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

[needastrongoneagain]

New thread.

All welcome.

Sorry to hear that time
marthasmum I totally get your social spending difficulties, we are the same. You don't have to go out very often for it to cost a lot either. We've both cut down our alcohol intake too but non alcoholic drinks are a scandalous price.

I had a packed week off work & felt like I needed a holiday to recover when I went back yesterday! I booked the time off to catch up with life & it was mission accomplished but minimal relaxation. Lots of emotional stress as dd is having quite bad episodes of fatigue & we just can't get the GP interested. She has definite thyroid type symptoms and I'm now wondering if there is something familial given ds' problems. To cut a long story short, we are paying privately for a more detailed thyroid screen as GP has refused (£60). After my experience with ds I don't want to feel I could've done more but didn't. If hers show anything then we will get him tested too.

We had a bit of a spendy day on Sunday as dh, ds & I all went to Port Vale to see the mighty Greens pick up the League One title. It was a great day & totally worth it, ds (21) was like an over excited puppy, great to see!!
Big gardening day planned today. Hedge & lawn need cutting, garage wall needs painting & lots of weeding & digging to be done. We've got a tree stump that needs to be taken out. Just waiting for quotes on that.

Time I'm really sorry to hear that, I think losing a parent is always a shock even when it's not unexpected 💐

I went out with dd Ystd evening, my dad gifted us tickets to see The Proclaimers in Bristol so we made a night of it and had dinner there. Went to ZaZas which was a challenge for dd (slowly recovering from an ED) but she did really well despite being initially overwhelmed. I ate loads to try and get my moneys worth 😂 (for anyone who hasn't been to ZaZa' imagine the worlds biggest buffet which includes every type of food imaginable 😋)

Cost £45 for both of us.

Parking was £12.

Not too bad for a good night out in Bristol, the band were great fun.

Going to Morrisons this morning as want to get plants to start my hanging baskets and they're generally the best value, need a few food bits but will try and reign it in.

Gosh, Time, was it quite sudden in the end? I'm sorry for your loss.

North, glad to hear you got to see the Pilgrims pick up their trophy! The great Green Army, travelling around. DS will get more opportunity to see them next season as there will be quite few games in towns and cities close to where he is in Leeds. Not cheap though - maybe we can stand him the occasional treat. I think they will struggle with the higher wage bills and the like. First the triumph, then the struggle! 'Twas ever thus.

Time so sorry for your loss

North that is disappointing that GP won't order the tests

It's a beautiful morning here & I'm about to spend 2-3 hours of it getting my colour done. It's been 9 weeks & is a state, unfortunately with way my holidays are I'll have to get it done again in 5 weeks or else it'll be 10 & I'll have a tiger head in my holiday photos

Thanks need, probs give the sandals a miss then. I struggle to find sandals that don't rub. I have a pair of Teva's though that I just bought last summer and they are great. Just weighing up whether the plain black ones would be ok for work or not...I think probably yes, as I'm not patient-facing at all and some of my colleagues wear much more, ahem, relaxed attire than me (contrary to the official dress code I should add though, but as far as I'm aware, nobody ever pulls anyone up about it).

Happier Polish vegan cafe sounds super interesting!

Martha I do relate to you about the social spends. DH and I have a very small, muted social life so we don't spend much anyway tbh, but I do feel it's difficult to say 'no, it's too much money' to friends & family. Especially because we definitely have the least disposable income out of all our friends and family members tbh which is a tricky position to be in I think. We don't do much present buying though, very little and we don't spend much either. We spend very little on each other/our kids so I'm not about to spend more on other people than on my own kids if that makes sense without sounding horrible!

Agree unescorted that sounds great. We do sometimes have some friends round to ours to catch-up and play board games with and that works out fairly cheap as people kindly tend to bring drinks and snacks with them too so we don't spend much hosting either. They have to come to us always as obviously we have the kids in bed (and none of them do).

Half Oh no, hope the tantrum wasn't too bad!!

Em Hope you recover soon.

Time So sorry for your loss.

I've just realised I'm still on pg 24 but I will have to post this before I can see the next page won't I before I lose this...

North Regarding the GP, I don't know your situation at all but just to say that there are pretty strict rules they have to follow regarding ordering tests, they have national and local guidelines to follow and they can't order really order things beyond those guidelines. I do understand your frustration to some extent though, we were pushing for a referral for DD for something last year and they wouldn't do it, so we ended up doing that privately - and my DH is a HCP who works in general practice himself. We saw an amazing expert privately and her decision was that nothing needed doing anyway. So with hindsight, obviously here the GP did make the right call initially. But as a parent it is hard though when you have concerns about your kids. I hope it all turns out ok in the end whatever is going on though and that your kids are ok.

