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

[BigSkies2022]

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The boiler is in and the house is lovely and warm now!! 😎
I did go shopping as the GCs have virtually emptied the snack box spent £52.34 in Lidl and £23.10 in Home Bargains and bought DH things that he can eat taking in to account his dietary needs. He's been pre-diabetic for years but that seems to changing now quite dramatically so he's been referred on as the GP can't seem to control it now with his meds. Sigh!!
Why does everything happen at the same time? One of the GCs 21st Birthday Party this weekend and we also had an invite for a significant wedding anniversary but due to timings of working and both events - we can't be everywhere at the same time plus DH's new glasses to collect on Sunday too. Then straight back into next week with GC's school and nursery drop offs/collections/swimming - who said retirement was the easy option?

Happy new boiler rainbow my DH is pre-diabetic and now high cholesterol so we've changed diet in the last week or so

I am married with two teenage DC and two adult DSD. Both work full time. We've had a lot of financial ups and downs in the last 30 years but finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel within the year. Currently transitioning from being a borrower to a saver which I think I'll find alien, almost like an imposter syndrome thing. Yesterday spent the day looking at pension projections and decided we can't delay AVCs any longer!

Yesterday was Lidl £43 but that included Mother's Day, birthday present and four large Easter Eggs so that's Easter more or less sorted. Saved £11 with the discounts and 10% Lidl Plus voucher.

Up and out to a gym class so will report spends later.

My wages came in today so I have moved last months spare money into 'savings'. Feel like I've turned a corner as have never managed this before. I've also put aside some money into revolut pockets for DCs birthdays in June and September. I've never done this before so it will be nice to not get hit as hard in those months!

I've booked the cinema for later on today. I booked for 9 of us so expensive enough, but it was my turn to pay. I'll bring along popcorn for DC to save money.

Some of your planned trips sound lovely. I haven't got anything planned other than London next weekend. Hoping to keep expenses down while there.

The difference a new boiler makes is so good!
LSD yesterday, had a browse in some shops whilst out but didn't buy anything except food bits we needed.
Rant alert. I'm sick of people assuming I have the same amount of money as them!
I wasn't going to go on a weekend with friends as I couldn't afford it, plans have now changed to something I can do but one friend is wanting to book activities and is getting the hump as I said I can't afford them. Last weekend with them cost me nearly £500!
DD is at a friend's tonight, a friend of mine said we should go for dinner. I said we're cutting back on spending, she just said to treat ourselves. Easy for her to say. Rant over.

I'm mid 30s live in the Yorkshire borders I work in the public sector often travelling around the area which often makes it difficult for taking food to work and leads to meal deals and takeaway coffees etc which is one area I am really working on the immediate gratification spending. I'm in a fortunate position of no consumer debt but I definitely have a black hole iny bank account!

I am going to try for a very low spend weekend - a lot of it will be spent visiting with family this weekend which might lead to picking up snacks etc enroute for the toddler as I don't tend to have snacks in the house.

Have a good weekend ladies.

Edit for transparency - I do have some balance on PayPal credit but I have the money ready to pay it off just decided to keep the cash in my accounts instead.

Hi everyone 👋🏻
I’ve been lurking on this thread and the previous for a while, being inspired by stories of frugalism.
I’m 59, divorced 13 years ago and now live on my own as my adult ds moved out last April. Been thinking about early/semi retirement for a few years and have handed in my notice from my well paid but stressful job and I leave in just over a month. Planning to get myself a part time job or at least pick up odd work here and there later in the year. So I’m needing to pull my belt in over the next few months!!
I’ve spent a lot on travel in the last couple of years and I plan to continue to travel (solo) which is why I need to work (to top up my pension). I’ve got a private pension and I’m planning to start taking my small db pensions later this year.
I had a ‘poor’ childhood and my mum was extremely good at making money stretch- I tend to be a bit of a famine and feast spender - I can enjoy spending virtually nothing and see it as a challenge (but not for long) and then I feel the urge to go out and spend! So I’ve got some mindset work to do 😊
Just got back from a rather spendy holiday and so I need to shop my freezer and cupboards (which are pretty well stocked) to keep to a budget.

