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 🤗

That's such a lovely thing to do @Ovoemconserva enjoy the farm shop and cake. Mental space is Def needed in the summer holidays eh?

Think I've spent £17 ISH today on lunch for everyone at a national trust place.
DD still not 100% so another call to 111. It did get to me this morning so spent 5 mins having a well needed sob in the bathroom and then came back out and put my happy face back on for the day.
Which then grew even more, as my OH who swore to me 13 years ago that he would never marry me asked me to marry him. I said no, I thought he was joking. He had to ask 3 times before I could see he was serious. Poor chap.
We have booked a table at a beautiful country inn tomorrow night to celebrate 🥂

Ohhh an engagement!!! Congratulations! Let me know where I need to be and I'll get my fascinator ready!
How long have you been together?
I'm so sorry your having a rough ride on holiday I could tell how much you was looking forward to getting away x

89p on some jam tarts in Sainsbury and 36p on some mashed potato in Asda.

Another one now thinking of plums @Twogingercats. What will you do with them?

Glad you’ve not had anymore tachycardia @DirtyGertiefromno30 and that your mum is ok.

That’s a win with the Lego @Cuwins and a double tick as you can cross something off your list.

Hope you’re having a lovely day @Ovoemconserva.

Congratulations @Frugal25. Sorry little Frugal isn’t too good. Hope you can relax and enjoy your holiday tomorrow.

Today had the fixings for a no spend day then work hit and I caved. Am trying to wind down this evening. No plans for tomorrow.

Oooh congratulations 🎉 @Frugal25 that's such lovely news. I'm sorry to hear DD is still not right, hopefully if she had a prescription this will kick in soon. Hoping 111 helped you.

That TGTG bag sounded amazing @DirtyGertiefromno30 and pleased to hear there's been no more funny heart rhythms.

@Cuwins that's a frugal win indeed for your DDs Christmas present..

@RumBananaSundae great flakey turned up. That's a good LSD, enjoy your day tomorrow.

Sorry if I've missed anyone..spendy weekend in Dublin, but not eyewatering. DC (15, 15 and 20) had the best time seeing The Weeknd. On a mission to cut back now although...

£8.60 Asda (had £17 left on a gift card so that helped )
£37.60 M&S bra fitting and 2 x bras. I've gone down a back size and up a cup size. Been buying cheap bras too long. Well worth it!
£25.17 Amazon. DD picked out some return to school items.

Oh my what a rollercoaster Congratulations@Frugal25! 😂 Firstly I’m so glad DD is finally improving and the UTI seems to be on its way out. No wonder you needed that little cry in the bathroom though , you’ve been holding everything together bless you ❤️ . Hopefully now you can relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday and maybe venture further afield.
And then THAT ending! 😭🥂💍❤️👏👰💒🤵💐🍾💝🥹🫂🎁💘🥲 After 13 years of him saying he’d never marry you, I can understand why you thought he was joking! Poor chap having to ask three times! 😂 What a wonderful surprise though. I’m so pleased for you both, and the country inn tomorrow sounds absolutely perfect. You deserve a lovely evening and some bubbles after all the worry. ❤️
And definitely get the plum tree and the chocolates! 😂🍫

Wow, that really was the bargain of the holiday @Cuwins! 😂 £38 instead of £60 was already a great deal, but getting it completely free is bloody brilliant! You must have been well chuffed when it turned up. DD’s main Christmas present sorted and not a penny spent! 👏🤗😁

Sometimes you just need to get out, have a coffee and mooch about with no pressure to do anything @Ovoemconserva. Hope you found something nice at the farm shop for tea, and obviously the cake will be gone before you get home 😂 😋

89p and 36p definitely don’t count as a full blown spending spree @RumBananaSundae 😂. Sometimes work just pushes you over the edge and you have had it rough in work lately bless you sweetheart. Hope you have a lovely quiet evening and can properly switch off 🤞🙏. AHH thank you both Mum and l are both fine today thank you that is so kind of you ❤️

AHH you all had a lovely weekend and the DCs had such a brilliant time too @Lockin26. 😁👏 The spending really doesn’t sound too bad to me at all, especially with the gift card. And definitely worth treating yourself to properly fitted bras! 😊 Good luck with the cutbacks and thank you, yes l am fine here and Mum is too bless her heart ❤️.

