Frugal Friends Fearlessly Facing February.

[needastrongoneagain]

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

I rejoined this last week www.breadandbutterthing.org/become-a-member

I will also see if I can find the big post from last year with the hive mind tips

How have you found the bread and butter thing @lifelongfrugaleer? There's one recently opened up the road and I've been considering it.

Also for anyone in Leeds or the outskirts have a look at surplus to purpose - as well as going to the shop they've just started a delivery service

I haven’t been yet but I’ve been meaning to join for ages as heard good things

Got a veg box from Booths a couple of weeks ago for £1.50. Potatoes, a melon, 4 kiwi fruit, 5 apples, a clementine, 2 parsnips. They badged it as too good to go

LSD

My friend insisted on paying for coffee and breakfast but I'll treat her next time. We had a good catch up.

I spent a couple of € on bread and bolognese sauce.

Paid my motor tax for the year - €190.

Went to make coffee a few minutes ago and realized I've no milk so I'll have to nip back down to the shop. Grr.... I could live without coffee this evening but I really need a cuppa to get me started in the morning.

Caught up on a few life admin. jobs, so I feel a bit clearer in my head. Also took another look at my budget. I think I said I was going to increase my Credit Union savings but I never actually called into the CU to arrange that (the money gets deducted from my salary). I'll sort that this week.

Hi all, I have read back but my brain is a sieve and I'm on the app so can't see the posts as in typing.

Girlie Hope you manage ok til pay day with fuel etc. Pilates sounds great, I did it for a short while at uni many moons ago. Would love to do it again. Or to go the gym tbh. There is a gym walking distance from us which I used to go to as a teen. But don't think we can afford it really. Or maybe we can and must need to reprioritise because obviously my health is very important and at the moment I do virtually no exercise at all which is awful I know!

We have got another bag of free food booked to collext tonight. It's a local initiative where they collect the food from supermarkets that is going off and otherwise would be binned and then have various places around the city you can go and get free. One collection point is right by our house so super convenient too so DH will be going to collect it tonight. I find it exciting waiting to see what's in it haha.

Today turned out more spendy than I expected, took DS to the play cafe, it's about to close down so likely our last visit, spent £25! Eek. He is only 1 but already starting to need his own kids meal because he's such a big eater. in marked contrast from DD who we didn't bother buying her a meal for herself til she was about 3 as she hardly eats.w

@marthasmum we must be so close.
@Girliefriendlikespuppies fuel adds up so quickly.. DS has bought a little motorbike which saves me 10 miles every day to pick him up from the station.

@Wolfcub I was only paid the othe day and already it seems a long way to pay day.

I motivate myself to get to the gym by trying to keep each visit under £1.50. If I do a long enough session the heating saved is more than £1.50.... so they end up paying me to go... 😂

Not such a spendy day with spendy friend as the kids wanted takeout. So £5 for DD to swim in my leisure club and £20 for takeout.

Other than that ordered a TGTG bag for tomorrow £3.50. Its for a local Portuguese cafe. Hoping for something nice 🤞

Payday seems ages away.

I do weekly Total Body and yoga / pilates sessions at the leisure club I have a membership at. That alone covers the monthly cost, then we have the sauna, steam room, gym, pool and general nice vibe as it's in a lovely hotel. Can also get DD in for £5, cheaper than a swim in the public pool. Well worth it.

Went out to a 40th birthday last night. So fun. I drove so had one small glass of bubbly. Yet feel awful this morning. Sore throat. Stuffed nose. Blah.

anyhoo. Have a birthday party to go to with dd in an hour. Sigh.

Evening.

How was the TGTG bag @kessiebird?

Concur re all the trips added up in terms of mileage @Girliefriendlikespuppies

I'm close enough to Surplus to Purpose to use it, and really ought to use it, but haven't - yet. The delivery option hasn't started yet, but they are hoping to start soon.

Hooray for the frugal half term @marthasmum!

Frugal weekend for us
£15 local shop. They aren't as cheap as Lidl, but I like to try and use once a week to support as it was closed for years. I usually buy a couple of tins from there too to support the local food bank.
£1.60 coffee for DH at the hospital.

Curled up on the sofa with my dogs, homemade chilli from the other night being reheated by DD, just watching Countyfile. Early night. Happy days!

Frugal trip to local museum with DS. Free entry and resisted the pull of the cafe, just took him water and a snack to have in the grounds.

Then £3.30ish in Tesco on groceries, most of which was eaten in tonight's dinner or bubble and squeak. It should have been £3 more but used my clubcard voucher phew.

Our free saved food bag last night was mostly bread, which I actually quite liked because bread is so expensive now and an essential staple of our diet. That being said, there was too much and we couldn't fit it all in the freezer, plus we got a few meat/fish items. Took all the extra round to a neighbour today.

Planned to do an hour or two of work this evening but I have a migraine so can't. Probably won't be able to claw back that extra time somewhere else as we are going away soon, so there's a bit of lost wages money there probs.

Hello all, and hope your weekends went well.

