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.

It is new out last week.

I'm already fixed until March 17!

We just had a letter from Sainsbury's energy saying we had used £61 pm for gas & electric...... so they are going to put our monthly payment up from the £90pm it is already. At what point was it a condition of the contract to offer Sainsbury's an interest free loan?

They did that to me. Bill was £30 a month so they wanted £57.

Tell them to fuck right off and leave the dd as it is.

NK you must be under a hell of a lot of stress for that to happen. Maybe after the interview the aussie lot will realise that of course you need to paid loads more to be tempted from the UK. Plus free medical care.

Welcome newcomers!
NSD here. Realised I have nothing to wear for work Xmas party. It's not going to be especially formal so no need for a fancy dress but would like to dress up a bit. Bad knee rules out heels so need either not to dressy dress or really nice top with jeans. Have neither the time nor the money for shopping. Might see what I can borrow from friends!

Ursula I've recently been in your position :( strange how #1 was so easy to conceive.

Unescorted tell them no. I had this problem with NPower last year. They are greedy fuckwits. You can refuse to increase the direct debit.

Frugal fail. Had to buy some stuff in Sainsbury's. Couldn't find my debit card and had to redeem ALL my Nectar Points to pay. I have 51p left on Nectar now. Bah humbug

£90 in sainsvury on clothes and dinner. I did buy myself a lovely new coat though. It's military style and feels quite warm. Still feel a bit bad for spending so much.

Spotty I was on a fix for several months still to go but they let me break it with not exit fees and moved me straight into this cheaper one. I explained to them that my energy monitor had told me to change suppliers but they just moved me without any fuss at all.

Hmm I didn't fix it that long ago

My house seems cold all the time just now. It's only my second winter here but I don't remember it being like this last year. I think it's because the stairs are in the living room so the heat all just disappears upstairs. I'm going to try the approach of keeping the heating on low all the time to see if that stops it.

INeed ours stairs are too and the front door is there too. We only have two rooms downstairs no hallway etc

Sorry to hear that, Ursula.

Welcome to more new comers.

Another NSD. I've done all my wrapping and written my Christmas cards; only sending 30 this year, so it wasn't too bad. I didn't send any last year, so these were all left over from 2013. I need to buy 10 gift tags for the presents though, as I didn't have enough.

Spotty I do have a very small porch area inside the front door but it is literally two steps and then there's a glass door into the living room. I've only got the living room and kitchen downstairs too.

£14.50 on amaretti biscuits and Turkish delight for dm for Christmas.

Have just got home from a drinks do and have managed to have my dinner out. So many yummy canapés. Mini burgers. Mini fish finger sammies. Scotch eggies (giant ones) fish cakes. And a gazillion glasses of free wine. Yippee.

Was given my business cards last week and gave out about a million tonight.

Welcome Newbies , Sorry you had a BFN ursula. I've seen a few of those.

£4 cat litter.

£1.25 beer
60p treat food for cat.

Got home to discover the cat (bengal, high maintenance lots of energy cat) had been locked in the utility all day. He'd pooed in his bed and put pooey paw prints everywhere. I've had to boil wash his bed and probably will need to buy a new hard one now and cleaned up 200 poo paw prints.

So it's a good job I bought beer and some treaty food for him because he is not happy. Now his bed is wet so he has to sleep with me tonight while dh sleeps in the spare room.

On the upside my £20 shoes from shoeaholics are fab and will be kept and my mil is buying me perfume for christmas!.

need I'm sure he's not enjoying being in Dubai in all that sunshine.

Our Christmas Tree just came. 7ft and its huuuuge. I only paid £35 for it. It's a fakey. it looks utterly brilliant and ridiculous at the same time!

INeed do you have draught excluders for all doors? You can stuff random old material (socks etc) into an old trouser leg and scrunch up the ends like a pony tail. They make a huge difference to our huge patio doors. They also work well on window sills.

fluffy great thought!!! not too concerned about the interview though. Just worried about my work here. The thought of doing this for the next 20 years upsets me v muchly. So much so we are thinking of leaving the country!!

Oh well.

Didn't realise it was 25% at Sainsburys. Will need to pop in.

Tomorrow will be v spendy. Car repairs. Thought of trading car in but they quoted me only £350. And I will have to get another one. So I think we will just run this down till whenever.

Went and helped friend out with baking and packing cookies for Christmas fair at school today. Was fun to catch up with her. Wouldn't have been able to do this when at work!

Haven't done a lot since being off but nice to just not do anything! No shopping no fretting no nothing. Oh and I chose to do some work today too. Nice to be able to choose.

fluffy He doesn't go until Wednesday, he can bring me some Tom Ford perfume back for his troubles, I can tell you! You bought beer for the cat? He will definitely poo in his new plastic bed then

I had fancy beds for the dogs initially, now they have plastic ones and vet bed, all washable/wipeable. Ddog1 is laid on me at present though, snoring.

ursula

unescorted Tell them to piss off, unless you see it as an opportunity to save without it hurting? Interest rates being so low etc?

Thanks all, had a glass of wine and sat down, I might even watch Celeb for total crap TV chill out...!

Lamb tagine for tea, I didn't quite get chance to put it in the SC before I left for work this morning, after emptying dishwasher, swapping washing over, making pack ups, walking dogs, showering, screaming at the kids etc, so it was a touch tougher than usual, but still nice!

Probably going to miss something so I apologise.

Welcome ineed and smurf
Need ikwym about feeling like no one shares the load. It's relentless sometimes.

What think price per wear, if you will wear it loads don't worry.
Nk some car places are doing the £2 k scrappage scheme again
Ursula
Cheeky beggars unescorted free money for them error no!

I just sent my CV off to a well known (you all love them) company that was advertising jobs via LinkedIn. So nervous!

Realistically they'll probably just look at my CV and go "say what? No chance missus!"

Thanks everyone...feels easier lamenting here. Lots of my friends have lovely new babies, or are expecting, and it feels unfair to keep moaning every month!

The universe is looking kindly on me though...just started to pack my bag for the weekend and found £60 I have no idea where from, might be money from our wedding in August, anyway I'm chuffed - guilt free spending at the weekend!

Good luck on the job front Collie! Is this local or in the location you're considering a move to?

Fluffy that sounds seriously grim

Ursula if its been a year will the Drs send you for any tests?

Scottish Power have 'decided' for me to increase my DDs before now, normally a phone call along the lines of 'well unless you bring it down I will be changing companies' suffices ^however at the moment they are being very nice and reducing the DDs quite frequently! Ipsos* I am with you on the mild weather making for a cheap winter!

Good luck Collie

X posts Girlie...no we were pushing for it in the summer but gps were very reluctant ('just relax' they say!) and then I had an early miscarriage in September so as far as my doctor is concerned there is nothing wrong - doesn't stop me being worried/impatient/pessimistic though!

Ursula that's great news, enjoy guilt free spending!

NSD here, and I made soup using past its best veg which also used bread up so it won't get thrown away

Nsd planned today
Enjoy the weekend away ursula