Don't Panic, December is frugal this year.

[Fluffycloudland77]

NSD = no spend day
LSD = Low spend day

Girlie I have done that sort of thing so often!

Rafa same here - I'm hoping we can get away without any more tesco orders til January 4th when we will need things for packed lunches and getting back into normal chaos routine. It'll only be 8 days from last shop but lots of the last 3 deliveries have mostly been food/drinks for entertaining! We haven't really done any proper meal planning at all. But we've got loads of random stuff left so I really want to use that up. If possible I then want to do a load of bulk cooking again before term starts.

I've a feeling it might end up a bit like the store cupboard challenge we did on TES once but there's plenty there to keep me going for a bit even if it gets a bit experimental towards the end.

I am also trying to use up what we have got without going proper shopping. When there is not enough for everyone to have the same I do it as a sort of 'buffet' and put the odds and ends into little bowls and then they all help themselves. I do some rice or potatoes for everyone. At least it all gets eaten then. In my pre-frugal existence, Christmas was when I would waste a lot of food

I don't know what coin sweeping is either.

We didn't really buy anything extra for Christmas (apart from the crackers, dessert and meat) so are all out of left overs now.

I think coin sweeping is moving any change over round £'s to a saving account on a daily/weekly basis, correct me if I'm wrong!

I also don't know what coin sweeping is.

So just moving pennies over?

Just arrived back home after Christmas visiting...so lovely to be back and can't wait to sleep in my own bed (even with the sub-standard pillows!) we have no milk for a cuppa but I'm not stepping out til tmrw!

Yep coin-sweeping is just moving the pennies elsewhere! Simple yet effective and so satisfying. I'm now addicted to seeing my bank balance at an even .00 pence and it contributes about £10 a month to my savings without even noticing.

Hmm I'm going to try that, I reckon I could get addicted to something like that

You could get really anal about coin sweeping.

I like it.

NSD today. Won't be tomorrow as taking DH to cinema for his 30th we party hard

I'm another one hoping to use up a lot of leftovers and odd ends of food, I seem to have loads left! Hoping to run it down over next few days and then do a decent shop on the weekend, I think we easily have 7 days of food in maybe just need to nip out for the odd specific thing.

Quick inventory reveals:

Huge box of frozen shredded veg which I wil use for Asian noodle soup
Sausage rolls x 6 (large)
6 portions lentil and cabbage bake
4 portions veg and barley broth
2 portions leek and chestnut risotto
4-6 portions chicken , leek and sweet potato curry
6-8 portions sausage hot pot
2 portions frozen mash
2 portions kale and squash curry
2-3 mystery frozen tupperwares ...
Plus loads of bags of veg, bread frozen mince etc

Adora are you staying with family when you come over? Are you looking forward to it? Didn't realise it was so soon.
Spent £10 on bus fares and snacks for dd and I on our shopping trip. I bought 2 hoodies with birthday/Xmas money and bought dh's birthday present £35 (February). Nothing else spent

Wow MissA that's loads!

I'm going to lidl today, going to do a big one then pop into john lewis for a quick look maybe then to sainsburys for last few bits and lunch with the dc. I know sainsburys is expensive but it's across the road. Actually I need to get a c&c from local tesco tomorrow pm so could get bits then.

10.50 on reduced christmas decs and 15 on chips and ice cream at the seaside yesterday.
Not sure about today. Could do national trust if weather is nice but DS also needs school shoes and I could do with a trip to ikea sometime

Just remembered two months off council tax soon too

Ah, thanks for the explanation about coin sweeping, that makes sense! I assumed it was referring to change in your purse - might try that too although I'd have to be careful about having enough for bus fare if needed. I have been saving 1/2/5p pieces for a couple of years but stepping it up would be good. I love the idea of doing it in the bank account! I could do it every day perhaps, I might start that on 1st jan.

collie that sounds like a load of bollox, especially the bit about your DH being "too old" - a colleague of mine just got a mortgage at 48! I'd try a different bank. Any bank who told me I didn't have enough debt would be getting the heave ho form me anyway, clearly they are morons.

Dh was 48 when we got a mortgage, I was 36.

Who told you that?.

I don't think that bank wants to lend to you, try a broker like London & Country.

We had to pay Dh's cc off before they'd lend to us because of the new affordability criteria.

£5 on Xmas cards in card factory for next year
£3.75 on Dh's card for next year in clintons
£5.30 on ice cream and cat litter.
£4 on Dn 21st bday card.

MissA - There's always a mystery tupperware pot or two isn't there?

collie - We moved 3 years ago. DH was 50 and we took out a 20 year mortgaga. I am 10 years younger so theoretically would still be working, but the comparison in our two wages is laughable. We have no debt and two children, both excellent credit scores. They are taking the piss. I would go an see an independent financial advisor. I wonder if it's the lack of equity? Poor you.

Hopefully, a NSD today. DH spent £40 at Tesco yesterday, popping for some beer, buying nibbles that we didn't need and a large bunch of flowers for me. Lovely, but this is why I do the shopping!!!

MissA that's loads!

collie what a load of nonsense. I would try a building society and see what they say - you might have just had bad luck with the person you spoke to. Good luck.

We'd a bit of a disastrous November/December. We started off fairly organized and got the Santa presents out of the way early in November. Then DH had to get some work done on his car for the NCT (equivalent of your MOT) and that was really expensive, so we had to wait until the December pay day to get the rest of our presents. We weren't due to get paid until Christmas Eve but thankfully we both got paid on the 23rd so we ended up rushing around like crazy trying to finish off our Christmas shopping. Not an experience I want to repeat! I couldn't even afford to buy any Christmas cards or stamps so I didn't post any Christmas cards this year. I bought some on the 23rd and gave them to the neighbours and any family we saw over the Christmas.

To make matters worse, DH did the big grocery shop on the night of the 23rd. He went with my SIL to Tescos and they did their shopping together. He somehow spent approximately €300 on the shopping!!! Apart from two Christmas presents, I've no idea what he spent the money on. We had dinner with family on Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day (26th December) so it's not like he had to buy a turkey, ham, veg, crackers etc. I don't think he even bought any alcohol as it was late when they hit Tescos and it wasn't possible to buy any alcohol at that time. He said he was really shocked when he got to the till and realized how much he'd spent.

Anyway, we didn't use our credit cards and we've (just) enough money left to see us through to the next pay day.

On a positive note, I'm reducing my hours to part-time next year. As well as having more time with my DD, I'm looking forward to having more time for organizing our finances, menu planning, shopping to a budget etc. So you'll see a lot more of me on this thread next year.

Lessons learnt for next year:-

We need to put money aside each month for the next NCT. The timing is particularly bad (December) so we can't leave it until the last minute like we did this year.

DON'T let DH do the shopping alone