Spending October organising our spends - friendly frugaleers this way!

[ememem84]

New thread because old one is almost full. All welcome. fluffy can you be a doll and please post the helpful threads? X x

Well done em, hopefully once things get moving the stress will lessen

Welcome Warm, I’ve become a single parent this year. I get basic maintenance from h which considering other people’s situations I consider myself lucky to get but I am Carrying both joint mortgage and a big chunk of debt amassed together. I agree with making sure you have single person discount on your council tax, that hmrc know for child benefit purposes in case there is any dickering later on. My tip is to make sure you know what is going out and where too. If you have “spare” money after you can pay all the bills then think about what you need to spend in a year like uniform and dentists and that kind of thing and put away some of the spare for that.

I think I’ve caught up on today’s thread. I’m not going to try and catch up on last night

Welcome warm :)

Just faced soft play with the baby for the first time. It was HEAVING! But only £1.90 for me and baby until she is 1 (the others were at dance)

Also went to paperchase and got a bus pass holder, coin purse and wallet bank cards/paper money all in the sale. £10.50 to reduce the frequency of me losing things that I’ve chucked in the “buggy tidy” (which is anything but tidy) I consider a fair price 😳😳😳

Em he reeeally doesn’t do change very well does he 🙄 I assume the rhino escaped the tip trip?!

Just back from a long and very wet walk in the woods. It was littlest dds first proper splashy puddle walk and she loved it 😍!

I've been so busy and good this morning. Listed about 20 lots on ebay (3 sales yeaterday, yay), moved three huge storage boxes to the conservatory (all listed), and have been to the tip. Filled my tiny car to the brim, so a car load gone. The £20 spent in sainsburys wasn't so good (only needed milk), but dd1 and I decided on rocky road for lunches this week. Plus got loads of reduced veg, and 2 reduced warburton fruit loaves, they are my favourite. I'll bung them in the freezer.

Three bowls of washing up done (so far...) and I'm googling dishwashers! 3% cashback with AO...

€10 in card for h's grandsons birthday, I didn't go to party.

Did a bit of rearranging of hallway & made plans to implement a no outdoor shoes indoors policy. I hope it'll reduce cleaning & increase relaxation for everyone. Must buy a mat for hall as H left last one out in the rain & it was destroyed.

Seems a lot of us are decluttering at the moment.

I'm with jam on running but I can't deal with sleeves when running for some reason. Big thighs too so mainly black 3/4 length running tights for me

Very unfrugal trip to McDonald's for lunch. Dh paid but I drove and it's a 35 mile round trip

wreck thats the mileage to our nearest too, yet we still go as well

The rain stopped here in the night, so I guess it's slipped south to you lot! Everything is soggy. Must tumble dry both my coats before they get smelly.

Lonely it’s definitely pissing it down here so you might be right

Ooh cag, I love paperchase, may have to take a trip.

Aww this that sounds lovely.

mammy, yes I only run in short sleeves too, I get really clammy
I do have a few 3/4 lengths so will stick with those.

Wreck, you must have really wanted that McDonald's! We have 3 within walking distance here.

No cag he doesn’t. I’m struggling with it. It’s a massive thing. I’ve told him I’m struggling but his reaction is “well the quicker we do it the easier it will be” which makes sense. But still....

I’m exhausted. Am taking time out to have a nap. Maybe. We have some furniture IN dparents garage which dh wants to get up to our place. So will probably do that this afternoon. But for now I’ve retreated to bed (just on bed not in bed) with a cuppa (my first today!) and just resting. I was awake at 2. Then 4. Then 6. And on the go since then. Exhausted doesn’t even cut it.

We also need to do the following:

Change addresses everywhere. Sigh.
Set up broadband (choice of 3 extortionate providers here so will be looking at around £50 a month...)
Register ds for school (eeeek!) he won’t go until he’s almost 5 (september baby) but the primary school which is our nearest gets oversubscribed quickly. So we need to make sure his name goes down soon. Dh is still trying to persuade me private school is the way forwards. I’m ok with it if we can’t do the local one. As hell have to go somewhere. But I worked out for primary school alone it’ll be £40k. Yikes! (That’s alsp not including uniform and other incidentals). So non fee paying is the way to go.

