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

Trying hard to remain frugal here. I returned some clothes today so got £55 back as a refund.

I had to take over Dmum’s banking a couple of weeks ago, and currently only I can access the main account until I can set her up a basic account (have to wait two weeks for an appointment). Today they sent her a new bank card, which then meant 40 mins on the phone getting it cancelled. I am very cross!

I probably should also add I have POA for Dmum and she was about to be emptied of funds (back history too), I’m not just being mean!

Glad you’re on the mend Chile. And enjoy your leave.

BRYAN ADAMS….arrrghhhhh……Happier………I’m so very jealous. Have a fantastic night.

Spending has not been frugal. Wednesday I bought a case for my lovely new pocket knife (£27) and a T-shirt (£26). Yesterday was about £85 topping up my travelcard and £3.15 on dinner. Today has been £68 on a bill, £65 on my credit card, £63 on some tickets in one of the Friday lotteries and £6.30 on random groceries. Not sure what happened.

My holiday shopping order tracking has stalled. Picked up the eBay trainers. I love them but they might be a bit on the tight side. Hoping my feet were swollen as they’re gorgeous. Meeting a friend tomorrow so it will be spendy. Feeling a bit megh so it will be nice to see them.

Would you believe it, I was driving into my estate just now when I spotted an Amazon van. So I nipped into my house, grabbed the parcel, waved at the driver, explained what happened and handed over the parcel. So all's well and my conscience is clear.

Ideal tayto
Yes Rum I'm looking forward to the hotel stay nearly as much as concert. I paid for tickets for bf will pay for that I expect and if he doesn't he'll pay for food & drinks

Just got conned into paying for hot chocolate for ds €3
I've a hankering for flapjacks so I'm going to buy ingredients, will use soupdragons recipe I've never made that recipe

No golden syrup to be had, will I use honey or wait until I source some?

How frustrating @Timetoswitch I'm not looking forward to when the inlaws need that level of help.

It does sound spendy @RumBananaSundae . Is there anything else on your list needed for the big trip? Thanks for the well wishes.

Have a fabulous night @Happierwithouthim

Ideal! @Taytocrisps

Frugajobs: 2 loads dried on the line, walked to post parcel, 11 listings up
Spends
£5 food top up
£4 drinks
£8 balloons (dd bday in July so getting a headstart)

Forgot to mention used up £5 worth of Nectar points to convert to ebay - balloons were £12.15. I also have a £10 amazon voucher to use too so will have to have a browse.

Thanks all for the Amazon tips, that would work. Annoyingly they took the prime payment from another card but DP has managed to cancel it. DP is known in our house (affectionately) for being hyper frugal which is coming in handy lately!

The jobs sound annoying tayto that often happens for me when I have time off.

Job update if anyone Is interested - there have been negotiations and rather than redundancy etc I’m looking at keeping my job but going to 0.9. It’s £300 a month less in my pocket but for various long and boring reasons ended up being the most favourable option. It’s not quite finally confirmed though. We could just about manage on this but it wipes out the little comfortable extra in my budget.

Made the final payment to a savings account limited to 1 year this month. This means it matures next month and we can add it to our joint savings to offset the mortgage.

I then get to set up another 1 year savings account and I just hope that the bank don't reduce the 7% interest in the next few weeks before it matures and I set up another one (they mustn't overlap in time).

Still eating up the 'inherited' pantry goods.

Mortgage payment horrible this month because we moved money into ISAs. But it will come down as we build the savings back up, little by little.

Job update if anyone Is interested - there have been negotiations and rather than redundancy etc I’m looking at keeping my job but going to 0.9. It’s £300 a month less in my pocket but for various long and boring reasons ended up being the most favourable option.

It sound better than redundancy but what a mess. Is it 0.9 every day or does it amount to an afternoon less a week?

Of course we're interested marthasmum will you job hunt anyway or become more frugal 

Made @SoupDragon's famous flapjack recipe. Despite advice to make double I didn't, trying to lose weight so probably not advisable. They've satisfied the craving unlike the flahavans one that I bought in local shop yesterday homemade is always best

DH has gone to an auction this morning, 'just to look' hmm... heard that one before!

@Happierwithouthim now I want flapjacks too! where can I find the recipe please? I have a poor history with flapjacks, I can never get the blighters out of the tin, usually end up eating them as granola.

Sounds like you've made the best out of a bad situation @marthasmum . Sometimes it really does feel like 1step forward, 2 steps back. If it is one afternoon back a week, would a temp/shift type of job be available? I've often seen schools or small offices that only need a few hours a week to do basic administration. Or alternatively a supermarket and then staff discount too.

@2024Hackathon sounds like the plan is all working out. Have you finished the octopus 🐙 yet?!?!

Do share please @Happierwithouthim ?

Frugajobs: have set up a new pot for fun money, have updated budget to account for bill increase, otherwise a relaxed day at home hoping the weather stays dry so I can get out into the garden and tackle the stinging nettles explosion

Spends
£30 food shop

Best flapjack recipe www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4892259-best-flapjack-recipe it's soupdragons one.
It was on this thread years ago!

