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.

Sorry it's a bit shit sea. But worth it to see gran. YY to going home is it's too bad. See what the hotel refund policy is, it's worth an ask.

IKEA today 2 things on my list. Decathlon to looking for a new bike for me

We had a better night apart from the half an hour following DS falling out of bed . DS slept more, having been worn out with sea air, so we all did. DD woke at 5am though 🙄.

I think we will stay as I want to visit Granny again, this time DH will take DS off somewhere as he is rather a distraction. Today we’ll do a day trip and then I can drop in on Granny on the way home

Oops, posted to soon

... tomorrow.

DS keeps crying and saying he wants to go home but we’ll have a nice day today. We’re takjbg the steam train /ferry from Paignton to Dartmouth, which is a trip we’ve five before and he really enjoys. I usually involves a cream tea in Dartmouth, what’s not to love? ££ though, but we want to feel we’ve had a bit of holiday. It was chucking it down here an hour ago but is meant to brighten up.

Em, re. Your very important question about the crab sandwich, bread was great (brown), crab was fresh and plentiful.... it could have been 10/10 except thegvput mayo in it. I like mayo but wouldn’t put it with crab, it masks the flavour a bit and crab should be left alone. But it was still pretty amazing.

I’ve made DS a sandwich at breakfast today. Not just frugal but hard to find things that are plain enough for him when out and about. I’m just finishing my delicious hotel breakfast. I am quite impressed with Travelodge tbh, it’s much better than I expected. Onwards and upwards!

Cag your DH is mental.

Love cagletini in the hat.

Sea hope the trip today is lovely. Can dh take ds to the beach while you visit granny so lots of sea air is in play?
Haircut this morning and I need serum so £38 hair £3 tip £25 serum (lasts about 8 months though) and then I think I will have to brave the supermarket as the cupboards are bare and we are using top up shops which have cost us twice what a normal shop would, we won’t make it through the month like that so I’m going to have to woman up.
Bacon and sausage butty at work yesterday £3, despite my anxiety it was lovely to see everyone and I escaped after six hours and met a friend for coffee £7 Starbucks

Morning everyone. I was up early to drop DD off for her Scouts hike. The house is nice and quiet so I've caught up on the last few pages.

Lonely you've given me such a laugh, picturing you fluttering your eyelashes at DG (dishy guy), with a plastic carrier bag on your head ! I'm seriously impressed with your DIY skills.

Girlie glad you enjoyed your break after all.

Love good to hear things have improved at the new job. That was a very persistent salesman!

Sunny hope you have a nice holiday.

em your Thai lunch yesterday sounds yummy but probably way too spicy for me.

Wreck hope DS starts to perk up. A week is a long time to be ill

Laska really annoying about the Yodel delivery and the careless/rude customers at the Co-op. . When we were driving around Galway and Mayo, we saw lots of campervans and I was thinking of you.

Cag that's the most adorable photo of Rowan in the hat! She looks so happy and healthy - I'd love to pick her up for a squishy cuddle. We need a heart smiley on MN. Glad you got the project finished. It was so nice of your mum to offer to contribute to the DC's clubs. Hope the breast pumps work out.

Seacow your poor Granny. It must be a huge adjustment moving out of your own home. And if most of the other nursing home residents have dementia...... well, I'd be pretty miserable myself . It must have given her such a lift to see you all though. That's a lovely image of your DD waving at her. Sounds like your fears about the family room were justified. Anyway, hope you have a lovely trip today on the steam train and ferry.

I need to do a lot bit of cleaning around the house today. Maybe another coffee first though. Do you think it's safe to put away the hats and gloves now? I mean, it's April after all. I'm just afraid of tempting fate. I don't think there's any point in hanging clothes outside - it's very overcast and there's no wind to dry them. It's one of those weird still days. I have leftovers for dinner so I don't need to cook anything later .

Morning all. Today has been spendy.

£233 on dsis’ present for her big birthday. (A beautiful dark tan leather purse. (I know it’s beautiful leather because I saw them in store yesterday and wanted one for myself!))

£27 on riding in a bit.

Then probably around £20 in the shop. We need bacon milk cheese bread and frozen veggies.

Have emailed pension people to get form for payment as I want to do this before I go back to work. Then I can save save save for the house/house things.

The rest of today will be spent cleaning (yawn) laundry (although two loads have already been done) and writing christening invitations. And having a Thai curry.

