Frugal Friends Forging Forward Toward February and Further Financial Freedom

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Busy day today doing jobs, DC activities (on Zoom), cooking and so on. We put a load of 60s songs on and danced round the kitchen after tea which has lifted my spirits no end!

Sorry I haven't been posting much. Work is crazy busy and I'm working overtime at the moment (staff shortages because of Covid) so the weeks are flying. Which is a good thing I guess. Planning to buy a bookcase with my overtime money.

I've been spending a bit on books (I joined the MN 50 book reading challenge) but I've been ordering them from an Irish shop rather than Amazon. Not frugal but at least I'm supporting the Irish economy. I have a kindle but it's the really ancient one with buttons rather than touch screen. It still works fine but the charger doesn't work anymore. I'm torn between seeing if I can buy a new charger for it or investing in a paperwhite. Also, if I invest in a paperwhite, can I transfer the books over from my old kindle? The library is another option but obviously they're closed atm.

The vaccination programme seems to be moving at a snail's pace here don't mention the vaccine war - hoping they get to my Dad soon. I haven't seen him since the middle of December . I phone him regularly but our conversations tend to be quite short because we've no news.

There's snow forecast for next week (same in the UK I think). Thankfully I'm working from home next week. I'm due to bring DCat1 to the vet on Monday for a post-op check up but if there's snow on the roads, I'll cancel.

Wolf did you watch any of the rugby today? I was working today so I didn't get to see any of the matches. I'll watch Ireland v Wales tomorrow - hoping that hunky French ref makes an appearance.

I did Tayto. England were absolute crap, France are looking like they are back to being very competitive

Everyone's so chatty today! I will catch up but have just got back from a 3hr round trip to drop off shopping, batch-cooking and a doorstep catch-up with dhs Nan. We all take it in turns on a rota (parents, siblings, cousins) and it was our week this week.

Yesterday was a very spendy day. I noticed an amazing discount on a gift on Amazon so ordered a couple (£23.97). I'm now furious though as got home tonight to find the package left in our recycling box in a puddle of water 😡. Water has soaked through the packaging so now can't be given as gifts. Will have to be returned.

Dh took himself off to M&S to get something for lunch yesterday as he was out doing errands - £38 later he comes back laden with 'treats' 🙄

Then I still had to do our main weekly shop plus extras for dnan - approx £90.

Now, here's a story only my frugal friends will understand... I had to go to Asda to pick up dds new shoes. Usually I go to our local George home store but this is currently closed because of lockdown so I had to go to a proper Asda supermarket. As it coincided with shopping day I thought I'd do our weekly shop at Asda for a change. Oh my goodness... everything was SO expensive. Or anything that was on a deal had to be brought in sets of 3 (like 3 for £3 kind of thing) and the only meat that was reasonably priced was the 3 for a tenner but wasn't what I had on my meal plan. Anyway, I got so overwhelmed with working out if things were an ok price that I abandoned my trolley and went to Aldi instead 😂🤣😅

February:
NSDs: 4/28
Groceries: £135.96/390
Everything else: £100.05/£350

Ha yes Madden I can relate to that

Tayto yes the books are linked to your Amazon account so appear on a new kindle as soon as you've set it up! Get a paper white!!! It's amazing for reading in bed - no need for a light. Saying that, I haven't used my kindle for about 6 months. I decided that the girls see me in my phone enough and wanted them to notice me reading books (the youngest s are 4 so don't get that a kindle is reading) and I've managed to sustain reading 'real' books since then between a big box of books my mum passed on and Christmas gifts.

happier no sadly not.

Three southern fried chicken strips (3x£10) apples cake cookies butter and milk. Used vouchers for part of jt though.

Madden I've had that with a bottle of gin that I ordered for dh once. They left it outside our french windows in the back garden it was raining so box was soaking and label on gin was damaged. I phoned them up and they refunded me and I got to keep the gin. You should phone them and see what they say

Tayto any new kindle that is linked to your Amazon account will have access to all your books, but I would try a new charger first

Have also taken £2k from savings and lumped it against my credit card balance. So that’s significantly reduced it.

