Significant Summer Saving, significantly less spending, super (non) splurging. Frugal folk continue being frugal here. All welcome.

[needastrongoneagain]

Making a new thread!

Please check in regular posters and welcome new people.

This is a super friendly thread to contribute to. We are all wanting to be as efficient as possible re spending but all have different budgets and priorities. No judgement here.

NSD (no spend day) for me.

That's beautiful!! Love the croc too.

@Seaside3 your salads sound so delicious, I hadn't thought of roasting nectarines... I shall be doing this.
@ememem84 the beach sounds amazing and so needed on hot days. How lovely.

Was going to be a NSD but paid £10 towards the schools teachers end of year gift. Worthwhile but but gutted I can't add another NSD to my diary.

Thanks for all the kind words, good to be back on the thread. Big sorry you're going through the mill with social services and a care home search. We haven't been to this area before but love it so far, Nantes for the day tomorrow, by train.
We've had an offer for parents' house today. I think if we could get £5k more then dad would say yes & we could start looking for bungalows in the local market town. Some type of supported living would be better but they won't agree to that yet.
Em beach party sounds great & lovely news re your sis too.
I love the sound of the nectarine salad too seaside. I always love looking at people's meal plans for interest & inspiration.
We're currently sheltering from a thunderstorm after some lovely, sunny, but very hot, weather. Having a very frugal day today as DD treated us to a fantastic creperie lunch as a thank you for the holiday! We all had galettes (savoury buckwheat pancakes) followed by crepes and washed down with local cider. Le yum!
She found out this morning where she will be in Germany from Sept to end of Feb. She's got a language assistant paid placement in a primary school. Location looks great so we are now planning a visit to celebrate her 21st in November. She is hoping to fund everything herself so some of the uni rent money we have been paying can go towards the trip for DH, me & ds. She has never been one for parties so it will be ideal for her.

Sounds lovely @northender enjoy yourself 😁
NSD for me today yay have to do Aldi shopping tomorrow though .

That's a lovely bag @Pigtailsandall

@ememem84 the beach party sounds amazing!

I'm sorting out care homes too but am a bit further along. It's for my mother in law not my own mum. She's been in one for a month now as a trial and is due a review soon which will involve SS (again). She doesn't want to be there sadly - although she does seem happier and healthier than she had been in a long time. She wasn't at all happy at home with carers and would get incredibly cross every day. I've been told by SS that she needs 24hr care and that her own home isn't really suitable anymore even with adaptions. She's got dementia (early stages) and she falls a lot. I'm hoping that the review gives some solutions. The care home itself is really nice and the staff are lovely - but MIL is adamant she wants to live alone and do her own cooking and cleaning etc and go for walks and unfortunately does not understand that just isn't possible. The whole thing is really hard on so many levels.

Today has been spendy as predicted. I did manage to get Dd the concert tickets which is great. I won't admit how much they cost! She knows it a bday present and is happy with that.
dDog has a bad tummy so I bought some probiotic paste for him from the vets at £19. Hopefully that will sort him out. He seems fine in himself.
I bought a friend a coffee for £3.

I managed to watch the first half of this weeks Rebel Finance on Monday. I'm hoping to finish it off before bed tonight.

Well I had to re-stock with all kinds today so Lidl £102.25 Home Bargains £26.79 and Amazon £19.68 for a gift for this coming weekend.
But I don't think it was too bad as the total spend for food for two of us plus the cat for the month of June is £212.25

That’s really impressive @Rainbow1901 !

Thank you all for the bag wishes! I do love it very much.

Today's expenditure was £50 in Holland and Barrett for whey protein, collagen powder and soap bar. All will get used, though.

Edit today also £3.60 for sandwich at work! Woke up too late to make lunch!

Another nsd for me today. Tomorrow i will be buying fancy bread, we try to avoid crappy bread as none of us particularly likes it. Im happy to buy the cheap version of most things, but not bread.

