Judicious January Jangling & Juggling *blows budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

Sorry, couldn't resist going overboard on the J's

Happy new year y'all. Welcome to expert budgeteerers, newbies, lurkers and de-lurkers. We're a very friendly, non-judgmental bunch so please use this thread as you choose whether it's as a spending diary, to confess your money sins, ask for help or have a general whinge at the cost of living.....

Ahhhh family Friday sounds awesome....I'm normally so shattered after a weeks work that the kids and I flop in front of the telly with pizza from the freezer (the £1.50 basics type with added extras from the fridge).

Well today has been mighty spendy! But all with good reasons:

-£44 diesel in car...that should cover driving to and from work for at least 10 days.

• £97 in Sainsburys....I know... I know....but I bought 8 x 6 tins of their basic cat food (£2.50 each - £20 total) and a large bag of dried cat food £7 and that will see my three felines through the next 7/8 weeks...so not a waste! The rest went on xmas wrapping paper (5x75p), reduced gifts for kids parties and stocking up the freezer...reduced meat, 3 or 2 deals etc.... So although it sounds horrific I know that I will get away with £30 weekly shops for a while.

I like the sound of family Friday :-)

Only spent £46.59 in Aldi - Result! I did already have soap powder and nappies in, as well as a few other useful items. I stuck to my list and only bought what we needed. Some lovely meals too!

Good luck to those on SW. I used them to shift my baby weight last year and it was fab. Learnt so much.

I try To do family Friday here but something always crops up To Get in the way. Must try harder this year. I like the walking back chippy eating chips. That's going on the list if we ever Get back To the UK

Should be an NSD here Today.

Love the idea of the family Friday. Probably wouldn't be able to do it every week but will give it a go I think.
Have been food shopping today for the first time since 23rd December. Spent £27.50 at aldi, £18 at Booths and £8 on fruit and veg. Also put £30 of diesel in dh's car so we are now all set for the week ahead and still have £60 . Had £11 left from this week so that is now in our "surplus" jar.

claret - Slimming World is expensive, in my experience (I rejoined 6 weeks ago). I am sure you do this but one inexpensive meal that fits in with SW is soup!! I make a big pan every week now ans chuck in any and all veggies (even the droopy ones) and a bit of meat. Cheap and cheerful.

Hi Adora. Happy New Year.

Thank you adora! I've also been decluttering and have now shredded some paper! And got rid of like 6 bags of charity size bags!!

Not such a brilliant day here, but all on essentials that I had forgotten about (almost). Ended up with £3.95 on a new battery for my car key, £21.08 on late Christmas presents for friends who were away over the holidays and £1.45 on sparkling water in Costa. Last one not quite an essential! But I did get a shopping fix from spending my Christmas book tokens and DD1's babycinno was free with points on my costa loyalty card. My left to spend is now -£22.72 so need to have lots of NSD's to bring me back up into the black!

Tonight's job is car insurance and cashback sites. Any recommendations? Apparently aviva is good? Also, I will be doing 2 cars that we currently have on an Admiral multicast thing - can I get double cashback if I buy two separate policies?

Aviva is very good, set a basic tcb account for you and your oh so you don't pay fees, aviva doesn't always track from a tablet so use a laptop/pc.

Quidcos doing a higher rate of £70 but it takes forever to pay, doesnt reliably track and the customer cares not great, tcb will price match that after the transaction has tracked. I can help with that if isn't clear to you.

Don't forget to try putting each other on as named drivers, it brings premiums down you probably know that.

We need to be named drivers in any case - we have odd parking arrangements where we have to park each other in, so we usually just each take whichever car is in front :-) not for work as we both have work kit that lives in the cars, but at all other times it's whichever car is there :-)

Do I need separate tcb accounts or can I buy both policies from my account?

Glad the panto was a success and good luck to you NK, fingers crossed!

Spent £15 in Asda on my lunch stuff for next week and some fruit. £5 in Boots for painkillers and Mini Eggs.

