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 .

Detaching from my phone is not going well 🤣

I think I’m more organised and get more done when I have a structure - and bizarrely when I’m working. Go figure.

The sunshine is lovely and I am enjoying it while it’s here - washing on the line!

Happy anniversary @Frugal25 💐

hope your DD is feeling better. When I’m upset or emotional I often turn to a stationery purchase! I really like YNAB but need to be more on top of it. I do find it’s very detailed but that’s using the web version rather than the app which I find a bit basic.

@RumBananaSundaeah sorry ChatGPT wasn’t helpful. Getting the prompts right is important but can be tricky. I sometimes ask it to tell me if it needs more information or what I might be forgetting.

Good progress except for the radiator @Rainbow1901 - you’re making me think about the decorating I need/want to do! And well done helping out your neighbour.

I desperately need to cut my grass but need to borrow a strimmer as it’s so long.

@ChipshopPickledEgg laughing at your dog in your bed 🤣

Glad Nana Pumpkin is ok @DirtyGertiefromno30

@MuddlingLong good luck with your interview!

Logged a coffee spend on Tuesday after the gym and before taking my son’s dog out. Yesterday was a bit spendy as I was out with friends afternoon/evening and also sent my DS £20 so he can put diesel in his car. Have already loaned him £300 which he’s paying back when he gets paid but I feel like I need to lend him some more as he’s overdrawn- it’s tricky as I don’t want him to struggle but then again he has to learn to budget.

Afternoon all. I’m currently on a training camp in Portugal, running a lot! Hardly had a chance to catch up with anything, never mind post. We just run, or do running related activities, conditioning, eat to facilitate running and then run again!

It’s all inclusive here, and even if we go out for coffee, it’s cheap. I had a small food delivery sent to home - £50 in mainly basics like milk, bread, toilet roll, cheese some fruit etc. Otherwise, a few quid here and there on a coffee etc.

This is a good thing, as I felt like the first couple of weeks of this month was a flurry of spends and now I feel back on track. With this in mind I’ve spent £60 on a webinar course re sports psychology (Chimp Paradox related)

After a glorious few days of weather, we’ve now got your rain!!!!

So glad you are having a brilliant time @needastrongone😁👏
Thank you @chimichangaz re My Mum bless you .
I think act by your instincts over helping your Ds 🤗
Thank you so much re my Mum @MuddlingLong 🤗
Good luck with the job interview 🤞👏🤗
Sounds like a good job re your drive too your workman sounds like a good worker !

Enjoy need

Have a brilliant time @needastrongone
Good luck @MuddlingLong

Maybe I need the web app not the phone app for ynab. I shall have a look tomorrow when I'm WFH.
I'm also a lot more productive when working! Routine is amazing!
So glad your mum is ok @DirtyGertiefromno30

Thank you for the anniversary wishes. Count down is on now until bubble time. OH bought champagne! Roll on 8pm when I can have a glass.

Managed today to get the other plant out of the planter by the front door and in the ground in the back garden with DD helping me. We then went to the park and played chase. I think I've done quite a bit of exercise today! Planters are now bare and I'm thinking of some topiary holly bushes that will berry around Christmas.....

Pay day tomorrow and I'll get my bonus too. I shall wack my credit card but I may treat myself to the berry bushes and a door number for the house.

Very grown up @MuddlingLong with the driveway. I bet it looks amazing.

@Frugal25 oh sounds like a lovely day for you and your DD. Enjoy the bubbly tonight 😁 🍾.
Thank you re my Mum ❤️
Well done on the gardening today too and please get those Holly bushes . l have always loved them and regret l have never bought them tbh .

£1.10 in Sainsbury on unnecessariness.

Cheese, mushroom and herb omelette sounds good @Frugal25. Enjoy your champagne and have a lovely evening.

Good luck with the application @BigSkies2022. Most things involving the council are enough to drive you to distraction.

Glad your mum is ok @DirtyGertiefromno30.

Happy running @needastrongone. It sounds like you’re having a whale of a time.

You’ve been very busy @Rainbow1901. I’ll channel you at the weekend.

Rather sunny here today. And warmer than expected. Did manage to get out for a stroll in the sun. Feels like it’s Friday.

Thanks everyone, it went well I think but I guess i'll hear tomorrow (I hope)- I stupidly didn't ask them when they'd tell people. I hope they'll at least be decent and let me know if I didn't get it, I hate it when they don't even let you know.

Whahay need! Nice one. Have a great time in Portugal.

Inspired by the YNAB talk, I asked Claude to break down the concept of spending this month’s income one or two months hence, and getting out from under ‘living paycheque to paycheque’. Because even though I am sensible about setting money aside for future expenses, I am still desperate for payday to come around as my current accounts have all been drained (generally). I finally got the memo: you have to build up an income buffer in a separate pot/account. This covers your non-negotiable, bare bones expenses (in my case that’s £1500) and when you get paid, you transfer that amount into your buffer account, replacing it with the amount in your buffer account to cover that month’s non-negotiable expenses. It’s not emergency funds (which I would still keep), or longer term savings, or your holiday fund, it’s just a buffer to get you out of waiting for payday and feeling a bit stressed.

it sounds clunky but transformative. But it will entail (in my case), yet more hard saving over time to build that extra buffer out of existing income.

