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.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH! I had a lovely long post and I have just lost it.

Welcome to all the new people...Nocuts, Orange, Lux, Grace, so & Xo I think I have you all.

North & Gen Much love to you both - I hope it is straight forward & successful for you.

Em great cake, although you should have tied the balloon to your bumper & driven down the high street.

Wolf we are in terrified for the winter territory too. And it isn't just energy - food it going through the roof too.

Martha - yes the generous VAT cut is not as generous as it seems. Why am I not surprised. Also the £400 cost of living payment going to the homeowner....who then should pass it on to their tenants.

Uni is soooooooo expensive. I thank DDs work ethic each time her college gives her hardship funds. She makes their inclusion stats look better so they are generous.

Curls Manchester City library has an online theory test thing with all the official questions www.manchester.gov.uk/directory_record/162272/theory_test_pro_-_prepare_for_your_driving_test/category/1217/courses_and_tutorials He will need a library card number but I joined & I live out of area. Other libraries may do similar.

Our fridge freezer decided to be warm.... . But a total defrost has got it back working. Took 3 days to get all the ice out of the back. Hopefully it is more reliable & we have less food waste. Now to do the big freezer. I have a glamourous life.

Just found this and joining as I am starting to really feel the pinch now .

Am also TOO HOT

Thanks so much @Unescorted I’ll show ds later. We’ve booked in again for mid Sept, which was the earliest we could get.

Low spend yesterday just £1 on rice. Exercise classes and work today.

Welcome Still It is really windy here.... dashes off to put the washing out.

Curls best of luck to him.

The guardian is reporting that the bank of England is looking at a 50bps increase in base rate. Bad news for people with a variable rate mortgage.

Welcome to new ones, it's nice here
Its currently 30 degrees here so picking up the dds straight from school at 12.50 and going to the beach. The lasagna is in the oven so easy dinner sorted for later. It's in weather like this I'm happy we live next to the beach

Another frugal day here. Afternoon at the beach. £2 on icecreams we got a box of own brand ones instead of £2 each for individual ones. Need to remember this trick more often! Just been talking with DH about how we are really pleased we haven't spent lots of money this holiday as most days have been free activities mainly the beach. We already have wetsuits / bodyboards / beach tent etc as we go the beach alot at home anyway so it's a good investment

Bit of a spendy day. Took DS to soft play £12 and then the cinema to see Minions £20 tickets plus snacks.

Also went into a random homeware shop killing time before the cinema and bought a new blanket £18, have a lovely fluffy one at home and have been looking for ages for a similar one at a reasonable price ready for winter. Found the perfect one, hoping it will help us have the heating on less come October... we'll see.

Tomorrow will be a NSD at home I hope.

as suspected bit of a spend day today
25 pounds for wedding voucher
10 pounds storage boxes
poundland which is always my downfall 40 pounds top shorts bits for picnic nightie and lol doll thing for my niece for xmas I need to not go in there any more
Hoping tomorrow will be better 8 pound fares to work but taking lunch drink etc with me so cheaper
Am picking up electric throw and electric blanket from next hoping this will be a good investment for winter as then hopefully will put heating on less fingers crossed

New beds for ds bought the other day £200 inc mattress. Might have noted this the other day.

today am about to spend on a handy person to put pictures up for me.

Spendy week, needed a few bits, hoover tins of paint, storage solutions etc. Shopped round for reductions and bargains, got great deals, upright stick hoover 20 pound, 100 quid all in, lots of painting, freshening up and upwelling, recycling, repurposing. Nsd days rest 9f month. Been flat out decluttering and organising. Will catch up on thread. Hope all okay. Still looking for a slow cooker. 😂

Thanks for replying@ decaffe😃 do you recommend your particular air fryer?

Welcome to all the new people!
this weekend may be rather spendy as
DP and I are going away child free! It’s been paid for DMum and DSis as we both have big birthdays in august. But meals out, etc. it’s a surprise location, will find out tomorrow!
meanwhile am quite pleased with myself as I’ve found some Clark’s shoes on the Clark’s outlet website for £31 instead of £46. And have bought a foot measure on the Clark’s outlet website for £12 inc postage. This means I can measure DSs’ feet and buy cheaper school shoes/ football boots online. I wish I’d done it years ago, with three DC I could have saved a lot!

Evening everyone. Just about to have a last cuppa before bed. I'm off tomorrow . My new dishwasher is coming so I took the day off so I can be here to let the dishwasher guy in to install it.

Planning a quiet and frugal weekend. I'm going to paint my shed and strim the grass out the back. The weather forecast is good so I'm hoping I can get all my outdoor jobs done. I'm aiming to keep busy and stay away from shops. Well, except for groceries obviously.

Work has been really crazy. Lots of new developments. I could probably work twice the number of hours I'm actually doing. I've been going in early and staying late. Hence the need for a dishwasher. Washing up at the end of the evening is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

I can't remember if I posted since my holiday (seems like ages ago now) but we had a lovely week in Lanzarote. We had a few days where we chilled by the pool. We also did a few day tours (a tour of the volcanoes and one which combined a visit to an artist's house with a stop at a cactus garden and a very scenic viewing point). We had our dinners handed up to us every night which was such a luxury. My sister paid for the holiday itself so I just needed spending money and cattery fees. Still added up to a fair bit though.

