Frugal Friends Facing Forward with Fortitude

[Happierwithouthim]

Here's a friendly space for new and existing frugal friends.

We have all different types of incomes and lifestyles but with a common goal of making the best of the money we have.

Many of us have experiences of becoming debt free or being in difficulty with money for one reason or another so there's no need for embarrassment, just join in, post as little or as often as you wish.

Some record daily spends, some record only spends that are unplanned, some don't record spends at all, the choice is yours!

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate this is them in their pots again for today.

I forgot to say above... Neo hasn't done anything yet but he is a baby at this stage. I am looking out for bubbles forming... There will only be a couple at first.

@Chile1978 We're over here for weight loss talk so as not to derail this thread if you're interested

Fat fighting frugaleers finding their fabulous in 2024 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weightlosss_chat/4971701-fat-fighting-frugaleers-finding-their-fabulous-in-2024

Fell off the thread again before Xmas. Frugality is much needed after a very expensive work trip to America, they pay travel and accommodation but not subsistence and the area I was in turned out to be super expensive.
unescorted I’m very inspired by your sourdough!
Work is going to be crazy for the next few weeks, I feel slightly panicky every time I think of it 😬

@Gensola I can post you some of Brutus. I was thinking of you yesterday it is lovely to see you. Good luck for the next couple of weeks....I am guessing it will need a lot of😬 & 🤐.

I need to get back to the frugal gym and weight loss thread.

@Gensola thats really off that they don’t pay subsistence.

I think it’s naughty they don’t pay for sustenance. Good luck at work.

crazy here too at work. Urgh.

How can they not pay sustenance? That is rude.

Gensola Can you choose selfcatering accommodation or is all hotel stays? We're all outraged on your behalf!

Spends yesterday
€20 horse riding, planned so I don't usually post
€5.50 chocolate for 3, unplanned but felt necessary

Hello Gensola and happy new year. Can you appeal to HR/Finance's common sense for some sort of recompense? I can see that one argument would be, well, you would be eating and drinking at your own expense were you at home; but if you can't shop and cook while in the accommodation that your workplace has chosen, that's not right!

Aldi and veg shopping today. I've got my list, and some recipes for vegetarian meals. DParents coming over at the weekend, so will take one of the remaining 'Christmas' chickens out of the freezer and do something with giant couscous and harissa.

Does anyone listen to the Making Money podcast? This week they have a FA on there, called Lisa Conway-Hughes. Loads of good tips and she's inspired me to set a 5 year goal, break it down into 60 steps (i.e. 5 x 12 monthly salary/income payments) and set up a spreadsheet to record my efforts each month! Super-motivating, and will keep my spirits up when I am digging into other pots to pay for bathroom renovations this year.

And speaking of that: got my first samples through from Mandarin Stone yesterday. Tempted to go full oligarch/dictator mode with some lairy marble tiles, but DH will not (sensibly) wear it. I am allowed more subtle marble effects though. He would default to beige. Lucky he has me, eh?

Afternoon.

Joining the irritation at the lack of subsistence expenses, we wouldn't do that to our employees that travel. Any full board or half board options to at least negate @Gensola

Sorry about your uncle @Nellieinthebarn

Ouch @tuttifritti!

Sorry you're stressed at work @Chile1978

The Making Money podcast sounds interesting @BigSkies2022. I'm a new convert to podcasts, and most of my regular listens are around health, fitness and well being so I may branch out!

NSD today. Again. Hooray!

Big pot of broth in the slow cooker for supper. All the fridge odds and ends used up .

Actually I did spend £100 but that's work expenses and will come straight back.

NSD. Avocado on toast for breakfast, I have been very lucky with this pack of 4 avocados, so far 3/3 have been fine. Just the last one to go, I can't remember when I last got a whole pack of decent avocados. Chicken salad sandwiches, crisps and apples for lunch, and am planning cheesy leek tarts, potato wedges and baked beans for dinner and probably another slice of parsnip cake if we haven't eaten it as an afternoon treat.

Snap on the avo on toast breakfast @Nellieinthebarn! I got them at Aldi on super six offer for about 64p each and they were excellent. The sourdough was my own also, made last week with my new starter.

Seems I do have very high council tax here. My mortgage is also quite brutal mostly as a result of the mini budget and the timing of my divorce. I'm now locked in but I really had so few options. I considered selling but after stamp duty, moving costs etc I don't think I would have saved much and ended up somewhere that doesn't suit us so well. I just have to minimise those bills I can manage (food shopping, cutting spending on unnecessary things, keeping a tight control of the budget). It's quite a scary place to be but this group is amazing for ideas, tips and just getting some perspective some times. ❤️

Afternoon everyone
Hope everyone is ok , been busy here so not on for a few days
Spends £130 to see Only fools musical in Cardiff in June 25
Lunch with my Friend for £25
Tesco £63
Interim car insurance £73 with Admiral only until April 25th then both cars and home insurance will be on multi policy then. Only Dd1 insurance has gone up enormously , l am expecting a huge rise on ours too
Marks with sales things £48 instore , £11 online
couldn't get much online on the Marks sale but instore was much better

@Happierwithouthim thank you but I don't think I'm ready to tackle it yet

@BigSkies2022 sounds good. Have you seen a similar thing for mortgage payments? You make a house graphic (excel templates available somewhere) where each 'brick' represents a mortgage payment and you colour them in when you've done each one. It would be a bit depressing for me but if you've got 10 years left (120 bricks) it might be motivating.

