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.

Congratulations on the senior role martha
I am off to London today to see some friends. It will be nice but I’m suffering from constipation 😳 so feeling bloated and generally uncomfortable. from a frugal perspective I’ve set aside the money and am getting the coach rather than the train to save a few £££!
Any remedies please send them my way.
alfie it sounds like you’ve a lot on your plate 💐

Gen skin on kiwis are great

€10.35 on milk, meat for dinner & an animal bar

Just did an online shop for click & collect at Dunnes €40.45 using the €10 off €50 voucher, will get it tomorrow

Busy week.

dd started school. Ds In Year 1. Both still loving school.

the heat has hit here and it’s glorious. Been to the beach today. Took a use up what’s in the fridge picnic. Yum.

have had 4 bbqs on the beach this week. And sea swims. Yay.

Fell off thread last week and I haven't been very frugal really 🙈

£50 oven cleaner (it looks like a new oven and it was so grim!)

£50 co op to avoid going to Aldi

£40 meal out last night for dd and I, a treat to mark the end of the summer.

Umm think that's the main spends, need to get dds bus pass which will be around £100 for a month but I should be getting some of that back via her bursary. Also need to pay £48 for my Pilates class for the next 6 weeks.

After all that I'll be left with pretty much £0 for the rest of the month 🤦‍♀️

Sorry you have so much on Alfie. Ask to work from home - surely if that’s where you’re more productive it would be difficult to argue.

Hope you’re having a good weekend away Martha.

Happier it’s paid now. It was the assumption. It was for a private room in one of the auberges so I do prefer the upgrade (otherwise it would be a dormitory). It was irritating to not be asked first.

Prune juice Gensola. I hope you’re not too uncomfortable.

Took a fun trip into London on Friday. Went shopping after watching the gun salute in Hyde Park but found nothing I wanted so spent nothing.

Have been a tad reckless since. £28 in a variety of grocery shops. £10 was in Lidl on marzipan chocolate. I ordered some photos from Snapfish as I had a coupon and that was just over £8. I’ll put them up by my desk in the flat to hopefully make work a little easier.

Anyone else watching the rugby?

79 Tesco. Bought new Jamie Oliver book. Mediterranean based. Think I fancied it due to the weather. Will need petrol tomorrow

I've got that book @Thestartofsomethinggood, I haven't had chance to look at it yet, hopefully I'll have a look next week when we are on holiday.

Sorry things are so tough @Alfiemoon1, it really does sound like you got a whole load of stress in your life at the moment.

I agree @RumBananaSundae, just the assumption you'll upgrade is so cheeky. We watched most of the rugby, finally England turned up!

Syrup of fig and lots of fluid @Gensola. Hope you enjoyed London anyway.

Well done on the new role @marthasmum

A low spend weekend here in terms of shopping and general expense, although I've spent about £40 at Amazon on boring stuff to do with cleaning or oat milk etc.

Had a lovely afternoon on Saturday watching the local cricket team win promotion. DH was bought a couple of pints, I was driving and generally stick to tap water so nothing spent.

Menu plan
Fish curry and homemade naan last night
Ox cheek slow cooked harissa casserole tonight and hopefully tomorrow but DS eats like he has hollow legs.
Aubergine and peanut stew
Lemon orzo chicken if needed, or maybe sweet potato dhal depending on mood.

Lemon orzo chicken is always needed, Need 😉

Especially here, as we are now home but without a kitchen! Or back patio doors, for that matter, or carpet on the stairs, or running water downstairs…. The list goes on. Managing with a microwave and a single induction hob plate but counting down the days until the kitchen is in. I thought ready meals would be very expensive but it’s not working out too badly - I think offset by me not cooking for other people anywhere near as much as usual, or buying expensive ingredients! Still, I’m not a fan of them and can’t wait to cook again. Another 3-4 weeks, I reckon.

it’s all very dusty and inconvenient and noisy but we’re all glad to be home.

