Safely into a frugal September saving as we go...

[northender]

New thread. Thought I needed to get back on track.

Wolf bless you love l hope you feel better soon
Thank you Orange very kind of you . l just do what needs doing.
I'm impressed with your organisation and planning too great job! Love to you too sweetie
Unescorted great news re your Dd
Sea that cake is wonderful you are so talented l am awestruck!
EM love the ballooon gorgeous!
Happier sometimes they just know which buttons to push
your fires sound lovely
Snuggly l get how upsetting you feel at the fear of not being with your Mum at Christmas , bless you love
Girlie money well spent if you love it
Do you remember l was going to buy Dd1/US a car ? Well we had to go and give it the once over tonight before we agreed to buy it . We had a good look at it and thought it was suitable until we opened the bonnet and saw the underneath of the car and the inside , it was caked in Concrete . We were absolutely astonished at the state on it the concrete was rock solid, God knows where or what, they had been doing with it .Anyway needless to say we are back to the drawing board and starting to look again , hey ho
Will put pictures on

Here it is

Catching up later. But first. Gruffalo cake

Fabulous cake EM he will love it
I nearly forgot it was definitely a NSD for me today lol

Thanks Mrs

I love that balloon Em, my dcs would also love it - where did you find it?!

Welcome Sonja! My reasons for being here financially have changed many times. Initially it was to survive the last few weeks of mat leave on no pay - almost 6 years ago! Then it was another lot of mat leave and then having 3 dcs in nursery at the same time. That is now drawing to an end as one is at school and the others now get funded hours so we are now saving towards moving house but also we have relaxed the purse strings slightly, partly on things to make life easier and also for the occasional treat now we can afford it.
Mostly I am here to talk to all my frugal friends - they are a lovely bunch here!

Nsd. I think that's 5 in a row!

You’ve got a rotating cake stand Em - that’s quite hardcore. Welcome to the cake makers’ club

Very exciting times for DD Unescorted. I so well remember that first term and how exciting it all was. I walked through Radcliffe Square late one clear winter’s night and looked at how beautiful it all was and felt so lucky to be there and so completely happy (I was 1st gen uni in my family so it was a huge deal for me). (20 years later I got married right there in the Divinity school of the bodleian library - also a huge privilege and joy). I am sure she will have a wonderful time.

Orange I have just realised your mn name is An Orange A Day, not an Orange day . That makes a bit more sense. could be the benefit of the new reading glasses

Concrete? Wtf?

Gosh yes, it must be 6m since lockdown. Wow.

I’ve had a tricky 2 Hr work meeting from 4-6pm, where I had to say ‘normal to some doctors who didn’t want to hear it, and then a school Governor meeting till just now. I’m all zoomed out. I’m going to shove a pizza in the oven, then in my face, and do some lovely Christmas planning and craft planning and shopping this evening. I’m right in the mood for it. One more work day and then I am freeeee on Friday. I just can’t get over NOT being at work for every single child-free minute of my life. Huzzah.

Say No to some doctors. Bloody autocorrect.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood....

sea yes I do. I love it. Makes things much easier.

Mrs that is random. That can't be worth a scrap value. And just why????

wolf sorry - missed you being poorly. hope you get well soon.

sea she is bnc right by the high st gate. 1st gen Ox, but 3rd gen uni. Is it bad to hope she wants me to visit.

Love the cake Em well done !
Unescorted l have not got a clue but l am so glad we spotted it , the car looked good on the outside but underneath it was caked in this concrete , we couldn't believe it The manager of Motorpoint said he thought it had been driven off road but this wasnt mud it was inches thick. Thank God l was able to refuse the car

wolf I’ll end up very stressed if I don’t plan, means I can enjoy the Christmas season!. I hope you can warm yourself up, lots of warm drinks should help. Feel better soon💐

unescorted that’s so exciting for your DD, I hope she has a wonderful time!

Still mrs, they’re very lucky to have you around and thank you, I do love being prepared❤️. That is so random about the car!

Amazing cake em! The DC would love that.

sea it’s after my gran getting confused with the saying😂. I hope you manage to have a relaxing night now after your zoom calls.

I went for a walk with the DC after tea and they’ve been little nightmares today. I just wanted to get out the house. I take back what I said about it being warm it’s bloody freezing. It started raining just as we got in too, it’s definitely becoming winter. Home now to tidy. The DC kicked off after we had tea. I made spaghetti and meatballs, DD decided to throw it onto the floor when she had finished. So now I have to pick out meat and spaghetti from my kitchen tiles🙄.

Awful weather here today. Rain and wind (the wind picked up right when I was carrying three huge balloons to the car...bastard things kept hitting me in the face!).

Welcome sonja I had a load of debt. Paid it off. I’m an emotional spender so this keeps me on Check a bit. We are in a much better position financially as a couple now.

Been awol for months. But need to be back on track 20% pay cut permanent and I am only part time.😭
Great cake em.

Fabulous cake Em

Hope your new colleague behaves.

This is the grey wolf. The photo doesn't really do it justice. It's got purple undertones

With photo

Cake looks ace Em. Happy birthday to DS.

I’ve woken up with a streaming cold and can hear the DCs winding each other up. Sigh.

Welcome back accountant.

Great cake em

That car is bonkers.

Ok sonjia.

Look at all of your outgoing are they needed. If yes are they on the best deal.
Debt, are you able to move to low interest rates? Pay highest rates first. Do you know about the standing order trick.
Next plan plan plan. You will know most of this from me but it never hurts to remind. Budget everything monthly and annual costs.
Sell what you can if you cba. Always look for the best deal. Remember the money mantra from MSE.
Meal plan., lists and being organised. Use the thread how you want. Chat, post spends, ideas, talk out of spends.

And as said we are friends first.

I'm sure she must have forgotten something unescorted

Morning all.

Jobs I want to complete this week:
Buy and plant bulbs
More Christmas shopping, we have started but I don't want to get caught out.
Look into switching energy suppliers. I don't really want to as ours are great and also renewable but prices have just gone up so I want to see if I can get a better deal.

Morning everyone 😀
Just realized it's only 13 weeks today Christmas Eve 😱

mrsmadevans
thanks for the kind words everyone.

Have to resubmit application for mortgage no option to extend so I'm not sure where this leaves me with regard to purchasing the house I hope to buy. There's nothing within my budget locally either.

Yesterday 95c on a stamp
Today €400 on divorce plus €4.50 for postal order for same
Dentist I think is covered by my PRSI but I must check
€15 on a lead to charge my phone
€5 on pizza for lunch, treat before dentist
€14.50 on waste disposal
Will go to Lidl for cajun chicken for ds lunch so no doubt spend more and will collect my free pack of rich tea from my scratch and win
Library free
Cryotherapy covered by GP visit card

Amazon just refunded me for carseat cover for ddog so I need to shop again for that

Concrete on car is mad, I work in a quarry (very outing I guess ) and not even the work vehicles would be like this

I've also decided to increase dc's pocket money to €4 per week each from €2.50 and to add a bonus €4 at end of the month for staying within their budget each week and if they're good. This will mean €20 per month rather than the usual €10 but I'm often whacking a mole as they call it in ynab, which is moving money from another budgeted item to cover overages. DD was thrilled as she said that's 4 pokemon packs of cards, I hope she doesn't only spend it on them.

£555 decorators

Cake looks great em