Friendly Frugaleers Ambling into Autumn, watching our wallets and the weather!

[Cagliostro]

Hello! All welcome as we continue trying to use our money wisely!

Cag you have to go in and fill in seperate forms to get those cards once you have your line connected. There will be instructions in your emails and a website page to fill in. If you’ve misplaced it the money saving expert sight usually has the links

Ooh I had no idea thanks! I guess they enjoy the fact that people might forget or not get round to it. DH assured me he has deleted no emails from them at least.

Nice but tiring day today. DH wasn’t feeling great so stayed home but he got some DIY done in the afternoon, he’s moved the shelf from the cupboard (where it was really in the way) to the hallway so it now has the router and phone on it, and various other things like coat racks. Woohoo! He’s off for a week now and the more stuff like that we can tick off the list the better. Stuff is taking shape more and more.

I need to order a replacement bus pass. Not handed in to police station either. I’ll check the bus company once more I think and then find the form. Which I can now print myself woop

Dinner was delish.

Total £132. But all on gift cards and wevhave £18 left to spend. Which we’ll use for sandwiches or something (restaurant also has a cafe for lunches yay)

Dh has a starter of a platter of small duck salad, tempura prawns and a crab cake. Then we both had steak (mine with pepper sauce garlic spinach and greens. He had sweet potato wedges and tomato salad and a chimuchuri) I had toffee pecan ice cream with coffee liquor soaked sponge and hot creamy chocolate sauce. I had a glass of red and 2 g and ts. Dh has two g and ts and a beer.

We walked back up the hill. Saving ourselves £8 on a 10 minute taxi ride.

Sounds list em

Lush not list

Finally read last two days sure what else would you be doing when you wake at 5.30am on a Saturday

What about Sumblox Christmas? My friend has them & ds thinks they're amazing, they're pricey though. Can get discount if you join yes Bebe babble Facebook group

Spends - €71.14 on new kitchen mixer tap(ours has been dripping for ages, new washer would've fixed that but now limescale has worn through the tap itself ) got new outside tap too as that's leaking constantly and then to get free delivery 10 gu 10 led bulbs, 1% topcashback
€60 fuelcard will come out on 17 Sept
€1.90 posting birthday card & legal aid application(no hope but had to try)
€35 waxing
€10 dc pocket money, there's a local event today so I doubled up, it's their first time getting pocket money.
€136 au pair

Today's spends
Wash & blowdry €15, downgraded from cut & colour as I just don't have the money
€1.90 toll
€1.60 newspaper & probably €4 on lunch, might make something to take with me though
€?? on tips, drinks, etc

I've €80 approx and other than lunch, drinks etc other spends are accounted for.

I've removed 3 of these from my bedroom in 24 hours

oh jeepers mammy i hate spider season

we also have the class bear wreck!

i am mildly hungover as had a few glasses of wine watching tv last night. Need to get up and about as we've a plumber coming today and a kids party - will be spendy.

must try the flapjack recipe it looks gorgeous

i have a tesco points credit card which earns extra points also for xmas! pay it off as I go

Snuggly They do mastercard ones that work like a normal chip and pin.

cag I imagine that's exactly what they do.

Red Letter days went under years ago as their business plan was make profit on the un-redeemed vouchers.

I went to a talk once by the lady who was ceo of red letter days. It was at a corporate dinner thing. She was the after dinner speaker.

Her advice - don’t do what I did.

Been woken up by ds. He has had a rummage up my nose again. This seems to be a new thing. I’m such a lucky Mummy.....

Riding today £30. Then nothing.

I’ve listed my old riding helmet on Facebook for sale. I just don’t need it and it’s taking up space.

Dinner was nice as we had time to talk about things.

Re our investments. I told dh I wasn’t happy with all of it going In. I’ve proposed 25% invested (initially) 50% premium bonds (access easily and can get a good return on them - split 50/50 as cant hold them in joint names) and the other 25% high interest account with the bank. Just for now.

He’s also decided he wants “floor to ceiling” doors in the new house (upstairs has regular doors then a window above them...) so these look cooooool.

And we’ve decided we’ll buy the meile washing machine. And a super energy efficient freezer.

I think I'm just going to have a sorting and cleaning day today. Fun. But needs must. Hopefully the dc will entertain themselves they both have homework to do though which I'll have to supervise...

Just catching up after a difficult couple of days.

wreck and tinkys good luck with the class bears!
mammy I keep getting them scuttling across the living room floor in an evening

Toddler is still not sleeping great although going to bed is better than it was. She was definitely over tired not too awake so hoping nights will go back after a few more night of better bedtimes. She is also needing the light left on to sleep. It would be so much easier if she could talk more to tell me these things. This morning she has non stop whinged, I’m feeling drained already .

Spend fails this last two days have included McDonald’s tea £16, unplanned supermarket visit to buy things for tea last night £19 that will do lunch today as well I guess but not great. I’ve just been too exhausted to cook at the end of the day.

Today is a sorting day, house is a tip, shopping needs doing, prep to be done for work. Poor dog has been neglected too so she needs a good walk and I need to look at my routine again to see how I can fit everything in better during the week.

Finally caught up.

Spendy week and weekend ahead.

