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.

Em I got funny looks from lots of people when I kept my belly button piercing in while pregnant & had to take it out to give birth both times. Even from people who previously had it pierced they took it out when pregnant.

I fought hard for permission to pierce when I was a teenager & I intend having it until old age!

Morning all, signing in from a foggy Devon.
seacow that's great news, Sil is having that test and a scan on Friday
cath hope you get to ds' nativity. Are you managing to incorporate some activity/exercise into your daily routine? It can be just as important as the rest.
cag how lovely to have a small windfall. It sounds like you will use it wisely
We had a good journey down on Friday night, then took breakfast round to sil and had lots of nephew cuddle time. In the afternoon dh & ds went to the football, I went to town & met up with a friend who had come up on the train from Cornwall. We had a lovely afternoon together, it's unusual for us to have time together just the two of us so was really good. Today will be chilled, maybe a walk when the fog clears, then lunch out at the local pub. Planning to set off home at 5 so should be home for 10ish all being well. Spends wise it has been okay so far and I think mil will pay for lunch so the budget will be relatively unscathed.

Lovely news seacow, you can relax a bit now.

all Excellent idea re the isa. Fb might work for your tutoring, a nail tech I met put a before & after photo of a new nail strengthener on Fb and got four new bookings out of it. That picture probably netted her over £100.

I find micromanaging money effective. I'm a fritterer by nature.

My tsb switch incentive came through so I'm looking at wanky farrow and ball paint for the hall and landing. Dh has told me to do what I like. Dangerous.

Has anyone ordered from the crafty giraffe website?

fluffy I painted our whole flat with wanky f&b paint... skimming stone, pavilion blue,baby elephant (I think) and some other one.

It is foggy as f here. We live in a valley. And I can't see the housing estate (about a 10 minute walk from here). It must be really bad elsewhere.

My new book arrived yesterday. 52 small changes. I'm staring now. Week 1 - drink more water. One small change a week. There is a section re finances and one re clutter. (Ironically the book wasn't available via kindle so I have added more clutter...)

Elephants breath? I have that one in the kitchen. When you get your house use floetrol mixed in with the paint. It stops it drying quickly which seems counter productive but water based paints dry quickly compared to old oil based formulations.

When it dries so quickly it doesn't level out on the wall properly. You can get a slightly textured look.

I used it in the lounge and the finish is much better than the kitchen where I ran out of it after the first coat.

I use a Microfibre roller for the last coat, the walls look much better for it. I figured if I couldn't afford a decorator I'd buy their kit instead and get the best result I could.

seacow that is fab news.

I need to get off my bum and sort out the washing and finish off my skirt. I worried myself the other day I was in Aldi and seriously thought I should buy an iron.

fluffy great idea about facebook, I will do it right now.
I did a switch to M & S from a very basic Santander acct and will eventually get £240 of vouchers, so may save the for next Xmas.
We painted our whole house with farrow and Ball, big mistake as young children leave grubby marks on walls. (looks amazing if you don't have young children). I used strong white, which is a kind of grey.

Oooh great tips thanks

I hate paying for things I could do myself. I did the painting here - we were quoted £2k for the living room. Paint brushes and rollers cost £150 and time at weekends after work

traditionalpainter.com I use this site for advice, never let me down.

I'm budgeting;

£70 paint, it will be used in the down stairs loo as well.
£20 floetrol
£10 frog tape for masking the ceiling.

I'll get it done inbetween Christmas and new year because the tiles are meant to go down in January and the band played believe it if you like

Thanks cag, and whoever else mentioned Clarks shoes. Unfortunately I don't like anything they have in a black ankle boot with a mid heel at the minute, and that's what I need to purchase as I already have both flat boots and stiletto heel ones. Oh well, first world problems I guess!

Spends today:
€40 reimbursing neighbour who paid our window cleaner to clean windows and gutters for me this week.

Exciting!! I like decorating.

Today's jobs:

Finish book
Put another load of washing on.

Just catching up.

Wreck sorry about your rubbish day and the piercing, hopefully all the crap things have happened now and you'll have a brilliant Christmas.

That book sounds good Em you'll have to share them with us and I'll try them as well!!

Sorry can't remember who mentioned the Primark pjs but they are the fleecy ones, I want to surprise them for dd on Christmas eve but also need her to try them on to check they fit - its a conundrum! Would also like to wash them before we wear them really (I find Primark clothes always smell a bit funny new )

Seacow thats brilliant news am really pleased for you, I think one of each is lovely.

We have had a busy morning, dd has been cleaning out the hamster which turned out to be quite a big job as the whole cage had got a bit grim and needed a good wash. All done now and sparkling.

The tree is up and we are just having a quick sit down before decorating it.

Dd is carol singing in town later which will be nice and festive

We've talked about this before ladies.. F&B paint is the biggest waste of money known to man. Complete rip off. I like with a man who knows paint, believe me. And works with an awful lot of the big multi national paint companies. Dulux or Crown are perfectly fine.

@ unescorted and the iron..

Wonderful news Scarecrow, you must be so relieved.

