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!

LSD - spent circa £5 in aldi on ibuprofen, paracetamol, some prunes and two bottles of sunflower oil for the pony.

Also, £14 on renewing my driving licence on-line, first time that I have had to do this! Feel somewhat conned strangely.

Menu planned for the rest of the week, cupboards are full so weekly shop will be minimal this week. DH managed to get wrong beef joint out of the freezer yesterday, so instead of roasting the small one, which was only really enough for 3/4 people, he did the GIGANTIC one I was saving for a big family occasion Was nice to walk into a home cooked roast though.

Carved and sliced loads and froze that, kept some aside for sandwiches, used some for tea tonight and it's not so bad. DD and I don't really like roast beef sadly, but we will have to lump it.

Tuesday - vegetable and chickpea curry.
Wednesday - devilled eggs (DD and I are out at a school meeting)
Thursday - smoked mackerel risotto
Friday - Jamie's chicken with beer up it's bum , wraps and salad
Saturday - risotto
Sunday - Sausage casserole

I'll cook flapjack and millionaire shortbread too for treats.

I have to renew my licence every three years so don't have to pay. Every cloud

fluffy I don't think the English necessarily want free prescriptions, more that everyone else should pay. Most people rarely need them so don't begrudge the money but think how much more the nhs would have if every country paid again. Obviously I don't mean everyone, current exemptions should still apply. It's like free school meals for KS1 children. I don't want them but my dc have to have them. May be a vote winner but also a massive waste of money imo.

girlie definitely get a meter fitted. You normally have 13 months to decide if you like it or you can go back to rates. We spent £35 as 2 adults, 1 young dd and a baby so the washing machine was on daily and they had daily baths. I was also washing nappies. We're on rates now as we've moved but have a third dc so I'm sure this is cheapest for us.

pixie a girl called jack has a recipe for a great cheap bean chilli that freezes well. I freeze lentil bolognaise, soup, curry and pies. I also make pizza dough in the breadmaker and freeze it. Defrost quickly and very carefully in the microwave, roll out, add toppings, oven for 10-15 minutes. That's just reminded me I also make tomato sauce and freeze in portions then add whatever is lying around and serve with pasta. Hth.

Meant to add, £2 spend today on playgroup.

NSD! I remembered my packed lunch. Tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday are mad socialising days, though.

Ooh, meant to add - today was actually in credit as I sold DD's balance bike on Ebay for £80! Feeling chuffed with that.

Oh it's definitely looking like we're heading for a bulge thread this month (fluffy :) ). Loved getting home from long, no spend day at work and catching up with everything.

pease well done on so many 'frugal things'!

jones despite my frugal mindset I'm determined to buy some lovely clothes this year - I started with the new jeans and have had lots of compliments so far - well worth the expenditure! I'm trying to get some good quality staples - any tips?

robin I am reading 'the silkworm'!

Using my 'look back to previous months to compare' strategy our bank balance is actually about the same as October. We have a chunk of nursery money to pay but few expenditures for the rest of the month and no half term at the end so my projection is that even with our high spends over the weekend we should be ok by February.

missa that stir fry sounds great! Do you cook the veg from frozen? I got a mandolin for Christmas so will be experimenting!

Iam, if I remember correctly, I think about 90% of people are eligible for free prescriptions anyway. Once you've taken out children, the elderly, people with certain health conditions, and people on ESA, DLA, or in receipt of the disability element of WTC what you are left with is a small number of people who have regular prescriptions but mostly people who just have the odd one off.

Here is another great veggie bake that can be frozen if you use mash but i do think better freshly made with sliced potatoes on top .. I have been making this for years even though we are not veggie Red dragon pie Tip: a little grated ginger and extra soy sauce and chilli in this is fab..

So today. back to work
And ho hum.. WHY o why when i took soup for lunch into work did i also spend £2.75!!!? on a tuna baguette? because I am a pig thats why

I also spent £5.79 on veggies in Morrisons (all good)
BUT on the way home I spent £41.84 inthe Co Op .( I only went in because id forgot the lime for the stir fry for dinner and then when i got there I saw that our favourite wine was on offer
.....so...
I got 6 bottles.. Sigh

(however DH reinbursed me but that is simply not the point of Being Frugal is it?)

I did however have one good 'win' today.. as had bought a some things in the Toast sale in a mad moment after Christmas , and when they came they were far too big (and i think mis-labelled,,think labelled sz 12 and actually more like sz 18/20) ..They said i'd have to pay for return postage.. and so i rang and complained , and they have now given me free postage back. . I also cancelled another order I had made with them as that would also be too big if their sizing is consistant..

Therefore, ill have £ 93.50 to go back into my account (and I have learnt my lesson so that will go back into savings) ..and £163 to come back on my credit card (which will cancel it out) .. so when all is done my small stupid foray into the ' january sales' territory , will in the end have cost me £0..

Oh, Lady of Frugality .. please let me remember this lesson in total stupidity and learn from it .. ...

