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Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

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

999 replies

Cagliostro · 09/03/2018 15:22

Welcome one and all! Newbies and lurkers always welcome 💐

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Wolfcub · 21/03/2018 08:39

I got the job. Woooo! Now we all need to keep our fingers crossed for Unescorted and her interview tomorrow and then that’ll be four of us cs frugalleers with new posts/ roles over an 8 week period I think. This thread has lots of good mojo

WreckTangled · 21/03/2018 08:41

Wow wolf well done!!!

Cagliostro · 21/03/2018 08:48

Nice one wolf congratulations! And welcome littlehen :)
Sorry to not catch up properly I’ve been somewhat overwhelmed by life recently. Hmm

Got my blood results back though, I am indeed low on vitamin D, borderline on other stuff and they want to check ferritin, but the main thing is, I passed my hbA1c. So, blood sugars are back to normal. Massive relief.

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Laska5772 · 21/03/2018 08:50

Well done Wolf!!:

WreckTangled · 21/03/2018 08:57

Great need cag! Everyone is low on vitamin d Smile

There is a new M&S food right near my work. It's going to bankrupt me.

Cagliostro · 21/03/2018 08:58

Oh that’s a dangerous shop :o

I’m really pleased as I need prescriptions etc but they offered to do a telephone appt on Monday, I don’t even need to go in.

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ememem84 · 21/03/2018 09:17

wolf awesome well done you!!!!!!

cag take care xx get outside. I’m low on vit d so during winter I get a booster from my gp. And make sure I gets outside lots.

wreck M&S food. Omg. Danger. I love their tapasy things. Chorizo chicken pasty deelys. Yummy.

Yet another day in limbo. But am trying to push it to the back of my mind. Heading into town with Dm and ds, have a nice outfit on, the sun is shining and it’s 13 degrees. Practically tropical!

LonelyOversharer · 21/03/2018 11:05

Well done wolf yay! Thats such good news.

It's all you can do em have a lovely day out (let dm hold ds so you can try loads of stuff on).

cag remember to take care of you. Feeding cagletini is an amazing thing to do, but it will be taking so much out of you too. So do not put yourself at the bottom of the list

I'm having such a lazy day. Finishing off some knitting (to sell), fed the chucks, and sorted pots to plant courgettes and sunflowers. But leaning over was making my back hurt, so am in again, going to eat toast instead.

CremeEggThief · 21/03/2018 11:47

Great news, Wolf. Congratulations!Wine

Good news for you too, Wreck, and Em.Grin

WreckTangled · 21/03/2018 13:32

Em they're my favourite too!

Wolfcub · 21/03/2018 13:40

Em congratulations on the competition win how lovely to be able to treat yourself. Have a lovely day!
Cag good news on the results, vit d deficiency can be really debilitating, once the supplements kick in you will (in my experience) feel like a different woman. I take a supplement permanently now I honestly think it’s a huge issue in this country

SunnyLikeThursday · 21/03/2018 14:47

I have my water on all the time too. It's thermostatic like Girlie. I should do a comparison with my energy monitor between automatic and constant, and see what the difference is.

I've spent the whole week chasing referrals with my nice new GP. Now we have one for Ehler-Danlos, and one for ASD (for me!) and an NHS ASD one for ds. We are going to be very thoroughly checked.

SunnyLikeThursday · 21/03/2018 14:48

I have my water on all the time too. It's thermostatic like Girlie. I should do a comparison with my energy monitor between automatic and constant, and see what the difference is.

That's great that your blood sugar is back to normal Cag. Well done.

I've spent the whole week chasing referrals with my nice new GP. Now we have one for Ehler-Danlos, and one for ASD (for me!) and an NHS ASD one for ds. We are going to be very thoroughly checked. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will all be negative, and we'll be diagnosed as chronically uncool with flat feet.

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/03/2018 14:53

So do I wolf, I’ve seen tanning shops advertising sun beds for Vit D, you can’t even make Vit d from uva only uvb between March/October 🙄 it’s blatant false advertising.

Welcome Hen

Well done Wolf, does this mean no expensive commute now?

