Frugal Friends, planning, saving and considerate spending through July and August

[Wolfcubisthefemalenominal]

New Fred frugal friends

@CamdenTownie 3 under 5? Yikes!

They are the best days. I’m enjoying everyday despite it being tough. Dd is currently snuggled into dh. I’m having a g&t.

Puppy has settled in brilliantly, I know it's very early days but so far he's been great. We've had no accidents inside (we are watching him and putting him out religiously!) and he's been really fun and playful.

I booked puppy training classes today £62 for 6 classes, start in September.

I'm so tired though, can't wait for bedtime!

I join the Christmas threads reastie does. Not so much for me as mine are older (10&12 this year) but still some bargains.

Little bit each month, less is more and like Martin mse says have a gift cull. Spend time with people instead of obligation gifts.

@lifelongfrugaleer - I don't have many people to buy for, not sure if that's a good thing or not!

Last year I had tons to buy because everyone at work exchanged gifts, which was nice but slightly pointless. I've recently changed jobs and the people I work with directly are fairly young men ( young compared to me anyway) so they have no interest in scented candles etc

Ive taken a look at the Christmas thread already, I'll keep an eye on it without impulse buying which is my downfall!

@Girliefriendlikescake the money you pay for puppy training will be the best you ever spend, it's such a good thing to make sure your pup is well socialised and will also do you big favours with recall etc.

The last couple of years we’ve done the “4 things” for close family for Christmas. These being:

• something they want
• something they need
• something to eat/drink
• something to read

We are going to have to have a word with Fil and gf though this year. Ds was given 4 sacks of presents (mostly crap or not age appropriate) from them. It really overwhelmed him. So we might just suggest one thing that he might like.

I’m putting money aside for Christmas. Dm is hosting this year. So we won’t have the expense of Christmas food. But will make sure we take them a few bottles boxes of wine etc. I’ll need to also think about mil Bil in nz and Bil in Aussie before the end of November. And dnephews first birthday in December. Also in nz. Aaaah!!!

I am very, very happy that my sil got a new big house as she loves to host Christmas :D. For past few years we done it, but I always feel stressed out so much, I do prefer to go to hers (and with two kids under 4 there is no way I would manage dinner for 16+ people).

OMG @CamdenTownie 3 under 5. I would be in a mental institution. I really struggle with first year, hence my buying sprees. I love the 2+ age though, but with 3 year old that craves attention and 4 month old that you cannot negotiate with I do feel exhausted. Hats down to you.

@ememem84 I know what you mean. I love my dh dearly and he is great, but sometimes his priorities suck.

I was lucky that my job gave me 22 weeks full pay, so September pay will be the first one reduced to maternity pay. I am prepared for this, have savings, but I hate to touch them :(

I set up a separate savings account with a new bank last September and have been siphoning money off from my account to it on a monthly and also ad hoc basis. The interest is good and will be paid in September. Once paid I’ll withdraw some of it and will probably make a payment into my pension. Will then look to build it up again when I go back to work.

I usually also have a regular saver set up with hsbc which gives me 5% (I think). But will set that up again once I go back to work.

Dh is downstairs with dd. They’re watching true grit. I’m in bed. Catface is with me. Dh is doing the night shift tonight (after saying he’d donit last night then actually deciding he didn’t want to). I’ve chexked with him that he will actually deal with things tonight. And not wake me up. I’ve set an alarm for 5am so I can take over. Fingers crossed!!

Sleep well em.

I set up a monthly savings for Christmas too. Also strict budget per person.

Good night em. Hope you get a good nights sleep. You are all doing so well

And per family, if your can do that.
Wouldn't worry about not having many to buy for.
If you host but bits each week and be clever with your freezer

My alarms just gone off. Although the Dd alarm went off about 40 minutes ago! Dh is grabbing an extra sleep. I slept probably until 3. Then Ds woke up so I got up with him and got him back to sleep.

Dd is currently leaning up against my knees contemplating more of her bottle.

We (generously) set a budget of £40 per person for Christmas - Bil and sil and Bil and sil in Aussie and nz get beer/snack hampers it last year because nz Bil was hosting we sent them a HAMper - apparently kiwi tradition states that you have to have a ham on Christmas Day. So we ordered one with all the condiments.

Not sure what today will bring. Dh asked yesterday when did I want ds’ wardrobe put in his room. My answer? 3 months ago. This is the bargain £40 solid line wardrobe we got from charity shop.

I didn't have a good night. Dd2 woke up at 2 am. She settled really quickly but I didn't and was awake fidgeting for ages. My turn to get up with the dts this morning too so I've been up since 5.30.
Contemplating cooking breakfast but probably won't bother!

Morning all. Zzzzzz here too although I shouldn’t complain given no little person was waking me up in the night

Trying for a nsd this month has been unintentionally too spendy so far, need to think more about what I’m doing

Em we have ham on Christmas day - studded with cloves and glazed with ginger, mustard and red currents, with baked red cherries on the side. We also have turkey with chestnut stuffing.

A slowish start today - I am off to Cumbria for a meeting and am taking dd with so she can do some sketching while I have my meetings. I need to get some work done beforehand... so I had better get out of bed.