Visiting dad with mum yesterday. Went fine. We did the health review with the head nurse and we have to work through his wishes about treatment ( the Respect form) and various pathways that might be open (but not all necessarily desirable). I am not looking forward to this.

one thing I did discover though, is that DH and I can get advanced treatment directive forms from our GP and make our wishes clear. So this will be a useful task for us in April! Who says romance is dead, eh?

Admin, errands, exercise, clothes prep (for packing) for me today. Windows look great after cleaning yesterday. Eyelashes after lash tint and lift, not so much. Complaining about the result, in person, at the salon, seeking a refund, is one of today’s errands.

Morning.

Thanks all, I’m enjoying my time here immensely. It’s very full on, and probably a nightmare scenario if you don’t like running (!), but very much my thing. I might not get to do it again as I think the dc have found it quite tough at home, but this is my fourth camp, so I can’t complain.

The delivery folk will thank you for the house number @Frugal25! Well done on the bonus.

Fingers crossed for the job @MuddlingLong

Thanks for the information re the advanced treatment directive forms @BigSkies2022, we’ve got a respect form for DH in place but I hadn’t heard of these. I ‘think’ I understand re the buffer account theory, but I’ll have to read your post again. Boo to the ineffective tinting.

Spends
£5 at local shop getting some croissants and chocolate milk for breakfast tomorrow pre long run of 3 hours. We are setting off too early before the hotel breakfast to be open but before it gets too hot. I’d usually have porridge but couldn’t find any little instant pots of it, and it needs to be carby and easily digestible.

Did I mention that I had a DEXA scan done to measure my bone density and lean body mass, visceral fat etc. The universities tend to offer them at a reasonable price. Important to know your bone density if you are early 50’s like me and there’s still opportunity to protect what you still have. Turns out I have bones of titanium, which is very reassuring but I was fine with that not being the case and doing more weight training and less running (I run daily and weight train twice a week, didn’t mind pivoting).

Been having a look at OddBox too - anyone tried? A few out here have and like it.

@needastrongone where are you? dw might be interested, she’s a big runner.

Def go back and complain but glad your windows are clean and tidy 🙂 @BigSkies2022
That does sound fun and tbh although I'm not into running if I found a yoga one I'd be exactly the same Need.

Bonus and pay day. Yay. Bonus went straight onto credit card. Under £4k now and I'm so proud of myself. Getting itchy feet about being debt free so I can be like you lot and top pots up properly.
Topped up my emergency fund too.
I have four payments left on my car finance and it's hilarious, I'm getting letters and calls most days from the company about part exchanging and getting another car on finance. No thank you! Funny to watch them try so hard though.
Apart from paying for another year of green bin service which is on the budget anyway, it's a NSD for me.

Right best go back to work. Sigh.

I’m trying to work out how to copy an answer from my Claude app to the Mumsnet thread so I can share the answer. Basically: you build a buffer pot of one month’s expenses. At the beginning of the month (say May), and throughout, you spend from that pot to cover your non-negotiables - for me that’s around £1500 per month, most of which comes out at the beginning of the month, and is separate from allocations to other pots and investments. At the end of May, you top up your buffer again, from the income that you earned in May, but which you haven’t had to spend on your essentials, because you’ve been able to fund May from April’s income. And so you fund June from May’s income and so on.

it still feels to me like youde need more than the bare essentials in the buffer, otherwise you’re just waiting for a slightly different financial event with the same sense of precarious. But maybe a YNAB devotee can explain how it works in practice, rather than theory??

well done on debt repayment, Frugal.

I did go to the salon and complain about the fact that in return for my £80 I could see no difference in the eyelashes on one eye, and on the other they had been over curled and bent out of shape. And that my eyebrows had been tinted too dark a colour despite my being very explicit about the colour I wanted. So I have received a full refund of £112.

I did hum and haw about complaining, because you know how it is- there’s that little voice telling you, you silly vain woman, you deserve to be parted from your money, you muppet; but the staff at the salon had been so enthusiastic and positive about the effects of the treatment, and the internet is obviously littered with great before and after pictures. And I have seen lovely results IRL on actual people. So I decided that I didn’t want to be all meek and sheepish about it and to go and get my money back rather than being a mug.

£14 in butcher. And that’s it now until after we get back from our trip- shopping, cooking, prepping, all done and dusted and not my concern!