I've drawn a line under some work stuff so feel a bit better about it. It didn't do in my favour but nothing more I can do that I feel comfortable with. Acas were very helpful.

The thing with having the class bears first is you set the standard. There is no boasting your need to try and live up to. Even though most of its exaggerated. I loved being the bear first.

Morning all. Ds has an activity in half an hour if he ever gets out of the shower. Nails £20. It’s raining here so not sure what we will do with the rest of the day
Mischief I have a calendar with colours for me and ds we each have different colours for activities appointments and work/school stuff. It helps me think about things like meal plans and how I get from a to b in time to do stuff. I strongly recommend online shopping if you aren’t already. The supermarket eats up so much time. A good online shop app can allow you to use the little chunks of time between things/waiting for kids/boiling the kettle to do the weekly shop.

Morning
In bed with coffee then Aldi/Lidl and market for fruit and veg .
Aaah I get it Lonely I thought I had missed something then -as long as you stick to a budget and pay off I guess it works?
The fuckingclass bear .Nothing has induced terror in me as the thought of losing it !
Its all lovely and autumny here
Will be sorting garden stuff as well this weekend and will get some bulbs 🌷🌷🌷

Omg !!!!
STRICTLY
How did I forget

Your jobs being affecting you for a while now hasn't it life?.

em I highly recommend a spin dryer. Even if you only use it for towels and bedding it will save you loads on your electric bill. If you have mains gas white knight do a gas tumble dryer. It's as cheap to run as a heat pump dryer but cheaper. I read that launderettes use gas dryers.

Morning all, just waking up here.

Spoke to a good friend last night who told me getting a massage before seeing the orthopedic people is a bad idea so going to have to cancel that 😔 Ystd was a bad day as felt generally shit all day.

Hopefully today will be better, taking dd to riding later so will see how that goes....

Aiming for a low spend wend.

Life we're going to chessington tomorrow

The dc are being awful. Again. I'm being a shit patent and they're just being horrendous. I feel like leaving they're so bad

MischiefManager try not to be too hard on yourself, maybe getting out of the house for a walk with dog will give you & dc a break from the house & pressure?
I'd prefer to see spiders in living room to be honest, these made a plopping sound when one of them jumped to the floor, that's how big they are. I'm not scared of them just don't like sharing my space with them. One swam when I put him in toilet others went out the window.

Em are doors agreed on or is it a passing phase?

Life glad to hear work stuff is being put behind you, even if you're not best pleased with outcome at least it's not taking up space in your head anymore.

Definitely agree with wolf re online shopping & you can control what you spend more easily

No class bear thankfully, there was from ladybirds alright but dd finished there now.

Girlie I envy your long sleep, awake at 6 here as per usual hope it was pain free, just going into hairdresser now

Its good job he might have drowned otherwise.

mammy not sure. With dh anything could happen!

I like the idea of the doors they look cool. But wierd. And probably expensive. But it’s not a “needs doing straight away” thing. So it’s something to be considered at a later stage.

The only immediate thing is to make sure the loft is properly insulated.

Spin dryer is a good idea fluffy will see if I can grab one second hand.

I’ve told dh Dm and ddad that I’m not drinking (bar a bubbly on ds’ birthday at the end of the month) until my birthday (beginning of October). Ddad looked at me like I said I had four heads. Since being here I’ve realised I’ve been drinking more than I would usually. Not excessive binging but a glass of wine or two a night. And it’s not good for me. So I’m not doing it. Hopefully I’ll sleep better too. And if I’m more hydrated will be better focussed. I’m stressing and need to deal with the stress without “relaxing” with a glass of wine.

30 days of self care starts now.

We only got the bear once after DD put a story in about me and it having a stand up row about it stealing my name. And it spending the weekend at a party under the sofa. I think they thought we weren't taking it seriously enough and there might be a rush to the most debauched weekend away for The Bear. I am not a friend of bears.... people always get me bear related gifts. It is like buying all the Emma's in your life Jane Austen gift shop tat and 29 copies of the book. Also does Bear Grylls not know it is a girl's name?

Our washing machine refuses to die too. It was in the house when we moved in. The dishwasher (s) have not been so lucky. I have just realised with all this appliance talk I can fit 2 double ovens in.... I can get a steam injection one with a pizza stone and then have a normal fan one. I will have to source one that doesn't have a grill because 2grills are never going to be in use... I already burn toast on one while being distracted by the radio. The fire service would need to be on speed dial.... thinking about that it could be an advantage.

I have had such a good week. I have found my mojo after spending most of the year waiting for people to tell me I was going to die. I hadn't realised how stressful it was until one of my colleagues pointed out that the old me had returned.

DS is back to school and DD starts on Monday...she is so excited and has already planned her portfolio work. Her father is pleased as it all relates to bicycles. Themes are purity of movement, cyclical repetition, tension, freedom and historic importance in social change. On the practical side she has access to lots of models and bike bits to use. I am pleased because she can put bits of bicycle to good use and they will stop being a trip hazard.

Spending has been a bit wayward this week...... I needed squid for dinner last night and could not live without a proper roast beef dinner on Wednesday. I need to plan for the rest of the week. On the plus side the pressure cooker does a really good fresh tomato sauce. It needs reducing at the end but the flavour is really intense without going tinned tomatoes / pasatta like.