Had a Spendy Summer? Join the Friendly Frugaleers as we Segue Smoothly into a Sensible September

[LivingInLaputa]

All welcome. Couldn’t see another thread!

That's a tough day em. Gf needs to control her fucking dog then doesn't she. Daft mare.

Lots of stuff in the cupboard stash now

She does. In my most PA way I asked how puppy is getting on at training classes.

Apparently they have issues when puppy meets other dogs and other kids on the beach. He’s difficult to hold back.

Dd isn’t going round there again. Dh is in agreement. Ds will go. But if the dog goes for him again he’ll come straight home. Last time dog and ds were ok with each other so it depends really.

em I agree with you dog wise. He certainly needs more training by the sounds of it. Your poor dc.

mog it does. And it’s a shame because it’s such a lovely dog.

I sat outside with it for a while. Threw a toy and it’s chased it and brought it back. Super playful. No aggression. Just likes the attention.

Ds likes the dog most of the time. Except when dog gets excited and jumps up. Dog gets excited when he sees ds. Ds gets excited when he sees dog. Vicious circle.

My fear is that it’s a Jack Russell Staffy cross and while I’ve never had any issue with staffs I was bitten by a JR when I was younger. Trying so so hard not to let this rub off on ds though. Am praising him when he’s gentle with dog. And telling him off when he’s not so gentle.

Our entries...

North they are fantastic

Thanks wolf we felt pleased that we did it & although they looked okay, they were nowhere near the standards of the winners. Dd made me laugh as she kept going back to hers to listen to what people were saying about it! Dmum's (the middle pic) attracted the most attention
So our final set of visitors left today so all birthday & anniversary celebrations are done now & life can return to some sort of normality. We have overspent, so I'm on a mission to spend as little as we can get away with for the rest of the month.
My frugal things:
I have sorted kitchen cupboards & freezer out today & there is going to be a lot of spaghetti, rice, mince & chicken happening!
I'm going to keep going with the quilting, but finishing off Christmas projects already started & maybe some new mini Christmas projects with fabrics I already have.
I'll try to post on here at least 5 times a week to help keep focussed.

lifelongfrugaleer
Noticed yesterday Sainsbury's have the buy 6 save 25% on wine.
*
Only on Mumsnet!!*😂😂

Need to get back on here. Working this morning so should be low spend

Morning! Sorry awol again... just busy rather than shamefully spending! Kids are all feeling unwell so we managed a quick blast out in the fresh air yesterday morning (with pack-up), then the rest of the afternoon was spent cuddles on the sofa and they were then in bed by 6pm. I haven't heard anyone stir yet so they must have needed the sleep! I've woken up this morning feeling a bit headachey and sinusey (no drinking last night either 😂) so think it will be another quiet day. I've got a huge beef brisket to cook. Hoping for lots of meat for leftovers. Need to work out how to cook it first...

Brisket all day on the slow cooker is lovely.

The irony there dadap is I don't drink.

Football and dive today. Greggs breakfast will be purchased so lsd

Morning all. Ds woke up last night at 330. Very unlike him but he wanted s nappy change. His “sorebumbum” is still sore. Poor baby.

I think everyone is still sleeping. Hoorah!

My only spend yesterday was a tube journey to drop my mum off at the train station!

Today I'm going for a barbecue at a friends but am taking homemade coleslaw, Aldi beetroot dip and am making potato salad too.

Dh brought me a cup of tea in bed. With a bottle and a very snuffly Dd.

So that’s another one down.

We have our 6 week check tomorrow so I’ll mention her snuffly cold then. Not that I can give her anything for it. Only annoyance is I’m spending today sorting childcare for ds for tomorrow as Dm isn’t well. She says she’s better today but I think it’s because she doesn’t want to let me down.

Worst case I’ll take ds with me to the appointment and bribe him with biscuits.

I’d ask ddad to watch him but ddad has hurt his knee and isn’t mobile enough to chase ds.

Dh might be able to have him in the office but it’s only a night. Fil and gf are out because of the dog. Dsis is back at work (teacher) so it’s friends. Might have to ask Mils friend (who dh arranged a meet up with last week). She’s lovely so kind. And is great with ds.

Or change appointment to later in the week when ds is back at nursery.

Autumn must be here - had to wipe condensation off the windows this morning. Still going to put my washing out. It will dry.

madden I'd go with life on the brisket. I'd put about an inch of beef stock & some onion in the slow cooker with the brisket. If you don't have a slow cooker then you can do the same with a lidded casserole dish or roasting tin covered with foil & oven on a low heat.
girlie enjoy the dog show. Maybe set yourself a spending limit & try to stick to it?
seacow I find the quilting therapeutic & am going to really make an effort to make time for it regularly. Glad the pics are inspiring you, an advent calendar sounds like the perfect way to get back into it.

