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.

Aw Martha thank you so much so kind of you 💐☺️
Watching Jabeur v Maria , Jabeur is playing very well l wonder if she will win it 🤔
Only spent 5 in Morrisons just milk, bread and rolls . Burgers tonight it is them ☺️😋

Spendy week
airfyer has been got, new oven orders £609, bike for ds £5-600 discount depending, £35 day out for me at make and mend festival, electricians booked £800, plumber coming tomorrow £700
bye bye savings

Are there any parks, museums, open spaces etc where you could take a picnic and go to during the holidays frog? Looks like the Number 7 website has 25% off if you join the VIP 'club'.

Ouch to the spending life, tempted by an air fryer.

Did my Lidl shop but forgot mushrooms, will either do without them or try get some yellow sticker, we use loads. Got some the other day for 32p

Total Lidl spend including wine and washing tablets was £46, Gusto coming tomorrow for £17 and I'll hopefully only need a few fresh bits at most next week.

DD made granola today in her spare time, she become hugely frugal while at university so is proving very useful.

£4 parking, as needed to pop to solicitor as well as the hospital.

Squash and black bean terrine with quinoa tonight. Dead easy recipe I found online.

@Thefroglover I love planning things for the summer but also on a budget. What sort of age range are your DC? Mine are from tots to teens so a large range here. I print off a summer planner and we fill things in. Also important to leave days blanks aswell though for just pottering days.

We sign up to any emails going and get emails for what's on at local national trust places, nature reserves etc. We tend to do one day home one day out. My teens can now amuse themselves a bit aswell which makes it easier.

Ideas we usually do in the holidays are as above nature reserves, national trust etc if you are a member. Parks especially any ones you don't usually go to. Often we go out just for the afternoon so lunch at home then head to the park for the afternoon.

Libraries are always good ours does a summer reading challenge we do every year. Or can you get to a different library see if they've got anything else on. Ours also rents DVDs and audio books for something a bit different on a rainy day

Does your council run any sort of sports days ours do and are usually quite cheap. If you get tax credits or anything like that you might be able to get a discount.

We love having pizza and film afternoons. Those pizza kits are fairly cheap and you can make it last a while and DC love doing their own toppings. Then we put a film on around 4pm, dinner on the carpet half way through. Those £1 or so baking Kits are also good and really easy.

Hope that helps 😃

Oo yes cheap holiday ideas. How old are the dc?

£100 at dr. £50 from last time which I forgot to pay as didn’t have my purse on me and £50 for todays appointment.

went today because I have finally finally finally had enough of my stupid messed up periods. My dr was super nice and a) took things seriously and b) is investigating. She took all the bloods to run all the tests. And is booking me in for a scan to make sure no gynae issues.

Wow em those healthcare costs must really add up. Good that they are taking you seriously. I’ve wondered this before, are wages generally higher in jersey to take account of this? I’m thinking if you were a nurse or teacher on UK wages this would be expensive - or so people get healthcare insurance?
just spent an hour of work time trying to sort the fuel deal with utility warehouse. If anyone else is interested it’s turned out not to be worth it for us - the kWh unit prices they are quoting are more than 40% more than we’re paying now. And Martin Lewis is saying, probably not worth it if that’s the case for you, as overall prices are expected to go up by 51%, so you’re not getting much of a deal if you fix near that. Hopefully that makes sense.
I’m hoping in the wake of UK political news, someone will come along to offer us a nice sweetener about fuel prices!

@marthasmum im lucky in that I have private medical insurance through work. but wages generally are higher here. Average salary I think is around £37k

at my gp practice I think under 5’s are free. Then it’s lower cost for 5-16 and then 16-21 is higher until full price at 21.

but we are pretty much guaranteed a same day appointment. And prescriptions are free.

Interesting em , thank you. Must be really helpful that it’s free for littlies.

Really depressing news about the new predicted increase in energy prices Cornwall insight have just released. Up to 64% higher in October and an additional 3% in January I think. Martha if you did your calculation before that announcement you may want to do so again before short lived 'deals' get pulled.

Ds had a rare sick day today

I've shouted at the insurance and British Gas (again for both its like a constant round of complaints)

Last few days away with work have been obscenely spendy

Think we're doing pretty well this week, there have been some spends but mainly on food shopping/necessary baby expenses, we've probably spent £35 on non essential treats but to say my husband has been off this week and I'm feeling so achy and sore I would have in the past not been too surprised if this was almost daily.