Well done on complaining and getting your money back @BigSkies2022 good for you! 👏👏👏😊
Brilliant job on the CC @Frugal25 made up for you sweetheart 👏👏👏😁
Blooming brilliant your bones are fantastic and so pleased for you that you are having the best of times there @needastrongoneagain👏😁.
Have you heard anything yet @MuddlingLong l am on tenterhooks for you lovely 😁.
Wishing you the very best of luck 🤞.
@RumBananaSundae glad you have this beautiful weather too , honestly it just feels so good 😁👏.
Thank you re my Mum she's good there again today and it's such a bonus ❤️
NSD for me today yay!

Well done on complaining big

Well done on getting your money back, Big! Far too expensive to be unhappy with the results.

i haven’t heard from the job so I assume I haven’t got it, but I’ll drop them a follow up email tonight anyway. I wasn’t sure I wanted it because i’d have to give up my volunteering at the Foodbank, which I love.

Spent £4.85 in Sainsbury and £2.70 in Greggs. No I needed none of it. Another €6 went on a ticket for the book fair next month.

Well done on the eye refund @BigSkies2022. I hate complaining and returning things.

Can you expand on the DEXA scan @needastrongone. You have piqued my interest.

Well done on the credit card @Frugal25. And great on only having four car payments left.

I need to channel my inner @DirtyGertiefromno30. Not had a NSD for a while. Glad your mum is ok.

Hope you hear soon @MuddlingLong.

Sunny here again today but a bit chillier. Have set aside tomorrow for life admin tasks. Should really do some menu planning too.

Congratulations on your magnificent skeleton need! It inspired me to do a heavy weights workout, followed by a nice stretch (while watching Bridgerton) and I too would like to know more about how to access a Dexa scan. We have osteoarthritis in the family but not osteoporosis SFAIK, so I may not qualify for NHS screening.

I only wish the more visible aspects of my aging physique were as impressive, @BigSkies2022! But in answer to both your and @RumBananaSundae questions I had to self refer (I didn’t meet the NHS criteria for referral) and was curious to have this information at my stage of my life, and protect what I have, should I have needed to. The cost was £150, which was very reasonable to me for the information I got. The process was very easy - I was done and dusted in half an hour, including results. You have to fast but be hydrated. You get pages of information - you get your T Score (bone density score), bone distribution percentages, lean body mass percentage, visceral fat percentage, whereabouts that places you in mean terms for your age range etc. I got about 6 pages of data I total. You can then onward refer to a nutritionist and other services they offer if required (I think they do a lot of work with a range of athletes, but also obese individuals too at this particular university.) As I mentioned earlier, I was okay with any outcome, as it gave me the opportunity for change if needed. I think I’m lucky genetically re bone density in truth, with being active most of my life an able assistant to this, but not the main driver of the result.

This was done in Leeds, @MuddlingLong and you never know re the job!

£20 on a small oddbox trial box.

Well done on the bones and scan @needastrongone
That does sound like an amazing thing to have done and be in knowledge of.
I think I get it @BigSkies2022 regarding the money pot, it's such a good idea rather than living pay check to pay check.
Well done on refund too, well deserved as it seems like they didn't fullfil their endof the bargain.

I've still got crossed fingers for you for the job muddling.

£4 for me today on parking whilst we watched DD enter her first gymnastics competition. She is so small compared to the rest so was incredibly proud. She got a medal and two certificates so very chuffed.
Also spent £30 on storage solutions second hand off Vinted for the garage that I'm determined to sort out during Easter. I shall have a tidy garage!!!

DW and I have come to a decision for me to not go back to work for 6 months and just volunteer. I don’t feel ready for work and we’re all so cautious after 2 long hospital stays in 2 years. So I’m going to carry on at the Foodbank twice a week and I’ve put an application in for a charity shop and a charity cafe for the elderly.

Take six months of taking it easy and building up being in the world again. Then look for a job after that.

Aw that's so lovely of your DW @MuddlingLong bless your loving supportive wife she sounds amazing .
Thank you re my Mum @Rumbanana, hope you have had a really lovely day and you have got your admin done sweetheart .
Thank you @needastrongone
For explaining all about the scan , it is so good to know that information and thank you @BigSkies2022 for asking .
That is so good of you to tell us .
Wonderful news about your Darling daughter @Frugal25
You must be so proud of her bless her ❤️
NSD for me today, been for coffee with my friend , she paid it was her turn . Still gorgeous weather hope everyone has this too 😁

@Frugal25 a tidy garage? THAT is peak adulthood.

£7.something in Waitrose on avocados and cottage cheese and €33 on an exhibition ticket for next month. I was looking at a tank top but when I turned it round it had a rather large stain so I put it back and my purse stayed in my pocket.

Thank you @needastrongone. I think I’ll look up some of the universities here and see if they do the same.

Congratulations to daughter of @Frugal25. That must have made a lovely day.

All seems very sensible @MuddlingLong. I hope you’re finding your feet.

Didn’t get up to much today. Managed some things on my list but most of it is being carried over to tomorrow. Opened the correspondence from the utility company about my complaint. It was them asking me to reply to them as they had not heard from me. Really didn’t see the point of their message as I have contacted them twice since and seeing as it was via email everything is dated and saved.