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[BigSkies2022]

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Little bit spendier yesterday, £43 at the farm shop taken to buying expensive ready made prepped meals from there found it probably saved me money on takeaways etc last week.
Got another trip to Sainsbury's today

£74 discretionary spend pot left probably spend this on DD as she needs a few new bits (don't they always)

Went birthday and Father's day present shopping, spent £8 in Primark and £53 in Lidl .
Some lovely wine and a gorgeous strawberry pot from Primark .
Rain has held off here today, so l managed to get the washing dried yay!
Hope everyone is ok and having a lovely bank holiday weekend 😊

Aw thank you re my Mum @Frugal25and
@PenniesButton.
Congratulations on passing your training @PenniesButton
Oh l bet those curtains are gorgeous @BigSkies2022 😊

£8.50 in charity shop on toys for DD as I dropped off a massive bag of bits for donation
£2.50 parking
£13.50 for lunch with friend. We both admitted we are being more frugal so although today wasn't expensive we agreed that next time we would meet up in one of our gardens and have a cuppa.
Have sorted out some bits to put on vinted. Never done that before so quite excited. Hopefully some of it sells to use as pocket money

Today not as spendy as I thought. Day out for DDs birthday (it's not for a week). Had pre booked tickets for activity.
£4.30 drinks in activity centre
£34.30 at Italian afterwards. £17 per head for pizza, dessert and drink which is not too bad.
£3.59 TGTG bag from Starbucks. Sandwiches x 5 for tomorrow.
£4.99 Lidl - eggs and water.

Still got half term and DDs actual birthday next weekend 😂

Morning.

I'm not brilliant at freezing extra food and actually remembering to defrost and use, so I'm happy for the leftovers being used for lunches etc. DD is really good at recycling previously cooked items so it works well.

The pot work well re planning @Frugal25 in terms of what we will actually need annually, rather than month to month if that makes sense? When I budget what we need to live on monthly, and allocate resources to absolutely everything we would spend in a year, it really adds up, but at least there are no surprises. I fully appreciate how bloody lucky we are to do this, but in two months we will have no income coming in, so it feels important to plan for that 😊

Spends yesterday
£17 Oatly Barista from Amazon (cheapest price I've seen it yet so got two packs of 6
£20 creatine supplement

Today will be a NSD.

Menu plan
Dhal (didn't make last week)
Pasta with chickpeas and Zatar
Sweet potato, ginger and coconut stew
Chicken broth
Fresh tuna with Asian slaw (still not used the tuna steaks from freezer)
Salmon with roasted vegetables and garlic roast potatoes
Something easy like breaded fish and oven chips as our quick dinner.

It's a wild and windy day here, so have a good one folks.

Try the Batch Lady. When we have sausages and mash for dinner I make Balmoral pie which does the trick I’m exhausted nights where I don’t want to cook or spend.

Went for drinks on Friday after work (planned) and bought food on the way home so £30.
Yesterday was NSD and today should be. Got some work from my "side hustle" so that,along with this weekend's cat sitting, should help cover any half term costs and a couple of meet ups with friends in the next week.
Have a weekend with friends in a couple of months time and two of them are keen to do an activity which costs around £50. It's nothing I really want to do and can't justify it as that will be on top of dinner out on the same night.

Nsd yesterday. Wahooo.

spent the day in the garden hacking a tree down. DH left me to it. It was one he wanted gone.

I trimmed branches sawed it down then dug that bugger up.

more garden tidying today.

Good morning all 👋
I am in the process of being made redundant and am finding this thread very encouraging and positive 💪✨
I have had a no spend day yesterday, went for a nice local walk and pottered about at home. Similar for today, although my cleanser has almost run out and I need to see if I can find any offers online for La Roche Posay because it’s about the only cleanser i can use which doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin, has no fragrance etc. I might have enough Boots advantage card points actually so I I’ll start there!
Good Luck everyone!

Morning everyone.
As always it’s lovely hearing all your updates and menu plans. Congratulations on the baby news!

I’ve done a bit of hacking back in my garden this week. One side is looking good! I’ve got another 2 beds to do and then I need to take the green tinge on the patio… It’s half term this week so I might get a chance of getting it done. No purchases needed either for super frugal…

I’ve generally been good with very low spend days but I’ve had 2 bigger spends.
The first was £115 on vitamins and supplements. It’s a few months supply but I took it from my groceries pot this month as I’ve been underspending on food whilst at my mums/having virtually no appetite. I’ll need to ensure I’m saving enough money for them as things get back to normal.

