Frugal Friends Fearlessly Facing February.

[needastrongoneagain]

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

If anyone fancies 4 free SimplyCook recipes and kits to brighten up mealtimes for free and have a bit of a treat,then we both get a completely free box if you use my link,no p&p either x
www.simplycook.com/invite/N6FYNV?t=cp&pg=ref&via=dt
Feels like a treat,but doesn't cost x

Lunch out today with my BF £18 my treat as l haven't seen her for 6 months because l had to visit Mum every day in hospital and it was a long way away .
It's strange not seeing her everyday but l see her every other l go in one day my sister the next It's not fair to go in more because the other residents don't get visits very often and we can stay longer than in the hospital
Martha l hope your Ddad is ok lovely and you can sense the love for your Dh and your babies you are a sweetheart
Hope everyone is ok

Aw backatcha mrs your DH sounds like a sweetheart too. I am so glad your mum is settled, you did so much for her and it must be a big change.
I’ve been finding lots of quite cheap recipes on the Tesco website recently, worth a look. Lots of filling things for teens.

Martha he's a genuinely lovely man , l am so lucky ❤️
It's a huge change but l have to do it for everyones sake 😌
Will have a look at the recipes thank you sweetheart 💐

Thanks re the herbs @BigSkies2022. Think I'll have to resign myself to buying a few from the garden centre each year and losing them over winter. I love fresh herbs though.

So glad your DM is settled @TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans and you get some well deserved time to recharge.

Should be a LSD - I need puff pastry, which is for my planned recipe tonight and I forgot to get yesterday.... 🤦‍♀️

I also find sage does pretty well Need, though I don’t use sage much so that doesn’t save me much! Also mint (grows well, but I love mint tea and can’t keep up with what I’d like to use!). Everything else is hopeless for me.

been plugging away here at all my ‘projects’, burning the candle at both ends. Not spending much other than food, though I need a new uplighter lamp for the sitting room as the current one blows a bulb every couple of days! Will post more when I can, not really got much time at the mo. Back soon!

Morning everyone,
NSD planned for today.
I got so many lovely presents for my 30th birthday at work, I'm still shocked. So nice of them. Honestly people is the best aspect of this workplace.

Also went to my midwife appointment yesterday, apparently I'm supposed to start feeling baby movements in a few weeks, can't wait. The only indication is growing belly, but it would be nice to know that little lodger is doing well 😂

Are fish fingers still that expensive as they used to be??

@TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans I hope your mum is doing well, it's so lovely to have family that genuinely cares about you like you care about your mum

gossipgirl I'm not sure about fishfingers but 4 chicken quarter pounders from BirdsEye was €9.53 in Centra yesterday, I bought shredded chicken instead
That's very sweet about the birthday presents.

Dd turns 17 today 🤯 not sure how that has happened!! Crazy, it feels like you blink and they go from a 10yo to a 17yo overnight!!

Anyway she liked all her stuff, I got her some (2nd generation) air pods and other bits and bobs which all went down well. Got family and friends popping round for cake later, she's at a work placement all day bless her.

My mum made this cake, I helped popping a few bits on at the end 😂

Lovely cake and now I am singing "Dancing queen" 😂

Me too
Cannot believe she's 17, I remember you posting pics of her 12th birthday I think 😂

For herbs get the supermarket ones &split them into a couple of pots to give the roots more room... Give them a fairly brutal hair cut. Herb omelettes are popular at that time of year. Put them on a window sill or in a cold frame/ green house and love them until it is warm enough to plant them out.

Mint in a pot.... Or it takes over. Chives Rosemary, sage and thyme all over winter...they die back but regrow. Sage needs a haircut each year. Parsley, dill, & chervil are all biannuals so need planting each year. I keep them in for 2 years to get the seeds selfsowing. Basil hates my garden so I keep it in a pot until it gets lurgy and then I bin it.

last year I was super cheap and got everything on a yellow sticker.

Happy birthday Gossip & miniGirlie.

I hope the cakes went down well.

Happy birthday 🥳 🎂 🎉

I have sinned. Went overseas with DH on work trip. I have spent 🤦‍♀️ will tot up later.

Nice cake and happy birthday mini girlie

happy birthday too gossip

oo nice adora

nsd today for a change

Hi everyone. Not read back that much sorry. But happy birthday to the birthday girls!

