May Making Money Go Frugally Further

[Wolfcub]

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Seems to be virus o'clock for me now. Drat it.

Oh no Sunny, hope ds is ok

I am feeling rough ds was up at 2 and I’ve had a very disturbed nights sleep.

Going to have a relatively lazy morning I think if I don’t get called in to work.

Happy frugal Friday everyone

Love to all the frugaleers who are suffering with illness/spouses/inlaws/children and financially least the weather's dry

NSD yesterday, possibly will have small spends this evening, stopping for sweets after horse riding seems to becoming a habit, but it's the only time we buy sweets so I'm ok with it. Dc still have Easter Eggs

Referendum Day today for tayto and I.

Mammy when will the results be counted? I'm really hoping for a positive result.

Working today and need a stamp. Will try not to buy all the food in the shop 🐷

Oh yes the referendum, will be interesting to see which way that goes.

Pay day today!! Am happy as have two months worth of millage and a BH enhancement so bank account looking happy for once

My plan is to move an extra £100 to savings and give my mum some money towards the holiday, I reckon on a budget of £100 ish for our little holiday next week. Am loathed to plan a budget too carefully as for the last few months I have ended up with large spends that could not have been planned (washing machine/vet/speeding ticket etc.)

Today am going to pick up some more stones from Aldi, they are £3 a bag there and have not seen them cheaper, its for a small area at the bottom of the garden. Dd has a hospital appointment at lunchtime, am hoping they will give her a new hearing aid as her current one is now 4 years old.

I bought dd a bird feeding station for her birthday (in feb) and have been religiously putting seed out, its taken a while but we have finally got quite a few birds coming down! So far had wood pigeons, blue tits, black birds, magpies, starlings and a rook. I consider this a frugal pleasure as the feeder station was £10 from Aldi and the seeds are cheap from pets at home/ Wilko and we have spent ages watching the birds!! I have also put left over grapes/ sweetcorn out which they seem to love.

We're having NSD here today! Got a friend coming round with her daughter for a play date later so going to make some cakes instead of buying them!
Actually it won't be NSD DH will be spending £3 on commute to work

Pay day was yesterday for me but only got around to ynab this morning, I started about 15 mins earlier a couple of days last week so extra overtime plus got a €50 tip during the week so my budget is good.

€50 will cover my night out on Sat night well plus a little gift for birthday girl too.

I've paid money off my credit cards and have money in my account.

Joint account looks healthy for once too - I've budgeted it out and am finally going to make a payment towards our property tax bill too. I also repaid some money owing to me from joint account to credit card too, there's another €300 to go but it's a start.

H's transfer when it goes in will cover grocery shopping and fill up categories for a few standing orders to go out.

girlie Jesse Meecham (YNAB founder) would argue that there are very few unforeseen expenses eg if you have electrical items they will breakdown and need repair/replacement at some stage, same for cars, pets/people will get ill and need medicine etc.

Obviously this is the ideal when you're living on last months earnings as opposed to being a frugaleer just struggling! I'm not in the position he talks about either.

H's dil from the day she got a car put money away every week for tyres/servicing/insurance/tax, even as a student single mother. This amazed me that she had the foresight to do this, studying accounting possibly helped with this

Referendum will be interesting - I expect the results will be out Saturday wreck

Good luck with MIL Em.

Sorry to hear about poorly frugaleers and/or poorly children. Get well soon!

Thanks for kind words yesterday. I think we're all doing better after a fairly good night's sleep (by our standards anyway!)

I'm really annoyed. I got DD a new all in one waterproof off Ebay. Total bargain and in perfect condition except I accidentally snipped it with the scissors while unpacking it. So it's not as waterproof now. Any ideas how to fix it? Sewing will make more holes but as it's a tiny snip I wondered if a strategic bit of duct tape might do the job? Or a puncture repair kit??

Hi everyone.
Thanks for all the welcomes. @LonelyOversharer I think it was you who asked if I mealplan. Yes I do, I'm a dedicated meal planner; my problem is that I don't check my cupboards/fridge/freezer of doom before I shop so I buy too much. It's ridiculous as I mostly do my supermarket shop online but last week I noted everything I didn't really need as I put them away, then totted up the cost of all those items and was very ashamed at the total so I am determined to do better there. (It is almost all food that will be used eventually, it won't be thrown away, but it's still very wasteful when the money for it is coming out of our savings).

