Oh come all ye frugalers, joyful in December, oh come ye, oh come yea and chat

[babsmam]

New Fred, hope I've done it right I've never done one before.

Evening.
NK take care of yourself. Hope the interview goes well. My bro found Melbourne really expensive when they moved there 18 months ago. House prices are bonkers. Think London on steroids.

Crème YAY!

I am so jealous of all your organisation for Christmas. I haven't started yet. I will panic in a couple of weeks.

Gosh NK, what a week. Take care there.

Our house is a bit less chaotic now. The washing machine, fridge and freezer are back in the kitchen and we have hopes of a dishwasher by Friday. Dh is kindly doing a huge stack of dishes that I have left because of wishful thinking about possibly imminent dishwasher delivery.

I have nearly managed to dry out all of the plaster now.

unescorted that's my fear as well. Looking at costs, it's looking like renting a 3bed house or flat will cost double of what I pay in mortgage. Even friends of ours who rent 3 bed houses here pay slightly more than what I pay for mortgage. Roughly it's looking like double what my costs are.

And schools costs money! Found a catholic school and it's going to cost £2000 for me to get the kids in (not private fees but catholic school fees). Healthcare will cost roughly £2-300/month??

And a pint of milk will cost roughly 40-50% more than tesco. This was comparing with woolworths.

Not sustainable I don't think?! Even with a payrise of 20% more....

That does sound very expensive NK5.

It is expensive out there but maybe the lifestyle would make it worth it?

Ds has had me up a few times in the night then up at 5:30 I'm so tired! Plus dreamt I was pregnant so now I'm even more grumpy

NK I'm loving hearing about your Australia plans and research. We are SO tempted. Have loads of family in Adelaide, Darwin & Sydney. So we would be OK. And we could both get better jobs over there. It's just the costly living that's holding us back. I think most surfy Cornish people contemplate a move to Australia at least once.

Did you use seek.com?

spotty take it easy today after a crap start I get those pregnancy dreams fairly often. It creeps me out because I always dream that the baby is kicking. Bonkers and a tad creepy!

Just spent £11.99 on an Amazon Lightning deal. It's a really cute baby outfit, my friend is in having her baby today so excited! It was £28 and is £28 everywhere else so I know I got a good deal.

Annoyingly I've been waiting for an Amazon order to be dispatched which I placed in September and it's just gone so that's £15 gone out

collie no didn't use seek. Didn't know what it was till I looked on line - now we can use that for dh!! I was approached by headhunters. Slightly gratifying as its my 2nd in 6 months. The first one ended with the job in London with a higher pay but I couldn't justify the train costs. Resulted with my boss increasing my wage. This time, if I get it, the pay rise will be roughly 20% up but if it means that dh can also get a job in a good practice paying similar amount then it'll be worth it. He currently runs his own practice and although it's good for us, it's quite unreliable for income. And briefly looking at salaries, it looks like he'd be able to get maybe 70% what I would get. So that'll be a doubling of income which is great.

Currently I pay for mortgage and bills. He contributes but it's not fixed. I don't ask for it anyway.

Already spent £10 today on an angel costume. Although we aren't going to be around for nativity at school, teacher persuaded dh that she should still take part in the rehearsals and photo op. Argh. Thank goodness for tesco and supermarket brands!! We got a shepherd for ds last time. (I know we can make it, but I can't and I don't have the time!).

I bought the dc's outfits in tesco too nk

Thanks spotty made me feel better!!! I think mums/women ought to stop feeling guilty about this sort of thing. My husband doesn't... No cake for bake sale, no worries! Not like the school will know what to do if every kid brought in a cake (can you imagine 400 cakes, muffins, cookies sitting around?!!). But people like me will panic and worry about what a bad mummy I am. Did I tell you guys, once, I came home from work at 5pm, made a cake mix up from scratch, bunged it in the oven, went upstairs and had a quick shower, came downstairs in time for the oven to beep. Took cake out. Got dressed, and went out for another meeting. All this before the kids got back from after school club.

Brought said cake to school next day for some random cake sale for which they raised I don't know, 50p from it...! I could have given them £5 and that would have raised more cash!!! grumpy emoticon

I was making ds's shepherd costume last night and I did a really nice look for a poor shepherd, quite authentic in tatty cheap fabric and everything, with careful overlocking for all the finishing. Now I'm worrying that everyone else will have spent a tenner on a beautiful Tesco nativity costume and my ds will look as if he's wearing rags. Oh dear.

