Lockdown (almost) over and frugalling continues!

[ememem84]

New thread. All welcome

Agree with lonely ditch sky. Save the £46 odd quid a month or throw it towards debt.

I prefer Erik to hank. I’m not convinced on snakes. Just a bit too crafty for me I think. Fine at the zoo. But wouldn’t want one in my house.

@Lonely , Hank is gorgeous!

8th time trying to post, l will not be put off 😂 receipt from Tesco 🙄🤣

8th time trying to post, l will not be put off 😂 receipt from Tesco 🙄🤣

8th time trying to post, l will not be put off 😂 receipt from Tesco 🙄🤣

For the 10th time , l kid you not , here is my Tesco recipt, l went there shopping today but it's costing a lot more than before l am sure of it .
Dh is the one who likes tinned curry & pkt rice & mushy peas
Dd is the Mango freak lol btw
Is everyone else finding the same ?

mrs I can see ur post a few times I am finding shops are more expensive now

I did it at last! Yay!
Wolf Unescorted Try not to worry about the children , l think most childrens home schooling started off very well meaning and then it all go ttoo much for everyone , It's totally understandable.. l think the children will go back to school and pick it up again so easy , these children today are as bright as buttons
North that is wonderful news and great that your endowment policy will pay out more for you , a great bonus in time for Christmas!

@xmummy2princesx

mrs I can see ur post a few times I am finding shops are more expensive now

Ooohhhh Errrr sorry about that everyone Thank you for the heads up 2Princes

Mrs yes shopping has gone up hugely and I've increased my monthly food budget by £50 to cover but not sure it's quite enough

Played with new camera a bit more today. Loving it. I'd forgotten how much.

Ds staying overnight at exes tomorrow. I have a bottle of prosecco, a bloody good steak and I will be treating myself to a delicious dinner and a little quiet one person celebration

Wolf l hope you really enjoy your Sat night treat tomorrow . God knows you really deserve it
£50 more , yes l can see it being every bit of that tbh
Think l will have to make sure l go to Aldi , they don't seem to have gone up as much, l do prefer Tesco though , my local is very clean and very careful & l like that .

Thank you all so much for your support! Feeling more positive today and going to tackle my cv this weekend .

@Mrsmadevans I'm definitely finding my weekly shop more expensive p. We are generally spending more anyway as the kids constantly eat but I'm certain they have put their prices up

£4.83 at co-op spend , milk bread and pizza

Yes shopping is definitely more expensive but we are home for more meals at the moment too.
Did I mention that the dts are getting their funded hours for nursery now? We still have to make up the difference but we are so much better off as a result. It's like having a 3rd income! We have been buying things with careless abandon for the last month though so we need to rein it in and actually pay extra on the mortgage like we said we would.
@LonelyOversharer I would love to see your YouTube debut! I made my own recently but just a brief appearance in a video for work. The dcs thought mummy was actually on TV though!

I love cross stitch so would also like to see video lonely
Snuggly great about the funding, I got application for subsidy for childcare today. Think I'll get just under €50 but not sure what their evening at afterschools will cost yet.

Spent €32.39 in what will be my local shop on coal, logs, briquettes, a magazine, a dozen eggs and an ice cream for a cozy night in for myself. I was determined not to buy fuel but it's such a horrible evening.

Steak dinner with broccoli, carrots, chips and pepper sauce.

Malted seeded sourdough just out of oven and I'm out walking ddog in the rain.

Shopping definitely went up so I've focused again and determined to keep under €100 for dunnes, €25 spent on fruit & veg and I didn't use all last weeks meat either.

Wolf enjoy your day & night tomorrow

Unescorted kallax rock! Have you seen the hack making a kitchen island from it?
I only have an 8 bay one for playroom, not sure where it'll feature in new house, it was going to divide dc bedroom but now they'll have their own rooms with au pair leaving

North that's fab about your policy maturing

Wolf years of unopened post?

Ex surprised me by booking 2 extra days hols to help out when au pair leaves, it overlaps our hotel break but he didn't know that and I successfully changed it. So I'm splitting my week now and dm will cover 3 days and that's 9-31 August sorted!

I'm also debt free since I joined thread but I sold a house to get there & will have mortgage again soon hopefully but currently have savings as well as spending money and mortgage will be about half of rent so I'll have money for renovations/decorating house and for saving for changing car & to overpay mortgage.

Here and YNAB have been key in me getting to this point. Here maybe 8 years?

