Frugal Friends Fearlessly Facing February.

[needastrongoneagain]

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

Hey kookaburra I am originally from Oz, but moved here when I was a teen. It still feels like Christmas should be in July because summer = Christmas.

I now have Sing Kookaburra sing ear worming.

I forgot to report yesterday was a NSD. Today I will be spending... Fishes for our dishes and some bread. Living the high life.

Hello kookaburra - welcome, my husband is from Adelaide, my DPILs live next door to a national park and have kookaburras and koalas as regular visitors in their garden. Great use of your windfall, and agree that SIM only is the way forward. I only recently swapped my iPhone5 for DH's old iPhone7 - I never intend to pay for a phone upgrade again.

Last night's aubergine parmagiana lasagne went down well, and is a definite one to do again. Sainsbury's are doing an Aldi price-match on mozzarella at the moment - 125g for 69 pence. I have put aside some extra money for car insurance, due April and chucked an extra £100 at E.ON - hoping that government energy support continues after March, but not looking likely, is it? After all other bills are paid, we have £120 left in the joint account for groceries until 28th Feb. DS is coming home for a weekend on 17th, so there will be a spike in food consumption and expenditure then - careful planning needed! I'm working on it.

More extravagantly - my trousers arrived, and they are perfect! I loves them!

Spendy morning here:
£11 caffe nero
£16.99 New look
£40 primark (but I had £25 of vouchers)
£14 H&M

Had DD2 with me today, we had to drop Dmum off very early for an appointment so we had pastries and hot chocolate. Then got DD2 some clothes in the next size up, a few sale bits for DD1 and then some more joggers for DDad.

Still need to food shop later this evening, but will freezer rummage for dinner first.

Happy half term break, to those who get one! It couldn’t come soon enough 😁

I was feeling a bit cross as there was an unknown £1 item on my primark receipt. Turns out the cardy which was marked as £4 was only £1!

I remember when GirlieGirl was about 9 😮. Can’t believe so many DC have grown up since I’ve been on this thread.

I know exactly what you mean about the differences opening up Weight. We are well off by most standards, I have a senior public sector job and DH has a middling job. But a lot of our old uni friends earn a lot more than we do - the ones we see most often (London) are, or have been, on huge city salaries with 6-figure bonuses. 10 years ago, my salary was worth a lot more in real terms and we didn’t have the outgoings we have now, and our friends aren’t conspicuously extravagant, so it never impinged on what we all did together. Now, we are still comfortable by most standards but increasingly feeling the pinch, and we have to think about what we spend. They simply don’t need to. So meals out, splitting the bill etc - we have to remind them that we don’t want to spend £100 each on a meal. thankfully they are good friends and I’m not embarrassed to say so. I am always conscious, when suggesting doing things with friends, to give a range of cost options. It’s always easier in the summer months when parks and picnics are a cheap option. Roll on some warm weather!

Spendy day here though. Currently in the hairdresser having roots touched up, about £20. £20 Amazon on light bulbs and a cookbook for a friend’s birthday. Brunch with a friend £18 (but it was soooo good!) - birthday present to myself. Takeaway tonight too - I am not cooking today. Probably fish n chips, as it’s something I’d never make at home. Probably at least £30 (just for 2 normal Fish suppers!) but DH can sort that 😉. And I’m going to the GP for an HRT review, so prescription charges to come. I believe they are moving HRT onto a fixed annual charge from April, which will make a real difference to me.

I am giving myself the whole day off work, chores and life admin. Very happy about that. Tonight I shall crochet in front of the telly and drink wine. Rock and roll!

Happy Birthday HalfWomanHalfChocolate sounds like a lovely day to me, who needs rock & roll once you're happy.

Enjoy your day off half, you honestly do deserve it. You never stop!

Enjoy the day off @HalfWomanHalfChocolate, very well deserved. Enjoy the fish and chips!

Welcome kookaburra. We are friendly, supportive, frugal and chatty in this corner of Mumsnet!

One of my favourites is aubergine parmigiana @BigSkies2022 . Haven't made it for a while, which reminds me to put the ingredients on the list for next week.

COL seems to bring this low level anxiety that is constantly there. Food is my area too kessie, I could be better but then again, we rarely eat out at all for any meal. The guys at work got a Wagamama meal for lunch yesterday, it was £15 each!!!!

Happy Birthday to @Girliefriendlikespuppies DD, 17 - how the hell?!! Great cake.

Oh thanks @Unescorted re the herbs, that's really useful.

