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

[fuzzpig]

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

I'm pretty sure council tax is February and March too? Because it all starts again in April.

Need that is really good news..

I am so tired this evening, didnt sleep at all well, so im going to go to bed pretty soon with tea and book,

No one knows what the fk is happening at work , I wish they had told us when they had made some proper decisions , Suppose manager thought it was a kindness, so people can start looking for work, and it was really, but it looks like we will be on tenterhooks until mid Feb now as to whether our jobs will go ( although I know mine is one of those definately on the hit list).

But of course things could change! im just too tired to think about it any more.. One thing I do know though is i need to stay and collect the redundancy /pension I think and decide about looking for work after.. if i was to get another job, (unlikely to be paid at my current level I think) Id get nowt, and i dont want to have to wait for pension (and my additional contribution salary sacrifice fund - the campervan fund) until im 66!

Here you pay Council Tax DD in Jan and get Feb and March off

Hello all! Managed my nsd today and should do tomorrow as well. Im so crazy busy at the moment I hardly have time to post, so sorry if I miss stuff on here.

laska definitely stay and get as much as you can. If you do look for a new job then negotiate the start date with them and your current place to make sure you get the full payout!

It sounds like the waiting is really hard for you all. I have now been involved in so many restructures at work I know what it's like waiting to see whether you are going to fit some where or not. I do feel for you.

Laksa defo hang on for that, the cynic in me thinks they might be hoping some staff jump ship and save them money in pension and redundancies, maybe.

Glad DD had a better day Spotty

Did Chilli for dinner, enough left for 2 more meals as DDs didn't eat much. One has the cold I'm getting rid of, dragged on for two weeks ,and I have half a pack of mince for Spag Bol. Really need to eat the freezer as, fingers crossed, we'll be moving before the end of the month. On that note I have eaten about a week's worth of chocolate today I'm not buying any more

Does everyone get a council tax break? I don't seem to remember this from previous years!

Had quite a productive evening, sorted out some more of dds clothes some of which will go to charity shop and some of which I will try and sell via fb.

Camden glad your dog is feeling better, vets are eye wateringly expensive!

I put the gas oven on low this evening for warmth, am hoping this is a cheaper way to get warmth rather than having the electric heater on? Any clever frugalleers know?

Hi all, another thread so soon! God, my Credit Card statement came today and it was much, much more than I expected it to be!!! So, as of now - being super frugal and reporting on here every day.

I've had a super productive day. Cleared out and organised my wardrobe. Sectioned things off and sorted more for eBay.

All my hangers are facing the back. Once I've worn something it'll go back in with the hanger turned round. So I can see how much of it I actually wear.

Found 4 pairs of slippers. Two have been kept. Ones been washed and listed on eBay. The other binned.

Did a meal plan and a food shop.

Weds- spag Bol
Thurs- salmon and fennel risotto
Fri- pizza
Sat- sausage casserole
Sun- pasta bake
Mon- roast chicken
Tues- nassai goerang

Then weds is Dhs turn to meal plan.

eBay monies have been paid against credit card. Slowly lowering the balance. Only 9 days till payday.

Feeling energised and organised.

Em I am hugely impressed. And inspired. I think I might tackle my clothes tomorrow evening

£1.98 on batteries for moon light
£7.99 for stupid kindle unlimited I don't remember signing up for and I've now cancelled.

We went to next st lunch time to pick up my sale order. DH was angling for lunch out. Nope. Not on my watch. Hime for sandwiches.

Had a slimming world friendly lasagne for dinner but i cooked the sauce too long and it was a bit dry. I was going to start skinning world but I'm not sure it's for me. I think it'll cost me a fortune!

Yesterday £44 in Tesco, for lunches plus stir fry and fajita ingredients, plus a lunch bag and plate/bowl/cup set for DD2 to give her friend for a birthday present. Need something else to go with it.

£44 on Amazon buying 2 rapid charging plugs and 2 leads for iPads. Chargers seem to disappear here. I have now written names on each one and told everyone they cannot use/borrow anyone else's.

Went out for dinner last night, £3 on Oyster for bus fares, DH paid for dinner.

Today £40 on diesel, 20p to fill the tyre on my car with air. Engine warning light came on today, need to call the dealer tomorrow. Fortunately work will pay if it needs fixing.

£24.75 at Slimming world for new 6week membership (pay for 5 weeks, get a week free), £1 on earlier tickets. £5.19 on McDonalds for supper.

Camden good news about your dog :) I love Camden BTW, haven't been there at all since having DCs! Would love to take my DSDs though, they are 17 and I reckon they'd love shopping there.

Haven't put in all spends to my spreadsheet yet so will post them later.

Aptly named 'painsomnia' keeping me awake tonight, determined not to do any online shopping though! I'm going to make a shortlist of games to look out for - assuming I'm well enough, we'll be going to the nearby town next week and will visit the game shop and hopefully be able to exchange the duplicate presents - I want to have a plan so we don't just decide on the spot and get something not so good.

