The Friendly Frugaleers; joyfully saving through July

[Wolfcub]

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Free cider on clicksnap and the milk offer is still on. Four pints of organic milk for 30p in sainsbos.

Good luck cag. I'm just glad you'll be warmer this winter.

Fluffy I just looked at those clicksnap offers and they have cashback on them. Do you get that? I didn't know that was a thing.

Yep, it's a thing. Mostly its new products that have recently launched but sometimes its more useful stuff.

Em I just checked my tcb. I have no money owing and b&q have declined my cashback so now I have to do a claim. Wish I hadn't bothered now.

Lawn aerators are £14 in argos. I said to dh to get one but he said no .

Wilkos have started marking seeds down online, some flowers but some veg too.

£62 Aldi, £19 Iceland, £2 pound shop, £63 Sainsbury's.
Will be back Monday for the 25% off

I have no t shirts do will have to get some. Probably primark.

Thanks all. Just sitting down with the baby for breakfast. Dropped Caglets off at a party which keeps them out the way for a bit, they are getting dropped off at (new) home later. DSS, DSD and other SIL coming up later too.

So right about the heating fluffy, it's not so much on my mind being so hot (although it's also easier to get a lovely breeze through the whole house due to the French windows, so it is cooler as well as warmer) but it is probably the best bit of having a new house, in terms of knock on effects with health etc. I wonder if the landlords will sort out the heating before getting new tenants

Anyway. Onwards! Must get to new house shortly.

£38 petrol.

Picked up things from post office. Poop bags for catface, two hammam towels for gym/beach etc (they roll up smallll!!) and a very interesting looking box which apparently has my anniversary present in it.

We’ve been talking this morning about money. Dh wants to set up an investment account now. I’m for it as it’ll invest in a tracker fund so less risky and we can put £50 a month in at present and make it work. Long term he reckons we’ll see results. I twitch about investments as I’ve never had them before. But I advise clients all the time. Although advice is the wrong word as I’m not qualified to give investment advice. But I do a pros and cons etc. But playing with my own money?! Scary.

good luck with the move cag

should be a NSD.. in spending it inthe garden , making lamb koftas / kebabs and roasted aubergine with hummus for later and we will have the bbq out ..

I had a couple of glasses of wine last night so much for giving it up again .. started off so well with just a Seedlip and tonic while DH had but caved on the red as we had steak..

D cat is now on antibiotics, after urine test showed ans infection but he is yomping them down with a piece of cheese . he seems perkier already ... results of more blood test due on Monday , but vet pretty sure its diabetes now.

I love Hammam em much nicer than fat towels and they dry really quickly .
Have got some that are ages old and soft and lovely.
Only DH uses fat towels now .
NDN DC are SCREAMING .
First day of the hols ok but they are at least 15 and 10
Apparently they all sleep in ,so might have to double check the garage doors with a good bang or 2 at 6am when I head out in the mornings evil
Their visitors always park over our drive ,every single time ,so zero shits given.
Cleaning,then hair cut and colour .

Well I've had a clear out the cupboard and fridge session.
Going to sort out the uniform in a bit and give the decent stuff to our local MP as she is running an initiative to give to poorer families.

I will say what I've got on here first as I'm happy to post to a frugaleer.

Em Dh and I are wondering about investments like that too. We're always nearly doing it and then not quite. It's so hard to get any kind of interest in normal cash savings accounts at the moment.

It all seems to be about attitude to risk and with the global political system a bit bonkers just now I don't feel super-confident about the state of the stock market. On the other hand getting 0.9% interest on savings is not very exciting.

Girlie July has been the worst month of the year for me spend wise. Must do better next month once the holiday is out of the way. Holiday panic spending has been a killer

wolf August will be like that for me. I think July has been good as there haven't been any unexpected spends and I've been working loads so not had chance to spend money!! August I'm on annual leave and we're off to Devon for 5 nights so will be £££.

Spent £23 on plant food and a gift for my step mother as it's her bday Fri.

Yes Wolf, me too . My credit card is the biggest it’s ever been. I’m going to pay it off tonight but even still I am horrified.

Have a brilliant day finally moving in Cag . I’m so excited for you all! Clothes parcel might arrive today too.

Just took ds to Costa for cheesy toast - his favourite treat. £7.60. DM visited yesterday (having had an awful week giving up dad’s dog to be rehomed and scattering his ashes on her own - she didn’t ask us to go ) and both DCs were a delight. She really enjoyed them and I felt so happy to see them together. And after the turbulence of the end of term I felt DS deserved a little holiday treat. Then £20 top up in Tesco as I needed a chicken. And also have been asked to take pudding to a friend’s house tomorrow so I will make a fresh blueberry cake later, needed ingredients for that.

