Frugaleers MayBee just MayBee

[Unescorted]

If this goes horribly wrong it is not my fault.....

Old Thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/4202621-friendly-frugaleers-accounting-accurately-all-april

Sorry Amber my week has been a cross between the Twilight Zone and soap opera with falling ratings at Christmas.

Today's joy looking after dDad while working. It feels like the toddler years are back (minus trying to fish fuzzy felt out of bottoms and sultanas out of noses hopefully). Thankfully they have superfast internet so I can "work".

Dress? What did I miss.
Yes definitely worrying there unescorted

£26 on Amazon birthday present for toddlers next door and new chopping boards x 2

Life you could be missing my comedic efforts to make a dress without a pattern or any discernable skill. You Tube has a lot to answer for.

Thought Dd was on the mend. Temp of 36.4 this morning and full of beans. So off to nursery we went. When we got to nursery she had a temp of 38.9. So off to grandmas she went.

Dm isn’t now going to the U.K. so was happy to take her for the day. So so grateful that she is here and willing to help. Dropped dd off at dparents and she stole some of ddads toast.

Oh poor DD :( glad she could go to your parents’, hope she is better soon!

I got back to tutoring for the first time since the most recent lockdown. An hour of piano (not easy in a mask, but the parent prefers it and it’s worth it for the money!) and I’m also helping prepare my friend’s DS for starting college for year 10, so I’m seeing what maths he can do and what gaps there are. Half an hour twice a week for him plus homework, but friend drops him round. Lovely to be back into it again! Had my third volunteer session too, it’s going really well and I’ve got my first group supervision next week which is exciting.

That is worrying unescorted very annoying the doctor doesn’t seem to agree 🤔

Ooh what chopping boards did you get please life I’m looking for new ones now we’ve got our lovely dishwasher!

I'm sure it's not comedic. Pic required obvs

Nothing exciting sing. I will message you as might post my address

Thanks everyone x

em will you have to get dd tested for covid? Will the nursery have her back without a negative test when her temp has been so high? Glad she seems to be in good spirits anyway.

Mrs hope dh is better soon and out of the DGOD.

Hope that all the isolating people stay well 🤞

Good luck with the dress Unescorted

All well here so far touch wood.
em great that DGPs could have DD, that must be a big help
unescorted am impressed re the dress, hope you will post a photo if successful?
mrs hope the DGOD has done its job
Once more I'm stringing things out til payday next week...have done better with the food bill but now I think I need to start looking at the bits and bats (as they say in the north) that I must be wasting money on. Would love to end up with spare at the end of the month!

born they haven’t said so no. Apparently loads of the babies in her group have similar.

Martha I recorded and added up all my expenses for a year once. It was eye opening to see exactly where it was all going. You're almost certain to find something you can economise on. I was spending about £20 a month I magazines. I still have a pile of them I haven't got round to reading yet. Sounds like nothing really £20/mth but it pays my car insurance now.

amber I need to do that sort of reckoning, I’m sure we are paying for subscriptions we don’t even use!
I’ve been bitten by something, I think a horsefly, on the back of my thigh and it is soo sore and swollen, I felt it happening and then it immediately swelled up in a big red lump, which is unbearably itchy. Have just taken an anti histamine to see if that helps at all.

Ooh gen that sounds horrible, hope anti histamines help.
amber a big learning curve for me was budgeting towards all predictable expenses eg Xmas, car repairs rather than just panicking when they arrived. So I now have pots for that sort of thing. But I still don’t seem to manage my disposable income very well. Would it be v boring to post outgoings on here so people can advise?
On with work now, have been distracted too long

Martha I've been completely broke several times, happy to advise on what you can live without.

Gen aloe vera gel for the bite if you have any, it's very good for getting rid of heat and swelling.

Food shopping today. Spent £5 in the bakers, £70 Iceland and £63 Aldi about £15 of that is food for dm. I am getting fed up with Tesco deliveries, fed up of food shopping really. Its like groundhog day.

Gen I hope the antihistamine helps. Horseflies can give you terrible bites.

Martha not boring at all. I'm sure someone will be able to help probably not me as I'm a disgrace to the frugaleers

em how is dd today?

born still not herself. She had a really restless night (as did I as I slept in her room - figured it was better than me getting up loads) and fell asleep on the way to nursery so Dh took her to dms place. She’s napped. Played. Napped. Eaten ice cream….

I’m exhausted. Hoping for a chilled out day tomorrow.

Nursery have said that there’s a bug going round.

Gen I hate horsefly bites. DH had sepsis from one once.