Big cricket day here today, ds is captain of our Sunday league team & they need to win to win the league, so that's where we will be today. I'm planning to take food with us to save money.
Dh is feeling really low at the moment. He hadn't said anything before, but blurted it all out last night. It's not a new thing for him but I think this time he really needs to take it seriously & deal with it properly. Fortunately I feel good at the moment so feel able to support him. I think dealing with the dc at the age they are & the age we are (mid to late 40s) is a lot to do with it. It's great seeing them grow up, but can be difficult dealing with that changing relationship. I think I'm handling it better than dh. The day out will do us good.

I agree on the brisket. Slow cooker (or slow in the oven) or instant pot. Onions, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce or a little Marmite

Frugal win August’s gas and electric bills were the lowest ever in 13 years of living here. Less than £12 each for the month. Trying to use this as motivation not to turn the central heating on when I’m working at home this month

Beef is in! Thanks for the tips. I've loosely followed a Save with Jamie recipe but have added more veg in the bottom and some stock (well, Bovril as that's all we had - frugal see!)
Now to leave it for 5hours 😱!

North they are beautiful. Mine are still very much at the basic level.

A tip from another thread... if you have a library card you can read pressreader.com for nowt. Loads of news papers & magazines from around the world (500 odd from the UK)… including quilting ones. If you don't have a library card go and get one because they are free. Your library card will also allow you to access BorrowBox for audio & ebooks. on both Pressreader & Borrowbox - you can down load to read when off line.

Yes beautiful quilts. They must have taken hours.

Popping in quickly to say Hi. You'll be pleased to know that my fridge is now fixed - it needed a new fan motor which cost €100. My washing machine is ok too - it's been working fine since I rinsed the drain filter. Anyone seen Laska lately? This ad came up on my Facebook feed today and I thought of her www.notonthehighstreet.com/thatsnicethat/product/personalised-campervan-enamel-mug

Hi everyone!

Really expensive few days here,

£189 ikea - 2 x chest of drawers and a little pull along trolley.
£10 McDonald's-5 x cheeseburger 5x McFlurry
£178 ds2 uniform for college
£135 bus pass for ds2 (half a term)
£50 Asda
£4.50 Iceland
£1 Wilkinson
£12 market stall - food
£8 for top shop jeans dd1 at the market

Am now skint until payday on the 26th have £120 in the current account and £301 in my Monzo, should be able to manage on that as long as there are no emergencies!

Not sure if anyone remembers my cowboy builder story, well he kept saying he was coming back and would complete the work and then failed to show up, he's been doing this for months now and we finally gave him
Notice that he needed to get back to site within 7 days. He didn't and has now confirmed that he won't be returning and has basically said "take me to court" which will cost a fortune.

We have decided that initially we will use a solicitor but obviously funds are limited and we also need to pay for the rest of the building work ( which we paid him to do) I think if it comes to it we will have to represent ourselves.

So our budget is looking like it's going to be scaled back as far as it's possible, I was feeling quite proud of myself for meal planning and sticking to shopping lists etc, however that's really not going to be enough, how can I save? I'm Not sure tbh, we don't live a particularly extravagant lifestyle, Christmas is going to be a bit of a shock to the children, but we usually spend far too much and eat too much anyway!

Because dh and I both work very long hours including our commute, certain things, like the tumble dryer, we can't do without. I'm in credit on the utilities account so that's good, we don't really have any debt other than our mortgage and a few quid on a next account. I did consider selling up and moving but the house and garden have been left in such a state we can't really at the moment. It's so hard to have to tell dd2 (11) that she can't have school dinners or go on the trip as we can't afford to pay for it, when we could have if we hadn't been ripped off!

Don't get me wrong we are not on a low income, we just need to save as much as we can to get a roof put on the house and pay all the initial legal fees. It makes me so mad that someone can do this to others.

Hi all! Haven't posted in a while but I really should get back here. Good to see both regular and new posters here!

So far 3 NSDs this month (yay!) but in general I'm having a hard time with keeping to budget... I keep thinking I should buy X, Y and Z because they might be harder to find/more expensive soon because of Brexit (although it seems increasingly hard to predict what is going to happen there...). It's my DH's birthday this month too, and have spent quite a bit on him (mainly bike stuff so it's easier to go on wee day trips as a family with no car). Just too many extra things that add up. I'm veering between feeling glad to have stuff in and fear it's not really enough. Must try and stop worrying about it.

Work is due to get much busier from next week onwards (university lecturer) so that should reduce spending as long as I keep up good habits of bringing food and coffee with me to work. But I'm a bit sad feeling like my ambitious savings goal for the year isn't going to happen. I should try and think more positive about it - I've saved over 50% of the total goal, and far more than last year, so that's still an accomplishment. And there are still 4 paydays left this year, so it'll be close even if I don't manage the full amount.

Banana bread in the oven and washing on the line outside. Happy Sunday everyone!

Camden that's so horrible, I'm very sorry you're in that position. Maybe Shelter has some advice?