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!

nugget Mary Berrys mincemeat loaf recipe is great- but needs extra dried fruit.

fluffy is such a good frugal expert, always has a suggestion, 'tis great

hearmyroar - I didn't ask how you guys are, given you have had a difficult Christmas. Don't reply, if that is an upsetting question. Just so long as you are ok.

Thread has switched pages, so I might forget about stuff.

Today will be a bit spendy, but it's all recorded and budgeted against my 'pots'.

Printer ink - £28 (rip off, but this is work expenses as I wfh part week)
Farm shop - bacon and eggs only (much better quality and value than supermarket and worth a trip even if I don't need other meat)
Next - returning some cushions bought in sale but I don't like.
Cash withdrawal - £50
Petrol - £60 (approx)
M&S - some fresh juices to replace wine/beer. (Ok, not the cheapest place, but not as expensive as wine)
Pound shop - floor wipes only.

DH is insisting on having a take out tonight, to round off our Christmas break. My frugal side is railing against this as I have loads of food in. The other side of me agrees it's a nice thing to do before reality bites on Monday. I might compromise and offer to cook the rice at home. We only have 3 mains and prawn toast anyway.

fuzz - at the pressie but it makes sense totally.

collie - good luck for the job prospects.

lila - hope you feel better soon.

My DM's spin dryer was like a dalek about to self implode in the kitchen, you have just reminded me about that by talking about it

hoping for NSD today cant think of anything we need,(except maybe more tissues bleugh have foul cold). and thanks for coin sweep tips will definately be doing that ..

I am about to make inventory of fridge left overs and also the freezer contents . I know there is(and prob been there since this time last year) bag of diced venison in freezer , so think ill make a casserole with it with celery, onions and carrots inthe slow cooker for the weekend. (theres a bottle of red half consumed left over from new years eve also so that wil be nice in it. also have half a red cabbage left i think and will make mash also ..

One thing i must stop doing is buying bags of salad leaves.. we have three left! i'm going to pretend they are all spinach/rocket watercress (2 are) and put then in a pot of h/m lentil onion chilli soup,.. ( have done this before and its surprisingly good not to say cheap!)

So thats todays and tomorrows dinner sorted I think.

I joined the MSE cheap energy club and did the big Eon switch a couple of months back, but although i know its gone over havent heard from my old supplier with final bill (and there was £270 inthat account so i should be due some back) now ive been reminded i investigate this today ..

heres to happy frugal weekend..

For the first time in my life I'm putting my Christmas money into our savings account as I can't think of anything right now that I want to spend it on...and I've managed to talk DH into doing the same he's worried it means we won't spend it on anything "fun" but I've shown him that it's categorised on YNAB so hopefully it won't get eaten up in home or car repairs or whatever.

Realised we had a small council tax bill to pay from our old house which I hadn't factored into the budget too, so I'll perhaps just have to do a bit of fiddling around in other areas to absorb the cost. It was £29 so I'm sure we can take the hit in food shopping or something.

Oh and feed shop for pig oil and feed for the pony, circa £20.

laska - our local market delivery includes an iceberg lettuce, so I stopped buying the bags of salad, we never used them fully anyway and I used to throw about a third away. Iceberg bulks up the DC's sandwiches and is fine as a side salad with 'nice' extras such as olives, feta, pepper added if we need it.

Fluffy I don't object to just being called fuzz :o although I should point out it's not actually calling me a pig - fuzzpig is a regional term for a hedgehog :) not actually sure what region, but I heard it on a programme about language once and thought it was cute.

Double frugal fail - when doing the shopping last night I should've also ordered bread and fruit as we are basically out of both. Not a disaster for the 3 packed lunches needed, as we have other bits and pieces, but there's not much available for breakfasts. Damn.

NSD yesterday, and I hope today too. Was meant to be seeing friends but foul plague has put a stop to it. So long as I stay off the internet shopping, no reason to spend anything.

From the odds and sods leftover in the fridge, DH made a lovely pan-fried sort of hash yesterday for lunch, and we were so full we didn't want any dinner! I also threw together prawns, chopped cherry toms, ginger and chilli in a pan, cooked through and then froze for a future quick tea. Today we'll use up the sprouts and cream making a gratin which should do for two dinners. DH keeps on that the fridge looks bare - it does, but the freezer and cupboards are groaning! We don't need to fill the fridge for the sake of it.

Need to put my OVO readings in today, as they've estimated a large jump that I don't think we've actually made. And also try and work out why I keep putting £30 extra in the bills account by mistake - there must be some discrepancy between the account and my spreadsheet, but buggered if I can find it.

