Friendly frugaleers as the leaves fall our bank balances will rise, hopefully!

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Couldn't see one so took the liberty of starting a new thread.

Missed the spam but can guess!!

Dd had an early orthodontist appointment, wasted £1.20 on parking as she was in and out in 5 mins!!

Going to The Range later, need to look for a few Christmas presents, might pop into the big Sainsbury's to have a look for some work trousers as well.

It's cold this morning and foggy, enjoying 5 mins peace with these two keeping me warm!!

Can I join please? I really need to get some accountability and control around my spending...

£13 cafe on 2 hot chocolates a danish and a flat white.

£44 drs. Ds has her 12 week jabs. Dr diagnosed my joint pain as a reactionary arthritis. I’m going for accupuncture ive been given a referral letter so hopefully my insurance will pay for it.

£10 on coffee and lunch, £16 on fancy bakery goodies

Life parcel arrived. Ds loves them thank you so much! The long sleeved tops fit him now and he's already wearing one

You are welcome. Pleased he likes them

Gym done. I dropped Dd off with dh at work hit the gym for a tough session with my trainer and then met Dd ds and dh at the car.

Sounds like you have work ahead with your house @ChristmasSeacow, annoying when it's work you have to do rather than chose to do. We have a biggish project coming up in the next year but it's work we are choosing to do to get the house how we want it.

Today's spends:
£2 work canteen
£115 deposit for accommodation for upcoming weekend away.

Swan Lake was amazing. Our seats weren't great (we were in the back row) but we still had a fairly good view. We were right beside the sound mixer's desk and I was very tempted to press one of the buttons on his desk (like Dougal in the Fr. Ted aeroplane episode) but I restrained myself .

We went shopping in Dublin today. DD paid €30 for two fleece tops for Ex's birthday (they were buy one, get one free) and I spent €22 on a l'Occitane set for exMIL's 70th birthday, from me. I'm going to get her a kindle voucher also, so she can download some books onto her kindle. Might sound odd but I was very fond of MIL and she was always very good to me. She invited me to her celebration lunch with the whole family but I declined that because I thought it would be a bit odd. But I'm meeting her for lunch on Sunday (just MIL, FIL and me). I didn't want to let her big birthday pass without acknowledging it. I'm not sure how things will be between us going forward but for now I'm just going with what feels right. And it feels right to treat her for her landmark birthday.

DD and I had lunch in Boojum (Mexican burrito chain - I don't know if you have it in the UK?). That was something like €21.

Happier I'm so sorry to hear Ex was aggressive and making threats. You shouldn't have to put up with it but I guess that's easier said than done. Is he ever aggressive with the DC?

Girlie how did DD get on volunteering at the theatre?

north sounds like everyone is trying to pass the buck for the cost of the Thomas Cook flights. Hope you get the money refunded soon. Same with your Joules order em.

I should probably head to bed 'cos I've to be at the school for 3 a.m. with DD. I'm totally paranoid I'll set my alarm wrong or sleep it out or something.

Ewfl tonight. It’s basically convinced me to buy lady pasta.

I never relax enough to sleep well when I have to get up super early Tayto, I think it’s the worry I’ll oversleep! Also I think it’s really good that you can separate your relationship with your MIL - I’ve always thought that’s the hard thing about break ups, the extended family don’t stop liking each other (assuming they ever did!) but it is a tricky situation. You are doing a nice thing and hopefully you will all enjoy it.

Thats some of the work is boring repairs /replacing bathrooms, but I want to change the layout downstairs to create a bigger kitchen. That’ll defo be worth it.

Soooo tired today, I did 10 hours at work without a break (one quick loo stop, but not even a cup of tea). Diet not quite stuck to as someone had to grab me a tuna mayo sandwich on the move. No work for the next 2 days but DD’s very off colour tonight - she’s got a high temperature and hasn’t really eaten all day. So might not get out tomorrow, we’ll see how she is.

I’ve had a nice evening sewing a teeny outfit for a knitted doll. I started it at the weekend, nearly done now. I love making stuff

Just back from dropping off a verrry excited DD at the school. She didn't sleep at all, so she'll be wrecked later. Hoping I can nod off again now.

Good grief that’s early Tayto

She might sleep on the bus tayto unlikely
Hope you get a couple of hours. I think it's lovely you are still seeing mil. See what happens.

£25 on parking tickets today and £112 next term breakfast club. £80 dinner money's. Need to pay £50 for deposit for y6 residential soon too.

Lunch today with a colleague. And that’s it. So nice that were all staying in touch while I’m on leave.

Dh is still mithering on to me about doing a budget. I’ve said (again) he needs to give me the statements from his amex so I can actually see what we’re spending.

He’s loaned mil £5k apparently. Apparently it’s a loan this time although she never paid him back last time. He’s set out in an email repayment terms etc. I’m a bit about it but it’s money from his bonus/share payout so it’s money we otherwise wouldn’t have had and hadn’t banked on. So

Welcome lucky - being in here certainly helps me to be accountable. Often find myself in shops thinking 'I like it, but I'd have to confess spending to the frugaleers' 😂! Are you saving for something in particular or just want to have a bit more of a grip on finances?

