February Frugaleers United in Saving Money, Swapping Recipes & Supporting each other in finance, friendship & family life : )

[mammymammyIRL]

And so we continue ....

Just £8 .00 on taking DGS back to Mummy Dcat is relieved ... Ive got an 'accompanied child' pass, which is great as its only £2 for me as long as I get back on the very next ferry.
Otherwise i have been in bed , slept most of the afternoon!. I didn't sleep at all well the two nights but its always the same when DGS id here because i've got an ear out i suppose...

We had fun though.. but blew diet by having a pizza earlier ( have been low carbing since christmas so that's f'd that up or a couple of days ) but instead of dinner I just then a bowl of frozen berries..eaten frozen,.. my favourite thing right now )

Saw a dog get a medal in my race today

Lidl €9.99 my toilet tissue was oos so got 24 rolls of cushelle
Aldi €50 shopping bang on budget this week but €10 of this was on protein powders but seeing on we're not n budget I'm going to take that as a bonus

My teeth are hopping thinking of you eating frozen berries laska that's a great service by ferry company

Wrong I didn't even have a huge lunch & I'm not interested in dinner

OMG! Just went for a wee at dms. And my bruise from yesterday’s riding is ridiculously impressive. I’d take a picture but it’s right close to bikini line.

em

I am so so tired. I don't know why, we've had 2 good nights in a row. I must have slept for 8 hours last night. The dcs didn't wake up until ten past 6. It's the longest I've slept for over a year do why do I feel more tired??? Maybe the extra sleep is a shock to the system!

Bank balance not good. Have borrowed from savings again. Only £150 this time. The problem is that we keep borrowing from savings but not actually paying it back in. Last couple of months on maternity leave with no pay and huge vet's bills have done it.

Here is bruise. I’m in pjs so no pants flash. This is just from yesterday. No arnica. It was not this big this morning. I suspect tomorrow it’ll be a wicked shade of black/purple.

I was given a leg up onto the pony and missed. So cracked leg on the back of the saddle (and almost flew off the other side). Ouch!!!

Arrrrrkkkkk. And breathe. It has been a bonkers few days.
Did the lunch at mil today... Why it is my responsibility am am not sure.
Finished my job application.
Spent £189 in Aldi , we have gone back to monthly shops so not as bad as it sounds. The lad on the till was happy as it only took 10 minutes to get 2/3rds of his hourly target through the till.

Sea fantastic cake.

North good effort by you DS.

Yes I find I’m more tired after sleeping more!

Spends £2.80 used book on eBay. DS has read his usborne periodic table one a gazillion times so I’ve got him a more wordy (but still aimed at primary age) one, hopefully being the same topic it will encourage him. He’s doing really well with reading generally but being autistic tends to want to stick to the same thing all the time.

Cagletini still poorly. Not worried (and one of the friends who visited today is a paramedic so reminded me of all the info on fevers etc) but she’s so miserable :( and DD1 is distraught, not accepting all my reassurance that it’s just a virus. She’s really worried and sad about her little sister :( it’s actually making it harder to look after the baby. Sigh. Thankfully she’s gone to bed now.

Em , ouch! That looks sore.

Cag i hope Cagletini has a good night and wakes up feeling better.

I almost caught up with the thread earlier but DD seems to have caught a bug and spent most of the afternoon and evening puking .

She's due back at school tomorrow after the mid term break but I'm going to keep her home because she's hardly kept anything down today. Hope she gets through the night ok.

Hello Ladies,

Wow what a month of unexpected (or rather unbudgeted) happenings!

It’s really interesting to see my behaviour about certain things though!

The car made this strange noise so I took it on and apparently I’d driven right down to the brake discs (no warning lights) so that was £538. Would any of you have shopped around for parts at this point? I did wonder if u should have but I just paid it - I was like OMG I’ve been driving my 2yr old around in it.

I totally blew our non existent budget on my brother yesterday - he’s still living at home building his career and I have him £200 for new tyres... I’m kicking myself a bit I can just do things like this spur of the moment!

So all my envelopes are mostly empty, a bit of groceries money left I’m going to try my absolute hardest to not draw anything out of the bank until pay day on 29th. Dog needs a groom this week so I’ll walk him myself more days to pay it out of dog walker money..

So many things I haven’t budgeted for - I’m wondering how other people manage the sporadic items that crop up through the year like

Dentist
Vet
Car repairs
Hairdressers
Birthdays & Xmas

Do you try and work out the annual amount and save a monthly proportion and if you do how do you get ahead when things crop up before you’ve built anything up?

I can’t take away from how transforming this 18 days has been though as I was living off credit cards at this point every month and then paying it back on 29th and repeat - so stressful!

I. Must. Not. Look. At. The. Mini. Boden. Website.!

Step away from the Boden! Note to self too...

Cag sorry to hear dd2 is so miserable. Mine has literally been screaming today at times but fine on calpol. I can see her first two teeth peeking through, I think they are really hurting her. Still, I’m excited to get her first teeth as it really changes babies’ faces I think.

Was NSD but I’ve just ordered a new tommee tippee filter for prep machine as warning light came on. £10.50

Cornflakes for dinner, not hungry after big roast.

Well that was a rubbish night. I ended up on the sofa as waking people up coughing. Will mainline tea today. All counting is taking a break this week I think.

Sorry about poorly DC. That bruise does look sore em. How are your doms?

Parts are usually the same price wherever, it's labour that racks up the bill. Depends if you know a good garage, dealers can be the most expensive.
Is your brother contributing to the house hold?

LSD planned today, melon request from dc

Yesterday at Aldi cashier told me transaction didn't & wouldn't go through on my joint account card so I paid with my personal account card
Just checked my online banking & it's gone through on both.
Will call my bank today to dispute transaction.

