Join Money-saving May with the fantastic Frugaleers.

[northender]

Lots of support and advice here for frugaleers old and new.

Sounds great wolf. Enjoy.
£2.20 on bacon roll today. £25 refund in New look.
Welcome twll.

Thanks Cag I'll tell my mum that.
Welcome Twll.

Hoping tomorrow will be a NSD as just at home after a stressful week. Monzo app still hates me says I’m going to run out of money this month. A low spend weekend would really help!

To do list tomorrow (writing it here so I’m accountable):

All clothes washing
Clean bathroom (I HATE doing this)
Tidy away toys in lounge & kitchen from today

If I can get all that done I’ll be happy!

Up early for a fund raiser for scouts. Didn't sleep well think I'm anxious about it.
Mountain of baking done yesterday and to finished today.
£70 fa fees for next season
£10 footy
£25 pony club
Todays spends

Ds charged into our room this morning looking for me. I was sleeping. Dh was up and didn’t stop him. I’m up drinking tea.

Jobs today:

• laundry
• sort amazon boxes in the garage and take to recycling
• sort baby clothes / stuff to see what we have and need
• food shop (dh will do this).

Morning all, I'm awake early which is annoying!

Ystd was a nsd and quite a good day at work.

Not much planned today, catch up on a few jobs, no spends planned although the fair is in town so might take dd down tonight....

Dd was hard work last night, she had had a crap day at school and I was in the firing line. She did eventually talk to me about it but she managed to turn what should have been a nice evening into a rubbish one. Her ASD assessment is next week so will be really interesting to know what they think.

Morning awake from stupidly early and also had ds barging in at 7am it does not get better as they get older Em

Going out for a few pints and a takeaway with friends today, not in the original plan for the weekend but will be lovely.

I’ve raided my brexit stash for things to take away with us and have bought a few
Extra bits from Sainsbury’s and some new shorts for ds. Will need some fresh stuff when we get there but will go to lidl on the way rather than the on-site shop

Good luck with your fundraiser Life

Pre-beers I shall mostly be ironing - joy

Haven’t posted for a while trying to stay frugal not always succeeding.

Cag that’s so unfair that ds didn’t get DLA but it sounds like you’ve got good grounds for an appeal so fingers crossed.

Curvy I hope they sort your cyst soon. I had my ovary removed about six years ago as I had a 10cm cyst on it. I’d had mine for a while apparently and it was stuck to my bowel but they managed to remove it laparoscopically with no problems.

em your pregnancy seems to be flying in won’t be long at all until you’re date.

Wolf have a lovely time in your forest cottage - sounds great.

Not trying to be an enabler but just a heads up that Boots are doing £10 off every £50 you spend this weekend, finishes Monday. Just in case anyone was thinking of buying something might be better to do it when there’s money off.

A lie-in is never a lie-in with kids around em! Mine are away this weekend so I managed a full 12 hours sleep!!

Wolf your holiday sounds amazing! And your evening out will be a fab way to get into the holiday spirit.

Hope your dd has woken a bit brighter today girlie. I find the end of term brings out so many emotions - whether it's a 7 week or a 5 week term, the children still seem to feel more tired and unsettled in the last week.

I'm away with a friend this weekend. Train tickets already paid for but need to pay for hotel and food. I've already spent £££ at the train station on snacks and a magazine - I don't even read magazines!! Train stations and airports bring out my worst frugal side!

DH is in the middle of an argument with Sainsbury’s (don’t ask) so now he’s announced we are boycotting them in favour of Aldi. Is Aldi any good? What brands do they have?

They don't do brands really. I spend half what I would in Sainsbury's though.

I’m currently 30+6. Due 29 July. Have 7 weeks left of work. Am off next week so only working 6.

It’s getting closer and closer. We are still nowhere near ready....will get there though.

Spendy ish afternoon.

£16 in the local reuse recycle shop on pots and plants for the garden. £12 in their cafe on two capuccinos, a scone with jam, ginger and lemon cake, a muffin and a box of apple juice (served in an espresso cup).

Probably around £90 in b&q. I wasn’t paying attention when dh paid for the stuff. Mini Weber Smokey Joe bbq for the beach. Pizza oven for big bbq. White spirit.

On Monday (or tomorrow) dh is going to the garden centre to buy the bbq for the garden. It’s taken him 6 weeks to decide to buy it. Numerous trips to look at it.

I have hurt my back. Dh is completely oblivious to this. And is moaning that I can’t help him carry a wardrobe up the stairs. I told him this morning when he embarked on said wardrobe mission I could t help him lift it. And wouldn’t. Now he has a problem. He has no one who can help him. this is a lie he could cal Fil or ask our lovely neighbour but won’t so apparently the wardrobe is remaining outside.