Pennies - is it really already end of week 3 at work? Congratulations, glad to hear you are hitting your marks in your new routine.

north - great to have a Brittany trip lined up. You've probably done the Dinard, Saint-Cast, Brieuc stretch already? I would like to try the islands, and there is a dog-friendly hotel advertised via Sawdays that I've bookmarked for future trips.

To continue the theme of introductions and potted histories: I'm 59, turn 60 this year and get - yess! - the first of 3 final salary, DB pensions. Two more will kick in at 65 and 67 and I will get a full state pension at 67/68. Also (fingers crossed austerity doesn't do for it) I qualify this year for my Transport for London Oyster pass. I'm married, one DS due to finish university this summer and return home for duration unspecified.

Career mostly public sector, some time in think-tanks and charity sector. Left work at 50 because a) pensions were all sorted and b) I had enough money coming in from a rental property and other bits and pieces to hit the national average and keep my end up with household finances and personal expenses until my pensions came in. I will be better off as a pensioner than I've been for a decade. Frugal ways have been a sort of financial superpower - when I think of how much money I wasted when I was earning I scandalise myself!

I

I made an impulse buy last night. Epsom are offering €50-60 cash back on their printers at the moment. We’ve one at work and it’s very economical. Printer was €209.99 and I’ll get €50 cashback.
Dd will be in exam year next year and ds will be in his final year at primary school. Purchase would happen at some stage.

€25.50 takeaway
€10 parking
€15 haircut ds
€4.99 lunch
€80.95 county jersey ds, football, gift for niece (an 18” Hurley & sliotar)
€4 socks
€43.70 the range - bedding for ds, a few bits

today
€24.70 local shop groceries ds having playdate

Aldi today £80 , included in that ,l did get DH 2 LS tops from there to mess around in £14 for the two .
He was Chuffed anyway 😂

That's a good deal Happier

I'm not sure I'll ever get out of frugal ways now Bigskies nice to think of it as a superpower. Roll on pension day for you!

Ooh I'm looking for DH for Father's Day Mary often buy him a nice hoodie or T-shirt for the summer. Nothing in the middle of Lidl this year so will now check out Aldi.

Today was £62 Lidl, £8.90 milkshake with DD at ice cream parlour at a local farm.

Frugal win. Book from Linwood Barclay for free on the Kindle Library. I am phone scrolling / channel flicking /dozing and thought I may as well enjoy an easy read instead. I'm dropping a load off at the charity shop in our community centre this week, so will have a hunt in there for books - I'd like a cookbook for lowering cholesterol without spending £20 or whatever on Amazon.

@Mochi1fudge If you have Amazon Kindle there are some free downloadable recipe books that might help you. I rarely pay for books now as so many can be downloaded for free via kindofbook and other similar sites.

Can I jump in please? Had a wake up call this week when I went through my bank statements and realised how much I’ve been frittering away. I need this thread to make me accountable!
I’ve been doing ok this week but has to spend £40 at the vets as my stupid dog ate something he shouldn’t and was unwell.
Other than that, I’ve spent £40 on petrol and £25 on a top up shop. (accounted for). Also £40
on my eyebrows, which was accounted for but does feel unnecessary.

Spend day as out for the next 50th in our group. Excellent day

@Mochi1fudge
My DH is really pleased with the tops for £6.99 each you can't go wrong.
Welcome @Redhairandhottubs and @chimichangazl love your names both 😁

Welcome newbies!
Went out yesterday to buy some seed potatoes which partner bought for me, so I treated him to a coffee £7.
I set up a subscription for loose leaf tea £6.15.
And then went out with some old school friends who I haven't seen for a year. One wasn't going to turn up as money is such an awful situation for her so I said I would treat her or it would be another year before we saw each other. I had budgeted for £20 but paying for both of us it was £45 so I'll need to tweak budget now to accommodate.
NSD here today :)
Great idea to look for fathers day pressies in lidl, I'll take a look on Thursday, I will also get my 10% off then too

almost managed a no spend day yesterday, my daughter decided she must have spaghetti hoops for tea and I wasn't sure we had some so picked some up to avoid a melt down ... Reader .. we had them! £2.