The energy costs are scary. I switch my hot water off every other day now.

Shout away wolf, I'm sure they both deserved it!

My day was expensive too. Ddog2's weepy eye wasn't clearing so £71 for medication at the vets. Pah! We have a monthly plan that covers the visits but not the meds. Dogs cost! And Ddog2 is cheap compared to Ddog1!

£15 bedding plants to finish off the front, which does look lovely now and I feel good pulling up on the drive to see hoe pretty it looks.

£2.95 for a Gregg's Too Good to Go haul. Huge chicken salad sandwich, 3 donuts, 4 steak bakes.

A wonderful friend took me out for lunch and I had probably the nicest salad I've ever tasted, she paid.

scan Booked for a weeks time. Yay. Thanks medical insurance. Apparently the wait time for a non private one is 10 months. It’s ridiculous.

Picked up storage boxes today (ikea £54 but they’d arrived on island last week)

making pizzas for dinner.

Lord, just read the whole fuel price increase predictions, I'm so grateful I fixed for 2 years last October. Lucky re timing of my last deal running out but glad I took a punt on prices rising. It's actually scary.

em hope.scan goes well. We've used private healthcare a couple of times in the past for disabled DC and still do. 18 months waiting list on NHS compared with 8 days private. We have to pay the full whack though (no insurance) but it's worth it. Our next appt will be £260 or £330 depending on what they need (obviously trying to be quite vague here) which is still a massive chunk out of the monthly budget but it's only yearly. We really need to start setting money aside each month to cover things like this tbh!

mines how do you manage with hot water only every 2 days? Ours has to go on 2-3 times a day. I'm wondering if our hot water tank is quite small. It goes on in the morning for around 40 mins for any daytime dishes, then again at teatime for DC baths then if DH or I want a bath it needs to go on again. Basically one full tank of water does approx one bath. We use 22,000kwh of gas a year but desperate trying to get that down!

Also mines I get what you mean about the joy of pulling up the driveway when you've put effort into plants. Our front garden is our flower garden and our back garden is our veg garden and greenhouse.

I try to do pots at the front each season. Makes me so happy! Summer holidays project is to paint the gate aswell we currently have splodges of testers all over it and I think we've finally decided on the colour so need to get that done.

OMG we use 36,000 kWh of gas I’ve discovered!! The man at utility warehouse did tell me it was more than twice the national average for our size house (4 bed). I’m really hoping it will go down now we have the new boiler and double glazing. We do have lots of baths and showers between the five of us but have really cut down on how much we have the heating on. I’m feeling quite apprehensive about the fuel increase.
Youre right wolf I’m going to recoil at costs now they’re saying a 64% increase. It would be £520 a month though which is just bonkers.
good news about the scan em

decaff completely agree - it just looks so pretty for so little money - all our pots we've had for years. A couple of fushias and some begonias won't break the bank (had compost too already)

Re water - large tank, super quick showers (2 minutes, apart from once a week for deep conditioning hair/shave/yada) x 3 of us. No baths etc. They don't know I switch it off - just me!

But newish, very well built, efficient house. It's a large house and we pay £200 pcm. Boiler only 3 years old so they're are advantageous here that others may not be able to access

Morning all. Gorgeous morning here. Sunny and bright.

laundry out on line already. Yay.

Me too em, all school uniform washed and out. One load was out overnight last night , sssshhh,

lovely day here. I had a lie in, garden fettling and ferrying children

this house is woefully inefficient but I’m working on it. New windows will hopefully be in by winter

Morning, much needed haircut shortly although I could do without the expense. Bedding is just spinning but doubt it will finish before I have to leave the house.

Ds apparently has quite the temperature ( he's with his father) and it turns out I've been closely exposed to multiple people with covid at work this week. Fingers crossed it says clear of us

Important post alert. Have been reading a bit and attended a webinar recently about lasting powers of attorneys

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/power-of-attorney/

if you have wills it’s seriously a good idea to put one in place now. Before you might need it.

and if you don’t have a will get one.

In other news. I’m in the garden having coffee. The kids are running riot. I fear I’m that neighbour.

Obviously they’ve both chosen to wear wellies and their pjs (which are the clompiest shoes ever on the deck) and they’re noisy. Ffs.

I agree em. I have lpa for parents but in-laws refuse and it’s a nightmare.
doing ours when kids turn 18

get the haircut wolf. Self care is important. Hope you stay Covid clear