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

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread hopefully someone can add some old links?

Hello all, welcome returnees and newbies

Ipsos have you heard of muscle foods? Its a website that specialises in high quality but reasonable priced meat originally aimed at men who were into body building! However I think a lot of people now use it as it works out a cheap way to buy meat in bulk. If you have the freezer space might be worth looking in to.

Spent £11 in little Tescos on the way home on some supplies for dinner, dd is coming home in a min from her Grandads house so wanted to have something nice in to eat.

When I got in from work the fire alarm was going off no idea why, the flats not on fire!! Its stopped now but thinking that must have been driving the neighbours mad

Went for a long trudge in the forest, ds1 who is 2.5 walked nearly 6km. Moaned a bit at points but he did it! £2.30 for parking as we didn't renew our parking pass.

DH has gone to Costco that'll be £50. I'm trying to decide whether to take a couple of new oven trays out of my sainsvury shop.

I have two birthdays coming up, hoping I can cover them in the sales.

Can anyone talk to me about ynab. Do I need it? Will it help me stick to a budget? I rarely turn on my MacBook. I need to find some way of being accountable and tightening everything up.

Anyone doing a sun holiday? We'd like a week away somewhere but I'm not sure we have any budget. We need to work out all the things we want to do this year and what they'll cost.

need we have a barbecue in the summer with lots of people invited and so we buy meat & bread rolls, asking the guests to bring a salad and/or dessert. Nobody has ever objected and it usually causes a bit of interest with people and gets recipe swapping going on too!
Great to see returners and newbies.
I'm utterly bored of being stuck at home on my own now, but have rung in sick again for tomorrow as I know I need the time to get properly better. In previous years I've soldiered on but it hasn't done me any good in the long run. My mum has invited me round for tea tomorrow night as dh won't be back til late with the dc so that'll be good. On the plus side it means I haven't spent anything, can't say the same for dh though, hopefully he won't have spent too much.
NYE will be spent at a party at the cricket club which will be good as all we need to take is one savoury and one sweet dish for a Jacobs join meal.

Hi all

I followed this thread religiously and did post 2 years ago (a message to you Rudie, oh for fox sake etc) fell off the band wagon big time, I did save up and get my VW Beetle that I wanted, it took nearly a year :)
So if I promise to behave (not got much choice) would you good people of Mumsnet allow me back on this thread....please???

£62.00 in Morrisons food shop for week (hopefully week and half)
Baking up flap jack from a box of special K cereal, dates and bananas in honey all found in food cupboard.. need using up..
£10.00 new double duvet cover (had a £5.00 voucher)
£20.00 new toilet seat :( Rubbish but necessary...
Hoping for three NSD at least now!!
Good luck to everyone else, really want to ring the changes for 2016...
zero food waste...
C25K and Tiffany Rothe free work outs (rather than Gym)
learning welsh via the library....
no buying clothes for a year :0
its a good job I love a challenge...

bananas & half a jar of honey...
I have also just done 8 weeks no sugar before christmas, will be starting that again for 2016...

Hi lots of new people. Nsd today but quarter of a tank of fuel visiting my aunt.

Rooted through the fridge as meal plan went array and veg is going off. Blanched sprouts for the freezer and carrots and parsnip ready for soup. The fluffy veg went out and the rest chopped up for tea accompaniments

SfaOkaySuperFurryAnimals wowzers! Welcome back. I remember the VW fund. so glad you made it.

Had to do a top up shop and buy cat litter. So it was spendier than I would have liked. Oh well.

My Next stuff has arrived and I'm more than chuffed. I almost bought this stuff full price and have saved a grand total of £95 by waiting for the sale. Wow! Not a bad saving for stuff that was needed anyway. DS shouldnt need many if any new clothes or shoes in 2016. Absolutely thrilled!

NSD here. And I have tidied up the accounts, paid everything in advance (like the £4.03 amazon), so I can start the NY with nothing in red.
My bras have arrived, one will go back.

So, my NY challenge is no clothes for a year, save £10000 till december 2016, no holiday this summer. Wish me luck.

mummystar I've just found a free app for the envelopes method, it's very easy to use. I think it will work for me. It's called simple budget.

Thanks Girlfriend I look at that. I bought a couple of big bags of rice from amazon today. That's £15 for 5kg instead of £25 in normal sized bags, so I'm putting my best food forward.

Jees - our nearest town in on the news now. The bridge has just collapsed in town. The area is being evacuated. And another storm on it's way. It's dreadful here, it really is.

needastrongone poor poor people! We were affected in 2012, I know how that feels!

Another goal for me to try again is to try to think of meals that I can make, that two or more of us will eat at the same time. I was starting to get the knack of that last year and then I forgot.

I've discovered that all three of us will eat:

• salmon fishcakes
• Roast chicken
• rice flavoured with chorizo
• jacket potatoes
• home made oven chips
• salmon fillet
• cheese!

ds and dh will both eat omelettes, scrambled eggs, sausages, potato waffles and few other things.

and ds and I will both eat sardines fish cakes, which is very handy for getting vitamin D.