Eeeek. DH is ordering flooring for the living room, although the credit card isn’t working

Need to sort the paint colour before putting that down! Walls are currently half white half slightly off white so it’s hard to imagine any colour on there!

Hiya, I’ve had a really shit day, just popping on to say hello quickly. We’ve had a bit of a family emergency, everyone’s healthy but won’t go into much detail as we don’t know enough yet. Just feeling a bit drained.

love I’m glad things are improving with your Dad!

Glad DH’s groin is better mrs😂

I hope your dad gets the vaccination soon tayto!

Sorry I haven’t replied to everyone, just struggling to concentrate a little!

Sorry you've had a bad day peanut fingers crossed everything will be ok.

Sing what floor are you having?

Interest rates for savings are so low at the moment em I think I'd have done the same.

Madden that's so lovely your family all pulls together when necessary. I hope Amazon refund your parcel without any hassles too. Will you be able to buy replacement gifts in time?

Hope you are ok Peanut.

Just pop in for the craic peanut, no need to try keeping up. Hope emergency gets sorted

Hoping for NSD today as it’s crap weather and we have just about enough cat food to last until tomorrow. Meal planned through to Thurs next week with all the stuff in except a couple of bags of salad which we will buy on the days needed.

Hope you have a better day today peanut
Another tough week at work & at home but hoping for a constructive day today. £100 grocery shop yesterday, £130 at farm shop in the week, but that is a months worth of meat.
It rained all day non stop yesterday, dry so far today. Will try to get out for a walk later but everywhere is soooo muddy.

Bank account looking quite sad which is slightly worrying given it's only the 7th. I do owe it some from savings though but I need to be very careful not to spend anything unnecessary now I've sorted birthday presents and things.

Need to do a freezer check today and a restock of the kitchen from our covid/brexit stash and make a list for the shop. I’ll try and go tomorrow.

Apprently we’re having a bbq for dinner....should add it’s winter here but this is something dh likes to do. BBQ whenever we can.

peanut hope things improve.

Madden DD ordered up a block of drawing paper (over £60) and they left it outside someone else's house in the pouring rain despite the huge sticker on it that said keep flat & dry. She returned it and they sent another one which arrived safely.

North it is so wet underfoot here too. I had to go puddle jumping yesterday to wash my boots.

@Tightwad2020 For her art materials gets £500 per year from her department for her art material plus an extra £100 this year to cover not being able to order through their at cost scheme. How much she spends on materials is up to her. So far it has been way more than the bursary because she bought a set of expensive pencils. Her college have said that they would be happy to give her more money for materials if she needs it. Not all unis/ colleges are so generous. She also gets free exhibition entry for most galleries in the country.

For some reason it has deleted the other 2 paragraphs ... and garbled the first one.

Her rent is £1800 per 8 week term, which she only has to pay while she is there. This term she is not being charged.
She has a kettle, microwave and small fridge. The college food is awful except breakfast so she has that in the morning & lives off Mc Donalds or Tesco ready meals for the rest of the time. College food is heavily subsidised so is spending about £4-5 per day on food.
Her college are really generous with bursaries because they don't let them have jobs while studying there and they don't really have time to be fair. If she needs extra she just has to look sad.

Can I have more money if I look sad pls

@lifelongfrugaleer

Can I have more money if I look sad pls

Me too!!

Peanut - hope today's better
Wolf- same here birthdays have floored me
NSD today! Sun is finally out, it has rained for days so the tea towels are going out on the line.

em & Life it is another world - even for Oxf her college and dept are really generous. She is one of their "contextulised" students that make the inclusion stats look good. They have a covid hardship fund that she gets even though she has just put her loan for this term in an ISA because she is living here. Her cousin at Oxf Brookes is having a very different experience. Rents outside the colleges are so expensive and you have to take the room for 11 months. DD is really lucky that her college has enough accommodation for all students for all 3 years.

God I'm shattered. Loft is clear except for suitcases. Everything boxed, labels and stacked. We have more stuff than I thought