A Year of Living Frugabulously

Karmacat

Good news on the books - had to laugh at dd tho, bemoaning a piece of bread yesterday, and then spending proper sarnie money on doughnuts!

Fat Fighters - I'm just shutting down to watch The Biggest Loser

RosaBernicia

One of my PAYG arrangements used to have a small amount of credit for 'reserve calls' that you could use when the main credit had run out, but you had to dial it differently or go via the top up system or something. Dunno if any of them still do that kind of thing.

Rosa xx

Dan29

Hello

Regarding the mobile phone issue, I'm on GiffGaff and for £10 a month I get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet - so I use that to send any pictures by email or using WhatsApp.

Dunno if that would be any better for your DD; it's still PAYG (you pre-pay for a £10 "goodybag"), not a contract.

Back to lurking

se999

Just wondered for DD on the lunches front, does she have a locker at school that she could leave some emergency non-perishable food in, you could switch it once a term to make sure it's still within edible limits. Otherwise at least something lightweight and similar in her school bag.

I'm definitely a supporter of gradually switching from pocket money to allowances as they get older, where you increase the allowance as you include more things they're responsible for buying rather than you. It worked OK in our household, but doesn't work for everyone. So maybe the phone could be a step on that route.

I hope your worries about work don't materialise, but increasing your savings safety net will have benefits anyway

lizzie_dripping

Lula - what network is DD on?

Look at o2 simplicity sim only - £5 a month for unlimited text or £10 for unlimited texts and 100 minutes of calls.

Vodaphone do a freedom package that is also £10 a month for unlimited texts although I don't know what the calltime is.

You don't need to get a contract phone, if she has a handset then the sim only packages are fine. Someone gave me a blackberry so I just pay £15 a month with 02 which includes texts, calls and internet.

I sympathise about teenagers and texting - my DS once sent 2000 texts in a month :eek:

Also, if she is on the parentpay system for school lunches school, then you can get email alerts for low balances. Don't opt for text alerts though as they charge for those.

Lula-Hula

Hello again,

Dan29 :hello:good to see you again , hope life in London Town is suiting you well ? I'm l o v i n g this giffgaff idea :T, It had barely registered on my consciousness previously, but you're the second person who's mentioned it to me in the last 3 days & I've just had a good mosey about the site & it looks great so thanks for that bit of info

se999 - hello again, yes DD does have a locker so that's something I could think about. I may well start to keep a stock of packable lunch stuff at home again so if money runs a bit tight I can always send her in with her own stuff.

Rosa - hello lovely, thanks for your info on payg too, I really would like mademoiselle to just keep a track of her useage so she get used to it & knows what she has left. I think this will be good groundwork for future money management too

lizzie dripping - thank you for your advice too, she's on vodafone at the moment & I've just noted that Quidco are currently offering £50 for a 12 month sim only contract for £10.50 a month which gives far more than she currently gets for that price. I don't think I got her the best deal when I got her new phone. I also doubt I'll be sticking with my tariff when the contract ends ... 2000 texts in one month :eek: I'll just shut up & be grateful now :rotfl:

Karma - the doughnuts made me laugh too ... reminded me of 'someone' :whistle: I used to know who's parents would give her train money for travelling to school & back. Said person saved up a bit of money & bought herself a student railcard, but omitted to tell parents who continued to provide full rail fare, therefore enabling said person to spend the saved/spare cash in the pub :j:beer::rotfl:.


Anyway my lovelies, let's get down to business ... mine's a large Gordon please

Errr, no I mean money business.

January CB has gone in to the secret Black Nag account which brings the Holibob Fund to a tasty £538.55p

Home-job payday & yet another week without pocket money for me, but then again, I still don't need anything & as the drinks with the Boys seems to have been postponed indefinitley then I still have my £50 . That signifies a sad lack of social events, & yet a cheery amount of cash to have with no purpose other than to just look crisp & pretty .

