Marvellous Frugaleers - Chatting and saving through November, and into December.

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Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

By popular request - copied from an old thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

orchard.tesco.com/ Sign up to this.

www.topcashback.co.uk/home And this.

www.quidco.com/home/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ditto.

www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

Cag Money saving expert do phone recycling comparisons. Also, packaged bank account fees claim letters.

£112 replacement switches and sockets for the kitchen & utility. I bought rocker switches with "dishwasher" etc printed on them. I think this is very sensible seeing as we have 8 fused units for appliances. Dh thinks it's tacky. How you can accuse a woman with a zebra print pony skin coat of being tacky is beyond me. But my cashback paid for them so I got to choose.

It will stop the "which ones the heater?", "that one, no not that one, the one in the MIDDLE" conversation.

£20 two pairs of M&S pyjamas. 9% cashback.
£52 food but that includes a huge bag of Brazilian coffee beans & washing powder. I'll get £2 back for the milk when quidco gets its act together and gets back online.
£2.80 homebargains.

Cathode I have the smug now, I put our oven racks through the dw every time we use it and wipe it after use. I was determined this oven wasn't going to end up like my previous ovens did

need and girlie haha don't worry! Sorry for being temporarily unhinged. I think I am over sensitive because the house sale fell through and I am desperately unhappy where I live.

Spends today have been rather hideous: but fun
£45 beautiful ankle boots from Debenhams
£37 at Surfdome on ski socks, hoodie and bobble hat.
£21 at Next on DS jogging bottoms & 4 tops.

We are going away in December for Christmas and it'll be bleddy chilly!!

This weekend we plan to go beach and have hot chocs. Then possibly to a pub for cosy beers on Sunday. But that's all. £10 max spend in total.

That's great, Em.

Spends: £3 milk, bread and a 12 pack of Christmas cards.
£10 nails. I absolutely love them!

Love them creme.

Ooh yes, nice nails!

Em we got given one of those terramundi pots by our wedding photographer when we booked him. It says 'honeymoon fund' but as we were only going away for 2 nights in UK (having had DS the wrong side of the blanket ) we didn't bother. Might use the pot though to save for next Christmas. You have inspired me!

Lovely friend paid for lunch because I'm not working (she said I did the same for her once, can't remember but we go back a long way!). Two things were especially good:

• we went to a local pizzeria that I haven't been to for years because I rarely eat out locally and DH doesn't eat cheese. He wasn't there so I got to have pizza. It was soooo yum. Proper handmade crust.

And then I had a lush tiramisu. Cheesy pudding - doing the double!

• DS was as good as gold waiting for his pizza. This was amazing because he doesn't really understand waiting. He also doesn't generally eat food out (except cake) as he is so fussy. And he had lunch before we went because friend was late and he was hungry. But he waited nicely, then was excited about the pizza and ate 3 big bits! It doesn't sound like much but it was a big thrill for me. And friend (who is understanding about ASD) was so surprised and impressed with how well he did. He is my little star.

I am very proud ❤️ and also very pleased that I don't have to think of something exciting to try and feed him tonight

Fancy a nap now.

Show us yer boots Collie (not too fussed about the ski socks )

My oven is a bit wider than average and the racks don't fit in the dishwasher. I am very sad about this

Love the nails!!

Here are my new boots

My Clarks riding boots need to go to the cobblers. So will get them fixed up asap too. the sole is unevenly wearing away. They are about 4 years old though!

I am having Christmas Party outfit issues. I have a Lipsy little black dress but it's sleeveless and I'm struggling to find a coat that doesn't make me look too over dressed. Will a leather style jacket work? My blazers look daft. Usually they suit everything!

I wish I hadn't asked now Collie. I really like them

Are you looking for sobethjbvvyo wear all evening with the dress, or something to 'travel in'? If all evening round a shrug thing work? Maybe chiffon-y or a bit sparkly if the dress /occasion warrants it?

Something to

Must proof read

Oh colie I love those boots.

Dh came back from town with.......no Christmas presents. He did have a coffee and an egg custard tart. And bought himself a new pair of jeans a jumper and a jacket.

Phew Collie can I have a hug?

Just back from dds school Christmas fair, was the usual chaos! Spent nearly a tenner I think, but got some books for that, won some chocolates on the raffle, dd got a new cup from santa plus hotdogs and a cup of tea so quite good value really!

Its freezing here, so heating is on and i'm under a blanket!

Happy weekend!
I was about to report an NSD but remembered we have friends coming round later for a takeaway.
Quiet weekend planned here.

