The Friendly Frugaleers; joyfully saving through July

[Wolfcub]

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Well. Our stairs are no longer too deep for the baby to get up. Bugger. 😖🤦‍♀️😂

Welcome sammy and did I miss other newbies too?

Are you allowed to sneak your own post its in Wreck?

Just received Tesco delivery. I'd asked dh to check if we have any pasta or rice. He said no so I ordered kilo bags of each. It turns out we already had unopened kilo bags of each. Oh well, it's better than last month's potato fiasco. At least these won't go off!

Yes snuggly

I bought my own computer for my last job. It was the only way to get one that I really liked and I was quite particular about which setup I wanted. In fairness, it's still going strong 10 years later.

lonely I had that calpol realisation earlier this year as GP said ds weighs 29kg at 4.5 years so doesn't need baby meds anymore it's weird but definitely more frugal too
I'm not sure if I read your piece right about the labels, did you pay for them yourself out of your own money? While this makes for convenience I would recommend only doing it once and when they see it works well then they buy after that.

snuggly doesn't that just make you mad, but at least it's not perishable or expensive food.

H would often text me and say we're out of x can you pick it up and I'm like no we're not it's in such and such a place!

Unfrugally dd wants to get a new schoolbag for school, she doesn't need one but ds is getting one. She's has used it for two years. Might get them in Edinburgh just to make it a bit more fun for them and so H will have actually participated in the back to school purchasing

ememem84

Hey I didn't know that pictures of my actual garden are out there (hehee not really) that looks amazing!

Cheers for the horseradish tips folks

• aaah so you grate it! I love horseradish sauce with roast beef, looks like we will soon be finding out what it's like with chicken, fish, pork, pasta, pizza, on toast.....(trails off)

I wonder if I can pickle it like pickled cabbage? hmmm

Sammy Jamie Oliver often puts horseradish with fish - trout I think or possibly mackerel.

£100 paid into my account today. Yahooooooo.

And I forgot my pusheen the cat postits. Currently using these.

£3.40 on 2 x bags of kiwi and 2 x punnets of nectarines in sainsburys but I'll get £1.40 back on green jinn and I used the second receipt to set up dhs shoppix account using my referral code.

The seeds arrived today Quite, thank you for sending them to me.

Sammy Impressive progress there. How many years does the overpayment knock off the mortgage?.

We had a fab time at Wimbledon, we were right in the very back row but worked well for us as we were sat in the shade. I refuse to count up how much we spent this weekend- today is a new day

Today has also been spendy
£57 Tesco but included a birthday cake
£65 on cinema tickets at the weekend. We are taking 7 seven year olds.

We are very tired now. DP has his job interview this week. And this weekend is looking busy. Cinema birthday trip plus lunch and two bbqs to attend. We're considering cancelling going to one of the bbqs but this is the one with our old work friends and really want to go. But we can't cancel the other one as it is a family one, and we risk upsetting them. We could have really done with a quiet day at home

Hi everyone.

Hi Sammy from a fellow newb.

Love I'm jealous you were at Wimbledon.

I would love to grow tomatoes and I've had my eye on a victorian style tall glasshouse for ages. Alas, I could buy a lot of tomatoes for £300. Definitely not a cost effective purchase.

I've also been fancying gold rabbit pen in paperchase. £8 though. So I've talked myself out of that one too.

£52 Tesco food shop which included a box of chocolates for my son's teacher.

I saw a shark pen in paperchase earlier. Want.

£27 on a beach towel for ddad for his birthday. His towel is starting to fall apart. He’s apparently had it since him and mum got married. In 1976..... frugal.

Tesco have melons and bananas down to 49p each on hotukdeals. Jokes aplenty on that one.

If you like takeaways (and who doesn't?) theres two books called the takeaway secret and more takeaway secrets on amazon. It's my most used cookbook & dh said the last chicken tikka masala I cooked from it was the best meal he's ever eaten.

You need a decent set of spices, but morrisons, asda, sainsbos do big 100g bags that last ages for 50p-£1.

