Managing Money Mindfully in March with the Friendly Frugaleers

[Happierwithouthim]

Last Thread

All welcome on this thread, we're a friendly bunch who like to get bang for our buck, and manage our money as well as we can.

Pet pics very welcome too

Words with friends is ok.

My work have said the same. I’m expected to do my best. As long as I check in a few times a day they got me. So good to know.

On the flip side I got my colleagues with kids when I’m in the office. So we look out for each other.

It’s so bizarre all this. We’re not on full lock down yet here. It’ll happen though.

Life very surreal here as well, I'm being deployed from next week back to frontline services 😕 not sure what to do about dd. She could go to school but it's hard to assess the risk plus the school have basically said it will just be a childcare setting, there won't be any formal teaching.

I'm tempted to keep her off for next week and see how it goes...

Got petrol and snacks today £40.

DH got a job! I’m stupidly pleased for him! He starts next week. Much less than usual pay but it’s a job. It will keep him away from me and able to pay his bills.
Sadly DD has lost her job tonight! I’ve offered to help her apply to supermarkets but I’m tempted to pay her bills just to keep the house tidy and cook for ds when we’re out working! I need to sit down with her.

Still no spends as still haven’t left the house.

I keep trying to post but it's playing up on my phone. Agghh! Will keep trying, feel like I really need this chat at the moment too.

Pm your email address snug we will add you to Skype

Great news on the job yoga

£90 Sainsbury's last night. Loads of stock outs and subs. We need for nothing though.

Snuggly it is a lifeline isn't it.

Isolated things that are making me happy … I got a line full of washing dry yesterday and I have restarted my sourdough starter. Both because I have time.

Today's will I or won't I find it shopping list is bread flour and wine. I can live without both - they are nice to haves. I would get both from my mum and dads but my mum will insist on me giving her a hug which will cause my brother to be angry / sad. I am not going to risk that.

I have decided not to cancel ds's music lesson or dd's driving lesson payments because we can afford to keep paying them & I worry about the music teacher and the driving instructor. When they are earning again we will have money in the "bank" for music and driving.

Spending opportunities are thin on the ground - it was a NSD yesterday.

Great news on the job Yoga

Girlie if you think she will cope being at home on her own I'd keep her home, will she manage with the puppy?

Need to have a sit down with da and talk about how next week is going to work. His teachers have helpfully told him he can do all his school work in one go which is really not going to help me. I need him doing some every day so he's out of my way.

For those with kids at home Joe Wicks is doing free pe lessons on YouTube every morning. Steve Backshall is doing an hour of nature/geog etc on Wednesday lunchtime and there are several cartoon and art guys doing online sessions.

Tried to do a bit for local businesses yesterday signing up to online subscription services and buying products. Hopefully many of them will recover from this, our little town was just starting to really turn a corner after the last financial crisis

No bread flour to be had in my town.

Every cloud. No opportunity to spend money. Riding school closed now

Our community bakery is selling off their flour today Life. I'm trying to decide whether I go and get some

Where have all these home bakers suddenly come from? I could do with a bag of bread flour and a bag of SR but will manage for now.
Wolf there are lots of free online education resources popping up. Dd is talking about doing the Joe Wicks PE.
Girlie a trial run maybe in the first week would be a good idea, it's hard to know what to do for the best.
Agree the Bob romance is heartwarming
I've written a to do list for today as I need more focus.
I'm going to audit kitchen and freezer, figure out what I can make and what I need extra and then see if someone will get things for us.
I will try to sort skype out on my phone so I can join in the group chat. It's installed but doesn't seem to be working at the moment.
Going to do an online workout and maybe go out for a walk later (I'm pretty sure that's allowed so long as you keep away from anyone else)
Set up online scrabble for me and mum. Thanks Em I will try words with friends.
Meal plan for the week.
Do some sewing.

Wolf yes she's fine with the puppy, in fact that part of it makes life easier as she can walk him and I don't have to worry about him being on his own! Which laptop did you get your son? I'm thinking dd definitely needs one as her school have been sending a lot of work home.

Going to be a very chilled wend, want to do some gardening and baking.

Girlie. I got a Lenovo ideapad with the intel processor. £349 from John Lewis and I think it's decent. You can get cheaper but there's little memory in those which makes them little more than browsing machines.

£43 hair, I felt so sorry for the girls in the salon, they are all very stressed and not sleeping. They are lucky though that they are waged and therefore covered by Friday's announcement but a lot have self employed partners. They are doing their best though to keep everyone's spirits up and many were talking about volunteering in the community too
£4 bread flour. That's another 4 small loaves worth I reckon and I've offered to bake them for friends if they can't get bread - this isn't panic buying, the bakery has to close and as a charity needs to be able to make back their outlay on flour
£5 cheap book shop on a couple of books for ds as a don't really want him reading on a device if he also has to do school online

Washing on the line, nice and frugal which is good as this has been a weirdly spendy month

Going for a walk shortly while we can although the boy is coming under intense protest

Can I ask something stupid.

Social distancing doesn’t mean stay home indoors and do nothing does it?

Em you can go for a walk with your family or cycling with your family, you can be in the garden or go for a drive. You shouldn't be within 2m if someone who isn't in your immediate household

Ok. I’m just checking. As im seeing people get flamed for going to the shop or gym or whatnot.

We’re going for afternoon tea later today. The place has made adjustments so we can go

Dunno where these baker people are coming from but there is bugger all in town.
I would have gone for the flour wolf so pleased you did.

Yy still go out but keep away by 2 m

I only went to town for needs for DC and mil.
Got paracetamol in superdrug.

£100 ish spent maybe less

Life I'm amazed you got paracetamol. I've not been able to find any anywhere

We may get a laptop too. I'll look at that one wolf
Online workout done, then dd and I walked round the block. We're in isolation but can still do that as long as we stay outdoors and keep away from anyone else. The fresh air was lovely.
My aunty replied to a facebook post of mine and said they were trying to focus on what they need rather than what they want, I liked that.
Skype sorted I think on the email address I sent you wolf
Dd's friend is going to go shopping for us so I need to sort a list out

Our next door neighbour is 83 and on her own. Her back door sticks and she is currently bashing it with a wooden mallet to open it. Dh had said he would sort it for her at the weekend but obviously now can't so I messaged the family across the road who are going to sort it today. I hope we don't lose this community spirit when this is over.

I also imagine there are going to be some very heavy loaves turned out by inexperienced bakers. My top tip if you don't have a breadmaker is to watch Richard Bertinet kneading videos on you tube and make a wetter dough than you imagine you should have

Do you need some wolf. I will post you a pack.
Independent pharmacy also are good bets round here

€21.89 on 12 eggs, 2 batteries(smoke alarm & dog collar), 2 packs of ice creams.

€45 on diesel

Proud of how local shop have put stringent measures in place for social distancing & sanitising hands and surfaces
Checked my Dunnes vouchers and they're valid for longer due to covid so I'm going to stretch it out to Wednesday eve

Loving the stories about Bob and your mum mrsmadevans.

Yoga what a double edged sword

Walking now and will go out for coal/logs/sticks €20 deal later on

Wolf I've never dried breadcrumbs didn't know it was a thing

Holiday cancelled but money in credit with travel company, the campsite wouldn't refund if restrictions were still in place. They had advertised Legoland for December so might see about that

Sky movies £1 for 2 months on now tv. Watching lion king the new one