Love wow what a saving on the ring

£125 on premium bonds. Wahoo.

And had my last therapy session for a while today. Definetly the best thing I’ve done for me.

mrs it happens to the best of us lol! The app dont work well 4 me either

em DS1 is only 2 but has shown an interest in it. I’ve got him 2 do a wee first thing in the morning and last thing at night and he’s tellin me when he needs a wee but not a poo he likes to do poos in the corner of the room lol. In his nappy of course. He doesnt start nursery until next yr so hopefully can get it sorted so he’s fully trained by then!. Glad to hear it’s going well 4 u.

Spent £12.99 4 a duvet cover of amazon.

Wow Love that must be very gratifying to save so much! Will we get to see it?

Welcome to the new people - nice to have so many! I’ll probably get everyone confused for a bit, apologies .

Lonely I’m not cross stitching much right now as my eyes are a bit tired at night but I’ve indulged a fair bit in the past (and might try again when I get glasses - soon 😫!) so I’d like to see your vid too, please!

I’ve been on the thread for a good few years now and lurked before that, but I’ve really enjoyed the back story round ups. Wolf, Unescorted, you guys have all done incredibly well!

I joined when my son was diagnosed with ASD when he was 3. I needed to step away from my high-pressure job for a year or so (got pregnant with DD so it turned into 2 years) and focus on DS but as the main earner, that meant reining in our spending a good bit.

I’m back working now but I’m not quite back to full-time or on my previous career track as we struggle still to get suitable childcare for DS so I can’t assume I’ll keep earning at a high rate. I’m lucky to have a flexible employer right now. We’re also now saving for work to be done on our house, as we need a new layout and kitchen downstairs. And ideally a loft conversion.

I am a crap frugaleer. Today I am fighting the urge to buy myself baubles. Monica Vinader jewellery is offering a very good nhs discount and I wear my drop earrings more than any other... v tempted by a different colour and the necklace and the ring . We don’t have a cleaner right now and I’m doing it all, with some degree of resentment , so I might splurge a little of the saved money and get some earrings. Tempted....

Also need to buy teacher gifts. We do a class collection but as DS has significant SEN and has a full-time teaching assistant, and takes a good bit of commitment from his teacher, I always want to buy a personal gift too. I’ve earmarked £50 total for that, skewed towards his wonderful TA (I’ve seen a lovely pewter photo frame I think she’d like - and she’s just had a new grandchild ).

We’ve had our house insurance renewal quote and it’s gone from £450-odd to £780 . So I’ll be on moneysupermarket at the weekend then, hope I find something much better than that! Other than house insurance and jewellery July needs to be a more frugal month than recent ones. Agree food spends are ridiculous right now. We do eat well though.

Wolf wow you have done so well. Are all your finances completely separated from ex? Just that mention of unopened post......
I have a 0% credit card balance of 2800 which I wanted to pay off this summer but as am on 80% pay that isn't happening

Today will be £25 stables, £50 filling the car,

Congrats in the bonds win Em.

We are fans of Kallax too. It is just so useful and versatile and cheap and easy to build! The dts have a massive one in their room with 4 boxes for toys and the other 4 for books. We have another in the hall with all our hats, scarfs, nursery/school bags etc that also doubles as a bench to sit on to put on shoes. We are thinking of getting one as a TV stand/DVD and excess toy storage next!

I hope my being pleased about nursery funding wasn't insensitive. It's been a very long and tight 3 years with maternity leave followed by 2 years paying for 2 at nursery plus wraparound for dd1. Dh and I have barely even bought ourselves clothes so it's a relief to not have to be quite so careful. Although we do need to be if we want to move house soon.

No not yet Accidental as we still have a joint mortgage (which I'm paying) I know he has significant debt and is being chased for it and I am worried that bailiffs will come here. He alleges that he has arrangements in place through the CAB but I don't believe that. Unfortunately our divorce has been held up by Covid

Snuggly not at all this thread is about the good financial news as well as the bad I think

I also hope to divorce this year, legally separated since March so it should be straightforward as all the crap is sorted out.

Morning!
It's been raining for 24 hours here now.
"popped" (36 mile round trip) to Tescos last night as we had run out of milk that's 30 pints gone in 6 days

So I spent £50 and only got food. That's no way near a food shop, I have to do that today. I'll tally it up and give proper figures later.

I agree, food is creeping up. I really do the main shop in Aldi (or Lidl if I need a pastry), and sweep up in a big shop, Tescos is always the most. I can't believe that I used to use them exclusively.