SnugglySnerd

mmm I imagine it might be really nice with fish I'll see if I can find the Jamie Oliver dish

Thank you Fluffycloudland

It actually feels really good to have a big overhaul and sort my financial life out...On the overpayment calculator I will shave off 18 years...so that will be loads of interest saved and will increase our LTV so it'll work out cheaper when we re-mortgage in the future.

My plan more simplified is save like crazy for 11 years then relax a bit.

It's going to be a tough couple of months being really strict while we get used to a much lower budget but it's a good time as we haven't got any big holidays planned for the rest of the year just camping, or a few U.K days away.

Hello Fappyjack and others who have said hey :)

So can I be cheeky and ask what people tend to do with your monthly grocery shop I was thinking bulk buy stuff from Costco (when I can) so long as it works out significantly cheaper hopefully to last 6-12 months - then either online Sainsburys or Aldi shop every fortnight (£100 budget) are there other cheeky tips like making use of vouchers or anything?

I am so impressed with that mortgage overpayment Sammy. Re shopping, I used to have Costco but I stopped going when I started shopping at aldi.

There produce is good and the cleaning stuff is approved by the BUAV (I'm funny about animal testing).

I do an online waitrose shop every three weeks for meat ,ready made pizza, fish, any offers their running. They send me £20 off £100 spends vouchers because they think I'm shopping elsewhere inbetween.

I would compare prices on mysupermarket.co.uk though, Sainsburys can be more expensive than waitrose.

Green Jinn, checkoutsmart, quidco clicksnap & topcashback snap n save are all apps that run grocery offers, some freebies but mostly money off.

Fluffycloud Thanks for the tips -

I am usually a bit anti-Sainsburys but I like their organic range I know it's more expensive and you can get organic produce from Aldi now so I might have to give that a re-think..

oooh yes cashback sites I have been meaning to join them - I shall have a mosey now I've sat down with a coffee and you have mentioned some I haven't heard of :)

Today I've bought my airport transfer bus tickets €20.83 and a deal for Prezzo £29 for £40 of food, must discuss booking other stuff with H before doing it.

sammy my tips are: don't shop at the big 4 supermarkets. Sainsbury's is by far the most expensive unless you buy the basics range, which if you're going there for the organics you're not. Eat low food mile veg from your garden! Organic stuff often comes from a lot further afield. Meal plan carefully and shop only for what you need for the plan! Honestly just this saved me hundreds.

Costco while a fantastic place to go, isn't always cheaper, as their own kirkland brand is much better than, say Sainsbury's basic range. Large quantity stuff (like tins of coffee) are all top brands, quite often cheaper per 100g when on offer in the normal shops. Plus you have to negotiate past the bakery, sweets, middle isle stuff and pizza and coffee on the way out. I'm not very disceplined and view costco as a big treat!

£6 today in the co-op after work on milk and snacks.

lonelyOversharer

Thanks, I really don't like Sainsburys own brand stuff so I never buy that just the organic range but I might just stick to Aldi. Costco I agree only works if you buy the stuff that is going to save money.

I think what I'll do is compare the prices with Aldi or maybe home bargains or other places and see if it will actually save me money buying in bulk from there instead, we don't need top brands on everything, but some things we do like, like specific coffee. I do like the idea of stocking up /buying in bulk on cupboard items to cut down the monthly food costs later on.

Sammy I want your garden and DH

I’ve just had an NSD!!!

DD is still being a bit of a biter. GRrrr.

We had an aldi open up down the road so pretty much do all my food shopping there now, I thought I would miss some brands but haven't really. I have saved loads doing this.

Tonight's frugal tea was veggie sausage, mash and veg I reckon about £1 per person.

Spent £1 today on a drink.

Going to clear up and then do some baking tonight, feel like making a cake!

It depends which organic food you buy. I always buy dh organic milk because its better for the cows.

I have to have things like tomato sauce organic too. I would buy organic eggs if I had the money.

Totally agree on Organic Dairy Fluffy

Freerange hens can be kept indoors for 12 weeks before they lose freerange status.--so not freerange at all
Its an incredibly cruel industry and IMHO caged eggs should be banned.
Cant you get some hens?

£6.60 on a bus ticket.

Organic stuff is usually to be marked down too you can stock up

Arla organic milk is on quidco clicksnap, half price.