DCats were a bit crazy earlier but seem to have settled down now.

Right, I'm off to pop on the kettle. I keep aiming (but failing) to catch up on your news. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get time while I'm waiting for Dishwasher Man to call.

@Decafflatteplease I am also very interested in what air fryer you have 😅

I have my surgery date through - not til mid Sept as the lists are completely full here, but they’ve said I’m top of the list for any cancellations for ENT so fingers crossed it may be sooner even. Need to stay away from Google, gave myself a nice sleepless night after reading some throat cancer threads last night.

Need to Hoover upstairs and dust everywhere. Somehow the hot weather seems to make things more dusty?!

Gen, step away from google.

I got the cosari air fryer from Amazon and it’s fine 5.5l. doesn’t like big amounts so can’t do a whole meal in there but definitely worth it for us.

finalising bathroom plans today and then running about after dc. Need to pop to Aldi but only for fresh stuff

Gen Dr Google is doom laden. The sites that come to the top of the searches are the US ones - they have a vested interest in people being scared into getting additional tests.

Today is going to be expensive I suspect. The big freezer is defrosted so we can go back to a monthly shop. Hopefully that will save money long term by removing the temptation of more frequent trips to the shops.

2 weeks into summer hols and I've been working at home and teen dd is getting very mopey as all her friends are away so I've booked a sitter for the dog and am taking her holiday shopping on Sunday. So that will be spendy but we've had 2 weeks of not leaving the house ! The dog has separation anxiety and I am training him but he had a set back last week while we were attempting a walk . And he won't walk as is so scared. So I've also decided to book a trainer (after a year of this ). The dog is easily the most spendy aspect of my life !

Morning.

I'm managing (apart from the washing machine) to have a relatively low spend week.

This weekend a bit more expensive as having some friends round but at least it's not eating out.

For refurbished tablets and phones, we use Loop mobile, they are an online retailer but we have had great deals and service at work.

Will catch up properly later.

Thanks for that mine and others who made recommendations, that's a job for this weekend, to sort an ipad out.
Lovely to see lots of new people on the thread, you are very welcome & have found a really supportive corner of mumsnet.
Definitely step away from google Gen & I hope your date gets brought forward. Mine is 2 weeks on Monday & it feels right as I have a lot to try to get done at work and home beforehand. Hoping to get some batch cooking done to stock the freezer & will do a gousto order for the first full week I'm home. Will pay full price given the circumstances, but I do have a referral code if anyone wants to try it.
Gym class done this morning. Am really enjoying it at the moment and feeling well prepared for my recovery. After surgery I should be the lightest I've been in quite a few years.

I put on a washload in anticipation of the lovely weather we're due to get (and I've a second washload lined up). It's currently raining.....

Morning all.

@Gensola and @Fearofawelshplanet we have a really basic air fryer from Asda. Just Asda own brand one we went for a cheap one to see if we liked it. I think it was meant to be £44 but got it for £34 I think it was an offer. Probably about 6 weeks ago so hopefully they still have them. We put the oven on once in the whole of July thanks to the air fryer. I was putting the oven on every night as I have a disabled dc who will only eat beige freezer food but now I can pop stuff in the air fryer it's much quicker and easier and saves money on gas. Haven't see our electricity go up as it's very low electric use.

Gen I hope you are ok.

martha I need to get one of those shoe measure things. We always buy clarks for school shoes and with 3 school age DC it's around £150! Would be so much better to buy from outlet. We've tried other high street shoes but they didn't last so a false economy.

Getting a bit worried about uniform actually. Need to spend time making a list of what each child needs, what still fits and what can be passed down to siblings

Off to a nature reserve today should be £5 to park. Still waiting on our blue badge 🤔 that will save us money. Treating ourselves to a supermarket curry / pizzas tonight so allowing £10-15 for that.

I got the anticipated letter from my bank about the mortgage increase. My mortgage is increasing by around €17 per month. Could be a lot worse. It's the cumulative impact of all these increases though - mortgage interest rate rises, home heating oil (the biggest increase for me), electricity costs, petrol, food etc. etc. Death by a thousand cuts. And of course, interest rates could go up again.

I know Christmas is a long way off but I'll be telling DD (maybe around September or so) that I'll be cutting back at Christmas. And I won't be booking any holidays or trips for next year. My aim is basically to get through the winter. And review the situation in March/April.

Everyone is raving about Oodies. Are they worth the money? Or are there cheaper versions in Penneys that will do the job? I'm a little wary of spending money to save money iykwim. We already have a few fleece blankets which we use in winter because my sitting room is quite draughty. I guess Oodies keep your head and neck warm.

Dishwasher Man has been and gone. He had difficulty squeezing the new dishwasher into the gap between units. I had an anxious moment while I anticipated living with a dishwasher in the middle of my kitchen floor. But he got it in eventually.

I've updated my monthly budget to take account of the mortgage increase and electricity bill increase (has jumped significantly since February). I was looking at my bank account and was checking to see if my Child Benefit payment had come through. Then I realized that it has now stopped because DD has finished school. I shouldn't be surprised really. It's only paid until your child finishes school. It's just that I didn't get any notice that it would be stopping so it took me by surprise. What's that I said about death by a thousand cuts?

Right, I'll go hang out my second washload. The sun came out after all.