Frugal Friends Fearlessly Facing February.

[needastrongoneagain]

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

Nice morning catching up with my mum who is just back off holiday.

Spent £17.50 on a top for dd, £25 at the co op on snacks and booze as have friends over tonight!

Also £20 to dd for a haircut.

Ystd spent £40 on fuel.

In theory no other spends this wend...

Afternoon everyone 😊
Rain has not stopped play at least for this afternoon it's gorgeous out 😊
Spends £50 in George on a coronation duvet cover for me & a set of 2 Alice in Wonderland tins and a pr of wonder jeans and a blue and white striped shirt that l loved 😊
Yes l know, l know, l am addicted to bloody duvet covers lol but it's gorgeous honestly l love it 🤣
Gen your German stay sounded lovely and did you see the King!
Hope Ds is much better
Weight 💐
Em Fantastic result great job 👏👏👏🤗
Hope everyone is ok & enjoying their Saturday 😊

Forgot pic lol
Very Cath Kidston ❤️
I picked the soldier one but was sorely tempted by the teacup one as well .

mrs I love it!!!! I’m a fan of themed bedding. DH not so much. I can sneak in Wintery bedding but wouldn’t get away with anything like that! I secretly want this.

DH tolerated themed bedding for the dc. He suggested we bought naice white bedding for them. Hahahaha! No.

we have two sets of white company beautifully soft soft bedding. It’s about 10 years old so worth the initial cost although we got both in sales.

washing machine update. The one from fils misery of a gf’s rental place garage is a third size one. Holds precisely 4kg. Which is literally nothing. DH got it here. And then discovered it didn’t have a plug. So we had two machines which wouldn’t work. I got the giggles and had to resist saying “I told you we should buy a new one!” Ended up going to shop to get things for dinner. Shared the saga with dsis who almost wet herself laughing. It’s so infuriating it’s funny.

anyway. He found a spare plug. And it works. But it’s not at all eco friendly as I’ll need to do theee washes for every one I’d usually do.

if ours can’t be fixed and I end up buying a new one anyway after all of this nonsense I’ll be so pissed.

£11 coop. Hot dogs (aka chipolatas in rolls because the dc won’t eat frankfurters) and chips for dinner.

mrs also how big is your linen cupboard?! I have an image in my mind where you have a superbly organised (by colour of set) cupboard. Please tell me this is true.

I’ve also seen these advertised. You’re welcome

https://linenmate.co/collections/all

Love the bedding as always mrs and the (is that hamster or guinea pig) em

What a saga about the washing machine *em'. And £500 rent 😳 if I read that right.

Hope you got the HRT sorted out bigskies

I've done a check on my banking app. Sep 2022 spent £388 in supermarkets, in March 2033 spent £508. I haven't changed any shopping habits in fact we get less and I'd joined this thread! Not sure what else I can do. Will put the four weekly budget up to £500 and see how we manage.

Start of Easter hols here. Did a body pump class this morning and a sauna (in with leisure club membership), took DD out for lunch at lovely Mexican cafe (£24), had a walk so she could also buy bubble tea (from her pocket money) and £9.95 Lidl.

Hi to everyone else. Now it's the Easter hols, work will quieten off for two weeks. So I may have more time to follow the frugalness!

kessie Guinea pigs. I bloody love them. I’d get one in a heartbeat but catface would probably eat it. I was never allowed one when I was a kid.
My best male friend always send me ridiculous Guinea pig desk calendars. This years was Guinneas weight lifting. I’ve had Olympic Guineas, porn star guineas (?!), skiing guineas, Guineas as famous paintings etc….

and yes. £500 rent. We’re not paying it.

em the bedding is perfect for you then 🐹 porn star guinea pigs, the mind boggles! 😂

I wish I still had the pictures. But sadly I don’t.

I retaliated by sending “erotic Pompeii” calendar. Which I bought in sorrento. Pictures of the paintings from the brothels in Pompeii. 😂

Hey strangers.... apologies for being MIA. It was a fraught year end at work so was doing stooopid long hours.

My mind is also boggling with the pornstar guinea pigs.

Em she is a prize! £500 quid should be a lifetime loan from new. I know lots of stores that do life time loans of washers for that price range. Ours was significantly less.

Can I add our fridge freezer to the list of poorly white goods. £500 (popular figure) has got us a lifetime loan of a fridge that can live outside (our utility room is unheated) and does not turn everything thing to compost within 24 hours. It is saving a fortune simply because we don't have to go to the shop every second day.

Other than that...hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far.

Oh no, not another washing machine!!

We used to have guinea pigs! They were gorgeous. I'd absolutely love some more in future when the kids are older. I couldn't cope with them now, barely manage the kids, and the kids need the space too. Their cage took up basically the entire floor space of our living room hah.

NSD today. Another busy day with the kids although with other family and friends too today. Kids are absolutely exhausted. First night trying DS in his own room tonight too so fingers crossed. He was a bit wary going to bed but he was so tired he did go off ok in the end.

When I saw the duvet pictures, I figured Mrs must be responsible . I like the teapot one. Tbf, you got a lot for your money in George. Is that Asda? We don't have Asda here.

Had a busy day today. I met some friends for soup and coffee. I paid last time so they insisted on paying today. Then I had an appointment at the hairdresser's. Then my sister and BIL called in. I saved a few € by asking my BIL to look at my lawnmower which wouldn't start. Turns out I'd forgotten to do something which was preventing it starting and it worked fine after a few attempts . Very relieved I don't have to fork out money for a repair job. Not to mention the inconvenience of getting someone with a van or trailer to take it to a repair place. Now I just need it to stop raining for a bit so I can mow my jungle lawn. We've had soooo much rain this past week.

