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

[Wolfcubisthefemalenominal]

New Fred frugal friends

Oh Lap that’s rubbish. If she was wrong then it’s important to highlight it as she could be giving the same crap advice out to loads of people and when you think of the seriousness of the potential consequences she needs to be stopped. Obviously stopping her isn’t your responsibility but I know sometimes we can feel guilty about complaining and getting people into trouble. I hope they see you quickly and give you the help you need 💐

Yep the former.

I had them and now have a couple of almost spots near my ears.

We’ll get the referral and will Skype the consultant person. And they can advise on best course of action. It’s something which can wait. We’ll have to travel to Salisbury if we want the procedure. So that’s something to consider - but hospital will cover the cost of that.

The one on my cheek they tied off but the one on my ear (actually I think there may have been two?) they operated on and I had to go to London. Never met anyone else who's had it!

I've loads of catching up to do, but today was first day I spent money since I last posted other than paying credit card bill. Minimum payment

€6.20 on lunch today- went for a run this morning instead of making lunch
€49 mr price some school bits, some running bits, some laundry stuff, only uniform & shoes left to get for school now.
€20 horse riding
€190 to au pair, €30 from friend whose dc she minded for a day & extra money as I went out last Sunday night & I've to work in the morning & it'll be easier without dc with me
Christmas savings here will be child benefit for next 4 months €1120

Beautiful dc Em
Gorgeous puppy Girlie I want a dog but I've got used to life without one & have said I won't get one until we move house.

Omg cuteness overload from em and. girlie !

lap it’s really shit what’s you’re going through. Hopefully now you KNOW they can provide what you need, you can damn well tell them to sort it out. Keep banging on doors till they can’t ignore you anymore.

Got all DS1’s stuff washed and ironed. All last minute holiday stuff bought, with a few frugal bargains in there to boot. I follow the curly girl method and the cheapest conditioner I can easily get is £2 a bottle. And given that I use it to wash and condition (and curly hair needs a looot of conditioner) it’s not cheap. But there’s a conditioner in the pound shop that is curly girl friendly only a quid and it’s so rich a little goes a very long way! This is going to save me lots of money.

DS1 (14) is asking about getting a job, he’s desperate to earn some cash to get himself clothes, etc. I do feel for him, but there’s so little he can legally do at his age, isn’t there? DH is self employed and if he works on a sat and there’s stuff DS can help him with, even if it’s just cleaning up, fetching and carrying, he will pay him for that. And we’ve said he can mow the lawns from now on, coz DH hates doing that anyway😆

Lovely photos Em and Girlie.

I cannot sleep at all, the wind is so loud! Ds suddenly started crying and I found him standing by dd2's bed, I think he might have fallen out of bed. Dd2 now keeps whimpering in her sleep so I'm expecting to go into her next

Cag I hope you get some help from mh team soon.

She's awake. Off I go again...

Same here smuggly I didn’t get to sleep until 330 ish. Wind is insane. Ds kept waking up and everytine he did it woke up/unsettled Dd. So tired right now.

I’m only up because (spitefully) dh said there’s rugby on at 10. So if I can stay awake a bit longer I can nap while he wrestles two kids and tries to watch the rugby on his phone. I’ve suggested we get the now tv sports pass but he doesn’t think it’s be worth the money. Despite the fact he watches nfl on his phone all the time too.

Good plan Em!

I got dd settled quickly and think I slept for about an hour before she was up again. She fell asleep on my lap so I've been dozing sitting up since about 5. I am very tired and my neck hurts. She is now pottering g about in our room going through dh"s wallet and I can't be bothered to stop her!

We need to think about potty training too. Dd2 is ready I think. Ds isn't but I'd rather stagger it than try dealing with 2 lots of poties and accidents at once!

@CurlsandCurves has your ds thought about getting a paper round? Mine has been doing one just in weekends since he was 14, he ears £40 a week from it - which is loads really because it only takes him about an hour each day on his bike.

The bad weather hit us late last night and seeing as we have no roof on our house at the moment it was a bit of a worry. It's all stopped now though and it looks like the suns trying to make an appearance

Couldn't sleep last night here. The storm bit for about an hour but it wasn't that. No plans today. Might be a list/sorting out day.
Hope you guys get some sleep.

No roof? Are you having work done or are you in a tent? Sorry my memory is shocking

Think we must have missed the worst of the bad weather, I was up at midnight and 5am with the puppy to let him out and then he was up at 6am for the day 😩

I'm really not used to the sleep deprivation as it's been a long time since I had a baby!!

Puppy was full on at 6am, full of beans and tearing about, we've started calling him Dennis the menace as he is just into everything! He is a nightmare in the garden as he keeps trying to eat my plants and I have no idea what's poisonous or not.