Good news is that DH learned he doesn't have lung cancer . He still has a chronic condition needing an operation, but this was such a relief to hear.

NSD here.

Love the Family Friday idea, although it would have to be another night for us, as DS has Scouts until 9 p.m. on Fridays.

NK - there's nothing like a bot of de-cluttering. I got rid of 7 bags to the charity shop (plus a few boxes) just prior to Christmas. Am now going through my yarn stash and logging it on Rav so I know what I have...am selling some too, on Ebay, to earn a little of cash!!

I've bought Dh's car ins on my account but not on the same night. Two free accounts stops them getting funny about it or take a premium membership trial & cancel it before you have to start paying the £5 fee.

Good grief coco that's such a relief for you all.

Family Friday sounds lovely abby - one to bear in mind for when the DC are bigger. And good news coco!

Not a NSD here, but weekly shop for under £40 (top ups will be needed but nothing too drastic). Shared a coffee with DH and no snacks, so that was cheaper than usual. He spent £££ on work clothes, but that was budgeted for, and we had yet another dinner from the freezer!

Feel impatient to get to the end of the month to see what we can knock off the debt...

Goodness, Cocolepew! I hope you and your DH are treating yourselves to some tonight!

Oh wow Coco and best wishes for his speedy recovery.

NSD here, tomorrow will either be very small spend or NSD, we'll see tomorrow I've decided to note down on my spreadsheet (oh it's a good one, it counts lots of nerdy stuff ) how many NSDs I have.

Lonely I think I know what you mean, I'm sadly excited to see what the impact of my freezer raiding and NSDs will have by the end of this month. Hope it's promising for a big dent (or wipeout) of your debt.

Thank you

Coco what great news, you must feel so relieved!
Glad you all like the Family Friday idea, I'll try and post what we do on here to give some ideas. Often it is very low-key, especially in the Winter, but the kids just enjoy spending time together with us.
The flapjack recipe is just butter and sugar (meant to be brown but can be any) melted in the microwave. Then you stir in golden syrup then oats. You then press it into a baking try and bake it for about 15-20 minutes. I'd have to look up quantities as I just looked it up on the iPad and took it in the kitchen! It was BBC good food ones I think. It was delicious!

Abby Thanks for flapjack tip, will hunt the BBC website. It's one of those things that I've always been told is very simple but have never done because I'd never had any that I liked until recently.

Ohhelp You've reminded me, that's a good tip for savings. I paid my line rental up front earlier in the year, I think the line rental was £14.95/month but £9.50 x 12 if you pay the whole year in advance.

I keep my easy access for this purpose also, some for saving but some also to allow me to take advantage of these kinds of offers. I then transfer money back into the saver, eg £10/month to 'pay' for the line rental.

Delighted to hear your news coco

Opened up my Halifax account today with my free £100. Nice!

£13.65 in Aldi. I've so much stuff in the freezer that I can get away with just fresh stuff for weeks I reckon. My mum goes home tomorrow so back to just me and DS.

I am impressed with myself as I have blanched and frozen a load of carrots that needed to be used up. Big veg ratatouille in the slow cooker right now ready for next week's 5:2 fasting day. Parkrun done this morning so all in all a healthy frugal day.

Needed new jeans - holes worn in embarassing places in others and got the exact pair I wanted halfprice on eBay. Me and DP have "date night" midweek when we watch a free film or box set on BTVision and order takeaway (lasts 2 days and works out 6 quid each per meal). It's a cheap way of making sure we spend time together just relaxing.

We often have a family day each week same day as date night where we do something together just the three of us - lately it's been driving around looking at Christmas lights which delighted DS.

Hi Rogue

Definitely an NSD today, we are staying in this afternoon with windows shut as forest fires around the capital are bringing smoke our way. Capitol isn't very far away but apparently the fires are much further off.

I should be collecting my now fixed phone but it's not going to run away over the weekend. DH is less stressed about finances now.

Shall catch up a bit later.

Well done on the shredding NK5BM3