Knackered here as well, I woke up at 3 and put the puppy out for a wee which he dutifully did, then he wanted to play for a bit but he did go back to his crate fine. I however really struggled to get back to sleep and then the puppy woke up again at 6!!

I'm up with him now but will get dd up soon to take over, Ystd we argued about who got the most sleep - like all good new parents 🤣🤣🤣

Can't believe you lot are talking about Christmas already puts head back in the sand

Argh, I tried to post twice yesterday (long catch up posts) and they just crashed. I’m going to try again but in stages.

So hello new people! Camden the man was a twat and only said it to hurt you. He’s a pointless bully. I’m glad you’ve decided not to waste any more thought on it

Girlie that puppy is gorgeous. I am defo a dog not a cat person.

I am loving the quilt talk. I really miss @LonelyOversharer on this thread, in general and especially for the craft updates. Even if she was veering to the dark side (crochet ). Please do post the finished pictures of your projects! I loved the colours of that last quilt, btw. What colours did you buy yesterday Unescorted? I looked at that batik site but have so far resisted (v proud )

Empathy to all the sleep deprived. I feel your pain, my two were terrible sleepers and didn’t sleep through (6 hrs +) until around 9m. Ds still goes through phases of not sleeping through now but generally things are much better it’s work that steals my sleep now

Am going to see if this posts before carrying on...

Yep, it’s the attachments that are the problem. I’ll try them separately.

We are on holiday at the moment, 2 weeks in Wales. The effort of getting finished enough with work and then getting us and our stuff here near on killed me. But at least we are here. Holiday itself is quite cheap, compared to going abroad (driving our own car, self-catering Airbnb). However. I have spent a chuffing fortune on two big online shops and will still need a good few top ups. I am actually flabbergasted at how much we will spend on food for 2 weeks, even though that is for naice picnics and evening meals every day and wine and gin and beer And mostly for 5 of us as DM joined us yesterday. Still, over £450 total from Waitrose online . I need sacking from the thread. Also not impressed with Waitrose online compared to my usual Ocado (which doesn’t deliver here). Seems much more expensive and they fulfil the orders out of the stores so lots of things are not available or are short-dated. I’ve complained about dates on things so will see what they say. I did a small top up shop in Morrison’s yesterday on my way to pick up DM from the train station in a nearby town and it was sooo much cheaper than the Waitrose stuff. But I really wanted the bulk of our shopping delivered initially and that was the only option I could find. It’s all different in rural parts, I do appreciate the choice in London.

The weather is very changeable so we’re having to make the most of the clear bits. Yesterday we went for a cliff top walk. I fretted a lot about the children and chickened out of the very narrow walk right along the cliff edge with no barrier, as neither of our kids is predictable and reliably follows instructions. But the more inland path was also lovely. I’ll try to post a pic of the view separately as that seems to be the reason my posts aren’t posting...

Morning all, tired here too. DS1 arrived back from scout camp at 2am. I use dozed on the sofa till it was time to pick him up, then couldn’t get to sleep when I did finally go to bed.

And now I have the joys of all his washing. There’s 11 days worth, and it’s all damp and smells of grass, mud and tents, yuck!

2am gosh that's late. Did he go to the jamboree by any chance?

Waiting for plumber to fix my second faulty kitchen tap. Then off to Whitby. Stay in the yha though had a complaint with them over UN clear refund policy.
Selling my half price nymr voucher too as changed our minds

Sainsbury's 25% is the 13th apparently. Will be getting DS uniform

@ChristmasSeacow sacking from the thread made me lol 😆 I'm off to wales on bank holiday Monday and I can't wait, it's such a beautiful place.

It's so easy to spend a fortune - especially in Waitrose, it's the closest supermarket to my workplace in London and although I've been In there loads I'm still shocked at the prices, I did a my supermarket pretend shop just to compare prices and my £50 asda shop was £75 in Waitrose

Today I've spent £3.69 in Lidl, 2 bananas 🍌 a net of satsuma, 6 cans of Pepsi max and I was quite impressed to see they are selling reusable fruit and veg bags a pack of 2 is 69p, so I got those too.

Working until 7pm tonight- wasn't planned but someone hasn't bothered showing up, I start at 7:30am so a looong day, won't get home until 9pm at the earliest

I've also got 2 dc away at camp, they are back on Saturday evening not looking forward to the washing!

Love this thread, it's such a nice corner of MN.

Nsd today. We're having a chilled day at home.

Nsd here too, with a slumbering wee boy in my arms after an early morning. Wish I had an ice cream.

Sea Food on holiday can be so tough, you're doing great with the self-catering at least!

Sea I love Wales
Life enjoy Whitby - one of my favourite places
Nsd achieved. Pilates tonight but that was pre paid
Ds back from his camp weirdly emotional and all over the place
Annual pension statement - not doing too badly there
Money moved from limited saved to isa as interest rate is dropping and bank asked to close the account
Dinner a la freezer
My childcare for next week has fallen through rejigged work to the and reduce impact and dparents are covering
Need to do meter readings tomorrow to ensue gas and electric are on still on track with the new reduced direct debit