The other big (unplanned) spend was £250 on a private drs appointment and blood tests (followed by £20 on antibiotics). I got my self in a bit of a paranoid mess about some abdominal pains and wasn’t able to see my GP until the end of next week at least. Anyway it was very reassuring and I’m already feeling better mentally and physically. Bloods due back on Tuesday. It’s not something I’ve done before but in my current situation it feels like money well spent. My mum kindly paid £100 and I split the rest of the cost between 2 monthly pots (my personal allowance and the monthly slush fund pot) so it means that whilst won’t I have as much left over money to transfer into savings on payday on Friday, I won’t be over my monthly limit or in my overdraft either. Honestly I wouldn’t have had the funds to do this without this thread so thank you everyone for the support, inspiration and accountability!

Have a lovely day everyone.

Very happy with my day today was going to the park with DD who wanted an ice-cream it would have been around £10 for 3 from the van of £1.89 from the Aldi over the road got the £1.89 Peppa pig option!

Also did you know if you take a travel cup of ice and put an ice cream in it it may stop ice cream. A friend tolde this and I am going to try it!

No other spends today.

Did spend £25 on a dress from TU yesterday afternoon but I love it and was able to get it out of my slush fund.

Going into June we have a couple of birthdays coming up so need to get organised for that and a mini break in Norwich.

Very LSD over the weekend, apart from hospital parking fees, as DDad had to be admitted via A&E with an inability to pee and vomiting. Now has a catheter permanently in place, and we (Dbrother and I) are organising an assessment by a local residential care home for two weeks respite care. Bank holiday means this can't happen until Tuesday, and we were advised by the care home to insist the hospital keep him in as there were no district nurses available to deal with the catheter and my mum is on her knees and just can't cope with this.

So I fronted up the head nurse on the ward and firmly and politely explained why it was impossible for them to discharge him with no care plan, and we were putting a respite care package in place, but it couldn't happen before Tuesday. To my amazement, they were fine, and he's staying in. I simply didn't know it was possible to say no to the NHS. DMum in tears of relief.

So, quiet evening: I've done my workout, eaten my protein, and I'm about to have a hot shower. We're hoping to head out of London tomorrow for a nice airy walk with Ddog before the week vanishes in the next tranche of aged parent management.

NSD yay!
@BigSkies2022 hope your poor Dad is much better very soon , bless you all 💐
Hope your blood tests are clear @SockHop it's an investment in your health that's what l think 💐

Thanks Mary. It's a crisis that has been brewing for a while, and it's a good thing in a way, since it has forced my parents to accept the need for a proper break in the form of respite care.

Your poor Dad @BigSkies2022 but it's great that you could advocate for your DMum and let her have a little break from caring and take some time for herself. The NHS is great but the system lacks sensibility sometimes in their endeavours to free up hospital beds as quickly as possible without ensuring a good care package is in place.
I had the dubious pleasure of spending the night on a trolley at the local hospital corridors when I was taken in after collapsing on a night out with my daughter. Reams of tests done, CT scans, consultancy, the whole kaboodle, but eventually considered to be nothing worse than a faint brought on by prescribed medication which has now been changed! But the NHS were thorough if exceedingly slow!!

Oh @BigSkies2022 I am sending love and hope your dad is feeling much better now he is in the right place.
NSD here today. Did a national trust place today which is paid for monthly by OH which was lovely.
Hopefully a NSD tomorrow too although Tuesday I need to spend £4 in lidl to ensure I get 10% off on Thursday. Loo rolls I think!!

Morning.

Huge sympathy to you @BigSkies2022. It takes a huge emotion toll advocating for a relative, notwithstanding the physical workload of caring. I hope your DM gets the respite she needs.

@SockHop I've invested hugely in my own health since DH's stroke. I've always been very fit, but I want to be as fit and well for as long as possible and I very much see it as investing in my own health and longevity. If you don't actually know what's going on inside, you can't make changes though. Good for you.

Spends
£8 bulk buy of washing pods.

And did order a new car (😳). Paid nothing yet though. I've had a company car for 20 years so it was always going to have to happen at some point. I've done the sums etc re what I wanted to spend and what we need. Today will be looking at the cost of insurance.

Tea will be sweet potato dhal. I don't plan on spending today.

Welcome @mechanicalpencil

Well done big skies for saying no. It’s not easy as you say. Hope you get some will earned respite. It’s tough on the elderly parents train. We are there with mil

spent £70 in Sainsbury’s yesterday as need basics as I’m expanding. One of the swimmers will go back when I’ve figured out my size

Good you had a good month sock and yes to investing in your own health. I’m getting better at it as I look at parents and do not want to be them iykwim

dunno what today will bring. Farm defo and we may go out for a walk

Well done Big on advocating for what you all needed, I wish your dad all of the best in the move to the respite home.

