Marching into May, packed lunches all the way ! Join the frugaleers for frugal tips and friendly chat .

[QuiteCleanBandit]

New thread

Morning Been up from silly o'clock looking through old threads. Made my way to the free postcode lottery - got sucked in for abou 40 minutes. Also joined some survey sites - i could do t hem while watching TV at night.

I kind of do a coin sweep - any change under £1 goes in a jar. I occassionally dip into it when I need some change for the bus and I've nothing in my purse but that's rare. I reckin there must be about £70 from the start of this year, so hoping that will maybe be £150 come Christmas time.

I'm going to do a sweep up to the nearest fiver once a week into an old account that I can still access online. That should add up the pennies too.

Today is likely to be a NSD - Food shopping comes on Wednesday and we're ok for basics and enough for dinners.

One question - how do you mark your place so you stop at the same place in a thread that you are in the middle of reading? Even on the 'Threads I'm on' link it takes me to the start of the thread rather than from my last post. I have to try and remember what page number I stopped at.

I hope everyone has a good day

Ds cried out at 1130, 230, 630, and 630. The whole time he was asleep. Strange. Teething?

Oh no seacow! Sorry you had crap sleep.

Meadow hope you're feeling ok

Ds has swimming tonight so that'll be £25 otherwise no spends. Lunch is left over giant couscous plus humous and crudités.

I might okay now I’m up

Forgot to add: £56 petrol. Visiting dad is using more petrol than I expected - we don’t use the car much (less than 10,000 miles in 3 years on our car) so it’s been eye opening. It must be a crippling cost for some people.

(Mind you, our tube travel cards are almost £2k per annum!)

usedto you can have it all on one page and then just scroll back to your last post. I do it that way.

Are you paying council tax over 12 months? Saves you nothing but it’s less to find per month.

Do you have any led lightbulbs in your house? They save more than you think and last forever. Even the poundshop do them now. I really took it to heart when we had all those energy price rises years ago and the ceo of npower said the cheapest unit was the one you didn’t use.

Seacow I've had my car since the end of November and done over 6000 miles!

We’ve had our car since 2010. It’s done 49584 miles. Not bad for a car which has only been off island twice.

Morning everyone. Fuel is our bugbear! I bought my c1 (4k on hp, last payment feb 2019) to save us fuel. We save much more on diesel every month than the £99 payment! We use that much diesel in the big car. Like wreck we live miles from anywhere, and are always out and about. The big car is just about to roll 100k miles, it had 24k on it in 2011 when we bought it. I've done about 30k miles in my c1 in 3.5yrs.

The plan is to keep the c1, and dd1 can have it to learn to drive in, in 1.5yrs . We won't talk about the sort of sports car that sits on the drive sorn'd!

I think we will need loo roll today, but then I'm going to food audit and write a decent list for tomorrow.

I have already sorted out my seeds for unescorted (don't worry, we've gone halfs, I've got masses left!), checked my greenhouse, spun the laundry, put the dishwasher on. It is bloody cold here, but not raining yet.

Not up to date but saw this and said I'd post it while I'd think of it 5 budgeting apps

When you add lentils, do you have to precook them or add them dry?? Xxx

Morning. It's a beautiful sunny day here. I've a Tesco shop coming which will be €103.67 + €7 delivery charge. That's for 2 weeks although I'll probably do a top up shop for fruit, veg and bread the second week. It's the first shop after pay day (DH is paid monthly) so it includes things like freezer bags, conditioner, detergent etc. There are also a handful of things I get in my local shop because they're actually cheaper or I just prefer them. I'm saving up my clubcard vouchers to use at Christmas.

We decided to have a cheap movie night last night and watch 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'. I recorded it off the TV at Christmas. Unfortunately, it stopped recording about three quarters of the way through the movie . I've seen it before but DD hadn't. The 80s technology looks so outdated now - the computers and the music system and the answering machines .