We are having a pretty frugal few days as DH is home and it's a bit restricting. We might have a takeout tonight but DS pays for these.

Oh but in positive news, I cancelled my motor insurance for DH's car, as it's just been sold and got a £245 refund. Boom!

Welcome kookaburra, some great frugality there
That day sounds lovely half,
i agree on paper we have good jobs (for now) but out going are from pre CoL days and money worries me

spend day £500 unplanned dh care to get through mot, £98 in Aldi the first time I’ve gone how much in a while, £7 lidl, £24 m&s

First post on this thread, haven't kept up but good to see some new faces & wow Girlie so good to see you again! How is your dd 17??
Things here are good, saved a decent amount in January and am trying to save more in Feb & March. It's been agreed that I will go back to my old role at work from the 1st April which means same grade, no study but dropping from full time to 4 days a week. It's what I wanted but just need to prepare for the income drop. Have had very good news on the pension front this week. The rules are changing later this year to mean that when I my 1995 (NHS) pension in Nov 2026, I will be able to carry on in my existing job so long as I drop at least half a day and keep paying into my 2015 pension. Basically there is such a workforce crisis that they will do almost anything to keep you working!
Have had a day off today and have started decluttering our hobbies/office room. My sewing shelves are looking super organised and I have no need to buy any new fabric for quite some time...
British Gas are trying to put up our direct debit but I'm resisting as I can't see that it is needed. We are using a third less elec and gas than a year ago so have absorbed some of the price increases.
Have got PressReader via our library so can access a really good range of papers & magazines.
I've got 2 text books from the course I was doing which have hardly been touched & were very expensive so I am going to try to sell them on Marketplace.
I've just managed to negotiate an amazon refund credit on a tablet case my pil got me for xmas, no need to send it back (it was for the wrong model). Turns out they were ripped off as it was bought just before xmas so with the credit & some cash they also gave me I've bought the right sized case, a label printer & still have £10 to put towards a new fitbit. For that I'll also use 2 love2shop giftcards that I've had from work so I shouldn't have anything to pay myself.
I'm going to sign up for 11k steps every day for ovarian cancer awareness month (March). 11k because 11 women die every day in the UK from it & I feel very lucky
I will try to post more regularly again!

@BigSkies2022 - I'm in Adelaide! I was in the UK for almost 2 decades before moving back a few years ago.

So, trying to be frugal.... I have been trying to work out how to do my shopping. We don't have a Lidl we only have Aldi. Do I go for the cheaper Aldi but the meat and veg just don't last as long and is lesser quality (and their range of staples is similar to the very limited Lidl range) or buy them at Woolworths for a little more and I get rewards points. For $59 a year, I also get triple reward on all shops and once a month an extra 10% off for a shop up to $500 at both Woolworths (groceries) and Big W (clothing, homewares etc).

So I'm doing a combination, which is annoying, going to 2 shops. Keeping an eye on catalogue specials. I signed up to the extra rewards and saved nearly $70 from the 10% from the two stores from January. I'm also up to $60 in rewards which I'm saving for Christmas.

I have extra freezer and pantry space, but my fridge space is limited. So I need to be choosy.

Today I'm off to try a wholesale butcher which has a retail shop attached to see if I can get some nice meat for a discount price. When my DSs cricket season stops I will be able to go to the large fruit and veg market on Sunday mornings where the farmers come to sell their things.

Should like paying more for better quality imo as you negate saving by having to buy second

Hello. I dropped off a bit this week as have been so busy!

I got a new tattoo on Wednesday (see pic) £25 (total cost £50 but deposit was paid before Christmas).

sold a set of drawers from ds’ room so these will go today £50 in.

took dd to a dance class on Thursday £0 as a trial session but she wants to go again after half term so that’s a cost there.

ds is signed up for a sports club on Monday £22.

ds and dd signed up for a holiday club on Easter (£400…!?!?) not payable yet. But it’s factored in.

spoke to the boss yesterday. He was going on about high interest savings accounts. We found one locally which pays 3.75% for 6 months (money has to be locked away). He suggested I open one (which I might once I actually have savings!) and was shocked when I said o didn’t have enough money to actually do it £10k as a minimum. Pointed out house renovations and huge holiday last year……

anyway. once payday happens week after next I’ll hopefully have less of a cc balance (paying it off before even thinking about savings)

Morning all.
@ememem84 what a lovely tattoo- I'd never have one, I'm too much of a wuss when it comes to needles, but I love looking at other peoples!
its been a spendy week for us - ds2's birthday (12!) yesterday, he's into fishing in a a big way at the moment - no idea where that came from as we are a vegetarian family and dh and I don't really like the idea of fishing.... but we think it's important for the kids to be able to make up their own minds about their lives. And I guess that a hobby where you spend lots of time outdoors can't be a bad thing!
Happy birthday to all the birthday people!
i haven't kept very good tabs on spending but we still are in line with salary - would like to start saving though so think we need to do a proper budget and not just guess at it like we have been! That's on the list to do this coming week.
have a lovely weekend all, mine starts tomorrow as I work today!

