March Frugaleers continued. In which we report spends, share money saving advice, chat about pretty much everything and post pet pics.

[Cagliostro]

Welcome one and all! Newbies and lurkers always welcome 💐

Thanks cag.

Thanks Cag

Thanks Cag

Got thrown in at the deep end today at my new job as the other person was off, and to quote my new work colleague I had to stop myself from constantly saying “I don’t have a f**king clue.” I’ve gone from working in a law office, to working in a certain type of vehicle repairers. The amount of times someone told me about a bit of vehicle being repaired, and I looked at them blankly was often . But everyone lived, and there were no bust ups unlike the other day . It is so so different to a public sector job!!

Well done need DD. I think need would be a great boss. I doubt she would be someone who flaps or gets stroppy.

Sorry to hear about DH’s godfather em

Hope you feel better soon wolf

I am reading but my brain is frazzled. Waves to everyone else.

I was unfrugal the other day and spent a lot at M& S but bought duplicates in different sizes so some will be returned and should be covered by GV. Also bought some clothes from DP, but only £8 after GV

Saved £75 on car insurance by changing insurer. May also get £26 TCB but not tracking yet

Voucher has paid out on life insurance offer. Think it is £75 Amazon, but need to logon to sort it.

Thanks for the new thread cag

cag thanks for thread
love you're sounding much happier in new job!

Thanks Cag.

Thank you Cag

£9 wilko cat litter. Wilko cat litter is better than Waitrose. Virtually no smell.

Thank you for the new thread cag.

Thanks for the good wishes about DD. I haven't told folk in RL, apart from one friend. I know you guys would see it as being proud rather than bragging, or I hope I come across this way.

seacow, thanks for those insights in particular. I'm hoping it will at least inspire dd to believe she can, if she wants. If she doesn't, that's fine too. But I want her to believe she's capable and deserve to be there. No reverse snobbery I guess. Dd thinks I'm a raging stereotypical feminist, I don't care! Your trip tomorrow sounds good, if early. I hope your DS is okay with everything.

Glad you had a better day love. Public and private sectors are radically different, as are small and large companies I guess. Thank you. I really hope we are good employers. We can't be that bad, no bugger ever leaves

I think your doing fab snuggly, it must be bloody hard work!

Spends today
£16 dd PT session, working on Army fitness - she's knackered ha!
£10 car wash. I gave a large tip, the car was caked, seriously caked in mud from the farm, to an embarrassing extent.
£100 Sainsbury's (beer for a party for DS tonight, one bottle of wine for me, quite a lot of stuff I put into the food bank drop off, and ingredients for pizza instead of takeout tomorrow.

I've also had a refund notification for some rugs that I bought, only I didn't return them🤔. They did phone me the other day as someone else had received my order, but I'd received it too anyway. I think our two accounts are muddled. I'd best check my bank.

Thanks cag

Thanks Cag

Even the ones you want to leave Need.

Bacon Don't worry it will take you some time to get to grips with everything, it's the same for everyone in a new job I guess. Glad to hear it is going ok!

Need I did a special open day thing at Oxford when I was in sixth-form. They broke my heart though cos I missed my offer with them by 2 UMS points in one of my A-Levels and even though I submitted mitigating circumstances evidence from my GP that I was suffering from depression and anxiety, they still refused to entry. My parents put me through the worst time ever after that as they were so embarrassed and it is a very dark period of my life. Nowadays I just feel incredibly angry that I was not permitted to take up my space when my friend who went there tells me he knows of many of his peers who significantly under-achieved at A-Level and yet were still permitted to go. The one thing they all have in common is apparently private school. I will never forgive them for that.

Also Need I get paid less than £8 an hour although I'm on an annual salary but if you break down the hours it's less than that per hour. It's poo.

I have an interview for the job I applied for on Tuesday morning with two team leaders from other teams, one of whom is notorious for hating and bullying other women. They didn't give my colleague a job she recently applied for that was like the step up job from hers and I think they're only interviewing me as they're worried I would claim discrimination and they have already decided to fill it with someone external which is basically what they have planned to bring in lots of new faces to break up all our teams I think. I will be fuming but I still have to go to the interview. Got lots of preparation to do as they insist on asking all sorts of obscure technical legal questions that are mostly not necessary for my job .

Spends was £1.30 on a pasty and 90p on a piece of cake at lunch.

DH took poorly guinea pig to the vet, they gave him an emergency appt. He had an injection of pain relief and he has pain relief we need to give him over the weekend and we are to continue syringe feeding him as he's having difficulty eating. Then he has to go back on Monday and they will anaesthetise him to look at his teeth properly and potentially file them down if necessary. I am very anxious because I am worried he will go downhill between now and Monday as they do so fast, and I am also worried about him being run down and put under anaesthetic. Neither of our pigs have ever been anaesthetised before and he's four and a half so not a spring chicken.

Yeah overall just very stressed at the moment .

£38 jo Malone on some perfume for Dm for mother’s day. Pomegranate noir. It smells divine.

£20 next on sleepsuits/outfits for ds. Some super cute stuff in there. Actual spends £75. Oops. But the £50 was a voucher and we got some super cute stuff.

