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.

Aaah paragraphs
Will try to use them
Usual payday stuff,savings and money moved into various pots.
Cash for food withdrawn.

I tried porridge in my slow cooker Wolf
It always burned on the bottom.
I do overnight porridge in a microwave container-almond milk and place in the fridge.Ping 2 minutes in micro while I feed DCreatures.
Makes it gorgeously creamy and only a bowl and lid to wash up bung in DW
Have felt rather meh the last few days.
Walked in and felt so much better.
I must go back on Vit D

"hear", I mean.

Oh no summer I think you may have to keep trying with the suncream to try and find one you like, I've nursed a few people with skin cancer and am very cautious in the sun now.

Well I'm off work til the 5th of Oct 😕 spoke to my manager and she felt it was better I stayed off then go back too soon. Other than mat leave this is the longest I've ever had off work.

Dd told me Ystd that one of her new friends dropped her lunch all over the floor so she very kindly bought her some lunch. On one hand lovely and kind but there was a bit of me thinking I can't afford to keep topping your lunch credit up 😐 that thought depressed me a bit!!

Need to get some batteries for the cat flap today, no other spends planned.

Thanks Girlie, I'll try harder. Do you think it would work if I wear my big brim hat and put sun cream on my neck and the low down bits that aren't covered by the hat? The thing is on my neck which I think was maybe not shaded by the hat.

I'm sort of aware that this is likely to be more of a problem living in the south than in Scotland. Back in the north my friends are all having vitamin D deficiency things (like MS) and I suppose down here it's skin cancer that I need to watch for.

Thank you jam.

Happy 1st your ds Em And happy Birthday to Sea Ds. The cakes both looked lovely.

Wreck I am so sorry they've done that to you.

Mammy excellent result there. I would keep quiet too. It takes money to start a new life.

Yesterday was £20 petrol, 13p banana, 59p tomatoes.

Today is £10 hairbrush for blow drying. Might buy some vitamins if I can take the excitement.

I suspect the Pressure king and instapot are fairly similar. On the instapot thread someone emailed Pressure king and they sent her a big pdf cookbook for it.

It’s a strange feeling girlie when you’re not used to being off sick. I have had two periods where I was off with neck/shoulder pain and I felt so guilty the entire time I was off. When it started to get a bit better I would constantly be thinking could I be at work right now? The bottom line is your manager thinks you would be better staying off and I would put money on it that if you went back sooner you would regret it. Once your back that’s it - it’s business as usual and with your type of job there are unavoidable moving and handling tasks that you will end up doing. Take this last week guilt free and rest your arm

Summer I thought you had low vit D and that’s why you were sitting out with no cream on.

That's right Born. I was sitting out in the shortest shorts that the garden wildlife could stand, and a t-shirt, and the biggest hat ever. It seems as though maybe the sun crept round and got down my neck by accident. #Fail.

But the clarinet man thinks he might be able to bring my beloved clarinet into tune, so honestly I couldn't give a rats ass about anything else today. #Woohoo!

Summer it’s tricky isn’t it to get the balance right. I have had very low vit D levels in the past and felt really awful, so I try to have short periods of no sun screen and take a vit d spray over the winter. I actually feel my levels might be low again as despite a great start to the summer, in Scotland, we have had rubbish weather for weeks now. Hope the clarinet gets tuned to perfection 🙂

Thanks Born, yes it's very tricky to get everything right. On the plus side, my vitamin D level went up from 29 to 87, so at least that worked.

Sorry to hear that your weather is a bit disappointing just now. I miss the sound of the rain and the clean clean puddles in Scotland. If you see a really nice one, will you give it a little splash from me?

girlie, I wasn't going to comment because it's none of my business but I think that's wise. Give yourself time to heal properly. Plus, if you went back early and then made yourself worse, that might your compromise employment rights? Just a guess that second point. I know the money aspect is crap, so don't mean to sound twee

£5 class
£12 M&S, closing down sale, Food Hall. Good haul of non essential but non perishable items that I'd usually not purchase due to cost.

Oh wow that good but somewhat trepidatious news seacow, that's happened so quickly. Cheerful would be a stretch re DS but I'm determined to see the positive!

Thanks for new thread @just.

Spends today:
£2 work canteen

Mortgage advisor got back to me earlier. Only illustrations, not agreements in principle but he’s found deals that will save us almost £200 a month! Just need DH to take a quick look over them and if he’s happy I’ll email to get the ball rolling in the morning.

After 2 years of having just enough but nothing left over (which I know is still a good place to be, there’s plenty worse off than us) I’m looking forward to getting some savings behind us again.

Oh, and yay for paragraphs again!

born that is exactly what I keep thinking! Today everything has been hurting a fair bit so feels like the right decision but still weird being off so long.

Anyway I've started a job application, it's a higher band and I don't think I'll get it but hey ho why not.

