Scrimping through the remains of September, Austere Autumn approaching, frugal friendly 'Fred

[Justanothermile]

Thought I'd make a new thread, I'll post on the old one and alert to its presence.

All are welcome, we are friendly folk.

H has got my back up over spending for ds’s birthday. We had agreed we would buy one big present between us and then spend no more than 15-20 on a little present from each of us. I’ve already bought my little present and h knows what it is. Today he has told me he’s spending 50 on his little present. I know this shouldn’t matter but it does especially in the context of me having to constantly say don’t ruin that/no we can’t do that because we can’t afford it and then ds going out and doing something treaty with h every sodding week. Grr why can they not just stick to agreements.

Quite when you say people are stepping back because things are getting silly do you mean silly as in life or silly on this thread and, if it’s the latter, what do we need to do so everyone feels comfortable and welcome.

Sea I work at the kitchen table but that’s prioably not possible for you with dd around. Can you disconnet the desktop and shove it in a corner for a bit?

em hope you are all set for moving tomorrow and have had some good news.

Tried to catch up with the thread as I missed a couple of days.

Had a pretty good week so far main money spent has been business related through networking meetings and stationary for biz.

Planned spends today on a magazine and chocolate bars for Ddad and DC2. Ddad provides free childcare on a thursday morning so this is a huge saving on childminder.

Had a voucher for ocado for £15 off this week - random loyal customer voucher so food shopping in at under £40 for the week.

Tomorrow will be spendy as farrier is coming for Dhorse, she also needs a bale of hay some point this weekend plus we are going for a couple of drinks at the pub tomorrow night with friends (this happens once every 6 months or so).

I just had my clarinet lesson and it was good and I only squeaked a bit. £20.

£10 3 x beef mince, organic milk, beer for dh, 2 x smart price anti perspirant, potatoes, bread.

£9.85 ebay. used a nectar voucher & claimed the top cashback £2.50 offer.

kit Has your o/h got an Ocado account? he might get a new customer code. I've done all the new customer codes except asda. Too many bad reviews on here. I know Lonely uses them though.

Sorry about dds dad scarlet x

On way to badgers/cadets. Ugh thursdays.

I would say it’s very likely that the teacher has a lot of confidence in your DD girlie teachers wouldn’t want to risk their pass rate! But worth asking as you may get some extra advice about what to make her focus on in practice.

Tiiiired had fuck all sleep last night.

I'm cold. And tired. I drove for five hours today and went to 14 schools 😴

Curry from a jar for dinner and micro rice.

Oh cag romesh raganathan is boom signing your way Sunday. Wish I could go! Would be a perfect Christmas present for dh and me

Just back from the dentist, dds teeth are good so that's one thing I don't have to worry about!

Treated us to fish n chips tonight £9 for a large cod n chips which we shared plus drinks. Was so delicious!

I have audited and tidied my spice and tin cupboard whilst tea is bubbling away in the IP. I bought a load of spices in Sunday’s shop that I had realised I’d run out of but on tidying the rest (I threw some of the 2016 jars away) I have only had to order one extra and I know where everything is again. I’ve just not bothered keeping it in order lately and the ant infestation clean up meant I made a real old mess of it. It looks much better now so I can get what I need and I know what tins I need to buy, and more importantly what I don’t need to buy.
I can also see one or two meals I can sling together from the contents of that cupboard alone. A good frugal exercise

That's annoying re H wolf, but I can understand the satisfaction re your spice cupboard.

I've spent no extra today and my cheque from British Gas arrived, £149, I've also got a cheque for £77 to bank as compensation from Scottish Power. Result!!

I've done chicken broth for DH in the Instant Pot using the soup facility and it looks amazing. It's on keep warm facility for when he gets in. I'll make stock in it tomorrow and the meat has been used for sandwiches this week. I'm liking the IP.

Dd and me are having sweet potato wedges, roast veg, chilli and lime corn on the cob and falafels.

Menu plan.
Red pepper fettuccine (bag of 8 misshapen peppers for £1 yesterday).
Red pepper and chickpea soup.
Sweet potato dhal.
Bosh pasta.
Chilli.
Roast Greek salad, new potatoes.
Tagine (lamb and veg).
Roast squash, chickpea and apricot HFW recipe.

All ingredients are in the cupboards etc for the meals.

