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

Is it bad if I don't count any weekend spending?

Just the spending related to DH's birthday?

We're cooking dinner for my mum and going to costa for a free hot chocolate and cake. Mum and I will obviously purchase drinks etc. for ourselves. He really likes going to costa for his birthday because they do gf shortbread.

I just feel somewhat squicky about putting a price on celebrating him. It won't be much anyway

If it's weekend spending every weekend that you're not counting it could be an issue but for an occasion like this definitely not.

When I go on holidays I put my money into Revolut and spend from it without thinking.

I think @Spencer0220 that it's about viewing money as a tool - spending isn't a value judgement 'being good' or 'being bad' nor does it have to be about worth - I think we all know jobs that pay poorly but contribute more positively to society than other well paid jobs. That being said, do/log/budget however works for you.

Night out tonight so spends incoming on babysitting, taxi, meal and drinks. Might watch a film -American Fiction but not sure the timing works with our dinner reservation.

Spends
£45 cleaner
£20 food

Do whatever works best for you @Spencer0220 😁

Pay day today, with a bit of money over.

That said - quite a high spend day.

£50 fuel (will last a month)

£207 Ocado. It's my mums 90th birthday next month and she's in amazing health, we are having a small get together here. I'm trying to buy items weekly from now on to cover the catering. So that included quite a lot of wine, beef for a slow cooked dish and a huge side of salmon for a buffet that I don't usually buy. £9 for a big box of washing powder too. Still winced though!

No worries @Happierwithouthim 😁

@marthasmum hope you're okay. Don't be cross with yourself and keep running ❤️x

£63 in Aldi yesterday, so that is a February supermarket spend of £268, because I am not going shopping again until March 1st. That works out as just under £5 a day each! Which is pretty horrendous. But it includes loads of tea that was on offer, and all the cleaning and toiletry stuff. Taking out the tea it would be £3.70 a day per person, which is slightly more frugal.

@Nellieinthebarn I'm quite happy with £5-6 a day for me and DH. But we're both coeliac which hikes the price up a bit. Also that would include household items, because I can't be bothered to calculate what's food and what isn't from supermarkets.

Btw, I usually count weekend spends. I'm intending to count everything not birthday related.

I'm thinking his birthday spending would be around £35 anyway. I haven't decided if I'm going to surprise him with a hot chocolate Deliveroo on the actual day. (In addition to visiting costa the next day.) unfortunately my mum can't visit on his actual birthday because someone had to look after my nephews. The person going to do it got called into work.

Thank you need-. I think you can choose exactly how you keep yourself accountable spencer
Friday night trip to Lidl - I had 10% off. £87 which I’m pleased with, that’s less than I’ve spent for a while and included some treats.

What the heck is it with unexpected spending??

My nephew is in a&e after an injury at school. My DSis is away, so my mum is there.

She's exhausted and hungry. She wouldn't be able to use a food delivery app. So I had 2 pizzas sent to the hospital using my app. £25.89 it was after midnight, so I had very limited options. She'd been there all evening with just 1 cup of juice. No wonder she felt awful.

I absolutely wouldn't let her pay me back.

That’s awful. Hope they got seen.

Hope dh has a good birthday Spencer

shopping was not too bad this week but have some meals already in. Ds needs school shoes though. Bah

Morning All - not sure how I’ve missed so many days this week.

Congratulations on the adult child Girlie. And a rather belated happy birthday to her. I hope she had a wonderful day.

I’m being nosey em - what do your nails look like?

Loving the yellow sticker finds Spencer. I do love a yellow sticker. Great news with the coat and hope your husband has a grand birthday and that your nephew is OK.

Oh Martha - don’t be hard on yourself. I’m sorry about the anxiety. Hope the weekend brings some respite.

Have you tried your brownies Happier? How are they?

Spending wasn’t great this week:

Tuesday - £16.99 on a bar of chocolate for a friend’s birthday and ~£4 posting it. £3.77 in Aldi and £3 in Primark on a T-shirt for me.
Wednesday - £321 on a waterproof jacket, waterproof shoes, hiking socks, a sun hat and a new mid-layer. Am fed up of getting wet feet. Needed the sun hat. Didn’t need the mid-layer or the socks.
Thursday - 95p on a pint of milk as I felt like a glass of milk at work. Should really have used work milk.
Friday - no spend day.

On the plus side I added £50 to the holiday cash fund. I think I now have enough for all lunches, dinners that aren’t prepaid and essential cable cars. Still need to buy a pass on top of that but they aren’t on sale until April.

This week has been taxing. Still anxious about who knows what. Work isn’t good. When the thing that shall not be mentioned by name is done I really need to focus on finding a new job.

Bit of a spanner in the works for April’s France trip. Was hoping it would all be booked and paid for before payday but the publication of the book I was going for has been postponed so I’m undecided about going.

Will pop to the town centre this morning for groceries and some odds and ends so am aiming to post again later. I keep going into TK Maxx hoping they have waterproof over trousers. I really don’t like the pair I’ve bought. Need to bite the bullet with some life admin.

I've managed to keep spends low this week, £7 posting a couple of bits and £17 in the co op on food.