Sea that’s fantastic news if a bit whirlwind

Sunny I didn’t realise you could identify pre cancerous cells outside the cervix that’s really interesting (although obviously worrying for you and I hope everything is ok) this thread is a real education

Girlie good luck with the application and I agree with Jam that a manager being a real bastard could use an early return against you if you were off with the same thing in the future

I have done a days work and trimmed my roses and buddleia - my hands are shredded! I also sprained my ankle yesterday conkering with ds and it is a little bit sore!

Thank goodness the paragraphs are back.

Woo hoo for paragraphs! I have missed them.

Printed all day today, as yesterday, it's quite physical work! Hoping to paint for the rest of the week, but bet I don't! Nsd so far, but must order a dpd tonight.

I was very brave today and got my boss to witness my signature on my mortgage deed. I take it that this is the last step? Hoping so as I've had another 2 months of credit card payments go out in the meanwhile, and 2 more months of interest added. I shall not miss my credit cards

I'm sort of sad, as I said I'd never borrow against my house, but it is the only sensible solution to years (10) of not quite having enough money. I coped for the first 2 years by not eating properly, just doing the school runs and nothing else, going no where. When I met dp I started claiming tax credits. I'd had some very bad advice (cab) that said I would not qualify, so did not query it. It got easier then. But since then I have been using credit to just keep the cupboards filled, the cars running, and presents round the tree.

I cannot emphasise enough how this thread has helped me wake up from the sleepwalking into more and more debt spiral I was in. I now have full time work, am about to be a big girl and sort (and pay back) my debt, and go forwards with the abilty to spend wisely and budget reasonably. to all of you who have helped me get to this point.

Woo hoo lonely that's an absolutely fantastic post about what this thread is, you're going to be another of the success stories

My dsis is going through a very tough time at the moment and we live at opposite ends of the country but will be together this weekend. Wish I could be there more for her.

That's a super post lonely, sums up what this thread is really about. You are lovely too, and fully deserve to be climbing out of the spiral.

wolf, I'm having a go at veggie curry tonight in the IP, I'll let you know the outcome.

That's brilliant news Curls, that's quite a sum to be better off by! Savings sound good.

I've said this before I think on the thread that when we started the business, we more than halved our income. A good month for us at that stage was if we could afford a takeaway at the end of the month, at that was about one in four. We were the same, scrimped and saved so as not to go into debt but it was a real triumph if we had that pizza, which was probably a tenner at the time.

I remember those days, I'll never forget them. The inform how I use finance even now. It's like a constant dread that the car will break down or interest rates will rise etc.

Good for you guys lonely and curls.

We are having chorizo carbonara and garlic bread tonight not in the slow cooker. The garlic bread is a couple of days out of date. The creme fraiche is a couple of days out of date. There is nothing wrong with either. H would have binned both if he was here and I hadn’t hidden them successfully. I’m trying to base next week’s meal plan and shopping around the IP to give it a good run for its money

And Lonely that is an absolutely brilliant post.

Great post Lonely , your turn around has been fantastic.
Jam great attitude re your ds. Obviously it'll be hard, but it's what you've brought him up for & this is the first step. The leaving for uni thing is another thing which seems to be being whipped up into a hysterical frenzy on facebook & I don't think that's helpful. One of ds' friends has a mum who is a friend of ours, but will be a nightmare when he goes & it'll all be shared on facebook!!
Good luck with the application Girlie you never know.... Definitely a good move to stay off work a bit longer. Have you heard back from physio yet?
Seacow exciting about the job, but what a whirlwind! Maybe it's better that you don't have too much time to think about it?
No heating on here yet, I'm holding out!
Uni day today. They do lovely soups at the cafe there so I spent £1.17 on a bowl of spicy parsnip & sweet potato which was delish.
Need to get petrol tonight. Get paid tomorrow but a flat month as I didn't submit my mileage. Next month will be better as I increase my hours from October 1st & there will be 2 months of mileage.
Spent £10 on salmon & broccoli on the way home (that got me quite a lot of both). I made salmon & broccoli pasta for tea as it's one of ds' favourites & oily fish is supposed to be good for his eyes. Used half the salmon, the other half can be frozen & the broccoli will get used later in the week.

Wolf I never pay much attention to dates on food, use my eyes & nose instead. Your tea sounds good.

Right I think I’ve decided on the meal plan.

Lonely what an inspiring post. I’m so happy that things are coming good for you.

curls that will be a fantastic saving for you.

Girlie good luck with the job application it would be great to get more money. In Scotland the way our pay rise has been implemented staff who have been newly promoted will end up with a 27% rise in 3 years time as they will move up the band quicker.

Summer I sure will 😜

Another thread passed me by a bit! I've struggled to keep up since going back to work.
Thanks for the new thread Jam. Maybe I'll do better with this one...