Advancing into April - Frugal Friends still being, er, Frugal.

[needastrongoneagain]

New thread.

All welcome.

North... I will sit on your step with you.

Rum I wish you the best funeral possible.... My dad's was lovely and it made such a huge difference. obviously I miss him but it was comforting to know he had a positive impact on so many people.

Half.... Eeeeek. I know you can do this. Your organizational skills are incredible.

I found myself overly invested in Wrexham's promotion. I will see the film...

Our garden is a mess... Still not found the leak.

Great Pictures Happier I'm hoping to visit Ireland this year as I've never been. My dh loves it when he travels there for work. Kittens are adorable.

north sounds like you are making progress. It's just such a stressful time. I hope if your work know your situation they are cutting you some slack as you've enough on your plate right now 💐

Half that sounds like a job that will need master organisational skills but you've got that anyway. Then when your house is complete you'll love it so much you'll forget all about the upheaval. Maybe you could squash a cheap paddling pool in the shower for a makeshift bath.

BugSkies I have a total mental block when it comes to learning another language. I'd love to speak Spanish but I'm hopeless

I had quite a spendy day today as I went an impromptu car trip to the highlands with dh. It was freezing so we had soup and then later on fish and chips. About £40 all in. Then I bought some lovely scented soaps at £15. I feel like I've been on holiday 😀

A few pictures from my trip

God that was way harder than it should have been 🙈

Looks stunning born

Morning.

Stunning pictures @Bornlazy. The Highlands are my DH's ultimate favourite place. Worth the spends I'd say!

Thanks @RumBananaSundae. Sending you positive thoughts that you get through your impending similar situation. I'm glad mines done with.

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate There's going to be some stressful and frustrating times in the next few months. You probably will wonder why the hell you decided to do the building work. It will be worth it, it WILL 🙃

Definitely a keeper @Happierwithouthim.

Can't see you and crochet in one image @lifelongfrugaleer, don't know why!

@north. We've been through the cost of the university situation @northender. It was hard when both were there. We ended up paying rent for long periods during covid when the dc we're actually at home for long periods. I understand the worry. I'm sorry for the other stresses too. ❤️

In spending news, it's payday so slate clean and a new month begins (payday to payday at least).

Household renewal quote has come in at £25 less than last year, even without shopping around, so that's good. Must check T&C's etc.

Need to fill the car up today and get coffee. Hopefully these are the only things I need to spend on.

Nearly at the end of our first year in business without DH around and it's gone far better than we could have imagined, so must remember to be proud of myself for this rather than dwell on all the things I'm not doing at present!

Good luck with the GP appointment today north
lovely pics born, we’d love to go to Scotland
hope the kitties are ok happier
yes do congratulate yourself need on your business achievement this year - that’s amazing with everything else you’ve had to do
Yesterday was actually a NSD - which we hardly ever have. In face we profited as sold my camping wagon (part of my camping fantasises) which was practically unused, for £35.
need to start work now - I’m marking all day to a deadline which is not fascinating 🤨

Free national trust pass buying a paper https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/national-trust/#54807

Born I absolutely love Scotland so these pictures brought me great joy.

Born I love the handmade soap company lemongrass & cedarwood soap, I cut the bar in half for two reasons, the price is €7.95 and it doesn't fit in the soap grove on my sink, I can use one for each bathroom then. I also have l'occitane ones that I bought my nan years ago and his carer, my uncles wife gave them to me when she passed away.

Martha kittens are doing well, they moved them from cat carrier to a comfy box in the back of the shed and the expectant mamma is sitting keeping them warm while she awaits her own litter, I'd say no kitten will know which one is its mom by the time they've all arrived

In the meantime ddog has killed two pheasants in as many days but it's nature I guess.

Life I really can't picture you doing crochet either, are you enjoying it?

My work colleague used my referral link for both Clear Mobile & Revolut so I'll be up €70 eventually!

Approx €50 on fuel yesterday and €20 on groceries, €145 on medication
Today I've booked my eye makeup for Sat & my friend booked my hair appointment, we're going for bottomless brunch just the two of us and then meeting the boys for dinner afterwards.

Need you've done amazingly well to keep all those balls in the air while dealing with a catastrophic event in your family's life, well done

Born - some lovely photographs. Hope you had a fantastic trip.

Life - go with the crochet. Every time I try I end up with a knot.

Yesterday turned into an unexpectedly spendy day. Reread the updated council tax bill and I had to pay the council tax for the months he had paid it before he legged it. I did it yesterday as the thought of owing the council money brings me out in a cold sweat.