I've just realized it's Easter next weekend. It kind of crept up on me. I've invited my Dad up for Easter weekend. DD's shop is closed on Easter Sunday so that's a bonus. We'll have a rare day off together.

Didn't have time to go shopping with everything going on, so I'll go in the morning. I had a chip butty for dinner. Not the healthiest but I'm usually pretty good at cooking for myself so the odd chip butty won't do too much damage. I need to clear out the spare bedroom for Dad tomorrow. It's become a bit of a junk room.

Anyone doing anything nice for Easter? I have a week off work after Easter. I'm not planning anything major but I've to take DCats to the vet for their annual vaccinations. DCat1 seems to have another eye infection so I'll ask them to look at that. I might meet one or two people for lunch or coffee. The weekend after Easter I'm visiting my friend in Galway (west coast of Ireland). I can stay with her for free so I'll just need petrol money.

Might that's a given pick up a plant tomorrow. This time of year I feel the urge to garden and plant things in containers. I'll keep the container plants in my enclosed porch until early June because there's a good chance of frost between now and then. Really lifts my spirits when I step into my porch and see the two that are currently there. Gardening is really therapeutic - there's something about working in the fresh air and occasional sunshine and getting my hands dirty. I'm aiming to paint the wall around my back garden this year (white or off white) and then plant some shrubs or rose bushes. My sister got me a nice wall decoration for Christmas, so I'll put that up when the walls are painted. I also want to get some outdoor lights. I'm not going abroad this year so I'll be holidaying in Costa del Back Garden. Don't think I'll be needing too much sun cream somehow.

Spends €41 for hair cut/colour and €50 approx. for petrol. And €3.50 for chips.

Girlie how's your Mum? Did she have a nice holiday? Was she away or in the UK (don't say where if you think it might be outing)?

kessie sounds like a lovely day. Nice to spend time with your DD. What's bubble tea?

em delighted to hear about your pay rise. A bit at the porn star guinea pigs. Can't believe FIL's gf wants to charge you rent money for an old washing machine. Actually, I can believe it.

Right, I'm off to make a cuppa and get some Chocolate Kimberlys and I'll catch up on some TV. Enjoy your day tomorrow everyone.

tayto it's a Taiwanese tea drink with tapioca bubbles in it. I think traditionally its milky but DD got mango tea with cherry bubbles today. Lots of small bubble tea shops have opened these last few years. We aren't planning a summer holiday this year, so same here, trying to get the outdoor space into shape. Someone coming to seal the patio tomorrow (if it stops raining ☔🙄) and then its down to me to buy paint, pot plants etc. Enjoy Galway, that sounds a great break 😊

Ordered a bissell carpet spot cleaner last night (£99 Amazon). Then this morning remembered that dsis has one. So cancelled order and asked her if I can borrow it.

im on my fifth load of laundry since yesterday evening. The machine holds literally nothing. One load is usually do has had to be split into 4. So although DH has said that mending our machine is the eco thing to do it’s not really.

I’ve done three trips to laundrette and two trips there and back to dsis for laundry. Instead of one load of water electric etc I’ve had to do 5.

DH isn’t happy that there’s laundry drying everywhere. But my dryer is t plugged in as he moved it to fit the new old washer in. So I’m back to airers.

im buying a new machine on Monday.

I’ve come down with cold fml
did loads of Baking yesterday and had issues with buttercream curdling and chocolate seizing so they were both wasted

love the tea pot duvet mrs
yes Asda is George
your break sounds lovely tayto

there are lots of pop up bubble tea shops here Kessie

hey unescorted and wolf nice to see you

I would be buying a new machine em or dh does the laundry

Exactly this and £500 to loan a tiny old machine? She's having a giraffe. You could buy one for less. I need to sit down and redo budgets now new council tax, water and other things have come into effect. It's never ending.

Morning everyone. Trying to decide on dinner. Think it'll be lasagne or chilli. I forgot to say that I managed to get red peppers in Tesco last weekend. I was soooo excited. I manged to stop myself from parading around Tesco brandishing them aloft like Rafiki in The Lion King. But only just.

Also very excited to see hot cross buns back. It's the little things .

Thanks for explaining about bubble tea kessie. I've seen it for sale and I gather it's popular with tweens. I just wasn't sure exactly what it was. It doesn't sound very nice but having said that, I don't like tea anyway.

Anyone else watching Anton and Giovanni's adventures in Sicily. That shower scene! <fans self>.

Annoying about the baking life

Good plan re: washing machine em. A new one will probably be more energy efficient anyway. Will you have the expense of having to pay someone to take the spare one away? Or (since it works) will you be able to pass it on to someone else who needs one?

I'd have bought a new machine by now @ememem84 or told DH he could do the washing until the existing one fixed! I'm with him on plain bedding though, sorry @TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans 🙃

Boo to the cold @lifelongfrugaleer, similar here.

Love the idea of a white wall @Taytocrisps, always think they look so pretty. No plans for Easter other than family coming Easter Sunday and some visitors popping by.

Nice to hear from you @Unescorted

Mexican cafe sounds fab @kessiebird!

Got family coming later and was hoping for a NSD but need milk so LSD. Unless DS goes for me then he pays 😂

Advancing into April - Frugal Friends still being, er, Frugal. http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/costoff_living/4776352-advancing-into-april-frugal-friends-still-being-er-frugal?msgid=-4776352#-4776352

New thread!