O come all ye festive frugaleers, gather round for festive chat and frugaleering

[northender]

Haven't been on the old thread for a few days so thought I'd start a new thread as it's nearly full.

Collie congrats to you & DH on job Offer. I've never been to Somerset I would do the voice and everyone would hate me but I did used to leave just outside Durham and loved it so I appreciate the dilemma! not helping

Girlfriend glad you Dd is better!

My DS is asleep now but has been a snotty little grotbag all day. 15months old and nose pouring, temp up & down. I've been running round behind him with tissues and Vaseline (for his little nose). I swear he kept trying to wipe his face on my walls

£2 in butchers
£3.40 shop.

Apparently Tesco have slashed veg prices of big bags so am off there tomorrow to get my Christmas potatoes, carrots and parsnips! All 50p a bag!

And I am officially finished buying and wrapping for Christmas.
I sat and watched Home Alone in celebration!!

Should be nsd today as I'm working and that's it. Actually we need toothpaste

I haven't caught up with the thread properly, sorry. A very spendy day yesterday, I took up a swim membership and booked myself on a 4 week bootcamp too.
I am going to do the swimathon in march, I figured I needed to step up a bit. £4.20 at my pool for a session. The membership was £24, but, they put a £25 admin/joining fee on!!!! What is that all about?!!!
The boot camp was £25. never done one before.

I have done the budget for 2016, I hope they'll enjoy the compulsory beans on toast, they're very good for you

Both !!!!

Nsd today. Lunch is packed. Am walking to work. No shopping.

Might take a walk along the beach at lunchtime tide depending. I'll walk into work in my wellies so will have them for lunchtime.

I have the sickness bug now! Had dinner with friends last night, came home and threw the lot up. Don't think it's food poisoning as it came on too fast, felt like I was vomiting the £17 I'd spent on the meal down the loo (although it was about a billion calories so possibly a good thing!). Typically today is my day off with DD so DH has had to use a day's leave to look after her. Going to catch up with thread then sleep.

Oh pointless get well soon!

Em I'm tempted to go for a walk on the beach too. :)

Thanks MrsDeath . DS had a cold recently & we found tissues were hurting his little nose so we used a spare muslin cloth. Then he started wiping his own nose. So so cute!

Just wanted to say merry Christmas and happy 2016!! We are away from now and won't be back till early Jan.

My heart trace results haven't been back but dr doesn't think it's anything to do with my heart. More like a warning for my health to take it easy and de stress. I've been off work but not really..as I'd been checking emails and replying! Its not so much the work that's bad, it's more the lack of support from work that annoys me and frankly gives me the stress. I've been coping with it for 2 years now.

Have my Skype interview for job in Oz on Friday.. Wish me luck! I don't know if it's a tad drastic to up sticks, leave this lovely village that I live in, remove the kids from the school and all their friends (and our friends) to go half way round the world... Just because I have a feckless workplace!!

collie well done to your dh for getting the job. £20k pay rise isn't something to sniff at! If I get the job in oz, it'll be roughly a £15k pay rise and dh will get better opportunities too (bigger city, better prospects)...

See you all in the new year!! Xxx

Byeee NK good luck in your skype interview and have a safe journey. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year x

Get well soon pointless

I'm very of those of you going for walks along the beach, we have a river but it doesn't have the same appeal

It's dd2's Christmas party at school today and we were put down to bring cocktail sausages, nice and easy and cheap! I need to post all our Christmas cards today, I'm not looking forward to spending lots on stamps

Good luck NK! Have a lovely holiday period!

Sorry em. I didn't mean to be remarking about you spending money, on those things. I just find it interesting that different people take pleasure in such different things.

I also have things that I spend money on that other people would consider non-essential. My list would be:

Financial times
Food
Very definitely gadgets (Computers, camera stuff, more computers, electronics etc)
Gardening
More Gadgets

The weird thing is that I wouldn't bother with make-up or hair colouring or any of those things, and I'm sure probably you are not lying awake at night wondering if you could buy one more gadget (just one more little one).

It's one of the things that I really like about this list that we get to hear about people with such different interests. Sorry if I put my foot in it there. Jokes don't always carry well in writing.

mrssimonnell I live near several beaches and I think it was Oct when I last walked on one so I'm going to make it my business to walk one this weekend - weather permitting of course.

I managed to spend €220 in 70 mins last night on €285 worth of stuff.

Aldi €135 but should have been €155 - this is my last big grocery shop of 2015, Argos €2 should have been €52 used vouchers got dh's granddaughters cd player, a double cd, a colouring book for ds's stocking which I think could have a lot more than dd's may need to balance that out €25 on diesel, €25 in Iceland(my first time visiting there) and €15 on detangling spray for dd, conditioning treatment for me this came with a free hairbrush worth €10 and our good one has gone missing

Fluffy I was having it away in the shops grand-style yesterday too. I bought three electronics kits in one day all for myself but don't tell anyone-. Enjoy your tumble dryer shopping.

