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

Warm, I ageee with the others mental well-being is important. Also it’s harder to stick to a budget if you feel like nothing good is happening for you/you can’t have anything nice so if you can afford it go for it.

Is your debt all on 0%? If it isn’t think about moving it if you can, a loan could be a better option if you are paying double digits in interest on credit cards. Well done on stopping the magazines and things. I had to let my cleaner go 11 years ago (had her due to poor health) it was gutting but manageable - just Give yourself a break on the cleaning front and don’t expect cleaner level standards when you’re also being a busy parent

Lonely I’d get the interest too as long as it’s not costing you interest on the debt before the payment date

Meadow I'm sorry to hear it's been hard. I had a crier too. You sound as though you're doing a brilliant job there.

Lonely that's pretty ghastly being left pg. You've done fabulously to keep it together there.

Today is the day my done up musical instrument ebay post is to finish. No bids yet.

Morning !
Hope em is still tucked up in bed .

I would agree with that you might think about keeping the yoga if its good for your MH.
I keep my gym as it keeps me on track especially swimming plus I could cut down on food.
BUT food is my life and living on lentils would make me miserable.
If I had to I would but I dont so I still eat lots of nice fruit and get meat/fish from the farmshop but aim for zero waste via meal planning.
Dont drink ,dont smoke and cycle everywhere so no transport costs.
Slept really well as we made sure DFC was kept in - not happy .
Need to chuck chilli in the slow cooker then Im off.

Dh gets paid Saturday and we still have money in the joint (Bill) account! We usually struggle this week of the month but we have plenty. I've been really trying hard at sticking to our budget and it's actually paying off. I have £0 in my own account but I don't need anything. Also got £5.50 reward into our joint account (some cash back thing and a reward for having direct debits?) so transferred it straight into another account (it's a savings account but has no money in it )

Morning all. I am off for my root canal. Aaaaargh!

Amazing news about film consultation summer wow! :)

Back later

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lonely I'm so happy for you that you've got that mortgage sorted and it'll make life easier all round for you

Hopefully washing machine repair guy comes today, and hopefully he'll fix it, I don't want to be buying a new washing machine with H at all and I'm not in a position to buy the one I would like for new place either, plus wherever I buy could already have white goods too.

Meeting my cousin tomorrow for a bite to eat and she might pay me what she owes me for our trip away next month, either way it'll be paid against cc debt whenever I get it.

warm have you checked all your bills are the best rate you can get for them? How do your outgoings compare to your income now after eliminating those subscriptions? Could you keep the yoga if it's good for your physical & mental health might be worth keeping?

I feel aggrieved about my cc debt as it was run up when I was working two jobs and just on everyday things like clothing and fuel for home heating and things like that, and H was letting his dd have a house rent free in this time which could've been making money for us, now he's spending money being a disney Dad and I'm arranging to pay it back on a 0% transfer cc and still watching finances like a hawk. Can't wait until our finances are completely separate as no one else will be spending from my bank account except me then

meadow sorry to hear you're finding the early stage with dd hard going, it definitely gets better but my advice is to ignore any milestones that people promise things will be better by because it's disheartening if yours hasn't changed then eg I was told by 6 weeks/12 weeks things would be easier. If you've netflix watch the letdown just to show you that you're not alone

Good luck Cag. I had one recently and it was okay as long as I carefully counted the ceiling tiles for the whole time. Phase two and three still to go.

Morning y’all.

We’re enjoying breakfast in bed.
Ds slept last night which is an improvement on the night before. He didn’t sleep through. And I was awake a lot. Maybe sleeping for 1h30 at a time. But he slept. And so did I.

His temperature is down (still there but down) and he’s got a horrible cough and I suspect a sore throat. But he’s better than he was.

Am home with him today. Just going to take it easy.

Nsd for me I think.

lonely great news!!!

warm agree with the others keep yoga, could you keep the cleaner for a couple of hours just to do bathroom, dusting and floors? I earn similar to you and also get about £100 tax credits plus child benefit.

meadow will do take a dummy? ! My dd was similar and without a dummy I'd have thrown her out a window 😉

warm you might need the yoga just as your time for you also, have you help with dc - friends/family/childcare(outside of that needed for work)?

wreck what made the difference this month? Is it a direct debit/bill you've forgotten about or good budgeting?

Mammy it's good budgeting and not using the account willy nilly on food here and there

Sorry to hear ds is poorly Em. We've been having bad nights too. It's exhausting isn't it? Hope he's on the mend.

I'm currently enjoying work as it's a change to be doing something other than scraping food off the floor and changing nappies. Pleased I decided to go back even though it's hard work to fit everything in.

Sorry I'm not keeping up with you all very well. I often read through but something always seems to happen to prevent me from posting.

High five wreck

snuggly so exhausting.

He seems to be ok today. Still poorly but much better than yesterday.

