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.

Morning all, still here but I’ve been on holidays here with family. My mum rented a house for 2 weeks and I’m here for t(e duration, DH went back yesterday morning.

@BigSkies2022 the graduation sounds lovely snd I’m glad the suit got a first joyous wear.

@PearlsPearl best of luck with the job hunt.

it’s been a funny month money wise but I think we will squeak by. Both house insurance and my car insurance were due but both also went up. I’m also on reduced pay due to parental leave and will be the same next month. Holiday pots and personal spending accounts have been hit as I’ve had quite a few nice purchases and meals out etc. paid the balance on centre Parcs too but had that in a pot too. So lots of spending but mainly budgeted for.

regular grocery shopping hasnt been done as we have just picked up what we need from the, expensive, local shop and supplemented with the chipper. Home Saturday for a week and then away again. While all lovely I do crave my routine and home comforts as well as some mental headspace.

Today were going to paint stones and leave them places!
Hopefully get some smiles.
Somebody is on a mission here 😆

£33 Asda on a bit of grocery .
£90 for 2 prs of varifocal sunglasses for Dh .
That's a lovely thing to do @ChipshopPickledEgg
🤗

£300 Ikea £20 ds hair &9 Greggs £60 petrol

That's lovely @ChipshopPickledEgg
Enjoy the holiday with family @pistachiosanscream

Love the 39p ball and the lolly staying frozen in the travel cup!

Aldi £26.83. Been into work and didn't have time to start the slow cooker this morning. Got a few basics and oven cooked fish and chips. Was about £6 for the fish, chips, mushy peas and a bread bun on the side. Just what we needed! Will put bolognese in slow cooker before work tomorrow and get back to healthy eating.

Was meant to be a NSD but I had a mole checked out 2 weeks back and gp sent me off to get second opinion. NHS didn't ever get back to me and my private health care through work had a three month wait. OH (who never cries) ended up in tears and got very focused on that something bad might happen so today we trotted off to London for a private second opinion that he then paid £1k for. Mole removed as it was dodgy and sent off for tests but I paid for the travel there and back (wasn't on budget) and bought OH a coffee whilst we waited.

They have a big funfair here and everyone we know has gone but 1) I can't chase after DD at the mo as I'm a little sore and 2) I told her it was for big children and she accepted it so we went to the local park with her scooter and when we got back we made cookies. I'll take her to the funfair for a treat on Thursday. It's not on my budget but I'm unable to go to yoga tonight so I'll save there.

We used to love a bit of rock painting @ChipshopPickledEgg. I hope you had a good time :-)

I’m currently sat outside our local Gail’s with DDog whist dd does a dance class in the studios next door enjoying a cup of tea. I was going to just have a wander - but remembered I’d been carrying 2 Gail’s gift cards in my wallet for months so decided to treat myself instead. I’ve been sat people watching and balancing the books on my banking apps. I think I’ve got £30 in total (minus today’s tea) on the gift cards so if dd does the class again I’ll make this my regular frugal treat.

NSDs today and yesterday. Tomorrow is the last day before payday and I have about £12 between dd and my monthly spend pots so we will go out for a bubble tea or something as a way of getting us out the house.

Im nearly finished putting up the wardrobes in my box room. The frame of the largest section took 3 of us to do - so no wonder I struggled alone. It was a combination of size and lack of space that made it so tricky. Anyway, the bit that got slightly broken when I tried was fine in the end so I didn’t have to replace anything. That’s £35 not wasted I suppose!

Just seen your post @Frugal25. I’m glad you got the mole sorted. Definitely money well spent. Hope you’re not in too much discomfort.

@Frugal25 that kind of expense is priceless - comes under 'your health is your wealth' in my book. Frustrating you've been messed around and I hope all is well once you get the results. Bless you and DH and hope DD enjoys the fun fair.

Forgot to say my DD does not need a 1:1 coaching session for four weeks due to holidays so that's £32 saved. She'll still want to do said activity for two of the weeks which is a 40 mile round trip but she loves it.

Pleased you got the mole sorted.
defo use the voucher for a treat

payday Thursday here so need to redo the budget. Dh is moving jobs and going PT so a cut from September

Pleased you got the mole sorted Frugal, that is always money well spent.

I am back from our spa break and had such a lovely time. Total spent was £90 on the afternoon tea, £85 on the dinner (we had £40 each towards it from the booking offer) and £10 for breakfast in bed. As I was under budget I used the rest of it for a facial which was a mega £120 but it was the most relaxing hour of my whole life 😄and I am a glowy goddess now. DW loved her massage and pedicure too. So the whole stay was almost bang on £1000 which I had budgeted for, and I think was money very well spent for 2 lovely days away for our 10th anniversary.

Next big expense is Belfast on Saturday. Flights and parking pre booked. Anticipated spends: airport lunch (£30?), taxi to hotel (£20?), hotel £450, lunch on the Sunday somewhere (£40?), taxi back to airport (£20?). I will do my very best to not spend outside of that.