Hey! Please could I join in

I'm really trying to start getting our finances in order this year.

My most recent win was claiming back a £450 overpayment with student finance for a year where I didn't earn over the threshold!

@Captainladder It actually didn’t hurt much. More pinchy than painful if you get what I mean.

I was tempted to get it coloured in (rainbow watercolour design) but decided to keep it simple. it’s reached that itchysoiwanttoscratchitoffbutamnotallowedtoscratchit stage.

busy here today. Have done some laundry. Tidied under sink cupboard.

Nice tatt em

Gossip yep. Our combined incomes are around £48k I think, although my income in two of my jobs fluctuate so I'm not totally sure. And one of them my contract is up for review in September and the other one ends in October (hoping both will be extended at least another year but you never know really - NHS but specific funding pot type things). My 'steady job' where my income is guaranteed and the same each month is about £600 and our nursery fees are about the same as that itself.

Half Yes we have this same sort of difficulty now. My friends invite me out suggesting meals, nights out, etc we just can't. Not that we never do anything but we prioritise our leisure spending on the kids and doing things as a family for the most part. And even then, DD's friends parents often suggest going out for lunches or to expensive soft play type activities. We do take her and we want her to enjoy but again we can't do that type of thing every weekend like her friends do. Now shes getting older too obviously she wants to do things like her friends too which I can imagine is going to get much more difficult to navigate as she gets older?

Am actually going out for lunch with a friend today but my spends will all come out of my birthday and Xmas money so it's accounted for.

Life insurance discussions stalled the other day as me and DH are both having investigations so the broker said they probably wouldn't let us submit applications until that's all sorted. Frustrating and worrying in one.

I can't believe she's 17 either 🤯 dd was 8yo when I joined this thread, I remember her age aa I'd just broken up with a bf (I've not had one since 😂) and was particularly low and skint! The teen years have been tough, those of you with little ones enjoy it while it lasts!

I look back and think of the primary school years as the golden years of parenting.

That said she's slowly coming out the other side and I'm very lucky as she is a lovely girl underneath all the angst.

So dds had s good bday, I've spent another £30 on a top up shop (ridiculous given how much I spent on the actual shop 🙄) for food/drink as had a steady stream of visitors popping in over last few days. Dd had 3 friends over for a sleepover last night and I cooked pizzas, wedges etc instead of getting a Dominoes.

I made them pancakes for breakfast this morning which ended up being a disaster as the whisk went mad and pancake mix ended up splattered on every surface 🙈😂

They've now gone bowling and I've given dd £25 to spend on lunch and the arcades.

I'm off for half term which is good as I'm very ready for a break, not got loads planned and will need to budget carefully. I've got around £200 to last until the 27th...

£40 in. Drawers gone. Woooo.

What a lovely day it is here, Been in the gym,£50 Sainsbury’s and then filled my green bin from the garden ready for collections to restart, now walking the dog

Win.

table and chairs sold so that’s £230 in. DH has delivered them.

also whilst tidying up I found the card that fil gave DH for Christmas with about $200 nz in it. So I’ll be converting that and throwing it against my credit card on Monday (DH left his card here while we were away so we used mine a lot!)

Nsd here. Been sorting and tidying

Em, you are on fire!

We had a nice day - Greenwich park and centre this morning with Ddog, breakfast was two empanadas (£8!) from a street food stall in the market. So many cocker spaniels in the park today, and the owners all so friendly. Chores at home, then FT and Netflix with Ddog.

Unfortunately, the ancient IKEA sofa collapsed, so we are now have one sofa which needs reupholstering, while the other sofa now looks like something in a student house, post-party. I had already begun saving into the sofa replacement and reupholstering fund, but have approximately 10% of what I need. Was hoping to get one reupholstered in April, and replace t'other at the end of the year. Hmm.

Never mind, DH doing dinner while I retreat to the bath with a book. Going to start tackling the garden post-winter tidy tomorrow.