NSD & I've done all the niggly jobs like pressure washing the fence, re-pressurising the central heating and fixing the push button flush in the downstairs cloakroom that the tiler fucked up Hmm

Wolfcub · 21/03/2018 15:29

Fluffy it means no expensive car commute and a substantial (for me) payrise. It does mean I’m committed to working in London one or two days a week for the next few years but I’ve done that for a year now i reckon I can cope

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/03/2018 15:34

These days any payrise is a bonus.

I’m out of white emulsion so I’ll have to buy that tomorrow now.

ememem84 · 21/03/2018 15:59

Ok. Spends.

£55 monsoon on some trousers
£76 oasis 4 tops. Can be worn both in/out of work - giftcard.
£44 jojo - hoody couple of tops and socks for ds - gift card
£45 boots inc mascara for dsis
Walked 5km round town with Dm and ds.

Stopped in with dparents for lunch.
Then went for a walk with them. Df wanted to stop at the pub so we sat outside in the sun with milky (ds) pint (df) wine (Dm) and a hot chocolate (me).

Now home with ds.

LonelyOversharer · 21/03/2018 16:15

Not the nsd I was hoping, £4 posting my knitting off, and £6 in the butchers on a bit of late lunch.

I hope the nhs payrise will help you a bit girlie some of the numbers seem quite generous, at least compared to 1%. And long overdue.

WreckTangled · 21/03/2018 16:27

Girlie two places I went to today we're 20 miles apart 😭 feel like I've spent all day in the car!

Loveabaconsandwich · 21/03/2018 16:33

Welcome little hen

Well done wolf, so pleased for you!

Great win em and good news about the bonus too

£27 on a top up shop. Urrhh. So spendy going to the supermarket often. Need to get into my new work/food shopping routine
£42 petrol

I am still officially bored senseless in my new job. But it was lovely walking DD to school and back today as the sun was shining. I am embracing my new lifestyle Smile

Wolfcub · 21/03/2018 18:02

Love doing the school run sounds great, it’s something I’ve never been able to do due to work so I really enjoy it when I get the chance.

Cagliostro · 21/03/2018 18:43

Wow sunny that’s huge, well done! Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions re the ASD assessments. I wish you were near enough to see the specialist who assessed me, she is all kinds of awesome. It really has been helpful to know why I struggle with certain things.

Thanks for all the lovely words as always. I hit meltdown point in the small hours. There’s just so much going on ATM and the uncertainty is really getting to me, which sounds horribly ungrateful as we are so lucky that housing is even an option for us, and that I’ll get the adaptations I need like a wet room etc, it’s just not knowing where we are going to end up, what work will need doing to it, etc let alone when this will happen. And panicking about making the right choice, whether to risk turning anywhere down etc as there’s so much to think about. I’m really desperately hoping I’ll start feeling a bit better when we know where and when we are moving. Although I will most likely then be panicking even more about how much there is to do! But at least we can make more plans then. Aaaaaaaand breathe. 😳

I do feel a bit better this afternoon though. DH is off (first day off with us since last Wednesday) and we went for lunch, which also included a little walk in the sunshine - this particular place is somewhere I’ve never attempted before as it’s a little way out from town and a year ago it would’ve been completely impossible to walk that far. But today it was EASY! So that made me feel pretty good. I then came home with baby and watched catch up TV while the others went to gymnastics.

Going to dig out my vitamin D and iron supplements, will take them for now and then see what the GP says on Monday. I am so bad at remembering to take tablets (or indeed any other form of self care). If they offered me an injection I’d definitely say yes!

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SnugglySnerd · 21/03/2018 19:36

Enjoy your shopping Em you lucky thing!

Congratulations Wolf that's great news.

Hope Need is ok.

Welcome Hen. I recently returned to work after mat leave. It's hard fitting everything in and dh and I are both exhausted but I'm quite enjoying it in some ways. Are you going back part time?

We heat our water on a timer for an hour every evening. Enough for kids' bath and any washing up that won't fit in the dishwasher. The shower is electric anyway. If we need hot water in the day eg to wash bottles we boil the kettle.

CremeEggThief · 21/03/2018 19:38

NSD.

lifelongfrugaleer · 21/03/2018 20:06

Congratulations wolf. Good luck unescorted