So exciting for your dd tayto! I remember long, long coach journeys on school ski trips. Not much sleep and very stinky by the time we arrived!

Shopping arriving today. £68 including a £12 off £80 spend. It includes some food for holidays next week, store-cupboard meals to see us through the first week back in November with only fresh/milk/bread top-up and a stock up of shampoo and toothpaste.

I had to drop DS1 off at that time for scout camp over the summer, @Taytocrisps I was worried like you about the lack of sleep, specially as he didn’t go to bed at all. The scout leader got selfies with every one of them fast asleep at some point on the journey, it was hilarious!

Car is in for mot today, so keeping everything crossed.

@ememem84 im gobsmacked at the last bit of your post. You had DHs family in your ear about how you wouldn’t be getting any inheritance and yet your DH is lending THEM money???

curls well. Yes. Although mil and Fil and divorced. And it’s fils side who are inheritance obsessed. Mil has been struggling for a while (and doesn’t make the best decisions). Her tenants in her loveky house have just left she can’t get anyone to rent it (first world issues I know), she’s renting somewhere else, work is slow at present, she has bills to pay. She lives in nz and is an estate agent. Summer time (coming up) is the slowest time. She can’t live in her house because it’s far away from where she’s based now and can’t sell it yet (issues with the developer etc so it’d cost more money to try and get out of the contract or whatever).

Fils family go on about how I won’t inherit. And to be honest I wouldn’t expect to. But they see inheritance as a massive thing and an entitlement. There’s a massive backstory but to break it down Fil is one of 4. One of the siblings (the youngest) inherited the lot (a farm property, the business and all the money) the others (Fil and his brother and sister) got nothing. They claim the youngest manipulated the parents. They challenged the will. But there was no evidence of this. The will was made before dhs nan had her stroke, and before she developed dementia. So she was of sound mind when she changed it. By bringing the saga to court the family caused a lot of bad feeling. And now Fil and his brother and sister won’t speak to the sister who inherited. She allegedly got around £6million (property value and cash).

They always tell me I won’t inherit. And why should I? I’m not fils daughter. If anyone should it’s dh. And his brothers. Same as with my parents dh won’t inherit anything. Whatever there is (probably not much) will go to dsis and myself.

Dh rolls his eyes when inheritance gets mentioned. It’s thrown around like a means to control everyone. I’m pretty sure when it was said to me on sat night I wasn’t getting anything I was meant to beg and plead and say it wasn’t fair. But because I didn’t....fils girlfriend is now annoyed.

I’ve also been told I shouldn’t socialise with dhs cousin (son of the auntie who got everything). I ignore this because we went to school together, and I didn’t twig he was even related to dh until a couple of years ago. Different surnames And because Fil refuses to have anything to do with his sister now I’d never met her.

I'm taking my first sick day in six years. It's just a cold but I've been awake all night and feel awful. Plus I have my interview tomorrow and look like shit rest and fluids. It's the first day I've had at home with nothing that needs doing in years!

Enjoy it wreck lots of warm drinks vitamin c and someone netflix. Stat.

I’ve gone back to bed. Rain is raining. Dd is napping. I should be showering. But waiting for water to heat up.

wreck hope you feel better soon
em I can’t believe he did that without consulting you! I’d be raging.
We are moving house tomorrow to the cheaper rental, I have the day off work so I’m done for the week now. I’ve been doing 9 hours of overtime to earn more in case DP doesn’t get a job quickly and it’s killing me on top of commute of 1.5 hours each way, new place is 20 mins from job so really looking forward to that!
I owe exH £2k and am scraping the money together to pay him that this month with the last pay from my old job. Hoping new job don’t mess up my tax as I didn’t have a P45 😱
I’ll be saving a lot in commuting costs which means I should be able to cover our rent and bills until DP is earning again, we are going to try and save his notice pay each month towards future rent in case he takes a while to find something.
He’s been offered an interview coach for the job interview next week via his old job as part of the redundancy package which is good.

Oooh I love a sick day. Not the genuinely ill part. But the fact you can stay in bed and do nothing with no guilt as you are ill 🤧

The house move sounds positive placina in money saving terms. The reduction in commute time will be amazing! I reduced the commute about 1.5 years ago, felt like I got my life back.

One more work day to go until half term!

Thanks for the welcome! I’m not saving for anything in particular just need a much tighter grip on reality and my spending

Welcome lucky
I’ve changed a lot of habits - they’re tried and tested things but they do make a huge difference.
I bring breakfast, snacks and coffee from home to work and keep a stash of snacks in office as well so I don’t buy food out. Always take the free lunch at work on the 4 days it is offered. I am lucky to have that!
I now meal plan religiously and buy what I need for those meals, and batch cook + freeze extra when making things like bolognese or curry so that we have homemade “ready meals” that we can microwave on long work days.
We both cancelled gym and go running or walking together to keep active, I have a bike and plan on cycling to work when possible too, which is good exercise but also saves busfare.
I’ve told all adults in family not to buy me presents this year and that I am only buying for kids. Hoping this will stick as I think it’s just unnecessary and so expensive as I have 4 adult siblings, mum, dad, stepdad, etc etc