Morning !
Lazy day here .
Was woken by next doors little girl crying and her Dad bellowing at her at 6.50 am
Sea
Love Dartmouth and have had many trips on that train but I have never been anywhere so wet and rainy as Devon!
Family rooms should be renamed as no sleep for anyone ever rooms !
Would it worth investing in some good waterproof trousers for DS?
I wouldnt consider going to Devon without them and my DC had lovely zip up waterproof all in ones when little
I need to whip round and clean up and then lovely market and yarn shop this afternoon

Sea A lot of people feel like that at first. It’s very hard to find any homes now with no dementia.

£5 nectar points coming from e-rewards.

£121 in Sainsbury’s on shopping, cupboards are now full! £17.75 on fish and chips for lunch it is wet cold and grotty day here

tayto I adore Thai food. The place we go to looks awful - in fact friends have turned their noses up at it because it’s small and cramped and nothing matches. But the lady who runs it is amazing. I always like to find out who’s in the kitchen when we go. It’s a safe bet that if aranya (owner) isn’t doing front of house she’s cooking. In which case I never order anything hotter than a mild!! But the food is so fragrant and delicious and cheap!!! Boss paid £30 for the food we had including beers.

£30.14 in Waitrose - just over the contactless limit!! Aaah. If I hadn’t bought Diet Coke and popchips I’d have been ok!!

Money in bank: -£120.20 + £56 waiting to clear = -£-64.20
Money in food/petrol account: £161.20
Money in purse: £7.67 // 2.52
Money elsewhere: £42 – DS1 still owes me

Actual money available: £141.52

Spends since last post
3.50 – 12 x cans of pepsi max
2.00 – Irish lotto

Moneysaving stuff…
Went to Asda and remembered the Price Guarantee coupons so got £30+ worth of shopping for £20+. The shopping from today was 10% cheaper (meaning no voucher – BOO).

Days left to payday: 6 (including today)

£9.50 in butchers, £5.20 greengrocer. £3.60 coffee and cake.

Nsd.

Hello! We are here in sunny Ely, which is actually also sunny. Ds is bored stiff, and has just read a new book which terrified the crap out of him. (Woohoo!). I am handwashing dishes, and am increasing(ly) bored thank you ds for grammar correction of living on potatoes and roast beef. Dh is tired.

Hope you are all getting on well.

I have a nice sparkly sitting room (if you ignore the bags of paper work hiding in the corner). Will get to them eventually.

I’ve hoovered and sorted laundry. And am now watching the assassination of gianni Versace and eating Easter egg.

Dh and ds have gone for a walk. Ds was meant to be napping but was just rolling about in his cot.....

Thai chicken curry for dinner. Ds is having whizzed up plain chicken and sweet potato.

April sunshine? What sunshine? It's been grim and rainy here most days!

Hi everyone. Things are manic here at the moment. Various sick family members and our poorly guinea pig is still very poorly but we are no closer to resolving the issue or making the decision to put him to sleep as we are still awaiting lab results from the culture they took from his abscess. Hoping to have them this week to get a better idea of what is going on and what we should do moving forwards.

Today we went to our local Toys R Us since they are closing down with big sales on and finally bought some baby stuff. We are now the proud owners of a pram. I feel a bit weird now like it's all getting a bit real and it's making me a bit anxious. There is a pram sitting in my living room . We got the Cosatto Wow in the end, £300 and then like £88 for the car seat and £30 for the foot muff, really good deal I think. We were looking at paying about £500 just for the Giggle before we decided to have a punt on Toys R Us, I am soo glad we went. My parents paid for the pram and some other bits and bobs we got there too so all we paid for is the car seat. Feel guilty but poorly guinea pig's vet fees are slowly bankrupting us .

Seacow We often stay in Travel Lodges and are a regular at one in my mam's home city, the staff actually know us all cos we've stayed there so often!

Tayto I'm still wearing my gloves almost every day but then I have eczema which is quite bad atm and the cold air makes it worse, otherwise I probably wouldn't be bothering.

Oh and the other spend was £7.50 on a gorgeous little mug with a lid on it (hard to explain) to put away for DSIL's birthday next month.

