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Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Frugal January, part two.

786 replies

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/01/2015 21:57

Everybody is welcome.

OP posts:
opalsandsilver · 26/01/2015 09:35

Thank you fluffy cloud.

fuzzpig · 26/01/2015 09:41

Only just catching up on thread - hadn't realised the cup tie was a victory against Chelsea! No wonder DH was so grumpy this weekend :o

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 09:44

Welcome opal

Happy birthday need!

FAIL already Hmm I'm thinking I don't need to count it though. Dh left the car with no petrol (I find out as I leave for nursery run Angry) but I haven't put any in for ten days and I allow £30 a week so.....£30 petrol as today's spend.

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 09:57

If anyone wants an anyone code for Tesco for £2.50 off £10 spend on meat including the three for £10 range let me know.

Passthecake30 · 26/01/2015 11:02

six I don't always give the kids a separate meal, but I do tend to tweak for preferences, for example dp and I have pasta with onion, garlic, chicken, bacon, courgette and crème fraiche, kids would have pasta, onion, garlic, chicken, bacon, peas and cheese. They also have school dinners and I find on Weds (roast day) and Fridays (pizza and chips day) they aren't as hungry, whereas dp does a manual job.

Happy birthday need FlowersCake

em what about tuna pasta bake? Onions, tuna, sweetcorn, cheap passata and pasta?

£20 on home hairdresser getting my (grey) roots done.

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 11:13

Pass dd has roast on a Wednesday too. Friday is fish and chips which she loves as she gets ketchup (we don't have it at home!). I tend to offer her dinner that we're having or toast/sandwich. I don't mind either way as she doesn't eat much.

babsmam · 26/01/2015 11:16

Dear lord epic fail in sainsburys this morning.. £61 on Lord knows what. £7.50 was a new smoke alarm and £14.50 on kids clothes but otherwise I have no,idea. Moral of that story is don't shop while feeling ill.
CBA to do anything now including batch cooking for the week and sorting my stuff to sell or charity

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 11:17

Sainsburys is the devil. I always spend loads on nothing.

Passthecake30 · 26/01/2015 11:19

wow, spotty, your school must have a bigger budget than ours, no ketchup here!

Passthecake30 · 26/01/2015 11:25

Sainsburys is a rip off!

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 11:25

Grin Only on a Friday I think! I'm pretty sure dd never eats any of the veg but fills up on bread and butter too Hmm

babsmam · 26/01/2015 12:12

The worst thing is I didn't get everything on my list. Evil sainsburys. Unfortunately it's the only decent supermarket in town to top up after Aldi and lidl

lilacclery · 26/01/2015 12:38

Can anyone tell me if the m&s dine in range changes often? There's is m&s in next big town to our nearest big town and we were there yesterday and I thought it would be ideal as a treat instead of a valentines meal out, it was both too early to purchase and nothing appealed really. Dh would like the lamb or beef hash but I wouldn't. We went to that town to buy first shoes for ds and because he's a big foot 5G we've to go again next weekend.

Made yesterday cheaper though because neither child got shoes! This is only a deferred spend for ds but dd will be ok for another few months :)

Our cleaner couldn't come for two weeks so we ate lunch out yesterday plus bought a 40th birthday present in the sales with the money and have €30 left. I did the cleaning myself but it was time consuming out of my 2 days off and working around ds' naps. Maybe when house is truly kondo'd and decluttered I might cut her back to fortnightly visits for 4 hours rather than 3 hours weekly.

Grocery Budget is €140 weekly - Butchers €38, Dunnes Stores €66.74(using €10 voucher & earning €15 off €75 spend for next week), Dealz €12.16 plus dh will go to Aldi today for remaining fruit, dogfood and tinned tomatoes his list is small so hopefully bill will be too.

I'm going to try only spend €50 in dunnes and get €10 off next week rather than €75 for €60 as I can feel the extra items creeping in already. My plan was to go to Aldi first and get remaining items in Dunnes but kids were under the weather & dh doesn't know his way around Dunnes so we decided for me to go to Dunnes yesterday and he do Aldi today but we were low on a lot of stuff. Used last bit of spread, slice of bread, ham, toilet roll yesterday morning Grin

girliefriend · 26/01/2015 13:29

Some new anti sickness tablets from the dr £8, lets hope they work.