Payday is next wed so am counting down the days now! Food is getting quite low, need to do an inventory to see if we've got enough meals, I think we probably have if I'm Inventive.

Going to a friends house tonight for dinner and games so that should be fun and one less dinner to think about!

Dd been a bit down this week, I think post birthday excitement maybe so keeping things quiet this weekend.

Thank you everyone!

Nephew will be fine. He was discharged at 2am 😳. He's had his knee splinted. Apparently he took quite a nasty fall in PE. His mum is ever so grateful that I sorted food out.

My dm has put £20 in her purse for me tomorrow. DH says we should accept because she really wants to give it. DM sent such a lovely text this morning. And she sounded like she was close to tears last night when the pizza got delivered.

Waiting for DH to decide what surprise lunch he wants delivered. Then chicken casserole for tea. He loves casserole and we haven't had a chicken one all winter.

Actually it ended up being a complete no spend day.

DH decided he didn't want the takeaway. He wanted the fancy chicken soup I got in our food shop.

He does love chicken soup.

(Most GF soup is vegetarian in our experience. So anything chicken is a win in our household.)

Spendy trip to London for friend’s birthday yesterday. Quiet day today with DH working on some written work (he’s also a teacher) hoping he will drive me to the gym later - we only have 1 car now as mine died and I hate driving his as it’s massive and quite old so has its little quirks.

Also need to do a food shop. I think prices have gone up again, I popped in for a few things on Friday and some prices actually so high I didn’t buy - smoked salmon £8 😱

I'm doing quite well at not spending anything, I made a crumble Ystd with some old apples that had been in the fridge for ages and some blackberries I had foraged and frozen last year! Took it to my friends house and it went down very well 😋

Today I need to sort out the house which is a shit pit tbh 🤦‍♀️ I'm slowly collecting stuff to take to the charity shop as clutter is definitely not helping.

It's a grey, damp day here ☂️

Hello all. Well done, need, on paying off the mortgage! and to Girlie's DD on attaining legal adulthood (although as mother to DS of 22, I can confirm that there are still many rivers to cross before 'real' adulthood sets in. And a friend of mine, mother to three 30-something boys, would say she is still nursing hers along in many respects...sigh).

Yorkshire was great. Good walking, lovely villages, farm shops, cathedrals and delicious food. DS in good shape. We were in a cottage in Staveley and I'd organised some food from home, but we also ate out a bit in Leeds and around. Visited Ripon for the first time and explored more of Wharfedale and the country around the Ure and the Nidd. Ate Yorkshire brack for the first time! Delicious! Shopped in Booth's, Ilkley - lovely shop. Would be too frequent a visitor there if I lived locally. Ditto Betty's. Reckon I spent about £260 on eating out, but it was all planned for, and I took it from the relevant Chase pot. Also had to retire my walking shoes after years of reliable service, so hoping that their replacement, due to arrive tomorrow (£40 in the sale) prove as good and waterproof.

The weekend has been mostly about washing, drying and cleaning. And keeping my step count up after a good week. Was planning to get out in the garden today, but the promising morning has turned to grey, so I'm staying put indoors.

Found a tenner in the pocket of a jacket, so we had a strawberry trifle and extra strawberries to transform it into health food. Well, it is Sunday and to my mind found money is free money, and I really felt we deserved a treat after being frugal all month. I've still got four quid left.

Congratulations on the tenner.

DM just insisted she pay £25 for the pizzas, so free money for me.

My husband enjoyed his birthday treats

Glad your nephew will be fine Spencer.

Sounds like a lovely break Big. Fingers crossed for your new shoes. I’m trying to break in my first pair of boots (I’ve always worn shoes) and finding it rather tough going.

A bit of spending yesterday £8.35 on groceries. Today I spent £8.60 on laundry things.

Not sure how this weekend has passed so quickly. Didn’t get any admin done. I might try the work benefits programme for some Eurostar tickets. It’s a 4% discount but paying 96% is better than paying 100%. Not looking forward to work this week. Did some yesterday but it didn’t lift any of the anxiousness.

Lost a whole post! Sorry to anyone I've missed
@Happierwithouthim hope Brownies lived up to expectations
@Gensola @BigSkies2022 glad your trips were nice
@RumBananaSundae agree 4% is better than nothing

Lots of spends
£70 babysitting
£30 taxi
£110 dinner
£85 day out with girls
£70 petrol
£20 food (can't remember if I had already logged this or not)

@Spencer0220 - brilliant idea for pizza to your mum. So nice and comforting. Glad nephew is OK. I also have a DM who hates me to put my hand in my pocket, so I know the dance around gifts!

@RumBananaSundae - I hope the work week proves better than you're expecting. I find lists, Pomodoro technique and, where possible, keeping myself to myself makes days like that easier, but it's not always possible, I know. Good luck!

I have a new favourite treat: DS' girlfriend very sweetly gave us a box of Neuhaus Pralines to thank us for taking her out to dinner last week. I want to eat 2 a day, everyday, for the rest of my life. Proper grown-up dark chocolate hit.

Dear god! have just googled Neuhaus pralines. Price of them! I am going to have to buy a very fine Easter egg indeed.

Pralines are so yummy. What is it that makes them so good though?