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!

Ystd I spent £10 on my prescription, £10 getting the car washed (it was really bad to the point of grossing me out every time I had to open the car door!!) and £40 getting 350 photos printed out 😬

The photos are for dds party and the plan is to put them up on string or boards, 18 years of photos is a lot.

Avoided going to the supermarket and going to try and eat out of the freezer. I blitzed up some tomatoes and peppers last night to make the base of a tomato sauce for a spag Bol tonight which will hopefully go a couple of nights.

Hoping to catch up on the thread but for now I'm placemarking!
Fri spends: €21.76 in dunnes,
Sat spends: €16.83 in Spar
Sun spends €60 Diesel
Refund of €19 returning two pairs of pants that ds chose but won't wear
€55, when I put on my jeans on Sat night, I noticed something in pocket

Yesterday a charging cable melted while I was using it, luckily it didn't happen during the night or it could've been worse. I'm going to try get a replacement as it was a genuine Apple cable.

In one hand and out the other has never been so true, replacement of double glazed unit damaged in the storm €270, deposit paid of €100 today.

Welcome @ShortFatShambolicHouseElf

When is the big party happening at @Girliefriendlikespuppies ?

So true @Happierwithouthim !

NSD so far but may have to pop out after bedtime and get milk. Avoided spends on commute as day off with sick baby.

Ins
2.85 selling

Afternoon.

Also place marking as I've not managed to keep up. I've literally nothing to report anyway!

Love the idea of the photos girlie.

Spends are low and in budget at present. We've a few bigger house projects coming up though soon.

Menu plan

Veggie chilli and wedges.
Cashew and chickpea curry.
Broth using odds and ends.
Herby one pan chicken with green olives and dill.
Spinach, pea and edamame pasta with fennel.
Butternut squash dhal.
Harissa chicken and aubergine stew.
Chickpea and mushroom curry
Feijoada (black bean stew)
Salmon or basa fillets with spelt and roast vegetables

Welcome @ShortFatShambolicHouseElf , love the name!

Oh - £48 petrol. First fill up since early December (hybrid)

£9.45 on a calender.
That's the last of my spendies before pay day on Wednesday. I feel like I've done OK considering last pay day was 40 days ago.

Girlie you reminded me to order from FreePrints before end of month. Dc are normally with their dad on a Mon eve but with me today so while ds is at boxing I'm going to do recycling to bottle bank (mine, bf's(wonder when he'll notice it missing from his countertop, it bothers me when it piles up there and doesn't bother him so sometimes I take it with me & work's) and order photos.

Two weeks ago I spent €25 on bags of logs and kindling, and the following eve bf arrived with a crate of kiln dried wood. I finally got a good man, 20 years after my last comparably good relationship.

£8 in Sainsbury's, ingredients for tonight's sweet potato and coconut dish, plus cheap emergency chicken for Ddog, whose proper food order is due tomorrow, plus minced pork for us tomorrow, as I can't face another rather brown meal with grains/legumes.

Ddad's appointment with dentist went well - fair bit of treatment ahead, but all for free and somewhat overdue. It's been one of those things that have got overlooked in the move and the thousand other medical/dental/podiatric/opthalmic appointments that have had to take priority. Being old is a full-time task!

Breather before chasing off again to catch up with bathroom fitter.

£300 this weekend on car. Stupid thing broke down. Sigh. Had to get recovery truck!

dsis bought me an outfit for her wedding. So lovely.

credit card down to £2700.

NS day for me, but DH met up with a mate for lunch at the pub. Said he'd probably have a sandwich, I was planning on having a veggie curry and rice tonight. He actually had gammon and chips, which he is quite entitled to do, its his money not the joint account. But I am feeling unreasonably miffed by this, because I had a cheese sandwich, and now he doesn't want the curry. But at least tomorrow's dinner is already done.

We ended up with ham pasta salad and the remains of yesterday's crumble warmed up. I'm full, I'm not hungry but I am still in a mood. I might have to break out the emergency Snickers bar.

I topped up the supermarket order with biscuits and rice krispies to avoid the surcharge. I should have ordered something sensible for the store cupboard. Instead, I eat the evidence 🙁

Biscuits and Rice Krispies are popular ingredients in traybakes. This is one of my all time favourite threads about traybakes, full of recipes with condensed milk, dessicated coconut, biscuits, Rice Krispies, Mars Bars etc. (This thread is in Classics for a reason.)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnetclassics/3527870-Which-is-the-tastiest-Protestant-traybake?

