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 🤗

So sorry, that must've been really scary @Frugal25. I'm so glad you got home safely before you were really poorly. The heat can really wipe you out, so you did the right thing ,lots of water and rest 🤗. Bless your Mum for helping out too ❤️
I'd definitely count the MOT and number plate as planned yearly spends, not a failed NSD. Hope you're feeling much better tomorrow sweetheart.
And thank you for being so supportive bless you ❤️

Ooh, a river cruise sounds absolutely lovely @Rubytwoshoose! What a perfect way to celebrate your DH's retirement.
Your spending today definitely sounds like one of those necessary with a few extras on top days. 🤣 Annual insurance and travel money don't count in my book as they're all part of the holiday. And Tesco or any one of the big 4 ate dangerous you pop in for one thing and somehow the trolley fills itself with shiny bargains ill gotten hains ! Aw thank you re my Mum and my Coeliac diagnosis. You are right l can get myself sorted and recover my poor villi bless them all flattened 😱🙏
I will be so Proactive they will be astonished when they do my repeat bloods 😁🤞

Wow @fedupandtired1, £350 saved in 3 months is amazing! 👏 Especially with bank nursing and the challenges of holiday childcare looming .
You’re doing a brilliant job making the money stretch , packed lunches, snacks, free museum, offers and lovely memories for the kids. 😊 How kind of your friend to treat you to ice cream too bless her so good of her 🤗.
Hope your night shifts go smoothly, l did night shifts for years nursing children, l loved it but it's so hard on our body and mind 😢

@Cuwins that fan was a necessity/emergency/life saver 😁

Thank you for asking about Mum @RumBananaSundae❤️. And yes, the Coeliac diagnosis was a bit of a shock. I had no idea it was discovered in women around my age or that it's not diagnosed and missed so much !
Sounds like you’ve had a lot on your mind too sweetheart. Don’t be too hard on yourself about the application mistake , these things happen, especially when you’re juggling so much , you have e such a lot going on . Sorry about the rejection for the job application, I know how much effort you’ve been putting in bless you , just keep going you will get there 🤞🙏 . Well done for resisting the holiday temptation too 😊 ❤️

Been a busy and expensive day. Took car no 1 for new brakes front and back £450. Car no 2 £70 for a tyre . Waitrose £13 for some gluten free bits and pieces for today for my meals.
Changed my beds and got 2 loads of washing done. Couldn't find DH phone and the front door key but we found them after thank God 🙏.
Mum was fine there thankfully 😁.
Hope everyone is feeling a lot better this evening this heat is no joke 🙄.
Hope we all get some sleep 💤 😴
Take care everyone ❤️

Managed to spend £28 this morning while out with DD. £5 car parking for a weekly woodland activity she does- there is a free car park but it’s further away however I must get better about using it!
I managed to leave the house without my iced coffee and water bottle, no way could I cope all morning without a drink so stopped and spent £3 on the way. Then £11 for lunch and drinks from the cafe for the 2 of us and £9 on bread and ice lollies in coop! Amazing how it adds up. But that should be it now for the day. We will spend the afternoon hiding inside in front of the fan and if my brain is working tackling some of the house move paperwork.
Poor DP is trying to sleep between night shifts!

£89 in lidl this morning. I stuck to list which started small but got longer as week went on.
I think I need to revise my budget. I always put down £50 a week for food and say "I won't buy much. " And then spend between £80-£90 and that's sticking to a list, and then have to tweak budget every week.
But it did include a birthday present for a party on Sunday, and flowers for mum to say thank you for looking after me yesterday.
£10 in the cafe at swimming as DD wanted lunch out. And whilst I still have her at home until September I shall.

Think that's it for today. Although I have been eyeing up vintage holly hobbis bedding for DD on vinted. Someone stop me!!!

I always find it scary how much stuff adds up - as ridiculous as that sounds. Personally, im dreading the summer holidays I absolutely expect it to cost a small fortune - anybody fancy buying my kidney?

I'm dreading the summer too. I've accounted for it on budgets but you know how it adds up as we are speaking of already.... Ice cream here, soft play there.....

