Frugaleers dripping their way through a wet January...

[SneakyGremlins]

Hang on, that makes us sound like alcoholics

It's that balance money. Yes you need something to make life bearable but not if it stops you paying the debt.
Ok where is your debts. ? Credit card loan. Etc. Can you shift any of it round to a lower interest rate /0%>
On credit cards have you heard of the standing order trick?
Your last payment make it into a standing order so you pay the same each month as the debt reduces. This is because minn payment is a % of the balance and reduces with the balance. Go for the highest interest rate first. Throw any extra cash at it.

YY to reduce food waste. Have you meal planned? Do you get branded food or own brand?

Awful night here too. Lots of tired frugaleers today I think!
Welcome Money.

If you do want to keep sky it's worth ringing them up and saying you want to cancel because it's too expensive and keep going to the very end (worst case you say you need to speak to dh before you definitely cancel) but chances are they'll offer you at least one cheaper deal. If you do cancel they'll ring you a month later to offer it to you much cheaper. They offered it to us free for 6 months!

place marking - i need to get back into the swing of the thread
€91.33 in Dunnes (total was €111.33 and used €20 in vouchers)
€2.35 on lozenges and small sliced pan as I brought all my food except bread to work this morning
€5.50 on soup before grocery shopping last night

I've got a bit of a headcold so bowl of soup out was a nice treat.

Hi everyone, not posted for a while but have beeen reading. Ds1 has failed some of his prelims so I have been trying my best to help him 😣. It’s been 30 years since I looked at these subjects so it’s been a steep learning curve for me and I have been spending all my spare time on it.

The plus side is I’ve been too busy to shop much so I’ve had a few NSDs. I did manage to catch the Boots 70% sale so got a few bargains to give as birthday presents. I have two in February and three in March 😬.

It is great to see you back Lonely. Cag I’m glad you’re feeling able to post more. Welcome to the new posters.
With regards to luxuries, I agree with Life fine to have but not if they are stopping you from paying the debt. I know it’s tough and it feels like you should be able to have the odd treat but being debt free would be so worth it.

What I have learned from this thread is that everyone prioritises their spends differently. Some things that I would choose absolutely last to cut back on, others would see as an easier way to save money. So I guess it’s about prioritising what you want to lose last and cutting back in other areas.

em I think you’re feelings are totally natural. It’s a big shock falling pregnant on the pill. It’s not dh that has to rearrange his life to accommodate a new baby so it’s easier for him to be super excited, so don’t feel bad that your feelings don’t match his xx

Meadow I have known a few compulsive liars in my time and never really worked out how to deal with them. If I had my time again I think I would politely point out the inaccuracies in their stories as in my situation none of is did that. I think we are conditioned to be polite and somehow that seems rude, but remember it’s their lies that are the problem and not you.

Hey born :)

Meadow I wish I knew what to advise. I have had two friends that lie. One I no longer see because her kids were nasty bullies and I eventually just had to almost ghost her :( she has totally got her comeuppance as they now have no friends :o the other, they are well meaning but exhausting and I love them to pieces but it’s very frustrating being their friend TBH. I just eyeroll inwardly and gently call her out on stuff. There is nothing wrong with walking away from bad people though.

Girlie the show was a waste of time TBH. Extremely biased in their choice of home ed families, it was so predictable that they wouldn’t show happy well adjusted keen to learn kids with great social lives. In fact even some of the call outs for participants asked specifically for newbies and rejected people with more experience, kids who had great exam results etc

I don’t actually object to the register idea at all or even visits, so I don’t get all the debate about it, but the scaremongering was stupid. I shall stop talking now :o

Lots of people have shared my post about it though which is a nice ego boost, and it’s given me more confidence to actually write something I’ve been meaning to that I want to submit to a disability site called The Mighty

Morning all.
Haven't posted for a bit, dd2 has been a bit poorly, so have had to take a day off to take her to the Drs later, just to rule anything out.
Welcome moneyworries
Em, your feelings are completely valid
Sneaky, yay glad you can get free prescriptions
Cag, great to hear you have got the ball rolling for the assessments.

Spends haven't been to bad. Did get myself a new backpack, which has a secure pocket on the back, so is on my back, iykwim. Lots of pockets inside and a laptop pocket, will hold a4 paper too and holds loads of stuff, and only £27 from Amazon, wish I had one like that when DCs were younger.

battenburg there was a recipe once...but can’t remember which one! But essentially microwave/bake a few sweet potatoes, fry red onion and garlic. Scoop our inside of sweet potato and add garlic and onion. Add can of kidney beans. Mash. Add cumin and maybe chilli. And black pepper. Smush into burger shapes. Fry or bake. Eat.

money I’d absolutely keep the sky if you can afford it and use it. Agree though in trying to get it for free for a bit. Have you looked at now tv? We buy the passes every now and then. All the sky channels. But less cost.