The project has all gone very over budget on mostly boring stuff (remember the electrics? There was also insulation, drainage, rooflights… all thousands) so it’s going to take some doing to build up our savings again. And I’m absolutely exhausted from project managing while working… 2023 has been a record-breaking year for stress and late nights, but once it’s done we will just have to make sure we enjoy it A LOT!

I need to read back a bit, will catch up soon

Good evening everyone
Only 22 C here today so it is a lot better
Hope everyone is ok
Have been suffering from Vertigo but much better now thank God !
Great news on the new job Martha
North that is a shocking price for the student accommodation
Em sounds like heaven
Happier love F&F for clothes
Gen hope you had a great time in London and have managed to perform
Half it will all be so worth it
Hope things improve for you Alfie
Thestart love JO l can see why you bought it given the weather
Rum my family have been hooked to the rugby
Need lovely meal plans
Spends today have been Home Bargains £25
Tesco £ 75
Hope everyone is ok sorry if l have missed you out in my catch up

One of the reasons I’ve been so quiet on here is dd.

she has turned into a monster. She turned 4 in July and the tantrums started. She’s slapped bitten kicked broken her bed. This evening she ran at me and got me I. The stomach with the stick end of her hobby horse. Last weekend she ran at me mid tantrum whilst I was trying to strain boiled potatoes. So I got splashed with boiling water. Super.

anyone got any tips for dealing? It’s usually when she’s tired. So a better routine is needed. I know she’s gone through a huge amount of change. Leaving pre school. 6 weeks off. Reception. Etc. but this can’t last for ever can it!

em that sounds really tough - no advice here but lots of sympathy.
need is the aubergine and peanut stew from Lerato?

mrs hope you are ok, vertigo is horrible.

WFH this morning then into work later for meetings. Thanks for all the tips - I am feeling lots better though I suspect still a bit constipated. Too much protein and not enough fibre so need to work on that this week.
Oat bran and raspberry smoothie with kefir for breakfast today 😁

@ememem84 sounds like a tough time with dd. I remember similar with ds1. He’d get to about Thursday then it was just meltdown after meltdown. It’s a long tiring week to have to get used to, plus your dd is only just 4. The other thing I picked up on at the time was that they spend all day on their best behaviour, which is great. But it’s like a pressure cooker, they have to let off steam. And so they do it with the ones they know they can do it with, who care about them the most. Does that make sense?

I mean, I’ve no magic solution to it. But it does get better.

Not much to report here. Other than this month the bills account is looking much better now there’s no more Sky, part of the mortgage is paid off and British Gas decided to lower our dd by £50 a month!

Absolutely throwing it down here this morning.

Em age 4 and 5 really challenging, I found the book 'how to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk' helpful. It's quite an old book now, been around since the 80s! But it still had a lot of useful tips in how to communicate with dd when she was having a meltdown.

I've spent so much money this month so the rest of the month has to be so frugal! I found some casserole mix in the cupboard that says best before 2022 😬 if it's just herbs that'll be okay won't it?!

Gen thank you l am so much better
You are being so good that breakfast sounds a bit meh to me tbh but well done !
Em l read Toddler training many moons ago and l know technically your Dd isn't a toddler now but the advice l stuck to was, fully reward & praise the good behaviour , try to ignore the not too bad behaviour and whatever you say the consequences are for really bad behaviour, you must carry it through & be consistent. Hope your Dd is out of this stage soon
Girlie get it in the casserole it will be delicious l am sure
Curls glad things are better this month
Am taking a load of black bags to the charity shops today , Dd 1 has been decluttering . Cat charity here we come. l just have to make sure l don't buy anything when l am there
Spends today Morrisons £5 Aldi £12

Hope the next few weeks go quickly for you Half. And that they’re not too trying.

Glad you’re much better New vertigo isn’t pleasant.

Sounds like you’re having a torrid time Em. Very sorry I have no words of wisdom but hope it passes.

