Judicious January - Long may the credit crunching continue

[roguepixie]

So, the credit crunching team are into Year 2013. Happy New Year everyone.

Let's continue our cost-cutting, , money saving,penny and pound pinching, NSD ways.

Helen, well you know what they say about gift horses and mouths....bonkers behaviour though.

£3 on green and blacks choc. Ate a whole bar. Feel sick.

Thanks again, everyone.

Just cracked open a bottle of Chablis left over from Christmas. Had been a dry January until now!

Beejaysus. Tax bill, accountant's bill, birthday dinner for DH which cost £93 for our share as he and his mate kept ordering posh wine. Also needed to buy clothes for the filming I have to do (£47) plus leather waterproof boots suitable for home/work use (£71 - I have funny sized feet). I am feeling Sooooooooo much a failure this month!!!!

Boffin don't feel a failure. They sound like mostly necessary things & you can't control other people ordering posh wine at a dinner (although I might be a little )

CremeEgg I'm afraid I know nothing about these matters but I hope you get it sorted out without too much trouble.

Fluffy mushroom growing kits sound like a great idea! My Dmum did this when I was little & I remember them being very easy to do. Just keep moist & in a dark place, I think.

Rogue spendy, but you sound so clever being able to make dresses & so on. I can barely sew a button back on!

Yesterday was kind of ouch for our finances. Dcat had been in another fight (he's kind of Top Cat around here, but every now & again someone comes along & challenges this. I think this is the 4th time in 2 years we've taken him to the vets for being in a fight). That was £62 at the vet. Car could be £150 if just handbrake cable or could be £350 if it's rear callipers as well, we won't know until we pick it up tomorrow. Lunch with friends was lovely & only £40 for our share between us & 2 DSes, including drinks & tip. We got a free bottle of bubbly as it was the men's birthdays.

Today should be NSD. Snowing heavily here, so will go out in it after lunch - DS1 wants to build a snow T-Rex! Will sort out cupboard of doom under the stairs in a bit, sure I have tons of goodies in there & can't actually get in it atm

Anyone want to refer me to swagbucks?

Hi all -delurkibg too.
Frugal 2013 and beyond..... (Must make that a new mn name!)

Never mind Boffinmum. We've got tax and accountants coming up this week as well :( At least its only annually. We've also got a VAT bill coming up too. You'll have the clothes and boots for ages. Having got all those things dealt with in January hopefully February will be a better month.

I'm starting to struggle a bit just because it seems so long until pay day. I was last paid on the 23rd December and its not due again until 31st January and of course I spent far more over Christmas than usual. That said I've just checked my balance and I have £235 more than I did at this point in November AND I've not had the child benefit yet for this month so things are going better than I feel they are. Still want to save £200 at minimum for kitchen though so am still going to need to be careful as have 12 days to go.

How many of you pay your council tax over 10 months? I've just had the happy thought that I won't be paying it in February :)

, and to all those having troubles.
I fell off the wagon last night, desperate for unneccessary treats. Had Sainsburys chocolate cake, shared with DCs.

I am an auntie! My sister had a baby girl this morning, so some good news to report :o.

Woo-hoo. Yay. Congratulations Auntie CremeEgg. Here's some for you and a celebratory too. Wonderful news.

Welcome solittletime, glad to see you.

jenduck, I know. I just had a mad moment but have managed to convince myself of the {obvious } savings. I love to knit and sew - I taught myself but am thinking of taking a few sewing classes this year, to bring myself up to a confident intermediate. To be honest I quite often think I belong to another time...1930's/40's - I'm not sure this time is quite is right for me . I am a real contradiction, I think, , I enjoy the cooking, sewing, making do and mending etc. I loved that series that was on recently about the WW2 Farm - makes you realise exactly how resourceful we used to have to be and how much we take for granted now. Not sure I would have liked all the handwashing and mangle and the absence of a hoover but heyho . Hope duckcat is ok?

Boffin, sorry this month has started out so spendy for you. Don't feel a failure ... my spends yesterday were all my decision, your spends this month have not been in your control. DH might have earned a look for choosing expensive wine though .

stormforce. January is a hellish month really. Even though Council Tax isn't starting til Feb, it is still an awful month.

Morning all!

Hope the poorly grandads and cats are ok?

I feel the same as you Rogue! I love a bit of make do and mend!! I found some leftover pastry in the freezer yesterday so I turned it into Bakewell tart for pudding for yesterday and today. This morning I've turned manky bananas into two loaves of banana bread for the freezer. I'm just about to repair DH's sweater and then I'm going to cut out a dress pattern for some lovely brown jersey fabric I found when we were moving!

NSD today hopefully.

