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

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread hopefully someone can add some old links?

Thanks Creme

Went to aldi €85. Going to keep all my receipts for a month to see what average is on groceries. Hope to track other spending as well though.

Need to ring sky! Thanks to this thread I renegotiated my contract last yr. Now on lowest pack but still have multi room €15 per month so going to cancel that!

Yep, girlie, we bank at work with HSBC, it's been down part of today too, which has pissed me right off

Busy day Furry!

spotty, they obviously value you there, where you work, well done.

pointless, there's tons of free books on Amazon anyway, all the classics are free, but loads of others.

NSD today, apart from 5p spent when I hoovered it up by accident

Oh, and the cost of antibiotics for he dog, who seems to have something wrong with his paw, but the vets not sure what, not yet paid.

fluffy, I notice that you are brilliant at managing to seek out and using vouchers. Does it take a lot of time? Honest question. I find I am much better at frugaleering when I am not snowed under, but never quite manage to find vouchers, go to specific shops etc even when I am ultra organised. You manage to shop really frugally always. x

Well done Spotty

Hope DDog is okay need

not a good day here. Sainsbo's delivery £52, then I went and bought underwear for DDs. Ended up spending another £53 in Sainsbo's on nix and socks for both, GF cake, taco shells - 2 packs on offer, and chewing gum. Then my cold got the better of me, shouldn't have walked there, so when DD1 asked if we could swing by after school and get Pop Tarts I took the opportunity to get a ready meal. £17 later

I only decided to buy stuff because DH gave DD's lunch money this week, so that left £30 spare

And DH booked airline tickets and didn't use the Nectar card

Oh he will be fine Adora, it's nothing serious, thanks though. I find Sainsbo's insanely expensive, I would rather go to M&S if I am going to spend that sort of money, I don't know how they justify it. EG floor wipes, £1.25 Sains, £1 Morrisons, 65p Aldi!

Need Moneysavingexpert has a section on vouchers, so does my mail.co.uk, and the freestuff sites. It doesn't take long to print them.

Quidco and topcashback do 100% CB on some things and then there's shopitize. You just photograph the recipts then and submit them online. You can use your phone for that. Checkoutsmart works better on phones,it crashes on iPads.

I make lists of what I need and where from. Because I commute I usually pass the supermarket I need. It just means my shopping lists look odd.

Mysupermarket do cashback, if it's on the app under "offers" you can claim it even though you didn't shop through them.

Asda are one to avoid though, they have lists of vouchers they will accept and they insist on checking every single one which takes ages. You feel like a criminal. Even when the voucher states "only valid in asda"

Adora Email the CEO and see if they'll do it as a goodwill gesture. Otherwise yes murder is totally acceptable.

I had a horribly spendy day....

£34.20 for return train ticket to work
£3.50 on stamps needed to send cards
£60 deposit on an initial dentist appointment (sadly no NHS spots available near me), the dentist appointment will be £90 without any work done!

Just about to nip to Tesco express for stir fry veg so I guess another £2 or so.

Good things though: skipped Starbucks for hot choc in a flask, made my own lunch and have chicken stock on the slow cooker which should be ready for cooling and freezing when home

£8.25 repaying h and m account. I did it before Christmas but account number was wrong so got an email asking for payment. Panasonic tell me my microwave is out of warranty so don't care it's melted inside through normal use. Upset by that. They have said I have under loaded it and used it on too dry items. Both rubbish. I know it's four years old but it was £180 and I'd expect ten years from a microwave used a couple of times a week.

That's rubbish what we've had our Panasonic microwave for almost nine years and it was much less than that.

I think we should start a washing machine fund. We've had ours for eight years now so it's not going to last much longer is it?!

I have a household account which is to cover all these things. I am very loath to use it though!

We don't have any savings at all or spare money

Well you won't buy Panasonic again now after that.

Mine did it after 6 months.

Spotty we were in exactly that position and so since we've been doing better I our away a small amount every month for car / white goods / clothes. In the early days I used to have to pinch a bit back but luckily not now. Even a few pounds a month helps or keeping an overdraft / space on a cc. I only have two credit cards these days and they are both clear but I leave them open in case of dire straits.

Bought a pair of boots in monsoon. £79. But online via top cashback. So will get about £4 back.

fluffy I'm quite friendly with one of the checkout assistants in Asda, shd checked mu voucher last week and was very apologetic but she told md they are getting loads of forged formula vouchers and the Asda price guarantee ones so they are being extra fussy.
Going to look for free books for my kindle now...

Spotty my mum's washing machine has lasted her 15 years so far with no repairs!

What I too would expect a microwave to last longer than that too. I have had mine 25 years! I only use it about once a week but I think it has served me well.

Hoovers are the appliance that never last long for me. I don't understand why as it is not as though I am always hoovering.

what was that money still taken before Christmas for h&m acc?

We've all been spendy today
I spent €96 on a Christmas tree!! I lurve it though & our last one had been nibbled by mice looked at led Christmas tree lights and left them in shop just priced them online half the price including delivery

Both today & yesterday I was out all day & debated treating myself to lunch, told myself yesterday I would today but today I made a roast chicken dinner before I left & knew I'd that to look forward to when I came home & just took fruit with me.

Back to work tomorrow

Nsd

Fantasea I just collected my new Hoover on sun, purchased using vouchers from Christmas bonus at work. It's a zanussi which was cheap but had good reviews. We've just got timber floors no carpet so figured it was sufficient. Last one was a dyson - only went well for 6 years & was €€€'s

What I keep meaning to get an account sorted for white goods
Bought dishwasher interest free in December so that's ok I guess

Empty freezer was a failure today, food smelled funky so now stuffing in take away food and spent 12£ buggers all

Nsd since I'm still stuck in the house but ds tablet case came and I've ordered the wrong size so need to order one. Extension lead with separate switches came but paid for that through voucher from surveys so no spend there. Need to get in touch with sky as after the 18th my deal comes off and fibre goes back to full price. Need to phone ee about new contract next week too.

HSBC online banking is working again. I forgot to post this after I tried it again about 6 p.m.

Lilac h and m make you do a bank transfer type payment and I somehow sent it with a totally incorrect account number on it or an old account number. It was a late payment fee I was paying from under paying my bill by £2 some months ago. I'm hoping at some point it'll find its way back to me.

I try very hard to have savings for all the long term thugs. I run my bank account very poorly as I forget to take off all the things still to go out from my available balance, but i do have standing orders straight to my pots.

I'm still doing my penny saving and am doing the weekly one too, I'm stealing from a different saving account to do it this month.

£10 top up groceries including 45p for sparkling water for dry Jan - so much cheaper than wine!

Done a lovely walk during my lunch break (free gym) and saw a kingfisher.

lilac I also have had a dyson in the past which didn't last very long either!