Morning everyone, and welcome to nursie. Meal planning definitely helped me save money and totally cut down on wastage of food. I also found shopping at Aldi or Lidl for the majority of food helped too.

Cag that puddle suit is so cute 😍 and good luck at the dentist!

Lonely so happy for you. It must be very difficult to adjust your spending habits so radically. Well done!!

One of the reasons I wanted to become more frugal is that I had very poor budgeting skills and knew that if my circumstances changed I would be stuffed. Thinking about things before I buy them is making such a big difference to me. An example is ds2 “only” has three pairs of shoes that fit, previously I would think that’s not enough and buy him another pair, but now I don’t. I have three pairs of football boots and Astro trainers in previous sizes that he never wore, so I have finally come to the conclusion not to buy anymore of this style...

Meadow ds1 was a cryer and wouldn’t let me out of his site, so you have my sympathies. My stress levels were through the roof some days, but it does get better.

Hoping for a lsd today.

Snuggly nice to 'see' you and tayto you too

Woohoo all done. Was easier than they thought so more likely that we will get everything done before maternity exemption ends. Although DD was born end of October she was due November 11th so they go by that date.

I’d got some money aside for a taxi in case I was too sore/dizzy etc but feel fine so am enjoying a walk in the sunshine with a numb face 😂

mammy yeah I made that mistake with the milestones earlier on but have now truly given up as she's nearly 4 months and the crying isn't really any better. She woke up around 8am this morning and has been crying most of the time since then. I think she's finally dropping off to sleep now because she's tired herself out with it all. I can't leave her to cry but I do often wonder whether I should just try it because nothing I do makes any difference anyway so what is the point in me trying to comfort her ? t's really upsetting and exhausting . Also I watched The Let Down on mat leave before she was born .

Seacow Well I am hoping to go back to work 4 days and then DM will have her two days and in nursery for two days, but that's not guaranteed so have booked her into nursery for 3 days in case I have to go back 5 days. But I will get like 70% of the nursery cost back in tax credits I think? So that shouldn't be toooo bad...I'm going to start looking for better paid jobs from around December/January though. Dunno how realistic that is given I'm on mat leave but I am really underpaid for my skill set and fed up about it - my FT annual salary is only £15.5k! I am also going to apply for solicitor training contracts to local firms, the portals open around beginning of Nov so will try do my apps around Christmas when DH has a week or two off uni to watch DD because it will take me a good few hours at least.

Cag Good luck at the dentist, eek.

Curls Hope DS is feeling better poor thing. I get migraines sometimes and they are grim.

I’ve got a reluctant napped.

He’s tired. But keeps waking himself up coughing. Sad face.

I went to see dGP this morning and had a proper chat (I got it right this time). He says there's definitely nothing complicated wrong with me. He says that it's fine to sit in bed and rest, to make up for years of grind, and that joining an orchestra and fooling around on the clarinet is great idea.

Was there ever a nicer set of Doctor's orders?

I started writing the message like an hour ago and then came back to it so have cross-posted with loads of people, sorry .

Em Hope DS gets better soon poor little thing. I am dreading DD's first illness eek.

Girlie I hear you - this is with a dummy!! I'd be insane without one . It helps her sleep and I think her night sleep is so good because of the dummy - she wakes a few times but when you pop it back in her mouth and pat her for a few minute she goes back off again. But she really struggles to fall asleep in the daytime and doesn't nap for more than about 30-40 minutes so I think she cries a lot due to being overtired and once she's overtired and gets herself in a state she won't take the dummy anymore, she will just scream and scream .

Cag I dunno all the details about your finances but if you would struggle to pay dental costs you can apply for a HC2 certificate for full or partial help with NHS costs. DH and I have had them since we started living together years ago so always get free dental etc, just need to re-apply every year as it only lasts 12 months.

Meadowhay have you seen the books that list the times when babies usually nap during the day at different ages? I found that really useful. I think it's in the "no cry sleep solution".

Ooh thanks meadow is that a normal tax credits exemption form? I have a feeling we don’t get the right help for that ATM but will see. DH has promised to go once my stuff is done, he is even more phobic than me!

I’m sorry the baby stage is so tough

Wish I could sit in bed and rest 😴

Meadow ds was a crier. If he wasn't feeding or asleep he was crying. He soon got happier and then was a joy, and still is most of the time. Hang in there you're doing a great job. Also I think it's ok to leave her to cry whilst you catch your breath/have a wee/quick shower but even though it doesn't feel it, you holding her will be giving her some comfort. Better for her to cry whilst being cuddled than cry alone. Ds has to cry every morning whilst I got dd ready for nursery and he was fine but whilst she was at nursery he spent that time having cuddles. Hope that makes sense. I don't want you feeling that your cuddles are useless because they're definitely not 

It's pretty good Wreck I must admit.