@Gensola somehow I thought I remembered you being a teacher? If so the school should have covered the meal costs with the students - it's just any separate meals/drinks that would need covering.

Spends
£5 food - fruit/milk

@tuttifritti my council tax is £287 per month, if that makes you feel any better!

I have spent today - £160 travel insurance for the year. Expensive due to the many complications DH now has due to his stroke. But we are hoping to book a cruise for later in the year. And it covers me for an upcoming trip solo next month.

£50 on diesel today, though it was from the cheapest place in town.

and £10 on 2 dance classes. Wouldn’t normally do 2 in one day, but that’s just the way dates work coming back after the break.

@tuttifritti @needastrongoneagain not to upstage you all for the worst prize, but mine is £400 a month 😐

Good reminder to get travel insurance. I have mine (from a work trip) but haven't yet bought for the family

@tuttifritti this thread has seen it all and our fellow posters are some of the kindest and most empathetic people I know in the internet or real life.

You are all making me very smug about my Council Tax... Although my LA is about to go broke so I may not be smug for too long.

Neo is starting to look pillowy.... I should clean more often.

@Unescorted ❤️

@Chile1978 ooh hello, I must have missed a name change! I am an academic now, made the change from secondary teaching in 2019. They’d probably pay a hotel that included breakfast but the hotel was dictated by the event I was attending and didn’t include it and it was also a super expensive city - @BigSkies2022 has it bang to rights that their “argument” is that I’d be eating anyway!
Even more enraging is that American colleagues get their meals paid for, all expenses and a per diem extra payment for attending these events, while it ended up costing me £££.
But it is good for my career - up for a few different promotions inside and outside my institution at the moment so hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

Oo exciting about the possible promotions gen, well done! They are hard to get in academia. Also facing a very busy time until March at least. My shoulders are tensing up again after 3 days back 😳
I have to say I’m genuinely shocked at the council tax. Mine is £179 pm and I thought that was a lot, now realising I’m quite lucky!

Mine is £240pm in London. Fair enough if only my DS would get the therapy time actually stipulated in his EHCP 😡

thanks for the tutorial Unescorted. I’m going to start again tomorrow if I have a minute. Mine started well last time and was bubbly by Day 3 but it went flat a couple of days after that and never looked lively again. Can you show us some loaf pics? Love a bit of bread porn.

I will be joining the frugaleers weight loss thread, glad there still is one! I am worried about my health, joints, mobility in old age like never before. It is all getting real as i waddle and creak towards 50. I can’t face an on-off diet though, I need to make small but impactful changes to my habits that actually last. I want to massively cut down on processed stuff if I can.

also not impressed about the subsistence Gen, grr.

and another one really overwhelmed by the next few months at work. It’s going to be bad, and then get worse (more short staffed) in spring before hopefully getting better. My insomnia has hit me again with a bang ☹️

Also, still not frugal, argh! Have now bought a heated throw to wear in my home office. Even if I heat the whole house that room doesn’t get warm so I might as well not bother and just try this! May be the best £40 I’ve ever spent, I will report tomorrow.

£3.80 for a latte at Pret now. That’s got to stop. 2 days in the office and I’m almost £30 down on breakfast, lunch and coffees. It’s just unaffordable, but I don’t seem to get my lunch act together as I leave home at 7am and don’t like sandwiches much, so it takes more forethought than I am capable of on the day. Must do better and prepare the night before. .

I am motivated to save on the small things (and get some weight off!) as we’ve taken the plunge and booked a cabin in Lapland for a week after Christmas. Still need flights, activities etc and the whole thing will be quite spendy as it’s peak season and Scandinavia prices but it’s the big family trip I always wanted to do, and there’s
a window where it will have most impact and I don’t want to miss it (DD will be 7). And perfect for my sensory boy who will absolutely love the snow. So that’s what I’m working towards now. I love Scandinavia in winter so I’m incredibly excited, eek. Building up the savings again will mostly happen, er, next year.

And congrats on the exhibition Unescorted, defo can’t miss that for the world!

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate
Brutus is back in the fridge because he is easily doubling in height. For long term housing I use a spring top jar.

Neo is just starting to look hopeful. He has a generally pillowy look (easier to see before he crusted over)

Also if you look carefully at the surface there are itsybitsy bubbles forming. I have put arrows where they have formed.

He will get another uncovered day on the bench. I have realised I forgot to say I do the early days in a soup bowl because it is a good mix of yeast harvesting from the air and depth so it doesn't dry out entirely. When selecting the goop to refresh use the bit with the most bubbles...it is where the yeast has started breeding.