UsedTo I hadn't seen your original thread until Laska mentioned it. I had to laugh at the amount of posters telling you to move house. It sounds like moving to your current house is one of things you're happiest about, even though you're limited by not driving. But hopefully that will be less of an obstacle when you pass your test. While you have a significant amount of debt, you are in a position to pay it off. It just means you really have to tighten your belts until you can increase your income by getting a job. At that point you'll be able to pay it off a bit faster. If you can possibly save anything at all over the next few months, put it towards the cost of buying your car, insurance, car tax etc.

DH and I both work and we've just one child but we were hit very hard by the recession of 2008. Our government introduced a lot of new taxes and charges (some of which we're still paying) and our disposable income took a big hit. Things are easing now as DH is on a bigger salary. Also, he has a company car now so his company pays for things like petrol, car tax and insurance. We had some very tough years though so I want to be sensible with the extra income. My plan is to pay off our Credit Cards (we've two - our total debt is approx. €5k.), set up a college fund for DD, set up a long term saving fund, put extra into our pensions etc. I really wish I'd known about this thread a few years ago as I feel like I went through all of that stress and worry alone. It's not really something you feel you can discuss with family or friends. Having said all of that, I'm very grateful that DH kept his job and we were able to continue to pay our mortgage. So many people lost their jobs and homes and had to emigrate.

The cost of living is a lot higher here than in the UK. For example, there's no help with childcare fees (although I think that's changed in the last year or two). Medical cards (offering free health care) are means tested so people who are unemployed, on sick pay or on a low wage generally qualify but people on an average wage generally don't. It costs €50 - €60 to see a GP and €100 if you present at A&E.
Maternity services are free for everyone. Energy costs are much higher. We have to buy text books for school although most schools operate a book rental scheme which works out cheaper than buying them new. On the other hand, Child Benefit is still a universal payment here and we don't have to pay university fees. But we have to pay a college registration fee which amounts to something like €3,000 a year. Parents on low incomes can apply for grants to pay these fees.

Aside from the general cost of living, I'm finding my teenager is more expensive than a small child. Small kids are happy to kick a ball around the park or visit the playground. Those aren't options for teenagers. Summer camps here are mostly for primary school kids (typically age 4 - 11). And secondary school here means three months of summer holidays so potentially a lot of expensive days out unless I let her sit glued to her tablet for three months. Any suggestions for low cost activities for teenagers? I'm planning to get her to help out a lot more with chores mean mammy. We live in a small town but I'm in reach of Dublin so I might check out the 'Whats on in Dublin this week' websites.

Sorry for the essay . I was just introducing myself to the new posters. And maybe thinking out loud too.

Mummy I just add them dry to the bolognese mix and cook for at least twenty minutes. They soak up all the liquid.

Thanks wreck I have some in my cupboard I used in a soup and never thought to use them for anything else!

Car seat fitted in DMs car. Went to Mothercare to pick it up. The guy was most unhelpful. Wouldn’t lift the box into the car for me. It was bloody heavy. He wouldn’t do it because “it won’t fit into your car love not with the baby there” pointed out that yes. Yes it will. The one he’s in fitted on the seat in its box when he was in his old seat.

Then got to dparents and ddad tried to fit the seat without reading the instructions. He kept rushing. I moved dm’s car out so I could get to the passenger side ddad our seat on seat. I needed to then move seat to fit the isofix things. Ffs. If he’s just let me do it...

Was going to go to baby group but cannot be arsed. So having a stay at home day now we’re home.

My face is streaming with cold. I estimate I’ll get through eleventy billion tissues today.

Em hope your cold settles quickly, not what you need right now.
Seacow sorry to hear about the viisit, it must be so hard.

Re lentils in bolognese, yes I just put them in at the beginning but allow more liquid as they absorb it.

Day off today but I have so many appointments and lists I hardly know where to start! Circuits class done, fil's birthday present ordered. Still deliberating about what to replace my slow cooker with. Am tempted by a pressure cooker or multi cooker, as recommended by someone on here, but leaning towards another slow cooker.

Going to chest clinic appointment with mum at 1340 & then GP with ds at 1700 so everything has to work round those times!

