Frugal January, part two.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everybody is welcome.

Morning all. Thanks for the new thread Fluffy.
Already spent £10 at the weekly village market (jam, leeks, tomatoes, pepper, baby carrots, dozen eggs, ginger cordial) all locally grown/made. Made a sugar-free fruit cake with DS this morning that he loves and planning to make hummous to go with our tea tonight - cue trip to shop to buy tahini, although this recipe says tahini is optional. Anyone made hummous without?

Thanks for the new thread and also for all the cold baked potato ideas on the previous thread.
In the end I decided it was a bit on the small side so I sliced it thinly and fried the slices which were actually delicious with a bit of sea salt sprinkled on. However, I accidentally bought too many potatoes last week (misread a recipe!) so I shall be trying some of your other ideas. I like the sound of making my own gnocchi and I suspect DD would love cauliflower cheese patties as it would combine two of her favourites!
I'm going clothes shopping tomorrow with my Christmas money. I've actually spent some time researching and planning online first so I have a good idea of what I want to try on in the shops. This will hopefully prevent my usual tendency to rush round the shops panic buying anything that vaguely fits and then take it to the charity shop unworn several years later!

£400 spent on my self assessment tax due

DH's will be a lot more than this!!!

Thanks for the new thread, Fluffy.

Well, definitely not a NSD or LSD here - just paid my tax bill. Sigh. But at least it's done in good time and I won't get a penalty. I really ought to go and buy some clothes but hate it so much I keep putting it off (even though I have almost no T-shirts after I Kondo-ed my T-shirt collection in the autumn)

needastrongone, no, not petty. Not doing basic clearing up after yourself is just bad manners and disrespects you (and not feeding or watering the dogs isn't fair on them).

MissMysticFalls, I actually like hummus better without tahini - I find the flavour of tahini a bit overpowering. Plus it doesn't have a lot of other uses, so it just sits in the cupboard looking unappealing for years.

Thanks for all the kind comments. Colleague's death was an awful shock - he wasn't quite 60, wasn't obviously in bad health (though may of course have had high blood pressure or other stuff we didn't know about), and was really excited last year about being a grandfather for the first time - baby is about 6 months now, I think. His poor wife and family.

Thanks for the new thread Fluffy

Spendy day yesterday, but Good spending IFKWIM?

Lidl €44.67 Got enough to get us through to Monday
€30 - Irish Language lesson for ds
€50 - Diesel for Dh's car

Hopefully today is minimal spending.

Interesting discussions around fashion..

I have only two weeks left in the professional workforce, Yay! I can probably wear most of them out in the world of SAHMs, but in future I will be focusing on more practical clothes. It’s odd to go into a shop now and force myself not to by that pinafore dress or that smart jacket.

Hopefully Penneys (Primark) will be able to meet my needs and save me $$$

need I don't blame you. I've lost it with dh for much less. It's the notion that someone will pick up after you that drives me insane. Ds14 is like this and I'm forever on his case about it.

Thank you for the new thread.

Yesterday was my birthday so I'm ignoring my spending . It wasn't much, more to soften the blow.

I promised DD1 lunch out so that will be Sainsburys cafe for us.

I'm having a slow start to being more frugal this January

I'm still working on DH to cancel the TV - we only ever watch stuff we can get online for free (mainly YouTube for DD and iplayer for us) and we're paying nearly £25 PCM for Virgin, plus £29 for the licence! (It lapsed last year).

But I bought a sledge from Millets online for £5, free delivery to the shop. That's less than two days of bus tickets for when it snows properly! It means I'll still be able to get DD out if the house in snow - totally impossible otherwise. I've seen a lot of people doing school/nursery runs with kids on sledges!

We're eating from the cupboards this month as we're moving house soon, hopefully - no point taking it all with us! Found risotto mixes, paella spice mix, various curry spices - fantastic!

I bought 4 packs of clearance sausage meat from asda after Christmas and am making up meat loaves for the freezer. Ideal for last minute meal ideas and sandwich fillings, since it is essentially a herbier haslet. Just wish I had a toastie maker for the ultimate in cheap meals!

A bit long, sorry!

Also, has anyone tried laundry gloop? I made some but the washing starts to smell a bit musty after a few washes, so I'm having to alternate with bio powder. Is that normal?

I use gloop, it hasn't made the washing musty but I use bio for towel/dishcloth wash & gloop for clothes/delicates.

I use;
2 bars grated soap
250g washing soda crystals
7lt boiling hot water.

Every so often I do a 60c wash with towels to freshen the machine..

Maybe it's the machine. And the recipe I used only has one bar of soap for 7l!

Thanks for sharing that detergent recipe Fluffy I am definitely going to try it.

Just off the phone from our mobile phone provider.

We got this humongous bill last month. In fact when I took a look at it our bill was massive every month last year.