Em I hope she perks up soon .... if only to give you a rest. It is difficult to drink gin with a poorly child in ear shot

Martha when I was really skint I went through everything that we were spending money on... I classified spends as essential ( gas, electric, mortgage, getting to & from work, food, insurance, council tax, water rates) Nice to have - clothes, going out, TV licence, mobile phones, internet, birthdays, christmas (I was ruthless), school trips. And the wasteful - magazines, books, lunch from the shop, going to the pub. For each and every essential thing I made sure we were pay the least we could. For the nice to haves - we made a conscious decision to have them and only if it came in under budget. The non essential we only have on a occasional basis if at all.
We got our body and soul spending down to £600pm - food and bills. £100 of that was the council tax the robbing bastards, £85 pm travel to work, Food was about £250pm. To get to £250 pm meant we were on magic chickens and a lot of pasta and soup. There was no "prime cuts" and everything was cooked from first principals.

Good news DD does not have Covid.

Not that difficult…

@ememem84

Not that difficult…

Hahahaha! Like your style

Ah thank you everyone re DH and the DGOD . I won't go into details not to put you off your tea but l had to throw the duvet out and we are buying a new mattress from IKEA tomorrow 🤮poor thing really has been poorly

Gen l had a horsefly bite on holiday in Cornwall and it led to me getting cellulitis , l had to go to the hospital , so keep an eye on it sweetheart 💐

Your poor Dd Em l hope she improves very soon Unescorted thank God DD hasn't got Covid 💐
How is the dress going? I used to live the challenge of sewing the pattern together , my worse but was cutting out because l was afraid if the scissors slipped 🙄
Thank you Born & Martha re good wishes for DH 😊

Ah gws mrmad. Sounds awful.
Ha liking your style em
Yes being really skint focuses the mind on what you need v what you want.
Even. Now spending money is hard if I don't feel there is value in it. Recent purchase excused

Good for you with the gin em!
Thank you for the kind advice about finances - it’s been insightful having another look. I feel like I’m reasonably savvy but since our income has gone up, I’ve been surprised that considering we’re a lot less skint than we used to be, I am still struggling at the end of the month. I should also say that I feel grateful to have what we have, we are loads better off than we were and than many in the UK.
I think it’s partly because I struggle to stick to boundaries eg around food shop/ discretionary spends (boundaries are a lifelong issue for me)

So our overall monthly income is 3700.

1377 of that goes on essentials that I’m confident can’t be trimmed (council tax etc, petrol, travel etc)
650 food which I’m working on

Then 600 goes in various savings pots for predictable expenses eg Xmas, car expenses, vet bills, house bills.
300 saving towards a holiday abroad (have never taken DC abroad)

A whopping 524 is non essential bills.
Some I justify eg 91 on sky - that’s a lot but includes sky sports for DP who is incredibly frugal and doesn’t spend any money/ go out much. Also pet insurance for dog and cat - £60ish but vet bills can be massive.

These are the ones I’d value opinion on if anyone wants to comment - do you think they’re worthwhile?
10.86 specialist drain/ water pipe cover
27.99 car warranty insurance
6.99 freezer insurance
59.97 life insurance. We are extremely fortunate that an inheritance paid off our mortgage, but I kept the life insurance which would pay out 140,000 if one of us dies in the next 6 years. Sounds awful but DP is 58...
52.65 pays into health plan that pays out expenses for all 5 of us eg 160 each on glasses a year (often used). Seems a lot but I’d probably have to save similar (eg if I need new glasses they are 650 a go)

That leaves in theory 250 for sundries. Is that a lot? It seems a lot but I always seem to run through it. It includes things like haircuts, occasional days out, odd bits for kids like school textbooks, football training fees £6 per week, posting parcels etc...

Kids clothes paid for by child benefit.

Things we don’t usually spend on - new clothes for me and DP (buy second hand), haircuts/ beauty stuff for me (don’t do), meals out, takeaways, expensive days out (usually walks and outdoor stuff).

Well done if you’ve read this far!!
So my thoughts are we spend a lot on insurances and ‘what if’ kind of stuff and I struggle to stick to self imposed budgets eg discretionary spends.
So could I do better ...or is this just reasonable if you’ve got 3 teenagers and some indulgences??

Thank you for any thoughts.

marthas if it makes you feel any better our mortgage is £1300 we could only get a 19 year mortgage when we bought in sept 2020 as DH is 55, so it is really expensive even though the house isn’t worth that much. On the upside it will be paid off when I am 54, so I can look forward to a mortgage free retirement
Our food bill is too high, about £450 for two people each month, which does include cleaning and cat supplies. we have cut back on meat but we do buy organic and fair trade stuff and I’m not willing to compromise on that.
I pay £15 a month for cat insurance plus £14 healthy pet club at vet which includes his worming and flea treatments plus annual checkup and other random benefits. Maybe that’s a rip off??
We have Netflix and Spotify but not sky, we are on a £29 per month deal with virgin for broadband and TV and will leave them when that runs out if they don’t match it.
Gas and electric dual fuel has settled at £60ish a month now we are in the warmer weather.
I do some beauty stuff - eyebrows, chin and upper lip thread every 2 weeks or so, £15 plus eyebrow tint every month, bikini wax every 5 weeks at £43 but have started doing own nails and dyeing my own hair as it was all too expensive.