Friendship and Falling Leaves, Frugal Autumn Continued

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Ooo that does look good. We are having lasagna tonight as didn’t take the meat from the freezer in time

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate I'm an 18-20 and use vinted loads 🙂 got some jeans, jumpers and dresses, and pyjamas and lounge wear

Morning all just having a catch up apologies if I miss anyone

curls hope the renovation is going well

em that sounds like a lovely half term

need thats a good tgtg haul.

Not going well on the frugaleering in the decaff house. Spending by the minutes! Mainly Christmas and birthday presents tbh. Even though we set a £10 limit per person except our own children it's really adding up. Plus half term so spendy times I think I already said about an activity that had almost doubled in price from £70 to £110.

Can I ask about overdrafts? We are using it every month at the moment and I feel conflicted. We shouldn't be as it's not our money and the bank can ask for it back at any time but equally we need it. Uurgh. What do you guys do?

Hope all well

The hotpot sounds lovely @half definitely going to give that a go. I love a bit (lot) of Worcestershire sauce too.

Its absolutely tipping it down here. DH is at the house already and I’m staying home to catch up on things here. Loads of ironing to do and just a general quick clean round everywhere, wax melts on, I love having everywhere nice and clean and cozy for a relaxing Sunday night before the new working week. We’re having roast chicken.

@BigSkies2022 could I ask what the bookish podcast is? Sounds like my kind of thing!

@Gensola go to this website for the Baillie Gifford prize thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/ and then look under the Explore menu - you'll find the link to the podcast and you can play it on Spotify or whatever platform you like. DH just helping me to take down the curtains in between Sunday morning calls to family and then I'm ready to go!

Ordered a Virgin 0% on purchases for 16 months credit card this week. I thought I could use it to pay the holiday booking deposits for extra consumer protection and then obviously pay it off immediately (the holidays are a year away, and established businesses, but you never know), but I'm not sure the businesses accept credit card payments! Unless via a Paypal transfer, but I'm not sure that counts as a purchase, rather than a cash transfer, which would attract interest. Trying to be too clever!

Very spendy time as we are on holiday in Amsterdam with DH, DS (16) and DD (11). Say no more!

I am totting it all up on a notepad, as we have a Halifax Clarity Credit Card which has no fees for using abroad. So far spent £318 in three days, tonight will be expensive meal but next two days cheaper.

Frugal moment this morning though. No mugs in the hotel room, they seem to be coffee glasses so I nearly bought some but they were €10 each. Thought I'll just ask in the reception however saw some mugs outside someone's apartment with the sign 'free'. Two mugs now happily in the hotel room...

Reading but not able to catch up as we are only using WiFi where its free. Roaming charges are 😳

All the warm meals sound lovely, I must admit I love the sound of the disliked soup too!

Hope everyone who's been busy gardening and house renovating and generally knackering themselves out with labour has a good rest now!

Gave £50 cash to my DB today to pay him back for a load of Amazon spends he's done for us over the last few weeks, because he has prime. Was star stickers for DD, slipper socks for DS, headset for DH, and wardrobe rail which will eventually be for DD. Im not sure it quite worked out that much in total but he's spent absolutely tons of money on us over the last few years anyway.

Thinking about enquiring about joining a clinical trial for eczema because they pay up to like £2k + expenses. It depends how flexible they can be with the appointments though as my availability is so limited. However one of the conditions is not to use any other eczema treatment for the duration of the trial (8-12 weeks) so I'm not sure how feasible that is...my eczema isn't well controlled atm as it is, I would potentially be in a lot of pain and difficulty if I didn't use anything for it and the trial cream doesnt help. However we could really do with the money, so hmm.

Thanks Decaff - I’ve tried charity shops round here and there’s never much in an 18 but I guess Vinted may be used by younger people so i might get lucky. I’ll sign up and give it a try.

