Frugaleers chatting and saving in the April sunshine.

[SunnyLikeThursday]

Welcome to the new thread. This is a support thread for chatting and discussion of family budgeting.

Oh laska I am one of life's invisible people. Parking and shopping resonates. My big car is a big car black, has hazard warning lights on the roof, yet totally invisible it seems.

All the plaster is out of the room. Half in the tip, half backfilled the wall to level the new path. Swapped work, no spends as of yet.

DPD delivered .. I've just had a rant at Yodel online.. supposedly they are coming back tomorrow.. (seems like they do deliver Saturdays even though their website says no, BUT someone has to sign their little hand held thing , so that means someone will have to be in .. well its DH's parcel.. he will just have to do front garden work tomorrow so he sees them . I may say something rude to Yodel person if i see them

£4 on coffee and cake
£2.50 Big Issue

Unescorted just with supplements luckily my prescriptions are free

Just back from local outlet type place, spent £40 in joules on 3 t. shirts, I didn't buy any clothes last year so much needed now! Tried to find dd some casual shoes without success, oh well. My dad paid for lunch at frankie and bennies which was nice.

Dd now at my dads for the wend, I'm back to work tomos 😭

Is there a way of unblocking the softener tray in my washing machine? I've taken it out and given it a good clean but it's still not draining...

👻👻👻 Laska yodel are shocking for that I’ve made complaints about it a few times.

wreck that is a shame. I would use it as an excuse to go somewhere sunny.
Laska unfortunately the house would tip sideways if we did. Tempting mind.... although can you imagine the call to the insurance company?. A change of shelving it will have to be.
Girlie my washing machine knowledge extends to being able to change cycle. And then not always successfully.

Meal plan is done and the hole in the budget is located....in the form of a matching pair of father and son fell shoes. Dh did not realise I was on holiday this week when they were ordered...the postman arrived with gifts this morning. Words have been had. He has been introduced to the spreadsheet.

Hello, I am mega behind on the thread.
NSD yesterday and it will be today, I must scrabble together some dinner or I’ll end up ordering something 😳
Good lord I just heard an ice cream truck! WTF.

Frugal wins from the last few days:
Mum has declared she is going to set up a standing order to contribute some money towards the Caglets’ clubs. Really lovely of her! I think having spent more time with them lately she has started to see just how much they get out of it IYSWIM. ❤️

DSD is upgrading her iPhone in a few months and is giving me the current one. ❤️💐 I’ll give her something towards it. Really regretting my super cheap android, it pisses me off on a daily basis for various reasons, and I need to rethink what to get DD for her first phone when she turns 11 in June as I’d planned to get her the same.

My friend is lending me her old breastpumps to try, and she is 100% done having babies so I am apparently welcome to keep them if they are right for me. Really good as there is so much choice out there these days and I’m a bit overwhelmed at the thought of risking a lot of money on something that may not be great. DH is really excited to be able to feed Cagletini!

Wreck glad you are getting supplements. I’m about ten days into mine I think. If I could pick your brains for a sec - what should I do with all my blood sugar testing stuff? I have two monitors lying around somewhere (they decided to give me a whole new brand a week before my induction, as it was apparently cheaper than prescribing enough testing strips for the other) and a fuckton of needle barrels and some strips. I was keeping them in case my hba1c came back high. Do I just chuck the lot? Presumably they aren’t the sort of thing I can return?

Busy day here doing some much-needed spring cleaning. I cleaned all the windows inside, the 'fridge, the microwave, a maintenance wash of the washing machine and the washing machine dispenser. I hadn't done some of those jobs for over 6 months!

Also had my food delivery from Iceland. Their minimum order is £25, with a £2 delivery charge, in my area; so it's good if you don't need much, but what you do need is heavier stuff, that's a pain to carry by foot or on the bus.

Meal plan:
Today: pasta and chilli beans.
Tomorrow: Quorn fishless fingers, oven chips and beans.
Sunday: Goodlife spinach and mushroom kiev with new potatoes and roasted Mediterranean vegetables.
Monday: Veggie burger, oven chips and salad.
Tuesday: Quorn and veggie casserole.
Wednesday: same.
Thursday: Pasta and pesto.
Friday: veggie burger, oven chips and salad.