I texted my gp yesterday and asked her to come to midwife apt with me next week. It’s a community midwife who works out of my gps surgery and also does a hospital stint one week a month. So it’s the same person I’ll see every time.

Thanks all - a couple of people PM'd me so I think the consensus is just to do what I'm already doing and the others will figure it out themselves soon.

I finally got my letter from the DWP today about my PIP award and backpayments. The money, whilst obviously not life-changing in the grand scheme of things, will feel life-changing. Apparently it's due very soon. I am so excited. We can finally pay off our overdrafts and there is a realistic prospect of never needing to be in them ever again. We might be able to get a car. I might be able to do driving lessons. I need to not get ahead of myself but I am so so excited. Obviously we need to sit down and do lots of sums, but still!!

Will try to actually talk to people better now -

I second grass with Jack Monroe recipes, they are great!

Snuggly Sorry you had a bad night, we did too . The last 4 or 5 nights DD keeps waking in the night crying lots and needing settling, the first two nights it was an entire hour to get her back to sleep and had to pick her up and rock in her rocking chair etc, then the last few nights we've managed to settle her in her cotbed without picking her up but it's been one time of it taking like 45 minutes and then another shorter time of 15 minutes, and then last night it was one long settle, and two short ones....zzzz. I shouldn't complain as I've hurt my back so can't even lean over to pat her etc without really bad pain so DH is doing it all but obviously my sleep is still disturbed. He's a gem, I complain about him too much tbh.

We don't have Sky, just Freeview and Netflix. I love Netflix. I especially love watching their original content from different countries as it's insights into cultures that I would never get to have on any other cable tv really. Like I've just started a series called Justice which is a legal drama set in Abu Dhabi which I'm really enjoying. It reminds me of dramas in my DF's home country as the style of the show is a bit similar even though the cultures are quite different.

meadow my colleague recommended “justice” to me today! He’s just got back from a business trip to the Middle East he watched it on the planes. Said it was excellent. So will absolutely give it a go now. 😀

I adore Netflix.

Currently watching: the ted bindi tapes, sex education, friends (again) the sinner, and fyre.

FFs. TED bundy.

I finally submitted my assignment. Whoop! But I am so knackered today after writing it, I am counting down the hours until I go home and can go to sleep.

DD2 has finally gone back to the childminder today. I almost wish she would call me to collect DD2 so we can both have any afternoon on the sofa 💤

NSD yesterday and so far today.

Well done love!

I have made some minor achievements today. Little admin things like cancelling a payment etc. Need to go into town shortly, I totally don’t want to, I’m becoming a hermit. But it means a bit of baby free time.

Also booked our Sun £9.50 holiday! Couldn’t make the Lyme Regis thing work as we’d need much longer than four nights to make the travel worthwhile. Instead we’ve gone for a Haven place we’ve been to before, familiarity is good when we have the baby as well :o much nearer which also means some friends could pop down for the day. £180 four nights in the bigger accommodation. Went for March, as the job DH is quietly hoping for starts in May. And our other option of going after summer holidays probably isn’t sensible, given we will likely have the Somerset trip to pay for then depending when they book in our assessments.

Sex education was soooo funny em
Still watching the sinner, and the alienist too.
Watched the film Split recently, it was amazing - totally in love with James McAvoy as an actor now, he was incredible in it. Going to see the sequel Glass with a friend soon (but need to rewatch Unbreakable first)

Oh speaking of cinema... I mentioned the other day that DH complained about the weed smell 🤢 and got three tickets, well they actually asked everyone to also email when they got home, DH did and got three more tickets :o so that’s my ticket to Glass, and probably the Lego movie.

Not managed to pop in for a few days... just wanted to say best of luck to Greengrass with the PIP tribunal. My boy has ASD and I expect he will need support forever. Whether he gets it is another matter... it’s a battle and then some. All the very best.

Enjoy your freedom Love!

Had a tricky couple of days... DS’s behaviour was quite difficult on Sunday, all we did was homework for 40 mins but he really struggled (with the pressure /concentration as much as the content) and he fell apart a bit afterwards . I just felt really down for the rest of the day about how difficult even simple things are for him, and for us. Hey ho. Then yesterday I had to work late cos I’m just not managing to get through everything in my reduced hours. Went to bed at 3am, up at 6.30, knackered now. Dd is napping, I might nap myself in a mo.