I suppose the upside is that you didn't eat them with all those other ingredients!

Chile 17th of feb, it's not a big Do really just close family and friends. I do like planning a party though 😅 lots of photos will be out, we're making a two tier cake, party games, karaoke! It should be a fun night.

Managed a NSD today 😇

That's rubbish re the car Em, it's so stressful when they go wrong.

Glad the romance is going well happier, you're braver than me, I'm far too comfortable being single these days, the thought of going on a date scares the shit out of me 🙈😂

@needastrongoneagain chicken with olives and dill sounds interesting- I don't think I've ever had that flavour combination before

@ememem84 feel your pain - we've got in total an £1600 garage bill (865 paid, another 750ish more to do). Car broke down twice in the same week!

@2024Hackathon I'm going to deliberately not click that link as I don't need to encourage any more cake eating 🤣

Acc1 -1163

Spends
£75 travel insurance

Ins
£2 selling

@2024Hackathon thanks for the memory. I loved that thread at the time, and jt's going to bring a smile back to my face when I reread later today :-))

But...... how on earth is it five years ago?! Five years?!

@Chile1978 it's a Dr Rupy recipe from the app The Doctor's Kitchen. Haven't tried it yet so I'll report back!

£30 on some pairs of running socks, my old ones were threadbare and embarrassing in truth 😂

Ooh chile- a 1600 car bill is super painful. I’m taking mine for a service this week and only got £250 set aside so really hoping it’s not more. Hope yours is back on the road em.
I’d have been straight in with the traybakes a while ago but really trying to do better now. I practically lived on cake when the DC were small and I was sleep deprived.
girlie it’s lovely to hear about the preparations for your DD. She will feel super loved ❤️

The Protestant bakes thread is one of my all time favourites too. Girlie I'm like you I cannot imagine dating again at all

£5 yesterday parking at national trust place for rainy walk and £12 lunch

£65 petrol but also haven't filled up since just before Xmas and used my petrol card so the money won't go out until after pay day tomorrow

So far today £5 parking which I can reclaim as on a work trip

Girlie & Wolf I've not gone out dating since 2005, both this and my previous relationship were men that I knew very well and were more progressions of friendships. The thoughts of dating apps or being set up by friends is terrifying to me too

I made these brownies on Sun for dc and promptly froze the remaining 4 because they would be too tempting for me https://mrshawkinshouse.com/chocolate-fudge-brownie-recipe/

Made this Sat night for dinner at my friends house
https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/baking-and-desserts/lemon-self-saucing-pudding-lemon-surprise-pudding/
Very outing but I'm pretty certain they're not on here

Wolf is there a discount on petrol with that or just delayed payment? I save 4c a litre with mine and payment is every two weeks. However I bought fuel twice in the last two weeks at other service stations because it just suited timewise. I'm lucky there are several branches of service stations that I hold fuel card for locally.

I'm going to refill my Lancome Idole with the money I found in my jeans, house repairs are a separate pot. This is fun money and should be used as such imo

Hard to believe it's five years since that thread, time flies on here
chile yikes at garage bill
em what's going on with car?

Welcome Short.

That’s a great idea with the photographs Girlie.

Eeek for the charging cable Happier. Even worse that it was an actual Apple one. I second/fourth you being braver than me on the relationship front. Can’t see me ever wanting to deal with this again.

No for the broken down cars em and Chile. That can’t have been pleasant.

Spending yesterday was £2.98 in Lidl and Marks and Spencer on groceries. Today has been a spending one - £90 on my travel card for commuting and £123 on some sneakers. They were double discounted. Arsehole is playing the idiot and the latter distracted me. I did have another pair in my basket but put them back.

Returned something to Amazon this morning so thank you to the poster (sorry I can’t remember who it was) that mentioned returning things if you hadn’t worn them for a month.

Should be at the office tomorrow but am undecided. Don’t want to go as I don’t fancy the commute but would like to see people.

Rum I shared an instagram question box from an Irish celebrity with my cousin the other day. Her question was 'what would you change about your wedding day' I didn't answer it but sent my suggestion to my cousin, also divorced, "Husband"
Same as my marital home if I could've picked it up and moved it somewhere else it wouldn't need to have been sold at all, unfortunately it's right next to where he lives.

I had a conversation about this with my friends on Sat night, they were my neighbours when I was married and we still catch up a few times per year. And they said whatever I had to go through to get away from living there was worth it.

Yikes Rum what price were the sneakers full price?