Snuggly tent tape should sort that as it creates waterproof seals. Try go outdoors or amazon

Im doing my budget today mammy😎

I have to agree regarding "unexpected" expenses not really being that unexpected.
Boring as it is ,I have made saving a chunk of readily available cash one of my priorities.
Bear in mind,in the past I spent everything I had and more
This is where a total mindset change regarding "disposable"income is required.

Do I want or need this? Why am I spending?
I always question myself and use tricks like only taking cash for top up shops and questioning how Im feeling .
Buying a new top wont make me any less tired or pissed off and reading,having a bath or knitting will make me feel better.

Just some ramblings really,appreciate that folk are going through some tough times financially/emotionally and sometimes its hand to mouth.

Does anybody have any idea of where the good sites are to do home insurance comparison? I tried gocompare and it crashed, and I tried Uswitch and all the quotes were inexplicably over £5000.

Are you insuring diamonds Sunny?
💍
I tend to look at MSE

Good luck with the referendum Mammy and Tayto. Such an emotive subject. May the right outcome be delivered.

Em hopefully your DH will get a grip of himself soon. This has been going on for weeks now hasn't it? Do you think he will be better or worse once she arrives?

Sending get well wishes to all the poorly ones. We are still in Portugal, to my right is the ocean and to my left is the pool. So what are my 3 DC and DH doing? Sitting indoors watching telly or glued to a device. Sigh. Littlest DC is lying on me so I'm having to lie on the sofa. Such a hard life! Hoping to get 5 minutes peace later to update YNAB and see how much damage this holiday has done to the budget.

sunny compare the market?

I have asked to leave work early.

Dh had “words” with me in the car on the way to work. He is trying to present a united front. So mil sees all of us. Or none of us. I appreciate this. But still...

I am leaving at 450. That’s as early as I’m allowed to leave as early as I asked to leave

The boss thinks this is hilarious. He’s arranging for “work emergencies” next week. Mil is the type who loves an important person so boss and his wife are coming to ds’ christening on Sunday and will be super important. And will sing my praises and make sure he over indulges how important I am. Ha!

His wife is Asian. Mil hates Asians. And is super Asian racist. I’ve told him to just give his lovely (and stunningly beautiful) wife the heads up. Just in case.

lily weeks/months/years. It’s an ongoing problem.

Dh was talking about another trip to nz soon (next year). I’ve discovered a place where I can go to learn to play polo (something I’ve always wanted to do!) so if we go I’ll be doing that for a week. And won’t have to spend as much of my precious holiday time with mil.

Sunny I went through MSE for quick quotes and then arranged the actual insurance through Quidco so that I got the cash back.

Em you are clearly a saint for being able to put up with this sort of behaviour. I hope he redeems himself soon. Your boss sounds ace tho. MIL is going to be in an awful dilemma - how can she suck up to important person and simultaneously behave ignorantly to his wife...

Have you had flooding locally sunny? Or put an extra 0 after something’s value

75p onions. Kidney bean burgers for lunch in pitta pockets.

Em Is it possible that he's afraid to see his mother without you as backup?

Bandit You may be right actually. I have a microscope. Hum.

I am binning/charity shopping a load of baby stuff. No one needs an 11 year old breast pump or bottle warmer. I’ve always found it hard to let go of baby things as ds was very poorly and I feel I missed out, I also lost a lot of baby photos in a burglary when he was a year old so I’ve been hanging onto things but they are doing no one any good in a box under the bed

Nope I took the microscope off and it's still over £5000. I must be doing something stupid.

em While I agree a united front with MIL is good surely you both get to negotiate what that means in reality/boundaries ?
DH cant just tell you ?

Compare the market worked much better. Loads of quotes there are under £300. No idea what went wrong on the first site.

I never used to be able to put up with it lily I used to react every time.

I’ve learned not to (and quietly seethe instead).