Good morning everyone 🌞
Not a bad morning here , dry and 20c got up early for town, market and library . £4 on choc for Mum in the market 🤗
Spent £37 in Morrisons
£36 in Aldi and
£6.32 in Waitrose on cheese and cottage cheese .
Hope everyone is ok and having a good day 😁

£3.61 in Aldi on milk and cheese and £10 carried over from yesterday for a ticket for a museum tour.

Hope you had a fab time in Dublin @Lockin26. And a grand birthday.

How are you doing @Frugal25? Have a lovely dinner tonight.

Thank you @DirtyGertiefromno30. My poor head can’t relax today. Work is even more sucky when it bothers your free time. Poo to all involved. Snap on the cheese shopping. Have you been watching anything on television? Any suggestions for a distraction.

No plans for this evening except trying to think of what to do with my 36p mashed potato from yesterday. Depending on how things go I might get a TGTG. Or some jam tarts.

Go basic!
Island in an orange sea!

Afternoon all,

Have been at the beach today which was free. Thank you so much for all the lovely messages 🥰 it's still sinking in. We have been together 13 years and for 13 years I've been told he will never marry me. Very adamant too so it came as a big shock yesterday. I have told my family and have been looking at engagement rings :)

Mash and veg to make a simple bubble and squeak @RumBananaSundae? How are you today. How was work? Or did you have a lovely day off?
Def do the tgtg.

Oohhh cheese @DirtyGertiefromno30 so glad your lovely mum is ok. Did she like her chocolate?

How was your birthday @Lockin26 and how was Dublin? I hope you had the most wonderful time

Snap on the cheese shopping @RumBananaSundae! 😄.
Aw bless you sweetheart, it’s horrible when work follows you in your head . Poo to them all indeed! The big fat Piguanas 🙄.
Lately we have watched The Hairdresser Mysteries , Ludwig, Sewing Bee , the Australian bake off on C4 , Love is Blind UK on Netflix , Project Hail Mary film , the Sheep Detectives film . I will have a look to see what else we have seen 😁. The museum tour sounds lovely too. 😊 As for the 36p mash, cheese and potato pie 😋

Such a lovely surprise for you @Frugal25after 13 years of him being so adamant it would never happen . No wonder it’s still sinking in 😁! Enjoy looking at all the engagement rings and having a lovely time celebrating your exciting news. 💍❤️. I know l am biased but he's a very lucky man ❤️🤗

I have racked my brains and these are a few things we have watched the past few weeks @RumBananaSundae😁.
I , Claudius on iPlayer . The Pitt S1 and 2 brilliant HBO. Granite Harbour which was excellent . Van de Valk with the great Mark Warren in it . Sone of the things like The Hairdresser Mysteries are just easy watching but we enjoyed them 🤗

Plum trees are certainly very fine, @Frugal25 and @RumBananaSundae . I wish you lived nearby, so I could give you some! We have given some to neighbours and I simply washed the rest, halved and removed the stones and put them in bags and in the freezer. They are nice in crumble or stewed with custard.
Spending yesterday, £31 at Tesco and, to my shame an impulse audible book called “Ship of Dreams” by Gareth Russell. All about the Titanic passengers, what happened next and the impact on Edwardian society. Fascinating and so well researched.
Spending today, £40 on a pair of extending loppers for aforementioned plum tree. £21 at Sainsbury’s and a planned £400 for a new oven I have had enough or ours, it burns most things. Mum and I are each contributing half and Mr Gingercats will order it tonight from John Lewis. They will install it and take the old one away.
A neighbour gave me three decorative tea tins. I will bake ginger biscuits at Christmas and give them in the tins to friends.
I love “ I Claudius” @DirtyGertiefromno30 . Is it the Derek Jacobi one on IPlayer?

