Familiar Friends in Frugality(Feb 24>)

[Happierwithouthim]

Frugal Friends Facing Forward with Fortitude http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/costoff_living/4957140-frugal-friends-facing-forward-with-fortitude

New thread

Things have gone a bit wrong this weekend. Today I spent a bit - I got two trekking t-shirts, a pair of socks and some shoes for hut wearing. All on the internet so fingers crossed things arrive.

Met up with a work colleague for lunch today. Ended up spending more than I’d planned. There are strange things afoot at work and people are feeling increasingly unsettled. It was nice to see them though and the cocktails were nice.

Good thinking with the planter life. Hopefully it will spur the neighbours into action.

Bathroom fitter has just messaged me that the vanity unit we were contemplating costs over £1300!!! This would make it about the same per square meter as our house. Not happening.

It's been a ~chaotic~ busy week. Just stopping now so will be getting up early tomorrow to finish work. 🥱

Spends are through the roof so will have to detail later but probably close to £1000 on the garden, an accidental wrong ticket which couldn't be refunded, food - 2 meals out for convenience and my absolute lack of desire to do any cooking with how full on work has been, and some new clothes.

However good news, acc2 -614

Wow £1300. Not surprised you said no.
i hear you on the no cooking chilli. I really cbe to cook yesterday. Did in the end but tired today.

It's been one of those weeks @lifelongfrugaleer and I think another one coming up. Managed to make the most of the dry weekend though and had a day out for a walk and a new park.

Happy Birthday 🎂 @Happierwithouthim DD
Sorry to those who I've missed news.

Plans (goals) for May (April payday)

• Pay off acc2 in full
• 200 to 0%cc (150 last day of April, 50 on 11th May)
• And then need to replenish emergency funds used for the garden.

Should probably start checking in with some of the spends too although I'm sure I'll have forgotten some

£51.10 wrong ticket that couldn't be refunded - just a nightmare of a morning
£20 mcds lunch
£24 fish and chips (shared a large at 15.99) plus some chocolate from the shop for afters
£50 secondhand climbing frame (saving 100 from new)
£3 parking
£470 garden work
£too much at tesco inc. Top up shops
£14 new shoes (saved £1 by finding where they were sold cheapest)
£15 dd haircut
£130 bike parts
£25 oh clothes (saved £10 by buying the cheapest colour)
£10 hair bobbles and cheap sunglasses for the car
£8 calpol
£7 icecreams x2🍦 day out

Ins
Just over £20 from selling
Listed 2 high value items so fingers crossed those go

DH not well over the weekend, and still not feeling better today. I can't face shopping by myself as I would have to drive the big car, which I know is wimpy. But I have lost a lot of driving confidence. Also I don't feel comfortable leaving him at home when he feels unwell since his heart attack, and he didn't want to come with me.

So I prioritised my own convenience and spent £60 on Amazon groceries yesterday. I know it was more expensive, but no more expensive than the local co-op. It was a basic shop to keep us going for a week, but it was bloody brilliant getting shopping delivered, I feel this might be the start of a slippery slope of decadent behaviour!

Nellie sounds like that was a good decision for you both, you'd have been anxious about driving and about dh being alone. Think about the extras you might have picked up had you been mooching instore, you saved on those!

@Nellieinthebarn doesn't sound like decadent behaviour to me - seems like the safe, appropriate thing to do. Sorry your dh hasn't been well 💐

Thanks @Happierwithouthim and @Chile1978 I do agree that it was the right thing to do in the circumstances, but I also really liked having the shopping come to me.

It is & there are delivery saver options from some supermarkets which make it more reasonable too.

I do click and collect because I hate being tied to being in the house waiting for two hour delivery slot these days.

👀Peeping out from under my rock! The past couple of weeks have been pretty horrendous for spending so the savings have taken the strain. It will be better next month .................... I hope!!

I love getting shopping delivered. And with price match and nectar points Sainsbury’s is not too bad.

£20 dinner money
£11 kfc - I know
£180 car tax

Totally the right thing to do Nellie

Almost a litre of milk gone down the drain because ds didn't put it away this morn, dd is meant to check but she must've been in a hurry, still it's cheaper than paying childminder to have him

Wasted diesel this eve, 8 mile round trip back to work because I forgot to leave out information for the morning

No spends today
€28 odd in Aldi yesterday
Sat
€5.98 on 2 snipes of wine, had one & other is in bf's fridge for next weekend he's a non drinker so it's very safe

90% done. A bit more to do tomorrow, and then start on the next thing. Feeling quite tired and like I haven't had a holiday at all tbh.

Anyway NSD! Although will need to pick up milk, fruit, bread, and eggs tomorrow.

Trying to get anyone at all to quote for a fence. Have had one quote but impossible to know if it's reasonable as nothing to compare it to. I guess it's stopping us from spending money at least although our diy repair is not looking great....

