Summer savings support - be frugal

[ememem84]

Running out of space on the old thread so here’s the new one. Everyone welcome.

for background this is a slice to share your No spend days, your big spend days your savings your situation. We all help each other out with advice and tips etc. but it’s mostly for friendly accountability.

After reading through this thread I decided to give frugal living a try. Our bills are pretty low but I will check the house insurance for a better deal when it ends in august rather than auto-renewing, phone contracts end in august too, it’s sim only so not expensive but they are with sky so im sure if I ring there will be a deal to be done. Tv wise we got rid of sky a while ago and haven’t missed it at all so just have Netflix, prime, Disney and live tv. We hardly ever watch live tv so are going to disconnect the Ariel and scrap the tv license and just stay with the streaming subscriptions, might even get rid of Disney when that ends next March as it is rarely watched.
I work in a supermarket so my biggest spend is nipping in after work for bits and bobs we don’t really need or buying food on breaks. I’m going to limit my after work shops to just mid week on a Wednesday for milk/bread/any fresh veg and fruit that is needed and I have started taking a snack for my break. I’ve made fruit and nut flapjacks today thinking they would be a great healthy snack to take but when I’ve added all the ingredients into a recipe they are not actually very healthy 😆 I will have to have a look at high protein but healthy recipes that I might enjoy and are quick to make for next time

I love flapjacks, but I've yet to find a way of making a recipe that includes equal weights of butter, sugar, oats and a big dollop of golden syrup healthy! But now I really want some flapjack (and it's so easy to make, you're only ever 15 minutes away from the lovely, sticky, moist flapjack...)

Good tip life, cheers.

Love flapjack.

Downloaded the Too Good to Go app today and picked all this up from Costa on my way home from work for £3. That'll keep DS especially in food for a few days. I'll use the veggie stuff myself and possibly the tuna one too. (DS Isn't veggie or fussy what he eats!).

Hadn't heard of it before but apparently the supermarket offers can be brilliant.

NSD!

Nice one fear Mine was a NSD until about 6.

@TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans
I've looked at that dress a couple of times it's lush, also thinking of getting the colletes .. I brought the two linen look ones recently and a couple of just strappy summer dresses for after my c section, Morrisons do some lovely bits now.

Few little baby spends over last couple of days - but they're necessary really, a chippy tea and a few other bits, not gone over the top and said no to a few takeaways that we were tempted by, truthfully though I think for the next couple of weeks whilst hopefully I'll have some temptation spends I won't go with I'll just have to see how it goes.

Name l don't blame you looking at the cullottes and th dress they are lovely. The price is unbelievable too! I will get a lot of wear out of them l can tell. Wash and wear no ironing dry in a few mins what's not to like ☺️
There's a good thread in here
as well as ours☺️ about the cost of Food going out of orbit .
I had a good read . It's very interesting
Spent 20 in Tesco and 26 in Costco

It's this thread if anyone wants to read it ☺️
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4583262-aibu-to-be-shocked-by-this-increase

Thanks for the link to the thread. Really interesting read (especially as I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep!).

The Elvis film was really good! Tickets ended up being £7 each with the Meerkat offer (it's a posh cinema, with those lovely recliner seats etc).

Ive hardly been out for a meal at all this year and that was a bit of a shock how much more that cost. A risotto and we did have a bottle of wine between 3 of us and it was £25! Local independent Italian.

So definitely a LSD, hopefully NSD!

I started reading that thread and was not surprised, food prices are spiralling

I lobe dresses but the are for my aspiration life as really jeans and a hoodie with trainers work are what work for me

Frugaling continues, I usually have fresh flowers in the house, nothing fancy just a bunch under £8. But not this month, They are not a necessity (the house looks bare without them :-( ). My period started this morning and I'm short of tampons. I usually have a few in whatever handbag I take out with me for just in case, so I'm going through my bags collecting them all lol. Hopefully I wont need to buy another packet this month. I have to have my hair cut this month, I dug out some foreign currency notes that I'm not going to be using anytime soon, so I'll exchange those for pounds for the haircut. DH suggested takeaway last night. I was very tempted. But instead he made dinner using whatever he could find in the cupboards. It tasted really nice. I'm seeing an old friend tonight, she asked where I wanted to meet, it would usually be a pub but instead I said I would go to her. I sometimes take a small bunch of flowers to hers, but not this time. It's not expected, so it will be fine. Going to a birthday celebration at the end of the month, have managed to secure lifts there and back to save on cab fares. It all adds up.

caridonfoundation.org/morrisons-helps-to-end-period-poverty-with-package-for-sandy-initiative/
Morrisons have a free package for Sandy at the customer service desk in every Shop in the UK. It has 2 San towels in and although that isn't a lot it might help in the very short term 💐
Just thought it was a good idea to remind some of us if we ever need this service . I know when l was a kid growing up l used to use toilet paper and it was so embarrassing if l had a leak 😔

Sandy quite frankly breaks my heart, that's something that's needed in 2022, I am not old enough to remember the 70s 80s but we've really not come far have we.

thefrog hope you are ok and have a nice time with your friend.

mrs ive seen an advert for that Morrisons things aswell. I'm also finding the food thread interesting.

£15 this morning on some work clothes for DH in the charity shop I got 3 shirts a jumper a pair of trousers and a casual tshirt for £15 really pleased with that.

mrsmadevans that's a great idea by Morrisons. I think LIDL are doing free sanpro, but I'm not sure whether that's here or UK or anything about it really. I don't menstruate so didn't need to retain the info.

froglover sounds like your dh is on board too, that's great.

minesalager nice haul there for £3 some of it is possible freezable too & will defrost in lunchbox by lunchtime. A former colleague used to freeze the months sandwiches for her dc when they were going to school.

grigorio I'm on a personal ban from local convenience store, my pending transactions have reduced dramatically!