Nsd but I might buy some Christmas presents online tonight. DH will be watching Dr Who so I’ll have time on my hands 😉

I had planned to do lots of batch cooking and baking today but forgot DD was going to a party. And that I had offered to help, so I couldn’t drop and run. So I ended up running around for a couple of hours making sandwiches and corralling children and then came home and had to sit in a quiet room for an hour to recover! So not very productive after all. DC also refused to eat the roast chicken I’d made because they didn’t like the fact that I’d put garlic butter under the skin. Even though they both love garlic bread 😬😬😬. I give up!

I think DH is getting the hang of this whole frugal thing. I mean he never likes to waste money but…

I bought some carrots ages ago and forgot they were there in the garage until last week. So I bought a butternut squash with the intention of making it all into a soup along with anything else I’ve got lying around. Got some mushrooms on their way out that’s for sure.

Lo and behold tonight he says ‘what are you doing with those carrots?’ Normally he wouldn’t have even noticed them!

kessie enjoy Amsterdam & great hotel frugaleering
Weight you'd have to be sure you could manage if you got randomised to the no treatment group, otherwise it's not worth the money.
Half sorry dc didn't go for the garlicky chicken, frustrating.
We're in Scotland for the week. Having a great time with the friends we always go away with at half term. First time with no kids. Had a lovely day today in Ayr (£25 lunch) then went to the fabulous Dumfries House which we stumbled upon & it was wonderful. We just did the grounds which were free & walled garden which was truly impressive (£3 each)

Have a lovely break away north and kessie
not much frugal going on here but going to have a good week this week: off for end of half term but working the firsts

thats annoying about the chicken.
good to hear dh is on board curls.
we have dr who to catch up on.

Happy half term Monday!!!

im aiming for a low ish spend week. Although we have loads planned.

food shop today. Have made a list. Aiming for around £65 for the week. But. It’s going to be tight.

zoo later so that will be £14(?!) for dd. Ds and me have memberships. I need to find out when ours run out so I can renew and get dd one. I want them all at the same date so it’s easy!

am going to make a note of all soends this week. I have a spreadsheet. So we shall see how that goes!

Hello all
Was planning a busy early start, but Ddog woke me at 3.15 this morning, and I couldn't get back to sleep. So slept between 6 and 9 instead. Oh dear. Still, at least JOhnson isn't standing. Altho' doubtless still plotting, plotting.

Getting my hair cut and coloured this week, which will be around £160. Gulp. I am pushing it to every 3 months rather than every 2. DS needs a mattress topper to mitigate lumpy mattress in his student house share. Emma have a sale on, so DH is going to buy him one of those.

In the course of our rather nice shared call last night, it emerged that DH and DS have been discussing DS accompanying him to Australia next spring for DFIL 80th. I'd already said I wouldn't be going (Ddog needs looking after, I don't want to do a long haul flight, it would take too much of my holiday budget for next year, I'd rather go to France twice or even three times than Australia once) but was very happy for DH to go. If DH wanted to pay for DS, that was of course fine, but I didn't want to hear that we couldn't afford trips to France in 2023 if he was willing to pay for an extra flight to Oz. So DH was slightly abashed that this plan emerged ahead of its execution rather than as a fait accompli!

I have been struggling to find £300 to pay the deposit on a holiday rental in the Dordogne this month. I might just ask DH to pay it since he's so bloody flush!

I’m at the zoo with the kids. So far £21 down.

£14 entry for dd. And £7 coffee and snacks at cafe/soft play.

they have an exhibition on animal skeletons at the moment. So cool! The kids were a bit scared but loved it.

For probably the first time ever I am sat alone at soft play. The kids decided they don’t need me to play with them. I am so happy!!!!!

Mark this day em. It’s a revelation

I hope you are enjoying a ☕️ em, enjoy the moment!

Oh @ememem84 I remember that momentous occasion with my 2! Enjoy that coffee in peace!

Weekly shop done today. Still keeping within budget. Then I’ve been kitchen shopping for the rental house. And back there to sugar soap the next room to be decorated and help FIL remove the original floor tiles from downstairs with a giant scraper type thing. He scraped, I scooped it all up into a big box and chucked it into the skip. Bless him I think he’s exhausted! We owe him big style, he’s been amazing.