P.S. fuzz, that's a very cute term for a hedgehog. I'm from the Midlands and they are often called hodgepigs there

heyhey Your recipes sound lovely. Maybe you could use the £30 as a buffer and keep to the same amount transferred?

I have had an email from Morrisons, if I do three midweek (Mon, Tues, Wed) shops for delivery during January, I get £10 off the shopping, plus free delivery for the first shop (I use the £1 slots anyway). Had a shop booked for next Friday, but I will move to Thursday I think.

Spent £14 today, but that included fresh fruit and veg, milk, bread, bacon, kitchen roll and some tea bags. That should take us over the weekend. I have an Italian pork dish in my slow cooker today, but eldest DC is at a friends so I will freeze his portion for him to have one evening. Have dinners planned for slow cooker over the weekend and Monday too, and was thinking of making cakes/biscuits in there too so I don't end up buying junk - my downfall once the kids are in bed.

Oh, I have to pay for holiday club this afternoon for two of the children for Monday - so that's about £45. But don't anticipate spending anything at all over the weekend.

I have a couple of those coin tins - I'm collecting £2 coins in one of them, and I though I'd give the £1 to weeks of the year challenge a go - but have thought that I doubt I could afford to do it properly, so I might get to £13, and then work backwards, then work forwards and backwards again. That can go towards Christmas. I'm also thinking about saving with Park hampers too - anyone else do them?

Yes, I probably will, need. This way if one of us has a slightly higher phone bill or something it's covered - and the £30 is very welcome at the end of the month!

Opie would you recommend getting a slow cooker? I really like the idea of it and it seems it's not just for stews...

Yes, I totally would. I have 8 but in my defence I do actually use them too! And don't forget to join Slow Cooked Wonders on FB, if you're on there - it's full of great recipes, hints and advice. Slow cookers use less electric then you think, too - it's cheaper to run a slow cooker for 8 hours on low then it is to put a conventional oven on for an hour.

8!!! Well, if you use them all, why not!

Thanks - I will look that group up :)

heyheyhey slow cookers are brilliant so much so that I bought a second one at Christmas, had a pork joint in one overnight for pulled pork this evening & have soup in the other one now for lunch. I love mine & it has helped to reduce my electricity bill also because cooker isn't on so much & we've a gas hob.

Opies the only danger with Park hampers is that if the company goes bust, your money goes with it. There was a bit on MoneySavingExpert that I was reading about it. Could you save the money yourself in a sealed tin instead? Or put it into a bank account you wouldn't have easy access to? Our local credit union has a Christmas savings account that looks quite good so you could look for something like that too.

I realised today that I'd worked out my YNAB budget all wrong... We've actually over budgeted way more than I thought but I know it will correct itself and we have absolutely everything accounted for until the end of the month, so I'm not too worried. Might just take us a little longer than I thought to be completely "buffered".

I would love to join. I have been on a couple of the old threads but they move so fast I can't always keep up.

NSD yesterday and expensive today. Was treating DS2 for his exceptional efforts at school last term. Definitely worth it. Expensive month coming with two key birthdays in February and a trip away too. Other than that hoping to improve on last year.

When I started here it really helped and I'm keen to keep improving.

I thought that the money was protected? According to their website they have three trustee's, two of whom are independent and should Park go into liquidation, then we would get the money back, according to their website - www.getpark.co.uk/budgeting/saving/trust-summary.jsp

Oh that's good, I didn't realise that. Annoyingly I can't find the thing I was reading on MSE now. But it did basically say just to make sure your money is protected!

just reconciled bank and YNAB and have moved a £59.26 into savings account making it up to £355.26! ( never saved at all last year!) .. Thought id just do the 9.26 but then realised that if I can manage from freezer i shouldnt need more meat until last week of this month month so stuck an extra £50 in .. However we do have house insurance due which will need to be paid from savings account , so wil shop around for that once i have the letter from them.

Was also a bit dissapointed to see the council tax has been taken .. thought that it was a free month this one .. must check this , maybe its next two instead (or had changed it to 12 month payment and forgot.. )

£28.43 in purse though one is a £2 coin so just bunged that in the (previously empty) piggy

I have to go out and buy celery for my casserole though.. ( will walk down to co op i think then i cant be tempted by much, and save petrol .. ooh.. new me! ) ..

Oh and i have £30 next voucher but dont want or need anything.. maybe ill put that in next years christmas box, could do to buy a present for someone ..(boxers and socks for DS maybe )

Laska, I think it's a really good idea to start planning ahead for next Christmas. I got a couple of gifts this year that are lovely, just not to my taste, so I think I'll probably re-gift them to someone on the other side of the family who will appreciate them more. Safely tucked them away in the wardrobe (hopefully I won't forget they're there...)