Spending has been rather slapdash. Over the last two days £20.78 on random groceries and a gift for a friend (and posting it). I’ve tacked another two days onto France in December so paid the hotel for that. Justifying it by deciding to not go to a book fair in Paris this weekend. Given my current itchy fingers and irritation at seemingly everything there’s time for me to change my mind.

Booked a days leave for the coroner’s inquest as I have a date now. Not sure if I’ll go yet.

Forgot to say my £20.78 included my first box of mince pies for the year. They’ve already been opened.

em that sounds tough. I second the book girlie mentioned. Also ‘the explosive child’. DD was a very fiery little girl and is lovely now. Likewise DS1 had some horrible episodes around 11, funnily enough when he went to a new school. It’s very upsetting if it feel unpredictable and it catches you on the hoof if it’s new behaviour.

I know it sounds a bit hippy (and DP and I clashed over this) but I’m a big believer on talking to them after the tantrum/ consequences are over to try and find out what’s been going on. I did this with all mine as I wasn’t raised with much emotional vocabulary and I really wanted them to be. They are all good at talking about feelings now (though easier for DS1 than the others ironically). The behaviour is coming from something they’re struggling with (that’s the message in The Explosive Child book).

Hi all,

I should really be in bed but I'm doing that childish thing of staying up late so as to extend my evening. I'll regret it in the morning!

Anyway, I had a lovely weekend in Galway and Mayo for my friend's 50th. I stayed in my friend's apartment for the first night, an Air B&B the second night and a hotel for the third night. It worked out quite expensive between petrol, accommodation, meals, drinks, a birthday present etc. We didn't do much by way of activities - we went for a long hike (free) and did a cruise (approx. €20). We'd been talking about a spa treatment but the hotel spa was quite expensive, so we didn't indulge. However, the hotel had a deal for one night's B&B with evening dinner, with a thermal bath thrown in. We also had the use of the jacuzzi.

I've just logged all my spending for the first half of the month. Groceries are lower than usual but eating out is higher owing to the weekend away.

I don't know if I mentioned it already but DD qualified for a partial grant. So, half of her college fees will be paid. We've to pay the remainder of the fees between us. That's the good news.

The bad news is that my car still isn't sorted (headlights issue). I rang the garage today, to see if they got the new light switch. To cut a long story short, they'd forgotten about me. But I've now booked the car in for Monday morning and the mechanic I spoke to is going to do yet another check before he orders anything. However, he said I may still need to bring it to an auto repair place <sighs>.

It's turned rather chilly today which has reminded me that I'll need to order home heating oil soon, to see me through to January hopefully. And I want to buy an electric blanket when I get paid. My aim is to restrict the heating to three hours a day, same as last year (an hour in the morning, an hour around teatime and an hour at bedtime). If I'm in the sitting room, I'll use the oil filled radiator or light the fire (weekends mostly), so I'm just heating that room, as opposed to the whole house. We have assorted blankets in the sitting room so we usually wrap ourselves in blankets when we're watching TV in winter.

I need to lie low and take it very easy between now and Christmas.

There's assorted weather warnings for the morning 🌧. Not looking forward to venturing outside.

Hope everyone is good. I'm having a quiet weekend so I'll catch up on your news then.

three nights of much better behaviour from dd. routine routine routine.

last night she took a while to get into bed and asleep but no tantrums. so that's a plus. and she's been praised. phew.

day off today for the kids - air display so i'm working from home. they're in the background playing legos. i've banned tv for a bit. whether this works out for me or not....

just done expenses form for work £450 to claim back. a combination of conference tickets (all day £208...) flights to london for a day trip to meet a new client (£135), "networking" (coffee and lunches) and then other training expenses - paid for webinars etc. that will be back in my account either on payday (next Thurs) or end of the month. phew.

I've also just dropped some money on flights to Lisbon. Dh is there for the websummit conference in November. he's away the entire week it's on. so i thought i'd fly over with him on the saturday and fly back on the monday. will have just over 24 hours in lisbon. enough time for a couple of custard tarts, a nice lunch and sometime away from the kids. parents have said they will have them for the weekend which is so so nice of them. we need a break! thankfully BA have their sale on. its extravagant but it'll be nice to have the time just us.

