Frugal Friends Forging Forward Toward February and Further Financial Freedom

[Wolfcub]

New fred

@peanut it was thank you, £60 added to my personal tax allowance so not money in my hand as such but it all helps. Nice to read you enjoying activities and walks with the little one. Lovely activities like that help dont they?

That looks lovely Happier

I've had a very very lazy day. I've finished one book. Read half of another. Done a couple of loads of washing and been to the bottle bank. That's it

Nsd. As it's pay day tomorrow I transferred some small leftover amounts from the current/easy access savings into long term savings

Mmm bread

Bread looks lovely, love homemade bread!

The sun actually shone here today and I managed to get out for a walk. It has done me a lot of good!

Bread looks yum 😍

Gave in to takeaway this evening, life is just wiping us out 😳

Bought a game for home ed last night (chemistry/literacy) and I might get a music theory book for DS. He asked to learn piano a while back and we started this week - it is very weird teaching my own child (despite the fact I’ve home educated him for 6 years - but somehow this is different as I’m used to teaching other kids the piano!)

I am very very happy with my new piano I got in the sales. Playing loads and it’s definitely keeping me sane

I LOVES YOU ALL, Thank you so much for all the advice and suggestions!

@IAmongstTheWorld

I LOVES YOU ALL, Thank you so much for all the advice and suggestions!

You are doing so well, cancelling subs and so on. You have been pretty ruthless, I'm impressed!

I feel like I've gone the other way, after years of being frugal I've had a lot of "sod it" moments lately. I need to get back on track. We are saving money at the moment because of things like dh not commuting and we should be doing something useful like mortgage overpayments instead of thinking "ooh treats!".

Having said that I bought coleslaw this week and really enjoyed it. Realised I don't normally buy coleslaw because it is "extravagant". It really isn't I think years of frugality has altered my perceptions!

Transformation

Kitchen guy came up this afternoon which was bothered exciting and overwhelming. Initially I thought he’d think I was nuts when I said I wanted a kitchen which was sleek minimalist functional Family friendly and cosy. But he seemed to get it.

He suggested things we’d already thought of (but I purposely hadn’t mentioned).

He came in though and asked if he could be honest about existing kitchen. I said he could because I hated it. He agreed it was dire and would have been suprised if someone like me had picked such a dated kitchen. Phew.

First designs coming through tomorrow. And from there we can play around with layout until we get it right then it’s on to colours and finishes. He apparently won’t let us even think about that until the layout works.

Cost wise we think it’s going to be spendy.

£6k for the removal of a supporting wall and I put of steel.
£3k electrics (inc underfloor heating)
£1k flooring
£10k kitchen (to include all new appliances)
Then the wood burner new window and doors and furniture and plates and glasses and cups etc

Dh has suggested we just dump the lot as soon as the work starts. But I’m more cautious. Will replace as like for like but given it takes 12 weeks for a sofa im not having nothing to sit on.

Getting notebook out tomorrow and planning things time wise. Exciting. Exciting. And lucky we’ve saved for this.

Sorry, I haven’t been on all day!. I really let myself go this week so I decided today I’d get back into the groove and give my flat a good clean. just did a huge clean of the flat. It’s been rainy and wet today, I was contemplating staying indoors but instead decided to get Elijah in his puddle suit and wellies and he jumped in lots of muddy puddles. We also made rainbow rice, and then put it in his sensory bin with some cups and utensils and it entertained him for longer than I expected. I’m struggling with heartburn/acid reflux, it’s woke me up and I feel so gassy. The back of my throat burns and I just feel quite sick, I forgot about this stage of pregnancy!. However, I enter the third trimester tomorrow (Saturday), so I’m in the home stretch now.

amber I’m sorry you miss your friends💐, it’s so difficult. Because I’m single I’m able to have a support bubble and I feel very lucky for that, but I just want to get out again, even just to a cafe! Just something other than walk. Great going with the selling, it’s great to get a little bit of money selling things you no longer use.

em I’m glad Pilates works well for you. The hooks and shelf sound lovely. The kitchen plans are very exciting!.

happier that bread looks very tasty, and so do the muffins!

mrs bob’s pressies for your mum sound lovely. I’m really enjoying these activities and the age Elijah’s at, I love watching him learn new things.

fear every little helps when it comes to money😊. The activities definitely make lockdown easier, it’s difficult trying to come up with new ways to entertain him but when we do the activities or walks I feel so much better:

£32.49 on top up shop

We have had a sort out couple of days here too.... thankfully DH seems to be reversing his hoarding tendencies. The bad news is that we have nearly a week until bin collection day and it is full. The indoor bin is full too. Despite a tip trip.

