Frugal Friends Fearlessly Facing February.

[needastrongoneagain]

Thought I'd start the new thread. Been ages since I started a thread!

€18.86 in Lidl availing of discounts on 3 items before it ran out today!
This pack of biscuits €2.59 lovely selection for a treat.
Also is my quick & reasonably cheap dinner - prawns chorizo red pepper red onion & a pack of ready to wok noodles followed by some Parmesan le yum!

£99 asda and lidl grocery shopping eek. Prices are crazy. It's for 2 people. Should last us about 10 days, but still... We didn't buy anything crazy. No meat, no alcohol 😬

need that is a good saving and also it will give you a bit more flex if you don't have to wait on taxis arriving.

gen I hope you are recovering. DD was saying there is a lot of lurgy going about.

The mini meal plan is working. NSD.

Eek builder came to see about doing extension for me & converting spare toilet to en-suite, now to see what it'll cost me

€10 civic amenity site
€10 car wash
€5 dc1
€5 dc2

NSD here again today. DS unwell again. He's literally not well for more than a week at a time. I wish I was exaggerating but you will know by now I am not! His temp was 39.4 earlier but he's perked up now so think it's come down a lot after ibuprofen.

Finally arranged appt for life assurance with the broker for next week. He said he reckons we'd be looking at about £50 a month for good cover for the both of us. That's less than I was expecting so that would be good.

DH and I want to start overpaying our mortgage each month wherever possible, how do I do this? Haha I'm sure it must say in paperwork somewhere but god knows where it all is...! Can you usually make overpayments just via BACS or over the phone or what's usual?

Weight it depends on what type of mortgage you have, best check with provider

What age is ds?

I'm with TSB and completed a form online to overpay mine weight sorry DS is poorly, hope he stays perked up.

Good luck with the quotes happier

Was a NSD but had to nip out for chocolate after quite a stressful meeting. 6 x Freddos and a meal deal 🤭 £4.85

now headed for a swim with DD and a Maccies on the way back. Probably ££ but been one of those days...

£8.50 to the dog walker as dd and I were out all day.

weight you will need to speak to your lender. Ours we can only make one over payment a year so we save up in another account and pay every April.

Sorry to hear your ds is poorly. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Dashed in to Tesco to pick up a ginger cake ( essential apparently) and came out £17 lighter... But the pizza will prevent post flight Maccys for D's and the hand towels I had been thinking of getting for the gym were reduced to £1.50 from £5. In an unfortunate gym corporate colour scheme but hey ho.

Ended my run of NSDs with a trip to the bakery (£4.30, big loaf) and Sainsbury's (£16, most of it tea, I think). Lentil dahl tonight, with naan, rice, raita and spinach salad. Fourth meat-free day! Not sure I can guarantee four meatless dinners every week, but it's good (for planet, budget, and probably health) to have a go.

Weight, I hope DS feels better soon, and I can only think that he is going to have the most amazing, robust immune system when older.

Taking DParents out and about to a reputedly naice high street tomorrow. They are getting on each other's nerves, and need some distraction. Then Ddog has an overdue haircut appointment - currently looks like a little bear.

God, I"m hungry! C'mon DH, get home from the gym!

It’s soul destroying when they are constantly Ill. It will pass. Have you tried a multi vitamin for him ?

im going to have to invest in a chimney sheep. I can feel the wind

£1500 paid off credit card - thanks DH!

£12 Morrisons on cereal bar type things. For snacks.

£25 dr with ds. He has an ear infection. I made the apt on Monday because he’s been struggling to hear us and thought he was all full of wax. Turns out not. Dr said that one of his ears looks superbly inflamed and red and ear drum might burst (she was very casual about this…..!!) the other is full of fluid etc. so antibiotics for him. Poor baby.

he’s had 2 doses and is asleep. So we just dose him up and see how we go.

he has a hearing test at school in a few weeks so hopefully if there are issues this will be picked up. The. We can run with it via the gp.

he is an absolute superstar though because apart from one night this week waking up screaming because his ear hurt he hasn’t said anything about it.

Ah poor ds , hope the antibiotics kick in soon.

need fuel for the car today and food shop

Petrol and randomly cheese yesterday. Likely to be nothing today as need to wait in for a delivery. Was hoping for a more specific time but nothing yet.

NSD yesterday, but husband took me to Leeds, we picked up my apple watch yay! For my 30th birthday. Then we went out for sushi, also his treat. On my actual birthday I want to bake Pavlova, because husband is gluten-free, so I need to buy today electric whisk in Argos, probably around 25 quid for it.