Good Morning everyone
Rum thank you so much. l know what they mean 'walking like a crab' now
That sounds like a very good idea re France
Em wonderful news re Dd
Lisbon sounds like a great idea , well done Parents !
Tayto marvelous news about your Dd having a partial grant it will be a help l am sure. l am worrying already about the Winter fuel bills
Hope they sort your car out
Martha sound advice
Weather is ok here atm not raining at least
Spends for today Morrisons £32 Home Bargains £24
Hope everyone has a good day

Morning.

Poor you @HalfWomanHalfChocolate, what a lot of upheaval you've had. How are the DC coping with it all?

@Gensola Zoe has a podcast re constipation that's only 9 minutes long and interesting.

Your weekend away sounds lovely @Taytocrisps, great news about the grant for your DD.

Spending is higher than usual but made up of bits and bobs for our holiday on Saturday and out of that budget. I've organised a big food delivery to arrive in the evening so I'll only pack all my beloved spices etc into the car as we will be rammed with all the dogs and DH's stuff.

Doing that last minute thing of trying to organise work, home, holiday juggle juggle these next two days!

It's DS's birthday today! 24, how did that happen? Going to get him a Colin the Caterpillar cake on the way back from DH's therapy, he loves them. 🤣

@needastrongoneagain in our house it’s not a birthday if there’s no caterpillar cake!

I make everyone else’s birthday cakes but no
one makes me one so I always have a Colin for myself. It’s probably nicer anyway 😂

I can feel the approach of winter - last weekend was so HOT it was hard to imagine but the nights are already getting cold. Amazing how much you feel it with a nearly 6m hole in the back of your house 🙄. I am told the doors are coming this weekend, though I’ll believe it when I see it! Kitchen is being delivered tonight or tomorrow, I hope tomorrow as I haven’t managed to cover my new floor yet - fingers crossed there’s no damaged units as I really don’t want any more delays.

I have not been as frugal as I should have been. I took my direct reports out this week for a team
lunch - something we never take the time to do - as two of them had milestone birthdays. We went to a superb veggie Indian restaurant and stuffed ourselves silly with amazing food and it was only £120 for six of us. No booze, though I offered! Otherwise, more Amazon bits for the house whenever we run out of something /lose it, new shoes and trainers for both DC last week, and lots of ready meals. Food shopping is very disorganised so it’s hard to keep track of food spends. I am not going to fret about it till the kitchen is in.

Tonight I need to work (work is absolutely horrendous at the moment, I am having to do something that is upsetting lots of people and feel as though I’m attacked from every which way) and also buy birthday presents for DS and do an online food shop. Also still need knobs for the kitchen, and to choose my quartz worktops. That is a BIG DECISION! I think it could be a late night again.

Very much looking forward to the weekend. Counting the hours.

Oh half you sound so busy. I really hope your kitchen is in soon. I’ve had a very busy work week with early starts, late finishes but at least not carnage at home. I left at 4.30 today to get home for 6 to have a takeaway with DD as she goes to uni on sat. £39 for 5 of us.

That seems very bargainous for takeaway for 5 Martha. Either London is vair expensive or I am a pig. Or both.

So busy here, I am unbelievably knackered. Just about to give up work for the night. I have a really horrible meeting today at 4pm (being thrown to the wolves!) and I’m going straight from that to the fridge for a G&T!

Still, I reckon the house will be fairly straight in 3-4 weeks and then I will be able to breathe out at last and take some time for myself. Yay. Apart from all the bedroom decorating that is required for the Great Reshuffe.

I frequently daydream about throwing caution to the wind and booking a holiday in Tenerife in October half term. We are all spent up so can’t really, and it’s not our usual style of holiday at all. but the thought of actual holiday relaxation, no cooking and some nice weather is incredibly tempting as I really do feel completely burnt out. Frugaleers, hold me back!