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!

£6.50 cat litter.

Book do you do a spreadsheet of all your outgoings each month? Actual ones from your bank statement? I find it really helps. Any money left from my budget goes into my savings account.

Money in purse: £7.00 (was £0.00)
Money in bank: £176.93 (was £206.93)
Money in coin jar: £25.05 (was £27.05)
Available money decreased by: £25.00
Total remaining: £208.98
Days to payday: 3 (well, it is 4 really but we won't spend any more this evening)

OMG I have just bought a car – I'm shaking like a leaf. It's a 10 year old Renault Megane Scenic with 104,000 miles on it and cost £1000 and I can pick it up either tomorrow or Tuesday. Insurance will be £40 a month, petrol should be what I am spending on bus fares at the moment and I've paid for breakdown cover from DH's bonus and will pay that back monthly as I thought I had chosen the direct debit option but I had accidentally done single payment. Will need to get road tax tomorrow so I might pay that out of the bonus too and pay myself back.

DH is deluding himself by believing that his car is going to get fixed affordably and he's not open to believing that the car will get written off once the mechanic looks at it on Thursday. I do hope it is though as I don't want to go chucking good money after bad. If DH's car by some miracle IS able to be affordably repaired then I can always sell this one if it ends up costing too much.

We should get a small bit of tax relief in April when the tax free allowance goes up, and I get an increment too which is about £20 a month. I'm also hoping in June DS1 will finish his A Levels and get a job to help out and he can pay his own way (phone and athletic subs = £30 a month) . I'm also decided that next year I won't be renewing my footy season ticket (which is £49 a month) and the last payment is March anyway. I also finish paying this year's footy subs on 1st March which is £30 a month. So, straightaway that is over £100 I won't be paying out - more if he goes to a local uni and lives at home so I can get some board money from him.

Physical spends since yesterday:
£4.00 – bought the kids a takeaway
£19.00 – DH spends.

£7.00 - into my purse, not spent yet

Money still to come out: £10 petrol that we have put in neighbour's car, Tesco online shop and car insurance deposit – quidco money still to credit. Thanks to the few extra bits of money this month we will finish the month in credit.

Spent £16.14 in aldi but have just cancelled my amazon prime so should get a £79 refund from that. I had completly forgotten about it and it was only when I was comparing my YNAB balance with my actual bank balance that I realised something was up. Glad I caught it in time before I accidentally used it and couldn't get a refund any more.

Took kids swimming. ...turned up, purse out. ...and got told it was free today as an open day

Then for a walk and to the park. .
.still free. Popped to sainsburys for few bits, £9.

Loving the "I will go to the ball" upthread! My kids are happy enough in the park it's me that gets bored

Congrats on the new car, bantam.
Not sure if I've done well this weekend or not, have spent a lot but all on things we needed and in a sensible way.
We had to get a new car seat for DD so that was pricey but we made sandwiches to eat while we were out instead of buying lunch. It's weird how we always do that for work and days out but never for something like a shopping trip.
Today I did the weekly shop in Aldi (£46, which is about what I normally spend in Asda and I didn't manage to get everything I needed ).
Just went to Sainsburys for the other bits plus a prescription. Remembered I had a voucher for Tu to get a petrol voucher if I spent £20 on clothes. We needed some sleepsuits and sleeping bags in the next size for DD so I got those and got a voucher for 8p off a litre of petrol. Then I filled up the car for £36 which is about a tenner less than usual so pleased about that!

3.00 on a newspaper and sweets. In theory should only need to top up bread, cat food and perhaps milk in the coming week. Bantam I had no idea football season tickets were so expensive! The idea of meal planning was new to me but can't imagine not doing it now. I do it fortnightly, jot what we're going to have in a diary and try to rotate meals so it's not boring and use up what's in before buying more. Dds are interested in cooking so I get them to muck in with new ideas.

