheers for the Clydesdale tip.

Laska I've set up a bog standard current account, no cash back offers etc. However this one does pay 3% on balances up to £1500, so I'll stick some money in for the interest. You've to pay in £500 pcm but that's easy on a S/order. And 2 direct debits to get paid £5 a month, I'll just use my 2 charity payments for convenience. This account will then be my switching account, so I'll switch it to say, Natwest as they are paying £125 for switching at present. Then maybe First Direct as that's similar. As Fluffy says, some are up to £250.

The negative is it marginally affects your credit score, not by much. So ML doesn't recommend you do it if you're planning on applying for a mortgage etc in the forthcoming few months. I'm not, my credit score is as high as it can be really so even a small dip won't make a difference.

Seems a good payback for a few minutes work every once in a while. Like I say, some folk are 1.5/2k up over a couple of years.

Wolfcub · 31/01/2018 18:30

My Boden order arrived, two beautiful looking dresses but Boden seem to assume that women has arms like broomstick handles so they will both be going back

Harryet88 · 31/01/2018 19:03

@Wolfcub that's a shame :( Hate it when something like that happens..

lifelongfrugaleer · 31/01/2018 19:21

£40 hair, £5.50 on bread and tomatoes

Laska5772 · 31/01/2018 19:33

£69 Hush tunic Blush I ordered this last weekend and which cae today .there was something else in that order also but its going back ..
3rd day I haven't been out of the house (apart from putting out the bin and earlier this evening leaning out of my bedroom window to take a photo of the supermoon. (of which I need not have bothered it just looks like a white dot on black background - could be any size) .

Am feeling a lot better today though

First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go
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ememem84 · 31/01/2018 19:55

Went to the gym. Thrashed our 1000m on the rower, cross trainer for about 20 minutes and almost died on the treadmill. But I went.

Sausage carbonara and salad for dinner.

Succeeded in my stay at home day. Ds has an hour or so nap on my lap after his last bottle at 430. I watched man hunter: Unabomber and then continued with the dark. Didn’t concentrate on it initially. Was it you love who recommended it? I’m really enjoying it. Am up to episode 4. is it meant to be in German with subtitles?

Nsd.

Ill try and beat that PPi reclaim!

LonelyOversharer · 31/01/2018 20:01

Keys are handed back to the landlord! Yipeeee. We are freeee

I'm very happy we are done with that malarkey. I have an awful lot of stuff to sort out, and am very tired now though.

I've switched my car insurance from the big car to the little car, saving £10/month until the policy is up (5m) then I'll price compare for cheaper. Dp is insuring the big car for business use.

Spent £22 in tesco, after an orthadontist appt, and had fish and chips for tea (£9.50) but used the last cash out of the till for that! Got about £20 in silver change, will sort it out sometime soon.

My huge lots of yarn on ebay are starting to be bid on. Its all the cones and I want them gone, but want them to go to someone who wants them iyswim, rather than overwhelming a charity shop (they have paid for themselves x4 over the years at least).

Laska5772 · 31/01/2018 20:01

Em Im still super- curious re the house you showed us yesterday .. did you put in an offer?

OP posts:
MissingMo · 31/01/2018 20:03

Congratulations @lonely. Happy for your freedom!

SnugglySnerd · 31/01/2018 20:08

Congratulations Lonely!

I have an identical photo of the supermoon Laska! It looks amazing in real life though.

Have splitting headache but it was a NSD.

lifelongfrugaleer · 31/01/2018 20:24

That's a relief lonely.

Em it might have been me. We watched it in dubbed English. I think it depends on your Netflix settings.

Mammy here is the protein. I just mixed it into yoghurt to hit my day but it was gopping so I binned it, fine with water though.

First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go
mammymammyIRL · 31/01/2018 20:29

Life that's no good but if you'll drink it as a shake at least it won't be a waste of money.

Lonely great news, relax now a little while

I went to grandparents day at school as my dm is ill & couldn't make it, visited a friend after & it was too much for me I'm wiped out now Hmm

ememem84 · 31/01/2018 21:04

laksa no. Not yet. Dh is seeing the house tomorrow. I really hope he likes it.

We’re also seeing two more tomorrow. Eek. I am so sick of house hunting but know I need to see everything I can.

Just had a bath. Whilst in the bath I pinterested some lovely kitchens/bedrooms.

I think in my new bedroom I want one lovely dark grey blue wall. The others pale grey. Crisp white bedding and blush pink/rose gold scatter cushions

Dh is keen on grey/mustard for sitting room area. Currently ours is grey and duck egg blue.

needastrongone · 31/01/2018 21:09

Glad you are feeling a touch better laska.

Sounds like relief tiredness lonely. I'm glad it's over for you.

Having another read that of MSE to today while paper-working, another frugal idea I'm going to try this month (well, February) is saving all receipts at all related to any food or drink expenditure, total it, and decide what you can realistically knock off the following month.

God, I need to work more hours next week. I'm boring myself....

WreckTangled · 31/01/2018 21:11

Em that's similar to my bedroom. I've got a really nice light shade that's grey and light pink Grin

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