Seacow I hope you've had a better day today. The train to Dartmouth is lovely, hope you enjoy it. Your story about ds reminds me of when we went to France on the ferry last year, there was a boy having a meltdown on the car deck before it sailed. I asked if there was any way we could help as I didn't want a parent in that situation to think that no one was bothered (everyone else seemed to be giving a wide berth). It must be hard work for you
Quite you're right about Devon and the rain, I seem to make a habit of living in places with high rainfall . Speaking of which, it has just stopped raining here after being consistently miserable all day.
Cag your dh is definitely mad!
Lonely sounds like you're being really productive, I'm in awe of your diy exploits

I'm still picking up slowly from my chest infection. I've been on best behaviour as I need to get better as quickly as possible. I've hardly been out as I just don't feel up to it. I feel disappointed that I've been able to do so little nothing with the dc. They have entertained themselves well though & I did manage to take dd & her friend to my cousins farm to help out with the lambs yesterday which they both loved. I was able to fall asleep by the wood burner so a good result all round. My lovely cousin also made lunch for us which saved me a job and any expense.
Very little spent this week so April's finances looking good so far.
HM pizzas for tea tonight, roast chicken tomorrow I think. Ds was supposed to be playing cricket but it has been called off already due to the ground being so wet, so an unexpected free day (bonus revision time for ds!!)

Nice to hear from you meadow although sorry to hear your little piggy is still poorly. Discover you make it away?

Have you got some day trips planned sunny?

seacow that sounds hard work, have you thought about staying in a caravan instead of a hotel? The one we stayed in was lovely, 3 bedrooms, central heating and a fully equipped kitchen. Might be easier if kids have their own space? Dd struggles when we go away and needs time to 'recharge' iyswim, quiet time on her own. My grandma ended up in a care home, it was really hard as the first one she went to wasn't great, we moved her but she had dementia which meant eventually moving her to a nursing home.

I've been knackered today, it was the abba tribute night last night with the work buddies. Was brilliant fun, everyone dressed up and the band were fab, getting up early for work this morning was less fun however 😩

Spends
£5 drinks last night
£34 petrol and lunch today.

Oh and my washing machine completely broke last night, my washing came out stinking of rotten eggs 😝😖 was so gross. Have put some washing machine cleaner in the drum and put it on a 90 wash....

Tayto I bought sun cream yesterday. it's going to rain forever, sorry

£27 IKEA, £17 lunch, £63 sports direct, £6 tkmaxx,

Oh and £24 trampoline park

That’s two of us life. At least we only need one bottle in this country. I want to move the ceiling fan into our bedroom and that will really put the tin lid on it.

meadow I’m so glad your ok.

Not a NSD. £4 on beer.

NSD yesterday

Today ££77 in Tesco and this was after the £7 voucher was taken off

Sorry to hear things are so tough meadow Exciting to hear of your baby preparations now properly starting

Hope you’ve managed a good day out seacow.

Why are only eating potatoes and beef sunny? Is that the only food you have taken? Hope you have a good holiday too

I wish I had a sister like you em. Arranging upgrades and amazing gifts, you’re definitely a keeper

Hope your DH survives his crazy running session cag

I have spent the afternoon emptying three wardrobes and getting it down to just one wardrobe of my clothes. It is rather full, but I have turned all the hangers around and if I haven’t worn something in three months time I will get rid. Sadly none of my clothes are worth selling but most have been worn a lot so are going for recycling. Also a big bag of smart work clothes are packed for the loft, with one smart dress and jacket left for job interviews. Next job is taking apart the big wooden wardrobe to get rid of it. Exciting times here!

Lovely to hear from you Meadow. I remember looking at my new buggy and thinking, "Wow, there's going to be a BABY in there at some point"! That baby is now a teenager . When are you due again? Sorry to hear about sick family members and guinea pig.

Sorry to hear you haven't been well north. Hope it clears up soon. Sounds like a lovely day on your cousin's farm.

Can anyone recommend a good water bottle? DD brought a plastic bottle of water with her on the hike and it leaked in her bag. So she went into a shop and bought another bottle and that leaked too! It might be just that she didn't screw the lids tightly enough, but I'd like to get a decent bottle that she can take with her to school and days out etc.

tayto meadow it was the pram that got me too! I had that “holy shit I’m having a baby!!” moment..

love she’s been so good to us (dh ds and me) and she is the best. We didn’t used to get on but when I went to uni that all changed. I also like that I am able to treat her. I realise it may come across as an extravagance but I wanted her to have something she could use every day and keep. I toyed with handbag but she’s like me, Bag changes on a Weekly basis but the purse stays the same. And it is turkey lovely. Buttery soft pebbled leather. Understated. Simple. But lovely.