Would I July to you August Frugaleers

[Unescorted]

Follow on from the last one

Went shopping to Iceland 20, bought Dr Peter pizzas 3 for £5 which l thought was excellent.
We watched an episode of 'Little fires everywhere' we liked it , very well written and acted imho 😊

@Mrsmadevans

Happier have a lovely time l wish I was coming 😊👏

I'm not going until next Sat

I still wish l was coming 🤣🤣🤣

Fingers crossed tayto.

Need to get ds pe trainers today £££ and finish my presentation

Paid £700
Off my credit card balance. It’s wiped most of my savings but it makes no sense to me to have savings when I have an o/s cc balance.

The cc is the biggest drain for me. It’s again got out of control (“only” £3k balance but still…) I need to work on this. It’s all too easy for me to use it flippantly.

Em I think that was one of the biggest mindset changes for me. If I can't pay cash (not counting mortgage buying) I don't buy it. I use the cc to pay for things, especially big things, and then pay it off before interest is due on the balance. It's a huge difference to how I used to spend

Thanks for the welcome back everyone! Em we've used our credit card during the house move (so many hidden moving costs like needing to buy new curtains or furniture etc) and I've now done the same - paid off from savings. During August I need to dip further into savings as we haven't saved up any money specifically for our holiday at the end of the month. My aim is to start September with a clean slate. £0 balance on CC and a realistic budget going forwards.

Welcome light. We're a friendly bunch & you'll get lots of support & encouragement here.
Tayto I start the new role on 1st Sept, so am trying to plan now for being full time ready by then. Last time I was FT was before ds arrived 20 years ago. Hope your ex signs the papers, it must be so frustrating for you, happier & wolf having had so little control over getting things sorted by an ex, good luck to you all.
unescorted my parents house doesn't sound as bad as what you faced, but ds has been coming home with cleaning stories! They have been paying him for 2 or 3 hours a week of cleaning/gardening.
wolf I hope ds respects his repainted room
life fingers crossed for this latest house
madden welcome back, glad you're enjoying your new house
em well done on the cc repayment. We have had a cc which earns cash back so it became just a part of our normal spending, but paid off in full every month. If that doesn't work for you then I agree with wolf if you haven't got the cash to pay for it, don't buy it

Our dc are 19 and 16 and have been consciously brought up to be as independent as possible so tayto I think you've got it right. They need those skills & I think there are going to be lots of their peers who are clueless if needing to stand on their own two feet. Of course we will be there for them if/when they need us but they've got the skills to manage.
On a similar theme, I had a strange night last night, in on my own. Dh went out with friends to watch the rugby, ds was playing cricket then straight out afterwards and dd was working, so I went to bed at 1115 still home alone! Had a lovely video call catch up with a friend and another friend called in for a coffee so I was frugal but that will have been wiped out by dh's spending.

Interesting to hear the stories about dc learning life skills doing jobs at home. I told dc there's only the 3 of us so we need to work together. Dd is super lazy, I'd be happy with emptying their stuff out of car when they exit it, emptying their lunchboxes when they're back at school and dirty clothes in laundry basket & tidy rooms for starters.
My friends children's pocket money is linked to their jobs & is in accordance with their age. This was eye opening for me as they've substantial jobs and are younger than my children.
September will be new routine.

Resisted takeaway last night

Em I'd to stop using credit cards for this reason it's invisible spending. Actually don't even know where mine is now & gone from 3/4 to 1 now.

Yep. Invisible spending is the right term!

It’s not fully paid off. But will work on it. Going to reduce savings for the next few months and throw money at cc.

I don’t need to buy anything. So why am I? #emotionalspending

Welcome madden and I relate to your point about having pots of money and using them! Eg I have a house/car/vet pot which and the other day found myself thinking ‘ooh there’s some left so I’ll spend that’. I’m not too bad but could rein back.
Interesting discussion about DCs and independence. My comment originally was not about them not needing me to provide their entertainment (unless I’m offering to take them clothes shopping of course 😂). But good points being raised about life skills and jobs round the house. DD is much more helpful than the DSs - she is older, but we really need to start giving them more routine jobs to even that out. I think we’ve fallen into the trap of, it’s easier to do it ourselves than force teenagers. DP actually does more household jobs (cleaning) than me as he works PT and I am FT.
On that note north good luck with the step up to FT, I’m sure it will be worth it especially with studying too.
wolf you are an absolute star with the decorating, you sound like a human dynamo when you get going. What has DS said about it?

Morning everyone.

I thought it would be a NSD but I need to get kitchen towel as I'm down to a couple of sheets. I use it for drying the cats' litter trays when I wash them. Annoying because I went to the supermarket yesterday but never thought of it.

This week will be expensive because I've to pay my waste charges (€83.25), TV licence (€160), car tax (can't remember) and pay my sister for our share of the holiday house (€400). I've also booked DD in for a Back to School haircut on Thursday - she has long hair and just gets it done once or twice a year. I'm feeling a bit guilty for booking two holidays in the same year but the restrictions were so tight earlier this year and I was feeling so claustrophobic, that I just had to get away at the earliest opportunity (June). And I'm so glad I got to meet up with my BFF then and spend some time with her. Next year (and going forward) I'll be more sensible. I'm not using credit to pay for the holidays but even so, it's a dent in my savings.

I badly need to get an eye test and buy new glasses but I'm holding off until September. I'll replace the microwave then also.

Happier which part of west Cork are you going to on your hols?

