Frugaleers Flying into the New Year All Welcome on the January Thread

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread hopefully someone can add some old links?

Superfurryanimals Try aldi batteries next time. I keep a store of them as they last well & are £1-2 a pack.

I still never have the right battery I need but I'm getting there.

Spends:
£23.99 convector heater (keeping the receipt somewhere safe this time. I never bother with this normally but heaters never seem to last and dammit this time I will get a replacement if we need it instead of paying out again! Need to find a folder or something for the receipt... would we need to keep the packaging though?)
£9 laundry stuff
£15.31 groceries

Looking through receipts is really showing up where we need to improve, silly things like not having a bag so needing to pay for one. Duh. DH has a small bag for work so we should fold up a couple of bag-for-lifes in it in case he needs to pick up shopping.

I don't keep packaging. I do keep receipts in sealed envelopes marked with the product details.

Ah fluffy I love you even more now. I must start doing the same instead of shoving them all in the drawer.

fluffy that's a brilliant system.
One of my jobs for next week is to do some filing so I might start doing that.

Brilliant idea fluffy

I always forget to take bags to the shop. Must pop one in my handbag.

The new instapot gadget cooked my dinner. It's pretty good don't tell dh

Picking up this diary tomorrow if I don't get it online tonight must check my easons points.

Damn whoever mentioned Nutella cheesecake too!

Just had fridge clear out so dinner was pasta with pancetta chorizo peppers onions & pesto with some grated cheese, yummy.
This evening is our first at home since Dec 23rd!

I'm determined to keep my self employed receipts & records up to date weekly and do a google spreadsheets version of my tax return on the go too. All I need is an envelope or plastic pocket for each month.

Thanks for the "welcome back" messages.

Currently looking at an extended rear facing car seat for baby now we have two perfectly good forward facing ones ready for him from ds1 however erf is 5times safer and I feel as I now understand this and have researched it we should get rear facing cheapest being a £70 joie tilt but then really we need one for each car as defeats my research and arguement if I use one ff. Agghh such a dilemma especially as really I have been eyeing up the joie I anchor for my car at £175 but mother care have the base free which is an extra £115 normally

I always mean to tape the receipt to the back of the product where possible. I don't. With my tumble dryer being part of a recall, my microwave melting and my husband not liking one of his oresents I am motivated to at least start printing and filing them again.

I keep all email receipts in a "receipts" folder on my email inbox. I keep all receipts for more expensive items, like carpet, white goods, and furniture, in my household file, along with any instruction manuals etc. I keep all shopping/clothes receipts for the time you can take them back to the shop, which is usually 28 days or a month.

blue what did you do about potty training?
Ds has given up dummy but training gone backwards

Ditto creme re receipts, pretty much exactly what I do, unless it's Primark, and so cheap it's bot worth the petrol and parking to return!

Welcome back laska and hello newbies.
Spendy day out probably about £100 but some friends we haven't seen for a year so worth it.
I'm interested in your food intolerance stuff keep chatting if it helps. My sil is gluten free and it gives me tips too

Great, thank you Fluffy and Creme - I've got some envelopes knocking about so I'll get that put away nicely. Email receipts aren't an issue since I am rubbish at deleting my emails anyway . I've got an envelope for teaching expenses already (currently has one receipt for a piano book that cost... £1.75 :o - but I should print the Amazon receipts from when I ordered other necessaries!) although lilac you've reminded me I need to update the last couple of months' lessons. Wrote them down somewhere and then lost it before I transferred it into my cash book. Thankfully I can mostly figure it out by looking at my text/FB messages!

After some food advice please. Reading about pancetta pasta has made me hungry. I'm wondering what things are good to have in the fridge that actually have a decent shelf life, IYSWIM? Like chorizo etc, although I don't want to rely too heavily on smoked meats really. We always waste so much food due to it going off. I am hoping we can start using our weekly planner to include a meal plan for the week, but we really REALLY need to have more options available. We have a lot of frozen veg already and tinned stuff but floundering for other ideas that are gluten free and suitable for reasonably fussy children.

needastrongone - olympic athletics team???? do tell xxxxx

Hi guys, havent read back bar this page but will have a nosy later!

Lilac we are having mixed success - he poos in the potty no problem but wont alert us that he needs a wee so just pees his pants / trousers and doesnt even seem to notice! If we sit him on regularly he will pee in the potty if it happens to come out while hes on there lol. Will keep going for now but I have a feeling we have an uphill struggle ahead!

NSD. Party at DMs yesterday and got rid of a load of junk food too :) milk on the way home, 2x 2L for £2. new years eve we ended up having a mini party but just used stuff round the house. DS has a birthday party tomorrow so have put £ in a card as we havent been near the shops!

Any resolutions? Mine are -

• lose some weight
• appreciate the DC more
• make a change Re: work
• stop biting my nails
• try to keep on top of my appearance more eg daily makeup / regular hairdos

Rancheros pie? Wassat need? Sounds delicious.

Laksa that is amazing, well done

Ipsos spot on avoiding anything the body reacts to. I can eat chilli peppers but the actual vegetable pepper gives me indigestion even I pick it out of a dish. A nutritionist advised me to avoid red peppers but all of them give me gip.

Didn't get the passport photos so DH will pay for that tomoz. Will be £15 which is more than I thought.

Very good resolutions blue mine are overpay mortgage and lose some weight. I think I need to actually set these up as quantifiable goals too so set an amount of money and a weight as the goal.
I think I'm going to do some online shops to help the pocket as well as the waist line but first I'm going to try and use up all the odds and ends in the cupboards and freezer.

Apparently to achieve your goals you need to be as specific about them and how you are going to achieve them as possible. Wanting to achieve them for external reasons rather than for yourself makes you less likely to succeed. I'm hoping to get on top of our finances in order to consider stopping work. My boss keeps trying to contact me (I'm on maternity leave) to catch up and to know when I'll be back and it makes me feel sick. I have until August to do it. I aim to save £500 a month in addition to our regular savings. This is how much I am currently receiving in mat pay. If I can do so it means our life is sustainable.

fuzz a jar of jalapenos lasts ages in the fridge and livens up pizza etc. I keep jars of pesto and tikka paste for much longer than it says on the jar too.
I realised a big mistake last night, had planned to get Xmas out of the way then save until July for a holiday but we need to book and pay for it before July. Choices are credit card or raid savings then pay myself back with my planned holiday savings. Bit annoyed either way.

What can you re route your mat pay now into a different account so you only have dh wage to budget from and see how it goes?

fuzz you can get really big bags of sundried tomatoes on amazon that last for ages (I buy about one a year). You can put them in things as they are or soak then in Olive oil. Great for pasta, soup, stews, etc.

I do a sort of potato salad think as a quick dinner quite a lot. Chopped boiled potatoes, ham or any left over meet, random veg or salad bits. I just add Olive oil and lemon juice for dd and then put in Mayo and mustard for me and dh. If you do the potatoes in the microwave it's really quick.

I'm taking dd into town today to buy more PJ's as her current ones don't cover her belly. Also need to get cat food.

Should be nsd today. I'm listing things on eBay so hopefully somethings will sell.
Weather is awful here again so probably won't go for a walk or anything like that. Need to do some cleaning.
Day 3 of dry January were off to a New Years party at my parents. So will be on soft drinks while others are guzzling wine.

Morning all, today properly feels like 'Day 1'! Yesterday me and DH had a theatre and lunch date in London so fairly spendy (and waist expanding!) however today we are home...I will be cleaning, cooking, prepping for the week ahead and relaxing! Oh, and not spending!

I agree ursula, it really does feel like a school night!