Is your March miserly or munificent? Join the frugaleers sharing news and tips.

[BigSkies2022]

New thread

Spends this weekend ….

£35.63 on suncream for dd. 2 of the meds she’s on cause her to have sensitive skin & she burns really really easily. It’s a lot worse this year since adding the 2nd med in. She’s been wearing factor 50 & still burning! So I’ve ordered 2 bottles of factor 70!! Fingers crossed it works 🤞🏻

£31.60 in sainsburys last night. Fancied a Chinese takeaway, thought a ‘fake-away’ would be cheaper … not sure it was really.

£105.15 on weekly shop. Takes us up to Friday as going away at the weekend for a few days to north wales - as long as the forecast changes!! I’m not going if it’s still pouring with rain, as the current forecast suggests.

Meal plan for this week ….
Roast with chicken
Lasagne
Pasta bake
Jacket potatoes with sour cream, bacon & chives
Cottage pie
Pizza

Busy weekend. We had a nephews communion yesterday so Friday and Saturday were busy helping out. Today DH has gone over with the trailer to bring back out stuff and snail child is with him to get a last bounce on the bouncy castle. I am relaxing in the sun for a while

friday spent about €50 on extra bits including stuff for the communion.

saturday, LSD, €10 on bread ice and a nail file.

today I’ve paid off our holiday accommodation as we go in less than 2 weeks.

reviewed the joint account ahead of getting paid on Friday and there is still money there! Also in the black on my personal accounts and my sinking/savings pots were not hit this month. A much better outcome than April.

I took a chicken out of the freezer for dinner but may end up using it tomorrow if DH and small child are late home otherwise I’ll bbq it and pair with some salads. I still have leftovers from Fridays BBQ lamb shops I can have if they eat at sister in laws

Not updating about spends as I’m on my cruise, back on Sunday but keeping up with the thread anyway 😊

How is the cruise @chimichangaz. I’ve got a life dream to go on a cruise!!!

Quite spendy day for me yesterday. We were at the Young Farmers Rally - absolute cracker of a day but entry, drinks, ice creams and a takeaway on the way home came to £110. Well worth it with the kids getting involved in the most massive flour and water fight you’ve ever seen.

Took MIL shopping. She paid for everything so just petrol for me

I fell off the thread and now just lost a big post!

Headlines are I was doing well for a busy weekend but then ended up spending £135 on Shein for DDs summer haul. That will come from another pot but it's still another cost.

Takeaway tonight at £53 but got £10 off with a code and DH gave me £20 which he had won. So only £23 really... 😂

Oh thank you @needastrongoneagain I shall take a look.
Enjoy your cruise @chimichangaz !
Ooohhh BBQ @pistachiosanscream , I need to crank mine out.
NSD here. We went to an outside park activity thing and it was all free. A lovely time.
One more day until pay day. I haven't used credit card or dipped into savings but have hit the overdraft, been a long month for me. I did sell £163 worth of stuff on eBay today so I'm hoping that comes in soon

£70 in various supermarkets/butchers/bakers over the last 3 days. Tomorrow I will start proper big planned shop for upcoming house guest feeding.

Gymshark leggings have arrived! Definitely keeping, definitely like them. As for looking like Dina....well, Dina has the glutes she has worked for, and I have mine...

But: (ha! see what I did there!) I am getting across Gabrielle Lyons' protocol for building muscle, and have given my PT notice that I want us to start going harder this week. I may live to regret this, but we'll see.

@ememem84 How are you feeling about going back? I hope it goes well for you on Monday 💐

@chimichangaz Ohh enjoy your cruise!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and spends are where you want them to be.

NSD Wednesday. We went to Canterbury, DH bought us smoothies (heathyish choice) and some bits from the korean grocers. Changed the dinner plan to prawn stirfry.

Thursday spent £10.24 after voucher on collagen powder and hair conditioner, both needed for next day but ordered a cheaper conditioner to see if my hair agrees with it compared to the expensive one I usually buy, it's ok, it's about £20 cheaper so I expect I will buy a few to put away whilst they are half price and rotate.

Yesterday was spendy as I had the skin clinic and needed to pay for first and second session in one go. Also need to find some prom shoes for DD, Wondering if I can convince her to do converse with matching satin laces.

Meal plan
Monday - Salmon, poached egg, sourdough, spinach and avocado.
Tuesday - Plant based keema naan with sour cream
Wednesday - Spinach, kale and ricotta lasagne with salad
Thursday - Sea bass en papillote with fondant potatoes
Friday - Chicken stirfry with ginger, soy, garlic and greens

We have an extra two staying with us at the weekend, tempted to get a Gousto to cover it as it's currently 70% off on offer.

@BigSkies2022 I'm still stuck in my Nike pro mesh panel leggings which are a bit too tight for my liking during cycling workouts, but I had never heard of these gymshark bum scrunches (what a fantastic name) and they are now on my wishlist of things I definitely do not need but will purchase because i deserve nice things 😂

Interested to hear more about your training routine, workouts etc. I have my eye on womens boxing alongside cycling to work on upper and lower body, but haven't the confidence to go yet. I'm thinking maybe I'd be better off trying climbing instead.