My dress is going back as it looked shite, I've lost so much weight I've no shape. Luckily some of the other ladies at my running club are the same build, they were wearing Coast dresses, so I've ordered a couple from there. And from Oasis. I'm not counting spends as I bet they all go back.

Sorry to hear that Snuggly. I hope you're better soon.

Our morning was a resounding success in the end. Ds did his lines as the Angel Gabriel all mic'd up and I was there as a shepherd, as was dh. Yay!

Slight frugal fail as there was a bring and buy sale and I bought 17 Ladybird books about historical figures.

Anyway. Morning done. Phew!

Week one of the book is to increase water intake.

So am working on that this week.

The premis is fairly simple, small changes each week which should be fairly easy to incorporate into life. Then add another one each week.

More water, sort sleep, take multi vitamin, exercise, eat more green etc.

Actually, to temper my comment so as not to be accused of libel, DH wouldn't recommend F&B paint and a lot of the paint chemists he works with wouldn't either, but that is only their opinion. But their colours are lovely I would admit.

That's very interesting re Farrow and Ball paint need. I expect to be choosing some paint for our new home early next year, and want to decorate it well as it will be our forever home, but don't want to waste money either.

Today will be a lazy day I think, I have a sore throat and a cold so I'm going to take it easy and hopefully feel better before a busy week ahead. Will get some fresh air in later though.

Christmas decs are out. I may have overdone it with the new ones....

Ooh I'm a sucker for nice decs em and those look lovely!

I try not to buy any around Christmas time now but that's just because I am buying the odd one during the year instead. Whenever we go somewhere interesting (more so now as we do home ed trips) I look in the gift shop to see if there's any decorations. Oddly many places seem to have them all year round. If there's a nice one that is relevant to the exhibition then I get it. So we have an embroidered ankh from the British Museum when we saw an Egypt exhibition etc. So we remember the places we've been as we decorate the tree. :) I was good last month when we very briefly popped into the Science Museum and resisted a decoration there but when we go for a proper visit next year (there's a maths gallery just opened, the new wonderlab and a robot exhibition opening in February!) I will get it if it's still there. It's a star made from a circuit board. 😍 I love nerdy tree decorations!

I will follow along with the 52 small changes too, I'm going to work harder to increase my water intake. :) I tried joining the separate thread but I couldn't keep up with it. Frugaleers and a couple of housekeeping threads are the only long term things I stick with, I feel among friends here. :)

Really intriguing about paint quality (and to hear more about Need's business :o) - we've never bought any paint as we rent. Landlord was most unimpressed with the painter he sent a few years ago to do the living room/hallways, as he could see where the paint wasn't really holding up against a quick wipe if we got a grubby mark on it. Even the kitchen and bathroom walls (which were painted before they even bought the house) lose a bit of colour and they are painted with that glossy stuff that's supposed to be resistant to moisture (it is mostly TBF). Anyway if we get housed then we will definitely want to decorate as it would be a 5 year tenancy (whereas here we always thought we'd be moving on sooner so never bothered - they said we could do the bedrooms but don't see the point now) so will be bugging you all for recommendations! 😁

Lazy day here, poor DD is coughing and wheezing like mad and that means we can't go to her dance thing. £12 had been spent on tickets but would've been spending more on travel, raffle etc so NSD here.

We decided to give carol singing a miss in the end, we are both knackered and I have done something to my neck so can't look right am stinking of tiger balm and wrapped up in a scarf now!

Tree is up and looks lovely, we pick up decorations as we see them as well and they get added to each year. I also have lots of homemade decorations that dd has made over the years

I would think paint is paint and you are just paying more for having 'farrow and ball' written on it! We used b&q own brand when doing the kitchen in my old flat and it was fab, minimal smell as well which was a bonus.

Glad the nativity went well Cath

Have just drunk some water Em

Oh would have been a NSD but my friend dropped off a home made wreath which was £7 and I need to pay the window cleaner which is £10.

something tells me em & i will be sticking with f&b. Even dh is convinced and he is quite happy to rain on my parade when something's not right.

Trouble is, once you've tried it you don't want to go back.

cag love that idea. We've got decorations from our travels too. Love Christmas decs. Yours sound awesome!!

girlie good work. I'm on glass 3.

Totally cool Fluffy, their colours are lovely I must admit. We all have stuff that we are happy to indulge in, even if it's not the most frugal. Just gets on DH's nerves a bit, clever marketing I guess.

Ahh Cag if I told you any more about the business I would be forced to kill you, and that might piss a few folk off your end

I'm tired too today, and cheesed off with the rest of the family because it was my one night out on my own in the year and no one got up to walk the dogs or sort the chickens, so I had to. Then DH said 'you should have got me up', which was like a red rag to bull.

I've written my cards and wrapped the DC's presents. DS needs a few cheap bits just to stick in a stocking. DD likes make up and smellies, so it's dead easy for her. DS is a bit harder.

I've got plenty of little thank you tokens for the cleaner etc. Food just needs reviewing. Completely stuck for DMiL, but that's it I think.