Today's salad with roasted nectarines, feta, walnuts was yummy. Dinner was the roasted peppers with white beans, plum tomatoes and a bit of blue cheese, salad and oven fries. Loved the peppers, they were a riff on these.https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKrtbBgCL0Z/?igsh=MWxyM3lyanF2NGk3bQ==

Tomorrow, salad leaves from dinner, blue cheese, roasted nectarines and almonds. Dinner i think will be Asian inspired chicken and noodles.as I've got some boiled eggs to eat and some broccoli that needs eating up.

My update for Week 3 of June (16-22 June):

Mon: £137.34 groceries
Tues: NSD
Wed: NSD
Thurs: £1.50 bus fare, £2.05 cup of tea (tea club was out of tea bags!); £15.20 drinks & snacks at pub (while DH and I enjoying the sun)
Fri: £1.50 bus fare; £9.15 drinks (DH paid for dinner out)
Sat: NSD
Sun: £7.80 travel (swimming class)

My credit card payment also went out on the Thursday - £99.66.

Other costs during the week (top up shops) came from the joint account so are not included (I’m only tracking my personal spends).

My pay was £1,691 after tax etc, and £1,046 of this was committed to bills, leaving £645 for everything else, which I split into categories. Total spend from 1 June to 22 June is now:

• £300 groceries (main shop): £268.01
• £120 commute/ travel: £41.71
• £20 coffee at work: £7.65
• £50-60 credit card payment: £99.66
• £143 everything else: £103.10

Total out of £645: £520.13. Just under £125 left for the last week of the month. Still finding this very useful to track costs.

Today was quite spendy as I took my sister shopping. Spent £40 on food/birthday presents, £12 lunch, £14 stamps (they are so expensive!) and £16 on a dress to wear by the pool/on hot days.

Forgot to mention the other day me and my friend have booked a cruise for later this year - we both celebrate our 60th birthdays. It’s quite a bargain at £650 each for a week to Spain from Southampton! Only the deposit paid so far (balance next month) but then I’ve also booked our parking which is £100 (we will split this). I’ve also booked parking and an overnight hotel for a short cruise I’m on with my sister in August- £200 but again we will split this.

Tomorrow my car is booked in for service and MOT - I sense there will be work to do and just pray it’s not too expensive!!!

Today was £3.50 at the coop for a meal deal.

Meal plan has largely been quick freezer meals this week as I was away at the weekend then eating out tomorrow. Did make a beef chilli with black beans that we had with avocado and pitta bread tonight.

Loving the sound of the nectarine dishes and other menu plans 😋

Sympathy with those of you
managing elderly parents. We have one parent left (my DM) and have had a lot to deal with since 2017.

@pistachiosanscream pleased my whoops spend at Seasalt alerted you to the sale!

LSD yesterday but again unnecessary spends. Wfh today so will try for a NSD.

First day of the summer holidays while WFH. Really enjoying a peaceful morning of not rushing around.

@SockHop meant to say, when my son's ddog had tummy issues we found that we could get the same probiotic paste on Amazon cheaper than at the vets.

Oh gosh. Where do I start. Sigh
£20 car tax. Unhappy with this as it was £0 up until now. Ah well.
£118.36 in Lidl. The biggest shop I've ever done I think and that was with me putting things back. But I've run everything down so much recently it needed restocking.
£6 for DD play group.
£5.60 in pret on fruit and a cookie for DD as a treat.
OH surprised me last night by booking a holiday after saying we wouldn't be going away this year. And, a bit of a back story, I haven't been on a holiday with a pool since we got together 13 years ago, he hates pools, so we have done city breaks and farm stays which have been lovely but I got a bit desperate for a pool holiday and asked that maybe we could compromise next time with a pool but near things he wanted to do. He has booked an air BnB with a private pool, so although I've put on a bit of weight, I've bought a bikini to celebrate... I now need to lose 250 stone in 3 weeks.
Vinted buys for holiday as I got excited:
Bikini £11.39
Summer trousers £5.62
Summer dress £6.52
Two piece skirt and top set £21.74

Need to stop now or I'll scupper myself.
Have managed to sell a few more bits on vinted though and completed weeks 2 and 3 of rebel finance. So interesting and I'm learning loads

Aldi £52 on groceries.
I bought my Mum stuff too and l normally pay but she paid today .lt was £12 and l normally say nothing but l do it all the time and it mounts up, so l thought l would let her pay this time .

