Festive Frugaleers - Chatting and saving through Christmas.

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Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

By popular request - copied from an old thread grin

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.

I've only ever been to the January sales once and it was so crowded it was scary. I went with a friend and we went home after an hour. Haven't been brave enough since.
But I do want towels. Preferably from JL or M&S. But DP not likely to co operate. May wait til he goes home next week and go on my own.
Just had cake and mince pies for tea as cba cooking. Knackered.

Oh nooooo there's no stuffing left! I was looking forward to the leftover sandwich. I am just cooking some pigs in blankets instead. Part baked roll, mayo on one side and cranberry sauce on the other. Le yum

Yum Cag!

Thanks north it's six years old so not that old but still. It doesn't help that Dh is a worrier!

Our oven doesn't seem to be heating properly ffs

FOUR turkeys?? I hope she has a big freezer!
Family party was great, DD had a ball with her cousins. Very tired now so going to eat nice cheese and watch tv.

cag that sounds amazing.

Am pleased with my shopping haul. Most needed. Some wanted but good prices.

Dh made soup. So I've had very decadent soup and prosecco in/on bed for dinner. With cheese scones. Watching Netflix. I love not working and it being holiday time.

Im going to spend the rest of my time off sorting out 2017. How to make myself look fab be fab and act fab.

Read something earlier re repaying debts. Apparently a "payment" a day is a thing. May give that a try to smash my credit card down.

Hi all just catching up! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, we are still at my mums, have had a good time and done the usual over indulging in food!!

Dd has done well, was pleased with all her presents I think I managed a NSD Christmas day and Boxing day. Have worked ystd and today, today had to get petrol and bread £47.

Need to stop eating now as all my clothes are feeling very tight oh and the charm bracelet turned up it was at mums all the time!! Apparently I gave it to her when we moved house as was worried about losing it there is no hope for me!! Have told mum to keep it here as I can't cope with the responsibility

New Year's Resolutions!

I haven't bothered for a while but I feel like I'm starting to be in a better frame of mind lately.

So my first one is:

Look for children's clothes in charity shops whenever I can. Still being selective about what I buy (especially as the Caglets are older now and have more set tastes, and I am more aware of DD's sensory issues now!) but making the most of the opportunity when I get it - I'd really like to NOT have to go and update their wardrobes in one go any more

mammy I think it was you who recommended cheeky wipes. I've just bought some. Have one pack of makeup wipes left and a lot of cleanser. £13.99 for 25 wipes on Amazon. Yippee.

Need That's interesting about the bird seeds. My MIL gives very special seeds to hers too. I just have what was cheap in the garden centre and get very few birds. I think I may need to adjust up a bit.

Thanks also for the word on the sale. We need duvets and pillows, so I shall have a think about that.

Fluffy Thanks for the tips on the sale. I thought there was probably something I was meant to be doing. I wonder what that lady is going to do with four turkeys? Maybe she has a massive freezer?

I'm going to be off to the GP tomorrow I reckon. Ds has a rotten bad cough and has been on calpol round the clock nearly for days. The ped said we should take him to the gp on day 5 of each infection to be checked in case there was anything we should be seeing. So we will meet our new GP tomorrow if we are lucky and he has an appt.

Does anybody know if "special buy" in John Lewis means that the item was bought in cheap purposely so that it could be sold cheap in the sale? I have some idea that it means that the line would not have been sold there normally.

Went out today as just needed to get out. £5 odd spent in coffee shop.

Thats exactly what special buy is, I avoid anything JL mark as special buy.

DM worked in house of Fraser in the 60's and it went on then too.

Yep em that was me I love cheeky wipes! Hope you do too

Girlie that's brilliant news about bracelet

Being the argumentative twat that I am, I would counter Fluffy's comment about the 'special buy' offers at JL by stating that we quite regularly buy specific items of stock that our own suppliers have put on special. We then will contact our customers that use that part/item/product, and pass a fair chunk of the discount on. They get something they use a lot cheaper, we make more money. The item is the same.

I imagine the same JL guarantees apply. I will be emailing the CEO if anything goes wrong with my towels anyway!!

To be fair to JL and M&S, both sale items are being delivered today, great service over the festive period.

Hooray for the bracelet Girlie.

Today is top up of fruit only. And order pork pies for NYE party, we are doing pie and peas.

You're not a twat need.

I need towels too, mine are literally falling apart but I want hamman towels because I still haven't got a tumble dryer and even when I have I don't want it on for hours.

Dh still asks if we can bin the spin dryer eventually but it's all part of my cunning tumble dryer plan.

Life will be so much better when I can just chuck everything in a drier.

I need to eat some veg. May have scrambled eggs with spinach for breakfast.

Today I think we're going for a walk. Dh wants to go to the cinema but I'm not bothered.

Fluffy tumble dryer ruins your clothes & increases your electricity bill!!
A few months ago dh installed an outdoor covered line & it hasn't rained much either so we've used normal outdoor line a lot too, just used dryer to finish off things so 20 mins instead of 120 & combined with switching electric providers our bill is €60 less than same time last year!
However it is really nice for towels!!

I'm going to save for a Miele heat pump one, they only cost £20 a year to run & I think using the spin dryer before each use will get it lower than that because it squeezes an extra pint of water out of the load. A basic Miele should work better than a top of the range zanussi etc.

I wanted a gas powered one because they cost even less to run but Dh is uneasy about it for some reason. Plus they have to be vented and I don't think he fancied drilling through our walls, some people have no sense of adventure

All of dhs clothes shrink according to him . I think it's his sausage roll consumption.

I'm going to wait for Black Friday, marks electrical had some brilliant deals but I had no money.

I use my tumbly to finish things off. And for small things. Socks tea towels etc.

I like to fluff up towels in there too.

Other than that it sits and waits.

I was a devil for using dryer up to this year, both washing machine & dryer are in shed so easy to transfer from one to the other! Now it's nearly a sign of weakness to use it. We did this weekend because washing machine had a blocked filter & things built up on us!

Hear you on the healthy food em I'd porridge yesterday surrounded by everyone else having a fry up.
Today i want to go back to my Unislim class.
I'd porridge pancakes for breakfast dd had regular pancakes with Nutella & coco pops inside, ds had cold dominos dh is gone back to work.

Nooo I love my tumble dryer ❤️ it's a heat pump condenser and it's so efficient. Makes a massive difference to every day life for me

Scrambled eggs with spinach and spring onions on whole wheat unbuttered toast with a green tea and a pint of water. I can feel the health and the vitamins already

Have resisted the chocolate sourdough for now.

I tried getting up early this morning. When I go back to work I've decided I'll get up to feed catface (6am) then stay up. No slinking back to bed. This in theory should give me an extra hour to play with. Today I got up opened the curtains in all rooms and went back to bed.

Ooh get you health nut, I'm off to pour a pint of water now, while vegging on couch watching emmerdale. Then I'm going to make a start on the house. Getting dressed can wait