Glad half-term is off to a nice start, em. I remember some jolly ones - Kew Gardens, local museum with lots of hands-on exhibitions, Amsterdam one year (where the toy rhinoceros from class was left in the Anne Frank museum, inducing a panicked run back to find it. Extremely calm museum guide said, 'oh yeah, we found something that looks sort of like a unicorn,'). Too many were lost to the dreary office, but well, something had to pay for the fun ones.

Em This happened to me for the first time about a year ago, when DD was 3. We went to soft play and met up with her friend from nursery who is the same age, all of us parents sat down on tenterhooks as usual, but actually they just played together! We all sat down and chatted and drank coffee it was amazing! However we've actually gone backwards with that over the last 9 months or so, but that's probably partly because we used to go frequently and we never do anymore really for various reasons. Waiting for DS to get older really before we start going more again, but then the additional cost of two of them is also an issue.

Only spends today was work-related expenses so kept my receipt to claim it back so it was an NSD really. Deposited last month's work expenses cheque and also a cheque that was DS's birthday money from my DGM but he hasn't got a bank account yet so she did the cheque for me. Had already spent the money though on a birthday present for him from her.

Not posted for a while as I’ve not had much exciting to report! I have a day off tomorrow and planning to have a lie in and not do much. DC are off but want to be doing their own thing - I’m at a bit of a loss I think as it’s the first half term where they’ve really been independent. DD has gone camping with friends in the lakes (!) would ne a great idea in aug but maybe not so much in Oct. I’m worried they’re cold but guess she can always come home early.
Frugal win last month was that bulb told us we were in credit and therefore didn’t need to pay our DD that month - wasn’t expecting that. I’d got in the habit of going into my overdraft each month in both my main accounts so have been able to clear that. Went to Costco on Friday, couldn’t believe the queues! I’m starting to wonder if it’s actually worth it though - handy to buy loo roll etc in bulk but I’m spending £100 or so on stuff like that.
im saving towards a holiday next year and now have around £1000 towards that thanks to DP’s extra hours. He’s not liking the job though so is looking for something else
DParents are stressed waiting to move - I went to their house this weekend to help DMum do a big clean of the kitchen. Have realised I need to check in with them more often, I’m going to aim to go once a month.
will try to catch up with everyone’s news now I’m back on the thread.

Morning.

Lost track of the last few days.

Have a great week off Martha, and well done on the holiday savings, albeit with the caveat that your DH doesn't like the job.

Like the sound of a few breaks in France Skies, and that DH is not under any illusion re flights for DS!

Payday today hooray! Gave myself a budget to stick to which is so much less than our income (in case we lose this at any point due to current circumstances), made it with £167 to spare!! But - no big unexpected expenses or haircuts/dentist etc this month.

I'll use the savings towards Christmas, I have offered to pay for a refurbished phone for DD (she's not after anything flash and her phone is old), so this will cover this. Already got DS's present which are the two main expenses.

Yesterday spent £30 on fuel.

Menu plan

Yesterday was baked gnocchi with roast peppers, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella.
Today is a stir fry.
Creamy pasta bake.
Veggie sausage and mash.
Confit tandoori chickpeas.
Biryani.

Couple of TGTG bags to collect later which will reduce the continued opening and shutting of the fridge door by DC.

Have a good day all.

We’re having a tv day today.

ds isn’t well. Not sure what’s up but he’s not right.

My friend who was battling cancer passed away yesterday afternoon. I’m so sad. She fought so hard and now she’s gone. I look an absolute state from tears and lack of sleep . Keep trying to pull myself together but can’t stop crying. DH is away but will ring his dad and explain why I’m not at the house just yet. And I feel bad about that because he’s working so hard and I’m a mess .

Going to have another coffee and try to sort myself out. If I can stop flipping crying then working on the house will be a good distraction for me.

So sorry Curles