Am letting dd sleep in a bit as she was really struggling with tiredness Ystd, yes think change in routine also lap.** Plus she is having to regulate her emotions a lot more so as not to get over excited, too anxious or too stressed around the puppy. I'm really hoping she will cope okay next week when I'm back to work and she is on full time puppy duty...

Still very windy here. Both dds insisting on wearing shorts.
I have woken up a bit after tea and granola with a banana a Greek yoghurt. Have persuaded dh to go to our favourite bakery and buy some weekend treats Not frugal though it is quite expensive.

Morning all

No roof in this? Blooming heck. Also shocked at £40 for a paper round. You definitely wouldn’t get that around here.

I’ve just packed away the household brexit stash items from my ocado shop. When da gets out of the shower I’m taking him to contact then I’m sorting my food stash.

I also slept badly - weird dreams about the house being invaded by foxes. I blame DD as she’s had me reading Mog on Fox Night at least 10 times a day for the last week (not exaggerating ).

I was up with the dC at 6.30am and the wind was amazing but it has dropped a lot since then. We’re off to a seaside town for a wander today, hope DS copes okay. He’s not keen on towns or rain 🤞🏻. But he does like fudge and ice cream so I shall buy my way out of trouble if necessary

My plan failed. I just couldn’t stay awake. I took ds Into dh and just handed her over.

Just woken up again. He’s downstairs with them both.

He’s taking ds swimming today. I was going to go with them and take Dd for a walk around the running track at the sports centre but it’s windy as hell still.

Mog on Fox Night is one of my favourites!

I used to like it Snuggly! (I still do really, I just need a break )

Mog thought, that fox is mad.

That’s my favourite bit .

Hi all. Couldn't post for a few days as the site kept crashing on me. Then was just tidying and sorting out stuff.

Hello to newbies!

So we arrived in Devon yesterday and the weather is a bit rubbish, but we are all determined to make the most of it.
We are off to Exeter in a bit.

Hope you are all doing ok.

Have sorted my tin/spice cupboard my rice/pasta/biscuit cupboard my brexit cupboard and my baking cupboard. All nice and clean and organised although I found weevils in the baking cupboard again (boak). Who is it who freezes their flour before putting it in the cupboard and how do you do it?

I wrap unopened in a freezer bag clipped shut. But since I got the lock and lock tubs I don't bother as they're airtight.

Started preparing DS room for decorating and added to my Ikea list. Still haven't been from last time.

Wolf I freeze my flour. I leave it in its original bag, put it in a small plastic bag and pop it in the freezer for about a week. Then get it out and put it into an airtight container. Apparently this also extends the shelf life to up to an extra year.

Oh I didn't know about the life extension thing. Might go back to freezing when I have room in my freezer as my last 2 Aldi batches have had a bit of a sour smell after a while

@lifelongfrugaleer and @Wolfcubisthefemalenominal it's a long story regarding the roof, but it's the reason I'm a member of this group.

We paid a builder to do extensive work on our house, including replacing the roof, he's taken all the tiles off and done a runner- admitted he's spent the money we paid him, owes us around £50'000 in works that he hasn't carried out and has abandoned the site also found out he hasn't paid any of the trades that he's had working here and hasn't ordered any of the materials that he said he's paid for. So yeah not great! Having to take this further via the legal route which is very expensive plus find the money to complete the works - complete nightmare.

So we will be skint for the foreseeable, also gutted that we will be paying a mortgage off for 25 years that we haven't benefited from because he's stolen the money😡

Dh is in a bad place because of this, he suffers from depression and has lots of health issues including high blood pressure- you can imagine what this is doing to him, I'm struggling because his mood is so low right now and there nothing I can do about it, but it drags me down too, he can't think or talk of anything else and it's tearing him apart 😔 he's now obsessing about the roof, but he's too unwell to do anything to it and at the moment we can't afford to pay someone else to do it!

How's everyone's Saturday going? I've been to Asda with my list, did get a few extras but my whole budget for the week is £125 and I spent £76 so still got £49 left which should be more than enough.

No spends yet today worked from 7am to 11.20am. I don't usually work on Saturdays. Au pair paid out of joint acc for this but overtime will come into my acc

Totalled all balance transfers that need doing will do that when dc aren't here

Going to use our membership for local gym today to go to swimming with dc, first I'm getting waxing done approx €40

Later I'm going out with bf but I'm driving so spends will be small.

Camden that's absolutely horrific, is there a bureau that you can chase him through?

Muggy day here
I've emptied dishwasher, filled it with salt, put on a wash, changed ds's bedding, put up two new lower clotheslines- dc cut off last one to decorate hens enclosure I'm definitely more productive on a working day