I should keep working on that.

Need that doesn't sound like a cheering situation. What a time you are having this Christmas. I hope when all goes quiet again and the sun comes out, that you can have a bit of a knees up and a well deserved bit of fun. We're crossing our fingers here for that next storm taking a sharp left turn before it reaches you.

Oh no need so close to home.

We've just returned from a long day out (avoiding the builders!) £5.50 ikea brekky for the three of us, £30.50 on a lovely pizza lunch out with friends and 'free' visit to local attraction we have annual passes to. £10 parking (why is it so expensive???!!!)

Frugal wins: I drank free tap water with lunch!

Thanks ipsos and guns, it's going to hit us tomorrow morning, by the look of the forecast. The bridge collapsing has shaken me up somewhat to be honest. DD's friend has been evacuated, I've messaged that they can come here (if they can get to us), but I think they will go to family.

At least that might reduce your work load, if you can cook meals for all of you guys, with a bit of planning. Can you combine the ingredients you mention, say chicken and chorizo casserole etc?

That's a big savings target guns, is that for anything specific? We are here to help anyway. And keep you on the straight and narrow..!

Hi again, superfurry

Glad you are pleased with the Next haul Collie, I used to stock up too. My DC are no longer interested in Next now, but it was brilliant for us at the time.

Gosh. I had forgotten how fast this thread moves! I had a nsd today and dh only spent on some gluten free pizza bases which he covered in leftovers we had in the fridge for dinner.

I am sorry you are suffering ti ipsos. It is a pain. I'm afraid I refuse to cook multiple different meals so dh and dd just have to live with no onions and garlic in their food. My dh is also a pretty fussy eater and dd can't eat oats so it does get tricky sometimes working out who will eat what when. Happy to share recipes if you want. We eat a lot of stirfry, roasts, meat and potatoes, salads, occasionally gluten free pasta.

On the bright side I have saved a fortune on eating out and getting takeaways as it is almost impossible to buy anything I can eat out.

Good luck there need. I suppose it would be tempting to up-sticks and go on holiday until it's all over but you'll want to stay and watch over your house will you? Gosh, what a thing.

Yes I do combine the chicken and chorizo casserole for dh and ds. My taste buds are a bit wonky and not ready for that heady combination yet, but soon I hope. :-) (My taste buds went all wonky when ds weaned. I suppose it a hormone thing.)

Where do your dcs like now need? I suppose that will be us in a few years.

Veg box was waiting outside my front door today. Not worth the £17 I spent in it. Lesson learned.

Dinner made with enough left over for two lunch boxes.

Did spend £33 (actual cash money dollar) on a dog jumper from joules. It's yellow. Had a daschhund on it. Which is wearing a jumper. Best thing ever!!

Renewed my gym membership might have mentioned on earlier pages and have remembered to cancel old direct debit this time.

Talking to colleague today. She's also money saving/eating healthy/drinking more water so she is my "work team" dh is "home team"

Tomorrow's dinner is marinating.

need stay safe warm and dry. Are you at risk of flooding? I hope not. But if you are I hope you've tried to make it as "Undamaging" as possible (carpets up, valuables upstairs etc) and I hope you're insured.

Just seen on the news that some people in York have only just realised they're not insured. So sad. but a bit silly

I used to leave near a river and it was impossible to get insured. A lot of companies just wouldn't touch us and those that would were prohibitively expensive. Thankfully we lived in a first floor flat on the higher side of the river so when it flooded its banks a couple of years ago we were OK. We live on a hill now I'm glad to say.

Anyway, I can really understand why a lot of people on flood plains don't have insurance. It's a scandal, if you are poor you are priced out and then get blamed for not being prepared.

Oh Need.

I spent £14 on a top and a jumper in the Next sale (would have been £28.50 full price), £35 on gas for this week and next, £7 bus fare, 70p on a loaf, and £12.65 on lunch with my friend, including dessert and two lattes.

Welcome to all newbies and returners.

I want to stay and help, that's my main emotion I think ipsos. It's a generally close knit community round these parts. It hurts that these folk are struggling, they are 'our' folk, if that makes sense?

The DC are really good to be fair. They have tons of mates that will only wear designer gear and spend ages preening. DD likes to wear make up, but minimally and 'au natural' and DS will wear the same sweatshirt for a week if I don't physically take it off him..... Neither are mad for designer clothes. DD loves Doc Martins and was really chuffed with a Jack Wills shirt I bought her, everything else is Primark. Similar DS but change Docs for Vans!

No, I think the worst we will get is the garage, that flooded badly last year, but that was in the main due to incorrect drainage when the property was built, which has now been rectified. I will remain safe, and dry.

What was in the veg box then em? Not good? I have 2 similar jumpers from Joules, one with a fox, one with a dog, I wear them loads. They wash well. Both bought in the sale too.