Frugal January, everyone welcome.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Useful links.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

orchard.tesco.com/ Sign up to this.

www.topcashback.co.uk/home And this.

www.quidco.com/home/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ditto.

www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Spent another £13 in Morrisons, only went in for milk... Oops! Did stock up on a lot of washing stuff though as it was on a good offer, so won't need to buy that for a while. And got some yellow stickered cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast

Hi

I'm just waiting for the bread machine to make some dough to make naan breads to go with my curry. So here's my afternoon...

Spent £2.10 on the children's bus fares and £1.80 on mine.

£3 in the pasty shop for dinner and £1 in Poundland for drinks. I picked up a free latte from Waitrose. Does anyone else have a Waitrose card? I signed up for free online and you get a free tea or coffee every day. Latte is lovely. Anyway that's my tip frugal tip of the day.

Had to spend £8.05 for a prescription. £4.10 on glue from Games Workshop. It says super glue on the front so I hope it's not just the super glue you get in Poundland for a quid!! £2.20 on shoe polish and brushes. This will save DH buying a new pair of shoes for work as he's going to polish his boots and wear them instead. So quite a spendy day in comparison to the last two.

We went over to my mam and dads where they gave us tea and chocolates. Then dad said he wanted some stuff used up out of the freezer and gave us four carrier bags of stuff. A lot of it is VERY out of date but I'm sure it'll be ok. (Parents stock their cupboards like preppers and it's a family joke to go hunting for out of date stuff!) But thanks to my name and dad I now have loads of freezer and cupboard stuff.

Oh and we walked home. The step counter on my mobile said we've done over 10000 steps today so that's some of the chocs burnt off.

Bloody hell is that how much prescriptions are these days?! Glad I have a chronic illness and get mind for free

Yes. My biggest expenditure of the day. Shocking. And free if I was in another part of the UK.

Oh yes that does annoy me, why is it free in wales and Scotland but not England?! Makes me cross

Woah slow down guys I'm finding it hard to keep up!! And deffo won't remember names to comment on yer progress so far.
Yesterday was spendy €7.50 in fruit & veg shop and €68 in aldi but that should see us through until next weekend & bought a frozen turkey for a family dinner later in year on offer in aldi. Got Christmas tree led lights half price also.

Paid €30 for babysitting. Got a good few posters up in shops plus a local paper rang & they're going to do an article on my men's only slimming class!! Hopefully this will boost my numbers.

today €6 for dds friend to go swimming with her today

Dh had a meltdown earlier today because his card was refused at a shop, reckoned we were going to go bankrupt things were so bad he was so broke etc when I got a chance I logged into his internet banking turns out he hasn't been paid since Dec 17th, usually paid weekly so he's down a fortnights wages, panic over!!

Have outlaws coming for brekkie after early morning mass tomo doing pancakes - frugal all ingredients are in already. Then Tuesday night going to another outlaws house for women's Christmas everyone bringing a dish I think I'll bring meringues as again have everything in.

I haven't been paid since christmas eve & had a lot of household expenses so despite suggesting coin sweeping I haven't yet started, will do thurs once I'm back to work & earning again!

bantam how much Pepsi max do u drink? Not judging, just curious. ...we all have our vices! Mine are fully loaded coke cola and 70% green and blacks. Over xmas I had a can of coke a day and am now trying to cut down before I go back to work as otherwise I get a huge craving that only coke will solve and I don't like how it has a hold of me? Anyway, I'm down to half a can atm. As for the chocolate.....

Took kids to cinema today but kids club completely full so paid full tickets for Madagascar instead. £18 ish. Then as we had to wait shared a bacon roll from Subway with ds as we were starving. .. £1.50. Took popcorn drinks and sweets in.

Passed a sports direct and bargain swim shoes were to be had -99p from £6. Also got new wellies for dd and slippers for me -£22.

Final blow out day of school hols planned tomorrow - kids club film that we missed today, soft play and frankie and bennys....will take snacks for cinema and find a voucher for f&b....and then back to the grindstone. ....

pease I love my Waitrose card, I always feel a little cheeky just going in for my coffee and not buying anything, but it saves a fortune on what I used to spend!

I can't keep up! Failed on the NSD here - took DD to the theatre (tickets were a Christmas present from her uncle and aunt) and bought a programme, a bottle of water and ice cream for her. About £10 all in.

Tomorrow should def be NSD though - we'll just be at home, getting ready for school restarting next week.

Day out for my mums bday today, I treated my mum, me and dd to a cream tea in a posh hotel £27 and then we went and saw a panto (tickets already paid for) also £5 parking and £3 wasted on a slush puppy for dd who decided she had had enough after two slurps won't be getting one of those again

My best friend had a baby girl today much wanted baby and took a little while to conceive so have had a lovely happy feeling all afternoon.

£53 at Aldi, £21 at staples, £20 at morrisons. All things on shopping list. But still...

Spent afternoon onwards at friends house. Nice catch up. Brought hm sausage rolls, and cake. Happy days.

