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.

£18.45 Lidl. Free donut as it's my birthday.
£7.64 three meal deals for the first day of our trip tomorrow, DH gets a staff discount at one of the supermarkets. Headed to Blackpool Pleasure Beach before checking into the accommodation. I reckon we'd pay around £7.95 for one meal there so a bit of a frugal win.

DH going to light the bbq when it stops raining 😂☔ we were trying to save money not getting takeaway, plus DS has allergies so we often have to get two types of takeaway. 🙈

Happy Birthday kessie

Happy birthday kessie

Happy birthday @kessiebird, enjoy the doughnut!

Happy birthday Kessie hope you enjoyed your donut
Spends today
Morrisons £38
Tesc £70
Aldi £25
Bought some sale stuff from TU online
Excellent bargains
3 x bodysuits for Dd2 for her work £3 each from £10 each
2 x Bodysuit sets for Dd2 friend who is having a baby excellent value at £6 each instead of £20 each & they are so sweet!
2 x cardigans for Mum @ £4.80 each instead of £14 each
Black denim midi dress for me for £7.50 from £24 and it is gorgeous l love it !
Hope everyone is ok take care all

Checked my mortgage agreement and it's actually 36 months fixed at 2.5% so it's not an issue until next year, my LTV will be lower then so that might improve the rates.

Might have come around ds to upcycle a kallax unit for his room with comic wallpaper or dc film. I have paint got to paint it but he's not keen on that so I thought of this plan today!! I have a 8 bay one or a 4 bay one so will see how I get on.

Did you see any dolphins Kessie? Happy belated birthday.

Boo to the endoscopy Martha hope it all comes back OK.

Wowzer on the Booths box North. And congratulations to your daughter.

Good luck with the marathon prep Need. Can’t say I enjoy running but running in heat most definitely does not appeal.

Last few days spending:
£13.89 on blister plasters for next year. I got them buy one get the second half price so I probably bought twice as many as I would have done.
£4.91 on odds and ends for the freezer and some chocolate milk.
£4.10 on picnic bits for a picnic dinner I went to yesterday. Have left overs.
£3.65 on chocolate milk and something for dinner this week.
£2.80 on Vinted for a buff for next year. It was £2 and the rest was some kind of insurance. Seems a bit silly. My first dalliance with Vinted. Will see what happens.

Have seen a T-shirt I like in the sale but have resisted so far. Still nothing on the newsletter I was trying to signup to. I was looking forward to the 10% off code. Hearing rumours at work there might be a pay rise on the way. That would be nice. Though I have no idea where they’d get the money from.

Fingers crossed for the pay rise @RumBananaSundae

Had a NSD here and too busy to spend 'owt anyway!!

Hi, just got back from a weeks holiday, very much needed it was lovely.

DS1 is off to Leeds festival today.

Going to sort out a couple of refunds today. Ordered a dress in the Yours sale but didn’t like it so that’s being returned, saving me about £18. Then a couple of weeks ago I ordered a couple of things from Boots to be delivered to store. Totally forgot about them, so I’ve decided I clearly don’t need them. So I’m going to collect and arrange a return, hopefully there and then. That was about £20.

That money will probably go towards some new astro trainers for DS2. His others are years old and absolutely battered. He’s doing PE as a GCSE when he goes back in Sept so he deserves a decent new pair.

Not very good at keeping up atm 🙈

Spent ystd evening trying to lift the Lino in the bathroom and downstairs loo, had an absolute nightmare with it and called my brother over who also struggled. The floor guy had told me it 'would lift straight up' which was definitely not the case!!

If I'd known how awful it was going to be I'd have paid the extra to get them to lift it. As it is it looks awful as still loads of glue and backing on the floors so not sure what the fitter will say to that.

Paydays Friday and I've got just enough to pay the floor bloke today and then I'm cleaned out.

Ystd I got £25 of petrol and £5 on an unsatisfactory Greggs from the service station.

girlie sometimes lino is laid without any glue, I know that's the case in my parents house. You've made me think I'd better check mine too to see which is the case and I want it replaced whenever my extension begins.

Could you use a paint scraper to scrape off the glue that's left behind?

Yesterday ended up being a NSD despite the fact I took my children to the amusements, they were very overwhelmed yesterday with back to school looming and anxiety around the amusements so dd had a meltdown, usually that's ds, he just froze. And dm paid for takeway €23 for two burgers and chips, scandalous

Girlie - would white spirit dissolve the glue residue? It can be a miracle worker on crap left behind.

I scraped off the water-damaged paper and paint, as per the plasterer's instructions, and now I remember why that wall required a robust lining paper in the first place - it's quite crumbly beneath. Definitely not a job I can do myself, so I have messaged the plasterer with photos. One for the second half of September though, so parked now.

Garden path should be finished today! Also, eye tests, more financial admin to do with the apparently never-ending signing life policy into trust procedure, more holiday shopping and prep. Dparents over last night for dinner and to catch up with DS. A successful evening, everyone in good spirits and - I mean this in the nicest possible way - my duty done and I can now focus on getting stuff ready here.