Dinner tonight:

Left over roast chicken
Lettuce tomatoes
Spring onion
Cucumber
And avocado

Same for dh plus couscous

Just couscous for ds who's obsessed with it

Ham sandwich for dd

I really want couscous too but trying to lower my carbs

I braved Tesco with DD2, she was really good and didn't ask did many things (apples, bananas, cookies and doughnuts -half of them healthy, so I guess that is fair going) £150.18, so expensive, but my first shop in almost 3 weeks. I bought some meat (but only from the reduced fridge), I spent £30 on wine clearly a necessity, had to buy shampoo and conditioner, bought an extra one as half price. Also bought hair dye another necessity and that was on deal for buying 2, so will have one ready for next time.

Sent DD 1 off to panto with a packed lunch, but got a message askin if they could have McDonalds, not ideal, as we had it for tea last night, but I know there is a lot of peer pressure so didn't want to say no. She didn't have any money, but I know she has some left in her purse (which is here) and I am also owed some money back for the very expensive £5 Tesco value kettle I sent into the theatre. I wouldn't have asked others to contribute towards it, but one of the chaperones asked everyone to chip in (with something like 40p each ) I bought the kettle as DD1 doesn't really like sandwiches, so the kettle meant she could have pasta or noodles in a mug, especially good on a day when they had lunch in the car on the way to the theatre, and tea there between shows.

Last show today, thank goodness, she is shattered, and needs to lose the Diva attitude!

£49.50 on dds swimming lessons up till spring half term.

Otherwise nsd.

Got a stinking headache and felt bit rubbish all day

God, I had a lot to catch up on! So sorry for all the losses and Pass about your job.

Feel a bit to report that I had a spendy day yesterday as I bought a car. This has taken a big chunk out of my redundancy payout from the Summer. I had my previous car for 11 years, and this one is just £30 tax and less insurance than I am currently paying. It also comes with 2 yrs guarantee and roadside assistance. So apart from the initial expense, the ongoing costs are less than my current one.

However, today was a NSD, thank goodness!

LSD today - £2.90 on a newspaper.

Roasted a chicken for dinner tonight and turned some of it into packed lunch for me for the next couple of days - bulghur wheat, coriander, mint and avocado salad with chicken scraps. We've still got nearly half the chicken which will feed DS and DH for the next two or three days turned into pasta or rice dishes.

Hoping for NSD tomorrow as the packed lunch is sorted. Also hoping to get back on my bike if it's not pouring with rain, as the forecast doesn't look too cold.

nsd today dd's got some Pocket money from my dad so I ordered them a Lego set they had their eye on in the shop. and my dad gave me £10 too so that will go in my 'emergency money' pot.

NSD here too.

We had roast duck with veg for dinner and it was delicious. Tomorrow will be stir fry duck with noodles and I'll make stock from the bones. The leftover veg (I always cook a bit extra) has gone in a pan with some chicken stock and I've whizzed it up into soup for my lunch for the next few days.

Roast duck sounds lovely.

We are having sausage casserole, roasties, broccoli and carrotts. Sausages from the farm where we keep the pony, they rear the pigs there, and the ones last year got very fat indeed. £4 for a mahoosive bag of sausages, very yummy sausages too.

Made Jamie's spicy parsnip soup yesterday, and that's fed us all lunches the whole weekend.

Two new cars on the thread in a weekend.

I also menu plan, but mix the days around as required and am flexible if my fruit and vegetable delivery contains things I hadn't anticipated.

Trying to remember what we have spent this weekend, it isn't that much.

£20 candles (not frugal at all but a friend is trying to get a business going)
£14 farm shop (2 huge chickens for £9 and 2lbs bacon, 36 eggs)
£25 shellac, eyebrows and eyelashes. (we haven't been out)

DH hasn't spent anything. But did take most of the bacon to training with DD and made pretty much everyone a bacon butty!!

