Jumping into July: Frugal Friends Financial Fun

[needastrongoneagain]

New 'Fred.

Very low spend couple of days.

£12 AdBlue but that's expenses.

Will be back to post fully later.

Thank you Life. I’m looking forward to the van Gogh Auvers exhibition in Paris later this year. I think is the same one that’s currently in Amsterdam. Carry on with the cheese.

You don’t have to have mediation but I think it’s expected and not looked upon kindly if you haven’t had it. Solicitor rates it but can’t say I’ve ever spoken to someone who’s had anything to say about it that isn’t bad.

I totally forgot I have a nail appointment this evening ahead of the hols so that will be 50euro. Light just went on in the car so will chuck in 20 as going nowhere bar the airport. Will get the wine when there so thats another say 12.

Rum I only ask because I've been through it and it finished after second session and ended up with me being escorted to my car for my safety due to his temper, which was rather ironic because we were still sharing a house at that stage

Did well in sportsdirect today had 20% coupon & €38 credit note so dds runners cost me €4.40 they're sketchers slip on no slip workwear because she's size 7 so at least they'll be supportive footwear.

€62,95 on school skirt
€0.80 parking
€21 takeaway dc x 3
€11 frozen pizza & 12 eggs & ham, if they're having takeaway I'm having momenti pizza I added Bolognese & slice of turkey to mine!

Diesel €57 I forgot that

@Happierwithouthim did you happen to notice if they stock Levi brand in sportsdirect?

I've missed so much of the thread this last week, so won't reference everyone. I must post daily as it definitely helps me keep track.

Ah @RumBananaSundae. Keep plodding on, even if that's all you feel like. I definitely feel like plodding a lot of the time. Don't let the bastard get you down.

Pah to the crap work situation @Neverinamonthofsundays

Can't believe your combined builder and architect @HalfWomanHalfChocolate. I'd be so pissed off. Dd studies in York, we live about 20 minutes away. It's such a pretty city but she avoids it in summer due to the tourists.

Been pretty frugal this month, so far! No unexpected expenses and within food and spending budget.

Today has been a NSD.

Yesterday £40 on a tank of fuel but I've just switched to a hybrid car and a lot of my journeys are now on electric so it will be interesting to see how long that lasts me. We have chargers at work so win win.

Food
Tonight is courgette and cashew curry, home made naan.
Tomorrow friends round for a takeout so will be spendy
Prawn fried rice (using price match prawns)
Family round Sunday so bought lamb and salmon therefore £££
Aubergine parmigiana
Tuna and apple pasta bake
Going to knock up a big batch of tomato sauce for pasta and freezer.
Roasted Greek vegetables, flatbread and salad.

Ps - hope those who have DC. with A Level exam results out today are celebrating.

DC have been bickering a lot today, Dmum has been hard work too on the emails. I escaped to the supermarket this evening to escape everyone as I was very fed up 🤣. I almost want to go back to work early ha ha.

Have finally made progress with getting Dmum to agree to sort out her Power of Attorney though.

Need, I hope you don’t mind me asking but did you need POA for your husband over the last year? I think DH thinks i’m nuts for suggesting we do ours now naming each other. And then we’d re do it in the future when the DC are old enough.

Sorry to hear of the stress for you Rum

I didn't notice but they definitely have that style of shoes downstairs I'll try post screenshot of coupon too

Refund of €55.25 because dds county top cuff frayed after two wears. They couldn't reorder because low stock so I'll try online later

Good news for is here with DD, she is off to Manchester. Hope north DD did ok, sorry if I’ve missed anyone else with results pending!

please can I ask anyone who’s interested a finances question? DS2 (15) is off to Spain for 2 weeks with his friend’s family. His grandparents live there and they are staying in the family house and will eat at home mostly I think, so not a very expensive trip. His friend is 16 while they’re away so having DS there is partly a birthday trip. I’ll pay for DS spends, they’re paying for his flight.
My question is, is it a good idea for me to send DS with some money (say £100) towards a meal while they’re there? And if I do should I give them cash in euros or offer to transfer it to the mum? I don’t want to overdo it as it’s actually not too pricey of a holiday, but also I’m very conscious that we couldn’t afford to take another child on holiday and DS will eat a lot, so don’t want to be stingy either!!
thanks for any thoughts

I would give the mum euros if it was me.

Two weeks €150 is still a cheap holiday for him and would cover his entrance if they were to go to any attractions

Thanks happier, I think you’re right, best to give the euros. They’re going sat and I’m busy tomorrow so was just trying to work out when I could get them 😂
I will send him with about £100 spends too, the meal money is on top of that

She might give it back to you or else she might be very grateful, either way that's what I would do.

