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.

Afternoon everyone
Well it's beautiful day here . l am on my second line full of washing out and l hope to have that dry in an hour or two , weather permitting
@needastrongoneagain thank you re the decluttering it has taken us ages and we are still at it tbh !
So glad you enjoyed Scotland even though it was a sad for your Dh & you with his Father's funeral , bless him & you
Well done on the spends. l hope you have a lovely weekend with your guests
@Girliefriendlikespuppies Re Costa it is so expensive in there. l want to try their new Maple Hazel Hot Chocolate , it's supposed to taste like liquid Ferrero Rocher yummy!
@RumBananaSundae hope you are feeling much better after your SARS vaccination bless you
@northender thank you re the decluttering and great work you too !
@HalfWomanHalfChocolate well done on all the work you are doing and the savings you are making , also excellent job booking your OCADO slot !
@ememem84 oh yes the ppl watching sweet spot
@BigSkies2022 excellent work re the frugal savings , l have Borrow box and Libby app as well saves buying any magazines too
@Happierwithouthim glad you are getting along with your alterations , pity about the IKEA shelf but great news you survived Storm Agnes , it didn't really bother us here too much just windy and raining but nothing like on the coast
@Wolfcub thank you for the reminder Wolf
Spends here £40 on Marks for trousers for me , Morrisons £16, Home Bargains £32, Aldi £22 & £12 for paint from the local DIY
Hope l have caught up with everyone & everyone is well

Had trouble with accessing MN so I have changed my name from MrsMad to MaryGreenhill you can call me anything you like lol

I was only in for about 20 minutes North. I love my teeth and would probably have some kind of CV incident if I ever had an issue.

It’s nice seeing work pay off Girlie. I’m starting to think of Christmas too. Hoping it will be a cheap one as the biggest expense was family related and as we’ve fallen out that won’t be the case this year.

Sounds like the house is going well Half.

Goodness Big you could be me. Would love to find a wad of cash to buy a place in France. Wish I’d done it in better times. Hope your mother is on the mend.

Glad you had a nice break Need.

Thank you New.

Have spent £1.09 today on some chocolate milk. Nothing on Wednesday and Thursday. Went to the office once so saved a bit there. Can’t believe how early it gets dark now.

Plans with flakey friend tomorrow so will probably do nothing. Have some life admin to do too. Still haven’t replied to him yet about the mediation. Also need to send evidence off to the ombudsman. I saw this site has a 60% off code for photobooks at Photobox so I might look at those. Decided not to renew two memberships so while I’m not saving I’m not spending.

I think my pay looked particularly healthy this month as I had my extra hours plus some over time from the previous month 🤔 in which case next months won't be as good which is a bit disappointing. My tax, NI and pension take a third of my actual pay which is galling.

Dd failed her theory test for the second time this morning ☹️ she's really upset, currently sobbing on her bed but won't let me comfort her 😥 not sure why as she's done loads of practice papers. Think things are cooling off with the bf as well which is a worry as she's very keen on him. Teens are so stressful.

Spent £59 on Superdrug this morning, got two nice face creams, a lot of vitamins and various other bits which were all on offer for that.

Just spent £50 on amazon, got dd some theory test flash cards, a little backpack bag for me (will be useful for dog walks) and a few other bits that have been in the basket for ages.

@Girlie aw bless your Dd , tell her everyone l know hasn't passed their theory first time . Both of mine took 2 attempts , my Bf son did it after 4 attempts . I looked into it and you can click the hazard video too many times which goes against you . Once l told my Dds about it they passed the next time . Personally l think it's a money making scheme/ scam 🙄
@Rum have a lovely day with your Flaky friend 🤗
Spends before l even got up were £136 for two new front tyres from ATS 🙄
Have a smashing day everyone 🤗