@SockHop sometimes spending money on your health is what's best. I know the NHS is incredibly but the waiting times are something else. I spent just over £100 on home blood tests last week because getting an appointment at my GP is impossible, and I wanted a full check up.

Will today be an NSD, or will we go out for lunch? The eternal question! It's a lovely bank holiday. Have a gym class at 12:30 and DW is coming with me and we'll be starving after. Hard to resist a lovely drink into the Scottish countryside to a favourite place.

Sorry to hear that @BigSkies2022 and I'll join PPs in saying well done! I hope you had a peaceful evening yesterday.

My weekend was going OK- food shop Saturday came in just under budget but stocked up on freezer bits for those evenings where I usually get back late and buy takeaway.

LSD yesterday, did some gardening. All was going great until my car threw a tantrum and looks like the head gasket or engine is practically gone on it 😥

I'm still 9 months away from finishing the finance on it. I was really looking forward to be free of that bill. DH says it will cost up to 5k to fix and thinks we should fix it and buy something else 😔 which would mean more car finance.

We live out in the sticks and public transport is non existent. So I am wfh today as couldn't make it to the office. It's times like this I really miss my DDad who was great for advice and support at times like this. He passed away in December.

@Rainbow1901 glad to hear centre parcs was a success, im going later this year for my first time. Boo to that airport charge!

@PenniesButton congratulations on passing your training and well done on not relying on the credit cards when cash became tight. The £200 might have eased the burden but mentally you didn't want to go back to the cards which is great.

enjoy the ring @Frugal25 i love having all my pots. A large amount of unaccounted for money will be spent very quickly by me.

@needastrongoneagain i budget the same way. it can be depressing seeing how much our life actually costs to run but better to be realistic.

@psuedocream3 congrats on he new baby.

@SockHop definitely important to look after your health. While all good in your case, if it wasn't then early intervention is always best. Now you can rest easy and get back to frugal ways without stress and pain hanging over you.

@BigSkies2022 i'm sorry to hear about your dad. Family caring is such a difficult thing to do even if you are not the main carer. There sometimes feels like there is no good options. But glad to hear that respite will be happening as your mum needs a break.

@Imperfectpolly that is terrible news. My nephews head gasket went recently and it was estimated to cost 1.5K so maybe it won't be as expensive as your DH thinks. I suppose it really is a numbers game, cars are so expensive to buy nowadays that as long as the repair can be effective it may be best to do that. I'm with you on living in the sticks, its not an option to not have a car as the roads to our nearest village is actually a major road that needs upgrading and is a death trap for cyclists.

Caught up on all the goings on in the thread so time now to do my own postmortem on the weekend spending.

Friday, DH was mourning not passing an exam he had done loads of work for. So spent €15 on treats and then a takeaway for €36.65. Also spent €20 on cleaning products and a confirmation card in Dealz and €140 on a new Ipad screen.

Saturday was €30 in lidl on more compost and a couple of groceries. €31 on a new hurley and grip for small child as the one she has is too big. €6 in dealz on colouring books and drinks for small child. DH got a coffee and used vouchers to pay for petrol so the balance for both was €7.56. then €4.60 on tolls

Sunday i spent €15 on brunch, €72 on petrol for my car and for lawnmowers.

So a pretty spendy weekend. Cleaners ae coming today so that will €70 but hoping otherwise to have a NSD.

This weeks menuplan
Monday: Southern Fried Chicken, Roasted Carrots, Potatoes and tenderstem brocolli
Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas with Guacamole
Wednesday: Pasta, using up leftover veg in the freezer
Thursday: Curries from the freezer with rice and Naan or else something that uses up whatever is in the fridge/fresh food that wont last.
Friday: we are on holidays so no more menu planning for a while.

Hopefully today will be a low spend one again got to go get a few bits from the supermarket shortly going to leave DH and DD at home they cost a lot of money to cart into a supermarket!
Off to feed the ducks this afternoon afterwards so it'll be literally pense on some peas.

Thanks everyone. It definitely feels like money well spent and I do need to look after myself more at the moment. Im totally run down. The dr is going to call me back when all the bloods are back tomorrow and we will make a plan. My dad died of pancreatic cancer when he was 54. I’m 10 years younger than he was when he died but I’m probably at the age I need to keep checks on that as much as possible. Yearly blood tests are probably no bad idea.

I need to pop to the supermarket and buy a few basics later today. I’m hoping it will be £40 max. No other spends planned though. We are having a bit of a lazy recuperating day.

That’s bad news about the car @Imperfectpolly. I hope it’s not as much as you think!

I hope your dad is ok @BigSkies2022

Enjoy feeding the ducks @ChipshopPickledEgg!