We are Resolutely Frugal! Frugaleers continuing their new frugal year. All welcome!

[fuzzpig]

Hello! I hope nobody minds me starting the new thread :o

pointless I looked up your Jamie Oliver recipe they look fabulous. I have almost everything in except for feta cheese which I don't really like, I could use goats cheese couldn't I?

fantasea I often freeze leftovers but often forget about them, must make this part of my new years resolution!

ipsos it did surprised me too when I bought some from Asda to make meatballs while ago but the packet we had was full of grisly bits so I haven't bought it again. Today I used turkey mince I got from Lidl during the half price weekend and added sausage meat out of couple pork sausages. Our dc eat anything made with mince of any kind Luckily I can buy big packs of mince from butchers at Trago which usually works out around £2 at kg. Meat is expensive but it's nearly impossible to get my dh to have meat free meal

Ah I've just seen your post Laska - so sorry, it's not anything I signed up to to get this work, it was sheer dumb luck :( basically it was somebody my mum knew through work, and I happened to be there when she'd brought the manuscript and pictures in to show her, and I offered to type it (cheaper than the printing companies who were fleecing her).

I would really love to do other stuff like this though, and will look when this work is coming to an end, though in the meantime I may try Upwork etc too (thank you to those who have linked etc!). Needless to say if I find anything new I will let you know. Typing, data entry etc gets a bad rep on some threads I've read, and admittedly it's not the best paid, but I genuinely enjoy it and it's easy to do around the DCs.

Spends - Sunday
£6.30 last bit of my Christmas money (I'm feeling quite content as it worked out at £100.07 total for 9 lovely things :))
£11.50 nature centre cafe/shop etc
£28.93 command strips, CD wallet book thingy and tupperware BUT I had £23.98 on giftcard so it wasn't actually that much.

Monday
£7.60 bus fares
£9.30 various food in various shops...

Annoyed this morning as bus didn't show up so we got a taxi in order to be on time. So travel was more expensive today, but the thing we were travelling to was a home ed workshop making pizza! It was free and the DCs shared with me so we all had a free lunch. So I feel it balances out :o

I also got some Boots own brand shampoo and conditioner today. I've been sticking with Herbal Essences for years out of brand loyalty, and DCs have Loreal Kids conditioner for the same reason, and I realised that's a bit silly when I could get much cheaper (I'm not ditching the Vosene shampoo/spray I use on the DCs though, it has been great for lice prevention - they only got them when I stopped using it... and DH got 12 bottles of the spray for a couple of quid recently when they were discontinued :o) so I'll give that a try.

I generally pride myself on not using much branded stuff but actually when I think about it I shouldn't be so smug, I have a long way to go!

£10 on nails (gel polish) and £5 for an eyebrow wax AND it only took about half an hour for both!

Spotty, I hope your little girl had a better lunch time today.

Thanks creme. Apparently the head came and spoke to her and said the dinner lady was sorry. I feel pretty confident it won't happen again and dd is happy. If it does happen again then they will know about it but I'm pleased they sorted it without me really having to get involved which I suppose is part of dd growing up. All I put in the note to her class teacher was 'dd is upset about something which happened at lunch would you mind having a word with her please'. Anyway good outcome

Lilac sorry only just catching up on thread, in answer to your question basically the reason we only have a little heater downstairs is because this house is a cheap new build (well, about 10 years old now I guess!) with storage heaters in the living room. They are useless (and the air they blew out always made me and DS ill due to our dodgy airway issues) so we just don't bother with them anymore. We have double glazing throughout so it's not that bad really! Upstairs they are normal electric heaters so that's all good. :)

£34 in coop for dinners for this week. Listed a few more items on eBay. Been to the gym (7th time this year so an chipping away at my membership only 43 more times this year)

reading need's london thread at the moment. Going there at end of month.

Trying to figure out whether we'd be better getting a groupon for a meal or two or is it worse to tie ourselves to being certain place a certain day. I'd quite like to do one of the posh restaurants, have money saved for this holiday too

fuzz that makes sense so, do ye have an open fire as well or do ye just do without heating downstairs?

spotty great that your dd was happy today and that the school dealt with the situation well

After reading your posts about how you spent your Christmas money fuzz I'm determined that next year mine is going to be spent more wisely

I'm still catching up (thread-hosting fail sorry! Although it seems an especially post-filled day today?! :o) need YAY I am so happy for you, what a relief. Collie great news about the freelancing money. Bugger about the passports though What - that's the kind of thing that happens to us all the time, due to the chaos we live in. Having a messy house costs us a fortune I'm sure but have I got the energy to sort it, nooooo...

lilac goats cheese would be fine. I always find there's some mixture left over, it makes a lovely veggie pate on toast!
Just spent Boots points on moisturizer.

No fire here (amazingly the DCs have never questioned how Santa visits?! :o) so just the heater downstairs.

TBF most people would probably be at what I spent my gift money on but hey I'm a geek, weird stuff makes me happy :o

(I mean the little electric plug in one we got, it stays in the living room)

Spotty that's a great result for your DD, good idea putting a note in!

