Frugal Friends Forging Forward Toward February and Further Financial Freedom

[Wolfcub]

New fred

The rent is double what most people are charging unfortunately demand is outweighing supplies. With jobs we don't want to live on a less salubrious area.

Don't worry about keeping up girlie just keep popping in to say hello. Sorry dd seems to not be doing as well. You do right to be off, family and you first.

I don't get the Lidl love, soz. Maybe I don't shop there enough.. We only have one and yet 3 Aldi as a distribution centre is here .

Last day of the week YaY.

I we lived down south or East Anglia way I am not sure I would bother with a tumble dryer. Here a "good drying" day is one where it doesn't rain all day so things can be partially line dried.

I have no tumble dryer despite being in the wet north, I have had them in the past but there is really nowhere to put one it either has to go in the bedroom or the cellar and breaking your neck carrying washing down those steps is not worth it.

I may get a washer dryer next time, we had one in the last holiday cottage we rented and it was very good. I've not been much impressed by them previously

Lovely to see you Girlie, sorry to hear dd is not doing so good. Hopefully the time off helps you both

House cleaned except attic where ds is studying and bathroom because 1 I did it on Monday and 2 I can't be arsed
Load of washing done but need to hang it up
Finally registered soda warranty after having them for two months
Ordered mum a birthday cake from Betty's as she has a big birthday coming
Also ordered her some (hopefully) excellent wellies last night as her present. Spendy but she's worth it
Badgered stbexh about financial settlement again. My patience is wearing thin

Hello everyone, and welcome to February. We finally have some sunshine and blue skies today after 2 weeks of solid rain. God. February can actually, IMO, be a nice month, lots of bulbs coming through, plenty of buds popping and the light changing. But not in the rain.

So, frugal happenings chez Tightwad. DS has decided he does want to go to university, so I have launched an aggressive saving plan to provide for his accommodation costs. £650 per month between now and September should get me to where I need to be, which is one term's costs plus a term in hand (and then continue on). This was supposed to be my personal resilience fund, but that will have to wait.

I have attained my goal of the £1000 emergency fund (I'm following Jason Butler's 8 Money Milestones - the later milestones are in place to a great extent, but I do need to build up cash after a spendy year last year).

I am also squeezing my personal account to pay the balance on my glasses this month. I've cancelled a subscription (Le Monde) because it's going up from €8 to €13 in March, and I've halved my contact lens order from £52 to £26. Once everything, including savings targets, are met this month, that leaves me with a princely £2.20 per day unaccounted for and available for frivolities (hobbies, gifts, personal indulgences). So this month (and probably many after this) are going to feature cheap thrills like painting my nails, watching Spiral, YouTube workouts, reading, home baking. Also trying to teach myself how to blog.

On the joint account, I am squeezing as much house reno out of it as I can by doubling the amount into the set aside pot and keeping a firm hand on food and fuel costs. So far this year I've managed to squeeze house insurance renewal, gutter and window cleaning, washing machine repairs, new kitchen and breakfast room lighting fittings and labour, new cooker extraction hood and fitting, stonking great reduction of gigantic tree (next door neighbour's problem really, but since our garden was losing as much light as his, it seemed the only way to get anything done was to offer to contribute and organise the task ourselves) and all the paint and new little cupboard handles and stuff for the redecoration. I haven't been able to save enough to pay for the labour, so DH will have to stump that up out of his own money and he's blanching slightly, but sees that resistance is futile.

The decorators are due to start last week in Feb and I am so pleased about it. I have signed up to Apartment Therapy's 20 day spring cleaning programme which starts on 15 March. Decorators should be done by then and I can revel in our new paintwork and feel supermotivated to clean.

Off to get breasts screened now. Third time lucky - 2 appointments been cancelled so far, for obvious reasons.

Might spend my £2.20 on a couple of bunches of daffodils to celebrate the sunshine!

£5 drs on repeat prescription. Took ds for his 3year vaccinations. Expected a fuss but no tears. He was super brave. What a star!!!