I am actually dreading it 😰after developing a horrible fear of flying 7 years ago and refusing to get on a plane and having to be escorted out of the airport in a massive panic attack. I've now flown since and DW and DC have just been holidaying without me. I've been pretty miserable being home alone the last few times so I decided it's finally time to face my fear. We went for Belfast because it's the shortest flight you can take out of Edinburgh! 50 mins. Desperately hoping it will go well so it will unlock travel again for me, and for us as a family.

Oh @Frugal25 bless you and your Darling H .Aw he sounds such a sweetheart. I am glad you did that because you have been proactive and the sooner you know the better . I don't need to tell you that it's very unlikely to be nothing bad but knowing that doesn't stop us worrying does it . Hugs galore sweetheart you know where we are if you want to talk 💐

So glad you had a lovely time @PearlsPearl ☺️, very brave of you to fly again, remember to do the breathing exercises and a paper bag for blowing in.
You are going to be fine though l can tell 😉

You got this Pearl’s. Have you got something to listen to, rescue remedy, paper bag to regulate breathing, something to watch, plane snacks

all distractions.

NSD for me today but am thinking of getting Aldis dual air fryer tomorrow. Has anyone any knowledge about Aldis Amiano air fryers just on the off chance, thank you 😉

2/3 of the flat packs up do rest on Sunday

Well done @lifelongfrugaleer it's not easy !

@PearlsPearl good on you to face that fear and fingers crossed have a fabulous family trip.

Good work @lifelongfrugaleer nearly there!

Just top up shops today, £8.05 coop and £10.85 Home Bargains. Coconut Macaroons from Home Bargains are extremely nice. Dsis was keeping DD company today while I worked and then we had home made spaghetti bolognese followed by a cuppa and a macaroon.

NSD here today. Went to London to work and met bestie for lunch but we went for a walk and took our home-made lunches with us.
I hadn't thought of rock painting. May so this with DD she would love this muchly.
Well done with the wardrobes @SockHop ! And the frugal cuppa too!
@PearlsPearl your break away sounds amazing. Maybe when you're being brave on the plane you can do some breathing and remember that amazing facial? Use your lovely wife and child too, chat and play games. Then it will go quicker and you'll be there in no time.
@MaryGreenhill no knowledge of Aldi's air fryer sorry but air fryer in general are the best thing since sliced bread. And that's coming from someone who thought it was a load of nonsense before I was given one!
Thank you for all your lovely messages. Xx

AHH thank you @Frugal25 l am going to get the air fryer and see how it goes , it's only 60 quid, in comparison to a lot of them, that's peanuts . We shall see 😁.
Glad you had lunch with your friend yesterday, it sounded
Lovely 🤗

Morning.

Lunch sounds lovely and also frugal @Frugal25. You have done EXACTLY the right thing re the mole. I don't think spending on health is a luxury expense. I fully appreciate some folk don't have that luxury but if you can manage it, it ought to be priority. Hope you are in not too much discomfort.

Rather you than me @lifelongfrugaleer re the flat pack...

@PearlsPearl, you can do this. DH did similar. He felt he had to face his fear if he wanted to enjoy more of our family times. It wasn't easy, but he did manage to be completely comfortable with flying eventually. This helped because he flew a lot for business so had to practice it frequently until it wasn't a thing anymore. Good luck. If you can, think of the reward.

The use of that gift card as a frugal treat sounds lovely @SockHop

Spends
£43 vitamin stock up.
£80 vets - some of that is a prescription so hopefully I can get Ddog1 meds online in the future. Vet costs are insane 😡
£8 local shop (postage, orange juice and hot chocolate.

Chicken dhansak for dinner.

A spendy one today.
£90 in lidl. Bigger than normal as OH birthday so bought things to make nice cake and meals at home.
£12 on the inflatable park ride thing for DD. I couldn't really justify it on paper but her little face lit up and she had the best 3 hours. So completely worth it and I'll reduce something else on my budget to pay for it.

Lunch was so lovely. My bestie knows all these beautiful walks near the London wall so off we go to see it.

You won't regret the air fryer @MaryGreenhill , I can sometimes do dinner in 10 minutes instead of 30-40 in the oven. Just amazing

Fabulous thank you for the encouragement @Frugal25.
Must say your friend sounds wonderful 😊

Not updated for a while.

mil has landed. She’s been here for almost a week. I’m done already. I’m so overwhelmed.

she seems to want to talk about my treatment. Or suggest thibgs which will help
me re menopause (none of which I can do) and is just getting on my nerves.

im trying my best not to show it.

Thanks for all the positivity about my trip and @needastrongoneagain great to hear he can now fly so well.

@ememem84 that sounds tough, when's she off? Best of luck getting through it.

£3 on a (gross, too much butter) corned beef roll and a yogurt at work. Wish I'd been organised enough to take something in with me!