Steeling myself to teach a piano lesson with a neighbour. They've been playing round here anyway (with her brother too) and it's getting irritating frankly :o think of the money Cag, think of the money...

Only read last couple of message but em deep breadths his family his problem!
Introducing dh into the horror that is our Christmas shopping & planning tonight he's not aware yet

Ohmammy I know. His issue. Not my problem. I've explained this many times to him.

He's made pizza. Yum. Butternut squash chorizo and mushroom. Yum.

Catface came in for dinner and when I went to pat her she stood up on her back legs and nuzzles my hand.

Is cat face relaxing a bit now?

SHes found a new sleep spot - under our bed. She sat next to my side of the bed last night after I turned the light off and purred.

Yes she's relaxing. She came out for pats when the feliway diffuser was off. It hasn't been on now for a week.

Tbf there are some £1 Houses in the north but fucking hell you would not would want to live there.
4 bed detached start at £230,000 needing work near us. Keep saving, keep saving life.
£26 on paint.
Em, gotta have a dream.
Sorry about the house collie, it will sell.
I hate it when dh crashes my day off.

Girlie, I've got one of those 4 minute shower timers. When it came I thought " who takes that long in a shower" but I keep trying to beat the bloody thing but have not managed it yet.
Em,I have travelled around Argentina a lot and it is the most amazing place. You gave to go right down to Tierra del Fuego and watch the condors. Learn some Spanish, especially if you are going anywhere near the Falklands ( Malvinas) as they are not to keen on the Brits strangely. But we more or less backpacked a couple of times. And you can get a sort of flight ticket for several internal flights very cheaply if you get it at the same time as your international ticket.
NSD
Well done on your savings jars Cag and Em. I started off saving 50p pieces but I had to use them ( my excuse) as I never seem to have any change for parking. I will get one I have to smash next year.

Annoyed at myself. I spent about £30 in the garden centre yesterday on my credit card (or so I thought). Transferred money from joint ac this morning to pay myself back. Sadly I used my debit card so have put the money in the wrong place!

But it's £30 against cc balance. So not all bad. Down to £267 at the moment. I do have one big spend before the end of the year - gym membership at £423 for 2017. It works out waaaay cheaper to do it this way.

Penny sweep ac is at £131.59. That's from Jan 1st. Will transfer that into my savings savings on Jan 1st 17 and will start again. I quite like having it there and watching it grow.

Love the nails creme

I have been spending

£69 on a Fitbit thanks to a link on the BF thread. Then I went for a walk to ease my back and saw a lovely Osprey bag. Outlet shop with additional discount so a £200 bag cost me £60 these are both things I've been thinking about for a long time.

em remember your words if anyone gets mardy about a lack of gifts. My DH knows I don't get his family's presents but has bought nothing yet, despite telling MIL he's finished his Christmas shopping

Good move with the switches Fluffy

Good weekend all.

Tesco Christmas slots are open for Delivery Saver customers.

We found the main presents for DSCs so very nearly done now. And mum is sorted as she suggested the phone case I was ordering on her behalf anyway. I'm really pleased with how I've done this year, the Caglets will still have plenty to open (some bought from money from mum etc) but it's much less spent and lots of home ed related stuff which I know they'll love but we probably would've got anyway at some point, and practical/necessary stuff like bedding and jumpers.

I've requested payout from Quidco and TCB in vouchers so as to get the bonus on top.

It's really made me stop and think though, about how much I was spending without even thinking for previous Christmases! Like DVDs. We are big big DVD collectors (we still prefer it to downloads/streaming etc and we don't have Sky etc) so there are always DVDs at Christmas. I was thinking about how many I got last year - I remember the Caglets had a pile of 5 each and most of them would've been £7-10 each, as some were very recent releases. That's a heck of a lot of money! Just for DVDs! And yet I just did it without considering the price. But this year I'm avoiding new releases and they've one film each and one documentary each (they've got really into them this year so I santa wants to encourage this), total spend for the four £23ish.

Now if I can only apply that logic to books...

I'm really embarrassed having written all that! Argh. :(

Thanks for the word about the tesco slots cag. I had noted the date down a week too late on my calendar. I've got all my slots booked now.

Most welcome. I'd assumed it'd be 9am or something but my friend mentioned it having seen something on FB. Phew.

I'm not the only one who can't sleep then? Hope you're ok.

About to try and sleep now. Supposed to be having a productive, house-sorting sort of day as DH is off work. Hmm.