Just spent about £56 at Zoggs online on swimwear for me and flotation aids for DD mainly for our upcoming holiday. Saved over a tenner via coupon that Edge found for me so that was good. Might buy some fruit from the shop later to have with our pancakes for brekkie tomorrow.

Time I am so sorry.

Weight** you just made a lightbulb go off over my head. I didn't eat since breakfast & going out for dinner tonight, have no bread in so was wondering what will I have & you reminded me I bought Aldi protein pancakes on Thurs so I'll have them to tide me over!

I'd heard the founders of polish vegan cafe on business programme on local radio so was interested in their story

€70 colour at hairdressers
€10.25 on a stuffed chicken roulade with lemon & thyme sauce and two bottles of SuperValu limescale remover for toilets, it's now 48c dearer than two years ago but still cheap & best I've found

Yesterday was a NSD

Time l am so sorry lovely .
Please accept my sincere condolences to you and your beloveds 💐

Evening everyone 😊
Looking forward to the Eurovision 😊
Spends today Tesco £56
Petrol £56 cheapest in Sainsbury @ 135.9 a litre
£14 in Morrisons
Hope everyone had the lovely day we had here it makes such a difference 😁

£106 Morrisons <weeps> in my defence about £20 of that wasn't food but plants and £8 was cat food, but even so it's too much. I need to just not go to supermarkets I think.

£26 summer bedding plants, have had a lovely afternoon making up my hanging baskets and pots.

Looking forward to Eurovision tonight 🕺

@Timetoswitch so sorry for your loss.

Half sorry I missed the tantrum mention yesterday. I hope it passed quickly.

Time I’m sorry. I hope you are as OK as you can be.

Marthasmum Thank you.

North sorry to hear about the tests and GP situation. It can take so much pushing for people to listen to you. I remember the first appointment I had with the person who turned out to be one of my surgeons and he asked me why I hadn’t come sooner. Sometimes I wonder how much of an idea some have about how hard it is to access care. I hope it works out for you.

Spent a bit unexpectedly today. I checked the weather for my holiday and the next three weeks are forecast to be rain and thunderstorms every day. That sent me into a bit of a tailspin as I’ve been looking forward to it but now seeing it as something to get through rather than something that I will enjoy.

Bought a new walking jacket. Also paid off my credit card (12p - not sure where that came from), spent about £4 buying things for a packed lunch for my walk tomorrow, £1 on a bag of chocolate raisins and about £8 on things I didn’t need in Marks and Spencer. It’s the fourth (I think) walking jacket I’ve bought as I never like them so I’ve crossed my fingers for this one.

Now watching Eurovision.

@Timetoswitch so sorry

Blew the food budget a bit yesterday but it blanced out last weeks underspent £40 M&S, £48 lidl, £69 Aldi and Sainsbury’s I forget as it was Thursday. Some is for mil as well
also last week dog food and treats and horse treats £40

kids and pets!!!

nsd planned today, thank the lord

north sorry to hear about dd and given ds history I’m not surprised you are pushing or going private

@Timetoswitch. It doesn't matter if it was unexpected or expected, or in some ways a kindness (just been through late stage dementia ourselves), it's still your parent. Much love ❤️

Food costs a fortune @lifelongfrugaleer.

@northender sounds like a busy week. Least you've the satisfaction of everything being done. The private route sounds the most sensible option, especially given DS.

Jealous of The Proclaimers @Girliefriendlikespuppies!

@marthasmum our social life is mainly at other folks houses these days, but I always feel I have to have drinks and nibbles in, just in case, so I probably overspend there. Kids eat the nibbles and I end up drinking the wine, which isn't great.

The jacket will last forever @RumBananaSundae

£43 on food yesterday, nibbles for Eurovision, bread/milk etc and a couple of bottles of wine (going to SIL's today and I'll take one there).

Hi all, quick question about holidays in school hols. My eldest starts school this year. I'm not sure we will be able to go away even within the UK outside of term time tbh because of prices but if we could, do people book stuff ages in advance? And for best prices is early booking best or last minute? Any other tips or suggestions for keeping costs down appreciated too.

I book early and try and get free child places if abroad

going when the Scottish schools are back, last 2 weeks Aug can also be cheaper for there and abroad

Thanks all for your replies about the spending. It’s made me realise that most of my social life (which is not huge by any means!) tends to be catching up with female friends and we are all in the habit of going out, often for a meal. I guess part of that is we all want to get away from home!! Anyway good for thought.
north I can well imagine why you want to go private if you feel there may be an issue. Fingers crossed you get some answers.
Feeling proud today as I’ve just done my 10K. It was a flatter course than I usually run so I was actually quicker.