Yesterday £73 Tesco on bugger all. 56 petrol

So yesterdays spends:
€50 nails and toenails (and they were worth every cent!)
€12 bottle of red
€26 in the chinese cos my nails were too pretty to be chopping food for dinner.

Today I have a lash lift which was already 50% paid so I think 25euro and I will cook today mainly cos we go away Sunday and I want to use up bits from the fridge.

€20 on half leg wax, eyebrow wax & tint
€8.50 in Centra on treats for sleepover

Hello all. Rum - keep buggering on, as Churchill apparently was fond of saying. Sounds very miserable, and sorry you are going through it. I am reading Alison Lurie's Foreign Affairs - new to me, and very funny if you are looking for light relief and distraction.

Spent yesterday cleaning the house - mostly floors, which were filthy from a combination of crap dragged in from the work going on outside, and dust from my carpet stripping. Everything feels clean and fresh today and I feel about 100 years old. Need a darn good stretch out. DH brought home a lovely Charlie Bingham chicken tagine and some couscous yesterday, as I CBA to cook. Waitrose Canary Wharf on a Thursday evening is an absolute feeding frenzy of hungry bankers buying instant dinners apparently. (DH not a banker, so Waitrose a treat for us.)

DS home today, so need to do a decent food shop, and buy more bits for French trip. We have torn through the joint account funds this month - Ddog's animal health certificate, Ddog's haircut, extra groceries for DS, increased costs on energy, Virgin media, insurances, council tax are all making their presence felt.

DH's costs on the garden landscaping project higher than anticipated - he needed more skilled labour days than he first thought, and more materials. We've still saved somewhere around £7k by doing the grunt work ourselves though, and we have a nicer garden than before.

My own renovations should be in the low hundreds. I had a plasterer come around and the good news is, the necessary repairs are nothing I can't do myself. This is also terrible news, of course, because there's now nowhere to hide and I just have to get back up the ladder with my scrapers and sandpaper. My floor sanding, sealing and painting project is also nothing I can't manage, for not very much money. It's just going to take time, patient effort (and some decent knee pads!) I will be listening to a lot of podcasts again this autumn. Anybody else like The Rest is History?

Good grief Happier. That’s dreadful. Goodo on the 4.40 runners. Coupons are fantastic.

Thank you Need and Time. I* don’t think it’s nuts Time*. POAs are a rather sensible thing to do. When something happens that you need it for it’s too late and if you never need it that’s good. Things (health wise) can deteriorate quickly and trying to set one up at that point will be more difficult.

Martha well done to your daughter. I’d give euros to the mum too.

Big Thank you. Bugger on I will. I’m distracting myself watching Disney+. And not being frugal. I looked up the podcast you mentioned and it looks interesting so I will give it a try when I workout how to listen to one. A good saving you’ve made on the garden work. I will take inspiration.

Todays spending has been £5.29 on Snapfish on two photocards. Chocolate milk in Aldi £1.09, £3.36 in Marks and Spencer on hand soap and some yellow stickered scones and about £4 in Asda on mango lassi. I have left over curry for the next few days so I’m looking forward to the lassi with that.

Took a long lunch and went into town to look at walking poles. There were folded and attached to cardboard so will have to try somewhere else as I want to get the length right.

I'd to go back the thread to see what was dreadful Rum it's in the past now, and I'm glad I left him. 5 years on I think his gf of all that time has seen the light too, I'm hearing that the relationship in on/off on the grapevine.

Back from Amsterdam and a. Lovely few days away. We are defo more of a city break family than loads of beach.
Spendy but worth it. Used rest of pot on a phone for DD and I (refurbished).
Will use Aug back pay for new tumble dryer

Frugal fail. I would have sworn my mortgage was 5 year fix but the one the solicitor for was only 2 years. Dam going up £200 pm from Nov.
I recall it was a very stressful time and the girl at the bank was shit.

Glad to hear it life

Afternoon.

@Timetoswitch. We didn't have POA in place at the time (we do now). Without going into too much detail, I sincerely and deeply wish that we had gotten around to it (we also thought we were pretty young to be thinking about that aspect of things). Life would have been so different. You are sensible to be thinking of such matters. Only thing is, a solicitor would advise not to have just one person as attorney, in case something happens to said person.

You can adjust walking poles @RumBananaSundae

Hooray for your daughter @marthasmum!

Todays spends £42 in Sainsbury's on provision for guests at the weekend.

Bugger re the mortgage @life

Pizza for tea tonight with friends so will post that tomorrow