Don't Panic, December is frugal this year.

[Fluffycloudland77]

NSD = no spend day
LSD = Low spend day

Well done goldfish I hope that will be me next Christmas & peonies too thats a great achievement.

pass it must be a week for Pyrex shattering I was mixing coleslaw the other day when one of my bowls shattered, it wasn't under any pressure at all!!

Managed to spend £64 in Morrisons, well over my £40 budget Am blaming tiredness and having dd with me which was distracting!!

Got week 5 of my voucher though and cupboards looking really healthy so on track with my plan to stock up now and not need much in jan!

Have been skim reading, sorry. It really has been hectic. Plus it's 8.45pm now and I'm trying to make my 6 year old do his homework. This full time work thing doesn't work does it...? Our Sunday language school teacher thinks 15/20min a day is fine, and yes, theoretically it works. But realistically it doesn't. I come back from work at 6 having picked dd up from nursery. Ds is picked up by dh around the same time. When something goes wrong on the weekend (like last weekend we were out at dinner with 2 sets of friends which was nice but meant I didn't have time to do batch cooking, shopping for Christmas and all the usual stuff).

This weekend the inlaws are arriving, cue, last weeks frantic supermarket sweep style shopping in town for an hour or 2. It also means we won't have time to do the homework for Sunday, hence why we are doing it now. And then of course there's Christmas fair at school tomorrow.

Argh, and this is just home life. Work life....

Car no 2's service (dh was meant to have done it oh, 3/4 months ago?)... Decided to do it now, 2 weeks before Christmas. Cost was £500. Amazing - with replacement battery, 2 tyres etc. so it was fine in terms of cost, but why he couldn't do this earlier on, I don't know. He says he was busy, but hey so am I. I'm vv cross at the moment, I know it's money spent whether in august or now, but... But, you frugal people understand me right??

Well you've all convinced me that I need a spin dryer and possibly a de-humidifier too. this might be a very boring Christmas!

I have a heated airer, am wondering what they'd be like combined ...

We have a dehumidifier that holds about 6 pints. I empty roughly daily and it costs just under £1 per tank. It can be turned up high and put in a small room to dry laundry but I've know idea how effective it is as I use the tumble drier. It also produces quite a lot of heat, not like a fire but upstairs is noticeably warmer when it's on, you can actually take your jumper off, so I feel the cost is offset slightly by having the heating on less. I've started giving the windows a quick wipe every morning to get the worst of the wet and then put the towel in the washing machine, but not on, so the water doesn't evaporate back into the house. We've also tried timed showers suck fun out of everything It means there's less moisture going into the air, also saves cost of heating more water and saves cost of dehumidifier having to remove extra water.

£1.60 on Quorn sausages.

NK I understand. Our car insurance is due this month. It used to be July. I know it needs paying for but I get really pistes off having to pay for it in December.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2250984-Free-book-available-on-how-to-get-things-for-free

Free book on how to get free stuff.

5/12
£13.20 lego game for DS
£10.95 lego helicopter for DS (this is actually what he asked Santa for so I'm really pleased as I wanted to get him some lego technic anyway!)
£2 Parking when dad took me to the bank - to pay in a cheque from him (for a tumble dryer!) and our copper jar which weighed in at £30.57 :)
£9.94 Hobbycraft - gold card for Xmas costume crown and a manga drawing guide for DD... Ok, that last one was a 'twitch'
£41.25 tesco - including buffet food contribution for work do, school cake sale, socks for DD's stocking, £15 giftcard for DSD
79p iTunes download (accounted for in pocket money)
£16.60 asda - school stuff, shirt for play (which he can reuse as I got a casual one) and... Dr Pepper :o
£32.75 Card game I've been lusting after for DCs and 2x DIY memory games - one for us all to make on Xmas day, one for DS' class - really chuffed with that idea as there's 60 cards so each child can do one pair to create a whole class game. Hope the teacher likes it :)

I also used a giftcard I was given in another shop on some Xmas things so feels even spendier! But I STILL forgot to use the £5 tesco giftcard that's been hanging around for ages I hardly ever go to the store and it can't be used online, grr.

