February faffing, wig mischieving, pancake stuffing, bargain gymnastics and looking forward to Spring Shenanigans ❤️

[DirtyGertiefromno30]

Welcome to our new thread everyone 🤗. All are welcome to our supportive, kind , frugal thread .

That's a very successful day for you and DD @Frugal25 😊
Brilliant your fam contributed to the meal plan ,great stuff
@BigSkies2022
Hope you are feeling much better now @ChipshopPickledEgg 💐
Wow that's amazing what the AI did especially for your friend @needastrongone
Your meal tonight sounds delicious 😋.
My DH has CoPilot on his new laptop or so he told me @lifelongfrugaleer 😁

My bestie has just delivered me a caramel machiato from Starbucks and a Krispy creme doughnut it's definitely helping!
Thank you I don't feel absolutely dreadful to be honest but definitely off my feet.

AHH that's the sort of friend to have @ChipshopPickledEgg😊👏.
Glad you are feeling a bit better 💐

Do you rent out your bestie @ChipshopPickledEgg?? Absolutely adorable behaviour!!!

@DirtyGertiefromno30 love the picture of the snowy mountain, lucky you to have that view 😊

@ChipshopPickledEgg hope you feel better soon 💐

Just checking in with an update, it's half term here and I'm currently trying to keep DS3 entertained while we’re away for our short break.
Yesterday we enjoyed a 10 mile bike ride and followed it up with some cheesy chips on the harbour. Today we’ve just finished walking 9 miles of the South West Coast Path in the sun! It’s been beautiful weather for it.

On the money saving front, it’s not been too bad at all. Dinner last night was included as part of the hotel deal, which helped keep the spending down.

Everything I see is reminding me of my brother, he's everywhere and nowhere. When I am thinking of him (most of the time) I’m really trying to concentrate on all the positive things that my he achieved and all the people he supported and helped in his short but adventure-filled life.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

Nurse ❤️

£69 dunhelm £27 Aldi

Ah @NursieBernard you are thinking the right way about your DBrother 🤗. It must get so hard to remain positive bless you sweetheart ☹️.
I know l am so lucky with my view thank you 😊
Yesterday sounded absolutely wonderful for you l am glad you are having a lovely time.

Spendy day today. I bought a Sainsbury gift card (£48) as I seem to be going there quite a bit. Spent £8.80 of it. A train ticket for next week £33 (I think).

A lovely view for you this morning @DirtyGertiefromno30.

Ouch for the chest infection @ChipshopPickledEgg. I hope you start to feel better soon.

@needastrongone you have me thinking of a cheese and pineapple hedgehog. I’m going to have to buy pineapple tomorrow.

You’re on a roll with Vinted @Frugal25. I should get my skates on with it.

Glad you enjoyed your bike rude @NursieBernard. I think the being by the sea makes somethings nicer.

My trousers finally arrived for me to collect. I will keep them. Now thinking about shoes. Had a letter from the solicitor. Ugggg. Will have to deal with that. No snacks today so a small win.

Lovely Mountain View @DirtyGertiefromno30

Get well soon @ChipshopPickledEgg - you have a thoughtful bestie!

❤️ @NursieBernard

Hairdresser for me this morning £26. She washes and cuts it but I do the products etc at home as I have curly hair. Good news is because I’m growing it my next cut will be a while away so that will save me some money.

Met some friends and we had a mooch round the shops and lunch. Lunch at Wetherspoons (we know how to live!) was a tenner each including unlimited tea/coffee. We also got some charity shop bargains and I spent £12. Bought some stuff in boots using £22 of points and then some Weleda skin food and a lipstick for £15.

I’d also ordered a new day bag and some clear toiletries bags from Amazon (£20 in total) and I’m keeping those and returning the leather day bag I got from TK Maxx for £40. I think I’m returning that……😳

Right- more packing to do…..

@DirtyGertiefromno30 lovely view yesterday! I've been admiring the snowy mountains at the Olympics.
Having a low spend week. Stayed with my parents earlier in the week and they insisted on paying for lunches while we were there.
We had belated pancakes last night and I bought some Driscolls raspberries and strawberries from Morrisons, £5 for two, but they were lovely. The next couple of weeks will be busy so I need to plan dinners and get a Sainsburys delivery booked.

Hi Guys!

I've been AWOL for a few days and missed tons of messages - must do better.

Mon-Wed were NSD's, I've got pretty good at managing this, yesterday I spent £93 in Aldi and £45 on a birthday gift ordered online for dd's boyfriend.

I have returned the dress, so my no spend year continues...

A little bit of work and lots of housework today, deep cleaned the bathrooms and done a few loads of washing, next job is to strip the beds and hoover upstairs.

Is everyone looking forward to the weekend?

She's a definite white chocolate cream egg 😆
We often do little bits like that for each other - we're both so busy with work , etc it's actually rare we manage a decent catch up but she's a precious gem.

