Summer savings support - be frugal

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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.

@ mrsmadevans- yes it's a lovely gentle read and there are some good ideas!

Received a transfer of 700 £ from the government today to help with the increasing heating and electricity bills. Went straight to the saving. I know some peoples heating bill have gone up but we are not on gas so luckily ours has actually decreased a bit... feel a bit like I'm cheating someone when getting the transfer but it's an automatic transfer and apparently we cant complain about it.
They are also debating about other options of help with the increasing inflation and cost of things. So fare it looks like child allowance from the government is going to rise and the amount we can earn from salary based income is going to increase.
Spendt today 33 £ on beach toys because it's still so bloody warm

Fear l can imagine how beautiful Swansea is looking
Spends today , 13.99 on an Academic diary and a gift card from Amazon for a birthday so not too bad
Tayto your Govt sounds so much more on the ball than here glad you will have Child Benefit for your Dd

£1000 on drains, not exactly rock n roll
I think if you don’t need the amount then you could give some to charity but likewise everyone is feeling the pinch so you might need it in the future

what is the 700 pounds do we all get this?

low spend day today 3.40 bus fayre to hospital took water bottle with me theres a costa there but so expensive even whsmith there is inflated prices !!
20 pounds for a part for the toilet that isnt flushing properly just what you need in this heat
defrosted a turkey and a chicken that have been in freezer dor a while so going to cook them in slow cooker so any ideas for meals gratefully received hoping to get quite a few meals out of them
I have some mince bolognese cooked left over can I freeze that or not?
bit more of a spending day tomorrow as need agift voucher 25 pounds for my daughter and her partner who are moving into their first house they are buying together tomorrow
need stamps and some lol bits to go into my niece good luck on first day of school bag hoping to spend no more than 40 including voucher

Lux is in Denmark so it’s different there

nsd planned

School uniform shop planned today.

Yes you can freeze left over bolognaise I have it in portion sizes for quick meal for fussy kids

Going for my hair cut today. Don't really want to as it's too bloody hot. Also need to clean house as kitchen fitter is coming tomorrow to see if he wants the job. It's too bloody hot for cleaning too

Hopefully the salon will be cool and light er hair help
hope he takes the job

second day of high temperatures here. I have retreated to the darker corners of the house like some sort of giant mole. Last night in the park with Ddog was nice though - 25 degrees and a bit of a breeze, felt lovely. Brain is slowing horribly, even reading is a struggle, never mind writing. I could push myself to declutter the cellar or garage, but truly, I CBA.

In possibly the least painful effect of the war in Ukraine to be experienced, our order for DS' chest of drawers has been cancelled. The manufacturer uses birch plywood, and after weeks of prevarication, they have finally bowed to the exigencies of disrupted supply chains, cancelled the order and returned the money. So we could go on holiday! But DS would still lack storage, so we're now looking again. I fancy the Ercol Rimini 4 drawer, currently in stock and on sale!

Paid off a further £120 on the energy bill balance yesterday, so on target to pay it all down by the time October rolls around. I'm balancing budgets, paying down debts, building savings, meeting my responsibilities...I could wish it felt more liberating and joyful, but frankly, it just feels like a slog right now. Thank you, frugaleers, for this community online!

£53 grocery shopping yesterday

Hi all hope I’m ok to join this lovely thread
what I have to offer is using catch a dye sheets in the washing machine so I don’t have to seperate loads, and using top cash back. It takes a while to get the cash back, but better than nothing.

what’s crippling at the moment particularly for me is food prices and fuel/car in general. I get shopping delivered because I’d rather shave my eyeballs than take my baby out to do a big shop, there are some good cash back deals if you’re prepared to swap supermarkets and £20 with Ocado off the first one

I'm so sorry I should have ofc written that I live in Denmark. My error.
But I hope that your government will give you a helping hand aswell in these uncertain times.
My hair dresser salon is usually quite cooled down so hope yours is too...
Lsd planned. Just need a card for a birthday tomorrow. And then the beach after work and school

Hello Lux. The helping hand on energy bills that our government has proffered so far ranges from £400 (everyone) to £1200 (depending on age, whether you are in receipt of pension credit, attendance allowance or certain other benefits). All commentators agree that it is nowhere near enough to offset the impact of price rises and prevent vulnerable people from falling into fuel poverty. But as yet there isn't a plan to increase the subsidy to consumers, or reduce prices through knocking off VAT, or altering the price cap and forcing energy companies to suck up the higher wholesale prices, or doing away with the massive tax kick-back that the larger companies get to 'encourage' investment.

