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

[needastrongoneagain]

New thread.

All welcome.

Spends today 9 train. Did 15 mile dog walk. Lovely but involves getting train back. 35 petrol, bread, rolls and cheese

This month hasn't started out great financially as I'm away for the weekend! But worth it for my emotional well-being.

Easter hols now so trying to keep the spending fairly low although we naturally spend more in school holidays as out of routine and we have more treats!

Swimming will feature heavily got to earn back the £1k we've just spent on it 😂

The usual nature reserves etc and there's money for ice cream etc on days out thanks to me selling on vinted.

Easter get together at MILs with egg hunt etc and food.

Soft play booked one day for younger ones.

Also got a few home and garden family projects to work on. We need to do some outdoor painting, already got the paint just need brushes and a few dry days in a row!

Also want to get the veg patch going again. I need to buy new strawberry plants as ours have finished. Already have other seeds just need to get them in the ground... tomatoes, mange tout, broad beans.

We got our washing machine fixed thankfully it was only £80. Tumble dryer next on the list, we are getting the same man back again as he was great, think we said it will be £120 for the dryer fixing.

Also as it's a school holiday then before they go back we need to top up school lunch account and pay nursery fees, we do these sort of things half termly but hopefully that might come after April payday I need to check.

Hope all are well will read back the thread now!

I realised I posted on the wrong thread! But checking in here! Got to catch up on the thread, I hope everyone's appliances are now working? My plug has gone and the oven is making a strange noise so got to ring the letting agent tomorrow 😬

I finished up March with total spends of £222.50 for all groceries/toiletries/cleaning and cat stuff! £151.85 for everything else including bus fare. Pretty proud of that, but going to see if I can get it lower for April!!

Has anyone got any awesome banana recipes? I've got a load of overripe ones from the local food hub and no idea what to do with them. Bonus if it's dairy/gluten free but not necessary as the kids can eat everything! Unfortunately I can't freeze them as our freezer is tiny and space is prioritised for batch cooking and vegetables etc.

Hello 👋 Can I join please?

Me and my mates had a very depressing conversation about the COL/house prices today...getting a whole new job seems a bit daunting atm (2 small DC) but I could do with being a bit more frugal.

Accidentally spent £13.50 today - £7.50 on three icecream van icecreams, and £6 on a tennis court booking. We didn't even want to play tennis, DS1s favourite football got kicked over the fence and I needed to pay for a court booking via the app to get the code for the gate to get it back.

@BigSkies2022 thanks. I'll.give it a go.

Thanks for new thread need

My student loan is down to £1,800 so hoping to clear it in June or July, setting aside money each month to build to the total and then will clear it online in one go. Will be a big moment - and nice to have the extra money monthly as well.

Waiting on quite a lot of expenses back from the failed job interview - £90 train and £100 hotel. They’re being very slow, interview was in early March.

I’m on the low spend April thread but I’d also like to join here please. Hello 👋

Did a food shop today that should last until we go to MILs on Saturday. Need to plan Easter hol activities but youngest does still have childminders this week so only 1 DC to sort out this week!

Welcome newbies

Place
arking really but will come back and read theouvh

Welcome new frugaleers

going to an outlet park and will be spending but all needed

I have completely fallen off the threads and probably off the frugal wagon too if I'm honest. Jumping back on to a lovely new thread, thanks Need and hope your dh is settling in well now he's home.

Alfie I'm very sorry about your brother in law and your friend. That must have been a terrible shock for you all.

Mrs I love your duvet covers and admire your storage system. I tend to wash and put the same set back on the same day as I like to smell the washing powder off it, but I might treat myself to a nice set for spring.

em I think a new machine sounds sensible but could someone handy maybe just check it over first. My own washing machine stopped working and I flew into a blind panic as the amount of washing I do with two gym going boys who change their clothes like the weather is unbelievable. We decided to order a new machine as that was the quickest option to get us up and running again then at the last minute my dh decided to take a further look at the machine and managed to fix it himself. The drainage pipe was completely blocked with horrible stuff and once he'd unblocked that it started working again.

Apparently a lot of machines end up broken because of blockages in the drainage systems of the pipes which then backs up and damages the machine. Of course yours may be not working for some other reason.

Like everyone on here I am struggling with keeping my shopping costs down. I walk around supermarkets and can hardly believe how expensive everything has become. Off the back of another thread I worked out that I had spend £900 over March on Food/toiletries etc. There have been some extra expense in there like birthday cake and Easter eggs but it's still horrific.

So that's my first goal, to get that down to a more reasonable amount.