Would love some amazon prime or Netflix suggestions for my flights /holiday. I especially like a good drama

Not as frugal here as I should be... some little farm animal toys and books for dd fell into my basket. And some very chunky yarn to crochet a wee toy basket for said farm animals

I have loads of housework to do but sod it, I’m going to nap 😴

Sea that's a long time for homework I think. Dd is 8 in year four and they're only expected to spend a total of thirty minutes on homework. Ds is in year one and has optional homework of which he does none

I've decided to do maths rather than guess at my budget.

So tomorrow, after overdraft fees I have £130.

£120 after paying friend back

£100 after paying for phone

£70 after paying for electric for the next fortnight

£30 after paying off Argos card

£15 after paying off council tax.

So £15 for food for the next fortnight - that's more than last time so I'm quite chuffed

I might be talking out of my ass as I don't work in education or anything, but I really feel that homework is unnecessary for primary-aged children. I'm pretty sure places like in Scandinavia don't have homework for primary-aged children, and they start school significantly later than we do, and they still have better educational outcomes. All homework does especially at a young age is further ingrain the differences of opportunity between people with parents who can/are willing to help/encourage with their homework, and people whose parents wont/are not able to. It's really unfair.

My children won't be doing homework until Y6 - when it's more Sats prep type stuff.

Children need to be able to be children.

I'm not keen on any homework at primary age either.

Dd has agreed to take part in a type one diabetes study. It means she has to have blood taken so I'm so proud of her. They've sent her a children's book all about it plus a certificate for afterwards

How does this sound?

I am writing to request a refund for a Prescription Prepayment Certificate, due to myself claiming income related ESA and being exempt from paying for prescriptions, although I was only made aware of the fact I'm exempt recently due to the fact that my leaving care worker is off due to a long term illness.

I rang the NHS Business Services Authority today and spoke to Julie at Approx 15:15 who explained I was eligible for a refund. She also explained I need to return the certificate, however I didn't receive a new certificate when my PPC renewed, simply a letter confirming the renewal and confirming the direct debit dates and amounts, so am unable to return said certificate. I believe I am also eligible for a refund of the previous PPC, the details of which should be accessible using my reference number.

Please make cheques payable to

Wreck I think it was only meant to take 10 mins, that kind of exemplifies the problem!

I don’t really agree with homework for little ones either. More often than not we don’t do it with DS - I definitely don’t/ won’t do it during the week as he is wiped out, and they often forget to give it out before the weekend. The two reasons we sometimes do it are to help him get the habit and understand the expectation, more in preparation for later years (he’s very rigid, if we don’t start now, at least nominally, he would likely refuse to start in later years) and to get a chance to see for ourselves how he handles an exercise and how much he is able to follow instructions and work things out. That’s the depressing bit tbh - it’s not really that his brain can’t do the actual maths, it’s more that he struggles to process what’s being asked of him and to focus his attention. I’m not really bothered whether he can manage the curriculum exactly, but more about whether he can understand simple instructions. And that’s what’s got me down - that and his stress behaviour afterwards. DH is really good at doing it with him - he gets blocks out to make it visual and is very patient, but it's still really really uphill .

I don’t know why it hits me hard. It takes me 30 mins of warning, prompting and preparation (with sand timers and whatnot) to get him changed out of uniform each evening. So homework was never going to be easy!

I napped for 1hr 20 mans feel much more human. Dd is in my good books for letting me nap so long. It was a good job I put an alarm on for the school run or we’d have slept through it!

Ooh Girlie I sent a bunch of coins off first class today so hopefully they’ll arrive tomorrow, in time for the big day. Sorry it took so long!

girlie I haven’t sent those coins either!!! Aaaah. Will get on it.

Pets at home have decided that despite taking my order and money and shipping it here they don’t deliver to jersey so it’s going back. Sigh. They are refunding me though. But still means I have to now go to the out of town place tomorrow lunchtime to buy catfaces litter. Sigh. Bloody particular cat.

Busy day here today. Am really looking forward to fetching ds from nursery. Given its Chinese New Years he’s had ducky spring rolls for lunch and chicken hoisin stir fry for dinner. #spoiled

I have no idea what we’re having for dinner. Can only hope some sort of chorizo pasta spinach ness. With cheese.

Em we don't have litter tray for WreckCat.

Sea I understand why you would want him to get used to doing it. It's a tough one.

Sneaky that sounds great.