Here's two screenshots of it, I replaced 30g of oats with mixed seeds, but I think I want seedier or more seedy so will do that next time plus mine were very sweet because 50g choc chips melted into mixture as it was too hot when I added them

I've used my new grass trimmers this morning & done the wash up plus made the flapjacks.
No frugajobs yet

Lovely, thank you. 😀I'm inclined to think that baking anything is frugal, because its more expensive to buy them.

I think I would do the 0.9 by having a day off every other week (as half a day is hard to stick by in my job). I’d have to use that time to get my PhD finished - which I’m trying to see as a benefit.
You are right Chile it is making the best of a bad job. DP is also still looking for more work, he is PT so at least we have that option. But will need to be more frugal meanwhile.
Frugal fail at the petrol pump today…meant to put only £10 worth in while waiting for wages to hit my account on Monday. But for some reason I couldn’t see the total (I thought the display was faulty) and had to guesstimate. When I went in to pay the man behind the till kindly explained I couldn’t see it because I was wearing my sunnies and it was £34!

Thanks @Happierwithouthim looks great. I love condensed milk ❤️

Sounds like there a few options even if they're not ideal @marthasmum good luck on the PhD- they are intense!

Frugajobs: weeding so no spending on activities - had fun in the garden, more listings done, did buy some new planters but negotiated with the seller to do a multibuy discount

Have managed to overpay 125 towards cc through a mix of selling, cashback, round ups etc.
Cc -2380

Spends
£71 new planters (£90 full price). Only have £45 in home pot so will need to take from somewhere else or carry over from next month

That was good luck with the Amazon van Tayto.

I think there will be Chile. I was trying to spread the spending but I’m shrinking and I’m having to rebuy things. I’m hoping it’s small items left like ziplock bags.

Hope that’s something of a relief martha and that it’s confirmed for you. I guess breathing space at least?

Today has not been frugal. I’ve spent about £150. Had a lovely day with my friend. Have overeaten horrendously. I bought a gift card to go towards lunch but they are only delivered on working days so at least I’ll have that for next time.

Spent £2.75 on condensed milk. It was the local co-op so I am guessing everywhere else will be cheaper, unless your local grocer is Harrods food hall.

Still, money well spent, lovely flapjack recipe, thank you very much @Happierwithouthim for posting it, and thanks to Soupdragon if you are still about. And I put seeds on the top, so they are instantly transformed into health food!

€1.39 in Lidl but I'm sure an individual flapjack is more than £2.75 so it's instantly frugal

Ds got overwhelmed by the crowds for a while at food festival which meant I overspent to placate him
€20 food trail tokens
Parking free as a lovely lady gave me her ticket €3 saved
€1.95 san pellegrino limonanta
€6.65 ds
€5 ds
€41.95 hurl & sliotar ds
€2.60 7up free I want to make Aperol spritz tonight

I enjoyed the day as did dc, we met my cousin for a few hours and bumped into dc's sister out too

I got out for a run with the dog too
Got a load of laundry done & child labour put it out

@RumBananaSundae purposeful shrinking? Maybe you can sell or exchange the too big items - shops can sometimes still give you credit notes if you've gone past the return date. Useful if you are rebuying a smaller size anyway.
Great that you had a lovely day with a friend 🍽

@Happierwithouthim great you had a lovely day too!!! Child labour 🤣

Sun is shining which means yet more weeding 🌱 and then going to attempt some diy. Washing on already

Ins
50 - selling. (Managed to sell a high value item so fingers crossed there's no faff with the buyer) that should then pay for the new planters.

Ok I've caught up on the last few pages.

martha sorry to hear about your Dad's cancer diagnosis and also all the changes at work. Must have been very stressful wondering what the outcome would be. Also, I didn't realize you were doing a PHD. A pity about the reduced income but I guess the extra time will be beneficial.

Gen wow, so it's full steam ahead with your move to the US? Any update on the sale of your house?

Happier hope you'll be very happy in your new job.

Time sorry to hear about the job and the negative feedback. Don't let it hold you back. Onwards and upwards...... That's annoying about your Mum's bank card.

north I also missed the northern lights. I was away with friends and we'd been travelling since early that morning, so we headed for bed as soon as dinner was over. I was sharing a room with another woman so I switched my phone to silent, so my roommate wouldn't be disturbed by phone notifications during the night. I woke to a million Facebook notifications and photos. Although I'm told it was a lot more impressive through the camera lens than it was to the naked eye.

Big that was a lot of financial planning.

Happier that food festival sounds good. Enjoy Bryan Adams. I saw him in concert a million years ago

Chilli that chest infection sounds nasty. Hope you're on the mend now.

Rum glad you had a nice day with your friend.

Had a nice evening with DD last night. We watched 'Billy Elliot' which we both really enjoyed. I love anything set in the '80s because the music is always great. DD made strawberries coated in chocolate which went down well. Then we watched two episodes of 'Friends' but I slept through most of the second episode. Finally saw the famous 'pivot' episode.

No spends so far today but I'm going for lunch with my Dad today. I'll probably need to Revolut money to DD also, so she can pick up something for her own dinner. It's a nice sunny morning here.

That sounds lovely tayto and thanks for your good wishes. I love that film. Did you cry when he reads the letter from his mum?
Been for a lovely walk, am considering going wild swimming at a spot near us…there is a steep walk to it though x