After that I gave up on the no spending today and bought myself two pots of cottage cheese and a bottle of chocolate milk.

Am in the office tomorrow. Crossing my fingers that there will be an event of some kind with lunch going spare. During the pandemic there were individual lunch boxes that could feed you for days but alas no more. Now just different kinds of buffets.

Boo to the council tax payments @RumBananaSundae. I've recently discovered I like cottage cheese after not eating it for years!

Hooray for the extra money @marthasmum. Must sell some stuff myself

Thanks for the kindness re the business. It's another year on our current income and paying all our guys mortgages! They are well looked after for their loyalty and commitment and I couldn't do it without them.

Spends
£65 fuel (that cost decreasing at least)
£6 Aldi (coffee, salad, 2 x aubergine, 2 x cheap hand wash)

Pea and ham soup with bread for tea.

I think you are marvelous need and well done you

i know you know me as not patient and the crochet looks like a toddler has done it but I like the mindlessness of it and keeping me off a screen

nsd today s as no breaks again

Your bf is a keeper in a lot of ways happier

I’m blanking out Uni costs

hugs to everyone s as I’m sure I’ve missed loads

Spends today
£1.07 Lidl. Had the £2 off coupon to use
£10.38 Asda (Lidl didn't have most of what I needed)
£23 driving theory test, third time lucky I hope.

Re uni costs, not sure if DS wants to go or get a higher apprenticeship after his college course yet but he's got another year to go. He's researching 2nd hand cars but we do have that saved up at least. £600 a month in Uni costs is a lot.

half that sounds epic. Just go with the flow and it will be worth it.

Lovely sea scene happier and good about the maintenance.

Love the Highland pics born

Sorry re council tax rum that sucks

Excellent news re the business need

Hope you enjoy the crochet life

Sorry to anyone I missed off.

Evening everyone
Fuel £43
Bird seed £30
M&S credit card £404
Tesco £63
Home bargains £27 all today tut tut
Been to see Mum took her out for Coffee & Cake £12 but she loved it so that's ok
Life the crocheting sounds brilliant!
Need about time you had some good news , excellent re the business !
Kessie good luck lovely
Hope your Ds does what he wants to do and the cost isn't as high as that much lovely
Born gorgeous pictures makes me want to go there all the more
Rum our council tax has gone up to £285 for 10 months of the year it's hellish!
So sorry you have had to pay up this as well now
Her l know it's difficult dealing with the 2 little ones now but l had 16 months between my two and it was hand on heart the best thing that could have happened they were such good company for each other
Happier gorgeous picture
Glad the maintainance appeared
Martha great work well done with the selling !
Unescorted l am irrationally pleased for Wrexham too but it is so nice to see the underdog winning for once
How very dare they nick your birthday lol
Half such brilliant news , you got this!
North it's very stressful worrying about Uni money , we had our two in Uni together and it was tough but it soon passes , it really does, l hope everything gets much easier very soon bless you , hope all went well with Gp appt too
Good luck to your Dd with her A levels too
Time it's a lot of work sorting the Dc stuff out but so worth it when it is looking so much nicer
Em the trip with your Dsis sounds fabulous
Big thank you re the videos l am trying to refresh my French , l used to love it many moons ago
If l l have missed ppl out l am so sorry if it was you
Welcome to all the newbies , pull up a chair and a cuppa and just join in with everyone, it's so friendly, kind and supportive here

Happier that's the very soap I bought! It's smells divine. It was three for £15 so I of course bought three.

need you are amazing! You have strong in your name and that's the way I think of you. I think your employees are very lucky to work for a family that care so much ❤️

Kessie good luck with the theory test. When my ds were studying for theirs I was absolutely rubbish. I couldn't get the hazard perception thing right at all on the practice tests.

Life I tried crochet and knitting recently but I must have a lot of pent up rage as my stitches always end up really tight. It gets to the stage I'm having to squeeze the hook/needle through the yarn.

Thanks for picture love. There's so much of Scotland I haven't seen so I'm going to try and visit a few places when I can. The pictures don't actually capture how magnificent some of it is.

Ooh love Scotland 😍

Life I can’t imagine you crocheting either. But I wholeheartedly approve, as you can imagine. I still miss Lonely for the knitting /crochet chat. It won’t keep you off screens for long; once you egg the hang of it you’ll be crocheting York way though a nice box set in no time 😉. I highly recommend Blue Light, about the police in Norn Irn, if anyone likes police dramas.

Need I have no idea how you’ve kept the business going while dealing with the family stuff too, you are amazing.