£10 work stuff
£4 sains.

Dh has come round to the idea of a graded tumble dryer. Because a man at work bought a graded appliance and it’s ok. Grr.

I think water boards ought to produce a basic subsidised dw, it makes little sense to wash up.

Dh has a cold and the weather is miserable so really fancied one. I got a drive thru and brought it home. We would be extra poor and fat if we lived so close to take away places

I love paperchase. Massive fan. I also love the reward card! I’ve managed to get so many vouchers.

Thinking about it I get stuff this month as it’s my birthday. May stock up.

Curvy Well done you.

We told the bailiffs were his ex gf was living. And her mums house. And her work switchboard. Ha.

Wreck a little bit of what you fancy is always good for you

em enjoy your nap

Ahh yes fluffy, I gave his work address, as that is where most of the dept was, he was a mechanic with his own premises. His mum's, which I did feel bad about as I did have a great relationship with her, and luckily still did until she passed away.
And the new girlfriends house, which was fun as she had no idea, ha, served him right!

I’d forgotten my reward card (because due to aforementioned lack of wallet I leave most cards at home) but thankfully they did it with my email address yay! I also saw a narwhal tree decoration 😍 but resisted for now.

£57 primark 😣😣😣 and still need to do George order (although can at least take a few bits off that I already bought). And then need to get coat/puddlesuit

Hello everyone sorry for being awol for so long again - I simply cannot keep up! But I love reading all your chat and can't bring myself to just skip to the end...

Hope everyone is doing well and hi to all the newbies.

I've kind of fallen off the frugaleering path a bit. Life is really busy at the moment with work and 3 kids so I'm finding I'm throwing money at things on a daily basis just to try and get some breathing space. Have also been struggling big time with anxiety, GP has put me on meds in addition to the talking therapy I've been having for the last couple of years and things are gradually starting to feel calmer so fingers crossed.

I need to work out a plan for getting back on track. Like Lonely we're trying to do a big declutter but I find it quite depressing tbh, just seems to result in a massive mess being made! Need to catch up with YNAB and start monitoring spends on a daily basis again. Still loving the instant pot, we've had some great curries and stews! Struggling with this week's meal plan mind you, anyone willing to share theirs for inspiration?

Anyway that's enough from me, will try to keep up this time!

€3.00 on ds's yogurt drinks from SuperValu he doesn't like the Tesco ones and 2 packs of reduced Cajun chicken for DD's lunch, I needed change for laundry machine as it doesn't take card, had to drive to a further away one too as nearest one was being used. Fitted all laundry into 2 machines so €12.

Ran while washing was in machines & will walk dog when I get home before getting stuck into tidying & decluttering my room

Hi lillylollylandy ynab will help curb those spends

Roast turkey dinner
Chicken Curry (McDonnell's type)
Beef Curry (pataks type)
Turkey taco mince
Home made wrap pizzas
Prawn noodle stir fry

Hey lilly! 💐

My previous post made me realise how much things have changed actually, as a couple of years ago I’d have barely noticed the cost and not been careful with what I was buying and forward planning for Christmas etc.

I need to look at what paperchase vouchers I have actually, I also get £5 for my birthday in December just in time to get next year’s diary :o

I’m feeling a bit gutted as DH was asked to do overtime on Wednesday and I said no. We could of course use the money and previous times we’ve just gone with it but I have been really struggling lately both physically and mentally.

BTW I mentioned a few threads back about him maybe moving store and doing mornings. Not gonna happen due to staffing issues. However he is going to see if he can move there but do 3 later instead of 4, but longer shifts. This coupled with even shorter commute and different days off would potentially still make a big difference, so fingers crossed!

That's great Cag. My dh works long hours too, so I know what you mean about the difference it makes to have them at home. Good luck there.

I’m having a very lazy day. At some point I really ought to get off my arse and do something

3 short days would be awesome Cag. Just like hospital nurses do.

Slow cooked beef tonight
Burgers
Breaded fish
Shepherds pie or kebab.
Chicken dinner/possibly fajitas.
Pizza
Spaghetti Bol. Or cottage pie.