Having studied my toe intensively I've diagnosed that it's sprained not broken

www.wilko.com/cat-food+accessories-/cat-litter-trays+boxes/icat/cat-litter-and-trays. Wilko cat litter is so cheap! I've been laying £4+ for ultra clumping & there's is £2.25.

No The profits loaded onto the labour so it's cheaper to get quotes from several places. Or find a mechanic who works from home in the evening. It's common for them to do so. I don't save for specifics but I'm frugal so that when a big bill comes I can hopefully cover it.

Those of you who are poorly, have you ever considered an iodine supplement? I started giving Dh a liquid iodine supplement in September, he is immunosuppressed by several conditions & gets a chest infection every winter without fail. This year he didn't. He got a fungal chest infection that the GP & chest consultant don't seem bothered about & I don't think he has it anymore. I read that tissues high in iodine are difficult for pathogens to proliferate in.

I did not know that fluffy.

Never heard that one either fluffy

Just woken up. Catface not amused as she usually gets fed at around 645. She was sat by her bowl looking most cross.

Ds looked so sad last night. We were getting ready to leave dparents and his bottom lip went, the sadface came and then some real tears after my mum said something to him (about him being ready for bed). Not something we see him do often so it was heartbreakingly sad.

Should be lsd today. Dh is Home and we’renplanning on taking Ds swimming. Will just have to pay for dh.

Ouch em!

Back to school today and work. Rubbish.

Sorry about poorly dc! Mine have been pretty good this winter just one four of illness for ds over Christmas.

Well I properly jinxed last night by saying on here that we'd had 2 good nights. DD2 was up screaming and it took nearly 5 hours to persuade her back to sleep. I think she's teething poor love.

Not the bottom lip Em when they start properly crying it really breaks your heart.

I have a day off today so plan is to crack on and get dds room semi finished, annoyingly have run out of furniture paint and Wilkos have run out so going to try b&q instead.

Just checked my bank balance as knew I must be getting low, had £38 left in there which was actually better than I thought! Still got a week till pay day so have moved some money from savings, I was planning on using savings money towards decorating anyway. Have done well on the food budget this month and we have somehow lived on fresh air about a tenner a week!! Think it helped that the freezer and cupboards were well stocked so have only needed fresh stuff.

Nofilter will your brother pay you back? That is a lot to give some one as a gift if you are on a tight budget. I budget for extras by having two savings accounts, I put £50 a month into one which is purely for anything car related (insurance/MOT/tyres/service etc) I drive a tiny car so that seems to just about cover it!! I put £150 a month into my ISA which i try not to touch but is there for emergencies, I would like to have a lot more in that account but needed a new car last summer and had to empty it completely. Also like this month have used some of it for decorating dds room which is a one off event!!

Also nofilter someone pointed out that every month there is 'something' to pay for i.e. a birthday, Christmas, Mothers day, something that breaks, Easter, a school trip etc etc and I suppose you have to allow for that each month. By keeping bills down as low as possible, being very strict about what I will pay for (no fancy TV package for example/ having a basic phone/car) and keeping food/clothes bills down there is hopefully (not always!!) some money left in the pot for extras.

Wrecktangled yes I am up for exchanging ideas! Will try and think some up

Fluffy it sounds ok in theory but food shop is only job he has as we both work full time and he has our car to commute. As my hours are rostered around him I’m either carless or at work. I’m swamped with everything else too.

I only spent £7 yesterday on chocolate, as we took the dc's swimming. Late on in the day, but at least we went. Ds was swimming! With arm bands, but 18 months ago he was pretty much water phobic (we were down to flannel baths at one point). So impressed.

Tea was homemade kfc in salad wraps. Very nice. Other than that I worked, almost caught up. We agreed a 2 week meal plan at tea time, it's up on the fridge. I'll shop tomorrow.

I am ordering my skip today, as we have a few days of better weather forcast. Money from paypal/ebay sales.

The brakes on our Chrysler went totally in late december (like failed on the motorway). We bought the discs and pads ourselves, cost £200 for all 4 sets. Now dp fitted these, as he can, but the garage we use would have charged us well over a grand. Yes we bought the parts cheaper (just) as they always seem to be on offer, but it's mostly labour. Our garage is £45/hr + vat. When the clutch in my c1 went we got 4 quotes, not one under £500. We bought it and dp fitted it for £80 all in (with new gearbox oil and a special tool). It was an absolute pig to do.

Morning all. 5 hours Snuggly . That sounds miserable all round, you’ll be needing this . When do you go back to work?

I have a couple of frugal questions:

1. I am thinking of going to giff gaff (currently with EE but contract is up). Apparently they use the O2 network. Have any of you had bad experiences of using them/swapping? Some fb friends gave it mixed reviews so I am being cautious.

1. DS needs new shoes and I just wondered what you all do with regards to sizing... when I took DS before the school year started he was a size 10. I expressed surprise to the shop lady as he had been a 10 for a while so she said it was fine to buy 10.5 for a bit of wriggle room and to grow into. So I did... but not sure whether I should buy his measured size, 11, now, or 11.5 with a bit of room again? I don’t know whether her advice was okay and I don’t get any feedback from DS either way. I measured him at home using the Clarks’ foot gauge. I’m not trained but I think it’s more reliable than in a shop as he is very agitated in shops and doesn’t cooperate at all!

Just spent £12 on grocery top ups because I didn’t finish my Ocado order off the other day (so no milk, cheese, bagels etc 🙄). Shouldn’t need any more groceries for a few days though will need fruit and beef mince towards the end of the week.

We have a mouse /mice in our garage 🐁. I am a little covered as we have stuff stored in there and they are quite destructive. DH is putting down the traps...