Mrs that was an epic catch-up 😂

I’m still trying to finalise the bids of two builders to see which comes out best. Decision will have to be made by the end of next week 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻< bites nails>. In the meantime, office today. I only had 3 hrs sleep so couldn’t have cared less about making a packed lunch, sorry, Frugal Friends. Had small gyoza for lunch, £6, and a latte (a criminal £3.30 and they didn’t fill the milk up so it was too strong to drink 😡, I was back in the office by the time I noticed so no chance to complain).

I’ve booked a holiday cottage in Kent for half term, £1000. 4 bedrooms as DM is coming so that’s decent value. And another week of alternative accommodation accounted for . More spends to come tonight, possibly, relating to the works. Or I might just fall asleep at the laptop!

Half l know it took me ages lol
That cottage sounds excellent value especially with it being half term!
Fingers crossed for the weather & the builders quotes

I can't manage the catch-ups, but need, congratulations on your good business year. How have you managed to do it? Did you hire extra staff to fill your DH's boots?

I am on day 5 of French speaking practice and am able to tell my story in one third of the time it took me first time around! I have one more day to practice this one, then I switch to new content/story. The idea is that over time you use and re-use the words and expressions that are most pertinent to you, by generating your own speaking practice routines, and fluency comes as you find it easier to retrieve the words and phrases without reaching for them. You also of course get the joy of filming yourself and recording all your face scrunches and grimaces as you try and speak a foreign language.

roast chicken and Succession tonight.

Born those photos are beautiful! Glad you had a lovely trip.

Need You definitely should feel proud re: your business and absolutely everything else you've managed over the past year, you're doing great, it's been such a tough time for you.

Love the French chatter Skies, I did French at uni but so rusty now, really need to get back into practicing. Just find it impossible to make time for anything I actually want to do anymore tbh and then on the rare occasions I have the time, I'm too knackered to do anything!

Spends today just £2 bus fare to work, managed to persuade DH to pick me up so that saved my return fare, but means he is now working to catch up on stuff he didn't get done earlier because of coming to collect me 😳so an LSD.

Not sure how tomorrow will go spending wise. I've got the day off job 3 but I'm going to spend half of the day working for job 2 anyway. Going the GP in the morning which I'm feeling quite anxious about tbh. Thankfully seeing one of my fave GPs though.

Hope the gp goes ok this morning weigh

the tension is an issue half either too loose or too tight but only been trying 2 weeks.
let me pm you some thing as well

nsd planned today and I have to try and get stuff in my already over full freezer before it goes off

Good luck @WeightoftheWorld re the GP. DD is utilising the cap on bus fares well too. Thank you for the kind words.

No extra staff @BigSkies2022, just the existing ones stepping up even further. Couldn't be prouder and more appreciative. That's great progress re the French speaking!

Cottage sounds fab @HalfWomanHalfChocolate, I find it hard to be frugal when knackered too.

Thanks @Bornlazy ❤️. I'm the same, Scotland is my ultimate favourite place and I'd love to explore more of it, especially Shetland for some reason!

Good luck re the test @kessiebird

Can relate re screens @lifelongfrugaleer but I'd rather run!

Hoping for a NSD unless I get the time to do the weekly shop. I have a budget for that though.

Thanks for the good wishes for the theory test, it's for DS who is 17. Last week he failed by two marks on the theory and passed the hazard perception and he'd revised this time so he was gutted. He's fine though, will try again in four weeks then start lessons.🚙

weight the last two times I've been dreading an appointment I've come out feeling so much better that I've tackled it. Hope tomorrow goes okay 💐

So far a NSD as I'm flat out working until later and haven't left the house yet. Must have a walk to buy some diet coke later. I'm also on a mission to lose a few lbs this half term so trying not to buy treats. Hard though to prep / cook / be healthy and be frugal! 😜

Kessie I found the hazard perception part the trickiest. My theory expired last autumn though but I can't afford the time or money for lessons anymore anyway unfortunately. So have had to park the driving (haha) for now. Definitely something I want to revisit in future but I need to be realistic that right now it's just not possible really.

NSD so far but might go the dry cleaners and/or shops and/or do some online shopping later. Not been anywhere near as productive as I was hoping work-wise today. Spend so much time doing admin things in this job that really would be better done (and much cheaper done) by admin support staff but there isn't any provided to me.

Thanks for well-wishes re the GP, she was great but I am now facing a third round of bloods, an XR, and a hospital appointment. I have weird symptoms and nobody knows what's causing them, it's been going on since November. It's so hard to sort these things out too around work and the kids. DS is having loads of appts atm too so just bogged down in constant healthcare appointments!