£12 in Poundland, mostly food with some bday bits (banners and balloons) for dds bday.

Spent £41 in Morrisons but got £6 off at the end with vouchers so actually £35, food, cat litter and shampoo.

Am too scared to look at my bank account as must be hideously overdrawn Sad thought payday was tomos but no its wed. No more spends though now that I can think of.

Am also Shock at that Nandos bill!! How many people was that for??

Happy bday Need Smile

lilacclery · 26/01/2015 13:50

Our lunch yesterday was €28.95 for 2 adults and 2 children - actually 1 child because they don't charge for baby bowl, no drinks or extras just mains, but I'm aware that uk is normally more reasonable.

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 13:50

I've got to phone tax credits. Bleurgh

PeoniesforMissAnnersley · 26/01/2015 13:53

Happy Birthday need Smile

Should be NSD today as working til 11.15 pm

I'm in for a week of NSDs if I am allowed to discount paying for Alex Tech lesson on Tues and cheque to driving instructor on Thurs, will aim to spend literally nothing until Saturday apart from that. Busy week so hopeful that it will work out.

I have just about got rid of all the junk food from Christmas, sent DH into work with a huge bag of ginger spiced biscuits, am not going to replace any of it, no crackers etc as I am trying not to snack at all and if I have to then on fruit/veg/herbal teas etc.

sportinguista · 26/01/2015 14:14

So NSD yesterday as didn't do much except slob and do a bit of housework. LSD today £1.48 on large can of milk which will last well into the week and 78p on loaf of bread which again will last a while, 79p for marked down mascarpone.

Tea is pasta bake to include the mascarpone and have done a big batch of home made tomato sauce/passata which can be frozen in bags. Emem I have a recipe for tuna. It's kind of like a tuna shepherds pie. You just take 2 cans of tuna (pref in oil). Fry a small onion in either the oil from 1 tuna can or some olive oil, then add the tuna, flaking it into the pan and mixing with the onion then put into a the bottom of a baking dish preading evenly. Then boil about 5-6 medium potatoes, enough to make a good batch of mash, when they're done mash well and top the tuna with the mash, top off with beaten egg and some olives and bake for around 15 minutes. Serve with veg in winter and salad in summer.

Got a registration interview with an agency for temp work tomorrow and a conference for self employed on Thursday so a busy week. Have got some freelance work doing prospectus for DS school so that will be a start...

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 14:45

45 minutes on hold to get told I don't work enough hours to get get help with childcare Hmm

Encyclo · 26/01/2015 14:45

Hi Everyone!

Happy Birthday need and welcome opal

lila I find I end up spending more than I need to with that Dunnes vouchers, the schnaky bastards Grin I have a fiver one and I am determined to just buy €25 worth of stuff next visit.

NSD today. Slow Cooker at home doing the business on some chicken thighs, brown rice and leeks. Really love my slow cooker. I got the humungous one from Argos, and I'm making great use of it. I highly recommend them.

I joined Slow Cooked Wonders on FB. I'm amazed at what you can make in a slow cooker!

So excited to be quitting on Friday. My sis has bought me a retro pinny and I'm dying to wear it! We've crunched the numbers over and over again and I know we can make this work.

Dh will need constant monitoring regarding his predilection for 'buying a few bits' but really that's my only concern and he's starting to understand that these little trips can totally sabotage a week.

Good luck with the interview sporting

Pointlessfan · 26/01/2015 15:08

Encyclo - there are loads of slow cooker recipes on Pinterest too. We are borrowing my mum's slow cooker for a couple of weeks to see how we get on with it before investing. Between us we have £18 in John Lewis vouchers so we're thinking of using them towards one.
I'm after some suggestions please. DD is nearly one. So are all her little friends. This means we have been invited to a lot of first birthday parties in the next few weeks and we will need to buy some pressies. Any suggestions for affordable, unisex but nice presents for 1 year olds please? I was thinking of getting books in Waterstones buy one get one half price but I think that might still be expensive.

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 15:40

Waterstones is expensive....not sure what to suggest though. One year olds don't need much!

Passthecake30 · 26/01/2015 15:53

If you want to do books I'd look at the book people, must be cheaper than waterstones.

SpottyTeacakes · 26/01/2015 16:00

Hmm that didn't work properly but the link is right