DH was sent to Sainsbury's with a list yesterday, but somehow managed to spend £26. This did include £7 on coffee (essential) and £5 on the FT (nice to have, not giving it up), so not so bad I suppose.

Glorious weather today, nice walk with Ddog, visited t'old folks and we were able to sit outside in the sunshine. They fed us Danish pastries! 'twas lovely. Home to snooze and read on the non-broken sofa, have just made a squash and coconut soup, so about to have that with some toast for dinner. Aiming for a couple of NSDs tomorrow and Tuesday, eat the cupboards and fridge.

Apparently Netflix is going to put a stop to its password sharing for UK accounts from the end of March. I think that will be the time for me to stop subscribing, and save £11 a month.

Bigskies if you subscribed to the FT would it be cheaper? I know my parents get the I for about 40p per issue on subscription

I've had a really nice day, suns been out which has helped!

Dog did well and his agility class, the teacher said he should be at Crufts (scruffs more like 😂)

Spent the afternoon sorting out the garden and getting it tidied up ready for spring. Will start my seeds next wend I think.

Got all the washing dry on the line and didn't need to put the heating on so winning at being frugal there!

Thank God for the sunshine.
NSD.

My gas cylinder started to go on Thurs 9th, I thought about changing it but it lasted until last night

We have decided to do a challenge of buying as little food as possible for 2 weeks - we have loads in freezer and cupboards so going to get creative and use some things up. We usually spend £150 a week so will be interesting to see how much we can get it down by.
cat food is £££ at the mo - I wouldn’t mind so much but our furry pest is fussy and walks away from it half the time 🙄

@needastrongoneagain it was lovely, a main course of pasta, rice cake and coconut cream for £3.50. Only frugal if compared to a takeout though.

Spendy day yesterday as I took DD shopping with me 🙈 She needed a new school bag and tights, but pester power I think cost me an additional £4. Could have been more but I said no! Anyway £15 B&M, £13 Primark, £13.98 The Range (wall art which is going back as not quite what I wanted).

Nice to hear about the frugal half term activities. Ours starts today and I'm working Monday / Tuesday so aiming for two NSDs then outings planned for Wed - Fri.

£7 at the co-op on milk and essentials, I'm now over drawn 🙈

Gas cylinders went up €5 in the 8 months since I last bought one. I used to budget a euro a week for gas I'll make it €1.25 now. Still not done out my sinking funds

Spends this weekend
€35 on sandals for me and high tops for dd for confirmation, I got the exact same shade as my dress
€70 Hair Colour
€12.10 snacks on walk yesterday out of the monthly treat fund so didn't give me the anxiety it used to
€40 gas
€1.20 pack of tayto snax
€40 lidl
€25 nintendo games out of pocket money
€20 deposit for oral surgeon
Refund €12.30

Wolf - subscribing to the FT is expensive. Their pricing is targeted at corporate subscribers and is £££. Le Monde or New York Times offers similar content (not so much business/market info admittedly) for 10% of the price (last time I looked). DH gets access to relevant business content daily via work, the Saturday edition includes all the supplements, and generally provides us with a nice browse for a couple of days.

Sign of the times this morning: the café where I sometimes buy Marmite toast has raised its prices by 50%. My toast now costs £3.

Tomato and coconut curry tonight. NSD (apart from toast, offset by claiming some expenses - I now have £19 spare until next pay day, plus £9 in my wallet).

I’ve run out of bread, pop and crisps, welcome to half term with teens

The joys of it life
I bought the family pack of biscuits yesterday in Lidl it's a variety tray like you'd have in a tin of biscuits 2-3 each of a few types.

I'd one, bf had 2 possibly 3, I decanted into a lunchbox to keep fresh I needed have bothered I'd say caught a glimpse of lunchbox this morning about 10 biscuits left in it.

Ds ate very little actual food yesterday.

Frugal self-patrol! I have a spreadsheet with planned clothes purchases, so as I am able to afford an item that I need, I buy it. Next item on my list is a tan/brown leather belt with gold hardware (currently using an ancient scabby one of DH's, which I hide under jumpers, not an option in the summer) which will go with most of my trousers/shoes/tops and help my clothes fit better. Thought I'd found one, got it reduced with coupons, was about to order it, then read some of the reviews which were critical of the quality, so aborted my order. I had, of course, 'forgotten' that I don't have the budget this month, not even for a cutprice one.

The perils of an idle moment, frugal friends! Right, off to do a workout before I make dinner - a better means of stress-relief.

Big I was going to suggest Press Reader via Libby using your library card but The FT isn't on there. Most other papers are to though.

DH managed to source tomatoes... fresh tomatoes. I think I will still tidy up the garden and green house just in case. I must remember to water them this year.

Rhubarb is back on the way up. Chives, mint, thyme, sage, oregano and fennel are all returning. Rosemary is putting a growth spurt in. I will keep an eye out for yellow stickered parsley and basil for the window sills and green house.

I feel it might be prudent to put salad leaves in this year.