My daughter is pretty much climbing walls already today and it's only 9am think it might be a costly day today as it's raining in our bit of Yorkshire and no outdoor activity will be happening 😆 (I am a definite no outdoors girl best of times!) could do with some of them little shorts to go under dresses as the ones I have are too big so may go see if they are in Primark yet. Or avoid Primark it's a rainy day activity for too many people 😆

Had a night out last night at a family party and spent £26.60 on drinks. We neither of us were bothered for drinking and DH on 0% beers anyway as he was driving. We were fed pie and peas at the party followed by cake and sweeties so avoided a takeaway on the way home.😇
The weather is miserable today so I think we might just carry on binge watching The Bay - how did we miss this when it was on the TV? On series four now and have deliberately avoided watching the current series until we catch up. Then we need to find something else to watch!! Any suggestions? 🤓

LSD yesterday in the end. We saw snow White, I enjoyed it. Dc brought treats from home and Dsis bought me a cuppa tea so no money spent on overpriced cinema treats.

As I paid for the cinema tickets, DH treated us to dinner after. Popped into the range and spent €11 on stationary for DS. He loves drawing and was using his school stationary at home, then kept forgetting to put it in his bag to take back to school. (Leaving range having only spent €11 is quite impressive I think!)

Today I'll be taking DC for haircuts so that'll be about €40. We might get a coffee too.

Morning all
Ive slipped off the thread and the bandwagon. March has been a spectacularly bad month. I had to look up what Munificent 😄meant and it definitely applies here! Its a good job its a no council tax month or we'd be overdrawn. I'll be tightening the belt for the rest of March.

Welcome to all the new frugelers.

@BigSkies2022 @Rainbow1901 @Frugal25 What boilers did you choose. We have a Potterton too which is 20 years old and getting too old to find parts for, (thanks to British Gas boiler insurance i think the outer casing is probably the only original part left!) I like the idea of controlling up and downstairs separately,

@PenniesButton Good to hear the new job is going well.

@Justgivemehotchocolate We went for a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000+ which is a gas fired condensing combi boiler.
According to our Smart meter we are already using less gas so that is a positive and the screen on the boiler is really easy to use and understand and so flexible with water temps and heating temps. No more checking the pressure to see if it's dropped (which it did frequently) The gas fitter did everything from installation to making sure we can control heating from the Hive which we already had installed.

NSD for me thankfully 😁
We have a Worcester Green star boiler too @Rainbow1901 and very pleased with it too

Another Worcester here. The engineer pats it lovingly each year when he comes to service it: "Such a good boiler.'' Also operates with a Hive thermostat control.

We have a vaillant boiler here with nest thermostat. Been a great boiler but I'd say worcester are great too 😁

Big Aldi and Tesco shops as we had huge family round for lunch today. About £130 and will keep us going now.

We saw Snow White at the cinema too and I though it was sweet!

Will aim for NSDs every day this week, as we've got afternoon tea with Grandma on Saturday to pay for (for Mother's Day).

@PenniesButton glad you enjoyed Snow White, I’ve heard so much negativity about it in the media, it’s like they take delight in pulling things apart.
LSD for me, just £7.50 for 2 coffees after along walk. And £68 for my online food shop, but that was in budget.
Ive got an eye watering expensive day tomorrow as DS is having 4 wisdom teeth out. I’ve paid for him to have them done privately under sedation as he’s really suffering and the NHS waiting lists are so long. It’ll be worth it for him to be out of pain.