I am also going to write some ideas for a meal plan, thinking maybe having a few standards every week to keep things simple/cheap, but don't want to feel frustrated with the repetitiveness so maybe have space for DCs to request something each week? Although for DS that will mean macaroni cheese every week without fail :o I don't know, I have tried so many times to do a proper plan that works long term but it always goes wrong :(

Oh but on a positive note (am a bit about my previous whinge sorry) I did manage to do a frugal dinner earlier. On a day like this (pain wise) I'd normally wait for DH to get home (later than is ideal for the DCs to eat really) so he could do dinner, or ask him to pick up something easy or a takeaway or something. But I did actually manage to cobble together leftovers and stuff in the fridge to make a very quick and healthy meal.

I'm going to attempt sleep again now but I have thought more about meal plans and written some lists, hopefully will feel better able to do more in the daytime. We've still got some stuff in the fridge and freezer I want to use up (including the tortellini since I forgot to eat anything myself this evening), hoping we can do that this week, at the weekend we are at mum's and then I'm planning to do a shop for Monday morning to feed us for the week, including DH lunches and DCs' snacks etc so we don't have to pick up extra expensive stuff elsewhere, and also to start a sensible amount of batch cooking assuming the pots have arrived to freeze them.

:)

Em you remind me of myself pre-children. I was always dashing around perfecting things. Enjoy the time while you have it. It's very different after kids come along. Sort of like switching from swimming Olympic front crawl to treading water.

I made a definite breakthrough in frugality today in dealing with the cold. Our house was really very very cold and the heating wasn't having much effect. I spent the day in the kitchen doing batch cooking and it meant I had a much warmer day and the heat seemed to take the chill off the whole house later. I reckon that on really chilly days, that might be the thing to do here.

I've been looking into getting a woodburning stove fitted again but the fitters tell me that it's really not okay to burn a lot of paper and cardboard in a woodburning stove, as the ash that would be generated would fluff up the flue and block it. We don't really have access to wood supplies so it doesn't make sense to fit a stove unless we can use it to burn paper and cardboard. Do you think that means that it doesn't make sense to fit a stove?

I'm wondering whether it would make more sense just to have an electric heater in the living room to take the chill off in really cold weather and think about other ways to cut our heating bills further down the line.

Any thoughts very much appreciated.

NSD yesterday. :)

What I found sw very expensive with all the fruit buying.
Fuzz carry on we are listening and well done on your efforts
Laska keep taking the pay cheques and hang in there.
Adora is this your last move now?
Ipsos I don't have one so not sure
NSD planned today

I faced reality and paid what I could off my credit card. I checked my bank balance at the end of last month and it was pitiful so paid £1,016 which, with the automatic payment means I paid off £1,100, which will be less than went on it. I need to calm down the spending and start clearing the Christmas over spend.

I will shortly need to buy flights to Spain for the summer, probably around £1,000; still owe DS £200 and mum £1,000. I am considering transferring the credit card balance just to avoid more interest on it, but then I need to be disciplined to clear ASAP, that kind of transferring and paying the minimum was what got me into trouble in the first place.

What I am finding buying lots of fruit for Slimming world expensive, but I am buying fewer ready meals and cooking more from scratch so I think it is less damaging than it could be. I had a bad week this week, put on 3lb, but I maintained over Christmas and New Year. Dinner out 4days in a row will do that for you. I am trying to use defrosted berries more for breakfasts as they are cheaper than fresh soft fruits, but not as nice.

Looking forward to 2 months of no council tax, extra £264 a month

Em that sounds super organised, well done. I am currently working my way round the kitchen doing a cupboard a day. Did the cat cupboard yesterday, frightening amount of out of date cat medicines that cost ££ and were never used up.
Hope you are in less pain today fuzz and that you got some sleep.
Have no idea what to do with DD all day today, weather forecast not great. Might risk painting!!

Today is one of those days where I look at myself in the mirror and think "WTF happened to you!" really feeling the urge to have a haircut and buy new clothes. But a haircut here is £35! So screw that.

NSD though! Cannot wait for payday. We're going out for hot chocolates on the beach on payday to celebrate making it through the month.

I hate January! I quite like February

what and audit I've heard a few bad reports on sw and the amount of fruit damaging people's teeth but they are one of my competitors so I'm not going to like them anyhow

audit if you're paying for flights for summer on credit card now are you saving anything due to paying interest?

I'm due tax back this month and it's going straight off my credit cards. Both have similar interest so I think I'm just going to pay it off the smaller one to have rid of that one earlier. The balance is currently €1440 this would reduce it to €440 and then I'll set up a standing order of €50 per week to clear it by end of March. I think for me this is better than splitting it between the two cards, other has a balance of almost €2k which is the limit. wwyd?

collie could you get a deal on a haircut? I found the €80 I spent in Penneys before Christmas on a few bits did wonders for my confidence as I bought bits that could be mixed and matched and everything is fresh and new.

Just checking in, we booked our holiday £235 for a long weekend in haven, looking forward to it so much though, and pulled the money from savings which is always a bonus!

Morning. Was running late this morning as my early wakers didn't wake until gone seven!

Anyway I'm home for just over an hour before I had to get ds from pre school early and go to a hospital appt. I only have enough change for one hours parking so fingers crossed. Need petrol too.

Going to try and do as much housework as I can in the next hour or so. I've left my shoes on as it stops me relaxing

I haven't had my hair cut for over two years but dh got me a voucher for Christmas