Sorry your families are unwell :( We’re approaching March now so hopefully it will get better for everyone

Costco yesterday £45 for cheese, waters, Mums 91st birthday cake , Kinder Buenos , Anchor butter , it's the cheapest l can find it anywhere @4.75 for 750g. Huge Personalised birthday cake for Mum for £16.99 . I know they are not everyones cup if tea but we like them lol.
Hope everyone is ok❤️ have been so busy with Mums move to a residential care home that everything else has been sidelined. She's doing well and seems to love it there so fingers crossed she will decide to stay 🤗

Oh forgot cake , we took it in for the residents to sing happy birthday to her and for them & the staff to all to have a piece 🤗❤️

Happy Birthday to your Mum @TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans What a beautiful age. Wishing her lots of health and happiness.

Happy birthday to your mum, mrs. mmm...cake...
going to the butcher today.
Ears are difficult with young 'uns, em. They seem to grow out of it though, thankfully. I remember dragging a very unhappy DS around an aquarium, bewildered as to why he wasn't having a better time and grumbling. Back at home I was cuddling him and saw his ear was full of pus where the infected drum had, in fact, burst before anyone realised what the problem was. Oops.

What a lovely cake Mrs. Costco cakes are sweet but very frugal assuming you can get out of said shop without spending hundreds

Afternoon.

Yes @Girliefriendlikespuppies in their 20's, 21 and 23. Both still at home, thankfully at the moment. They are such a comfort and support. Still running (for mental health now) but no bloody ponies thank god!! A Levels put paid to that commitment.

@WeightoftheWorld we are on a variable and I pay extra off each month, as much as I can at present. I think some of the fixed deals will only allow a percentage to be paid over in each year (ours was 10%), and I wanted the flexibility to throw as much spare money as I could at it. Less effective when interest rates are rising though.....

@BigSkies2022 your veggies meals sound delicious!!

Small folk seem to be constantly poorly don't they. Hope you all catch a break soon, it can feel relentless otherwise.

Love the cake @TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans!

Been a pretty low spend week so far, long may this continue. I made Tuscan bean soup Wednesday and it's done two dinners and I cooked some pasta and stirred this in to make a pasta salad type lunch. For a tin of tomatoes, beans, tired veg and some fresh herbs and seasoning it's the gift that keeps on giving!

Need to menu plan.

Had to take the day off work as rails being fitted for the stairs and toilets etc for DH (the stairs will be a long way off yet, but it's done). Felt a bit strange but it doesn't look as 'adapted' as I feared.

I've also started a PIP claim for DH, as I think he'll qualify for the highest payment for living and mobility. Might as well try anyway. I might be naive....

Said soup. No particular recipe but Jamie Oliver does a good one if folk wanted to Google.

If you need someone to eat leftovers, I'm there 😂Looks delicious. I love soups.

£24 electric mixer in Argos. I think I will make few meringue nests to try it out before my big Pavlova premiere 😂
£169.99 Lego NASA space shuttle for husband's birthday. It's from birthdays/Christmas pot, so at least current account is fine

Happier DS is 1. BigSkies He really better have a good immune system when he's older!! I hope so! Thanks for the sympathies and well wishes. He currently has a temperature of 39.4 and is therefore very uncomfortable, but refusing medication so can barely get any in him.

I've had a check on my lenders website and there are various ways to pay, we can pay by Bacs seems easiest. Yes we have a limit for overpayments think it's 10 per cent but need to check. Before they apply a charge. But ice never understood if it's 10 per cent a month or 10 per cent a year or what? Probs need to contact them to check. We can't afford large overpayments anyway, but getting mortgage down as much as possible is a financial priority for us. We are nearing 30 and have a 35yr mortgage. I don't really want us to be still paying a mortgage in our 60s if there's any way we can avoid it. One of my jobs has variable hours and we are going to try and use the earnings from that each month to go on the mortgage as overpayments. As its sort of 'extra' money that we don't really factor into our financial decision making anyway if that makes sense, as it's insecure and variable hours. Although contract due to end in the autumn and not sure if it will be renewed (project work).

Em Hope your DS is soon feeling better too. DS has both ears infected too but nothing that bad, DH says they are both just red.

The soup looks fab need! We had a big success last night, DD ate chickpeas!! Probs for the first time in about 3yrs!