Austere April continues with the Friendly Frugaleers! Join us as we discuss our direct debits, prattle about penny pinching and possibly babble about Brexit...

[Cagliostro]

All welcome!

Spendy evening. Booked the hotel for when we come down to Bibic for the Caglets assessments. We are staying in Yeovil :)

Morning all.

Went to bed last night feeling meh and have woken up feeling dreadful. Sore throat stuffy nose pressure in ears and sinuses. And all achey. Great.

Possibly because I’ve been working so dam hard and now I’ve stopped. Ds has maybe had similar and Dm has definitely had similar. Ffs. Still in bed. Have told dh I’m staying out for a bit. He’s bringing me squash and a cuppa.

He took ds downstairs about 10 minutes ago after he (ds) leapt off the bed. Literally stood up and threw himself off. Crazy little guy.

Ds is having a haircut today and then we’re doing some artsy crafty stuff. Making an airport sign for dsis. 😂😀

Interesting fact I learned yesterday about a colleague. He has a ladyboy as a cousin in law. His wife is Thai. And her cousin is a ladyboy. Was shown pictures and there’s no way you’d know. She looks stunning. Apparently she hasn’t had the “snippy snippy tucky tucky filly filly” surgery done yet which makes it even more astounding how unbelievably feminine she looks. She’s hot. I’m not into the ladies but wow.

I’ve always said to dh is I decided on having a boob job (not that I really need one with my hoofing EE’s) id go to Thailand. Thinking being it’s be nice to recover in the sun, probably cheaper than the U.K., and if the surgeons there can make it unnoticeable that men become women they’re obviously very good.

Rest up em.
Ikwym about the femininity of lady boys and their stunning looks.
You will definitely need a lift after 2 pregnancy. Best start saving.

Usually kid activities today £30. Dd needs new jodhpurs as her are too short so a trip to the farm stores later.
No shopping today as eating up to go away.

life I’m resting. Staying in bed. Then will get up when ds and dh have gone haircutting.

I am already saving haha! However I may not need it. I had big boobs anyway. And my trainer reckons with the right gym work I can make them “pop” again. Although right now with me being pg they’re popping all over the place. Almost out of control! Haha. Wore a top to work the other day which I didn’t realise until I got home was quite as busty as it was. May as well have worn a neon arrow which said “hey!!! Look. At. My. Boobies!!” attention seeking much

Em how rotten to be ill on the first day of your break. Send dh for sinus rinse. Hope you feel better soon

£30 yesterday on take away (good proper pizza made by Napoli grandpapas so worth it)

Hope today is a nsd, ds needs a new gym shield but as he destroyed the last one he should be paying for that himself. I may need to sub him a bit as he seems to have been blowing all his money at the corner shop on the way home from school.

Need to get up to take him for contact and I don’t want to

Treating myself to a food shopping delivery today. Such a treat! Coming in at £68 so hopefully I haven't forgotten anything. My car is down to 60 miles of fuel but I need to try and eek it out until Sunday when we're passing through the big town as it's 10p more round here and I refuse to pay it.

They’ve gone!!!

In the last half hour while dh was showering and getting ready ds has smashed the thermometer in my face, we’ve read a book, he’s brought me loads of toys and I’ve blasted him with the hairdryer a few times. He loves this. Thinks it’s hilarious. Cold setting full power wind in his hair. Cue giggles.

I’m going to find myself some breakfast and have a hot shower. Then crack on with some laundry.

I know I need to rest. But I also don’t want to spend all day in bed. I mean that’s a lie. I do. But don’t think it’s fair on dh. I’m not going to overdo it though. He knows I’m feeling rotten.

wolf it is bad luck but I think maybe I’ve been pushing myself and ignoring all signs that I’m run down. So it’s probably just as well I have a week off with no major plans (other than wardrobe tidying and assignment writing and Netflix).

So the reflective layer of my wing mirror pinged off going down the motorway to drop ds off for contact. I drive on mirrors all the sodding time and where I park a side mirror is essential. I have looked on you tube and I’m going to order the part and try and fix it myself.

I will read back the rest in a bit... Affordable is 80% of market rent inclusive of service charge. The market rent needs to be based on an RICS rental valuation. In my area I encourage the HA to cap rents at Local Housing Allowance, but there is no obligation to do so. Not that I have to explain that at least eleventy billion times a day to people who really ought to know. ...off to read the rest of the thread.

Go you @Wolfcubisthefemalenominal. That's one thing I have really noticed and admire on this thread; how many of you will tackle a job like that and save yourself unnecessary spends where my first thought would be to go to a professional and probably spend
Loads.

£25 new wing mirror, coming from Ireland

Wolf that time has shot by. You are awesome. But you know that already. If it popped off it should pop on - I am sure You Tube will show you how. It did for my car key battery which would have cost me £120 to replace at the dealer.

em I am waiting for my poorliness to kick in too. I have 10 days off now until after Easter. The time between Christmas and Easer seems soooooo long.

Cag that is such a lovely picture. It is annoying about the CAMHS referral. And eye opening about the referral numbers and reasons for not accepting the referral.

Molly welcome!

I am sorry I haven't been about much - life keeps getting in the way. My garden is looking slightly tidier and I have built up lots of good will at work - but it is so knackering. Apologies for turning the weather cold by planting out my vege seeds.

I also went to see Jenny Graham talk about her round the world cycle trip (record breaking). She is absolutely amazing & inspiring. Her ability to just keep going despite the adversity made me think of you guys...

