Friendly Frugaleers Furtively Ferreting Away to Find Fabulous Savings

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Fabulous lonely. So pleased you are in as place where you can do this. (((Hugs)))

Fab Lonely, so pleased you’ve got your sofa and a more reliable car

Lonely all brilliant

I swallowed a frog today & emailed mortgage company to ask what's my best course of action regarding cc debt

Catface has been super clingy today.

She’s followed me about he house and tried to get in the bath with me. 🙄

We spent £119 in b&q today. Lampshade for ds’ room, lightbulbs, floor matting for garage, shelving for garage, fence paint. We only went in for lightbulbs....

lonely yay sofa!!

Eugh. I've been awake since 4:30. This hotel room is just so hot. I can't wait to go home to my nice cosy bed.

Well, you might as well get all the spending done in one day lonely . I love how things have changed around for you and are more manageable

Glad I'm not the only one who finds it stressful meadow. When my course finishes and I have a day off again I think I may go back to buying most of the presents. At the moment I'm not doing it on principle as I have too much to do. He finally went out shopping at 4.45 yesterday

Thanks for the positive comments! We did it all in one day as the car was in Durham. So stops at Ikea and Costco were on the way. For us, living up here, we only go over thata way about twice a year, and I needed dp to try the seats. I'm rather glad he picked the arm chair as it can be his and only his large bottom will dent it. Thus leaving my sofa in good nick, in theory.

Up early as dd1 is voulenteering. So, a trip to Lidl for me, pick up some pre orders in Argos for dd3 (11 in 3 weeks), and probably a coffee and some knitting in the car. So much for a restful weekend!

We will be absolutely flat out at work for the next month. We have had a simply massive order (3x the usual large size) from a French cathedral. They need it delivered before March 31st! I wonder why?! So, it just shows that some of Europe is twitchy about continuity of supply as well. I might have volunteered for about £400 extra work, to do at home.

Morning all

I was about to say yesterday was a nsd but I spent 1.99 renting BlackkKlannsman

Ds has contact this morning so I need to take him, then I need to tackle the ironing mouintain!

Have a lovely Sunday everyone

Does anyone know how/where I can go for help to decide which savings account will be best for me? I want to put some of my PIP backpay in a savings account as it's just sitting in my current account atm with almost zero interest which doesn't seem like a good use of the money. However I need one I can access quite easily as may end up dipping into it at any point really.

Meadow That sounds like the kind of thing that MoneySupermarket could help with? I know they do a lot of comparison articles. I'm sorry to say that I've foolishly kept my money all in the same bank for ages.

Yes, jam, Valentine's Day is my birthday 😊🎂♥️ and I was properly spoiled - flowers, chocolate, a fancy new necklace and earrings, lilac perfume (my favourite!), plus lunch out at the local vegetarian cafe.

Yesterday £3 for ds at little bouncy castle slide (an older boy took him up twice, and gave him a cuddle after - it was very sweet!) and £38 on more groceries including wine and beer that we didn't strictly need, but ah well. We'll use it all though, and were quite low on a lot of fresh fruit and veg and other staples, so I'm not too worried. But I'm not sure my higher house savings target is that easily achievable during a month with two birthdays in a row for ds and me! Will try and keep to budget, but the rest of the month will have to be very lean.

Meadow I’d look at the Money Savings Expert website. I think you can filter the best rates options by instant access or other criteria, that’ll tell you. Also some are online only, some are in branch, so you can figure out what works best for you.

Excellent news about the spendy day Lonely. That sounds really worthwhile - there’s a lot of quality of life stuff in that spend, especially a comfy bra! . Did you ever get the walls of your sitting room painted? Will your sitting room finally look how you want it with the lovely teal sofa?

I hate an overheated hotel room Wreck

Main spends yesterday were Ocado but it was a big one, around £150. Very little fresh food as we are going away but I did stock up on tins and dried good thanks to you-know-what. Maybe a month’s supply of the store cupboard stuff we regularly use. I’ve not gone for UHT milk etc, only stuff we normally use. I don’t really fancy trying to use up stuff I don’t even like. Ridiculous that we’re having to think about it.

Other spends Zovirax for a cold sore, £6.75, and £20 to get just my hairline touched up with colour, including tip. This is much cheaper than getting the whole lot done but I’ve only just discovered it’s a thing!

Today is washing, ironing, packing, tidying the house for DM and DSis who are staying with the Kids next week, taking kids to the park to run off some energy, making nice Sunday family dinner... and I have several hours of work to do which will probably be this evening /into the wee hours. I didn’t quite manage to get all the essentials finished last week and had another urgent request for info through yesterday 🙄.

Oh and I am locked out of my company bank account (can’t remember all the login details as I’ve never actually used it since setting it up) so I need to sort that out so I can see whether I’ve been paid - I’ve not had a remittance email though so probably not 🙄. Got to sort that out and also request another PO for this current work phase that finishes next week. More paperwork to fight the public sector payments system with!

Better get going- first job is trying on all my swimwear in various sizes to find something that fits. Enjoy your Sundays!

Are you eligible for the govt help to save account meadow? It’s on the HMRC site. You can only save £50 a month in there but if both of you were eligible then you can double it. The incentives are crazy.

meadow I set up an account with Lloyd’s which had much better rates that “my” bank (Hsbc). I’m toying with the idea of setting dc2 up with an account at Lloyd’s and moving ds’ account over as they have much better savings rates for kids. I think it’s 1.7% as opposed to .75% at hsbc.

