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!

Oof haven't posted for a couple of days.

Had quite a spendy day yesterday as it was DH's birthday so we had to pay for travel and went for a meal. Went slightly over budget but can balance it out in other areas. Then going out for a meal tonight with friends so will be spending there too.

Hopefully should all be budgeted for though!

to all those suffering bereavments, I know how it feels.

£17 here today in Aldi for all essentials but got some marked down Christmas stuff for DS. £10 on haircut for DS but he shouldn't need to go for a while now.

Still thinking of uses for Christmas stuff and using bits and pieces up. Other than that a day of not doing much as weather is too bad to go anywhere.

to all those who have lost loved ones.

Right, this is the end of my week of squandering money. Spent £30 on a really nice lunch yesterday with two ex-colleagues - not as spendy as I feared it might be - and then £3 on a sandwich before the theatre in the evening.

Today £99 on shopping for the week, including, God help us, the DVD of Frozen which DD has been begging for. Also £5.50 on the Arden texts of Henry IV parts 1 and 2, on Ebay (about £15 cheaper than it would have been to buy them new). Now hoping for a run of NSDs!

£xxx on flights to Paris

Welcome book.

£5 cat food
£6 beer and food for tonight.

Signing on for Jan.

Had no Internet, limited now, can't believe you've filled 30 pages already

NSDs since we left home for me, DH has been spending though. Both our birthdays this month, me tomorrow and DH in a couple of weeks, so I will be spending later in the month.

Happy new year all.

Dh spent money on stuff for dinner rather then use the allotted soup. Grr..I don't have the energy to be annoyed about it though.

spotty i have moved jobs internally a few times and have been interviewed by people I know for my last 3 jobs. I figured it helps as at least you know they must basically like you and think you would fit the job, so you are already ahead of someone they only know through the paper application.

HearMyRoar I know them as it's at my hospital and they look after me

Money in purse: £0.00 (was £3.00)
Money in bank: £206.93 (was £263.58)
Money in coin jar: £27.05 (was £31.10)
Available money decreased by: £63.70
Total remaining: £233.98
Days to payday: 5

Big disaster today as car broke down. It is one thing after another. Recovery company towed it to a local garage and they say the timing belt has gone - we only had a new one fitted in May at a cost of £700 (a few more bits needed doing at the same time too but that was the main thing). Mechanic wasn't open today so we just left it outside his garage but it will be Thursday before he can look at it.

We need a car and can't be without one but I don't think this will be economically repairable. It's an 8 year old Vectra and we spend a lot on the running and upkeep. Nothing is cheap, even down to tyres, and on top of that £700 in May, the MOT was £238 in August, £600 was spent on it in October 2012 - that's £1500 in two years!

DH wants to "wait and see" but I want to have it scrapped and spend around £1k on a cheap runabout. Even that will have to go on the credit card but I don't have enough money for a new car lying around.

Next door neighbour has given us the use of hers which is very kind but I think we should just get on with trying to source a new one. Trouble is, DH thinks "better the devil you know" while I think "why throw good money after bad"

Did have some spends today but they aren't accountable yet as I've borrowed some cash off DS2, so I need to replace it when I get to the bank.

Bantam so sorry to hear about your car!! What a complete mare

Also wanted to say I love your to-the-penny updates, they inspire me to pay much more attention to the details of my own finances!

A spendy day today. We went shopping and also picked up a few misc. bits we needed:-

€100. 57 - big Aldi shop (actually spent 110.57 but had a €10 off voucher)
€8.74 - a few bits in Supervalu
€19.99 - new wok in TK Maxx
€15 - tap dance shoes for DD (got a second hand pair but they're in good condition and she'll grow out of them in no time anyway)
€12.99 - running shorts in Aldi for DH

Total spend - €167.29 which equates to £122.87

The Aldi shop should do us for two weeks so l think we did quite well.

DD thinks she's the bees knees in her tap shoes and is driving me mad tapping all over the kitchen!

Feeling too crappy to catch up on thread now, so I'm just posting my last two days:

9/1
£34.98 takeaway from Pizza Hut!!! Seriously enjoyed it though!
74p DH soup at lunch

10/1
£4 bus
£5 Snacks and milk

Bantam girl

Sorry about your car.

Check with the garage who did timing belt last time. Normally they guarantee parts and labour for a year. We had the same thing happen to our Renault. Constantly spending money on it so we ditched it before we spent even more money on it. Got a ford in the end.

book, no idea what's up with my tumble....it was delivered brand new yesterday and it doesn't dry washing, got a duvet caught in the seal and made a racket! Has good reviews too, maybe I got a dodgy one!

bantam that's nice of your neighbour

Day 3 of gardening leave and I'm getting bored. ...House is getting cleaner

Oh no! Very depressed. Went a bit crazy over last two days as was proud of likelihood of spending only another £10 on food for rest of month.. so to reward myself spent £1 on crisps for Friday night and £3 on an oatcake and cheese treat tonight Also I blew £5 on lottery and went luxury and bought oatmeal instead of porridge oats for next 15 breakfasts!! Doubling the cost to 14p a day!! You see how it happens!

That means I either DONT buy a chicken next weekend and leave out bread and increase the lentils.. or my Jan food bill will just have to be £30 instead of £20..

