Frugal fun in February - the one with the Spring spring

[Unescorted]

New thread continued from this one

All are welcome - just dive in.

Big hug and unescorted

Welcome crumpets

The timing of my intro was terrible I'm sorry @Unescorted I promise I'll read the room a bit better next time before I flounce in with my introductions. Hi to all anyway quietly sits down

Don’t worry about it crumpet and welcome. Are you wanting to pay debt, save or get the best for your cash

I have 0 savings and I've recently been gobsmacked at my spending insights on online banking. I want to save for the bigger things that come up every year that I know are coming but don't plan for responsibly but also create an emergency fund of a thousand pounds for if the SHTF. Last year this was school summer holidays, Christmas, birthdays but also I have no emergency fund for if anything awful happens. I've been living with my head in the sand and I need to be more responsible and pro-active about squirrelling away money for these exact reasons. I'm lazy and lose things and this has prompted me to buy duplicates of things which cost extra money eg:- can't find the scissors so I'll buy two pairs for each room in the house so it'll never happen again. Sounds like a good idea to get a duplicate but it all adds up. This is an example of how I've wasted money.I'm also a pushover with my children and like to say yes alot which has meant that I've not prioritised their savings either. I want to feel more in control of my choices and I want to manage the small amount I do have better.

One of the suggestions for this was writing down everything you spend for a month to get more conscious of your decisions. I'm afraid the contactless spending option was not helpful and I was stunned. So I'm doing a mixture of using cash and online (for things I can't pay for in cash) but checking my bank every day. I will think to myself "do I want to buy this coz if I do I'll have to write it down..." And this has already stopped me from buying so much.

I'm trying to save as much as possible but for particular expensive times coming up. My goal is to have at least £2,000 in savings by the end of the year. I'm also trying to be more sustainable so the outlay for reusable san pro and period knickers and reusable makeup removers is also an investment but expensive. I'm trying to not be too strict with myself as I don't want to suck all the joy out of life but a big change is imminent and unavoidable.

We shop at Aldi, live rurally and often get caught out by top up shops due to how out in the sticks we are.

Family of five - another on the way soon hopefully - another reason to save for the future. I hope I haven't bored you all to death with that long post!

(((Hugs))) unescorted

NSD here.

Fell off again🙈. Haven't been online much, been enjoying the last week or so of cursing. I've had a nasty cold too thankfully not covid but just made me feel rubbish. It's took over a week to shift but early last week I could barely lift my head from the pillow🤢. I’ll try and catch up with you all now.
We celebrate all the old pagan festivals on the wheel of the year. I struggle with low mood in the darker months so I love having a few different things to celebrate. We had a wonderful imbolc. I made a mac and cheese recipe from my cookbook which was incredible i’ll definitely be making that again.
mrs yep it’s to celebrate that spring is on the way, even if it doesn’t feel like it yet😂. We buy mostly second hand everything, like you say it saves the environment and our pocket.
I’m sorry about everyone struggling with energy bills, it is so stressful💐.
curls so sorry about your boss❤️💐
alfie I went to St. John’s! Stopped after badgers, I think my uniform is still in my mums attic somewhere. I’ve got all my badges and certificates too. I stayed there longer than my 2 sessions at brownies😂. Good luck with interview🤞🏻
How exciting em the park in the garden looks amazing I bet the kids are chuffed!
Wolf I hope your DD feels better soon💐
Tayto DD’s holiday sounds brill😊
Welcome crumpets it sounds like you have some good goals in place.
Im so sorry unescorted💐❤️

Not been very frugal here, £90 on records the other day but they’re some I’ve been looking for for a while so worth it in my opinion.

Sounds great crumpets. One thing with annual bills, if you can, make them pay of your monthly budget. So you divide all of your annual spends up and save them through the year. Likewise Christmas

£79 bean bag, got £55 back from mil for shopping
Welcome back float,.

Yes I've decided that a fiver or a tenner a week is far more manageable than £500 of uniform (for example) in one go. I've been watching cash envelope videos on YouTube and although I'm not able to go full cash budgets yet I think getting five or ten pounds out physically for the big things helps to see it grow quickly. I still track every penny though. Online or physical. I also like the zero budget method - I think it's called - where each and every penny gets a job to do that's important.

Sorry unescorted
Welcome crumpets
Thank you everyone for helping me put things into perspective. I have put in a holiday request for my interview which will probably be declined but I am going to email scary manager in the morning advising her I have an interview coming up on Wednesday and wasn’t sure if I needed to use annual leave or make the time up.

Spends to £95 Morrisons inc £15 valentines meal
£20 at the local makers market in cheese brownies pies and a paw balm for ddog as he drives me mad licking his paws sometimes usually at bedtime so may just be his bedtime routine
£60 for dh diesel we have a joint account so not technically me spending

Crumpets - no need to apologise. My dad has been poorly for a very long time - I was starting to bore myself with the drama.