£30 Iceland, £35 pony club, £10 Asda as parent fail, £48 Aldi.

Cag nothing can be reused, if you return it it will be destroyed. Needles need to be collected by the council. I would just keep the tester for future parties 😂😂

:o thanks. The needles are the retracting ones in the drum where you don’t need a sharps bin, we were told we can just chuck them in normal rubbish :)

Afternoon all

Money in bank: -£120.20 + £56 waiting to clear = -£-64.20
Money in food/petrol account: £161.20
Money in purse: £7.67
Money elsewhere:
£42 – DS1 still owes me
£9.71 – asda price guarantee vouchers

Actual money available: £146.67 + £9.71 vouchers

Spends since last post
£6.60 – groceries in Asda on Thursday
0.99 – kindle book (I think I must have bought one in my sleep unless it was a pre-order and they just took the money today)
4.95 – SW weekly fee
3.90 – 2 x packs of hifi
0.50 – raffle at SW (I didn’t win)

Moneysaving stuff…

1. My dad gave me their Asda receipt as he normally just throws them and got another price guarantee voucher for 38p 😊
2. DH and I had a nice long afternoon walk. We stopped off at a ‘Spoons for lunch and a drink which came to less than £14 (paid on card so not debited yet) and on the way back we stopped at another pub so DH paid for that round of drinks. I reckon we’ve probably saved £40 by doing this instead of the planned day we had in Harrogate which I cancelled when I decided to start debt-busting.
3. I won Slimmer of the Week at SW last night (3lbs off, 19lbs altogether in 8 weeks) so have a nice bowl of fruit saving me from having to buy any this week.
4. My quidco money went in today so bank account is slightly less overdrawn than it was yesterday.

Days left to payday: 7 (including today)

We got back from our break in Galway yesterday. Tuesday was very wet. We got to the youth hostel around 4 or 5 and had a quick walk down to the fjord before it got dark. Then we went out for dinner. On Wednesday we woke to snow capped mountains (thankfully there was no snow on the roads) so we went for a long drive around Galway and Mayo. We passed through some stunning but bleak scenery. DH went for a seaweed bath and DD and I read for a bit until he was finished. We drove to Kylemore Abbey and had a lovely walk around the grounds of the Abbey and into the part of the Abbey that's open to the public. We were lucky with the weather - we had glorious sunshine although it was quite chilly. Then we drove to Galway city and found our hotel. After resting for a bit, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Yesterday we met my friend for lunch (she was staying with family in Galway) and DD did some shopping - she'd taken out some money from her Credit Union account.

It was an expensive few days as we had to pay for our meals out, but we did economize where we could. We had a full three courses for dinner the first night but the other dinners were just main courses. There was no breakfast at the hotel in Galway city (it was a cheap overnight rate) so we picked up croissants in the garage shop and ate them in the car, instead of going out for breakfast.

NSD today. DD's going for a hike with Scouts tomorrow so I've to pay €10 for that.

On Sunday we're taking DD and her friend to the cinema (her Mam took DD for a sleepover last week). That's the end of the Easter holidays as DD will be back to school on Monday. She only has about 8 weeks of term left as they break up for their summer holidays at the end of May.

Hope everyone is keeping well. I'll catch up on your news tomorrow and post some photos from my trip if I can find the lead for my camera .

My media cell tracking app paid out so I got austrailian gold sunblock, a pack of ear plugs and a fence brush for free.

Well done on being Slimmer of the Week Scarlett. Enjoy your fruit basket.

I am tired. Been outside all afternoon and I think the fresh air has got to me. Hopefully it has worn out the dcs too and we can all have some sleep tonight!

creme I really need to clean the fridge tomorrow .. I suppose that i could do that whist waiting for Yodel... Or i could out and get DH to do it ! ...... A Much better idea,...

I'd go for option B, if I had a significant other, Laska.

Sounds like a great few days away, Tayto. I ❤ Galway.

