Frugal Summer shenanigans, sunburnt silliness, ice cream indulgence, paddling pool chaos, picnic pandemonium, bank holiday bonkersness, sunshine mischief and all the rest of it.

[DirtyGertiefromno30]

Welcome to our lovely, friendly,frugal thread everyone 🤗

Oohhh does your DD travel to Essex to do hair cuts? @DirtyGertiefromno30Actually scrap that. I'll come to you, a much more beautiful part of the world.

I was hoping for a NSD but mum has said she needs to pop to the shop to get her lunch and I said DD and I would come with her for a stretch of legs and to leave the house. You know I'll end up buying lunch for us too. Unless I'm really really disciplined...... Send it my way.

Ooohhh photos of the bee bits @RumBananaSundae
I shall take a look at ballet, that is such a good idea thank you

OH is out tonight and got Chanel 4 working on my TV. It has never worked in 5 years. So tonight I shall be catching up on the piano! Yippee.

I always end up in either Burger King or McDonald’s with work on a Wednesday so £13 on lunch but that should be it today.

Resisted the lunch at the shops. Came home and bought two electrical bits that my brother needs to finish a job at my house. He has waited a year. I keep putting it off coz if the money. I've just gone and done it. Then he can finish the jobs and it's done.
£80

Ouch, it all comes at once doesn't it @Ovoemconserva😬 £379 is still a hefty bill, even for a minor service 😱. Hope it sails through without finding anything else! 🤞🚗

You did brilliantly resisting lunch out @Frugal25! 😊 The £80 sounds like money well spent if it finally gets those jobs finished after all this time , well done to you and your DB ! Enjoy catching up with The Piano tonight , it's such a lovely programme. Hope the ballet idea is a hit with your Dd too!
🧑‍🩰🩰🦢

Hope you really enjoyed your lunch @Cuwins 😋🍔🍟

Thanks @DirtyGertiefromno30 glad it not just me thinking £35 is steep for swimming!

We are so excited about moving but it means our mortgage will more than double (I know we are very lucky to have a mortgage compared to renting). And I've had to drop my hours at work for a variety of reasons so we will be really feeling the pinch when we move.

£25 on nails today, it's a bit of a luxury but my natural nails just snap all the time so I get biab every 3 weeks, I'm fairly low maintenance in other beauty areas eg don't do eyelashes, waxing Botox etc but I find the nails really increase my confidence, silly probably but ho hum

Then the library with DC this afternoon for the summer reading challenge so free, although we spent £5 on treats from the bakery to eat in the sun, probably could have done that cheaper but it was a nice treat.

Not silly at all if your nails boost your confidence and you budget for them, they're well worth it. 😊
The library and bakery treat sounds like a lovely afternoon for you and your DC 😁. Good luck with the moving, it's so exciting for you all ,l know it's a lot of money but you can always do more hours when circs change 😊. @Movinghousemum🤗

Still lurking and trying to post.

£76 Lidl tonight
Have also spent £1.63 at the coop on Monday, £7.65 in IKEA yesterday.

Sold DSs car on eBay - buyer hasn't paid! Been charged a fee of £24.99. Boo to eBay I'm not using them again.

Hello to everyone new on the thread. Sorry I'm not keeping up well. Tomorrow is another day as they say

Currently sat in the cafe of a waterpark, whilst the DC go on the slides. £43, including £8 to have a spectator for two hours. Everything is so expensive and this was the cheap slot! Fortunately the first half hour has been really quiet so very small queues for the slides. We will go home for lunch.

I’ve also got my ancient car going in for its mot next week which will be £££s. Hoping they can re-gas the air con too. I can’t do another heat wave without car air con.

Hoping to get a few “cheap” trips in this summer with our National Trust membership before it expires, hoping to go to Stonehenge and Brownsea Island (have to pay for the boat across though), as well as our local one.

She passed her first MOT luckily in July before the warranty expired so so fingers crossed!

I've done half day at work today picked sushi up and come home. Sometimes you need a break. I'm going to have a nap after.

It's been a spendy morning - I had the car valeted £30, paid for the dentist £26.50, bought DH two pairs of jeans from M&S £56.10, ordered a duvet and cover from Amazon for newly decorated bedroom £18.74, New cardi to replace one ruined in the washing machine Primark £12, Paint and play dough for GCs' holiday play £7.50 from The Works and One Beyond
GS is here this afternoon while mum takes his sister for a haircut and nails doing for a wedding.
I have been looking around for reasonably cheap activities to break up the summer holidays -
Movie Madness for a film is £5 each to do one morning - we can see the new Minions Movie.

