Pumpkins, Pies… and Prudence! Autumn Frugal Saving Shenanigans here 🍂🌰All Welcome 🌰🍁

[MaryGreenhill]

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 we are all friends 😊

Ah you are welcome @chimichangaz l hope you like them , some ppl complain about them not many though , have just put ours on our bed in the last couple of days 🤗
Hope your throat is better soon 💐
Great job re sorting your pension with the ombudsman fingers crossed for you 🤞
Well done to everyone on their Vinted successes 🤩

£11 on a chippy tea the magic of a Yorkshire fish cake and chips on a cold night can never be under estimated.

@chimichangaz drives me banana when you can't do a cover letter or say why you want the job, as then you can't put your transferrable skills etc. Good luck!!

£5 in Sainsbury's. £5 on a page-a-day diary 25-26 for DS, to help him organise himself - principally his job search. It's a tough old time. Good luck to all those searching.

chimi - the post office used to employ extra workers at Christmas. Would it be worth looking there? Your story of pension cock-up has frightened me into chasing my own provider - I sent off the forms with my bank details about 3 weeks ago, and have asked for confirmation of receipt. Next week the application for 60+ pass on TFL should open up to me.

I will let you know how the botox goes! It takes effect over 2 weeks, then you have a top-up/review and it will metabolise away over the next few months. I had it done once before: DH said, 'You look really nice', without my having told him about the deed. I wouldn't say I looked younger, just a less frowny/tired/cross version of my self. Which is no bad thing.

First attendance at a local book group last night - 'twas fab! 90 minutes of pleasurable discussion, great group of people. Already had the book on my shelves, so no money spent. They do go to the pub after so maybe next time, if I'm organised about getting dinner beforehand.

If I don’t like the sheets @MaryGreenhill it’s no big deal as they will have only cost me £17 😊 but hopefully I will like them.

@BigSkies2022 I would hope my pension nightmare is very unusual- the average time for a transfer in the UK is 12 days (data from the industry) - mine took 219 days…… I’ve asked for what sounds like a lot of money as compensation but it’s factually based on the price of the fund I was buying into which went up significantly from the point when my pension should have been transferred. But I’m not holding my breath and I’m sure they will appeal any decision by the ombudsman.

Yes good shout to look at postie jobs although a friends husband applied to them a few weeks ago and hasn’t heard back. It’s not essential that I find a job, it’s more that it’s a good time of year for temp jobs and also a good opportunity for me to try out eg retail to see how I get on before applying for permanent roles.

Spends today £16 in Boots (but recycled using my advantage card so I get 500 points 😊), £4.50 in Tesco, £10 at the pet shop (for my granddog) and then a chippie tea tonight £5.60 as I’m feeling under the weather. Having an early night in the hope it resets me!!

Aw that's fab re the fleece sheets , l hope you like them ☺️ thank you @chimichangaz.
Just had the Nutcracker duvet covers and fleece from Asda George and they are absolutely gorgeous. I love them 🤩

@ememem84 that sounds like a great part. I recently booked the small child’s one and they are so expensive.

@PearlsPearl well done for sticking it out for six months. Your health is more important and hopefully you will have a better idea of what’s a good fit for you for future roles.

all the bedding is looking beautiful but I already have 2 Christmas duvets!

today started as a LSD, just butter, tin of tomatoes and tomato paste for €4 but then a favourite designer dropped their new collection. I had a voucher and the shop were doing a discount so got 2 items for €160. I was also very influenced by someone I follow on instagram who doesn’t do influencing normally and bought a travel cosmetic bag for €30. Mine are in bits and we are going away in a few weeks so I’ll be delighted to have it for that.

no vinted sales yesterday or today so my streak has ended but I’m going to keep listing things. So fingers crossed.

A high spend in Lidl today £114 down to £104 with coupons and yellow stickers. I did get four Christmas gifts and a birthday gift in there though and bumped it up so I get my 10% off next week.
£6 on play group. Have discussed with them about dropping it down to twice a month and then dropping it altogether at Christmas. :(

My mate who has baby Botox just looks refreshed. Like she has had a proper sleep. It's not obvious at all. You couldn't tell as she can still move her face too. If I ever had Botox I'd have that. Amazing.

