Frugal Friends Forging Forward Toward February and Further Financial Freedom

[Wolfcub]

New fred

its crazy mrs all of our shops are now allowed to open and they're (our gov) are expecting a boom in shopping today and for the rest of the week. i think what they are forgetting is that the majority of the workforce are working from home...and given that most of our offices are in town.....

apparently the wearing masks in the high street is so that people limit touching their masks when wearing them by removing them and putting them back on again. I can sort of see the logic. but still.... its going to be another nail in the coffin for our high street

topshop is remaining closed here as they've been taken over by asos. dorothy perkins and burtons will more than likely go as they've supposedly been taken over by boohoo.

we will be left with m&S and a lot of designed concessions in the dept stores. nothing on the affordable high street end.

add to that the gov't idea of charging every parcel which comes into the island 5% GST (sometimes on top of the VAT paid - which should in all honesty be removed) its going to be a nightmare. currently the deminimis level for GST here is £136. but its soon to be on everything. so it will more than likely stop retailers sending here as its not viable for them.

sigh

At the risk of being pounced on as a glasses wearer keeping a mask on makes it easier. That said that's my choice and not mandated. I would feel different if I could not choose.

I'm ok, we seem to now have a few options, none are ideal but it's only 6 months

won £25 on premium bonds this month. wahoooo.

window guys just been to measure up for new windows in garage and to replace french doors on the front with a window. this is all part of the bigger reno plan. sigh.

dh once again swerved the appointment because he's busy with work.

its chucking it down now and i was going to go out for a run at 12. still probably going to go though. need to get out of the house.

Life I'm not a glasses wearer but I also wear my mask all the time when I'm on the shopping street in our town. People are passing close and waiting outside shops all the time, I'm not taking the risk. As soon as I'm on the street leaving town I take it off

I double mask now, blue disposible underneath my material one. We don't go anywhere except a bit of shopping, Drs & pharmacists. It's too risky, we gel going into the shop and coming out. I gel when l go back to the car and wash my hands when we get home. I am scared of getting it because of my Mum and Bob tbh. I don't want them to get it . It's ben a terrible strain really trying to stop them getting it, especially when their families don't take any notice of the lockdown and still go there with their children
Moan over
Em not fair for the Govt to do this to you all they are taking the Mickey! lt will be expensive to buy from the online shops , it just sucks for you .
Spends today, l have been to Savers for Gaviscon & lbuprofen , 5 only so not too bad

mrs if they still deliver here. There’s a campaign to buy local. But when you do it’s double the price of online and usually isn’t what you want really. A sofa for example could take 18 weeks to get here. Order from next and we could in theory have it j. A month th.

Another nsd here. Plodding along nicely to half term now.

February:
NSDs: 2/28
Groceries: £3.06/£390
Everything else: £76.08/£350

@ememem84

mrs if they still deliver here. There’s a campaign to buy local. But when you do it’s double the price of online and usually isn’t what you want really. A sofa for example could take 18 weeks to get here. Order from next and we could in theory have it j. A month th.

OMG Em that takes the biscuit and the Tin. Mind my Dd2 waited weeks for hers from Sofa Sofa or Scs or DFS wherever she bought hers from . I can't remember now but l know they changed the goal posts 3 X 🙄 she ordered it on the 21st August and it came on the 2nd Dec ! 15 weeks ! 🙄 Well done Madden excellent work! 🤗

Ridiculous is what it is em.

wolf hope your blisters have started to heal now

life sorry you've lost the house you were buying, fingers crossed for you to find somewhere else soon

Mrsmad so sorry to hear about your second cousin, my thoughts are with your family

em congratulations on the premium bond win

NSD for me. Yesterday was shopping day, I spent a bit less than usual, but can't claim any credit for that it's only because the non essential isles were closed off. Even the cashiers were saying it's pointless closing part of the shop off. It was a frugal fail anyway because I spent my savings from the supermarket on a small collection of cheap berets online in the sale. No, I don't know why either! They'll look cute, at least.

Mrs I am sorry for your loss...I am glad to hear your mum had a nice birthday....
Went back to lidl cos I forgot to use my app, so bought £25 of all the cleaning stuff I need for 6 month, fabric cond, toothpaste, fairy liquid etc, got 5 pound off. Compared like for like to Morrisons prices I think I probably saved over 10 pounds on sized of the packs of products too. So that worked well.
7.90 for a terracotta pot and stand for cheese plant that just keeps growing, in the B&Q clearance sale.

Sorry about your house life, as if you need messing around at the minute. Hope it all works out....
Mrs, will we get snow 3rd weekend running? Unknown for Swansea??

Yay for the premium bond win Em
Thank you Fear love Lidl app it is fab! l wouldn't rule snow out tbh l think it is entirely possible
Thank you Amber l can't see the point in closing the aisles of shame tbh it seems pointless and l find myself drooling over the stupidest of things , last week it was an electric blanket week before an egg boiler
Am watching 'The Drowning' cannot think what the ending is going to be !