My ds says school lunches this year are alternating between potato and baked beans and potato and sweetcorn because they aren't set up to deal with food intolerance very well, so I'm on packed lunch duty from tomorrow. Better pull my socks up.

jam your menu plan sounds really yummy!

Sorry, not been round for ages, my heads been all over the place a bit.

Got our books back from the accountants along with our tax returns. All looking good and they are half the price of our old one, who did less work for us!

BTL remortgage are going ok, just loads of paperwork to deal with. Just one spanner in the works. I rang one of our tenants to arrange for the valuation, only for him to say he’s been taken into hospital and undergoing tests. And for the time being, given that he was rushed in and left the place in a mess he didn’t feel comfortable with anyone going in without him being there. Which I understand. I don’t want to keep pestering him, so I’ll call in next week and hopefully he’ll be home. He’s a very private person, very set in his ways and I get the feeling he’s not happy about the disruption of someone coming to do this valuation. So I’m thinking if I chat to him face to face and explain that it’s literally a 15 min visit, they will honestly not care what state the place is in, he’ll be ok.

KLAXON it’s EWFL at 8pm

No way Mammy. I did not know that.

£7.07 on Pokémon cards, £1 deodorant after gym as had non in my bag.

Ooh thanks for the klaxon. DD will be pleased. She’s developed an addiction to the righteous indignation she feels on watching the show.

I’m going to get ds to watch this one because he’s a bugger for mayo and similar when I’m not around to watch him (and sometimes even when I am)

We are not completing tomorrow.

Long story short this is how discussions have gone:

Us: we needs these reports and confirmations
Them: sure we have them
Us: can we have them
Them: we’ve sent them
Us: please resend
Them: we don’t have them just invoices
Us: (on Wednesday evening) ok so we need to get our own reports done
Them: fine but it can’t hold up completion on Friday
Us: earliest is Monday
Them : house is going back on market you’re ruining our lives you must attend court tomorrow.

We are not attending court tomorrow. We need three confirmations. Confirmation one piece of work has been done (not yet seen). Confirmation on the state of drains (investigation earliest Monday but they haven’t given us permission to get someone there) and a quotation from someone re flat roof of garage (verbal quotation given to them. They’re not providing written).

They’ve offered a retainer of £1k (for set dates only which equal about 10 working days - not long enough) and have offered £1500 off the price of we go to court tomorrow without the things we’ve been advised to get.

Nsd today though. Yay.

Ah Em that’s really frustrating but it sounds like they are playing silly buggers/bit of brinksmanship.

Curls good news on the accountant but sorry to hear your head is a bit shed like. Hope your tenant is ok and able to help with the survey soon

Jam the broth sounds very nice as does the meal plan. I have to say using the IP all week has made it a doddle to clean up the kitchen - everything but the pot goes in the dishwasher whilst it does it’s thibg and there’s no spitting or bubbling pan to mess up walls and worktops and hobs. I’ve not quite got the knack of liquid amounts but other than that I love it

Oh and my internet banking for my Lloyd’s account arrived today so have finally set it up properly. £ from Hsbc to Lloyd’s on payday. £ less £20 from Lloyd’s ac to Lloyd’s savings on payday. Standing order. Every month. Done.

Banking organised. Tick.

Quick pop in to catch up. German exchange student is here and it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride so far as I thought it might be. It's a very artificial situation and unfortunately, dd who is a chatterbox has been paired with a pleasant but extremely quiet girl. Anyway, there is strength in numbers and so tonight I provided enough lasagne for dd, her 3 friends, their Germans and there was enough for dh, ds & I! They seemed to have a great time and went to bed very tired. Tomorrow they are headed to a nearby seaside town with a famous tower to do roller coasters, fish and chips and a water slide place. That should tire them out too.

North that must have be an some lasagne! You've just improved my frugaleer mental map too.

NSD.

Well done on the teeth Girlie 👍

Wolf my DH does similar but with my XMas presents. Well done organising cupboards, DD1 did our kitchen cupboards last week. She finds it therapeutic and the other DD likes going into a local cookware shop, it’s colour coded.

👍 on banking organisation em but 🤬 at House non-sellers.

Just what is this bosh pasta of which you speak?

They've got a fucking nerve saying that to you Em. Fuming for you.

North Did you make it in a baby bath?

That's annoying em but absolutely right.

Did they all stay too North? Fab going.

Spendy day today. Party stuff and food. People here all weekend. Better tidy up to.