Girlie sorry to hear your DD is unwell. I wish her well in her journey to health.

Life I rent too and I feel so lucky to live in an area without sky high rents. I don't know if this helps but when a relative found themselves in a similar situation they rented a 2 bedroom house to keep the costs down. With 5 people over 16 they split the bedrooms into male/female. Unconventional, but it got everyone housed for 6 months between property purchases.

Born I don't have a dishwasher either. I got my first tumble dryer a few years ago. I wouldn't be without it now. I remember mentioning to a work colleague that I didn't have one and she looked at me in horror like I just told her I live in a cave and said "but you have a TV, right?" Like she had to check I was a normal person 🤣

Unescorted I agree, when I lived in the south it was a lot less rainy and there's less need for a tumble dryer.

Wolf I've got a washer dryer due to space issue but although I find it less effective at both jobs it's still so so worth it.

Tightwad you've been very busy. I feel lazy by comparison. Well done for the emergency fund and good luck with the accommodation savings account.

em glad your DS was ok with the vaccination.

NSD for me. I think increasing NSDs is the way forward for me. Fretting over finding the very best price for everything seems to take a lot of mental energy from me. If I have more NSDs the money will be there when I do need something, without having to worry about every single penny.

Been busy today , took car early to get front brakes discs and pads done and MOT done in Cwmbran about 12 miles away from us but 50 quid cheaper, we were going to have it done at Brecon but l stupidly booked it into Cwmbran by mistake nevermind . ALL SORTED thank God, had to drive the Fiesta to bring him back while Dh drove the Hyundai & left it in the garage. Then went to Mums, then had to double back to get the car, so popped into Lidl''s at while l was there, took advantage of the 115.9/L price. IT IS 123.9/L here !! So filled up the 2 cars 33 & 55 got Nectar points as well
26 in Lidl's . Will put my receipt on for you to price compare . They had a 15% voucher on Cien toiletries on the App . So l bought a few bits we use the Cien toiletries anyway they are free from cruelty . Lloyds pharmacy £5 on fungal cream for Dh groin area such a big baby lol I suspect l am giving out TMI but he was out in the rain yesterday, sweating, soaking wet to the skin, cleaning the car out and hoovering and washing and polishing it ready for the MOT today and he must have stayed in the sweaty wet clothes for too long silly thing!
You must think l am being unsympathetic and l probaby am but he is such a baby!

Here is receipt sorry if you find it boring but l think it shows how good the prices are & the quality is excellent fair dos.

I have officially reached the point in the week when Injust want everybody to leave me alone. Unfortunately nobody else seems to understand, I get that the dcs don't but I thought I'd have a bit of peace whilst cooking the dinner and he came and stood in the way talking to me the whole time.
I never get time at home on my own. Ever. He does when I am at work which admittedly is only once or twice a week at the moment but I actually cannot remember the last time I was in the house on my own. I don't want to go for a walk, I want to potter about, sort clutter, read a book, watch rubbish on TV etc on my own!!!

There is a song that sums it up exact Snuggly
It's impossible !
They cannot find anything in my house !!

That's a good amount for £26.
Great frugality tight.
I hear ya snug.

Spending day found a rental for £825 pm so £198 deposit
£257000 on a house
Will need to pay DM for a car Insurance as in borrowing.

825 is that good for the area you live in life can you get it on a rolling monthly contract ? 198 deposit sounds good to me, my Nephew had to give a months deposit.

snuggly I hear you. I hardly ever get time on my own at home. I have to take a day off when the kids are at nursery and dh is in the office if I want that.

I now have two exhausted kids who do not want to go to bed. Ds is exhausted. Dd also. I’m in her room. She doesn’t want to sleep. Ds has sore arms and is using this as an excuse to stay up.