On the upside he has sanded said wardrobe and has put the extra rail in it I wanted (this is the £40 solid pine one we picked up from the charity shop in January). I’ve done 3 loads of laundry (all outside dried) and we’ve take. The recycling to the place. Now having a lie down with a hot water bottle.

£10 pub
£13 Morrison’s

Happytobemrsg I swapped to Aldi from Tesco a few years ago and can generally bring a weekly shop in for the three of us for between £30 and £45, depending on meat/cleaning products etc.

I've had a very busy day in work but pleased that I spent £2.10 on GF bread and a chocolate twist on the way in and that is it so far. I might buy a mcdonalds on the way home though, as DP will have had dinner by the time I get home (8/9pm ish)

Mrsg I can’t not ask :o argument with Sainsbury’s?!

Can’t help with Aldi though as ours is a pain to get to from here on public transport. My friends rate it highly though. One picked up some kinesiology tape for me there though. I tried it yesterday and it did help... hurt like hell to take off though :o

I managed the gym today yay!

I do Aldi, Sainsbury's and ice land.

Aldi I get cupboard stuff, cleaning, baking stuff, chocolate, biscuits, yoghurt.
Cooked meats, beer, wine, baby stuff all fine. Not keen on their squash, prefer Sainsbury's. Loo till, kitchen roll all fine.
Toiletries fine but limited range.
Crisps, chocolate, sweets, crackers are good
Tinned stuff all good. Dairy stuff is fine, Pure juice
I don't get frozen foods as I prefer Iceland.
I don't like their chicken as it doesn't look great quality.
The 5% mince products are fine, as it's the beef roasting joints.
The veg is hit and miss imo. I only ever get a couple of days worth as I find it goes off easily.
I don't get any other raw meat the as I prefer a butcher and we don't eat it.

I spend about 60-70 per week there. £20 Iceland for frozen foods.
I then spend about £40-50 in Sainsbury's as I can't get everything in Aldi, or don't want to - see above re fruit, veg, chicken.

However I'm not a good example of frugal shopping

Probably my aldi shop would be £20 ish more in Sainsbury's. I'm going to be controversial and say Aldi is not that cheap anymore but mostly decent quality for the price point

I don't think any supermarkets are cheap anymore. I think it's harder to spend lots in Aldi as there's little choice. In Tesco or Sainsbury's I see all these tasty things on offer and can't resist. I'm going to go to Lidl next week though as haven't been there in ages.

I really like Aldi - we can get bags and bags of shopping for £35. We buy everything that we like from there, then buy a few things from other supermarkets (meat, fish, and frozen peas I think).

Off the top of my head, I like their fruit and veg, Greek yoghurt, fresh pasta, crinkle cut multi-bag crisps, double length toilet rolls, washing powder tablets (so cheap), and their chocolate 😄. And sometimes the aisle of dreams has bargains (but sometimes not!).

Typical man em! I hope your back is easing off.

Honestly cag it’s over nothing! He went over the allocated 2 hours in the car park & is moaning about the £40 fine. It’s ridiculous, especially since it was his own fault going to the estate agent before doing the shop! But apparently it’s Sainsbury’s fault for having long queues & not taking into account shoppers with toddlers. I despair.

Thanks for the Aldi low down life. Most of our veg is frozen & we very un-frugally get our salads & fruit from M&S 🙈. I like Tesco fruit too but the M&S bits really do last longer. But it seems like we can buy everything else there. Just not sure I can give up Anchor butter, Heinz etc.

I think that’s a good point Wreck. I’ve popped in to get nappies & it’s not to the sort of shop you enjoy wandering around in.

Oh yes Piglet! I eat fresh pasta by the bucketload.

Does anyone know if they have a good vegan section for my DH?

They do vegan sausage rolls... plus cauliflower sausages (fresh-yum!) sweet potatoes sausages, sweet potato burger, beetroot burger, some frozen quorn bits. Falafels. Not sure what else you'd be after? I'm not vegan, or veggie, but am generally meat free 5/7 days a week.

NSD today! Whoop! Going to my parents for Sunday lunch tomorrow (I love my Mum’s roasts!) so hopefully another LSD.

Sounds like they definitely have options for DH Wreck. I’m also not a huge meat-eater. Maybe eat mean max 3 days a week

I imagine Aldi frozen veg is fine. Not sure why I get Iceland instead of theirs tbh.

Hi all
NSD today.
Been busy doing washing, sorting things for charity shop, sorting out the kids old toys and costumes which I can take to work.

Thanks Born, can I ask how long your recovery was after, when I had the first cyst removed it was about a week before I felt I could really do anything, how was it for you?