Gossip DH and I are finding the CoL crisis isolating too. The circles we move in mean that nobody we are close to is feeling it anything like we are. I'm sitting telling my friend today about a great place to stay near Alton Towers that we go to that is £75 a night (used to be less) and she's telling me it's fine because she got a great deal on the CBeebiesland hotel for £180 a night. For example! I'm not trying to cry poverty btw as we still absolutely have a nice standard of living but we are definitely being squeezed this winter compared to how we would otherwise have been more comfortable if prices of everything hadn't gone mental (and if childcare in this country was subsidised properly like in many other developed nations but that's a different topic!).

Spends today just £5 for playgroup so I consider that an LSD. DD behaviour been absolutely horrendous most of today and I feel very worn down by it. Is it normal for 4.5 yr olds to still have huge screaming tantrums in the street sometimes?

Eek. My husband bought in Morrison 5 chickens for 5 quid (he works close to Morrison), we still have loads in the freezer. Meat became really expensive recently, but we knew this day will come eventually.

@Unescorted thank you 🤗

weight absolutely normal. Then you get the pink stage, the fleeting lovely stage, the proto sex worker stage, the silent stage, the blame stage and then they come out the other side as well rounded individuals. It is worth the wait.

You are right it is really isolating. I am going to take that on board and make sure that we include budget friendly options for social events...

Adora did you go anywhere nice?

Yes, it depends on perspective doesn't it. I know most of us feel COL, but it definitely feels different if you're on 100k a year vs 20k. My boss recently had a bill for £700 for one month of gas and electricity. I had less than £500 for 3 months (before government discounts) and we both think we try to save. Obviously he doesn't need to worry about putting the oven on for 2 hours every day etc. while I'm more careful because I earn probably 20x less than him. Same as you vs your friend re price of hotel.
I find energy prices the worst. My sister lives in block of flats in Berlin and they barely put heating on, because it's so warm there. I would save loads if I didn't have to use the heating 😅I'm trying not to complain too much though, because some people really have it worse. Few weeks ago I was waiting in a queue in Aldi behind a woman who couldn't afford oodie for her son and it was 15 quid. It really sucks 😓We're not rich, but it makes me realise that we're still lucky we can put heating on.

It sucks. I so want this winter over so the bills come down. I got a significant pay rise and it has all gone on increased utilities, mortgage and food costs. How others are coping is beyond me.

Hi, can I join you please?

I'm in Australia so money values and seasons will be quite different.

I need to save for a house deposit, and because I'm in my early 50s chances are I'll get a 10 or 15 year mortgage so I need as big a deposit I can get.

I'm in the fortunate position of living rent free so I've been saving fairly well but I need to ramp it up to get a good sized deposit.

I teenage boys so they are on the expensive side to keep.... food, clothing and sports seem to be the main expenses.

I'm also trying to lose weight so hopefully not spending money on junk food will help me save. I have a veggie garden and chickens (first year) which cost a lot to establish but will hopefully cost a lot less to continue to run.

Welcome kookaburra this is a lovely supportive thread and good luck with the saving.

COL does suck. We are mainly feeling it with food cost, really takes time to shop around for bargains now. Branded crisps are a luxury now, even in the £ shops!

Never mind, was DHs pay day yesterday so a spendy day. Lots of stuff that should last the month though.

£82 Aldi
£33 Home Bargains
£49 B&M (£44 of this was for a side table and photo frames budgeted for)
£3.60 Boots meal deal. Nearly caved and went to Nudo for sushi (so nice but around £9 for a sushi box).

Out for lunch today with DH. Was supposed to be cinema but the film we wanted to see has finished (A Man called Otto) so we may hire on Amazon Video later. Taken the day off work so that's nice too. 😊

I got around $5,000 today, combination tax return and a balancing out of Family Benefits, I slightly underestimated my earnings and the calculate it over a financial year so they paid me the difference.

$3,000 straight into savings. I'm going to use $1,000 to pay off my phone with my phone provider and cancel the contract and get cheaper sim only contracts with less data for my DSs and myself. For 3 phones I will pay less than I do just for mine at the moment.

$450 for some chicken/garden supplies (automatic coop door so the foxes don't get them at night and a special feeder to stop the rats).

$1,000 for my divorce - that is such a priority and I will feel relieved when I lodge it.

$10 - for my DS for sausage sizzle at youth club this evening, and no other spends.

Correction- I OVERestimated my earnings.... so they were paying me less than I was entitled to.... lol!