So, mega spendy day! I am actually cutting back on previous years - by this point normally I'd be spending as much but have already bought loads over the last few months, so it's better in that sense because I've not bought as much already, but still, I think I'm spoiling the DCs! It's my one chance to stock up on toys, books and games for 6 months (summer birthdays) so I go a bit crazy. I love it though.

So today will be a NSD as I will be going absolutely nowhere due to the boiler people turning up now today, but we should have our lovely new boiler by the end of today.

We need to think about a dehumifier as since we had the full double glazing the whole house seems to get loads of condensation. Can anyone recommend one and roughly how much do they cost to run? I do open windows in morning to clear them and wipe of course but still finding humidity bad in some rooms.

Rather fancy one of the heated airers as it would help with getting clothes for school dry this weather...

sporting see my last post about dehumidifiers.

LAST CHANCE. Anyone want £5 off Argos code or voucher?

School fair today, will keep spends under £10.

Morrisons shop arrive today but budgeted for, otherwise NSD (hopefully, if I don't surf too much)

Balancing work/life balance is very hard. My own DC seem to get less homework now at high school then at primary, even DS who is in year 10. I do look back and wonder if it was all so necessary then.

Iam have been back to check, that's what I get for reading so early in morning! Still half asleep then. Definitely thinking I'll have to do something about it all.

Freezing and sat in my coat here as boiler me have both doors open and of course we have no heat as yet. But on the upside they are working quickly!

£7.75 on a few essentials in Tesco and £1 bus fare to the G.P. (Walked back.) Also need to give DS 80p for his bus fare to Scouts later.

Yay its Friday been such a busy week, am very tired!!

So got petrol today £22 and some biscuits for work £1.50. Had to pay rest of work do £19.

Got home to find out dd has been naughty at school told a lie and got the whole class into trouble. Not sure why, behaviour generally not too bad but think she sometimes struggles with being told what to do no idea where she gets that from what are thoughts on punishing? If they are naughty at school is it necessary to punish them at home as well?

NSD.

I've been running about like a blue-arsed fly for the last couple of days - managed a NSD yesterday, but today was spendy. £29.99 in Uniqlo for a lovely cosy parka. Then I went to Boots and stocked up on La Roche Posay for me in their 3 for 2 deal (thanks to whoever mentioned that upthread!), so another £50 , and £20 on some odds and ends at the supermarket.

£10.00 at girls christmas school fayre....

girlie a punishment at school is probably enough but I would express my disappointment. It's hard to know isn't it?

My youngest's birthday today, so will be spending approx £20 on takeaway. It also means I recoup all but our own contribution to his Xbox One which I bought last month for today! I love the idea that he can pool all his money together to get something really special. Lucky boy.

Working full time is a constant juggling act. It does get easier as your kids get older and can do more for themselves. I try to pre-cook two meals at the weekend to eat in the week. Then when I get home, i put tea on, put a wash on, put bread in the machine, and by the time tea is cooked I sit down for the night. All other housework gets left to the weekend now.

NK I feel your pain. Our tax disc needs renewing before 31st December and every year it pisses me off!

In Ireland tax disc can be renewed for 3 6 or 12 months if you can do this 3/6 will get you a different renewal date & then do annually from then on. My mother advised me against an August or September renewal before as she said in a few years I'd have school expenses then. She was right.

NK yes, I understand you.

Goldfish fantastic job you've done there.

Collie my mother once shrubbed a spot on my sister's arm. Couldn't get it clean, because it was a mole. It did fade though.

Had a Yikes moment in the shop today. Goods totalled £9.27 and I only had £7. Turned my bag around to unzip it and there, lurking, was a tenner. So I got my shopping. DH has spent £4 on tolls and £2 on a kilo of strawberries. We're away for the long weekend here.