Big shop at Tesco yesterday approx £80 but that was the only spend.
Today £20 on books from Amazon for DD to help with the likely death of a great grandparent shortly. Otherwise NSD.

Love stewed plums and plum crumble @TwogingercatsThat Audible book sounds fascinating 😁. l will try and get it from my library 🤗.
I don’t blame you replacing the oven if it’s burning everything, you can't put up with that , food is too important and blooming expensive to do that . £400 between you and your Mum isn’t bad, and John Lewis installing and taking the old one is a massive bonus.
Yhe tea tins sound lovely ,ginger biscuits will make great Christmas gifts. ❤️
And yes, it's the original with Derek Jacobi in I, Claudius on iPlayer.
It's Brilliant! 👏😁

Oh @Cuwins bless you❤️ that is so sad. l am so sorry to hear this from you sweetheart 💐

It’s £400 each, @DirtyGertiefromno30 unfortunately! But I’m resigned ro it as a good oven is important, as you say. My trouble is that I watch history podcasts on YouTube, and there are lots of good historians, all promoting their books!

Aw £400 each aw bless l didn't realise but at least it is shared and you can cook and bake it your hearts content then sweetheart 👏🤗

Back from a weekend away with DH and the family at an AirBnb - did okay with spends and because the venue had an event that went into the evening we were there all day until they threw us out at 9pm. So great value for money! We spent the next day having a picnic at a local castle before we set off home.
But I have been spending money yesterday at Cash and Carry (£148.42) on lots of meat, toilet rolls plus other bits and pieces. Have split the mince into bags for meal planning and frozen them. Need to slice the steak before egg and breadcrumbing ready to freeze. This is a family thing that my mum passed down to all us siblings. It's a faff to prepare but makes meat go a long way and is quick and easy to fry up to serve with veg and gravy. DD took a bagful of bits from us to feed themselves and avoid shopping before pay day!!
But I needed to buy breadcrumbs today so £42.62 in Lidl and £19.75 in Iceland but couldn't round up in Iceland as they were having problems with card machines but Xmas round ups presently at £14.42 (not bad for little bits here and there through the year) Nectar trailing along at £2.25 but I rarely go to Sainsbury now and TopCashBack is £6.06 but that will go up once I start shopping in earnest for Xmas. Martin Lewis Savings are on track and I'm up to date and slightly ahead of myself for saving £1 a day. Not sure what I'll do with that yet but I'm sure that something will hit us with a bill somewhere.
Also booked tickets for GCs at Movie Madness (£15.00) for tomorrow as they are stopping overnight with us tonight. The weather isn't meant to be too great tomorrow so that with a bit of cake baking should keep them happy. Hard to believe that they go back to school at the end of next week - where did the holidays go? Oh I forgot - got GS new butty box/bag for his lunches at school (£19.95) probably a bit extravagant but heyho!
On the income side had a refund for 50% car tax so that has gone towards the car service plan. Got enough in bills account overpayments to cover the entire first big payment due in September so not feeling quite so guilty for all our recent spends. 😏That's me caught up. Now need to sit and catch up on everyone who has posted recently.🤓

My husband brought whispers not Yorkshire tea.
I'm considering the future of our marriage he's clearly not who I thought he was.

Good afternoon everybody.
I have remembered that the Heritage Open Days (Can’t link, sorry, but Google the words) are coming up soon, 11-20th September. Many museums and properties are open during these dates free of charge. We had a lovely day out at the Bowes Museum in the North East saving £22 each last year. It is worth searching your region as well as your home town. Our local National Trust places have dates listed as free entry and there are lots of walks and tours also. Some you need to pre-book, some you simply turn up.
Certainly worth a look.