Ooooh, Helena, you are another of my 'sisters in spirit'. . What is your dress like? My upcoming dress is this one - go down the page a little ... it is the green one: www.ysolda.com/blog/?page=2. It is Colette Crepe dress - available from www.sewingbox.co.uk (the owner is amazing, so helpful).

Anyone with leftover puff pastry (or, like Helena, finds some in the freezer) might want to make a tarte tatin - I saw Hugh F-W the other day and his cohort (Gill?) made one with beetroot as the 'filling/topping' - looked amazing and, served with cold meats etc or even on it's own, would be lovely.

I'm with you in spirit, I just can't actually do it (although pretty nifty at not letting food go in the bin) TBF, DH is quite good at this sort of thing (well, everything really, he is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades) & has in the past turned jeans of DS1's that had ripped at the knee into 'monster trousers' with patches & recovered furniture etc.

Have not heard about Dgrandad as Dmum was up with Dsis sorting out the burglars' mess yesterday , but am thinking would have heard if there was any bad news (don't like to interfere with already very busy & stressed people). DCat is fine, swollen paw down already, just some antibiotics & anti-inflammatories to put in his food. He is enjoying being warm inside (normally an outdoor cat, which I guess accounts for the high number of fights!)

Helena forgot to say great news on mortgage, what a relief!

Welcome to solittle

And congrats to Auntie CremeEgg

Thanks all :).

Jen, glad your cat is on the mend, and hope your grandad continues to improve.

I can't afford it, but I'm off to price flights to Ireland for February half term, to meet my niece.

Scroll down the page and you'll find loads of recipes that are cheap too

£42 on food. Aldi's getting more expensive. I need to re-double my efforts, some of today's food will make two meals though. Still need to get cat food though.

£3.73 in homebargains.

£3 on cheap bin bags, nappy sacks and bird feed in Sains.

Ouchy.

Hopefully I will be able to get to work on Tuesday because they pay cash.

Otoh, laundry gloop is brilliant and I can't see me ever going back to normal detergents apart from wool wash which I have loads of from last year anyway.

Dress is lovely rogue. Mine is a mock wrap dress. If I can get on a proper computer later I'll see if I can link to it.

I'm passing my skills on to my DD - she's making her first dress! I learned my skills from my great-grandfather who was a tailor!

Went a bit mad in the cook shop and spent £30 yesterday. Very naughty

Had a look at that thread fluffy and noticed that they do a 'no throwing away food challenge' which sounds rather good. I am trying to justify buying more expensive foodie things by trying to waste less so I am buying less rather then cheaper. Must take a closer look once I get a moment. Wonder if I could start one like it on here.

Should be an nsd for me today though dp is planning a yellow sticker bread run to stock up on nice bread for the week.

roar check out my 'clearing out cupboards & freezer challenge' thread in the food section!

Ooo... Sounds good, I'll be right over :o

Im with you Jen...just posted

Happy baby news, congrats to you (and your sister), CremeEgg!

I'm wishing this baby would get a wriggle on. After almost 39 weeks of being able to walk, my pelvis has suddenly seized up and is causing me grieve whenever I move (or don't move).

£5 something at Aldi today and, ahem, £50 on a pair of Merrell Boots from Amazon. However, I have a feeling they may be out of stock as the same seller has marked them as such on ebay. I hope they aren't, as they are lovely (and cheap for Merrell), but on the other hand, I don't technically need them, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if the order can't be fulfilled.

I would love not to throw away any food, but EconomyBoy is being a fussy so and so at the moment, so the food bin is seeing a lot of action.

Sounds like a lot of people are having a bit of a tough few days.
cremeegg congratulations!
roguepixie and helena I'm with you in the make do and mend mindset. I hate waste. I've some leftover puff pastry and some beetroots that need using so that tarte tatin sounds perfect.
jen I'll come over and have a look at the clear out thread although I've already done my cupboard clear out.
I had a biggish spending day yesterday as I had food shopping to get, managed to get some good fruit and veg bargains at the farm shop (let's just say there will be lots of broccoli and stilton soup in the northend house this week )
We are still without dh's car as they haven't figured out what's wrong with it. Since he left it there it has started first time every day, sod's law eh? Until then it wasn't going 48 hours without needing the bonnet up. Fingers crossed for good news tomorrow.

This is true, Pixie. But £29 each for 2 bottles of Chateuneuf de Pape? Then Courvoisiers? My only comfort is that Alvin Hall wasn't nearby ... I was designated driver so not even drinking!

As for the extra tax, I just morally didn't feel I owed the country anything, for the first time in my life. I feel fleeced.

Broccoli and stilton soup sounds good, northender. Makes a change from my usual lentil and veg affair - might give it a go tomorrow lunch!

What is the link you referred to? Can't see it on this page and meant to be working, so shouldn't really scroll page through...