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

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread hopefully someone can add some old links?

Ds and I had a strange thing today. He was really cheesed off because he wanted to buy a Bionicle in Tesco and had no money and then he tried to moderate his demands by going online to play lego games and found that a mixel game that he wanted to play was also going to cost money. It was a real life lesson but frustrating for him.

At the same time, I've spent about a week looking dreamily at camera equipment online that I can't afford and feeling a bit cheesed off about that too, since I've spend years saving up for stuff that was finally completed last week and then didn't do what I'd hoped.

Definitely living frugally is a huge skill I think. Not twitching and living within one's means is such an important and difficult skill.

I'm wondering if ds and I need to learn to ebay some of our old stuff? so as to buy new stuff, or if we need to learn not to want knew stuff. I'm a little bit stumped about which route to take him down.

Wow, my typing really went a bit bonkers there, didn't it?

super so sorry to hear about your dash to A&E. I have suffered with anxiety and panic in the past and it is awful. What did they suggest you should do? Hope that after a week of rest you start to feel a bit better

I have to rest to recover from infection/drink a lot then he has given me a syringe to breathe into when I feel an attack coming on apparently this would send a signal for the heart to regain it's normal rhythm. Horrendous wouldn't wish it on anyone. Am very bored resting but it was nice to be able to write two nsd in the book!

I've been in batch cooking purgatory today and now I've been set free it's going to take me all night to catch up on the thread!!!

Today I've made - a quadruple portion of Jack's kidney bean burgers, a 'made up soup' with celery, carrot, leeks, squash, coriander and coconut milk which has turned out really well and a huge chicken and veg stir-fry.

I've had a NSD and narrowly avoided buying a new mop and bucket! Ours has been used and abused by the builders and the cleaner is due tomorrow; my first instinct was to quickly go and buy a new one but instead I machine washed the mop head and have decided that the big hole in the side of the bucket is not low enough to hamper its use!

Super, sounds hideous. Take it as was as you can until you feel a bit stronger.

I really want to eat my Christmas chocolates but don't want to feel worse so holding off! Thanks hoping it settles down once back into routine

Easy not was!

Does anybody have plans for when the kids and dh go back to school?

Both for staying frugal and for having someone to talk to when everyone is away?

Well we have all got each other on this thread, haven't we, same as before the Christmas holidays? Would you look into some more of the work you found online before, to keep busy? Or why not go out and about photographing? You could do that in the morning, then have your DS back for lunch, and then housework in the afternoon, or the other way around?

Super I hope you feel better!

Ipsos I'm feeling quite flat about the return to normality, especially as we are trying very hard to have a no spend month. I am going to try and be positive and sort out my crafting things and see what I can make from what I have. I've been looking at toys I could make so I will se what fabric I have to see if I can make some things without buying anything. Annoyingly I was given a £50 hobbycraft gift card but I've lost it :/(

Personally, I have some housework and laundry to do and take the tree down in the next three days (have to stretch it out with my condition), back to Pilates tomorrow night, and then start my new part time job on Thursday and Friday. It's an ongoing challenge for me to find the balance between being too busy and not busy enough.

Ipos surely a mixture of both options? Learn not to 'want' excessively but some purchases do make us happy so learn to plan how to buy them. I do try and teach my dc how to look after money but sometimes I think it's just something you have to learn for yourself sadly.

silver give Tesco a call. I always got online vouchers but for some unexplained reason I started getting in store ones. This happened twice and each time the assistant just credited my account with all the points from the vouchers or points equivalent if they were money off so I didn't even need to buy the products to benefit.

I've done lots of cooking today. I need to do a meal plan for next week so I'm ready to shop on Friday.

Welcome back returners! I've only just got here, something about the start of the year clearly.

This thread is going to get me in trouble. Only found it 20 mins ago but haven't looked up from my phone since! Scrolling through... Some fab reading. Fab ideas.

Can I join!? I want to clear one of our credit cards, and have xmas sorted before November so my last pay checks of the year are not flitted away on presents.

Of course you can join carbcraver. Welcome.

515 messages on this thread already. Won't be long til we need another new thread at this rate.

I twitched and went to the shop £7.52 so not a NSD for me. Will be better tomorrow and at least I have stuff for lunch tomorrow now. And cake...

Yes, very true (all of it).

I've got into this incredibly stupid more-or-less-frugaleering actually-shopping dilemma. I wonder if I might tell you about it and maybe you could help me figure out what to do?

I've spent years saving up for a lovely close-up lens for my camera and I just completed the kit last week and it turns out that the magnification is not high enough. Some people on another website have told me that I should sell it and buy a microscope objective (which would cost about the same as the lens would sell for), an adapter for £40, and another smaller lens for £40. They say that that will solve my problem and get me the photo that I want.

The problem is that I have been waiting and longing to have this nice macro lens for so long that I don't want to give it up, even though it doesn't do what I need it to do. And now I'm stuck. I can't take my photo, and I can't give up the lens, and I'm spending countless hours staring stupidly at the internet, when I should be playing with my son.

Does anybody else get in these daft situations, and what do you do?

I'd say spend the money if you have it, sometimes we frugal and save and forget we need to buy the odd thing to make us happy.

I don't really have it unfortunately. I could save it up in two years, but otherwise I have to sell that macro lens. I've tried writing to Canon to see if they have any good ideas.

Ah. That is a problem. So, in two years you can take the photo. What can you do with the current set up? Make the most. Find a new photograph you want to take and need the current lens for?

Just catching up with the thread super sorry about what happened. Panic attacks are horrendous

Super take things easy and look after yourself as much as you can. A full blown panic attack is very scary and you will feel wibbly for a few days.

Lux hope you feel better soon.

Spendy week ending in lunch today with my friend today. At. Last. Bloody in-laws have managed to manipulate H out of pre arranged things for the last 4 years and he knows I have had more than enough. I reminded him last time that if I hadn't gone NC with my family we'd be so busy criss crossing the country to fit everyone in he wouldn't have time for a cup of tea.

Wow, feel better now

Anyway, lunches and dinners with the in-laws then an overnight so DH could relax between journeys, lovely lunch and I spent £13 in SuperDrug, 6 of that is off pocket money for DD1 for make-up.

Can I just share a revelation? Well I'm going to, since it's the middle of the night and I can't sleep anyway.

I was looking at weekly planner things. Because I am not in love with the £4 whiteboard thingy we have. But I have been good and resisted ordering a really nice paper one that is a tenner. I've kept it on the wishlist, so that if it genuinely needs replacing some time then I will get something like that. But only if I need to! I'm going to try and find the other whiteboard pens, if not I can get a set of 4 for less than £1.50.

Previously I would've just thought oh fuck it it's only a tenner, but DUH, that's all adding up isn't it. I can't just randomly spend a tenner on something that we don't actually NEED. All the oh-fuck-its are what make us have no money! FFS why is this news to me ? Oh well better late than never I guess.

It's the same revelation I have about the spar at the end of the road, fuzz.

I've a tendency to think it's only £7 and it's food so it's not like it's being wasted. But it does add up. I'm taking it out of the food budget, rather than the spending money this time. I'm hoping that way the penny will drop when I have to cut back slightly at the end of the week.

Although I suspect that if lidl hadn't run out of bread, fruit, veg and meat, this might still have been a NSD.

Marking place

*fuzz I'm so like this as well.... For us it's all the little bits that adds up not the weekly shopping and the normal bills... But think it takes some time for the mind to change, I think they say a habit takes some time to change to a new habit