I generally think online delivery is a bargain - less than £5 for someone to pick it all an drive it direct to my house and put it in my kitchen. I consider that pretty good value, plus you don't get distracted by sale signs! 😉 the only thing I've struggled with is the sheer amount and poor choice of substitutions

I did some diy repairs on Sunday to dogs house, dd looked at house, think ddog needs a new house.

I turned it upside down, fixed the piece that had broken back in place & reinforced under the floor with a piece of skirting board that was removed during renovations in Oct. 15 mins house is perfect again.

Well done on the dog house Happier.

Solidarity to those with the high spending.

I’ve gone into freefall. Had a sod it weekend then the dreaded email arrived and it went from bad to worse. Yesterday was a no spend day. Today it’s been £4.73 in Aldi on odd things, £19.99 in TK Maxx on some summer walking trousers, £116 on some T-shirts. Eurostar have had £££. Was trying to have a low spend months but that’s gone to pot.

Need to think about replying to this email and also email my solicitor. Glad I’ll be at the office tomorrow. Just remembered I need to add money to my travel card. Oh dear.

Fell if the thread again 🤦‍♀️

Anyway I get paid end of this week and am down to £2.34 in my account 🙈😂

In other news, dd passed her driving test Ystd!! First time, with only three minors so I am really proud of her. She's got her money saved up so we're going car shopping this wend 🚗

My savings are slowly going up but it's painfully slow and I want to book a holiday for end of June...

I'm being paid this week and I am £164 overdrawn...But in my defence, I have an automated savings account and I meant to reduce the payments from £300 to £100 because I set up an ISA last month and I'm paying into it instead. So I've technically put my overdraft into my savings! I should have managed the accounts earlier this month. But I'm hoping to save a steady £300 a month hereon even though it's a bit tight most months

But I haven't spent a huge amount. DH holds out food budget, and we budget £650 a month for food and so I don't count the individuals ££s going out. He did a very hearty curry on Sunday from pantry items which I was impressed by. The account will get replenished Friday so we have a day and a half to get by with whatever is in the fridge/freezer - and DC will eat at after school club tonight.

A joint expense was £19.99 for a birthday gift.

My personal spends have been £8.50 on desserts - had a get-together at a friend's house, and I was tasked with bringing dessert. Also £67.50 on a pair of spring trousers yesterday. Bit expensive, but I tried on soooo many pairs and these were by far the best for looks and comfort. I'm trying to buy less but better. My trouser situation is pretty bad with everything giving up on me so I need a few replacements.

Today I got a free coffee with my loyalty card (hurrah) and I ordered DC some books on Vinted but paid with Vinted balance. Both feel like free things although I have of course paid for them up front in other means.

Well done girlie dd

Fantastic girliedd congratulations, look forward to hearing what she buys.

Taytodd is learning to drive too, either read it here or on another thread.

Speaking of cars mine is going for a service on Fri, for first time ever I've a pot for car expenses and the money is there ready to go. I've been budgeting for 14 years since having dd & this is the first year I've had it sitting there waiting

Yesterday spends
€3.90 on a card
€70 diesel
€4.99 groceries

Rum I hope email wasn't too horrible

Good morninhg everyone, one week left of the month, it's the home stretch...

I'm on 20 consecutive NSDs today, I've found the habit tracker has helped alot with that. And using YNAB for budgeting, I've been overpaying my emergency fund which means £20 less needed monthly freeing up my budget elsewhere. I only need to put £10 petrol in the car on Friday and that 'should' be it for spends this month. I went out for coffee on Monday but Iit wasn't my turn to pay, and will be out Monday again, but will use vouchers so I'm counting that to be no spend too.

Had an excellent result though on the car insurance front... just did some price comparisons as everyone is saying car insurance is up 50%-70% this year and was expecting to put aside around £700, but my quotes are actually coming up £200 cheaper than last years premium and I can get £24 cashback too.

It should free up my budget to save a bit more and for enjoying life a bit more too.

psuedocream3 a great report! I also love YNAB. I did a significant amount of overtime last week, extra €150 in my wages tomorrow and I'm looking forward to budgeting it out already I've a few overspends so some of it will go towards them

Girlie that's fantastic news about your DD. I brought DD out in my car for the first time on Sunday morning. We went out early to an industrial estate - there were very few cars around. Poor DD is still trying to get to grips with balancing the clutch and accelerator, so the car kept cutting out. And hill starts obviously posed a difficulty. On that basis, I'm reluctant to take her out on the open road. I might suggest another industrial estate session this evening (I'm working from home today) and then maybe we'll head out extra early on Sunday morning (like 8 a.m.) and drive around the nearby small town. I think she's had four lessons so far.