Savvy savers sashaying through September

[ememem84]

New thread. All welcome.

Aw you guys 🙈😳 thank you 💐 I am feeling pretty confident about the job - I absolutely know I can do it. So just have to be confident and approachable, will read over my notes etc. It’s just I don’t know what kind of thing you’re supposed to say for a weakness question - I always overthink and wonder if it sounds like a humble-brag 🤣 (like “I’m too much of a perfectionist” or something). Maybe assertiveness is a good one? I do definitely lack that even though it’s improving. Are you meant to say the weakness and then how you’re working on it?

Oh gawd the spendiness continues. Cagletini had her first lesson at DD’s ballroom club the other day, and she may be trying taekwondo with DS next week. She is very excited about doing activities like her siblings.

Feel shocking today - think I’m in a bit of a flare up, probably caused by the covid, and then I had my flu jab yesterday which in hindsight probably wasn’t sensible timing 🤣

Totally agree re the increasing prices mrsmad it’s quite alarming coupled with so much not being available in shops etc. Nightmare. We are on UC but I don’t think the £20 thing will make too much of an impact, as I’m getting more tutoring work lined up pretty easily ATM. I also found out that I could get mentoring via the jobcentre as a new(ish) enterprise and help setting up a website etc, which is pretty cool :)

I just fixed our energy with Octopus for 24M, it has no exit fee so if the prices drop a lot we can leave and switch to something better. It’s more than we pay now but it seems like prices may rise even further and I prefer peace of mind!
Between that and the new social care tax we will be worse off for sure, but we are lucky to be able to cut some luxuries and still afford to pay the bills.

Spends today: £4.60 on bus to and from physio, £40 pregnancy massage - but will claim this back soon via my work healthcare cash plan, so that's a frugal win really, £23.98 on two mugs which will be gifts for friends. Another frugal win is my friend insisted on paying for my lunch out with her. I'm fairly sure she also insisted on paying the last time we had lunch although it was so long ago now I'm not totally sure and she said she can't remember. She is a lot better off than me, it is kind but I do feel embarrassed, I don't think you ever really get used to being the poorest friend even though I am in almost all (if not all?) social situations. However this is mainly because almost all my friends and family are fairly affluent tbh, not because we are actually poor, so need to make sure my perception is not skewed.

Help to buy ISA statement arrived in the post today and also a pin for the telephone banking. Next step, apply for a mortgage...just not sure how that's going to work with me being on mat leave and only getting SMP, not sure we will now be allowed to borrow enough to actually buy the house.

Evening all found you all again hope you are all well. Mad busy 2 weeks in work started with a sore throat and headache on Thursday presumed i was tired as ds also worked every night that week so needed picking up every night his worked messed up thought he started college this week
He mentioned he had a sore throat Friday night but again thought it was just tiredness first week back at college etc. I’ve felt rubbish over the weekend temperature freezing really tired then had no voice yesterday and today so off sick. Ds coughed or sneezed once at college so has been sent home and can’t go back until gets negative pcr test which I totally get but is frustrating as it’s only his second week and he’s absolutely fine. So although I think we have a cold or the sore throat virus mentioned on here we are both waiting pcr results.

Spend wise we have had quite a few extra dd tyres £180 in jd and dm buffet etc but i set myself a challenge and transferred almost all my wages full time but not far off minimum wage into the savings account as for a change me and dh got paid on the same day and despite the extra expenses or being particularly frugal i haven’t had to transfer any of it over and he gets paid again on Friday which just shows how much we waste normally so i definitely need to keep an eye on things and be more organised

Sounds exactly like my ds but we just did lft as he started Sunday, back to school time though

We have both done lft that are negative which is why I sent him to college not sure on the full story he either sneezed or coughed in class so they asked him how he felt he said he had a bit of a headache sore throat so they have sent him home until he gets a negative pcr test. I do understand there point of view but I think it’s more to do with first week back after being off since may having to get up early ie before lunch time lol

Curious on our results though as I feel rubbish and dd who doesn’t live with us messaged me last night she has the same symptoms as me and she hasn’t started back to university yet. I am probably run down work full time mega busy at the moment dh works nights so everything seems fall on me his brother has had a heart attack which has shown a genetic condition so they all need to be tested dh insists he’s fine but probably doesn’t want to get tested as he’s a hgv driver
Dmil has had a fall and broke her arm she 86 in a home with dementia
Dh union is planning strike action over pay negotiations so don’t expect the empty shelves situation to get any better

Allegedly there’s a horrible summer cold doing the rounds which has almost al of the same symptoms as Covid. Hoorah.

