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

[needastrongoneagain]

New thread.

All welcome.

Yesterday ended up with me spending an extra €100 on a different lawnmower, one of the nuts to put on the wheels wouldn't turn so I couldn't put it together & had to return to Lidl, bought one in woodies instead, then €10 on Jerry can & €7.50 on petrol & came home to discover it needs engine oil as well so bf picked that up today. €28 on takeaway from seafood restaurant last night.

€12 + €3 tip for ds's haircut
60c parking
€46 on a 42" hard shell case & 4 luggage tags in primark using €30 vouchers
€88.45 in easons on 2 books for me for hols, 2 games for ds & dniece for hols, half price pack of 5 refill pads too

Have fallen off the thread a bit and not caught up yet.

I spent a fortune in Aldi today but I had run down the fridge, cupboards and freezer to almost nothing.

£168 😳 that has restocked everything and cleared my bank account out so will have to last until the end of the month (16 days until I get paid.)

Meal plan
Enchiladas with rice and salad
Fish cakes, cheese sauce and veg
Veggie chilli and rice
Red bean burgers, home made chips and salad
Curry night (chickpeas for dd, chicken for me)
Pesto pasta and veg

A few of those will be bulk made to freeze extra portions.

Up and off to the airport. In London today. 7am flight. First meeting at 930. Sigh.

but London baby!

I love being in the city. I just adore it.

Morning.

Hope the hip/joint pain eases @BigSkies2022. My dogs are melting in this weather!

That sounds like a lovely day out with your Dad @Taytocrisps. Lovely photos.

Good going with the mortgage payments @WeightoftheWorld

Been pretty low spend apart from food, which is still in budget nonetheless. Had family over yesterday so so to buy extra lamb and salmon, but we've loads left for meals today and tomorrow so will balance out I think.

Other than that
£85 on DD's birthday presents, but half of that is DS's present too (free shipping over a certain amount) and he'll pay me back. We have a presents budget.
£7 drinks at local cricket club.

I need to contact Eon as I'm £770 in credit, and it might as well sit in my Chase account earning 3% than aid their cash flow. Probably won't be today.

Meal plan
Leftovers for two days.
Gnocchi and pesto.
Aubergine and pea curry
Mushroom stroganoff

That's as far as I've got so far!

Ooo hot to be in the city em. I'm taking a change of clothing wed when I go
Budget redone and need to up my frugal games

Reading but not posting much soz

Another one reading but not posting but following along! 🙂

Eventful day. Got to airport and it was foggy. Although I knew this because it was foggy at my house and I’m a 5 minute drive away.

through security and into the lounge for coffee. Onto plane for 6.55. Taxied down runway. Then stopped. Because visibility dropped. We didn’t take off until gone 10. In that time we had to stay on the plane. Sigh. Made it eventually though. Made the second meeting (scheduled for 11) at 1220. Then lunch with same client.

we ate at NOPI - one of ottolenghis places and it was quite simply divine. Spendy at £500 for 4 of us (including two bottles of wine) but I’ll be reimbursed for that so win (plus I get the points on my credit card). Would 10/10 recommend.

other meetings in the city in the afternoon. Now in my bed at premiere in. Woooooo

Omg I've just given myself a panic attack by attempting to unblock the kitchen U bend and completely flooding my kitchen 😱 loads of water started gushing out which I wasn't expecting to happen!!!

It was my frugal attempt at DIY plumbing 🥴

I shouted at dd to go and get my neighbour to help and bless him he came running over and helped sort it, I'm so lucky with my neighbours.

The good news is the blockage is sorted 😂

On way home. Obligatory wine and crisps in the lounge at Heathrow. I’ve piggybacked on my bosses BA gold card to be in here and had to persuade the nice reception ladies to let me back in when I left to go get treats for the kiddos.