Welcome @Potterurotter! Similar to you I have a three year old who I could not do a big food shop with (runs off, picks up everything on the shelves etc, it's just stressful), I do Aldi click and collect every week! It's £5 but the amount I save by shopping in Aldi and the stress I avoid by not going in the actual supermarket makes it worth it. Our Aldi is right next to where DS has his swimming lessons so we do swimming lesson then pick up food shop every Thursday morning.

Couple of spendy days, we appear to be having a bit of a staycation as DH is on annual leave this week and the weather is so hot! Yesterday £74 Aldi on the weekly shop (struggling recently to stay within our £80/week budget, food prices ugh), then £50!! In sainsburys stocking up some cupboard ingredients such as soy sauce, rice wine (we cook a lot of Chinese style meals and Sainsburys do the big bottles of these types of ingredients). More than I wanted to spend but all stocked up now.

Today £36 Next on new work shirts for DH (had £16 gift card towards it), £12 softplay, £7 on drinks and Pom bears at softplay, then going to pub for dinner as can't be bothered to cook in this heat but have a £30 gift card towards it.

So a bit spendy, we're acting like we're on holiday or something! Will try for a lower spend week next week.

God I would do anything to not take dc shopping.
you are doing great blue. It is relentless sometimes but we are right there with you

£120 school uniform.

DS - 3x polo shirts 2x jumpers 1x pe top 2x pe shorts 2x pe shirts 1x joggers 2x school shorts hat tie book bag.

dd - 2x sweatshirts 2x polo shirts. Hat.

a bit of a spend day today sadly
25 pounds gift card for my daughter who moves into her new house today
plus first class stamps how expensive are they
made a mistake of going into a charity shop today
blouse from next chiffon one so nice and cool 5.50
frozen doll for my niece 5 pounds couldnt resist
lol bits from card shop 5 pound each x 2
need to do better tomorrow
but know I need stick loaf x2 ham and flap jacks for fussy visitor
hoping for nsd sun and lsd mon just my bus fayre fingers crossed

Save on gas bills: www.theheatinghub.co.uk/articles/turn-down-the-boiler-flow-temperature

No I can imagine it's nowhere enough to be able to afford heating. And it sounds absolutely horrible that some have to choose between eating or heating. What a horrible situation.
Our government are trying to get as many as possible on to district heating instead because its better for the environment and a lot cheaper and then there is tax discount on solar panels to encourage that.
But currently there is loads of talking about what initiates they can propose to help us out.

Frugal win my garmin strap broke but I have a spare from when I sent it back a few years ago. Dam my just in case was justified which doesn’t help me trying to declutter

Morning.

Hope everyone is okay.

Had a busy few days but not too spend ridden thankfully. Garden tidy up this morning planned.

Had to pay the balance of the pre ordered furniture for the extension, which is finally now ready for delivery, we ordered it at Easter. Planned and budgeted for - so in my head spent ages ago as I'd moved that money into an account for that purpose, and we'd saved hard for a long time for the build itself.

Rough meal plan (I'll need fresh stuff)

Falafel burgers.
Sweet potato dhal
Bean and halloumi stew, crusty bread.
Cherry tomato and halloumi shakshuka
Super green pasta.

The dhal and stew will make two meals worth of food, and the pasta some good lunches cold. I've lots of carrots to make soup.

Trying to make the most of sitting outside in the shade whilst outside is cooler than inside before I shut the house up for the day. Veg box arriving £16 but other than that should be a nsd unless there's something good on the Xmas bargain thread. I have already got presents for nieces and some PJs for ds but need to try not to twitch too hard

Have made bhajis and sweetcorn and courgettes fritters to use up some of the veg from the last veg box before the new one arrived. Guess what's in the new veg box? Sweetcorn, courgette and a metric tonne of bloody onions
Washed my fake oodies - top tip do not wash two together. My washing machine is making very unhappy noises