The cash funds have all had a boost today so balances are as follows :

Childcare = £180
Xmas Fund = £40
Gift Fund = £40
Fun Fund = £31.20

My Weekly Spending Allowance is down to just £3.10 now; I had to get some bread today as we'd run out & also, the last 2 weeks I've taken DDs pocket money out of that rather than my home-job earnings. I'd rather spend a bit less on household stuff than have to do more home-job work

I'm off to waitr:)se tomorrow to get a few bits - aiming to spend less than £20 as we still have plenty of pantry stuff, so just need some fresh stuff such as milk, cheese & veg.

I may well have a nose in the charity shops too, not for anything in particular, just a looksee .

DD is planning to go the club with friends on Saturday night, she pays for her own ticket & drinks so it won't cost me anything & it will save me from the bottle of Gordon I was secretly plotting to purchase. If I have to drive, I can't drink. I have 18 books & a lovefilm dvd to keep me company + the 5 dvds that were freebies years ago & I recently discovered at the back of the cupboard.


I'm keen to go the local gallery / museum again soon as a new exhibition has recently opened. It's actually on the canal that we ride along, but we've never got that far, for fear of dying of exhaustion & mangled body parts

BUT ... how brilliant if I can actually work my way up to riding there, thereby getting some exercise, fresh air, free transport & no parking charges. I'd be able to treat myself to a coffee / lunch in the restaurant :j Definitely something to work towards.

Time to empty the washing machine now & then head off for a bubble bath & early night with a book.

G'night
xx

Karmacat

A canal trip to a museum sounds good to me! And Lula, your holibob fund! Fantastic!

I too have a dvd I haven't watched - The King's Speech - so when my evening client tomorrow night has gone, I shall sit down and *watch* it

Have a nice mosey around town tomorrow :kisses3:

taxi73

Sounds like everything going well in Lula land.Some great ideas re DDs mobile too

vasseur

I'm extremely envious of your holiday fund . Looking good!

Trip to the gallery sounds great. You won't even notice you're cycling there and I've always found the coffee shops in these places do lovely cake

Lula-Hula

G'morning to all,

as to the mobile debate ... turns out that the friends with Blackeberry's keep suffering from a 'freezing issue' & Madmeoiselle is not so keen anymore. She's also hedging her bets that I upgrade my phone when my contract runs out & so will inherit my phone & promptly move over to giffgaff.

I've not spoiled her fun by telling her that I might be joining giffgaff myself with current phone when contract ends :rotfl:. She loves her phone & after some investigation it seems that a sim only deal might be the best way to go, she'll get a lot more for my money than with current payg deal so I'll probably do that.

Anyway, I stopped off at the cashpoint this morning to get my £50 spends, dropped DD at school & then whizzed off to sampel the delights of lovely shopping. I was in waitr:)se by 8.30 & went way over my original budget .

This was partly due to bargainous deals on ecover washing up liquid & wipes ( 2 for 3 & bogof respectively) & the fact that my absolutely favourite orange & cinnamon scented candles were finally ( I have been waiting patiently) reduced to half price. The giant pillar ones are usually £8 a go, but today there were just 2 left & only £8 for both :j. These are not grocery, household or toiletry items so I decided to use my pocket money to pay for them.

Good job too, because the total bill at the till was an unexpected £48.28 :eek:.

Groceries came to £33.90 but I had to buy mixed fruit for scone making ( a scary £3 a bag) & some paprika for butternut squash soup making, multi buy offers on leeks for leek & potato soup making & a reduced price lazy dinner pizza for tonight so rather more than originally planned

I bunged the shopping in the boot & swished over the road to the charity shop where I pounced upon a Mighty Boosh dvd for just £1.60 Now very glad that I missed out on the pre xmas amazon one at £14 :cool:.

Came home, helped washing marvel disgorge the load I bunged in this morning, danced about with the hoover, got accounts up to date & now the sun is on the garden, I'm off to play in my wellies :j

Bye for now
xx