Oh, I honestly think that all the money and experiences in the world can't compare with loving and supportive parents. Money just makes it less stressful

NK5BM3 I do that too. It's a bit like Ready Steady Cook in our house plus a bit of online research for "what on earth can make with a load of red peppers about to go funny?". It works when I've got time to cook - and since moving to a place with a decent size kitchen I enjoy cooking - but is tricky when we're in a hurry. Tonight - Linda Mc pies from the freezer plus roast veg (oh god, they taste soo much better that way) and chocolate fudge cake from the freezer made earlier in the week.

Spent £5 on lunch and a coffee but was working all day today so feel it was justified. DP bought a bottle of wine with his "pocket money" so a pretty good day for us.

Agreed with the comments above about little folk being less bothered about spendy days out than we are. Asked DS today if he wanted to go to Chessington (we asked for money at Xmas for a pre-schooler pass and this was the 1st day we could go and buy it) and he said he'd rather go to the park and turned his nose up at McDonald's (they don't seem to give away balloons anymore and that was the draw for him). Asked him today what was his favourite bit of the day and he said it was wearing his (loaned) spiderman PJs. I love toddlers.

We used Xmas leftovers from the freezer to make pies for tea and there is enough for lunch tomorrow. We seem to have a lot of food in so going to try and use up as much as possible before doing another supermarket trip.
I menu plan too but think I have overshopped this week.

About £50 across the weekend with friends staying, night out last night including dinner (and fried chicken on the way home) . It's been a total pj day today but I did spend this morning as I went out to buy the makings of a yummy roast dinner for all of us.

Evening All.

No Spotty I don't do a spread sheet, but that's a really good idea, thanks.

Had a lovely dinner out tonight. Steak is something I never buy at home, so it was lovely to have as a treat. Spent £50, not bad at all. I am sure that Dry January is saving me some money.

Interviewing for a new member of staff tomorrow, groan! I hate interviewing so much, but need to get sickness and holiday cover.

Food shopping day tomorrow too. Have made a meal plan based on everything I have in the kitchen already, so should be a cheap week (hopefully).

Spendy day today, but more frugal than it could have been.
£11.20 on travel for DS and I.
£10.05 on lunch.
£31.95 on trainers for him. This is the third pair I've bought him since he started secondary school .
£179 on an 8 inch tablet and £49.95 on a printer from John Lewis. But I really wanted the 10 inch tablet for £229 and the £69 printer. I could have afforded it, but I couldn't justify the extra to myself. So I've managed to buy the tablet and printer for the same price as the more expensive tablet. I'll have to go back to collect them later in the week, as they had to order them in. While there, I used my voucher for a free hot chocolate and cake.
£3 pocket money to DS.
Total: £285.15.

11/1
£49.24 tesco
Utterly failed to meal plan or anything. Have more than anticipated still in the freezer so hopefully can muddle through the next week. Sigh.

Pass higher up you asked about our food recycling bin. We have a little work top caddy one, but we don't like that. The big one is actually a 25L or 30L one, but we find bigger bags stay in, whereas the smaller ones get dragged down into the bin, or split.

We had a big larder cupboard built a few years ago, it has a shelf for two recycling crates (one for paper/card and the other for bottles/cans/plastic)
Then the rubbish bin and the food recycling bin on the floor. Then higher shelves for fruit/veg, packets, tins etc.

NSD yesterday as did not stir from house. Today won't be LSD but won't be too spendy. Meeting friend in town, but will go to John Lewis cafe and use my voucher. Getting some leggings from American Apparel but DH days he will sport me those so all good there.

Will bank DS piggy bank into his account so it can start earning interest. Need to photograph and tranfer portfolio to Ipad ready for Wed/Thurs. Got hair appointment tomorrow so will probably be around £20 as not done too long ago.

Still finishing stuff from Christmas but truly on last bits now. Feel as if I can't wait to get back to normal eating wise!

Does anyone do composting? I've always felt we could do this with veg peelings and it would be great for the garden but am limited on space for a bin. Are there any mini ones about?

Book I don't do direct debits just card payments (food petrol) and cash withdrawals (which we don't usually have).

Lsd today. Taking ds for settling in at nursery [sob] then going to my friends for lunch, said I would pick up something healthy en route.