Evening everyone
Hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous weather
Em sounds like you had a wonderful time that was so kind of them to let you back in the lounge
Girlie good to see you back lovely , glad your blockage is sorted , yay for great neighbours l say !
Happier that's a pita re the lawn mower
Need that £770 credit is great !
LIfe & Decaff another one not posting but following
Spends today £60 in Home Bargains , Tesco £40 & TKMaxx £14
Bought 2 lovely Cath Kidston make up bags for £4.99 each and some Sanctuary miracle wet body moisture cream £4 l can put on when l get out of the bath .
Hope everyone is ok

I’ve been reading along but not posting as it’s been a really full on few weeks at work. Trying to remember everyone’s news, here goes…
time sorry to hear you had a crappy week last week, hope things improved
tayto so sorry to hear your news, and it sounds like both unexpected
half you are doing so well keeping it together with the renovations!
mrs you are so good treating your mum, glad you’ve bought the sanctuary stuff for you too
em- how frustrating! Did you get to chill while waiting for take off or was it just annoying
happier and north sounds like you are both getting ready for hols
unescorted glad you’ve treated yourself, I don’t think you often do. Sniggering at Mankychester, it’s not that bad
big- hope the leg is ok
weight I hear you on the DC constantly needing stuff
gen and decaff nice to see you popping on
girlie great DIY effort, I’d have been scared too.

Talking of DIY, DP has been really earning his stripes recently. He is PT while I am FT plus and in past this has caused tension. He’s always done his share of domestic stuff but recently I’ve realised I’ve hardly done any laundry or cooked in the week (partly because I’m hardly home ha ha). And he’s been slaving away in the garden, pulling up bathroom floor to fix leaks etc.
my main frugal win is I’ve FINALLY found a way of doing the food shop that seems to suit me. I’ve been getting a weekly Tesco delivery for all the boring bits like cheese that are always the same. Paid for with delivery pass. Then milk and veg delivered and go to butcher. Plus I do a sort of top up for treats - satisfies my need to cruise round the shops without getting to the point that I’m a bit frazzled doing a massive weekly shop for 5 of us and flinging half the contents of the shop in. I’ve managed to keep on budget doing this!
Also, swapped Tesco points while they’re still worth x3 for a ‘two together’ railcard and Alton towers vouchers. Both last for a year. It runs out tomorrow if anyone has Tesco points…after tomorrow they’ll only be x2.
Meanwhile feel like I’m still spending on holiday extras - the right size cases and airport parking! We do need new cases though.
Dd has decided to go to uni this year (grades permitting) not try for a year out, so need to get sorted with accommodation which is also eye-watering.
Good luck to all the mini frugaleers doing exams.

@TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans to be fair they aren’t allowed to leave bags unattended. And my bag was in there! 🤪

flight home was boarded on time. Then ended up still being 40 minutes late. No idea how. We definetly landed though. A thud a bounce and then a slam the breaks on hard. I’m assuming the pilot hadn’t landed here before….

im home now. Shattered. It’s been a busy two days. But so much fun. And so lovely to meet clients again. Some I haven’t seen for a while. So it was nice to catch up.

Ugh early train to London

Morning.

Good stuff re DH pulling his weight while you're so busy @marthasmum

Spends since last post

£12 Amazon
£56 fuel (bit over budget here but not much)
£77 food (including a bottle of raspberry vodka which wasn't needed but I fancied a vodka with lots of tonic and ice sitting in the garden listening to the birds🤣).

Off to walk the dogs before it gets too hot!

Yesterday
€7.50 on borders biscuit multipack & a dr otker momenti pizza then my neighbour arrived with a blackforest gateau in appreciation for looking after her dog
Spent the evening strimming & mowing so I earned the excess calories. The pizza was €2.50 but perfect for a lazy evening dinner
Today
€8.60 on deli lunch and can of monster zero
€45 on diesel annoyingly the card I took out of my car was my credit card not my fuel card so missed out on saving 4c per litre

need not a vodka drinker but that sounds delicious, real summer activity
I'd a bacardi breezer at my picnic table with my pizza last night as reward for my hard work

Yum - Black Forest gateau!

NSD yesterday.