£4.50 on rainbow roses for friend as a play date thank you. We had fun. She’s pregnant with baby two. So play date was the first one her Dd had had. She’s not great at sharing toys....ds was wary. But he was super well behaved. And snuggly.

Oh here you are, thanks Cag!!

Thanks Cag.

£5.80 posting my mum's Mother's Day gift to Ireland. Sainsburys order came too, so that will be £49.75 out on Monday.

Meal Plan
Today: pizza.
Tomorrow: Quorn fishfingers, chips and beans.
Sunday: Turkish meal out for Mother's Day. Cannot wait.
Monday: veggie chilli (homemade, but frozen), rice and tortilla chips.
Tuesday: macaroni cheese with spinach.
Wednesday: same.
Thursday: Quorn chunks and veggie stirfry with satay sauce and Noodles.
Friday: veggie burgers, chips and salad.

Thanks cag

Spendy day as I was in charge of booking a works night out! Was £108 in total but I have all the cash off my colleagues so will pay it in next week. Also had fish n chip lunch at work as it was my students last day, cost £6 ish.

I have had such a stressful week , with the horrible (near) relative sending me increasingly deranged, delusional and aggressive emails over the inheritance /non -inheritance issue that I am beginning to wonder if dementia is actually a severe trait in the family (of which I am a part of by birth but have never been part of due to circumstance) and that this also may be my fate.. .. Anyway it seems that I have hit the wine this evening...

Need I didn't congratulate you about your DD. that is fantastic , you must be v proud ..

Meadow that sounds crap, but bosses can be moved on from, I have had a couple of bad ones now..and sadly they have both been women, although I have also had some good ones also..

Love that is a massive change.. I have worked so long in public sector that I cant imagine not doing so now

I did have fun at my Unison training course today though.. We all had to do some newsletter writing practice (10 mins to complete the exercise then read out to group ) and it seems I have the tabloid 'Sun/Mirror' style down Pat! We all had a good giggle at that and it made me feel much better that I could make people laugh and enjoy what I did ... actually I love creative writing and its one of my best things i think

No spends. I was going to take some more books to charity shop but didn't have time.

It rained. hard.

mammy I think I feel strangely liberated by leaving the old job and starting the new. I have no real responsibilities, or none that feel burdensome (yet). No staff to manage or to worry about what is happening when I am not there. I’ve now given up my job with the CS perks so no longer feel restrained to stay because of that. My childcare costs are massively reduced and anyway we have a surplus of childcare vouchers now in DPs account. Honestly, in two weeks time, if I hate the new job, I just leave. I doubt I would, but having the option feels great as I don’t feel the loyalty nor the responsibility for providing the good public service. And starting work at 9am feel like a holiday after all the early starts. I feel so much better already.

I am going to look at doing some further training/qualifications but not right now. I’m giving my brain time to recover from the last few years.

I may have just bought some ugg boots off eBay. They are like a new job requirement when you wander around a big industrial unit right?! Working tomorrow morning for a few hours so that pays for mostly for them. Will probably have future Saturdays as TOIL though.

I wore a big warm jumper that I never really liked to work today and wore for the first time. So various bits of my wardrobe are now becoming useful (as well as the stylish fleece ). The other day I wore some boots that were never quite comfortable for the power walking for commuting, but fine for the new job.

Need isn't it terrible that we can't just be proud of our achievements/ or our dcs without being seen as cocky or boasting well done to your dd

I'm currently at horse riding with dd for her first time, what I've learned so far is I need to wear a couple of pairs of extra socks and a scarf! she looks to be enjoying herself

I'm hungry - had a ready meal for lunch chicken curry more rice than chicken. Then Apple with peanut butter and a poached egg on half a bagel since.
I'm going to drive 2.5-3 hours after this so may purchase chips enroute!

Love all of those differences should make a huge improvement to your quality of life

meadow sorry to hear the work stuff is rubbish, at least you know there is an end to it (if you choose not to return) with maternity leave coming up and I hope Dguineapig gets better.

Em I am going to try the Pomegranate Noir next .. I love all my Jo Malone things I got in their freebie game the other week. The lime basil and mandarin body wash is divine and because they got the order wrong they sent me another large bottle free! . I also got the Wood sage and seasalt body wash which I paid for on you recommend. and won in he game a bottle of the the English Oak and Redcurrant perfume and a large body wash and candle in the same fragrance ..and it is really nice. (had to buy a pear and freesia soap to qualify for the online freebie game but it was worth it .. Ill give the soap to my mum!) so paid £75 and got £125 in freebies

Oh meadow I’m sorry to hear about dpiggie. I have a soft spot for Guinnea pigs. Adore them. Always wanted one when I was a kid but was never allowed. I made our Christmas stamp collection at work a couple of years ago in aid of guinnea pig rescue. They sent us a card. 😀 lots of piggies arranged to spell “thank you” and a few photos of the piggies. Love it.

We have hit a snag with our move. Buyers bank won’t lend because the building doesn’t have a fire certificate. Email to lawyer this evening to see what we can do.

Last week the cert was a legal requirement. This week, because another apartment sold and the new owner lives in it legally it’s not a requirement. Legally.

Have told our lawyer this. Hopefully this will get our sale trough. Hopefully.

House full of children. Movie,. Natchos, marshmallow and melted chocolate. Watching fantastic beasts