Union Hall tayto it's a house swap. How about you? We're going to be right on the pier. Is your dd a water baby? There's a huge place in Rosscarbery.

I've an expensive week too €70 valet car, €100 cookery camp for the dc, €20 horse riding €3 soccer dm is minding so no childcare costs, but I'm thinking I'll buy the schoolbooks & do back to school shop and get that organised too as we're away next week and that only leaves a week until they're back to school.

I organised my kitchen this morning. Carpenter has been so I could access my presses again. Delighted with that. If he comes back with my dresser I'll have him to pay too. Dm owes me money so that'll cover that hopefully.

We're staying at Glengarriff so the other side of west Cork. It's a gorgeous area and there's so much to do. Fair play to you for arranging the house swap.

A friend of mine is from there, it wasn't something I'd ever considered but it came up on Instagram and I thought why not? I'd no one to consult so I just went for it

Brought €10 out with me on my walk to get brunch from shop, changed my mind and going to make my own homemade brown bread while I get on with some diy & have brunch afterwards.

Dm is here this week so I'll have a routine for meals. She's not one bit fussy so I've free reign.

Will go to Aldi before the dc come home and be set up for the week

So I made brown bread & poached last egg, saving €10 spends in local shop.

Searched through freezer found cooked roast stuffed pork fillet, potato cakes & extra stuffing for tomorrow's dinner for myself & dm. All I need to make is gravy.

Also pulled out the frozen bananas I think it'll be easier store as banana bread

@lightand

Am joining if that is ok?

I am not the same age as lots on here. For reasons I wont go into, our income has gone right down, so DH and I need to watch the pennies more.

Have started with our energy bill, which is way above UK average. DH bought a gizmo that measures energy consumption of each appiance.
Our large freezer has a faulty lid, so we are measuring energy consumption over a day, to see if it might be better to replace it, sooner rather than later.

Not sure we are going to have the stomach to tackle all household bills, but may be best if we do.

I have always been quite frugal on food bills. Now am being on clothes[relatively simple and painless for me to do].
But if household bills[elec, heating oil, sky, phone etc[ are not tackled too, I am a bit wasting my time.

For anyone interested, the energy comsumption amounted to 60p per day. I thought good, that isnt much. Then did the yearly figure, and it works out about £219! . It may have to go! For comparison, our other smaller chest freezer in the garage, about half the size, which we bought about 3 years ago, is supposed to cost £28 per year[it has the gizmo on it now, for 24 hours, to find out for sure]. But obviously the garage is a colder place than in the house.

How we get the large chest freezer out, may well be our next discussion.

House swaps - may be the way for us to go at some point. We do live in a tourist area, albeit on the outskirts. But having said that, even in our small village, at least 3 of the houses are holiday homes.

Gosh yes, the invisible spending.
I have thought about starting a list of what I spend, but cant decide if I have the heart for it or not. I know it is food shopping, clothes etc and household stuff. And occasional days out.
Now is the ideal time to start such a list, but not sure what I am prepared to cut back on, more than I do.

@Mrsmadevans
Personally I prefer boxed pizzas to eat out ones generally. And there is no contest on price.

House swaps always sound good in practice... but we have too much stuff.
I am jealous of all the people visiting the W. Coast of Ireland. It is sooooo beautiful there.

Cleaning my M&Ds is finished. YaY! I even got the sketchbook out.

Unescorted hopefully without outing myself I live on the west coast of Ireland within 10 mins drive or at least two beaches, if you ever want to swap when Covid allows let me know

I had too much stuff in our previous house it's still in the shed. Nothing coming in without a home. Which has resulted in very little coming in but I haven't sorted stuff yet.

€105.88 in Aldi, my budget when dm comes is €100, €25 more than usual because dc will be at home more too so more food being consumed in general. There were cleaning & doggie stuff & some cerise rainbow lillies for me in this shop and white board markers so definitely within budget

Meal plan roughly is
A dish with prawns
Beef curry (have poppadoms, naan bread & the spicery curry legends kit in already)
Lasagne
Roast posh dinner from freezer
Have meatballs, pork chops, burgers & burger buns in freezer

Got some easy bits for dc lunches & breakfast such as popcorn chicken, goujons, ham & cheese for toastie: & mini pizzas

And some treats, some of this shop will come with us on holidays. Got myself some nutrifit lunches too for easy life.

Lightand welcome aboard
Years ago I got rid of chest freezer and my energy fill came down hugely. Think about 10%. This was inspired by ex wanting to fill it, we already had a side by side fridge freezer full.

Tayto I don't think you should feel guilty about the two holidays, weren't we locked down for long enough? And you've had a difficult few years too.

Em because of dh stress, lockdown stress, young children stress.

Hello all, I am a bit of a lurker here too, popping by briefly. (I have a cake tin in the shape of a number 2, originally courtesy of Unescorted if anyone wants it - just PM me!)

We've had a strange year but have at last managed to save most of the money I dreamt about for a house deposit, but not sure if that is on the cards just now. Our young ds is starting school in September (eek!) and given the stresses of the last couple of years, we don't want to move to Scotland quite yet. But things are - hopefully - falling into place, as long as we are careful (and mostly unnecessary skincare products food and energy prices don't continue to mount up across the board).

I've been offered a part time wfh job but I think I'll need to decline, unless it looks more stable after I speak to them about it on Tuesday. Partly because I'd need to go part time at my current job, which they would prob agree to, whilst making me do the same amount of work for that reduced wage (iyswim).

Congrats on everyone's good news and sorry to hear about the sad news.