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

Sounds like a lovely evening @Taytocrisps and loving the child labour strawberries 🤣

@marthasmum did you go swimming?

Gorgeous day 🌞 here today. Had some friends over in the afternoon. Unfortunately looks like dd1 is going down with a fever - hoping it's not the start of the illness I had. Quick dash to the shop for calpol. Looks like I'll have to take tomorrow off.

Frugajobs: did repair job! Doesn't look half bad and cost nothing as we had the bits in already. 2loads of laundry dried on the line. More weeding. A few yellow stickers picked up.

Spends
£13 calpol and yellow stickers

Chile how's DD1 today?
I made my bed yesterday morning and put all the laundered clothes on top of it to fold and sort them, when it was done I told dc to collect their own and I put away the rest, I didn't feel as hard done by then
I've another load in the machine this morning.

Yesterday
Local Shop €13 on a dozen eggs, pack of 6 rashers and a very expensive small jar of Nutella
€26 Dunnes
€0 on dinner, bf paid

Tayto I hope you'd a lovely night away

Both DDs at home today. Both seem much better than yesterday evening/last night so back to school/nursery tomorrow and back to work for me.

Not getting a lot done even though technically it's an extra day at home. Feeling pretty tired 🥱 so motivation is low.
Did manage to fix our doorbell (and hopefully permanently!), post letter, and have been doing some random sorting and reorganising. Need some ikea kallax boxes really

Spends
£3 medicine
£3 diy

Sorry @Happierwithouthim somehow missed your post - better today thankfully! I do tend to send them in but they were both up a lot (more than the usual) and still feeling a bit hot. I also really need to be in Tues and Thurs so didn't want to risk a sending home.
Sounds like your dc are getting so grown up and more independent.

They're 14 & almost 11 Chile
neither went to school on Fri & exh text yesterday to know why ds wasn't in school Fri, got it before my dinner and was on edge then until I'd composed my reply. I hate that he can still do that to me.

😲 I can't believe it. Sorry that you still have to coparent with him. I think it's perfectly understandable that communication with him would still be upsetting. My friend is divorcing and I know he'll just be an arsehole for the rest of his days to her. In some ways it would be easier if he did just run off and start a new life. But she's the one who's going to learn from this experience and have a happier life.

@Happierwithouthim sorry to hear about EXH - that sounds really tough.

@Taytocrisps Yes we are full steam ahead with the move. We lost our buyer literally on the day due to exchange, he was a total time waster in the end. Infuriating, back on the market again now and feeling stressed about it potentially not selling before we leave.

Gen that's horrible that can happen, did that mean ye had to pack up to move and then not move? things work differently there than here.

His text only said why wasn't he at school on Friday but it's because I know that there's no such thing as a simple question with him.

Chile my advice is as little communication as possible, I use Whatsapp only. Others communicate via email which sounds even better to me. He gave ds a phone and I don't agree with it but because dds was out of action I allowed it into my home again, it can go back there again now..

@Happierwithouthim we weren’t at move house day, but the day we were due to exchange contracts which then means the buyer can’t pull out. He wasted 10 weeks saying he was definitely going to buy it etc. so annoying. He paid for a
survey too which showed no issues, his solicitor did a lot of the searches etc and we answered all his questions, allowed him back for a second viewing to take detailed measurements etc.

Can ye use that survey for the next buyer to show there's no issues?

€170.28 on my monthly prescription & a bottle of cough bottle for dd
€7.60 on milk, beef mince for ddog & a dr oetker momenti pizza for dinner

Arrived home to my tails delivery for ddog so I will freeze the mince for a few days & use the wet food I got from tails.com

Sent a pic of a broken pipe from my soak away to guy that installed it to get advice & he's going to fix it

I might get to visit IKEA tomorrow, I'm down to last two freezer bags. And I didn't get peace from ds last time I was there looking at kitchens.

Hi All, we had a nice wend at my friends sons wedding (not sure how I got old enough for that to happen?!!) Other than fuel and a macdonalds on the drive home it was quite a chap wend.

Got home to a letter from the tax credit people saying I owe them £186 so that's annoying, I'm going to ring them tomorrow and work out what's going on. I've not had any TC payments for ages so God knows how they've worked that out.

I've also had a car insurance quote which is stupidly high 🙄 so need to sort that out. I seem to have to change companies every year now.

Lastly my phone and internet provider have upped the DD so going to try and sort that at the wend.

Dds last week at college this week 🤯

Afternoon.

The threads not that busy and I still lose track!!

@Gensola the English conveyancing system is a complete arse. So sorry you've had the runaround by that time wasting man.

@Happierwithouthim I know what you mean, certain people in my life can set me on edge and give me anxiety for hours.

Spends
£20 cheap iron. Ours was broken. It's probably been broken months and I've only just come to notice....
£50 two pairs drawstring trousers but no idea if I'll keep those.
£50 blender, for reasons below.
About a million quid on food and we've had a lot of guests and DD's BF staying with us too as his lease has run out on his flat. 5 adults in the house, 3 of which are hungry young adults...

Frugal wins - DD's boyfriend has gifted me a huge pile of Indian spice mixes, ingredients, things I've no idea about how to cook with, that he can't take home with him when he goes next week. A lot are blends his DM has sent across from home. All are utterly delicious. He made us an Indian meal on Saturday night which was incredible. Blender will help with some of the gifted items.

I too need to review a couple of my direct debits. Definitely broadband but also household insurance.

Menu plan.
Gochujang fish curry
Halloumi curry.
Mushroom bourguignon
Minestrone
Pea and pesto lasagna
Lemon dhal
Tomato and aubergine pasta.