I’m getting 1.10% on my Lloyds savings. 0.2% at hsbc. But I’ll only get that rate if I make one withdrawal in 12 months.

It’s absolutely worth having a second bank though. It’s someghing we’ve been advising our clients for ages and I finally took up my own advice last year.

Happy belated birthday moi

So pleased for you lonely, really glad you got your sofa.

Woah, savings rates are so shit! I had a gander at MSE. I think the best thing for us is for both DH and I to both open Help to Buy ISAs and gradually pay the money into those, as the interest rate is better than most - and then if we put it towards a deposit for a house, which we probably would do anyway, we get the 25% extra bonus. And apparently couples can both have one each and then combine them to buy a house jointly, so that way we can double the return. Also no penalty if you take the money out etc unlike the LISA. Need to actually figure out where/how to open one though...

I already have 3 bank accounts! A current account, a graduate account, and a joint current account with DH (although barely use the latter, just have the CB going into it atm).

So glad you got the teal sofa lonely
meadow I need to look at savings accounts too. Not much money in mine but need to make it work hard.

Grrr. H has decided he wants to see ds mid week and wants to take him to see the film I was going to take him to see in Tuesday. Why do I always have to sacrifice my plans for him. . Sorry just needed to rant

Oh that sucks, you can still take him first on Tuesday though right? Why should you miss out? 😡 is he being all Disney Dad 🙄😡

I have achieved fuck all today. Feeling super sick thanks to the ABs I think.

Must go and exchange all my TCB credit into amazon vouchers, lots of things we need to get for the house at the moment! And then I can do some emotional spending guilt free :o

Hi everyone,

just done my weekly catch up.

Ggreen you've probably approached your old employer by now but I'd be happy to go back. So long as you're sure you won't want to go part time again in the future.

Wreck eek, that jumper!

Lonely glad your ex put the money in and you didn't have to subject yourself to any of his charming comments! That was a big spending spree yesterday but (for the most part) on sensible things that will improve your quality of life no end and you've a payment plan for all of it. I bet you're counting down the days until Friday . Will you have to hire a skip for your old furniture?

Girlie Congrats. on your new job. You won't know yourself having weekends off.

Seacow sorry things seem so bleak atm for DS. DD doesn't have any SNs but she was also upset when her first tooth fell out. I think she felt that she'd broken a part of herself. But she was very happy the next morning when the tooth fairy had left her a coin and it never troubled her after that. And of course, as time went by she came to understand that the teeth grow back. Did the present of a book help any? I know he doesn't understand the concept of money so that won't be any consolation to him.

Sneaky sorry to hear about the nausea and insomnia. Get well soon .

Right good news on the windfall. Sounds like you took a sensible approach and saved most of it.

Cag so sorry to hear about your DH's diagnosis. Not being able to run must be tough but inevitable, I guess.

Jam belated happy anniversary.

Curvy enjoy your trip to Edinburgh and Glasgow and (most of all) spending time with your DD.

Happier I know it's very early days but good luck with your new romance. Enjoy some space and time to yourself today before the DC arrive home.

Unescorted I now have a mental image of you tickling your garden .

north hope DS has a good time in Tobago and plays well.

moi belated happy birthday

"Hi" to everyone else.

Having a quiet weekend here. After a rainy start, it's sunny but windy. I spent approx. €4 on poppy seed bread and sausage rolls for breakfast. So bad but soooo good! DD is on her mid-term break now so I don't have to rush around getting her uniform and PE gear washed for the morning. And I can have a bit of a lie on tomorrow morning. It's the little things ......

I agree wolf, why should you acceed. Just say you already have the tickets. Can still see DS but will have to make other plans

That's really sensible meadow re the ISA, just check which is better - Help to Buy, or Lifetime. You both can have one.

Also might mention that a couple of accounts offer a high interest savings account if you open a current account and you can put £250 pcm in, easy access. From memory it's M&S and Santander, significantly higher rates than others.

I need to look at the cash we've got sitting in our current account actually.

Fabulous news about the spending, planned spending lonely. That teal sofa is such a ravishing colour.

seacow, did you know you can get small cans of temporary hair dye in Boots? All different colours that you can imagine. Less than a fiver from memory and great for hairlines. Totally takes the roots away.

Aww, lovely to be spoilt Moi. Sounds like you really were too!

That's a bugger wolf😡

Not sure of spends yet - possibly a few quid in Boots on mousse for DD.

20 miles run this morning, gym later and chores in the middle. Rock and roll.

Meal plan (it's just me and DD as DH is away next week).
Pasta and roasted veggies.
Veggie chilli.
Creamy mushroom and mustard 'chicken' with jacket spuds and veg.
Mushroom masala.
Easy meal Wednesday
Sweet potato burgers and wedges, salad.

Can’t catch up right.

My spends last week, £90-ish on grocery delivery
About £40 on miscellaneous stuff

DH - petrol and parking, food outside of home - fecking hundreds.

MIL passed away last week and he’s been driving from here to Kent about 3 times per week since the end of January.

adora

Adora I’m so sorry, your poor dh

Lots of love to your DH, you and your family adora