@Taytocrisps I keep meaning to mention the Caglets finished their Ireland project and DS wears the hat all the time ❤️ But rowan was first to try it on 😂 💐💐💐 I can’t PM photos so here it is 😉

Yes cag you can

😁 at Caglet

⭐️ Scarlet

Glad you found the hole in the budget Unscorted

DH and I had words this morning. DDs needed shoes, actual need, but he’s so stressed he thinks I’m BU to buy them. Hey ho.

Hey all, I am still here but having a rather testing time in Devon 😬. Can’t write much as I need to get off my phone so DS isn’t distracted by it, but the lowlights of the last 24 hours are:

• family rooms suck. Whoever invented them did not have to deal with an overstimulated autistic child and a baby. Total sleep for me last night: 2.5 hours. In spite of going to bed at 8.30pm
• my Granny is really very unwell and I think also hates her new care home (nothing actually wrong with it but I think she’s almost the only ‘inmate’ who doesn’t have dementia. And she basically hates having lost her independence). I don’t know how much to say to my mum as she can’t leave dad to visit so I don’t want to burden her.
• DS has been really incredibly difficult, running off a lot, lying down in the street, meltdowns over getting wet trousers... etc etc. He keeps asking to go home. I can’t be angry with him as the change of routine and environment is a huge challenge for him but my god, it’s hard dealing with the fall out!

Good things:

• the hotel is just a Travelodge but quite new so in good nick and breakfast was good. Location also good.
• DD was very cute with my Granny today and kept waving at her (from about 3 feet away). Granny was really happy to see us so I felt glad we came all this way.

Frugal... hmmm. We’ve brought snacks etc from home but are having to eat lunch and dinner out. Found a nice family pub-restaurant near the hotel who have been brilliant with DS and not too expensive so that’s okay... but today at lunch DH went off to buy us a sandwich from a booth on the sea front and later told me they (crab sandwiches, proper delicious and fresh and just white meat) were £7 EACH. Good job they were amazing. But I wouldn’t have paid it!

2 more nights in the family room though frankly if tonight isn’t better I’m tempted to drive home tomorrow. Fingers crossed for us!

Very impressed with the plastering talk

The day whizzed by. Went out for a meeting, so £6 in a pub a pub! I never go out on coke, £18 Morrissons for tea (4 of us), and £22 top up shop. Forgot the frigging cat food.

I have pva'ed the wall, plaster tomorrow. I think the girls will have to stay an extra night with my parents. The whole room needs cleaning as dust got through the taped up dust sheets. With dd2 being asthmatic I think it's best.

scarlett good job!

sewcow Crimea those are expensive sandwiches. But, were they worth it? Nothing nicer imo than a fresh crab
sandwich. Brown bread?

£45 M&S on new gym gear. I super really rate their stuff. Nice patterns (usually - although I had to buy a hideous tahirt to get the nice workout vest underneath but I’ll wear tahirt as jammies) wash well long and hard wearing.

£53 boots on only two things from clarins. Plus a bucket load of samples. I’d run out of eye cream and facial sun screen. Both will last ages. So value for money imo.

Lunch out with boss was nice. We went to my fave Thai place. Pork pad Thai, crackers and chilli dip, chicken basil stir fry and rice and a couple of tiger beers. We shared the pad Thai and stir fry. Boss ordered stir fry hot hot. It was delicious but maaaaaaan my face nearly fell off. So. Much. Spicey!!!!
Ate outside. Was nice.

Sorry you’re having such a tough time seacow would you still consider getting an extra room so you aren’t all in one?

Packed up some books today. Really making progress, place is still a mess TBH but getting there for sure.

Going to try for an easy weekend though. Might need to go to Tesco or somewhere tomorrow (actually, maybe I’ll try Aldi, as apparently they have those canvas sling bookcases ATM and that’s exactly what I’d like for Cagletini’s books) as we have somewhat low supplies.

DH is away overnight tomorrow. He will only be over at the leisure centre, with a tent, but likely not sleeping as he’s hoping to run at least 100 miles over 24 straight hours. Fucking weirdo. Love him, but seriously. Nutter. 🙄