I’m off on my holiday today 🥳 NC500 here we come! Happy to have my £100 a day budget too.

When I get back we are going to be mega skint now not working again so everything will be super tightened. So going to make the most of these 10 days!!

Good morning everyone 🌄 Have a great time @PearlsPearl😁
No plans for shopping today . I have set the M&S denim dress and the 2 gifts back . In fact l didn't pick them up. l decided to not pick them up to save the £100 they cost . They were lovely things but l am going to have a huge cc bill this month from getting the car MOT and serviced. Also the car needs more work done to it the brakes and God knows how much that will be 😱
Have a lovely day everyone 🌹

Enjoy your lovely holiday @PearlsPearl !!
Urgh the bills that a car can bring. I've got to insure my car this month for the year and it's so expensive so a very tight month for me.
Pay day today. Pots topped up. Budget worked out. I need to not spend a penny this month due to the budget using every single penny there is.
Lots of soups and stews I think!

I'm guiltily eating £9 lunch I could have got something cheeper or brought something from home as we have lots of food but I'm disorganised. Also paid £75 for chicken pox vaccine. I've listed things on vinted but had no interest. I'm working an extra weekend shift though this month.... Windows being installed but that's planned with savings.

have a lovely holiday pearls.

Feel like I'm almost 'rehomed' after our holiday. Washing done and dried (DH takes the lead on ironing), cleaning largely caught up on, taking advantage of lovely weather to tidy front and back gardens (although that is obviously an ongoing task at this time of year - we have large trees on both neighbours' sides, and I have an overgrown clematis that is fighting back against my efforts to tame it), most pressing admin done.

£19 on a box of Toupret masonry filler. One of my autumn DIY tasks is to fix some exterior window sills. £2540 to the builder for new street boundary walls at the rental property. This latter payment leaves me with a princely sum of £45 in my emergency/resilience stash, but I can offset the payment against tax (I think) and I should be receiving a lump sum via my pension soon, which will enable me to top up. It's a while since I had so flimsy a cushion, and even though it's short-term, it's a bit....Devon holiday all paid for though and, assuming we manage not to damage anything, I should get £350 back when the deposit is - eventually - returned.

Otherwise, a NSD here. Home pilates workout with weights. Found a couple of good Substacks on building prompts for AI - I am trying not to be a Luddite and engage somewhat with this world.

Big chicken and cashew stir fry planned for tonight, and DS is going to sit down with us to watch the first Spinal Tap movie! He has done two different format CVs today, found an AI assessor for his CV and covering letters, and identified a careers coach for a preliminary chat. I am impressed by his efforts! In my day, finding a job was so much bloody easier. He already looks brighter and less burdened by worry and has bounced off to the gym.

Right, going to run around doing the floors while everyone is out before tackling dinner.

£25 for garage car insurance while my car was in for Diagnostics. £190? for Diagnostics Test (I think!) and £461.18 for work to be done next week . Good news! it's all covered by the extended warranty we purchased when we bought the car! Phew!!

Just had major sticker shock. DH has agreed to paint out bedroom next weekend and i also need to repaint the fireplace wall after the new fireplace install. Went to buy the paint and its €80 for 3 litres i need for the bedroom walls and €44 for one litre of the fireplace paint. The bedroom paint was €61.50 when i bought it last. Anyway €137 on paint and roller sleeves. i thankfully already have the wood and ceiling paint.

Then €6.50 on painters tape to protect the wallpaper. Will also change out the light fitting in this room but will wait a few days before i buy those.

😲 £190 for diagnostics. When my engine lights came on last year my local garage did the diagnostics for nothing and they gave me a cup of tea while I waited. The works were less than £190.

Spends this morning
€8.50 at tip
€4.20 on piece of biscoff road while I wait for car at NCT centre

Yikes on diagnostics cost, I’ve never been charged for that

Great efforts by your son bigskies

Buying a tumble dryer this morning, going to stock up on a cereal for dm that she can’t find locally anymore.
have €20 voucher from shop and scan for dryer , going for either cheap heat pump or vented. I don’t dry straight from washing machine so doesn’t need to be fantastic.

