Spending October organising our spends - friendly frugaleers this way!

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

Just done a post office run...£28, I knew it would be a lot (9 parcels) so transferred from paypal before I went. Also paid the remaining £28 for my works christmas meal. Got lots of "can't keep away?" comments.

cag there is nothing wrong with supermarket clothes. The ones I wear (probably 60% of my day to day stuff) are fine, wash well, and are years old. Having a few new bits makes you feel good too.

Just done something kind of frugal. Dp has a £300 Garmin watch that he no longer uses. Dd1 wants/needs an activity tracker for her DofE, so I charged it up, bought (£9) a pretty strap for it, and we have done a full factory reset. I could have sold it, but then hadn't put one and one together, as I've been bidding on, guess what? Garmin watches for dd1. Doh!

Laundry going on the line in a tic, then mixing more plaster.

Hi plink yy to meal planning and online shopping. The key for me was admitting how much money I was wasting on keeping the house stuffed with food.

Oh also am having issues with my life insurance. As I said before I got caught up with a broker. I asked him if I would still get the amazon voucher L&G advertised for taking out a policy with them and he said yes. I then ended up finishing off all the details with someone else.

Once I had agreed to everything I said 'when should I expect the amazon voucher?'
'Oh you don't get that if you use us to take the policy out because we do all the leg work and paying for the drs report (liar L&G do that)'
'Well I was told I would'
'Oh, well if that's what you were told obviously we have to honour that but all our calls are recorded so I'll have to go back and listen to them'
'That's fine'

That was last Monday and by Thursday I haven't heard anything so I emailed and said 'will I received policy docs by post or email as I haven't received anything yet?'

Quick response to say 'it'll be by email let me know if you have any problems accessing it'

Friday morning I email back saying 'thanks I haven't received it yet when should I expect it? Also can you confirm I'll be getting the amazon voucher?'

No response so far. I just want to cancel the whole thing and go through L&G myself as the brokers have been shit. But if they confirm I'll get the voucher I'm happy to stick with it as I've come this far. What should I do?? Also thanks for reading all that 😅

Yes I figured the newness was enough to give me a boost. :)

I need to meal plan. Got some batch cooked stuff to use up with the aim of doing a new load later this week ready for after half term. Specifically stuff that DH can have in single portions too, after late shifts, so as to not just eat cereal! Opportunity for nice things that we enjoy but the caglets don’t like chilli and curry.

Good shout on the cheap meals too. DD always complains about jacket spud but it’s one of the few things that DS will eat. OTOH he doesn’t like eggs and DD does and it literally just occurred to me that we can combine the two as neither are much effort and they can be the “not everyone eats the same thing” type meals as they’re all cheap and easy and make a change from endless bloody toasted

Toasties ffs 🤦‍♀️

Going to have my veg mix from the freezer with couscous in a sec, and cottage cheese (longley farm, it’s the only decent one!)

This time a year ago I was just starting the induction process. Which shows how long it took, since baby isn’t one until Thursday evening!

Cag dd doesn't like jackets so will have beans on toast instead

Neither of mine would eat that either 😂🤦‍♀️ Fussy gits. Bloody love beans on toast myself. With cheese obviously.

Obviously 🧀

DS doesn’t like toast (will eat cheese melted on bread) DD doesn’t like beans 😂😂😂

Cag Congrats on the great niece! Hope mum and baby are both doing well.

Lonely A lot of my post-baby clothes are from Tesco now. I needed loads of new clothes as lots of stuff was clearly never going to fit again or had been stretched whilst I was pregnant, and Tesco is the nearest large supermarket so most my new stuff is from there, just basic stuff like leggings, hoodies, jeggings, PJs...all fine stuff and nice and cheap.

Am having a down day. DD and I both been crying on and off all day. Really feel like I can't bear it anymore. Also just exhausted from only having around 6hrs sleep a night, interrupted 2 or 3 times. She sleeps like 8-9 hours with a couple of brief wakes for her dummy and resettling but I can't sleep! I am exhausted but I go to bed and have palpitations and think anxious thoughts of relive the birth and then the same thing happens each time she wakes me so I'm getting much less sleep even though I get in bed like 30 mins-1hr after her. Being so tired is making my coping with the crying harder too.