Nah I think lots of people make the costumes I've seen some photos on fb from other mums of homemade shepherds!

ipsos if you have the ability, time and inclination then why not? I would love to produce an angel costume for my daughter. But I don't have the time. I'm off sick this week. If I wasn't, I'd be at work full time. Dh works full time. We still have 2 sets of homework to hand in each week. Plus activities. Plus Christmas. Plus packing to leave in 10 days time. It's not feasible. Plus I'm not at all craft-minded. And I don't have various bits and bobs lying around at home, or anything beyond a sewing kit to sew buttons!

ipsos don't feel at all like that, your costume is made with love, and will be fabulous and unique.

I'm like nk with work & trying to keep up.

No need for sympathies regarding my rear bumper, I reversed into a pallet of wall cappings at home, only my pride and my wallet are hurting

Yesterday was another NSD for me.

Today will be similar and tomo too.

Seems lots of our children under the weather at the moment, ds is just finished a month of loose stools no explanation & sample came back clear for everything & now has spiking temperature past few days, dh is bringing him to doctor today, I don't think there's any point as he has no other symptoms but if dh wants to take him off with him!

My Christmas presents from 11.11 sale on Aliexpress have been arriving past few days and I'm delighted with everything so far. Purchased myself a watch fob for €3.21 Image too small!which I absolutely adore. I can't wear watches so very pleased with this! A weekend of wrapping is ahead of me I think.

You take it easy there NK5. Sounds like you're having a heavy time.

Lilac so glad you are OK! Hope your little DS perks up. I can't wait until we start wrapping. Mainly because DH does most of it as my wrapping technique is questionable. One year I had a broken hand and needed the cats help to wrap. He would hold the paper in place with his paw so I could stick it down with tape.

Now I sound like a crazy cat lady....

Spendy day today as I'm off to Sainsbury's for a browse & I may pick up a few TU bargains with my Nectar points.

Nice technique Collie.

A carpenter is laying wood floor boards in our hall today. It's quite exciting.

Collie my wrapping is embarrassing. I enjoy it though, need to get some baileys.

Went to the nursery performance last night, Wilfred sang beautifully and stayed at the front. He's only two and it was so cute. We had mcdonalds afterwards as a very special treat.

I've booked our day at Thomas land, 22nd December so I'm hoping it won't be too busy!

Today I plan a trip to sainsbury to look at clothes. I might go with the kids or after bed. Can't decide!

Our plaster has dried out and I have been able to just turn the heating off, even with the windows wide open and the front door open to let the carpenter in and out. This has to be slightly unusual weather for December.

I think I need to join this thread but you all seem so far advanced in your frugality. I need "How to be Frugal for Dummies".
I kidded myself that I was saving money by joining Quidco but I end up buying more stuff because I think I'm getting money off!
I have enough money to pay all bills every month but there is little left for fun so then the credit card gets used and that can't go on.

INeed everyone has to start somewhere.

I think the best way to start is to do a spreadsheet of all of your regular outgoing sand see what you have left.

INeedSomeHelp welcome to our group.

Firstly I would say go through all your outgoings to see if they're essential also to check if any standing orders or direct debits are being taken that you don't use anymore.

Martin's Money has a mantra if you're skint ask do I need it? Can I afford it and if you're not skint Will I use it? Is it worth it? I find that good when making decisions regarding purchases.

Anyone know anything about Cairnryan or it's surroundings?

Thanks Spotty - I think I'm quite organised in that sense. I have a standing order every month to my bills account and all my direct debits come out of that. So I don't have to think about when they're due or if there's enough money to cover them.
What I have left in my main account is for food shopping and anything else - socialising, clothes etc.
I just need to stop buying stuff I don't need. It sounds so simple!

INeed You could try switching to buying everything online and then your can return all the stuff that turns out not to be needed, doesn't do what you wanted, or doesn't work. I do that and it has really sharpened up my ideas.

Well that sounds good how are you with food? I think top up shops are what gets most people. I think it really is about having some self control, I really struggle and spend as soon as its in my hand. I'm still trying but I've certainly come a long way since I joined this thread. I haven't put a single Christmas present on credit this year!