Car passed
message from fraud dept of cc company so I called them my card could be compromised so they’ll issue a new one. Glad I rang them back

I just bought a logik heat pump dryer & signed up for three year warranty, just because it’s curry’s own brand. Bought dryer cubes as they had 20% off
signed up for sky as its €6 more than I pay for Netflix currently. Will set reminder to cancel after 12 months. I think I cancelled sky in 2017!
€18 monthly for Netflix sky & discovery as we head into winter is ok I think.

sourced treacle in Tesco for my brown bread dunnes have been out of stock for weeks. The bread lasts five days and myself & dd eat it. I’m going to make a cake for my aunt who I’m visiting tomorrow and my d parents who are visiting tonight.
I took a carrot cake out of freezer so I’m set up for their visit.

£190 for diagnosis is a scandle. It’s literally 2 worse from your car to the computer.

I’ve been reading but not posting sorry.
not hugely frugal either but all from pots

There was 20c off a litre of fuel on Thurs but I hadn’t much room in my tank squeezed in 26.99 and paid 23 .99

life spending from pots is allowed!

Was going to treat myself to a dunnes café breakfast approx €6 but I was 30 mins too late so opted for all day breakfast at €9.95 and they had sold out of breakfast items so I’m going to feed myself at home instead

Hi everyone I would like to join please. I want a new job basically! But I am paid well for what I do and it is really flexible around my 3 kids (age 10,5, and 3), DH has a 9-6 office job (an hour away), rarely works late but all clubs and school assemblys concerts etc are my responsibility. My job is also term time. So I stick it out for these amazing benefits but I am ready to move on and find something I enjoy because I am starting to hate it! I will not be able to get paid what I do for what I would enjoy doing.

So to do this and not impact our lives (cutting the kids clubs to reduce our outgoings for example will make me hate other things in my life 😂) we are putting everything we can into our second mortgage to clear it and reduce that outgoing (we had a loft conversion a year and the mortgage is at a rate of 5.09%). DH was also made redundant during the loft conversion so we have some credit card spending from the time he was out of work to clear too.

We are OK thankfully but have reduced our outgoings and I am working on a strict budget that started after our holiday in mid Aug. It has been going well so far but usually I only keep to these things for a month or two and then it slips! So it's time I joined this to hopefully help me keep on track.

I do my food separately, I have £13 left for Sep, but I have £30 M&S voucher from my credit card points (I don't shop in there very much but I will do to spend this!) and about £15 in tesco clubcard vouchers and a freezer full of food so I am going to try my best.

I am on £7 now for Sept but we have plans tomorrow that won't cost anything, the week is so busy I won't need anything that I have to get there and then. So just got to work out what to do next weekend.

We do have a credit card (different to the one mentioned above!) for any major emergencies and that we are happy to balance transfer if needed, so this just ticks over and gets paid off by £100 a month.

Christmas will be a strict budget one this year but I am going to work it into my budget a monthly amount from Jan to put aside for the kids birthdays and Christmas, so I don't have to think about Christmas fitting in with the monthly spend budget, hopefully this will help me stick to this long term.

Happy weekend all.
Well done for your son @BigSkies2022 !
£15.20 on petrol today.
OH treated me to a cuppa in a cafe. We went for a really lovely walk and DD found a new play ground so this was the best thing ever.
He then didn't fancy what was on offer for tea so bought us something else so I'll pop what I had planned in the freezer and it's a meal for next week, brilliant!
In other news. I went through my desk drawer and found a photo printer I didn't even know I had. I've got it working so I'm now busy getting all the photos off my old phones and cameras (kept for this reason) so I can print them off and chuck the old tech. Made me so happy.

Welcome @HP87 sounds like you have a lot going on in your life ATM . I think you will find as time goes on and your DC get older your circumstances will improve 🍀🤞
In the meantime just join in . Everyone is absolutely wonderful here 😁.