Hi all, I’ve been missing in action for a bit as it’s been a super busy couple of weeks at work with the new academic year, someone off sick and my new role. Really helping it will settle. I actually stopped at 5.30 on Fri (earliest I’ve finished for weeks) and had an evening with DP which was really nice. DS2 football this morning and then been on a 13k run which was grim in the rain!
DP saved us some money in the week as we had a bathroom leak which he fixed. I bet you can’t wait to be finished half. We have all DD’s stuff just dumped in what is now the spare bedroom, don’t think either of us have the heart to start sorting it! She’s having a ball though. How is your DD getting on north?
I have been eyeing up M&S -mrs. I have some trousers from there that fit me really well and am thinking of getting them in a different colour. Plus seen some knee length boots I really like. But I can’t afford that just yet. I have splurged on a train ticket to visit friends in bristol
next week (£107). Could have driven which would have been cheaper but I love train trips and I decided I am worth it! We are planning a cheap weekend once I’m there. Did have to raid the house spends pot to pay for it though.
Happy belated birthday ems DS.
-girlie does your DD have the app? Mine have used it to test themselves, I can ask the name if she hasn’t heard of it.
I have solved the child benefit issue. I can take my pension contributions off my taxable pay and that takes me below 50,000 so don’t have to do anything about it yet. I think my days of child benefit will nearly be finished by the time I’m no longer eligible!

Hey I’ve been reading and not posting. Not very frugal as it’s birthday season here for the 2 dc but I’m all over the Christmas thread for bargains as well
will try and keep up again

Mary I agree re money making scam, dd does fine on the hazard awareness bit and has been passing on the app which she does everyday so I don't really get it. She said some of the questions were written in a back to front way like 'which is the wrong mm of tread for a car tyre?' Rather than what's right, which she would know!

Anyway she did recover and has rebooked to sit it again in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the book and flash cards I've ordered her will help.

I spent £107 in Aldi Ystd, first big shop in ages and that included a brush cotton sheet for dds bed as her current one in down to threads!

Have just given my brother £40 for his 40th bday, big family get together this afternoon and i need to get up and start prepping food for it!

Sorry about your daughter’s theory test Girlie. Good luck for next time. Hope your get together is grand.

Had a lovely day with flakey friend Mary. We went to an exhibition about Georgian fashion. Then for cake and coffee. Ouch for the tyres.

My spends have been £90 yesterday for my Oyster card, about £17 on cake and coffee for two (friend paid for the exhibition) and 75p on a postcard to send to a friend. Today has been about £5 on random groceries in Aldi and Sainsbury.

Have found an activity I’d like to do on my holiday next summer so am reevaluating the cardigan saving.

Trying to think about my day trip to Paris next month. It’s meant to be shopping (with FF) so we’re attempting to plan some kind of route to make the most of the time.

Not managed to get my ombudsman evidence submitted. Can’t decide what to redact on my bank statements. I did make a start on the photobooks though. Can’t believe how tired I am and it’s Monday already tomorrow.

Evening everyone 🤗
@Martha well done to your Dh re the bathroom bless him 👏
Lovely stuff in M&S this season l keep looking longingly at their
Aviator jacket and lime green diamond long sleeved jumper ❤️
Have a great weekend with your friends next weekend.
Marvelous news re the child benefit situation good for you 🤗
@life happy birthday to your DC bless them !
🥳🎂🎁🎈🎉
@Girlie glad your Dd has recovered bless her & the very best of luck to her next time 🍀
@Rum glad you had a lovely time, l would have loved to go around that exhibition ❤️
Good luck with the ombudsman evidence it sounds hard work 🍀
Spends today £53 in Primark on joggers and Tee shirts for Dh for lounging about in the house to keep him warm ❤️
£56 petrol 148.9 per litre in Sainsbury , everywhere else locally was 156.9.
Watching the rugby with Dh and Dd2 , she just told me there are only 106 k Tongans living in Tonga. Omg it must be wonderful 🤗
Hope everyone is ok , take care all 🤗

How is my youngest 14!

on the train to Leeds to visit DS - dropping off some things, buying him lunch, doing some admin and home. It's a quiet carriage, but the people on the table opposite who are talking non-stop didn't get the memo! I'm going to put my earbuds back in in a minute and tune in to my French language programme.

Commiserations to your daughter, girlie. The queue for tests is shortening, which is good news, so once she has her theory test under her belt, she'll be able to go for her driving test in good time.

right, coffee! Ooh, where will my extravagance end???

Time truly flies Life. It’s 30 years this week since I started uni as a fresher. I feel so old…. 😭😭😭 and yet my children are still so little and dependent 😭😭😭

No wonder I’m knackered 😂.

