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.

Todays spends
€140 endocrinologist.
€7.90 wrap & drink
€2 parking
€2.50 small cone

today will save me money going forward ozempic is €145 monthly I’m now going to be weaning myself off it and endocrinologist left me on the 1mg and I can count the clocks to get more smaller doses from each pen

I didn’t go shopping while in the city either

haven’t caught up on thread but I will over next few days

Half moon fabric bag ( like uniglo) £10 in Tesco, cheapest I’ve seen has been £8.00 on Vinted so I thought “ I’ll just do it,” I find them so useful. Have black , orange and now buff. Got to till and it was £7.00! Very pleased. Plus, short sleeved, useful t shirt in many colours, £5.00 so I got that too. At the till £3.00, my cup runners over!

Oh need. You must be feeling wretched. But from right as rain to a painless exit on a fluffy cloud of opiates after a week of feeling a bit off - well, you couldn’t have done better for him than that. But yeah, absence of ridiculous spaniel- that’s a big hole to fill. Hugs.

Oh need ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh @needastrongoneagain I am so so sorry, what a dreadful shock 😢I'm sending you lots of love across the internet, for what its worth. Such sad news. Be kind to yourself tonight.

Hopping back on as we fly home today Currently can't sleep as the air con is loud and I fell asleep early after a lovely soak in the bath.

Need so sorry to hear about ddog. I bet they had a wonderful life with you but it's so hard ❤️

Had a beautiful holiday in Italy and was doing well with the budget (quite an achievement given the costs out here!) until the last few days when it's ramped up. Ferry was cancelled yesterday so taxi was €270 to get to our airport hotel. Ouch. From what I'm seeing from people who got the earlier ferry it was really scary in a thunderstorm so we agreed worth the unexpected cost. Luckily we've all had our fill so we had cheap pizza then stayed in last night. On a positive some of the spending was on three Christmas presents.

Can't remember who mentioned they had 18 children to buy for. We used to be in a similar situation, all the nieces and nephews are adults now but it was a challenge in addition to two DSC and two DC at one point! These days I exchange biscuits with my eldest DN and his wife and one of my DN who always sends our DC sweets.

I have an alcoholic relative who I can't step back from as they are enmeshed with my DM. It's really difficult as they control DM and the household. Taking a week away has made me realise how much I'm dreading going back to weekly visits.

Anyway I'll try to get some sleep now as up at 7am for the flight home 🩷

Oh @needastrongoneagain I'm so very sorry. I'm sending all my love. I recently lost my Dcat and it's heartbreaking and the house is very quiet so I do understand. I'm so glad he had you, your love and your willingness to help at the end.

My dad was an alcoholic, DM tried to help whilst they were together but couldn't. When she fell pregnant with me she left as she didn't want me in the mix of it. I never met him although I was surrounded by people who had know him and still knew him but kept him at arms length for my safety. He sadly died from it a few years back as he still refused help. A very sad condition that ripples through the family unfortunately.

A spendy day yesterday.
£76 in lidl which was good although a few freebies didn't register. Humph.
£7 on play group.
£25 on new shoes for DD which is a bargain as normally £45.
£2.95 on ice cream for DD as so well behaved in shoe shop.
£10.35 on gold bracelet for birthday present for friend later this month.
I did spend money on the bus too to make the trip to show shop more exciting for DD can't remember the cost.
Oh and a dress and toy from charity shop £7.25. It's gorgeous and I came straight home to wash it to wear today.

Posting the recipe for you @PearlsPearl ! Didn't forget, just didn't have time to post it!

Oh wow Frugal that looks right up my street. Thank you!

Sorry to those of you with family members with addiction. The impact stretches far.

need be kind to yourself as you process this unexpected loss, take comfort from fact they didn’t suffer

Finally got confirmation that dd is getting a bus ticket for coming year, she starts back Tues and payment was made before 4th June deadline.

@needastrongoneagain in so sorry to hear of your dog. We have a teenage (in real years so elderly) dog and I'm dreading his end of life. It's my first dog as an adult.

This week I bought £31 of grape tree items. They should save me overall as they are large bags and good value. Canceled an overtime shift as was not well and bought unnssersary MacDonalds. I was saved from buying a scratch card by a cashier tho asked for id when I didn't have any on me. Also spent £50 on school shoes. Well, more than that as I bought multiple pairs to try on at home but will return them.

Busy day here had to take Mum for her Retinopathy appt and it has taken up most of the day tbh.
First thing this morning Aldis £54 nothing else thankfully 🤗
Hope everyone is ok and has lovely weather ☀️

How are you doing @needastrongoneagain ? I hope everyone is looking after you and being kind. I also hope your other dog is ok.

£8.35 on eco friendly cleaning products, I make most myself but there are some I buy. Although I'm thinking I'll start making these myself too and give this expense up every month....

whistlefish

Christmas cards were on 15 for £10 then the lovely free tin popped into my basket. I then got the rmail this morning confirming the free tine deal and 'Christmas is here
Also worth noting that they still have a sale on and their magnetic keepsake boxes are gorgeous (and half price) Finally, do sign up to their rewards programme as I got another fiver off (You get points for evrry order, for posting reviews and for referrals) And yes it's free delivery on orders over £25

Spend day yesterday as went to the lakes £6.60 parking, £32 lunch (the local fab shops were better and cheaper) as not organised enough for a pic Nic
half a tank petrol so will need to top up today as some more long drives next week

Only just managed to log on now I have a signal as we’re in port.