£115 at vet. Other than that, NSD, and I have sold £20 of Vinted stuff. Also won £25 on Premium Bonds

It really is anxiety inducing. You get an email to say you have won but no mention of the amount. So you have to log on, telling yourself it’s going to be a tiny sum, but are still disappointed it’s not £1m 😆

£5.30 in the cafe for DH and I.
I got a refund of £3.99 in Home Bargains and spent it in Superdrug on travel minis.
I'm meeting friends tonight so that will be another £7 ish.

I had the same anxiety over the premium bonds @FrugalinBrighton, trawling the list of winners in my area just in case they'd made a mistake.
I ended up selling them and put myself out of my misery 🤣.

School holidays are definitely an expensive time. As long as you get enjoyment from it, it's worth it.

Evening everyone 🤗
Mum was fine there thankfully 😁.
Boiling hot here 😱🥵
Aldi £60 for stuff for Mum and me mostly , anything l could get my hands on that are GF accidentally in there lol 🤣 2 Pedestal fans from Morrisons £40.

You did really well sticking to your list@Frugal25. Do you need to up your food budget sweetheart. Only l have noticed food has gone up so so much in the past couple of months . Aw lovely you bought your Mum flowers bless her . Hope you feel much better today sweetheart. Lunch with your DD while she's home until September is so worth it❤️. I'd make an offer for the Holly Hobby bedding see if they will take something off for you and if they do you were meant to get it if not then you weren't 🤗

Oh lovely you won £25 on the pb's @FrugalinBrighton, well done on the Vinted sales too 🤗👏

Oh bless you @Ovoemconserva , have you tried the TGTG bags and Lidl do marvellous boxes of fruit and veg for £1.50. l have used them loads of time .
Also Aldi do boxes of food on TGTG too 🤗

You did well using the refund on something you needed @Rubytwoshoose. Hope you have a lovely evening with your friends. 🤗 I know exactly what you mean about Premium Bonds, we've all checked the winners list just in case! 🤣

It soon adds up, doesn't it @Cuwins? At least you had a lovely morning with your DD and l certainly don't blame you for buying a drink in this heat! Hope the paperwork goes well and your DP got some good sleep bless him 🙏

I then got talked into McDonald’s this evening but to be honest I’m accepting a bit more spending currently in order to go places to keep cool as our flat is ridiculously hot

Made a lovely big batch of potato salad (cost £2 approx as some was leftover ingredients from last week or store cupboard/back of fridge) enough for 4 x2 people meals. Combined with green salad from leftover leaves and bits in fridge and £1.50 mackerel fillets we had a delicious tea tonight with the weekend planned

Made a lovely big batch of potato salad (cost £2 approx as some was leftover ingredients from last week or store cupboard/back of fridge) enough for 4 x2 people meals. Combined with green salad from leftover leaves and bits in fridge and £1.50 mackerel fillets we had a delicious tea tonight with the weekend planned

Spent about £11 today in Marks and Spencer and Aldi. I went for hand soap (and forgot to buy it) but got quite a few yellow/red stickered things.

Do you know what @Rubytwoshoose sometimes random shiny things from the supermarket are just the ticket.

How are you today @DirtyGertiefromno30? Glad you found the keys.

Ohhh Holly Hobby @Frugal25. I had Holly Hobby dollies. And nighties. And crockery (including an egg cup). I was quite a fan. Hope you’re feeling better today.

Congratulations on the premium bond @FrugalinBrighton.

I think they’re some of the best kind of dinners @hahabahbag.

Have been eating yellow stickered strawberries. I didn’t meet up with my friend but given the current weather town wasn’t very appealing today. I’m meant to be going to a show tomorrow evening but think I’ll cut my losses and give it a miss. Have discovered banana Angel Delight.

@Cuwins funny you should say that but l am behaving in the exact way as you . I have loosened up the purse strings to buy food and drinks that are so easy to prepare in this heat . I am finding we are not as hungry in this heat either tbh 😁

omg that tea sounds delicious @hahabahbag well done on the frugality of it too 👏👍

We are off to soft play tomorrow and will probably have lunch there we wouldn’t normally do but this place is like a fridge so we will be hanging there as long as possible!