I did my tax return last night and somehow have been taxed much more on the bit of income I had outside PAYE than I expected (the last bit of dividend from the company I had when I was self-employed). I wonder whether my employer has been using the wrong tax code on my PAYE as theres no other way my estimates could be so off. This is a bit of a blow because I now have to pay tax for last year, when I thought I was actually due a refund, and this has brought my remaining house budget right down for the end stretch. I was hoping to get some extra bits done like some built-in cupboards, replace an old window, get some plumbing /electrics done in a bedroom, buy some furniture for the new rooms etc. A hard review of expectations is required tonight! Sadly it also means we will be saving up all
next year to do those last bits instead of saving up to replenish savings, which makes me feel a bit anxious.

In more lighthearted news, somehow a blue tit got into the kitchen today, I think it might have been there all night as we had the doors open yesterday. DS was completely freaked out and shrieked a bit, it then hid in a hole in the wall by the patio doors (finishing /skirting not done yet) and seemed to get stuck. After much coaxing it found its way out. they are so beautiful close up! That was my excitement for today.

Their next exhibition is Holbein Mary. We’ve booked in for December so we can see the Christmas tree. I’m trying not to look at M&S as things keep catching my eye.

I’ve never been able to follow my taxes Half even though I’m fully PAYE. I called them once and it was painful so never again.

No spending today. Should really do some life admin but feel this evening will be spent vegetating on the sofa.

That is disappointing, Half - do you think it worth a call to HMRC? My tax return is a fairly simple affair, thankfully, but even so, it's taken me years of doing the same thing to remember that I have to add in 6 months of the subsequent year when I'm estimating what I'm going to owe.

Lovely day with DS yesterday, spent about £200 including rail fares, lunch, buying some materials for his course and other bits and pieces. We had a good financial admin session (he's paid off his overdraft, cancelled the facility, is saving for next summer via Chase, and I've persuaded him to open a stocks & shares ISA - if he manages to stick to this, or 80 per cent of it, he will be way ahead of where I was at his age - actually, probably way ahead of me at 40).

Other pleasurable spends - tickets for the Gareth Southgate play for DS and DH, posh wine for DH. That's DH's birthday taken care of. Also bought some allium and tulip bulbs (hoping DH will hear my hints about hydrangea plants for my birthday).

And that is it for my splurging - they were planned and budgeted for spends, and now they're done! Back to careful budgeting. I have the floor sanding to do, (no spend, so there's that) but it's so messy and noisy I can only manage a stint every few days. I have to clean up each time so that we can live through the job and not give up on it.

That's a bugger re the tax return @HalfWomanHalfChocolate, definitely worth a call to HMRC, they can tell you what tax codes were used etc. Such a drain on resources building work isn't it?

Flakey friend being less flakey @RumBananaSundae?

Wait until your youngest is 22 @lifelongfrugaleer 🤣

Nothing much to report here other than life being quite stressful at the minute and I'm really tired. Work is busy, DS working extra hours so I'm having to try care for DH as well, he's pretty down and I feel anxious all the time.

Money wise, apart from budgeted spends my only 'other' spend is £78 on theatre tickets for myself and DD for next week in York, Metamorphosis, adapted by Lem Sissay. Should be a nice treat for us both.

She is need. I have a feeling she’s saving the flake for next month’s day trip. Though I’m prepared for her cancelling I hope she does it with enough time for me to swap my train tickets. Sorry things are stressful at the moment.

Spent about £10 today in Sainsbury and Waitrose. I think I need to work on my eating from the cupboards as I promptly go out and buy replacements. I don’t think it helps that all my walking routes involve going past a supermarket.

Distracting myself from what I should be dealing with by thinking about Black Friday possibilities.

Hello need. I'm sorry DH is feeling low and placing extra pressure on you. Lemm Sissay excellent and hope you and DD have a great night.

@life hope he had the most amazing birthday 🎁🎂🎉
@BigSkies l love Lemn Sissay, he had such a tragic life the way he was treated . Bless his heart ❤️
Glad you had such a good time with your Ds too 🤗
@half that's awful about your tax l am sorry 😐
So glad that sweet little bird is alright, bless 🐦
@Rum omg that's brilliant you are going to see it again in Dec and the Christmas tree of ❤️
@Need hope you are feeling less tired , sorry to hear your DH is feeling low bless him and you💐
l love Lemn Sissay have a wonderful time ❤️🤗
We went to Tredegar House today , omg it was sublime . So beautiful and you can feel the stress lifting off as you walk around the grounds .
Spent a lot this month , Aldi 49, Lidl 6 , Morrisons £50
Have just been through a quagmire of energy providers about whether to fix or not but It will cost approximately 8% more and 100 for gas and 100 for electricity if we wanted to leave early . According to Martin Lewis if you can get a fix for only 1% more then take it but otherwise don't . So l have decided not to and am staying on variable tariff .
It's a hell of a decision though , so much work to get through to decide 😐
Anyway hope everyone is ok
Take care all 🤗

Argh typed a big post earlier and lost it when my friend sat into the car and I closed the app

I just noticed no one posted yesterday that's doesn't happen very often

I'm tired now so maybe tomorrow

Ds got a shiner today, he's almost 10, it's his first, he collided with my friends 7 year old.