DH is wrangling with the roof racks for the car and looks thunderous so I’m leaving him to it. I’m about to properly start packing, eek. Soooo much to do. I also need to leave the house in a reasonable state for my sister, who’s house sitting. Leaving a tidy house is an even bigger pressure than packing for a month! I hardly know where to start... maybe I’ll do the kids’ stuff first.

Rain was forecast here yesterday but it didn’t come. It’s really hot (almost 30C) and humid. Bleurgh.

Not sure if I mentioned this but my bank have increased my credit limit. I’m keeping it though as it may be useful for new house things.

The investments side of things I am more twitchy with. However. I’m going with it. On the proviso that we go for capital growth. And all income is reinvested (otherwise we’ll pay tax on income...). Currently our money is not making money in the bank. Or is but slowly as rates are shocking. So we need to make it work for us.

Clothes arrived yesterday thank you seacow sorry I was too frazzled to PM :o was excellent timing in fact as it turned wet and cold so at least she had something to wear on the way home! They are lovely, I especially love the watermelon coat 😍 thank you 💐

Anyway we are in I'm just taking a moment to feed the baby in our new bedroom. House is full of stuff but it definitely feels bigger.

That's useful to know Em. I think we ought to do something like that. I have an investment magazine that I got with my Tesco tokens that tells me all about different tracker funds and the fees they charge. I have an iWeb investment account with a whole lot of money in an ISA there. I just haven't actually invested anything, except for a little bit in RBS shares that got me 10% in 3 months. I was pleased with that.

Afternoon.

Hope the move is going well cag
I have had the world's laziest day. I am saving all my doings for tomorrow. I might cook dinner... But it is good life skills for the kids to practice.

I would quite like to buy some shares in known companies like RBS again, but then I slightly worry that Brexit might make the stock market explode or that we might suddenly get a Corbyn government and that then companies like RBS might be nationalised and them my money would be gone.

At the back of my mind is the thought that we might have a massive stock market crash at Brexit time and that the time to invest would be just after that when the market is low. I'm not sure if that will happen though, so it's hard to know whether to wait or not.

I have form on this though. We waited a long time to buy our house and bought at the bottom of the crash in 2009 so that was pretty good really so I do slightly trust my own instincts, more than other people's anyway. #ShowOff

Fluffy. I’ve had my fake tan and have a quick question if you don’t mind? As I’m off on hols for nine days so am likely to come back less tanned than I go can I top up with tan drops in my aftersun or is that a bad idea?

That's fine Wolf.

NSD.

We had a lovely time at the cinema with DD1 and her friends. I only had to do two toilet trips with them mid film, and that was after 2 hours. They were good at lunch too.

We've come home and collapsed on the sofa as we've had a busy couple of weeks

£60 lunch
£25 on eBay
DP filled up my car with petrol

I think dinner for us will be leftover birthday cake 🍰 . Will find something more nutritious for the DDs though

I hope it is going ok cag. Takeaway or pub tea is the official dinner for moving house day.

We need to start planning for our mini holiday too. As we have one day after school/work ends and we in reality me have sorted nothing yet

cag hope the move is going ok.

Wolf I know what you mean about panic holiday spending. We go in 3 weeks and I’ve got to get the kids to try on all their summer clothes to see what fits and what doesn’t. Not bought any sun cream yet either. I was going to get some from Aldi last week but all I could see them selling was factor 15, which is no good for us.

Also need to start buying a couple of polo shirts each week ready for going back to school. I find the Morrison’s Nutmeg ones to be really great quality, the collars don’t go all out of shape like they do on some more expensive brands (Debenhams I’m talking about you!).

Took DS2 to the local annual games festival. People get teams together to compete in an ‘it’s a knockout’ type competition, it’s really good fun. Plus there are beer tents, stalls, bands etc. Cost us £9 just to get in but it’s on tomorrow as well so not too bad value.

Hoping for a chilled out night. Pizza for the kids, steak and salad for me. DH is working so I get the tv all to myself!

We have been nap-fighting now for an hour and half. Ds has just dropped off.

He is warm. And grouchy. And a bit off his food. Can’t work out whether it’s development phase. Teething. over-tiredness or something else. Hoping for not the something else. His temperature is around the 36 mark. So that’s ok. Just warm. But it is warm. He’s finally crashed out on our bed.

I’m lying on bed with him. Just chilling and eating pop chips.

Well that was spendy £121 decathlon, £35 ish Smyth's toys, £16 boots, £30 IKEA, £1 hot dogs, £49 fuel,
Phew