Frugal Friends Finding Financial Freedom In February

[Wolfcub]

New Fred

Just back from the shops.

Spends today

Parking 50 cents

Cakes in bakery €4.50

Supermarket 1 €12.50

Supermarket 2 (Lidl) €19.36

Supermarket 3 €14.78

Butchers €4.95

Total spends €56.59

I had a really good lunch - mozzarella cheese and parma ham on crusty white bread, followed by a slice of almond and raspberry tart.

Dinner will be 'home made' pizzas using thin pizza bases from Super Valu and our own toppings.

I got lots of turf in Lidl so I'm going to light a fire shortly and have a glass or two of wine while I cheer on Ireland in the rugby .

Tayto that's what I'm doing too, only without the turf

Tayto in Lidl?
I've just been to Lidl, ds had a meltdown because I wouldn't buy a cracked toolbox, I was willingly buying the undamaged one. €43 on one of those kitchen towel, tinfoil, cling film dispensers (my current one is screwed into side of cabinet so leaving it!) this one can be put up with suction cups, toolbox, a hairbrush, two hot wheels cars, 2 packs of seeds, pack of steak mince making two lasagnes to use up cheese sauce & lasagne plus have something to bring to house of funeral too, meringue nests(50c cheaper than Dunnes) and two packs of energy protein balls

€22.30 on deli lunch, pocket money treats, get well card & latte for bf.
€2 vending machine
€7 measuring tape

sea always here to be a listening ear for you, you're under serious work and home pressure at the moment

I've an idea for another tattoo three hearts or two overlapping pink for dd, blue for Ds & purple for twin that was lost in early pregnancy, it's going on inside of my left wrist

Obviously I'm sworn off men for life but the French ref's a bit of a fine thing!

That’s a beautiful idea happier ❤️

Thank you guys for the tattoo design love! 💐

Cagletini woke up from her buggy nap and promptly puked all over the floor. Faaaaaaantastic. 🙄😣

Cancelled the therapy appt I just booked the other day as I’m not sure if it’s a bug (I’ve been feeling sick but headachey so may be coincidence). It’s slightly less than 48h notice but I’m hoping she will be ok with it - TBH she seems pretty laid back, she told me once I’m one of the only people who always pays on time! 😱 It was a cancellation anyway. I’ve asked for the other cancellation she had (Thursday) if it’s still available. I know she has done phone consultations for others, so if it’s that or lose the money then I’ll do it.

Tayto he is a little bit of alright

Managed two nsd as was busy at work and totally exhausted so no time or inclination to do any shopping.

Things are quite strained at the moment as MIL’s cancer has spread and it looks like she won’t have long. She is still in hospital but we need to decide where she goes next. We would love for her to go home but I’m not sure how that would be safe as she lives alone and although we will all take turns at visiting or even staying overnight I’m not convinced it will be enough. The icing on the cake is it also looks like ds1 has done poorly in the prelims for his Highers. Feel like running away.

Sea please don’t feel you shouldn’t post. If it helps to have somewhere to vent then please do. You are an amazing mum and it’s obvious from what you post that even when you’re running on empty you give your dc so much time and attention and take pleasure in spending time with them. I hope things with ds improve

Ah, I’m really not giving the DC my best at the moment but appreciate the support people, I really do. I don’t feel I can really talk to people irl about it (or burden you all with the details) as it’s the dark side of SN and people who don’t have to deal with these sorts of things just find it a big grim and don’t really get how devastating it is. We feel housebound at the moment on top of everything else. Onwards...

Anyway, I delurked (already!) to say how sorry I am to Born. It’s really very sad and I wish you and your family well through this horrible time, and i hope MIL has a peaceful end. Unfortunately I don’t think she will be able to stay at home right on the end unless someone literally moves in and can be there 24/7. It really becomes very full-on. Don’t want to be a downer, just better to know for planning. My dad didn’t want to be at home so went to a nursing home when he got quite ill (NHS funded) and then would have gone to a hospice when he became very very unwell at the end, except there wasn’t a space so he died in hospital. Which wasn’t ideal really but he went downhill very quickly, which was a blessing in some ways. for you all x

Sea I'm sorry to hear things are so difficult at the moment, you are an amazing and strong woman but I can well imagine the relentlessness is soul destroying. We are all here for you 💐

Born there's a thing called fast track CHC for people in their last 12 weeks of life that you might be able to get for your mil. If it's agreed it means all care (or a large percentage of it) will be funded by the NHS. You might be able to get support from the Marie curie nurses as well, who do things like night sits.

Busy day here and spendy.

£3.50 to dd for teen gym.
Approx another £50 on birthday bits for dd.

