Spending sparingly in early Spring - frugal friendly folk gather round.

[Justanothermile]

New 'fred

@Wolfcub @Cagliostro 🤗🤗

I had NSD as worked

Thanks a lot everyone. You're very kind and I really appreciate the support.

£1.90 for the bus home from childminder's

Have just sent a message to riding instructor. My pulled leg muscle is healing and feels better but I don’t think I should ride in case I damage it. I’m gutted. I really wanted a few more rides before I absolutely had to stop before baby girl arrives. But I know this is the sensible thing to do. I absolutely do not want to cause myself an injury. 😭😪

On the plus side it’ll save me £30 a week and I’ll get more quality time with dh and ds before no2 arrives.

Once she’s here though (well after I’ve healed etc) I’m hopping right back on.

Job one tomorrow morning, set up standing order to send £30 to savings every week until the first week of September. 22 weeks of saving £30 = £660 saved.

Great saving em but sorry the lessons have got to go on hold for now

Another struggler with the clock change too but lots of work stress which has been keeping me awake thrown in.

DD is not well so I have said I will stay home with her tomorrow. Not sure who needs the day off more!

£4.50 on a book for DD to arrive tomorrow as I felt sorry for her

Cag that's so rubbish, I would contact PALs and complain.

Wolf have a cry if you need to, sounds like a shit day.

We've been out for dinner tonight which was really nice, went with a group of friends/colleagues that I've known for a very long time. They kindly split the bill between us to include dds meal which was really nice of them and meant dinner for dd and I was only £17.

Dd is having more school problems, am waiting to hear from her tutor as 4 kids in her tutor group called her over Ystd and proceeded to call her names and go on about her appearance 😡🤬 i could honestly kill them. I try so hard to build her self esteem up and in 5 mins it all for nothing. Ffs.

Oh girlie that totally sucks. I don’t understand why some kids can be so vile :(

Wolf hugs x and for anyone else who needs them

Just to keep up the TMI levels, the mooncup seems to have worked, I’m not risking it overnight yet though! Felt proper weird using it though

Trying to do more DLA now, really have to send it soon, but Cagletini not sleeping.

Would PALS be able to do anything?

That's awful girlie. Big hugs to your DD and to you Kids can be so vile to others

Cag yes definitely and you should be able to do it all online.

Girlie poor dd. I'm dreading secondary school 😭 I hope you get it sorted.

Should be a nsd yesterday £5 yesterday in the works on a couple of 'surprise' bits for the Easter holidays.

We have a frost this morning

Wolf hope you got to bed and got some rest.
Cag YY to pals but also try the consultants secretary of you have one. Was it the gp who didn't refer? If it's the GP complaint to the practice manager.

Good plan saving the riding money. Already paid for when you are for to be back. Win win. Sensible, but hard, to stop now.

Ah girlie, little shits they are. Poor dd.

I did something for me today. One friend wanted to meet for a walk tonight, another friend can't meet for food, another friend would run but I'm seeing her tomorrow anyhow, so I decided for me that I'm going to go to gym and swim afterwards #selfcarenotselfish

On Monday I received a Christmas gift from a subcontractor bottle of pink gin, great except I don't like gin, but it'll be used at parties anyway or my friend will buy it from me, opened the bag today €50 one for all gift voucher too

girlie how awful your poor dd

girlie poor dd xxx why are girls so mean?!

Spends:

£85 😱 boots order (big toiletries order - nappies shampoo deodourant etc)

£65 gymshark on a pair of leggings and two tops for dsis for her birthday. A colleague swears by this stuff and it is expensive (way more than the usual M&S stuff we get (which incidentally is great value and quality)) but fantastic quality and cute. And it’s her birthday. and if she puts on weight again she can switch with me haha

Both via top cashback.

wolf is falling over part of a condition you have? How are you today?

€25.20 on six bandana bibs from Rain & Conker, Irish company with free delivery over €25. This is dniece's first birthday present & I will get her a book for Easter also.

Spends today:
£33 shoes for DD
I'm currently resisting the temptation to spend money on chocolate and/or a sugary drink; I've just eaten an apple instead

Oh that's horrible @girlie. Your DD is so lucky to have such a supportive Mum though.
How did the therapist reduce your expectations @happier?