Will be low spend today. I'm supposed to be out tonight, just to the cinema and the tickets already paid. I'm knackered though, so will see. If I go, it'll just be a drink.

Good morning everyone 🌞
Beautiful weather here hope everyone is enjoying it 😊
Martha well done to your lovely DH he's a good un! 😊👏
Thank you re Mum so kind of you 😊
Need if you go to the pics hope you have a great time 😊
Happier Borders biscuits & black forest gateaux yum yum !
Life hope the train journey went well not too crowded 😊
Em l take it back , they were very naughty 😊
Spends £19 Morrisons
DH eye exam £35 he had the extra scan because he was fretting about a floater that has suddenly appeared. I tried to reassure him because l have loads but nope he was so anxious , even woke me up in the night to talk to me about it bless him . It's because his Mum had Macular degeneration at his age and l think it's caused him to get anxious . He's fine but still worried about it . The option couldn't find anything wrong at all . 😊👏
Hope everyone is ok
Have a gorgeous day all 😊👏

I had a slice of black forest and so did my friend who had brought dd to guides and then I passed the rest off to my childminder, she has loads of family close that call for tea so it would be appreciated!

I never had Borders biscuits before, they're delicious, dd was well impressed with the shortbread and wants to try making it. Unfortunately shortbread is a weakness of mine so I'm hoping she'll forget about it.

MrsMad your poor dh, it wasn't an irrational worry.

I'm having eye trouble since Oct, eye surgeon ruled out any issues, so it seems that I may need reading glasses but +1 are too strong is it possible to get +0.5? It's for when I'm wearing my contact lenses, things kind of move on the screen in front of me and I'm straining my eyes.

€25 in Centra, I need to go back to avoiding that shop
€45 on diesel
€8.60 Centra on lunch, see above!

€2.50 Centra protein bar, I'm very hungry these days for some reason

€64 on dc school tour, mentioned it to exh and he gave half, I was surprised.
Paying for school bus since Christmas today €660
Childcare €50
Horse Riding €20
I never have cash, I hate drawing it out!
Next week is dd's last week in childcare outside the home. I do have a babysitter for this summer and will review next summer when dd will be 14 and ds 11.

Happier AHH thank you re DH he was so anxious bless him . Everything was fine though and yet l know he is still worried. He's never had or at least not noticed floaters before and he hates it . I have so many l play follow the floater some days lol 😂
Excellent decision re the Gateaux if it stays in the fridge it's just too tempting l find because l don't like wasting anything especially very nice things lol 🤣
Re your eyesight , my optician recommended me some glasses especially for working with screens l don't know if they are worth thinking about. I don't know if you can get a 0.5 prescription glasses , l have only seen a 1.0 prescription but they have loads of options l'm sure but probably expensive 🙄
Good luck ☺️

I was at a couple of touristy things in last few months and reading the information boards the writing was kind of moving in front of me.

Glad your DH is ok mrs. My dad has macular degeneration, I can understand why he’d worry.

Oooh Bacardi breezer. That’s a blast from the past. I used to love the green ones.

bought some Smirnoff ice the other day. Just to see if it was still tasty.

Pineapple was another favourite of mine em
Today's been spendy although there will be some returns

Hi, another one gone off thread checking in.

@ememem84 London trip sounds like it was fab. And ooh, Smirnoff Ice.

Glad to hear DH is all ok @TheNewlmprovedMrsMadEvans

Not much going on here, except for the usual. New broadband has finally been installed. A few teething problems so we are giving it another week or so then it’s bye bye Sky. That along with the tv and landline going will save us a good 130 a month.

We borrowed against our mortgage a few years ago, not a huge amount but it got us out of a hole. That has 2 more payments and then that’s £180 a month less. Well, not really because I’ll just overpay the rest of the mortgage with it. We should be completely mortgage free by the end of the year.

Had another tattoo removal session yesterday. It’s really coming on well now, I can see the end in sight. 3 months or so in between sessions and I reckon I’ll need another 2. That’s my guess anyway.