It is the sum of little things that have made a difference to our finances here. Takeaway to Fakeaway and staying away from bookshops and cafes are the biggest savings here. I still need to sort out food waste, especially salad / vegetables - I am skilled at creating fridge compost.

The plates are almost here.... you can tell I don't do a huge amount of internet buying.

For that amount of work £20k sounds reasonable em.
Think we are all having ups and downs peanut.
Food waste is an issue here too. Must get better
Ooh plates.

I've got a headache again today.

peanut amber* I long to go to a cafe and sit down and have a coffee and cake!!! Or to the local pub and have a pubby lunch.

unescorted same here. Because shops are closed I can’t do the browsing. Internet shopping is all well and good but I find I need to know what I want and in some cases when I get stressed or sad I just want “something”

£20k is a lot of money. But if we get what we want....money well spent I think. I’ve chosen floor tiles already getting ahead of myself a bit here

Em, Amber, Peanut at the moment on our days in school supervising we have to leave at the end of the school day. Normally I stay at work doing marking and things until about 5. Anyway, this week school finished and I thought to myself that as I didn't need to collect the dcs from nursery yet I could go and have a coffee in the cafe. Them I remembered! It was weird, it was like for a split second I forgot that we can't do things like that now.

Need to book my car MOT today. Keep forgetting.

Payday thank goodness. Paid myself first. Chucked some changes at the credit card. Moved my special bonus (minus the nearly half of it taken in tax and pension) to savings

Need to pay balance of holiday cottage later for Easter though I can't see we will be going

Meeting a friend or two for lunch is probably what I miss most. Or even just sitting in one on my own TBH just to get some headspace! And yoga classes which I go to with a friend.

So glad it’s Friday, this week sucks

Phew! So pleased to have finished the working week. Just marking my place... I've got a lot of catching up to do!

January:
NSDs: 13/31
Groceries: £403.20/400
Everything else: £266.07/350

It has been an odd week - it draaaaaaaaaaaaaaged and then the last couple of days have zipped by.

The plates have arrived & they look better in real life. I was so excited... DS less so because I had to wake him up.

wolf I love your pay day b/c it means mine is almost here.

That's excellent on the nsds Madden

Sing me too. Breakfast on Friday morning with my bestie is the thing I miss most. That and a Saturday afternoon pint

Payday here too. Bills go out on Monday. Haven't used cc much this month so going to pay off full amount.
Ended up spending £80 in Sainsbury's. About £30 of that was a top up shop, the rest was a good supply of generic birthday cards and wrapping paper to keep us going, a Valentine card for dh, some beers for the weekend, a birthday present for a friend (wine and chocolate) and some daffodils to remind us that spring is on the way. They are on top of the fire and will look lovely when they open.

Have given ds a quick trim as his hair was going in his eyes and driving him mad. He looks ok, good job it is cold so he can wear a hat when he goes out

Gah. DH was sick overnight and now has covid symptoms so he’s ordered a test. He looks really rough.

In better news though he sent off some random old jewellery the other day and got £44 for fuck all. Much better than the phones which got virtually nothing, but it’s all out of the house anyway so any money is a bonus

Posted eBay sales. £19!!!

But the things are gone.

Have sent emails today:

Structural engineer
Window people

The next time I have coleslaw on my lunch I will think about it being extravagant snuggly

Hope DH feels better soon sing

Welcome to the newbies

My ddad seems to be doing a bit better now the nursing team are giving him his medication. Going into hospital is on hold at the moment whilst they give this a bit longer to work. He’s sleeping a lot due to the meds.

Paid some bills today, after payday yesterday. Water bills have both gone up so need to stop the long showers!

I hope dh is ok Sing.

I am wiped out, would ideally spend the weekend sleeping and watching TV in my pjs. I suspect the dcs have different ideas unfortunately!

Started a kitchen budget spreadsheet.