National Play Day is 5th August and our local town has a few things going on so will take GCs to see what's happening.
Local Canal Museum has yet to release open days - but should be an interesting experience - GD loves historical things and it's free/small donation.
Two local National Trust Buildings have extensive gardens to visit and play in so will pack up a picnic for both of of those. Just parking to pay for.
Two of the GCs are enjoying Lego of which we have a small amount - might look around at some boot sales to see if we can add to the collection.
Also invested in a service plan for the car - it's not particularly cheap but does spread the cost over three years. So hopefully no nasty surprises. Need to stop spending!!! 😥

Happy Thursday all,
£94 in lidl this morning.
Then swimming session but I'd already pre paid. On the way home we saw a bouncy castle at the local park so we stopped there and had a go. Was all fine until an older child got on and made a beeline for DD and repeatedly pushed her over until she cried. I complained, the child got thrown off and DD got a free go.
£3 for bouncy castle.
£2.80 for ice cream on the way home as we bumped into friends and decided children needed more sugar.

Welcome newbies!
Ooohhh house moved and new bedding. Love these!!

Right, time to clean the house and have a cuppa. Haven't set foot in my house since 7.30am. exhaustified.

The national trust sites round us all do good summer activities if you have membership.

Yes I've also found nt to be very good for children over the summer. DD loves it. Surprising how much fun a child can have with dirt and a log. Always makes me smile. No screens. Just good old fashioned fun.

Personally I absolutely love it at the end of the day when it would just be easier to throw the child in the bin they are so sweaty sticky and filthy.

Random grocery spending today and yesterday. I have £5 left in my purse that I was hoping would last me until the end of the month. Bought a top in Uniqlo today (£24.95 I think).

Glad you had a coupon for the car @DirtyGertiefromno30. I am a fan of coupons.

Will take a photo @Frugal25. I’m too lazy to get up. I laughed at your channel 4. I can’t get their on demand/catch up so hardly ever watch it. I used to like watching Benoit on professional bake off. Well done on resisting lunch and hope your daughter is OK.

Boo to the naughty (non)buyer @Lockin26. That’s disappointing.

Crikey the bin’s a bit drastic @Ovoemconserva.

Limping along this week. Still no paper from work am in a delay it for as long as possible mood today so I can get paid for longer. Meant to be meeting flakey for lunch tomorrow.

@RumBananaSundae
You seen how much plumbers charge?! I'm thinking the recycling bin at least.

All your summer activities sound great fun! Used to love NT membership. I'm now off for five days. Only Blackpool as a structured day out. Going for a walk with a friend tomorrow - trying to tempt DD and her friend with promise of cake.

Hope the MOTs all go well. 🙏

Ebay buyer still hasn't paid so I cancelled the sale. Put it on market place for £250. I've been offered £150 in the last 30 mins by five different buyers.

Today was £1.50 for a drink at DDs activity. £4.60 co-op for bottled water and sandwich meat. Was v good and just had a peppermint tea and biscuit for supper rather than buy more sweet stuff from the co-op. We live v close to one and it's sooo tempting.

DH, DS, DD and I have finally agreed a couple of weekend trips for later this year so next week will be spendy but nice planning them. Cheer me up hopefully as I'm ready to divorce my siblings and tell my close friends they are now my adopted sisters. Probate and house clearance not going well...

You've had a real mix of ups and downs @Lockin26. Well done for resisting the Co-op treats, that's not easy when it's so close! 😊 Hope the car sells soon for a much fairer price, £150 is damn cheeky 😱. Your weekend trips sound lovely though and will give you something nice to look forward to sweetheart . Sorry probate and the house clearance are proving so stressful. Sending a big hug and hope things start getting easier soon. ❤️

What a great time you had despite the crazy prices @Holidaysandchocolate 😁! Good idea going home for lunch too, saves a lot of money 💰.
Fingers crossed the MOT wasn’t too painful and they sorted the air con. Definitely a necessity in this heat 🥵! Your National Trust plans sound lovely, hope you get to fit in Stonehenge and Brownsea Island before it expires 😊

Great news about the MOT @Ovoemconserva! 😊 A half day sounded well deserved, and I hoped you enjoyed your sushi and nap. And yes, I knew exactly what you meant about the end of the day when the DC were sweaty, sticky and filthy, you wondered how they got so grubby, but it meant they’d had a good time! 😂

Your summer holiday ideas sound great @Rainbow1901, especially the picnics at the National Trust gardens and the canal museum ❤️😁👏. Love that you’re finding cheaper ways to keep the GCs entertained. Yes, time to give the purse a rest now! 😂

Aw your poor DD on the bouncy castle, I’d have been upset too, but glad you stepped in and she got another go bless her @Frugal25. Hope you enjoyed your cuppa and got a chance to put your feet up after being out since 7.30 , no wonder you’re exhausted!
Totally agree about NT too, it’s lovely seeing children just enjoying simple things like mud, sticks and exploring. They really don’t need much to have a brilliant time. ❤️

Hope the £5 stretches a bit further for you @RumBananaSundae. Love a good coupon, they really do make a difference .l was thrilled to bits l found £10 one off our car service and MOT 😂. Hope work sort itself out soon and you get a bit of breathing space. Rotton blinking place 🙄. Fingers crossed flakey actually turns up for lunch tomorrow 😂.