So .. my daily accounts:
....with the £40 for wine back from DH, I now have £50.11 in purse.
Some more bills came out today so bank now shows £451. (but there is co op bill and another £25 not cleared so actually now have £384 in bank )
But also have (as yet uncleared) £93.50 in my paypal account which i will transfer to my savings and try to do without it ..

Not an NSD as paid £250 for hotel in Rome for half term mini break, for 4 nights x 2 people I think that's ok! It comes highly recommended by a friend of mine who lived in Rome for 15 years, it's where he stays when he goes there, apparently not touristy to extent where staff expect mainly other Italians staying and don't speak great English. Can't wait!!!!!
Bringing lunch to a friends tomorrow, butternut squash, butterbean and red onion tagine/roast thing plus salad and couscous.

Also have smear test tomorrow and dreading it it always hurts loads... has to be done though.

Thank you for the veg advice! Will give it a go and make up batches of onion, carrot and celery at the weekend. Used up last of ham and veg to make a vat of minestrone for tomorrow. Pleased to hear the news that petrol prices are continuing to drop.

Peonies re CS i just dont go any more , ok maybe its mad.. but im over 55 ,and have been with same fella for 30 +years, also dont do breast scans either after the first which was also v painful and degrading.. Maybe I am mad , but there it is.. i am simply not prepared to go through that again ..

I didn't realise it was that high Rafals but thinking back to when I worked in a pharmacy it's probably about right. I just think that in general that 10% can afford to pay and were okay with paying so why reduce an income stream? All political parties say the country is broke so give money to those who need it, not those that don't.

Possibly it isn't quite that high. It is very high though. Which is probably why no one ever does anything about it. Although according to my fraud awareness training last month, we're not, on the whole very good at checking patients are actually exempt before handing over their prescriptions so the number who are actually exempt might be much lower.

Great LSD today. Dh spent €8 on lunch and veg and I spent €6 on lunch.

Tomorrow is a bit more spendy as we're using our spend €50 and get a tenner back at Aldi.

We also new new pads for our steamer, a lot cheaper than buying a new steamer which was our original plan. They will cost €12.

Plan to use our voucher to stock up on meat for the freezer and lots of veg...good old Aldi

5/1
£5.30 bus for me/DCs (had to meet DH in town as changeover time between our shifts is narrow)
£7.98 goalie gloves for DCs (had planned to get for stocking filler at Xmas but worried I'd get size wrong!)
£4.44 Sainsbos for drinks/bits for dinner etc (this was DH, he's not got the frugal habit yet!)
£9.99 replacement toothbrush heads for DCs
£36 new fitbit (DH's out of his pocket money)

By the way does anyone know decent places to get console games? Looking for a particular wii game (new super mario bros :o) which is quite expensive, and the ones being sold on eBay are from people with very little feedback so I'm reluctant to buy used from there.

Is there a CEX (Computer Exchange) near you fuzzpig? DH and I buy all our games second-hand from there, and trade in our old ones too. They check them all so you know they work.

Have you tried play.com? Are you looking for the Wii or the wii U. Wii is about £30 Wii U is about £16.

cex also have a website have bought in the past and had no problems

game and Hmv both do preowned games aswell.

Ah thanks all, lots of places to try! It's the normal wii version, we don't have a wii u. I am happy to pay a higher price if necessary because it's budgeted for IYSWIM (in my 'pocket money') but if I can get it cheaper then obviously I'd like to :o really excited to play it - haven't got a new console game for over a year, we've only recently started playing wii again now 7yo DD is suddenly into Mario kart and beating me at it :)

Sympathies re: smear test. I only got through mine with diazepam!

fuzzpig we may have that game! will check in the morning.

Yesterday £3 on meal deal lunch, then £12.23 in Tesco yo buy bread, milk, some bananas, biscuits, bread rolls and cucumber.

DH decided he wanted a Chinese takeaway, it came to £53, was really cheesed off at this waste of money, but he gave me £40 towards it.

I forgot that I paid £103 for school dinners for DS and DD1 on Sunday night. It would have been more, but with the pantomime, DD1 has missed lunch 2 days a week during December, so we had a credit built up on her account.

Off to Southampton today for work, but get fuel reimbursed from work so just a nice say out really.

Yesterday I went to buy a dishwasher, was going to buy it on flexi rent over 12 months. Dishwasher is €449 so would cost an extra €113 this way which is costly but we were going to go with it. When I spoke to flexi rent, it would be 12 payments then they would decide if 1 or 2 extra payments would complete ownership meaning dishwasher could cost €208extra which is almost half extra on top of price. Have decided to put up with one we have & save for New one instead.

peonies great that you're feeling so much better, your bmi was scarily low! Mine is hovering at 28 currently but today's implanon removal should help speed up weight loss again.

Spent €1.42 in Tesco on €60+ worth of goods! Roaster dish reduced by €33 with tokens, had €7.88 price promise voucher and €10 from surveys. Got two packs of firelighters, bleach cleaning spray, bagels,Pitta and doughnut for dd.
Had lunch out to Mark end of hols & to get more productive use out of trip to town. €18 for three of us and they were dinners really so good value.