Bit of a shit day managing Olds. Stress levels sky-high, tempers very much frayed, tears all over the place. But at last the log jam with social services has moved, and we're on our way to decisions on funding and long term placement for Ddad. It took a complaint to the director of social care's office, but we are now - fingers crossed - going to move more quickly through the system.

Dishwasher fixed, £90 call out - broken glass in the machine. Be careful, folks, with how you load.

EICR certification report back for rental flat, requires £500+ work to get the electrics up to current regs. It was all fine five years ago, but them's the (new) rules, and I am nothing if not super-compliant.

DS has met DGF for a shopping outing at Westfield today - spending their haul of tips from Ascot on new threads! They're home tonight 'at dinner time', the little darlings - I've decreed we will be Having Takeaway. I would love a glass of wine too, but I have my PT session tomorrow and wine tonight won't work. So I will do a home work out instead before I sit down to a carefully selected Thai. Today i've eaten on the run, at the care home, in the car, from a café, and it's been wall-to-wall carbs.

Trying to book a nice Devon bolthole for my birthday in October. Was hoping DH would organise it for me, but he is always amazed to find that the good places get booked up in advance, so I have made the enquiries, pencilled in the bookings, and asked him to take time off work. Fuck, I'm feeling cross today!

I love the Southampton port - do you have a hotel you could recommend?

Payday tomorrow - its been an expensive old month all in all. Happy to say I've acrewed no debt and I'm a little in the monthly wage black.

Got a £399 car service coming up end of July 🤢 so need to save as much as I can.

I got off lightly with the car today - just the service and MOT to pay (£233) but advisories on three of my tyres. I’ll
sort the rear two early July and then the front one (less wear) the following month. Phew.

My pension transfer seems to be progressing and I’ve also decided to take my two work pensions at the end of September- have put the requests in for those so that’s all a weight off my mind. Which then led me to the co op to buy wine and chocolate to celebrate, using my £3 off voucher!!

@Frugal25 yay for the holiday with a pool!!

@MaryGreenhill good for you taking a step back and not paying for a change. That can be hard to do!

@BigSkies2022 glad to hear your parents situation is moving forward (although I’m sure it’s still v stressful ❤️).

@ChipshopPickledEgg I’ve only booked the city Premier Inn as we are there one night before our cruise. I do quite like a Premier Inn though as you do know what to expect?!

Nsd until I renewed my car insurance this evening. Shopped around and got it £100 less than the renewal quote plus £45 cash back, the money was already in a savings pot so didn't pay the extra premium for monthly direct debits. I think that's a win

£20 of petrol today, plus husband bought a take away. After years of paying for 6, then 4 of us, takeaway for 2 seems cheap.
Ate it in the car, before a quick brisk walk by the sea.
Decided to buy the fancy bread tomorrow, wanted to get to the end of the week with some of my wages left.
I get paid weekly, which is weird for an adult, but at least I know I never go long without money. I've got £100 left this week, which isn't bad as I only work 3 days at pretty much minimum wage.
And I got £45 cashback from some insurance this week too. Most of next week's pay will go on gas/electric.
Good job we have lots of food in.

Wednesday lunch on the go £8. Yesterday nsd. Yey

@chimichangaz with you on the premier inn and Travelodge sometimes I don't want surprises when travelling just a bed and that to be relatively cheap.

Yesterday was very nearly a no spend day. I took DC to a new kids' activity, and didn't realise it was a drop-off! That was fine, but then I was left on the street in the heat with nothing to do, so went to a cafe and got an iced coffee for £3.50. Not terrible though, it was really me paying £3.50 for 45 minutes of childcare and time to myself so kind of worth it, I'd say.

I have to run to Superdrug later today, but that should come out of our food/essentials pot.

Glad it sounds like a breakthrough with social services Big but sorry it's been so hard to achieve. I have a lot of difficult conversations coming up I think.
Holiday is lovely despite having to continue fielding calls, emails etc. I set us what I feel was a fairly generous daily budget (by our standards) and we are managing to stay on track. Having a mixture of meals in and out which balances things out. Had a day trip on the train to Nantes yesterday while dd stayed at the beach!