Also really stressed because the new guina pig came yesterday and after a promising start the bonding went pear-shaped and I separated them because I was scared they were about to have a proper fight and one/both get injured. They are friendly living side-by-side atm so we are going to try again this evening, I can't do it alone cos they need someone's undivded attention in case things get ugly and if DD sets off I can't give them that so need to wait for DH to be back, but that won't be until like 7pm as he has a driving lesson after work. Very sad and stressful as terrified one or both will get injured if they fight and if my boy gets injured I will probably never forgive myself! Also if the bond doesn't work we will have some tough decisions to make, about whether to keep them living side-by-side or return the girl pig to the rescue, but that could potentially mean DH making the 3hr, expensive train journey to the midlands to return her which would be a whole day written off and the expense and stress etc .

Hi all, thought I would join as money is pretty tight for us a the mo - I work full time & my partner is a student who had a part time job though he recently got made redundant - right in time for Christmas. It's just us 2 - no kids or pets - not sure how I've ended up on mumsnet but you all seem very friendly and hopefully I can get some ideas and try to keep on track!
We've recently moved into a new flat so are in contract with utilities etc. Trying hard to meal plan as pp have discussed, just struggling a bit to see the obvious cheap meals to have etc.
We will get there!

Hi wreck, Christmas, caglio and lonely

Thanks for the welcome 😃

I haven't checked my utilities yet. We moved in April so we've been settling in. It was such a stressful process (aren't they always). Scrimping, saving, begging and borrowing for every last bit of the deposit. I got grey hairs 😂 but I think it's definitely time to have a look and see what we can do, what we can save on. I have Netflix at the moment too which I really don't need.

Ooh I've been thinking about TopCashback... do you get a decent amount from it?

I do all my clothes shopping on eBay. You can get some really nice stuff pretty cheap. Second hand really doesn't bother me although I don't get why people sell/buy second hand shoes 🤔

Well the meal plan I did is probably going to last us til the end of the month. We still have burgers and fish pie to make 😄 I try and plan for big batch cooking so they last us a few days. I'm gonna start looking for some more slow cooker recipes though. I haven't ventured much afar from spaghetti Bolognese so it'd be nice to add something different.

Made the best, easiest soup ever the other day and it tasted lovely!!! Whole bag of frozen butternut squash, whole bag of frozen sweet potato, 1 onions worth of frozen onion and stock. That was it. I just whacked it all in and hey presto. Lovely filling soup!! We stick to frozen - the fresh stuff never gets eaten up in time and then we have to throw it away. OH hates throwing food away 😂😂😂

We've had a nice day so far.

I had my clarinet lesson, which was also a playdate for ds. I only have one more to go before the exam, but I think I am doing sort of okay. I have to learn arpeggios and how not to screw up unexpected during tunes it happens every time, so not that unexpected. Two more weeks of practising to go.

More usefully, I feel like a brand new person after each lesson, which is a good thing, and who cares what happens in the exam really.

We're packing to go on holiday tomorrow.

Welcome Plink
Meadow I’m sorry to hear you are having such a tough day. Hopefully the piggies will get along better later
Em glad to hear you have been signed off, please use the time for rest

I am having uncooperative ganache issues. I also seem to have spent the entire day downloading, updating and setting fiddling for ds it’s a good job I took the day off as he would have had a meltdown I think by now

Sea hope
You manage to get a bit of time to work. It can be hard working at home and juggling family at the same time

Hi tarriance

Let's see...

I have a salad every day for lunch where I can. Salad bits are pretty cheap. I have it with egg mayo (again pretty cheap to make) or chicken (from frozen).

Try batch cooking spaghetti Bolognese- Aldi is ideal for these ingredients. Super cheap. I fluff it up with other veg too... canned/frozen peas, sweetcorn, carrots, mushrooms, kidney beans... you can squeeze loads in there to really spread it out.

Fish pie - frozen fish bits (don't go for the smoked stuff unless you want your house smelling of fish for weeks😂), cornflour, butter, milk, cheese for sauce. Mash on top. Ideal.

Frozen veg and frozen chicken are always ideal to keep in the freezer and just whack out for a simple meal.

Jacket potatoes, beans on toast, pasta bakes (again fluffed up with various veg or tuna), omelettes are good too and finally soups. I made a super easy cheap soup the other day. See upthread if you want that one 😊

Hope you can take some of those ideas.

Thanks WereWolfCub

Unfortunate about the ganache. Would love to offer some suggestions to help but I haven't reached that level of cooking/baking. My baking skills go as far as Victoria sponge and banana bread at the moment 😂😂 if i remember correctly
it's quite difficult to make isnt it?

Hi Plink , hi Tarriance welcome.