So far today £16 Home Bargains and £5.15 Starbucks. Don't think I am going back out today. I'm WFH today but had an hours break to do that bit of shopping. DD spent a little of her pocket money on treats from Home Bargains plus I got her the Starbucks and she seemed happy enough. Then she just asked me if she can go to the beach with a friend (who would pick her up shortly) and I feel mean but I said no, too short notice, no contact from friends parents and no money until Thursday which is when my leave starts. She's 11. So I guess I saved about £20 doing that as they'd be going to the funfair and arcades. Not fun at times though!

born initially I had wanted to get it fixed. However the earliest it could be done was 17 April and the loan machine is quite frankly crap.

i bought a new one today. £600. Siemens 5 year warranty, 10kg drum, 1400 speed. A energy rating. Can be delivered Wednesday morning. this includes delivery installation and removal of old one.

we tried everything with ours that we could. It’s draining fine, it’s that water won’t go in. Checked the inlet pipe for blockages but nothing. So I think it’s in the machine.

had the argument with DH about the loan machine being more eco friendly. It isn’t. It took me 3 loads of 3 hours to do one normal load. So actually not more eco. So that’s going back to fil and the misery on Wednesday.

£171 Waitrose. Included a bottle of Hendricks, laundry stuff (fabric softener anti vac stuff and stain remover £30 - for all of this as I tend to buy the huge sizes as it lasts longer)

Hello folk!

@Alfiemoon1 I am so sorry, what awful news. Thinking of you. And it must be hard work re your mum too.

Boo re the job application @Gensola, I was wondering how you had got on.

Hello new folk! We are a warm and friendly bunch here.

Spends
£75 fuel, hopefully will last the month. Budgeted for already.
£6 Aldi on a big bag of apples and some punnets of grapes.

Spendy day today as we expected...new glasses needed!

However a "free" afternoon out today and tomorrow at NT places. Today would have been £7 if we didn't have a pass and tomorrow would be £27! Might spend some money in the NT cafe tomorrow though as we are meeting family but luckily DH and I are happy to share a scone or something, love a NT cream tea!

Not too bad a day today.

Topped up all my travelcards so there is at least one day’s worth of travel on each. Wish there was a way to combine them all as I’ve ended up with four ‘emergency’ cards. So I spent £17. It could have been worse. Hoping there is enough on my main card to last the month.

Physiotherapist tomorrow so that will be a more expensive outing.

Alfie so sorry to hear about dbil, what a shock for you all
Em glad you've got a new washing machine
Ordered three dresses in the sale for work with an additional discount on top, we will see if they are any good

Ah not filling is different then em glad you've got a new one arranged.

Stocked up today on a couple of big joints of beef that are half price for Easter. I'll use one as a roast and cut the other one up for stews and stir fries as it works out at £6/Kg which is much cheaper than buying already prepared beef. We mostly eat chicken so the beef is a nice change.

£65 Tesco but that included wine for Easter.

Didn't spend anything today as £400 went out on monthly bills for Council Tax, Water Rates, TV Licence and Insurances.

All my direct debits went out today and I have also paid the childcare and the credit card bill. Bank balance went up last week with paydays and then straight back down today!

starting to feel like my system is a bit odd, all my spending is on a credit card and then I pay it off each month. So I am effectively always in debt to the card even though I don’t get charged interest, but it also means I never have any money in my current account as it’s spent on everything. I suppose this is what a zero based budget is. And we do have an emergency fund to access cash if needs be. But it just feels a bit odd sometimes, does anyone else do their budget this way? Not trying to plead poverty at all because I do of course have access to ££ and am lucky to be able to do my day to day spending on a credit card and afford to save some each month. But occasionally it kind of freaks me out that I constantly have this big credit card balance and like £40 in my current account?!

I don't have a credit card Coffee. I did have one but would sometimes miss a payment and then get charged a late payment fee despite always paying way more than the minimum amount, so I got rid of it. Is your way of budgeting a bit like using an overdraft where you clear it each month when you get paid so that you can use it again over the following month?

@Bornlazy yes sort of. I started doing it because when we bought our first house we were making a lot of spendy purchases like freezer, washing machine etc and I wanted the consumer protection that comes with a credit card. Then I also realised that we could get quite good rewards and now we earn about £30 a month in rewards points from our spending. So we’ve always just carried on like that ever since, I’ve only ever once missed a payment when I’d just had DC2 and was delirious with sleep deprivation 😂 and got charged £12. Otherwise it seems to work well and we have had hundreds of pounds worth of points every year. I often use them to do our big Christmas food shop (amongst other things).

NSD yesterday. Phew

We use our credit card in the same way coffee, it’s paid off each month by a variable Direct debit so we never miss a payment. But yes I guess we too are always in debt to the credit card, and would have to use savings if the card got removed.

I used to use my cc that way. Then it all for a bit wonky last year with holidays etc. back to doing it that way now though.

we have 2. Each of us has a hsbc one which gives us points which we convert to either Amazon vouchers or M&S. and an Amex which we use for daily spending - like food shops etc. this again gives us points etc and air miles.