Thank you for all the love. To be honest it is a relief & I feel lighter knowing that he is no longer suffering. If anyone asks I want all the drugs.

Float I hope you are cruising [Grin] I now have a mental picture of you winnowing your way through Poynton past the posh houses shouting obscenities. Please tell me you do this.....

Mrs at least you will be getting good use out of the Ark you bought last year... or was it the year before.

The film was good - just what I needed. Stopped by the big Chinese supermarket so it was not a cheap day. DS & I are going to give sushi a try...and then there was the spices for Fajita and Chicken rub mixes ready for BBQ season..... And noodles of different types. I love shopping there.

Cake is in the oven... a day later than expected. I will report back - there are bits that are very American that I would do differently next time... maybe,

Crumpets I find transferring money to my savings on the day I get paid helps treating it like another bill rather than waiting to the ends of the month
Also being accountable on here and owning up to my spending I am a nightmare for popping to the shop for milk or a loaf and spending £40 so really trying to be more organised and stop this bad habit

Lots of love to you, @Unescorted

Welcome @CrumpetsSwansBeagles. Agree with @Alfiemoon1 I transfer to me savings the day I get paid. Worst comes you can always move it back out if needed, best case is it stays there. Win win.

unescorted so sorry to hear your news about your dad. And also I hear you on how you are processing it, respect to you.
crumpets welcome. I’ve finally got to a place where I have money set aside in various pots (Xmas, kids clothes etc) and it is so satisfying. It doesn’t always work though as sometimes (like now) there is not enough in my pots! It sounds like you are on the right track. I think it is hard to do if you are on a very low income- you have to be super disciplined. For me I had to sit down and work out what everything cost me a year (think I used the budget in money saving expert). Then gulp. Then set out to earn that much as our outgoings didn’t match our earnings at that point.

Oh unescorted I also missed dads passing. I’m so sorry xx

The entire ground floor of my house is clear of our stuff. I hired a van myself today and took a load to the dump. Also moved the rest of our stuff either here or uostairs at home. Exhausting work.

NSD weekend. Took dog for long walk in woods yesterday and I've discovered my wellies leak so on the hunt for a new pair - I have to buy boys wellies for the width so not a lot of choice
unescorted and thinking of you in the coming weeks - you will be busy

@Unescorted so sorry. @CrumpetsSwansBeagles welcome

Woke up to quacking. Loud quacking. Ducks on the golf course. Sat outside (with blanket and coffee) watching the world go by currently. So nice. And peaceful. Did my morning meditation out here.

We have to drop kids to dparents today. Usually they’d pick them up but it’s “too far” (literally adds an additional 10 minutes but it’s temporary for 6 weeks so we’ll do as they ask- they do enough for us!) so will have to drive to town, through town traffic (which is horrendous currently as one of the main routes from the east it closed for roadworks). Then to mum and dads then Back into town for work. I did ask work if I could work from theirs on a Monday. But they said no. So if I’m late I’m late.

Dparents have been legends this weekend. They had the kids all day Friday. And all afternoon yesterday so DH and I could finalise moving and clearing stuff. They also fed us last night and dm was going to feed us on Mondays. But “sadly” said she thinks it’ll be too late for the dc so is going to send us home with a “mummy takeaway” instead

Your mam is a legend em. Ducks doing sounds lovely and fun fingers crossed for the build

She is an absolute legend.

Sorry fell of the thread, have just quickly read back.

Sorry to hear your news Unescorted

Welcome Crumpets.

Welcome crumpets
Condolences unescorted

Spends over the weekend €15 on non alcoholic drinks on Sat night
Yesterday zero, friend treated me to swim and lunch.

I had a frugal fail, I was too tired yesterday to complete my tesco online shop but thought I had until today, I didn't so now they're delivering €29.62 worth of stuff & I'm being charged €3 min order charge and €3 delivery charge . my friend ditched our weekly walk in favour of meal out with her boyfriend so I'm going to go to aldi instead [grin][winning@life] it was my own fault!

Dropped my tea. Was not salvageable. Bah
Dinner for those who say that

Unescorted thinking of you lovely, you are being so brave

Life l hate it when that happens Grrrr!
Welcome Crumpets
Happier l hate it when that happens as well! Grrr for you too
Em they are wonderful parents and grandparents but then l am sure yoy are a wonderful daughter , so glad you are enjoying your temp home
Alfie hope you get the time off with no hastle
Been to Asda spent 10 , Farmfoods 10 , card factory 3
Hope everyone is ok it's rained and rained here all flaming day!