My boys are tall too. DS1 is 13 and almost as tall as me at 5ft9. He’s been wearing men’s tshirts and tops for about 2 years. And this summer has gone into men’s trousers and joggers. Blime, that was a shock to my wallet! Bless him, he’s great at looking for bargains tho. He needs quite a lot of clothes as his school is non uniform.
DS2 is going to be even taller again. He’s head and shoulders above his peers, 9 years old and size 7 feet, age 12-13 clothes. Years ago I had an online shop delivery and the guy was stood talking to him, asking him about playgroup and was he starting school soon. He was 18mths old! When I told him, the delivery guy said, I thought he wasn’t very talkative! 😂

Plink that soup sound lovely. I’ve got to make some this week, got a few peppers and onions that are about to turn.

Ha ha that makes me happy about the clothes Cag. So nice they’ve had another life especially since we had so many and didn’t wear them much

Meadow if the worst comes to the worst does the new Gpig have to go back to the original rescue? Is there another one nearer to home that might be able to take it? Also, on the list/birth anxiety, if you are having a head time with that some birthing units offer the option to talk with a midwife about your birth, answer any questions or concerns you might have. Might that help you to put it behind you? It sounds terribly stressful if you can’t even sleep when the baby does.

Wolf is your ganache splitting? You can save a broken ganache by adding warm (not hot) milk a couple of tablespoons st a time and beating like crazy. Depending on wolume it might take 6-8 tbsp but take it bit by bit. The milk helps it to re-emulsify.

Hi Tarriance! We don’t eat too frugally for evening meals (too much meat, DH is bovvered though I’m not) but we do eat well, cook from scratch and don’t waste stuff. I eat a lot of leftovers for lunches or soup. Or a rice salad with veg chucked in.

Oh meant to add Wolf that this works best if the ganache is still warm but not hot. 32-34C is ideal.

Eek, sorry about the typos. I hope you can work out what I’m banging on about, Meadow!

Plink ganache is quite easy to make it just sometimes doesn’t quite do what you want. Sea no not split it was just taking longer to thicken to the consistency I wanted. Sorted now and cake is decorated. It is definitely death by chocolate in fact I’m not sure I ever want to see chocolate again!
Welcome Tarriance

Unlurks from writing my assignment to welcome the newbies. Lots of good tips here

I will be back when I finished the bloody annoying boring thing. Almost 2/3s of the way there. I need it done so I can enjoy my week off.

Lots of second hand textbooks arriving here as I can never make the library before all the good books go so not too frugal. But they'll be sold back on again when I am done at the end of the course.

Sorry to hear things are so tough meadow

Just to add in here...pumpkin soup is excellent. You can eat any pumpkin sold for carving. They are super cheap and v yummy. Nutmeg (just a teeny bit) really lifts it, as does a bit of curry powder. We bought 2 today...1 for dd1 to carve (my god she took a long time choosing it) and one is already roasted in the oven (chop, deseed, splash of veg oil, oven 180° 30mins), brings out to flavour to add to soup later.

My bog standard go to soup: onions, carrots (whole bag), spuds (to thicken), sweet potatoes, butternut squash and/or pumpkin. I use a veg and a chicken oxo too. This blends uber smooth and is thick and comforting. Is also the only soup dd3 will eat happily.

First batch of skimming done. I also now have a blister on my palm 😿

Lonely I am in awe of your plastering skills

Welcome newbies 😊

I've had a nice morning, went for a swim £4.50 first proper swim since my back/arm trouble and it seems okay....

Met a friend for a cuppa and bacon buttie £4.50 had a look round the shops for a dress but didn't see anything I liked.

£27 in aldi, have bought lots of fresh stuff to try and be a bit more healthy.

Meal plan:
Today veggie spag bol
Tomorrow fishcakes and salad (for me) veggie sausage and veg for dd.
Wed chicken casserole (for me) jacket spud and beans for dd.

Thus pesto pasta with salad.
Fri pizza and salad.

It's a bit annoying having to cook two different meals but hard now dd doesn't eat meat and is generally a fussy bugger. I am also a bit fussy bit in other ways 😂

LSD £1 on a scarf in the charity shop. Had a lovely day at the beach yesterday, just £3.50 for parking.

It's half term here this week, I'm working on DH's days off and have 1 day A/L to cut out childcare costs.

Reached over 5000 points on e-rewards so I have claimed 5500 Nectar points. Its says allow up to 28 days for it to reach my Nectar account does anyone know if it normally takes this long?

Meal Plan:
Pork Chops with mixed peppers, green beans and feta cheese
Spaghetti Bolognese
Creamy Garlic Chicken
Cottage Pie
Pork Stir Fry
Mozzarella Parmesan Chicken