Snuggly this is why I bought myself expensive noise cancelling earphones, they can be chuntering at you in the same room and you can ignore them. It helps to create a bit of mental space. I also used to be silent on the drive home from work, if stbexh talked in the car I would be rather pissed off

Snuggly I hear you..... I feel bad when I say please leave me be because they have all been in their solo caves all day & I have had my ear melted off from too many meetings. Tonight I had a very long bath with a book.

tight good frugal / saving skills - We are having a Covidsilverlining term with a 2 month period of DD not being at uni rent saving and additional bursary payments for materials. £1800 saved. and £500 paid to various art materials and cheap fashion shops her. University is sooooo expensive.

Amber I get sick of my southern colleagues telling me how lovely it is where they are when it is tipping with rain here. In retaliation I send a time snow / sheep/ green view picture from my lunchtime walk... The camera doesn't pick up the rain.

Top job MiniMaleEm I hated doing vaccinations ... dh was less bothered so it was his job.

This is why I like my new piano. It’s digital with headphones. So I can play a lot more challenging stuff without feeling embarrassed about mistakes...

...and I can ignore everyone.

LSD - 7. 50 on bits from local shop
Chocolate to get me thru 2 days of online training for work, yawn....

snuggly before kids dh and I used to do “no contact Monday’s” which essentially meant that as soon as dinner was finished on a Monday after work we didn’t speak to each other until Tuesday morning. I’d maybe have a bath or read book and he’d play Xbox or whatever. But we just did our seperate quiet thing. More difficult now the kids are here. But I’m absolutely a fan of alone time.

fear I use books, sketch pad or sorting the washing to get through training / corporate bollocks... I suspect knitting, crocheting or stitching would also be good. If it is one of the read, click on the pictures ones then children can be bribed.

Unescorted that made me chuckle and have been in a foul mood today, you are now my authority on how to survive irrelevant last minute work training it is welsh next week though and I am English so I am very excited for that one. More excited than my teenagers who have it for GCSEs. Top tips, keep em coming. I want to learn to crochet, mom 2 birds one stone me thinks....

Hiya everyone hope you’re all well. I went AWOL yesterday, Elijah was not in a very good mood most of the day so I barely had the time to do anything other than calm down a few tantrums. He can be a little diva sometimes, god help me when he’s a teenager!. I feel quite boring as I have done very little, I’m terribly bored. I feel like I’ve done everything that can be done now! We did colour sorting bears and threading beads today!

em I think having the vaccines at different times is a very good idea!

Glad to hear your DM had her vaccine Born

mrs I called up GP and as long as I leave 2 hours between taking omeprazole, I am able to have gaviscon too! I’ve got some today so will start taking it tomorrow. I really hope that it helps!. Great news about your DH! That’s a lot for £26! I hope DH’s groin is better.

life them rental prices are steep!

Sorry things are difficult girlie💐

tightwad you’ve been super busy, it sounds like you have some good plans in place regarding DS’s university funds!

I feel you snuggly, I feel like I haven’t had time on my own since Elijah was born!

£76.82 on medicine cupboard stock up. I got some things for me postpartum, and the little one when he’s born!

Sorry to hear things are bad with DD girlie

Buying a dishwasher changed our lives sing . When our last one broke, I think we lasted four hours before we clicked and collected a new one!

Things with Ddad have massively calmed down since he’s now getting the meds. No longer thinking about admitting him to hospital and the crisis team aren’t visiting as much. I have to admit to still being apprehensive of things ramping up again. Also previously one of the nurses said how difficult managing his care was because of my mum... she’s incredibly hard work!!! I’ve managed to cut down the visits/calls to them I need a break from my mum

I hear you on the time alone time snuggly . Fingers crossed only three more days of home schooling left on my day off!

mrs my DH is exactly the same, he can’t cope with any pain or discomfort.

I got new exercise leggings yesterday online after discovering a hole in the crotch of one of my two pairs. DH also did a big weekly shop which was £79.

Ah glad it's not just me with the alone time! I feel really mean wanting them to all go away for 10 mins! I think its partly because I spend the day being asked questions by kids (either at school or my own) so I want to be quiet after work whereas dh has been on his own working at a computer all day with nobody to talk too. He must want the company just as much as I want to be on my own!

Happily everyone slept well last night and it is my day for a lie in so I am feeling better today!