I did as much scraping as I could last night, the bathroom is the worst and I think he might have to put something else like plywood down first 😕 ugh why are these things never straightforward?! Will wait and see what the fitter says as he's turning up later this morning.

Blimey happier that's steep for burger and chips!!

I'm not feeling great, anyone the other side of the menopause who knows if it's normal to have period type aches and pains for the week up to your period actually starting?! I'm certain I'm peri menopausal.

What a pain about the floor girlie, that sounds hard when you’re not feeling well.
happier sorry you had a stressful day out big sounds like you are steaming ahead with home improvements!
curls- my DS1 is going to Leeds fest too! He did better than expected in his AS levels so I’ve offered him £50 towards food. He was going to exist on cereal bars for 4 days. He and his three mates are apparently paying DD £10 each plus petrol money for a lift there, so she’s profiting significantly from that. He has prepared by getting a sleeping bag and a camping mat out of the cupboard 😂😂

Flooring bloke said upstairs needs new plywood and downstairs needs sorting as well 😭 looking at around £280 extra.

Ffs.

Oh no! This was a tight month already wasn’t it?

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Away for a couple of nights in Blackpool. Nice apartments. Spends have been:

Yesterday:
£13 Maccies breakfast as we left so early.
£28.50 drinks and tram fares
£10.99 super drug
75p boots
£20.80 Chinese takeaway

So roughly £74 yesterday

Today
£24.50 photos and guide book from Madame Tussards
£16.26 coop
£3 ice cream at The Circus
£9.95 round of drinks in the Ballroom.

Eating out tonight so that might be spendy.

All the tickets were booked in advance and worked out much cheaper than paying on the door.

Could be worse!

Ah no! Once it's done and looks lovely it will be worth it but pain at the time. 😔

@Happierwithouthim that's a great idea , l think it will look fab!
That is a lot for 2 burgers and chips !
@marthasmum hope your endoscopy results are absolutely fine lovely.
Congratulations to your Ds1 on his AS levels too
North Congratulations to your Daughter smile]
Need best of luck re the marathon !
Rum good luck re the pay rise
Curls glad you had a good holiday hope your Ds1 has a great time at the festival , l am sure he will
Girlie that's a right pita l am sorry lovely
Re this pain you are feeling . I think it's the rise in Prostaglandin , caused by the release of Oestrogen giving you that pain a week before your period. l had it when l was Perimenopausal and it was painful, bless you
Big hope your garden path is finished today lovely
Spends today Approved foods £56 giving it a go see what it is like .
Petrol £20
TKMAXX £5 for new baby card, bag and paper
Costco £80
£50 of that was wild bird seed
Cancer charity shop had a load of lovely books from there 2 for a £1
Hope everyone is ok

Pity girlie but will be worth it.

I've found out my builder is back at work again so hopefully that means my extension can go ahead this year.

€14.85 at deli counter, €7 to be repaid by colleague tomorrow. Mine was a dinner so at least I'm sorted for today.

Fingers crossed for NCT later on

Just back from flooring place, had to pay £150 for new plywood and need to pay the fitter £285 next week. That's with me lifting the old plywood.

This has doubled the expected cost, I feel a bit sick.

Just when I start to get my head above water 😓

Girlie I'm sorry this has happened for you, takes the good out of the home improvements

@marthasmum congrats to your DS on his exams!

@Girliefriendlikespuppies boo to the extra floor expense. But at least you know it’ll be done properly.

Got my refunds sorted, just waiting for them to hit my account. I had an extra 4 hour shift at work today but ended up leaving after 2.5 hours because it was just dead. Back to school season is definitely not what it used to be. And it’s not just us, all shoe shops are reporting a major downturn in trade. And I’m not surprised, school shoes are not cheap and if you can pick up a cheap pair in with the supermarket shop, then why not?

Every month is a tight month.

I have some savings but this will put a big hole in them and it means I have nothing saved for Christmas.

Happier fingers crossed for your extention
Girlie l am sorry lovely
Curls well done on getting your refunds. l have a feeling some ppl don't bother to get their money back you know
Re Christmas you all know about the prequel thread on the Christmas Topic don't you ?
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/4792534-christmas-bargain-prequel-2023-thread-2-the-one-without-a-side-order-of-chips?page=12&reply=126784227

Only l know it's a very expensive time especially with the electricity and the Gas costing a fortune
Got to say to all of us struggling with Christmas costs , charity shops and car boots are my go to when l am up against it . Honestly the stuff l have bought that has been new in box is unbelievable . A Lush set for £3, a Body shop set for £3 , both worth far more that that . You have to be at the right place and the right time but give it a go . I bought a Pinch of Nom recipe book for 50 p , it hadn't even been looked at. I hope l haven't offended anyone by suggesting this and forgive me if you are rolling your eyes because you know this already
l just wanted to help if l could