That's interesting unescorted social rent is obviously lower but if I could afford that sort of rent then I would expect to be able to afford a mortgage or at least part buy.

Cag your ds is actually beautiful

Wolf hope the wing mirror is easy to fix and doesn't take too long to arrive.

We now have heating! And a thermostat! I need to phone southern electric and tell them we don't have storage heaters anymore. They've left the place in a state though and now the whole house needs redecorating.

Morning 😊

Lovely sunny day here, got two lots of washing hanging out!

I wish I was more handy, I do my best with fixing things and can work a drill, do flat pack etc but cars I struggle with. Looking at the cost of laying laminate flooring I wish I was brave enough to give that a go!!

Plan today is to do an aldi shop and do a dump run later. Dd was being annoying earlier and I'm now feeling guilty for shouting at her not dealing with it in the best way.

Have you all watched fleabag? I finished watching it this week, loved it.

Washing on the line. Another load in. Laundry hamper emptied on the garage floor and sorted into piles for next loads.

Catface went over the fence 😱 but came back. 👍🏻😀🐈

Ds has had a haircut. He looks super smart.

They brought me back an almond croissant.

Plan now is to put dry laundry away. Then clean bathroom. Dh is in the garden planting things.

I’ve also emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. All small but necessary jobs.

£120 to replace a car battery . When mine went I just prised it apart and replaced it. Would never have occurred to me to take it to a garage.

Shower is fixed. The hose had sprung a sudden and significant leak (looks as though an o-ring failed completely). I ordered a new hose and shower head and just fitted them this morning. All good and now I’ve enough pressure to wash my hair again. DH is impressed as he’s the sort that would have called a plumber. this is why every bloody thing in this house falls to me. Even calling plumbers

Is your manic work period over unescorted? Enjoy your gardening anyway!

I’ve been playing with the mortgage overpayment calculator. We have 17 years left on our mortgage term. If we overpaid by £650 per month (which is roughly what DD’s 2 days pw of nursery is costing us, hopefully won’t need to pay that from next year if she gets into preschool) it would cut our term from 17 to 11 years - at current interest rates. In fact we have some capital we could pay the last chunk off with once we get to the last £30k or so, so we could probably take a couple more years off for that. So 9 more years maybe. I really think we need to go for it. I don’t know if we’d manage it because I’m likely to need breaks from work here and there for DS, so probably can’t overpay solidly, but if we’d managed overpayments for some time, at least our liabilities would be lower at any point that i stopped work, Iyswim.

We could do it even quicker if we didn’t do the kitchen but I don’t think that’s an option as it is a disgrace - and we may need to sell up if we have to move for DS’s secondary school. The kitchen would need to be tackled before that and the leaky mouldy conservatory

It’s amazing the difference that regularly overpaying makes though. I expected it would be significant but not dropping the term quite so much! Feeling very motivated now...

£58 Sainsbury’s on very little but the sort of things that are needed during half term with a hollow-legged child in the house

wreck yes Social rent is set by a complex formula. Another option for you could be shared ownership - you purchase between 25& 75% of the house initially (you can buy the remaining part as you go along) and pay rent of between 2-3% of the remaining part per year. It has previously had a bad reputation because they were difficult to sell on because the pool of potential buyers were restricted - but loads of the restrictions have now been removed making it easier to sell on and get a mortgage. BUT read the lease really carefully!

sea allegedly. The last 2 weeks have been busy with all the things I didn't have time to do in the run up to year end.

wolf I know what you mean. I think it would be cheaper making £20 note soup.

We did that with our mortgage but into an offset account. Then if we needed it back we could take the savings.
£30 Matalan on tops for dh and 1 for me. All my summer clothes are too big.
£20 b&m. Starting the garden and house bits.
£10 Asda for to up to last the weekend and make meals from what is left.

I think in going to start using my Brexit stash then over the late summer begin to build it back to

Unescorted we don't earn enough to be eligible for part rent part buy round here. You need to earn over £45k usually. Plus then mortgage and rent repayment comes up at £900-£1200 a month which we can't afford, hence being in a HA house even the shared ownership houses are almost £200k.

Yes, I think an offset mortgage will suit us towards the end. I don’t want to have no access to savings/equity just in case.

Anyone know where one gets CEO email addresses? I think that was Fluffy’s thing. I am after someone for Adobe Lightroom (photo editing software). I have spent 11 hours on tech support this week already and the issue is still not resolved. I am knackered as it is inevitably late at night that I have to do it when no kids are demanding my attention. I reckon I’ve had less than 5 hours sleep for 4 out of 5 nights this week, a bit due to work but mostly due to Adobe

And I’m going to use my Brexit stash too Life!

I’m another planning to use the brexit stash

sea I think you can just google ceo emails

I'm also using my brexit stash! Will start stocking up at the end of the summer again I guess...tbh looking at it my stash really wouldn't have lasted long!

That's crazy wreck my brother lives in Guildford and it's similarly extortionate prices there!

Sea did your magnolia tree survive in the end?

Em that's great that catface is getting braver!

I'm back from aldi, spent £52 hopefully got enough to last two weeks, bought a few extra bits for the holiday next week.

Need to go and buy some bags of compost so I can pot on our seedlings 🌱 they're all doing well.

Dd is still not dressed, am happy to let her have a pj and chill day.

This is what's left from where our old heater was removed. Poor Dh has even more work to do now...