Trying to be more upbeat tbh , we have to keep our peckers up

Hiya everyone hope you’re doing alright today!. It’s been so cold here today, we went for a walk earlier and I was dithering. We did colour mixing today, with water and food colouring and then made different colours mixing the ones we already had. We also did jelly digging, I put some toys in with jelly so it set around them and gave Elijah some little tools to dig them out. I definitely think it’s giving us a bit more routine which helps in lockdown. I had to go to the post office to collect a parcel today, I walked all the way there and it was closed. I had checked the opening times before I left and it was open! I think I’ll get DM to take me in her car tomorrow, so at least if it is closed I wouldn’t have had to walk there.

life I’m taking omeprazole, the reflux stems from my crohns, but I think when I go for my appointment next week I’ll ask if there’s anything else I can do. I do hope the snow isn’t too bad!

em masks in open air?!, I don’t think that’s being enforced here, but it seems a little scary! There’s a lot of shops closing here too, I am worried about the state the high street will be in when this is all over.

mrs I’ll ask at my appointment and see if I can take gaviscon on top of my omeprazole. It’s a nightmare, keeps me up most nights and I’ve gone off eating because of it! Hopefully it can be sorted out :). I don’t understand people taking their DC shopping, DM does shopping for me to save me going out and bringing Elijah.

amber I don’t understand the of closing certain aisles either! The berets sound lovely!

fear brilliant savings with Lidl!

Right, I need to get to sleep! NSD

Unescorted how is your burn doing?

Wolf it is healing slowly and still really sore. The Drs have yet to manage to send the prescription to the Chemists - how difficult can it be? It has gone to the "Spine" apparently. I am not sure I need it anymore, but could do with sorting out the gremlins in the system incase I do need something in the future. On the bright side I will save 2 x prescription charges.

Mrs I am really surprised that your family aren't taking distancing seriously.

Around here people are wearing their masks outside.... I suspect it is mainly due to the cold. They make natty face warmers that fit neatly

I was thinking that yesterday unescorted how my mask was keeping my face warm on the school run!

Will catch up properly later

Bloody hell Unescorted that system sounds a bit rubbish

Ds also wears his mask to keep his nose warm on walks

Love how are you and your mum and dad doing?

its a bit mental re the masks outside on the high street - the reasoning behind this is that it will stop people touching their masks so much when taking off and on again.

but it will kill the high street.

pictures in local news yesterday of people flocking into shops here. and having to queue and not be distanced enough. because you queue outside the door and remain 2m apart. but there isn't space between shops to have queues...cases will more than likely go up again (we are down to 89 i think). but thats inevitable. its not going to go away.

i'm still on the fence re the vaccine if im honest. i just feel uneasy about it given that there are so many unknowns. dh is adamant he's having it. and i've said that i'll read more research etc and make up my mind (luckily we won't be getting it any time soon because we're not in any of the groups being called up). but i have said to him we should leave 3 weeks or so between us getting the jab. in case of side effects. no point us both feeling rotten and trying to muddle through looking after the kids.

Hoping for a NSD today. Spends yesterday were £65 in Lidl. I only popped in for a few things but I didn't buy anything we didn't need so 🤷🏻‍♀️

My dm had her vaccine on Tuesday and felt rough yesterday but is much better today. I don't know if this will help anyone but there's a thread going at the moment with a link to book vaccines in England for anyone who's parents haven't been given a slot yet link to thread

£15 lunch (toasted wraps and chips and coffee) at takeaway golf course cafe. we sat in the car and watched the surfers in the sea. so so cold today. but bright sunshine. yay!

£60 cleaner.

cat face doesn't like the cleaner. the minute she comes through the door cat face rushes out and stays out until she's sure the cleaner has gone. she's now very suspicious of her lovely pillow and all her toys. she is very pouncy at present so we're playing catch the mouses. can you tell im done with work for the week....mentally anyway. still have more stuff to get done.

em you and me both.... just another couple of hours and tomorrow to go YaY!

Still no sodding sign of my drugs. I am now on recognition in the street terms with the people in the pharmacy.

Born thanks for that Mil has yet to get hers and she is in the over 80s.

My parents, my grandma and my honorary extra mum have all had their first jabs in the last week! All feeling ok so far.

Does anyone know about dishwashers please? Still trying to choose one. Unfortunately we have less space than the freestanding ones, and only the integrated ones are small enough (depth is the main worry) which isn’t ideal!

Wonderful news re your Mum's vaccine Wolf thank you for the link too very useful for ppl
Unescorted it's Bob's stupid, ignorant as Aholes son, bringing the family there , worse than that his Dd is pregnant and he is putting her at risk as well , he is an absolute pita !
Em lunch sounded fab ! Poor Catface
Peanut hope you can take the Gavison it was a life saver for me