Friday!
£89 on dinner at the Young Vic before theatre at the Old Vic. DH bought the tickets, I bought dinner, a very successful night out!

This morning: £10 in the bakery. £30 in Lidl on some staples. Taking a breather at home before I get back out for the ALDI, Sainsbury’s, and butcher run.

Dishwasher can’t be repaired. I am now on the hunt for a cheap, preferably freestanding one. I have to work out how to disconnect the old one because AO won’t disconnect integrated ones, although they will connect the new freestanding one and take away the old integrated one - provided it is already disconnected. YouTube is going to be my friend this weekend.

I adore YouTube for that kind of thing @BigSkies2022 sorry it can't be repaired though. What a shame.
Your night out sounds amazing!! What did you see? Sorry if I missed that post already.

Your mountain view is just beautiful @DirtyGertiefromno30. You're so lucky. Xx

Posted all my vinted off. So that's money coming in shortly.
Pay day for me too so allocated money to pots and OH gave me extra this month as he knows I struggle sometimes so I put it straight onto the credit card. And I'm proudly now under £5k on it!!

Should be a NSD here as I'm WFH and we don't need anything. Tomorrow should be a NSD too as I already have a gift for the party we are off to, sourced at Lidl yesterday.
Although my cd player has given up (I'm a sucker for a cd) and OH suggested a game of finding a good one in a charity shop so that might happen this weekend. Quite excited!

Back at work today after time off for half term. DD didn't take to that very well, and tbh, neither did I.
Been awake since 3 as it's that time of the month and it seems to be getting worse each month, the symptoms. Been reading up what to supplement with and how to improve my diet to try and help. Have soya, nuts and tofu on meal plan so far.

Aw thank you @Frugal25, @Vinorosso74, @chimichangaz, @RumBananaSundae@NursieBernard for the Mountain view love 💕 🤗.
Friend just called in for a coffee before she leaves tomorrow for Australia for 3 weeks. It's costing her 15k give or take ,for 4 of them , her , the DH and 2 adult children for 3 weeks there including a beach front villa, car and flights and spending money 💰.
I hope she has a great time .
NSD for me today . Mum was good there thankfully 😁

I'm off on my cruise tomorrow (staying at my friend's overnight) so I will try and keep up to date with the thread but won't be posting any spends (although I'm hoping this will be cheaper than my Jan cruise 😂 )

Have a lovely week everyone!

Have a lovely time @chimichangaz dint worry about posting . You just have a great holiday wish l was coming too 🤗

Where are you off to this time? Have an amazing holiday x

Happy cruisin’!

we saw Arcadia - ‘twas very good indeed. I didn’t know the play before and it was really fresh and funny. Maybe a wee but talky- talky in parts, but that’s more about my reduced attention span. The cast was fab, and Fiona Button especially was so light and quick and intelligent- I’d love to see her crack open one of those restoration comedies.

But to spends: £31 in the butcher; £28 in ALDI; £68 in Sainsbury’s. Lots in the freezer, so we should be good for a while. £168 today, so that’s a week’s budget to take us through. Will have to pay for the new dishwasher this month/ next though, so I can’t gloat yet.

Just back in as I've had to move more £350 out of savings to stop me going overdraft until payday next week. Not sure what for exactly, so need to take a good look at finances. I was considering stopping by Lidl on the way home, but I don't need to do will skip it. We're well stocked for food/ I don't know what we actually need from work.

Enjoy the cruise chimi

Just a heads up if anyone liked 'lt's a sin' . The series Boots on NF , is produced by the same person. We have just binged it and it was excellent.
Oh no @Alwaysploddingon that's a shock for you l am sure you can find the reason when you look . Only thing l will say is l can't believe the price of food it's gone up so much . My food bill is so high .
Glad you enjoyed Arcadia @BigSkies2022 it sounds excellent .
@Frugal25 great job on the CC 😁 . Hope you are feeling better sweetheart 💐.
Good luck with the hunt for a cd player too 😁

£400 was our monthly grocery bill. DH and I split finances a weird way. He pays into my account monthly for around half household bills which all come out mine. I got the Asda credit card to get cashback and told him to use it. He does the main family grocery shop weekly. I have that set to pay off in full every month. He actually spent less this month, normally it's 500+, for his diesel too. £410 this month. I have done a lot of frivolous spending this month and had an extra childcare bill as I discovered I'd underpaid last term.

Thing is most of my bills come out the beggining of the month just after being paid, but this Asda one is later, I might adjust it so I don't think I have loads of money like I did this month.

We don't really budget properly, I know we should, but I just have bills and direct debit set up

That's a very reasonable food bill @Alwaysploddingon.
I don't know how many you have to feed for that but it's 4 adults here and it must be £200 a week for us even with no eating out or very few takeaways.

Sounds like you have it sussed where the money has gone 😊