Good luck NK5! Enjoy your holiday.

Sorry to hear you've got the lurgy pointless. Take it easy there. Another friend of mine has it too. I hope everybody manages to rest up.

Good luck with the interview NK and hope you all have a good holiday.

Good luck NK and happy xmas!
I think I'm actually just exhausted. I've had a headache for about 3 weeks and I haven't been sleeping well for the last week or so. I got something stressful out of the way at work yesterday and think perhaps my body just reacted to it all. Might go out for a walk in a bit, fresh air will make me feel better!
DH has just done supermarket shop, I wonder how much he spent!

Morning all just got back from dds nativity was lovely and feeling all festive now [santa]

Have to go and get some presents and bits in town so just stopping for a cuppa then off out again. Will be my last chance as back to work tomos and then only have 2 days off before Christmas - eek!

Hope you feel better soon Pointless I had that same experience on a date once, had gone out for a lovely meal and then towards the end of it started to feel a bit iffy and ended up chucking the whole lot up Luckily my date was quite sweet about the whole thing!!

Good luck Nk Australia would be amazing!!

Mrs hope your ds feels better soon, snotty toddlers can be hard work (I remember all the snot trails all over the sofa )

Allguns that sounds a bit off - its like they are charging you twice for membership

I've gone and woken up feeling rotten today and can't seem to shake it. Winter has much to answer for.

I'm trying to get ahead a bit with meals today, so I've got a hot pot in one slow cooker and bolognese in the other and am about to roast some squash to make soup with later. I'm going to have a sewing session later, still hoping to get a cushion cover, table runner and some bunting done by Christmas. I should be able to get the cutting & sewing done but will need help with the quilting bit.........."Mum, help!".
So, I have everything in that I need for all this, no extra spending should be needed.
Also, forgot to share my frugal win last week. I finally signed up to Topcashback earlier in the year and have done okay so far (bits & bobs, nothing too spectacular). Last week though, I was booking our caravan holiday in France for 2016 and discovered a 7.5% cashback offer! That's just over £100 and it had never crossed my mind before that anything like that would be available. I'm sure we won't get it until well after we've paid the balance, but it's showing in my account so was well worth doing.

north that's pretty cool about the cashback. My Quidco hasn't been tracking at all lately :( such a pain in the bum. Good luck with the sewing. I need to learn some basics in 2016. I'm currently wearing a dress that needs adjusting slightly.

girlie the nativity sounds good. I havent been to one since I was at primary school

The weather is horrible. My back garden is boggy & I'm a tad worried about flooding as it creeps nearer and nearer to my patio door. Please tell me I'm being ridiculous.

LSD as we need more milk, wrapping paper and a secret Santa gift. Will pop to Sainsbury's later.

Going to submit meter readings later. Mustn't get complacent just because its Christmas.

£38 Tesco - general plus some Christmas bits (and some new clothes for Dd's dolly who apparently been a good girl too this year and has written a letter to Santa asking for some new vests and baby gros!)

£7 ikea.

I wish i knew how to wear make up properly and had the time to do it I've never been great at those sorts of things. I try hard to coordinate my self and dress nicely but I feel like I always look like I slightly got it wrong. My hair does what it likes regardless of how much time and money is invested in it!
And I never understood make up enough to warrant spending money on it!

Collie yes I used to use a muslin on dd, but now she copies whatever I do and if I do it to DS I will find her wiping her nose on clothes and anything fabric which is just... Vom

That's fabulous MrsRats. Well done dolly. I'm the same with makeup. I have lots of freckles and rosy cheeks (in a good way) and makeup just makes me look as if someone has rubbed out all the best bits.

ipsos no offence taken at all. As you say it's interesting to see what others class as 'essential'

Essentials for me are my riding lessons (have gained heaps of confidence since starting this 18 months ago) and nails. Hair is done maybe twice a year. If that. bad so bad

If I was in a right pinch is ditch the lot and save save save.

I do love a gadget mind, and would happily spend all my wages on food. Lovely delicious food. Have been for my beach walk (and bought a nice ice cream as a treat) and am now back behind my desk. on my way back I took a walk past the gorgeous Italian deli. And stared through the window at the amaretti and pannetone and delicious cheese and meat and lovely cakes.

This is also why I spend on my gym membership....

Jealous of the beach walking!
I live in North London so closest thing I have to a beach walk would be scrabbling around in the filth of the Thames and catching many diseases