NSD today for me Yay! 😀

Gusto sounds like a great plan in that case @psuedocream3.

Enjoy the cruise @chimichangaz

im glad you like the leggings @BigSkies2022

i had a lovely weekend at my friends and it definitely could have been worse cost wise.
on top of the train and dog boarding I spent £15 on some gifts for my hosts and then £30 contribution towards the BBQ we had.
Today I spent £7 at the station cafe for water and a (massive!) pack of (crisps which was annoying as it was totally avoidable but hey ho. I used to make purchases like that all the time so the occasional one is definitely an improvement.

I don’t get paid until the end of the month - which means I have half term to get through on this budget. hopefully the weather will be good so we can do cheap outdoor activities, but I think I need to come up with a few plans now so I don’t end up over spending in a panic if dd gets bored.

@psuedocream3 im actually really excited. It’s been a long slog. this feels like the end of the “worst” and the start of a new chapter.

from a financial perspective too it will be nice to be earning “proper” money again. My stat sick pay is atrocious (£283 a week) but work have paid 70% of my salary (less tax and ni). So I’ve been bringing in something. But to know the full amount will hit the bank by end of June. Win.

things I need to do:

lose weight. Chemo and steroids etc have seen me put on about 10kg. So I need to get back on the weight loss train.

make sure I reclaim everything I can from insurance.

take time for me.

I've just spent £130 on weight loss injections for the first time. Honestly don't have the money spare (we have £700 a month to live on which doesn't seem to go far, and it has to come out of there) so I really really really hope it's worth it.

There’s some good podcasts out there re the GLP1 drugs @PenniesButton. Think the key is changing the habits long term after the weight loss and trying not to lose too much muscle mass. Good luck.

@BigSkies2022 I like Gabrielle Lyon too. You’re probably aware but some other good podcasts are Peter Attia (The Drive). Hit Play not Pause. Anything with Lane Norton on is good, same Andy Galpin. The Attia pod last week was a brilliant one about menopause medication/treatment/consequences re the WHI fallout two decades ago - very much worth a listen.

Should be a NSD today.

Fallen off
just wanted to send @ememem84 good wishes for going back to work

Are you back at work today @ememem84? I hope it all goes well.

I’ve had a spendy morning already. I bought DD her main birthday present which in one way is totally unnecessary as her birthday isn’t until the end of the summer holidays 😬 - but in another way makes sense as I took the money from the correct pots, and money is always tighter closer to her birthday due to holiday spending and buying things for the new term ahead. Fairly certain she’ll love the present and it had 20% discount on it too so I’m framing it as a win…

I also bought myself a small washing up bowl for £5 so I can do my dishes without filling the whole sink.

Aw thanks team!

yes back to work. Logging in after school drop off! Wfh for a couple of weeks as I’m only doing mornings so it makes sense to not deal with commute (and wierdly I don’t think they have a desk for me! 🤣 my old desk has been taken by the contract staff who came in to cover me!)

finances update.

insurance paid me £2500 as reimbursement for flights and part reimbursement for hotel. So I’ve thrown all that against credit card.

need to pay my professional membership subs for the year. £400….can reclaim this from work though.

ds is having a haircut today.

and I’ve taken “diced pork” out of the freezer for dinner. No idea if it’s cooked or raw (as can’t really tell as currently it’s rock solid -looks pink so I assume it’s raw!) and need to get some veggies so can do a stir fry for dinner.

Yep - good luck @ememem84

Ooh, thanks for the podcast recommendations, need - motivating listens while I'm working out always welcome.

Well done on taking the plunge on WLI, Pennies. In terms of the cost, users often find it helpful to offset the costs of the additional food and drink they would otherwise be consuming to arrive at the real monthly cost of the injections. So perhaps you could take that into account? Also, the costs associated with poor health are pretty high, so there's that.

Have a good day, em!

Good luck on your return to work @ememem84

thanks all for good wishes. Start of cruise was a nightmare as we were delayed taking off due to a WW2 bomb being found near Venice airport. Long story short, group of us missed the ship (loads of others too from different locations) and had a nightmare trying to get cruise company to sort hotel and onward flights! One hotel stay and two flights later I was on board!! Got to try and claim expenses back but will sort when I’m home.

So glad you're back at work @ememem84 ! Working from home is amazing, gives you some breathing time whilst getting stuck back in. Let's hope the pork is precooked and it's one less thing to do later!
Oh no @chimichangaz that sounds like a nightmare. So glad you got there in the end.
NSD here. Prawn curry tonight so bits are defrosting as I type.

Oh no to the cruise start!!

so NSD for me yesterday. And I’m proud of myself for sewing in 4 name tags into some of DS’s summer uniform bought in the second hand shop. At £3.50 per label I’ve saved a whopping £14 but that’s still a way to go to justify the £320 sewing machine!!!

Work done! Hooray!!!!

im going into the office on Wednesday so that will be nice.

spends £158 in Waitrose. Nothing ridiculous (!!) just loads of fresh fruit and veg, three litres of milk (at £1.78a pop) but we have no alternatives, kefir yoghurt, 12 eggs, two huge bags of chicken breast, snacks for the kids (it was probably these to be fair!)

Pleased work went ok em