I am really hungry for chickpeas and stuff now. I wish my DCs would eat food like that!

Haven't even thought of what to do for dinner tonight. Fail. We have some tortellini in the fridge, my mum brought it over ages ago - it says store in a cool dry place so must be the dried version, but it'll be ok having been in the fridge instead right?

I'm sure the tortellini will be fine, Fuzz.

Glad to hear it seems to have been taken seriously, Spotty. Good result.

Thanks all, you lot are lovely people. This is a lovely supportive thread too.

I am loving the sound of the Jamie Oliver parcels pointless, DD would love these too.

Spotty Definitely ok to freeze the chicken once cooked.

collie, brilliant news about the extra money.

lila It's a great thread isn't it, the London one. I am so glad it's being useful.

fuzz I have found some great supermarket brand shampoo/conditioners and some not to great. Pot luck. I found some Argan oil ones for £1 each in Home Bargains, I alternate using these with an expensive brand, as my hair can be very coarse/brittle.

In addition to hair £60 on petrol, I was absolutely on empty, so that's a full tank.

I don't know why this has occurred to me to post, but I was chatting with my friend and neighbour the other day. Check your home insurance, often there's a clause to insist the alarm is serviced annually, fairly sure no one does in reality, but it would be a reason to decline a claim surely? I renewed our home insurance without an alarm for this reason just recently. Same for the boiler I would imagine. Might be worth checking folks.

Nsd.
Bad luck about the passport, that would so happen to me too.

Apparently you can get a santa key to leave out for houses with no chimneys, my dd's friend has it as her brother was afraid of Santa coming down the chimney but no problem with him letting himself in through the front door

Not frugal news but my au pair has told us she'd love to stay with us for a few years

Hi all,

Need fantastic news so pleased for you all!

Fuzz I use the Alberto Balsam shampoos and conditioner on dd, they are usually £1 a bottle (sometimes on offer for 4 for £3) and smell amaaaaaazing! The tea tree one is reportedly good for nit deterrent as well, funnily enough also have some of the Argan oil shampoo and conditioner like Need found it for £1 and its as good as anything else for my thick frizzy hair!! Its also worth picking up Tresemme when its on offer as the bigger bottles last forever.

LSD £1.50 ish on 4 pints of milk, got Morrisons delivery coming in the morning, am quite shocked at how much food we have eaten in a week actually! Think dd must be growing or have hollow legs

Felt knackered today, think its the cold weather - I want to hibernate!!

Need Fantastic news, you must all be over the moon.

Laska I'm really sorry, I hope you get a good payout if it comes to pass.

NSD.

need my house insurance requires the alarm to be serviced, this gives a discount on the home insurance but in order to qualify it has to be a particular standard of alarm fitted by a certified company. Other good things to check are whether you're covered if you leave keys in your window locks.and whether you're covered if you don't put your alarm on at night

Hi everyone- hope that his week is going frugally well so far !

I joined this thread at the weekend because our very old dog was staying in the vets ( expensive) and I have been trying to keep up with it.

Dog is home now, great news, but the bill was so we are very short this month.

I've loved reading all the meal plans they have been ever so helpful.

I was worried about having enough in the bank account to pay the council tax but a work colleague reminded me that we do t pay it in Jan & Feb

My aim Is to spend no more than £40 between now and payday 27th. I'll find this tricky because I'm a bit of a shopper, I've started off by avoiding the shops.

need wonderful news!! and also to spotty and your dd on sorting out school dinner! £7 on lunch and bought friend coffee.

great news need :) and good on the school dinner front noone should be forced to eat everything

The beginning of the year has been a strange one
1st £3 calendar, £1 sugar £10 elec £5 gas
2nd nsd
3rd nsd
4th nsd
5th nsd
6th nsd
7th nsd
8th £20 school trip deposit
9th nsd
10th nsd
11th £19 phone, £25 tv £10 account fee
12th £7 xbox download - out of ds christmas money but goes out of my bank.

So many no spend days due to being ill and not being able to leave the house and dp doing the grocery shopping but ive got barely anything left in my account
so it shows me that had i been well and up and about this last two weeks i would of been skint! this is what i am hoping to change by becoming more frugal

Good news about the dog Camden, I have two young ones. I am glad I insured them, especially ddog1, he would have cost a fortune otherwise! Just check council tax, I thought it was February and March, but I might be wrong.

Wolf Thing is, my insurance was circa £230. Having the alarm (which is always on anyway) serviced would cost £90 round here, I just dropped this from the insurance. Plus, I have teens, who don't always remember to set it when they go out. Agree about keys in locks, and windows locked anyway etc.

Girlie Thanks. It astounds me how much food we consume too!

lila That's great news about the au pair. Better than having the constant annual change and finding another you like and trust.

Thanks need we had our alarm disconnected as it was ancient, kept going off and annoying the neighbours. I've never mentioned this fact to my insurance company! Will be checking tomorrow.
Jamie Oliver parcels were lovely and some left for lunch tomorrow.