Got two really busy weeks coming up at work so I will have to do a bit of work later today to prep for student assessments next week ☹️
Frugal win, I managed to do a food shop for around £90 which is less than normal for me. Fewer snacks and more sticking to the list - all the things I know to do but don’t usually manage!

Hi everyone,

I had a nice day so far. It was very rainy this morning, so I abandoned my plans to work in the garden and went to a big garden centre/lifestyle store instead. I bought two solar lanterns for my new garden hooks. I've attached a photo of one of the hooks/lights, but I don't know if you can see it. The last time I tried to attach photos, they didn't display. If we ever get a dry spell, I'm going to strim the area around the plant pots and paint the wall behind them. The garden centre has a coffee shop with a nice conservatory area, so I treated myself to a coffee and a slice of raspberry bake. There's a lovely garden and outdoor seating area but it was too wet today so I sat out in the conservatory instead. I didn't buy any plants but then again, I'm off to a big garden festival in a fortnight, so I'll hold off until then.

I got all my housework done yesterday. I've a few small jobs to do today but nothing too taxing. I need to look at my budget again. My friend has suggested some venues for a girls' weekend/50th celebration in September so I need to check them out. I also want to do a bit of self care - shave my legs, paint my toenails etc. Pretend that summer is here even if the rain says otherwise. That TV programme 'Ten Pound Poms' looks good.

DD worked yesterday, went straight to a birthday party/nightclub last night, got home at 4 a.m., and went to work again today. Oh to be 18 again . Her exams are over now and she did really well - she's just waiting on the results of the last one.

We don't have the school holiday issues here because there are no fines for taking your children out of school during term time. In any case, the school holidays are longer - two months for primary school and three months for secondary school.

Spends today:-

€33.90 for the two lanterns
€8 approx. for coffee and cake
A few € for bananas and rashers in the supermarket

Time I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad.

north sounds like you achieved a lot with your week off, even if wasn't a fun, relaxing week. Hope you can get to the bottom of DD's medical issues.

Girlie I'd love to see The Proclaimers. What a nice evening out with your DD.

Rum the walking jacket is a great investment and will definitely last you years. Having said that, I hope the forecast is wrong and you get some nice days.

Oh, my photo did post

I used to book ages in advance for school holiday holidays. Ferries, trains, flights all much lower prices. And while we might have missed out on last-minute deals on accommodation (too risky for us anyway, as we always had to book holidays from work well in advance), we had the full choice of what was available, and weren't left with either the super-expensive and gorgeous, or crud that no-one else wanted. Plus, if booked by credit card, it gave us time to pay it off (0% deals always). And I'm just built like that - I like to know it's sorted, in the bag, and then I can just relax and look forward to it.

My brother and SIL have got their summer holiday flights (4 required) via AMEX points for years, so that might be a good way for your family.

There's house swapping - not one I've ever tried, but might work if you live somewhere that's a holiday destination?

DParents over for dinner last night, just home-made burgers and chips, but jolly and relaxed. DH treated us to posh ice-cream (supplemented the bog standard supermarket vanilla that we get when I'm in charge of shopping!)

Frugal food shopping for May going well - should be able to stick to budget of £56 per week for the next two weeks, then have a bit of blowout for end of May, hopefully with DS home for a weekend.

Treated myself to a new book yesterday - 15% off which brought it down to £14.40. Been on my reading list for a good while.

Visiting a friend on Tuesday, have decided to take some Alphonso mangoes, so delicious were they, and a geranium pot.

Thank you for all your kind thoughts, and need that is very true x

Coping a bit better today, but kept myself busy. Went round to Dmum’s whilst she was at church to try and do some cleaning. The sink is currently 🤢 inducing and normal cleaner wasn’t cutting through the grease. At least any visitors now can sit on non dust covered chairs and not crunch when stepping on her carpets.

Then bought some degreaser cleaning products for when I next go back £5, some storage boxes £7 for her study room which is a chaotic mess. Things fell on my head whilst trying to get to the photo albums which Dbro wanted a couple of pictures from. I’m planning to chuck stuff in the boxes (not sort at the moment) so it’s safer to get around in and hopefully find stuff.

I think the next couple of days are going to be tough, as we are starting the funeral arrangements.

Time it is a difficult thing to do. If you don't have to take your time. Xxx

Mum is still in hospital. DB is angry with me thinking dementia might be a cause (he is thinking heart attacks). DM is not giving any details as to what the drs are saying... She was due to come out today but she looked no where ready yesterday.

First exam of the exam season for the boy child. It is a day of stress. The sun is shining so hopefully it stays that way until lunchtime & I can go for a walk