One 10 minute analysis sorted it out. On completely the wrong package and have now moved all three of us (dd18 can’t talk on the phone due to special needs). I reckon I’ve saved us €65 per month.

I know it’s a pain to contemplate moving packages but that is so worth it to us!

Viking do you have any essential oils lurking around? They might add a nice scent to the Gloop.

Hi all had an interesting start to the day with a neighbour who was clearly completely wasted intoxicated falling back off the pavement in front of my flat cutting her head open!! Blood everywhere and lots of screaming, me and another passerby trying to sort her out. The ambulance turned up pretty pronto though and carted her off but all rather unsettling and makes me really want to move

Anyhow have been into town and bought some stuff for dds bday plus got stuff for party bags. As dd only having two friends for a sleepover have bought two small bags at primark (£1) and bought bits like cat gloves (£1) beanie hat (£1) necklace and ear ring set (£2.50) and socks (£1) also some gel pens (49p) will prob get some sweets as well but thought that would make quite a nice party bag with stuff they will hopefully use rather than plastic tat I usually do!!

So today

£2 parking
£25 The Entertainer x 5 gifts for dd
£19 Primark - see above!
£4 The Works

Just had some sobering news... Colleague and friend passed away just before Christmas. At the ripe old age of 45.

I call him a colleague as he was working in the same sort of work as I was and we met yearly at conferences. I last saw him in November. And he looked fine, we had great chats and his presentation was awesome.

This news really took the wind out of my sails today. I felt like it was pointless working so hard for people like him to just keel over (I don't know the details but the news said he had a cardiac arrest - not sure if he always had a poorly heart or whether this was sudden).

I did manage to get what I wanted done today. I still have a ton of work to get through (think ofsted but for my area of work) and this is all extra on top of my normal day to day stuff I need to do... I have appointments and schedules booked in till June 2015 and no holiday really booked in (beyond the Easter 4 days...).

NSD.

Sorry to hear that, NK. Hope you are ok

Had enough time to park in tesco and walk will power through the pain. Will buy a pizza for dinner I'm not cooking after such a busy day

Wow that was a weird start to your day girliefriend That would complete unsettle me too.

NK my condolences Hope you're ok

for NK and hope you're feeling a bit less shaken up, Girlie.

£1.20 on chocolate and £14.60 on lunch and coffee with a pal. Also £16.98 on vitamins at Boots- they're doing 3 for 2 at the moment, if anyone is interested.

Brilliant saving Encyclo.

Girlie it's a good job you were there though.

Nk horrible isn't it?. But you have no option but to work.

Viking if you only watch catch up you don't even need a licence.

I had a good start when the free gift to the homes and garden trial subscription turned up. So I've got Klorane shampoo etc . I've cancelled the subscription today.

NSD.

Today was spending for us £14.50 in bhs on breakfast (monthly treat) £8.08 in boots on breastpads and nappies £23 in primary on feeding bras and pants and 2 on parking

viking It's amazing what you find in the cupboard isn't it? Although, my first shop when we moved was massive...!

Oh dear girlie, that doesn't sound good.

NK awful news for one so young. I remember being very unsettled for a long time when I lost a childhood friend in their 30's and my friends husband was killed in the same year. Being young seems to make it worse.

Thanks encyclo and robin, I am still really upset with DH tbh and I don't usually stew on stuff. AS you say, it's a lack of respect I feel. He's like it at work too, but being the boss, he gets away with it.

I knew today would be spendy.

£15 on pizza and sweets for DD, who is having a sleepover tomorrow. There will be 6 teenage girls so that's not too bad.
£38 in Poundstretcher. Single duvet and covers. Ours are ruined and I need some for tomorrow. Ideally would have liked to defer this but I would defer it forever so I took the plunge. And a set of wicker drawers for DD to put all her make up and crap into, not strictly needed but her room drives me mad if I ever try and clean it.
£20 in Home bargains on lots of cleaning stuff, face masks etc for the girls and a pair of slippers for me (which I didn't need as I have some boot type ones that drive me mad but are perfectly fine)

So easy to spend money. I can honestly say that's the first time this month that I have spent anything I don't need to.

Chilli for tea. £4 for DS and karate and £5 car wash.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciated.

Need - dh was like this. He became a lot tidier when he worked from home .. Not advocating that but hey!

Just got the bill for the will writing. Got a bit of a rude shock. I think we will have to pay something close to £350 for a joint will. But with the news today about my friend G I guess we have to suck it up...

Am at home now. Tired, drained. Am slightly shocked too that there was no announcement at his place of work re his passing. I looked at his department and at his institution and nothing was announced. I would have that at least something be said... At my institution I'm sure we would have said something...

NK

Thanks everyone, have been feeling randomly anxious all evening I think i'm probably overtired/stressed hopefully an early night will help!!