So I checked out this site dublin.ie/whats-on/ and there are loads of things on in Dublin over the summer. I've identified at least four FREE events:-

Africa Day - 27th May
Dublin Kite Festival - 10th June
Dublin Quays Festival - 19th July - 22nd July
Bray Air Display - 28th July & 29th July

We've been to the Air Display the past two years and it's really good. Most of the museums in Dublin are free but we've done them to death since DD was small, so I'm trying to use my imagination.

There are lots of other events featured too but I'm not sure to what extent they're free and suitable for teenagers. I'll have to do a bit more research. DD has a week away with Scouts and we've also booked a house with friends down the country. So the summer is starting to take shape and I'm starting to feel less panicky about 12 weeks to fill . We've promised to take her and her two friends to a theme park called Tayto Park. That will be an expensive day out but I'm hoping the other parents might reciprocate and take DD out another day. And of course, it won't be all days out. We'll do some stuff at home too like baking and art stuff and walks and movie nights etc.

Tayto That's nice to know what it's like living there. My inlaws live in central Dublin so I used to go to visit a fair bit. I haven't been for a while. It's nice to know how it all works though. My FIL had to go to A&E a few times last year and it always used to puzzle me that the major problem with going to A&E was the cost. As if being that ill isn't already a problem.

I've only been to Dubin once. I used to be on the 6 months and a day tax excempt thingy, so had a strategic weekend away to avoid tax. Was a bit drunk the whole time, but it's such a beautiful city.

I'm not sure I could cope with a 3 month summer holiday from school. What do working parents generally do? 6 weeks is plenty long enough!

I have moved my work up to the craft room in the shed. So now I can "go to work" - pity it is fecking freezing up there. Am going to hunt out old thick jumpers and joggies for working in. Back in the house having lunch (oatcakes and peanut butter) trying to warm up and watching Bargain Hunt.

Primary school kids get 2 months off and secondary school kids get 3 months off. Working parents generally use a childminder or creche and pay extra for the summer months. Although creches usually only take kids up to the age of 12.

Good grief Tayto. I remember the year of the olympics when h and I were on a leave ban and school shut for 8 weeks, it was a nightmare I can’t inagine what I’d do for 12 weeks

Hi tayto and emenem Just saw your replies. Funny thing about this move and not driving - I was so blase - it's fine, there's a couple of buses, not likely to need to go into the main town very often, no problem. A few months after the move, I felt stuck and very restricted. But the house is our wee haven so it was a good move. And moving? A house near the town costs more than out in the sticks in this area. We'd have to have a smaller house in a much worse area for what we could afford, pretty much what we moved from and we were not that much better off then. The tightening of the belts has already started

@Mummingainteasy

Are you repaying the cc by direct debit? If you are it takes a long time to repay because they lower your repayment every month so it takes longer to repay. The standing order trick is to pay a fixed amount each month and then you repay really quickly.

20p on work stuff.
£5 on petrol but I paid in nectar points. I’ll transfer £5 into my weekend away fund so I’m spending them elsewhere iyswim.

😪 ds has had 20 minutes nap all day. The rest of the day he’s essentially screamed. I am exhausted. Dh is out until about 9 and I can’t do anything I need to do (sleep mostly but sort house out sonots today for the week, our laundry away etc).

I’m sure it’s teething but man he isn’t happy and is certainly making me feel guilty for going back to work tomorrow. I’ve basically not slept properly now for 2 weeks. Dh has rested but still needs rest as he’s still got this cold bug. I have cold bug but seemingly am not allowed to rest.

I know this won’t make you employee of the year em but the one benefit of going back to work is that you can take a sick day when you are sick. And DC then goes to childcare. I think one colleague of mine was back one day after mat leave and then had to take the next day off as one of them was sick.

NSD

I have my fingers crossed usedto that your mortgage goes through

love the thought had crossed my mind to call up and delay going back until Wednesday. But I can’t do it.

Ds is now sleeping on our bed. Not sure for how long though.

I’m more annoyed (again) at dh. He knows me going back to work is important to me. He knew I wanted an early night he knew I needed to get things up straight here. But he’s out.

I’ve spoken to Dm and asked her to come and help me this afternoon. Practically begged her. Nope.

Sigh. I’m in bed now trying to rest. Fuck the house (scuse my language).