Spends, £64 in Morrisons. Completely forgot we have a guest coming this weekend , so will have to buy extra food on Friday to feed them.

@Gensola how frustrating! 😠 I loathe our house buying/selling system.

Spends
£8 next day signed for letter
£7 work food

Ins
£175 switch bonus (split between cc1 £50 and towards fun for half term/summer £125)
£3 selling

Thanks @needastrongoneagain and @Chile1978 we have 5 viewings booked for the weekend so now trying to clean and tidy the house 6 days after a major leg operation thanks to Mr TimeWaster-Mac Arsehole 😞
I’d be delighted with those spices need - was it you who had the Lerato cookbook?

That's very positive @Gensola fingers crossed for you. Is DH taking the lead on Tidy up operation?

Think I've moved bill money twice which is why I'm short this month. Will wait for payday I guess. That's the only issue with all the different pots and the bank switches.

@Chile1978 he is definitely bearing the brunt but I’m doing what I can.

That's good @Gensola you need to rest and recover

Need to buy some fruit but think that's it today. Think the chest infection seems to coming back so really trying to go to bed early (for me anyway) and have plenty of fruit. Thankfully dd2 has given us 3nights with no wakeups so hoping that continues! 😴

Need I keep losing track too, but need to post more frequently to help keep on track. The spice donation sounds fab & how lovely to have an Indian meal cooked for you, sounds like bliss.
Girlie none of our friends' dc have got married yet but I can imagine how weird that would feel
Gen fingers crossed for the house selling, sounds like an exciting time ahead for you.
Nice to see you Tayto
Condensed milk is expensive everywhere now I think Nellie but haven't bought any for a while so no idea how that compares
Well done on CC overpayment Chile
I'm with you on sharing the labour with the dc Happier
Chile love all the frugal home/garden jobs you've been doing. We've been doing that too, so dh has been fixing fence panelas (we have quite a lot). £67 for a new panel or £4 for enough wood to patch one up which will definitely get an extra year or two out of them.
I've been making use of the greenhouse which feels like such a luxury. It is a lean to one against the garage wall. Dh built it and assembled the staging we've bought. I've got 5 tomato plants in there & the first sowing of basil, dill, coriander and some courgette seedlings. Picked the first rhubarb on Tuesday which looked a bit sorry for itself, but stewed it with chopped preserved ginger that needed using. Mixed with yoghurt it's delish.
Have been meal planning & sticking to it which is helping us claw back the car expenses. Had to pay £800 for car insurance including dd which stung. It would've been £250 without dd but we looked into short term insurance cost & it would've soon gone over the difference.
We're off to Brittany in 5 weeks so I am determined to be as frugal as we can from now to then. There are things happening before that are already arranged like a trip to Devon, but costs can be limited as we'll be staying with the inlaws and of course the Springsteen trips are already budgeted for but dh is under no illusions about his spending, food etc has to be kept to a minimum. I knew his Bruce obsession when I married him so allow him some slack!!
Finally, in the last hour, the rain seems to have stopped. It has been relentless since the early hours of yesterday. It's my day off today so might venture into the garden later although I think more rain may be forecast....

Forgot to say, British gas are trying to put my dd up again so I have been looking at potential switches though I'm aware it's a price cap gamble. The best deals seem to be with smaller less well known companies so I feel a bit reluctant but loathe to pay a penny more to BG!!

Hello all.
Gen - god, what an arse. I have no idea why we put up with this irrational system - I suppose because mistrust and fear is built into the contract with the all the requirement for due diligence falling upon the buyer - caveat emptor, and all that. I hope the new viewings yield a trustworthy and reliable buyer. Could you rent it out and cover your costs if need be?

Am agog at the Paula Vennells evidence. God. According to her own testimony, she was too trusting, too naive, ill-informed, not across the detail, not an expert in IT or law, clumsy in the way she worded things, badly advised and not able apparently to judge the quality of the advice she was receiving or appoint better advisors - what exactly did she think she was doing well to justify her salary? I think she should pay back all her salary, all the bonuses, the pension, the pension lump sums, the assets she has been able to accrue as a result of that. And then she should just kill herself (I realise this may not be a popular or especially balanced view, but the prospect of a pious memoir emerging at some point, is too nauseating to contemplate).

I am very keen to understand Labour's proposals for social care, since it looks likely that they will win the election. My DDad is deteriorating badly, but has nothing wrong with him that is likely to kill him. Even when he falls over (a lot), he never hurts himself! But he can barely move, or dress himself in under 2 hours. He's incontinent, falls asleep all the time, falls out of bed, becomes confused and disoriented, but not in any way that would threaten his safety. He doesn't 'wander off' or leave the taps running. My mum is not managing well, but refuses to countenance any daily help for personal care, since this 'won't help hour by hour.' I don't know if she is seeking our permission to propose that dad goes into residential care - the current line is that 'this would be awful', so I think she wants to be pushed into it. Shit, shit, shit, where is an efficient heart attack when you need one? At 93, it would not be a bad way to go.

Anyway, we have a matron coming to the house next week to do an 'integrated care needs' assessment, so perhaps that will unlock some new ideas.

Spendy couple of days, the balance for the Devon holiday came out £330 and the dog has an ear infection so that was £80. The vet said if it's no better next week they might have to sedate him to take a better look which sounds expensive.

Thankfully it's payday tomorrow.

Currently at dds first haircut by a curly hairdresser & it's definitely worth what it's costing. She has been dispensing advice since we arrived almost an hour ago. The transformation is incredible.
For comparison it's €77 for a cut, I pay €70 for cut & colour for myself. This is a city centre salon though.

Hope ddog will be ok girlie

My ddog improved my running speed by 2 miles an hour when I put her on the running lead today