I just reminded my mechanic to send me my bill from end of April, I asked him at beginning of June too, I'm only going to ask him once a month, but NCT in Sept and it's due a service so I want to get this bill sorted before it's two bills together.

Loaned my dsis €250, she's started a new job and not due to get paid until end of month, it was planned to go against my cc but that's ok, I'll get it by end of month anyway.

My amazon subscribe and save ogx conditioner came out of my acc €3.98, I think I've got a bottle of shampoo and conditioner unopened so I'll probably pause the next delivery.

Frugal fail yesterday went swimming, no swim hat €2.50 to add to the 100s of swimhats I already own, bf paid for my swim though so it was a cheap swim

@Happierwithouthim I get you re the swim hat annoyance. If I forget my shopping bags I get soo peed off at having to pay for more bags when I have them at home.

@Decafflatteplease great haul for £15. I would be smiling all day.

I need to do a Boots shop, I think I have around £10 credit on my loyalty card which will help keep the cost down. Also need to check for any No. 7 offers and vouchers too, there is usually some kind of offer on or one which is just around the corner.

I checked the price of my hair cut and it is exactly the same value as the money I got for exchanging my foreign currency.

I refuse to buy more bags, I just stack up as much as I can carry or grab an empty box around the shop

Afternoon everyone 😊
Popped into Morrisons for a few bits . They had Tins of Mackerel fillets in olive oil on offer at 1.15 instead of 1.50. my daughter eats this a lot so l picked up 6 this morning. A white load of sliced bread was 79p there today . Monday it was 75p. It's the wheat shortage l think from the war in the Ukraine it's hitting a lot of food items . On the other hand toilet rolls seem to be very stable at least the ones we use are.
I think it's going to be a really difficult time for an awful lot of ppl . I am afraid that ppl won't be able to give to charity or feed their pets or the birds . Our wild bird seed has rocketed lately. We paid 6 for a bag of 12.5kgs in Tesco the beginning of the year and it's now 8.75 😱

We had a new cost of living package rolled out in Ireland yesterday, as far as I can tell so far the only benefit to me is €100 towards my electricity which is of course welcome. If I pass €80 in the month on prescription meds it'll be covered by Drug Payment Scheme, thankfully I'm not on recurring prescriptions.

That’s rotten mrs I’m sorry you had to go through that.
I’ve been looking at the Utility warehouse fuel deal, has anyone else? Martin Lewis has a write up on money saving expert. As far as I understand it their ‘green fixed tariff’ fixes prices for a year. So you might pay more initially but would benefit iff/ when prices rocket again. That’s the bit I’m not sure I’ve understood right, so going to see if I can phone them. Other disadvantage is you have to take 3 other products with them. In my case, boiler cover/ service and mobile SIM only, both of which I do need. They’re not the cheapest you could get these products but it might even out if your fuel is less than it otherwise would be.
anyway, I’m giving it a think

Sorry take 2 other products. Typing in the bath!

Morning.

frog - I always wonder about the environmental impact of flowers (DH used to buy me lots), so you're probably saving yourself money and helping the planet. Win, win! And your friend would just be pleased to see you with or without flowers. Worth trying a cheaper place than Boots?

decaf - nice charity haul!

happier - most of that haul from Costa has gone as I used a sandwich for work, DD had one and DS had the day off work and eats like a horse despite having a 26 inch waist, but it's saved the other food in my fridge! Collecting a Greg's one today which was £2.95.

martha - I did fix my energy bills last year (with another company), and the price went up from what we were paying, but it's for 2 years. Paid £30 extra a month but that's nothing compared to what energy costs are now or will be soon in particular.

I spent a tiny bit more than anticipated yesterday as I bought some cheap bedding plants for the pots at the front of the house. We've far fewer pots anyway than last year and just a couple of tubs and hanging baskets, they were desperate for changing and it's brightened the front of the house up.

Someone collected some patio tiles from the old patio we'd changed that I'd put on a free cycle type site, so some good done to someone there.

DD used up a couple of old sweet potatoes yesterday by making some delicious falafels.

I used the rest of the veg (bar a squash and a cauliflower!) by making mushroom stroganoff. Will make dhal and another curry with the rest later and then it's all gone before I go to Lidl tomorrow.

Hopefully just parking to pay today.

Going to try making some sweet potato falafels myself, now, mines - inspired by you to attempt a new recipe, and use more veg and herbs.

Aldi yesterday, £66, then another £40 at Sainsbury's. I have stocked up on some freezer things, baked goods (also in freezer) and extra dairy and drinks to account for DS' needs. Note that DH has added tub ice-cream and Magnums to the freezer. I've persuaded him to do a dry July - health, frugality and (maybe) a bit of weight loss before we go on holiday. DS eating so much bacon I will have to source some nitrate-free.

Ive got my sister coming over tonight and I'm making dinner. Dinner can only be what's in the fridge/cupboard already with the exception of a bag of veg that I need to buy. I ended up buying extra sanitary products, cost me £3.

I'm dreading August and the cost of activities in the school holidays. Planning a day trip to the beach but this year it will not be with an overnight stay. We will do a few activities but not as near as much this year. We've already had a family holiday away.

@minesalargered it's the Boots products I use. But I agree that Boots is expensive.

@BigSkies2022 Magnums are expensive, but maybe you got them when on offer. I refuse to buy any premium ice creams unless on offer, luckily my DC aren't that bothered by ice creams.

DH is more generous than I am, and will use his own account to treat us to fancier options than I am willing to pay for out of the joint account. I'm not keen to curb these generous impulses - frankly, he can afford it. I think if I do more of the boring frugal stuff, the joint account can be stretched to pay for the occasional holiday/nice bit of something for the house.