I agree with Olivia Bantam, get back to the garage if the problems come back.
My good intentions were scuppered by M&S dine in offer, but got steaks, wine, desserts x 2 for dh birthday dinner all for £15 as used £5.00 voucher lots cheaper than a meal out. £52 total spend (85 before discounts) and meal plans done until the end of the month, apple crumble and banana cake made too. Tayto, in future check out Ebay for tap shoes, often go for lots less than £15.00, bear it in mind for when your daughter outgrows hers too. NSD tomorrow!

Pass the food recycling bags are the 50l cornstarch bio degradable bags that line the food recycling bins. You don't have to use them, but the food bin gets grim without them. As we keep the big food bin in the house, we like to keep it clean, and it isn't easy to wash out due to the size,

We prefer the bags DH gets from work as they are thicker, and don't go soggy in the bottom of the bin.

Today turned out spendy. I found out last night that I could get 4 complimentary tickets for the panto DD is in. Dad really wanted to see the show, DH is working, so today DD1 and 2, DS and I went to see the panto. We also took DD's Godmother. Unfortunately I couldn't get a cast ticket and had to pay full price for that one £30.50, but at least the other 4 were free. £12 for parking. Aunty paid for the drink before the show and ice creams for kids in the interval. DD1 wanted some light up gloves. They were £10, but I will get £10 back for her meals this week, which I was going to let her keep, DS wanted a light up stick, which was £5.

I still haven't gone food shopping, nor the online shop, so chances are I'll have to go to Tesco tomorrow. I'll do the self checkout as I go, so I can track the costs. I need to buy some wine, as I am running out.

That should be DD wanted to see the show, not dad!

£17ish on 4 big packs on nappies, 2 packs of stock cubes, a toothbrush and toothpaste from Boots. £1.98 on 2 hand warmers from the works. There not great, unsurprisingly at that price, but I'm hoping they'll stop dc moaning when we're out.

bantamgirl I'm with you. We used to have a car that constantly drained our money. It got stolen, which actually made me laugh because it used to overheat so I'm sure joy riding that didn't provide much joy. Anyway, MUCH happier with new car.

spotty I see your problem but have no advice. Sorry.

Report on kebab...

It was v yummy!!! Seriously that's my first doner kebab in 5 years. Book - I didn't cook it in anything. Just put in SC! It drains out the fat so really it was quite yums. The yoghurt - I used a tsp of garlic powder, 1 dollop of Mayo and I dollop of yoghurt. Viola.

Aldi was £41. Then morrisons was £9. Sainsburys £12 (primarily because I forgot things...)!

Made sausage rolls too. Yums.

vinegar tell me more about your food budget? ? £20? For how long, how many? Am very interested on how you do it!

audit sounds like your food bin is alot bigger than our little caddy!

Smartprice cashews and Xmas baileys tonight

My food budget is tres harsh.. it is well 1950s!

I am going to try to work out if its actually healthy soon!

For Jan I had the help of a chicken carcass and broccoli stalk soup frozen and some frozen veg.... but only a few pounds worth.

I have got into the habit of making porridge with water small pinch salt and sugar each day. Not much less creamy than with mill actually. I also used up some old drinking chocolate and sometimes put cinnamon in. That, coffee and multivitamin pill and today programme is usual breakfast. That's about 7p plus 10p for coffee a day for me.

Lunches are things on toast - baked beans and sardines, or cheap noodles and/or cheap cup-a-soup.

The rest is things like pasta and tomato-based sauce.. just need garlic and basic tomatoes.. to which I add bits of veg broccoli or perhaps sardines..or I might add more onions

Onions I buy in large quantities btw! they last whole seasons for wholesalers so I would never spend £1 on three as is common!

I also make daal, veggie stews, meat stews and chicken.. using the carcass for stock or soup. If I cook too much pasta or rice its in pots in the fridge and bunged in something. That's it really. Its all about getting brekkie and lunch in the bag and cooking for evening. Pearl barley is great! Its cheapest in coop at the moment.

Always have rice and lentils in. Dont drink!

By the way. Don't tell too many people.. Its people like me who pay back their debts fuck up the economy!

Going for breakfast today. Have a voucher (two breakfasts for £6) at the v nice garden centre. Found £20 in a christmas card we'd forgotten about so going to use that.

pass we only have joint account this week before some dd came out of my account some out of dhs and then some things for cash moving back and forth and dh was earning less than me so I took the hit for extra expenses without telling him because I knew he didn't have it and he likes to pay his way.
Now we're on more or less equal money in our jobs except for my extra money from self employed income so everything is going to be split evenly. It feels to me like I will have more money for myself & with less direct debits coming out of my account I'll have less stress ensuring there's money there to meet everything, once the transfer is done to joint account that's household bills covered.

Yesterday worked out more expensive than planned but will do us 10 days or so I'd imagine. Diesel €50, paper €2 dealz €10 lidl €20 aldi €60 would've been €70 but had €10 voucher boots didn't have cup I wanted so will have to order it expense deferred for a week, butchers €39 lunch for me & dd €8 in subway so all in about €50 more than planned but will make next weeks groceries cheaper & stocked up on fairy liquid freezer bags etc in dealz as well as buying cake mix for dds teddys birthday, we got to leave ds at home with daddy so she loved the afternoon together and it was worth indulging her by buying the cake as she never looks for anything.