Hi all, just discovered this. Does anyone know how to watch threads?

Now you've posted on it it should come up on 'threads I'm on'.

Otherwise depends what you are on. Are you using the desktop site, mobile site or the app?

3/12
£2 Pocket money for DD
£7.05 medical thingy for DSS
£9.99 nightlight as DCs complain of hating the dark. It's a glittery lava lamp so they are very happy
£7.98 2x bike lights to go on DCs' scooters
£1.50 milk and chocolate for DH

All but the pocket money was DH spending - I have been in my jammies the house all day - but he's getting in the swing of remembering spends already so I'm really pleased! :o

Not sure if tomorrow will be spendy - if we decide to head into town there are lots of bits and pieces that we need.

Quick heads up for the Irish MNrs...Aldi voucher for €10 when you spend €50 this week available in the Sunday Indo tomorrow :)

Didn't leave the house so achieved my nsd. I filled out a couple of online surveys as I've committed to bringing in £15 per month through those and selling stuff. I think it's manageable but I'll need to do them regularly.

Babsmam I usually use Sainsbury's basics chocolate for cooking. It's 35p for 100 but I always get compliments and people have second portions so it's fine. Alternatively have a look at the Love food, Hate waste website for some ideas for the cream.

We went out for breakfast yesterday and spent about £20 (doing equivalents as we're abroad) and then about £10 in the shops-it's quite expensive here as that got me milk, half loaf of cheap brown bread, small bag of lentles and small bottle of cheap mayonnaise. (I used to be an aldi shopper in the UK so am taking this very hard!)

Everyone's doing so well and it's very encouraging! Today will be NSD and I'm hoping Mon-Fri is where I redeem myself too. When DH goes back to work, apart from the massive clear up, I will sort out the freezers and cupboards and meal plan for the first time in my life!

We plan to have one NSD and one LSD per week. Today is an LSD. Sunday papers will be the only expense.

DS14 had his mates over for a sleepover after the local teen disco. Needless to say they ate us out of house and home...no shopping required till Tomorrow though. Tuesday can then be a NSD.

Thanks iam went to the co op in the end as it's nearer and only needed 1 bar £1.89 though. Cake in fridge.
Not sure about today. Need fuel for the car £50'is but that is budgeted. Going to a free museum and taking a pic nic but it is in the city so must resist shops.

Going to stay in today and make a big lasagne. Will have mince beef, onion, courgette, carrot, red lentils and can hopefully make enough to fill my massive dish!

:( such a crap night's sleep, I woke at 3am and just couldn't drift back off so have been downstairs reading for a couple of hours. We went out last night and I'm sure the guilt at blowing so much on one night was playing on my mind as I woke up dreaming we'd been out with HRH Kate&Wills somewhere really expensive! Anyway, I found myself checking online banking at 4.30am reassuring myself that last night was budgeted for...I wish I could relax more about this kind of stuff!

To make myself feel a little better...We have very little planned in January, certainly no long car journeys and we have a full tank of petrol which should only need to be refilled once. I do have a group of friends visiting next weekend but we already have wine left over from christmas and I am planning on making a big vat of dahl, rice and naans from mostly store cupboard ingredients. We save on council tax in February and March and from April dd gets 15hours free nursery. It will be ok!

Thanks Encyclo

Very funny dream Sixforgold

Will be NSD here today as very cold and lots to do in house just tidying. Lots of prepping for back to work and back to school stuff. We're still finishing up Christmas food and probably will have drink and sweeties hanging round into next month, but that at least means nothing in that respect to buy.

Trying to work out a budget will happen on a month to month basis now as don't know what I'll be earning each month now. Would be interested in hearing from any other freelancers/self employed as to how they budget and manage their money.

My key resolutions are to stop all unnecessary spends and to manage our money better and reduce any remaining debt and overpay where possible. I intend to be clear of all debt by next Christmas and saving as much as possible.

Ahh. Mobile signal (and mobile internet) is pants since we moved into a village, so I've not been able to get online to this board until today.
Fluffycloudland77 How To Survive the Credit Crunch was worth reading (lots of tips) and the book on How To Store Your Garden Produce was helpful to understand how to keep the veg and fruit that I bulk buy for as long as possible e.g. all the root veg (celeriac, parsnip, carrot, etc) can be peeled, chopped and blanched and then frozen while they're cheap.

I'm waiting - nervously - for my tax bill to come through this month and then going to sit down with DP and work out our budget for the rest of the year.

Started the new year with a major de-clutter - have rationalised this as my way of giving to charity (donating to shops) while we can't afford to give money. But interestingly, clearing stuff out is putting me off buying new stuff.

DS's birthday at the end of the month. We bought a couple of bits before Christmas and are going to keep it low-key so we can buy him things later in the year.

Avoiding plastic is still going well - we can't recycle plastic here except for bottles which is why I'm giving it a go. Could get tricky to stick to it when I'm back to work next week and have less time to make things in the kitchen.

Good luck everyone and Happy New Year.