DS had a lovely birthday thank you
DD is this weekend
need to do another big shop.
and buy a horse rug
and get a roof quote for a new single story roof sigh

Enjoy the birthday weekend round 2 life
You reminded me I started a shop to do a click and collect on Sunday and didn't complete it, I must do that.

I ordered Eatstro again this time at full price. €52 for 3 recipes for 2, but I got 10 portions out of the last batch and I had a boost to my weight loss journey too.

Things got spendy around here since I last posted on the thread.

My builder finally came and started on my en-suite, after that he'll move on to my extension which was meant to be just a utility, but to do it wide enough it was going to make the roof very awkward ie costly. So now, the plan is to remove my kitchen window and make an archway into extension, block up existing back door and this will create an 8' x 9' section in my kitchen which I'm going to turn into a living area, my kitchen will extend out and at back of kitchen will be utility room. It will create so much more functionality for not too much extra cost.

So I bought taps for both bathroom and en-suite to replace the 17 year old sets and update the sinks cheaply, builder will pick up button wastes for me. Amazon €33.81
Screwfix Shower & Tile Adhesive €329.90
Tiles for shower cubicle of en-suite and for both en-suite and main bathroom €500
Labour & Materials picked up by builder €2270
Basketball Membership for both dc €150, I'd budgeted €160 as it's €80 each so they got the extra €5 in their pocket money instead.

€6.44 on bookclub book again Amazon
€34.94 on meat from butchers & a roll for lunch yesterday
€5.60 on a wrap & small kinder bar for today's lunch
€2 on ear lobe cleanser because I left my earrings out a bit too long and one of the piercings is a little bit sore.

Dc's nephews birthday party is tomorrow so I'll throw €10 in card for him
€3 for youth club tonight, dd's first time going. she's got a friend visiting after school and I'll take them and then take her friend home.

Wow those are big spends happier but will hopefully be worth it.
sorry to hear you are having a tough time need
lovely to hear from you mrs (Mary) I agree with you, thinking about energy costs is exhausting!
Happy birthday to DD life
Sounds a great trip with DS big
Im on a train to Bristol, hooray! Going to see friends. It’s been a hell of a week at work and more to come, lots of staff shortages so I am really happy to get away for a break.
spent £28 on food, magazines and a book, Ahhh! But figure I work hard. DD’s loan has finally come through. It’s made me cross that it’s two weeks late. What on earth do kids do whose families can’t afford to help them out?
Had a nice chat with my DF yesterday who has dementia. He’s not really interested in conversation these days but we had a good rant about politics which he’s still very interested in 😂

Sorry also meant to say good luck with the last of the work half - sorry it has been so expensive and hard!

Your poor son Happier.

Happy birthday to your daughter Life. Big spends for you this week. Your renovations sound like they’re well on their way.

Have a great weekend Martha. A break is always nice.

Spending has been just over £10 in Sainsbury and Waitrose on Wednesday. Thursday was a no spend day. Yesterday was £12.20 in Marks. I didn’t even look at prices as I was fed up. I have things for the freezer so maybe not so bad when looked at like that.

Had an impromptu trip to the office yesterday. Took a stroll round the food hall at Selfridges but there was nothing I wanted. The cheese counter was a pretty poor offering. Fortnum’s is the same these days. Disappointing but glad I didn’t spend anything.

Not a good week at work. More neighbour shenanigans. I doubt they are going to be moved. I was leaning towards trying to buy him out of this place but am doubting the wisdom of that. Who would buy it anyway? I certainly wouldn’t if I didn’t live here. Had a letter from the police asking me to give a statement. I have to live here. Why would I do that?

Should be meeting a friend for dinner this evening but they’ve not replied about what time so not sure I am.