@needastrongoneagain I am so so sorry to hear about your ddog. It sounds like he was well loved and had a fabulous life ❤️

Bloody hard to take the news nonetheless. Sending hugs.

Morning.

Thank you all so much for the lovely messages about our daft Spaniel. I was reading but too upset to reply, I kept welling up after each one. You summed it up perfectly @BigSkies2022 and that will absolutely be a comfort going forward, he was our daft Spaniel until he left us.

Our other far more sensible Spaniel is proving to be a blessing. He is a quiet and gentle little soul. He's always been the easiest dog in the world and got rather overshadowed by the bigger personality of daft Spaniel; he's the quiet kid in the class that just gets on with it and doesn't always get the credit he deserves. It's his time in the sun now, and that will be a comfort for us and a bonus for him. We've already had a couple of really long walks in different locations (I can't go to familiar routes at the minute), and watching him tootle about is therapy.

Anyway...

Spends
£9 for a huge bag of pumpkin seeds at Amazon.
£20 on dog toys for Sensible Spaniel - not that I'm overcompensating....

I saw the Whistlefish offer too @lifelongfrugaleer

That rice salad looks lovely!

This weekend will be quiet. Maybe a drink at the local sports club, but no other plans and plenty of food in the house.

Morning everyone 🤗
So touched by your post @needastrongoneagain. ❤️.
How lovely that your gentle Spaniel is getting his time in the sun bless him. Those quiet walks sound so healing🐾
Pumpkin seeds and dog toys sound well spent ! Hope you have a peaceful weekend 🤗
NSD planned here fingers crossed 🤞
Have a wonderful weekend everyone ☺️

@needastrongoneagain I've been thinking of you lots. So glad you're able to find a little comfort in Sensible Spaniel. Look after your heart while you're healing.

Happy Saturday everyone!

As we approach the end of the month I am pretty much down to the dregs of my purse 😆because we have the big wedding to attend down south the first weekend of Sep. We have to pay the hotel when we get there. I decided against buying a new dress because a) I think I look atrocious in everything, b) I'm hopefully going to continue losing weight on the mounjaro so it may not fit for long, and c) money. So I'm going to wear a dress I already own which is not quite wedding-y enough but will do. My brother won't care either way, it's not my day it's theirs! But I did have to go and buy DS a shirt and t-shirt to wear underneath this week... he insisted on a black shirt for a summer wedding... sigh. He looks nice though. And DW is going to go and buy a new shirt, probably from TK Maxx, today.

Today's spends will be the shirt, eyebrows done for me and DW (£18), and I need some lavender plants because her grandma gave me a gorgeous plant but my only pot is way too big for it, so need some small ones to go around it. I have a Dobbies voucher for £2 off £10 and will also get our free coffees when we're there.

(I also desperately want new bedding plants for our planters at the front of the house because everything is well and truly dead now. However I have accepted it's a want not a need so can wait til September)

Money well spent need

Thank you @MaryGreenhill, hope you have a super weekend too 😊

I'm absolutely sure you do not look atrocious in everything @PearlsPearl, please don't think that. I understand not wanting to spend money on new clothes for other reasons but not that. Hope you get some lavender plants bought.

We've ordered all the presents for DS's birthday this morning. Not strictly planned for this weekend, but I had allocated money for this purpose for the month as his birthday is mid September. About £100 in total including card full of photos of Stupid Spaniel from Moonpig, which we don't usually bother with, but he loved that dog as much as we all did. Mainly vouchers for his hobby and I always get the DC their shampoo, shower gels etc, which stemmed from a habit when they were at university and it continued.

Prawn Thai curry for dinner.

Evening all,

@needastrongoneagain , so glad your gorgeous quiet doggy is getting some limelight. I had cats that were the same, once the show off one sadly left, the quiet one came out of her shell a little. I bet he is loving his new toys!

£10.85 on swimming session for next week
£10 on new wellies for DD as her others won't go on! I remember them being too big.... Trying not to get emotional over her getting bigger.

OH stupidly gave me his card to grab toothpaste. I picked up hair dye on the way too... Need to pay that back £8.
Think that's it.. I am eyeing up a metal lunch box on vinted though as I chucked all the plastic ones away and the glass ones are heavy to take to work. I haven't bought yet. It's a want not a need. Sigh

Spent my morning chucking hot water and salt on the weeds and cleaning out kitchen cupboards. Exciting times here.

Hey!

mil is here. She’s driving me nuts.

tomorrow is dhs 40th. I’ve planned a breakfast picnic on the beach and a breakfast high tide swim. Tide is up at 8.

mil has decreed it’s a stupid idea. I’ve told her not to come.

DH wants dinner at beach bar. I’ve booked a table.

mil has decreed it’s a stupid idea. I’ve told her not to come.

Em is this the same stay for MIL? You are saintly…