Oh come all ye frugalers, joyful in December, oh come ye, oh come yea and chat

[babsmam]

New Fred, hope I've done it right I've never done one before.

[Whatabout]

Looks about right to me!

[SpottyTeacakes]

Thanks babs

[needastrongone]

[NK5BM3]

Thanks babs!!

spotty if the woman doesn't friend you, that's really fine. Really. Don't focus on it. As for the book, just ask her the next time you see her. Or perhaps if there's a class email list just email everyone and say have you guys seen my child's book?? I did that with my son's jumper... Or ask the class teacher to look in the drawers...

[Ememem84]

It works!!

Dh has just woken me up and asked for a lift to airport. He's off to London for a couple of days.

Was planning on lying in until at least 830 today. Then doing get ups and study.

[Collieputthekettleon]

Fanks for the new Fred babs

[Collieputthekettleon]

NSD today. Not going into town today :(

[ipsos]

Great news on the Boden trousers Girl

Spotty I see what you mean about Christmas money. Lovely to hear that you have family to treat you. :-)

Good idea to pace the sc excitement Fluffy. Enjoy!

NK5 I think you've hit the nail on the head with housepoints. It's the one bad boy in the class who's getting all the praise and then lording it over everybody else.

Sorry to hear about dh Collie. I do wonder about the primary school. Things seem a lot better now he comes home for lunch though.

Don't worry about facebook Spotty. She probably just uses it for keeping in touch with people who are hundreds of miles way, or a specific set of people, like family.

Open day sounds great need.

Phew! Caught up now.

[Pointlessfan]

Found you! Thanks for the new Fred babs. DD seems much happier today so I feel better too.
Just need to get cat food today, will go to Pets at Home so DD can see the rabbits!

[Girlfriend36]

Hi all, thanks for the new Fred (did have a moment where I wondered who Fred was )

Day off today woo hoo! Will try not to go into spend over drive!

Am also going to sort out some bits to sell from dds clothes that she doesn't wear, had been holding onto them thinking she might suddenly be o.kay with them but doesn't look like thats going to happen! Will help pay for the clothes that she does wear!

[fuzzpig]

Thanks for the new Fred Babs - expertly done!

[ipsos]

It turns out that ds can earn house points for making, drawing or writing things at home and bringing them into school, so I think we will get onto that. He's quite handy at things like that.

I might ask if the points could be listed per house rather than per child though. The per child list sounds a bit harsh.

[lilacclery]

Spotty if she's anything like me, she sees something on fb, goes off doing something else and forgets to respond. Then person sees that you've seen it and thinks all kind of things. My friend watches on whatsapp and fb to see who's online and then gets p*ssed off with someone if they haven't replied to her asap. She forgets that she lives alone and has no one to look after except herself and that other people have responsibilities and demands on their time! Slight rant but you get what I mean!

thanks for new thread babs

Housepoints seem to be along the same idea as The Golden Lilypad in dd's school. They each have a frog and if they do something wrong they lose some golden time, which is free time to do things, when they run of free time they must do homework in golden time. She never mentioned it until dh heard about it at pt meeting.

Got another refund from aliexpress this morning and package arrived yesterday. So now I've two outfits to the value of €18.63 plus they refunded the money to my account also.

[ipsos]

I just phoned up and my dishwasher is coming in 7 to 10 working days, or maybe sooner than that. Gosh that seems like a long time.

[ipsos]

I see the tesco delivery slots of the Christmas period will be open for booking from tomorrow for people with the delivery saver subscription. I must remember to set that up. It's such a help not having to go to the supermarket in person over Christmas when the shops are so full.

[SpottyTeacakes]

Well I spent £42 in sainsburys but that included £20 on crackers, £10 on a paw patrol cake and then some candles etc.

[lilacclery]

ipsos I saw that too.
I'm staying with my parents for Christmas but going to introduce them to the wonderful world of Tesco deliveries by getting one while I'm there

[lilacclery]

Email From YNAB
Even though I haven't started using the package properly I feel I do apply some of the principles

^Hello YNABers!

We probably don’t need to remind you that time is running out. Christmas is just four weeks away and if you’re celebrating Hanukkah, you’ve got even less time. But you already know this. In fact, maybe you’d rather we didn’t bring it up at all. (Sorry!)

For those of you who have been dutifully saving every month and have a fully funded category, we’d like to virtually high five you! Fully funded holidays are a beautiful thing.

But if you don’t, it’s not too late. Whatever you do, don’t just throw up your arms and let the dollars fall where they may.

It’s tempting—we get it—to just sort of close your eyes, turn up the music, and deal with it when the credit card bill comes in January. Maybe that’s what you do every year, in which case you know how ugly it can get.

Even if you only have $25 set aside right now, you are in a position of power. Knowing how much you have is a good thing. You’ve started.

The next step is to figure out where you’ll get more. These are the moments when—if you let it—the budget really shines. The answers are in the budget. Lean on the budget.

This is Rule Three dressed up as Santa Claus, saving your Christmas. Go to your budget and look at your other categories. Where could you pull back or switch things around? What isn’t as important as a gift for your partner? Or your mother? Your budget can help you figure out where you can find some extra money and how much you’ll have. The budget will give you some healthy boundaries.

It might not be your blingiest Christmas ever. And maybe that will feel like a huge sacrifice—but maybe it won’t. It is surprisingly satisfying to be in control of your money and make spending decisions that line up with your true priorities. As is not being in debt for a bunch of stuff you don’t really care about. Now that is the gift that keeps on giving!

Either way, January will be a much brighter start to a better year if you are mindful. So, open your eyes, open your budget, and enjoy a holiday season you can afford! ^

[Collieputthekettleon]

Love it lilac

[Whatabout]

lilac thanks for sharing. Makes me think I don't need to twitch and buy more stuff.

[ipsos]

That's great Lilac.

[fuzzpig]

Cool email. Can't believe it's only a month til the big day. Not really feeling that festive this year although as usual I'm engrossed in choosing presents

I just had a potential win, frugal-wise. Amazon order arrived yesterday with an extra item in it that I didn't order - a CD set currently selling on there for about £18. So we emailed back and forth, they said I could either post it and keep receipt for postage refund, or they could get it collected by DPD or whatever, and then I got another email this morning saying we appreciate your honesty, please keep the CD and use or dispose of it as you wish. so I'm going to try and sell it. :)

[lilacclery]

Excellent news fuzz

[fuzzpig]

It's quite a niche item (tv series soundtrack) but you never know, might get a tenner or something which would be brilliant. Thankfully now I have a working camera I can take a photo of it and another few items that I want to try. I've not sold anything on FB before (only advertised my piano lessons which got me a couple of pupils) but it's worth a try.

[Collieputthekettleon]

That's really cool fuzz Hotel Chocolate did that to me last Christmas. I only ordered £7.50 worth of stuff (the batons) and received the batons and £85 worth of chocolate. I phoned them up and the lady said "thanks for being honest, keep the chocolates and enjoy!"

Love them forever! DH and I had a great time scoffing ridiculously expensive chocolate.

Browsing for Christmas presents is SO hard. I'm looking everywhere and some of the "gifts" I've seen are pointless. I'm beginning to realise what a sucker for packaging I've been over the last 10 years!