As predicted we have someone down in the office with Covid. Her son tested positive yesterday. He’s little so she can’t isolate away from him. And she’s now gone down with symptoms.

I believe I said that this would happen within 2 weeks of schools being back.

Mrs I think passwords are one of the worst parts of modern life! I understand your frustration. Pleased you are back though!

Nsd but did pay off cc which was just over 300 pounds. Not too bad this month!

Humbug you can say that again!
AHH thank you it's a huge relief to be back tbh l have been so stressed!
Em you did say that exact thing so rotten for everyone involved 🙄
Sing but if luck re the job and l think the bad point ring perfectionist is probably a good answer 😊
Meadow l am sure your friend loves treating you l know you feel it's not right but honestly l am the same with my Bf , she is such a good friend to me it's just a little way of showing her how much l think of her 😊
Alfie omg its pouring rain with you lovely. Hope your DH is ok 💐
Gen l fixed last night with British Gas , l was lucky to get it by with you . It's much more but the lesser of 2 evils 😌
Spent 38 in Aldi's bought lots of necessities just in case . For the first time l noticed a lot of empty shelves but l think it is deliberate for the Christmas ranges l seem to recall this last year around this time . They had everything l wanted so l was ok ,😊
Better get to bed have a good rest everyone 🙂

Em I can attest to the horridness of the cold. I have it. I am really not well and have been up most of the night.

Oh wolf poor you xx

mes eugh passwords. I had to change three of mine yesterday at work. I keep a list on my phone. Not of what they’re for just a list of passwords.

I hate password and tech so much.
Go back to bed wolf

Hope you feel better soon wolf it’s awful I have never had such a sore throat and still have a headache from Thursday. There is a thread on her so must be a virus going round

£26 trampolines for ds’ birthday on Friday. How is he going to be 4?!?!

And £5 coffees. Needed a boost this morning.

It doesn’t seem possible em! Everyone is growing up so quickly.

Hope coldy people feel better soon 💐[lemsip]

They do grow up quickly. I think once they start school it just flies by

Morning miserable day here today as a storm is apparently heading our way with very high winds. Work is insanely busy, much worse than I've ever known it, so I'm glad to be finishing for a weeks holiday. My back and my legs are killing me.

NSD for last 2 days as too tired to to anything but work and sleep. Will need a top up shop today, if I can motivate myself to do one.

Mrs glad you made it back. Passwords are a nightmare. Especially sites like MN that have stricter requirements so it's not just a variant of the usual 8 characters. Now I'm thinking I don't know if I can remember mine 🙈

Hope everyone is feeling better soon. I think the problem is that covid now is very similar to a rotten cold for most people but the guidance on when to isolate and test has never changed so most people are winging it.

Lots of our double vaccinated staff have caught it off their school age children. Some have had positive lateral flow tests, but not all, and then have gone on to test positive on PCR tests. Don't really know what the answer is to be honest.

Good luck Sing agree with others your positives are very much in your favour. Whatever weakness you choose (lack of confidence for example) be sure to say how you've worked so hard to improve that and tie in some of the things you've done that have pushed you out of your comfort zone to do and how much better you are now.

em does your work still have really strict policies regarding contacts for covid. Will they make you work from home again if you've been in contact with positive worker?

I am WFH today and Virgin network has gone down in our area… so annoyed, they say it’s estimated to be fixed by 3. I have crap 3G signal so can’t even reliably use my phone. Sigh.
Payday on Friday, the budget has worked well this month so I’m pleased. We have cut our food spend in half and bought very little non essential stuff.
Just need to keep at it to try and clear the IVF debt before running up more on cycle 3

As I haven’t been well I haven’t looked into the energy issues i am with bulb and I know they are increasing their prices has anyone shopped around and found a good deal and has anyone heard if bulb are likely to go bust

born we’ve been asked to stay home if we have cold like symptoms and get tested. Which is fair enough. I don’t work closely with said colleague and haven’t seen her since Wednesday of last week so all good I think for now.

I am way over excited by ds’ birthday. Been to local party shop. Bought balloons for the living room for Friday morning. This is a tradition for us.

A bat symbol, a number 4 and a Spider-Man head. All good. Then the very helpful shop man told me about a “walkie” balloon. Of Batman. And I said yup. Let’s go. He’s 44inches tall. I have no idea how it’s going to fit in my car tomorrow when I pick them up! 😂😂😂 DH is going to go ape. But I don’t care!!!! 😂😂😂 ds will love it.

That sounds sensible em. Those balloons are fab your ds will love them.

Gen hope it's fixed soon. We have Virgin and have had lots of problems with them but our internet use is massive as I have 2 teenagers who game a lot so they blame that on our signal dropping 🙄

Those balloons sound fab em