£64 for the vets, he's given the dog an injection to stop the sickness (not sure if I mentioned he's been sick every day for 3 days) and some tablets. He mentioned if it doesn't improve he'll need an x ray to rule out there isn't something lodged in his stomach 😩
£40 on at least 6 weeks worth of food for the cat and dog.

Feeling very skint now, had a letter saying my rent is going up by nearly £50 as well 😭 got a sinking feeling I'll be having to work full time soon....

Curls - we the superdrug offer its really good...
Right spendy day but hopefully done for month
25.00 in charity shop... spring wadrobe
2.50 cake tins for keeping my baking fresh
10.00 hairbrushes/teenage skin/ care products
6.56 Mcdonalds, i had a free hot choc
80.20 Morrisons food shop
Tomorrow..
144 council tax
44 water
35 school lunches.
Still no van so walking to work wont cost any diesel at least....

Thank you Sea I am quite realistic and don’t think it will work but sometimes I start to doubt myself. Thank you for sharing your experience it reassures me that I am not just being overly pessimistic.

I know you might not be giving your dc “your” best but you are still giving them as much as you can. I think if anybody gets neglected it will be you as I get the feeling you put everyone else first. Be kind to yourself Sea you are doing a much better job than most would manage .

Thanks Girlie I will look into that. I hope your lovely dog feels better soon.

Sorry things are tough right now sea

Life - good luck with the job apps
Born - sorry to hear about your MIL
Girlie - hope your dog gets better soon

Born and Sea

Hope poorly children and dogs recover from sickness soon!

I am feeling very pleased with myself for putting the washing out to dry today and it actually dried!! Not bad for Feb 1st!

sea please continue to post.

lane hope cagletini is ok and it’s not a bug

born so sorry about mil. Xx

I’ve just had a raging fight with dh. I’ll spare the details but the gist is he’s overly critical of me at the moment and can’t ever see anything from someone else’s point of view. So I challenged it.

If i posted in relationships they’d have a field day.

Sorry for all having such a hard time.💔💔💔
Spendy yesterday treated myself to new riding clothes and bought a bottle of baileys. Randomly fancied it.

£42 on jodhpur and chaps for DD. She fell twice yesterday and had a lovely set of bruises/scrapes on her side and ribs

I know that feeling em. DH isn't week as he has DS bug but he's being such and arse. Hope the row cleared the air.

Gws poorly people and doggo. And that others don't succumb.

Nsd planned today but do need to get DD done stuff for school and casual as she insists on growing.

£25 gym also Wilko for 1st aid supplies as DD needed dressings and I ran out

£7.40 Wilko £3.80 peanut butter and flour

It's a bright sunny morning here and a mild 9 degrees out. I'm glad to see the back of January. I'm convincing myself that it's spring now (well, that's what we were taught at school) and I'm looking forward to longer, brighter evenings.

Having a quiet day at home. DD needs to do some studying for her mock exams and I need to do some cleaning and cooking. Dinner will be chicken enchiladas.

Spends

€4.73 for milk and sausage rolls

40 cents for a lime

€1.20 for two Cadburys Creme Eggs

I was just saying too that it felt like spring today and looking round our house in better light you can see the half started decorating

Balmy 13 degrees here. Inspired by snuggly I have put the washing out today. DC are out in the garden bellowing with the next door neighbours DC. I’m sure our neighbours have missed it

Wasn’t well Friday and still not feeling great. I didn’t make it to the end of the longest week ever at work.

I've gone through the account figures this morning and feel suitably depressed now 🙄 my rent (I'm in a shared ownership) is going to shot up by £60 a month and with the water going up as well I'm £75 a month worse off!! Not sure where I'm going to find that extra money from tbh.

I'll cancel NT membership which runs out in June, we're not using it enough, I'll also cancel a small charity donation I do monthly 😰 I need to work out if I can get our mobile phones cheaper (I only pay £10 a month each now sim only so probably not...?)

No where near saving what I need though, it's probably going to mean putting much less into savings each month. Currently aim to save £150 a month and it's looking like I'll need to halve that 😫

I'll try and work an extra shift a month as well although won't be able to do that once my university course starts in March.

Ugh so depressing.

Today will be a nsd!!

Hope all poorly people, dcs and pers feel better soon.
Born, sorry about you mil
Em, hope you and dh have everything sorted now.
life, hope dd isn't too sore.
Girlie that sounds tough, if I remember correctly, you receive tax credits? Will that increase because your outgoings have gone up?

girlie my sim only from Sky is £6 so you should be able to save a little. Also remember to go through cash back site like TopCashback

That’s a lot to find