She said that 10 sessions is not a lot of time and some children open up in that timeframe but others won't and from how I described ds that it's likely he won't. That it's not a quick fix and most of the work will need to be done at home

Oh Girlie that’s horrible, kids are so foul. I really hope dd finds some nice friends soon

Happier yes apparently crappy balance can be an issue with arthritis, it’s not all the time but I was definitely very off balance yesterday

Em maybe save the riding money to book yourself a special hack somewhere lovely after dd comes

Happier lovely of your client to get you such a fab gift/tip. Fingers crossed the therapy is successful. We are still travelling that road so if you ever need and ear to bend you know where I am

@Happierwithouthim Hopefully you will find it useful. She might say that to emphasise to parents that they have to work with their DC at home; I'm sure some parents (not you!) would expect a quick fix solution.

Updated spends:
£47 diesel and bread

Trying to motivate myself to go out for a walk/run...

Thanks for all the lovely support, have spoken to her tutor and hopefully got a bit of a plan in place...

Had a quiet day today of catching up at home, popped to Aldi and got final Easter bits and some fresh bits £30. Can't believe its the end of term on Friday

Cag hope you don't mind but I am going to pm you about something!!

Fairly low spend week so far. Need to buy bread and milk today and probably pay for a prescription
I did purchase tickets for Avengers Endgame for later in the month. Our half term doesn’t start for another week yet.
Need a trip to the supermarket tomorrow I think as the fridge is a little bare

Glad you've got a plan to support dd Girlie. It is so upsetting seeing them struggle with that kind of shit. You sound like you're giving her brilliant support & are a great role model for her. Lovely that your colleagues included her meal in the split when you went out.
Happier dd had some play based counselling when she was 11 & in Y6. It was through school and provided by a charity & she could only have 4 or 6 sessions (can't remember exactly now). It really made a difference to her at the time and she still talks about it sometimes now. Hope it helps.
Cag I guess it depends where the problem with the referral has happened as to who to complain to. PALS is good if it's a hospital issue.
Dd arrives home tonight. I am looking forward to her coming home, but it has been very calm & peaceful without her! Have done well this week, using up meat etc from the freezer, but need to go to farm shop this aft to restock with meat & have a £10 loyalty voucher to use. Going away tomorrow for the weekend. The friend who I'm going with is equally frugal so we are planning to minimise costs as much as possible, lifts to & from the station, packed lunch/snacks so that no need to buy rip off airport food. Having just gone through our budget and knowing that we've got the driveway/garden project coming soon, we could've really done without the expense. On the other hand, I'm really looking forward to it, it will be great fun.

oo! Joining this thread. need to save as much as possible for house deposit!

What's everyone's best tips of the frugal life?

girlie that's great that tutor is helping you to help dd.

dd is really suffering with anxiety at present too so today I'm going to eat a frog and put her on list for help too through camhs I think it is, got a number from a friend.

She talked last night about needing €3 for school earlier in the week and she was going to ask me for half and her dad for half, I hate that she feels she has to do this, and blame him entirely as he doesn't feel dc need protecting from money worries

Welcome kittens my top tips are to keep a close eye on direct debits, make sure you're on the best deals and switch providers regularly if necessary, shop at aldi/ lidl and know you're other discount/bargain shops (poundstretchers, Poundland, wilkos, the works etc) for what's cheapest.

I always have a little internal debate before spending money about whether it's truly needed and I work to a budget each month.

Thank you north for the kind words, I certainly don't feel like I always get it right for dd but I do try!!

Happier sorry to hear the kids are struggling, my guess is they will settle soon it's just been a tough few months for you all.

I've got another day off today as am working the weekend (my last one!!) it's cold and wet here and I'm not feeling very motivated to do much!!

My hand aches, been handwriting some more of the DLA form while DSD is referencing her last uni essay, we are sitting in companiable silence :o

Thank you for the thoughts on PALS. DH is phoning the relevant secretary today and we will go from there if the outcome is bad. I am not a complainy person (I just whinge privately or on here instead 😳 and never actually follow it up) so we will need a kick I think!