Springing into the New Year with the 2017 Frugaleers

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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.

Welcome stumbly. This is a very friendly group and there's no judgement. Some of us are here because we ran up debts in the past and have had to adopt a frugal lifestyle to pay off those debts. Some of us are here because we have life goals and don't want to fritter away money on trivial things when we could save it up and achieve those goals. There's a wealth of advice to call on here.

FoolandFitz that HydrateM8 bottle seems interesting. I know that drinking loads of water helps me, partly because I live in an arid area of the country and everyone here is forever glugging down huge glasses of water. That bottle looks really interesting, as it must be better to drink gradually surely. Thanks for mentioning it. Glad it's not just us with roof expense.

Fluffy I'm in awe of your gas bill.

northender I know what you mean about open windows. When ds had obstructive apnoea he could only sleep in fresh air so I've come really value it and to be less wedded to warmth.

I won't get into Cag's maths club will I? I love that you have allowed yourself to be fallible here need. I sometimes feel that you are juggling so much that you feel you must yourself always be perfect, which seems a shame.

My ds has been kind of feisty recently and then yesterday I discovered that he is cutting two gigantic molars. Very relieved as that means it's probably a short phase rather than just him growing up.

I'm staying home today and drinking lots of water like everyone else. I messed up enough to have a headache, so am drinking litres of the stuff. Are we all suddenly massively dehydrated, that we're drinking so much water? Must be the time of year or something.

Home now. I expect dh's boss will pay him later today now Dh has reminded him

Anyway. £65 tesco
£30 fuel
£3.20 car wash they did a good job too
£33 sainsburys on clothes for the dc
£20.99 halfords on a light and fitting free de icer with priority
£3.20 on a massive box of crackers, matchsticks and chocolate orange (62p!!) in Iceland warehouse

cath I'm making up for over Christmas where my liquid intake was mostly alcoholic! And also doing "52 small changes" week one is more water.

I generally find that I'm ok during the week but it's weekends where I forget to drink water or anything other than tea.

Thanks Tayto

Today's spends are £19.99 on perfume for my Nan's birthday (down from £62 on Amazon). Some essentials from Tesco: dry cat food, toilet bleach and popcorn/crisp for girls night in at mine.

I have a load of stuff listed on eBay at the moment and the bids on that so far are totting up to £75. Will be listing more later. On the downside we got a parking fine for £160 today from when I got stuck in a hospital for longer than I thought it would take

Hi stumbly!
Once your dh is on board it helps a lot. Dh just lets me manage family finances, I'd love him to be more involved. I use ynab & find it a great tool.

Haven't done my 2017 budget yet as being at a PC would make it much easier & ive been off sick all week. I return on tues

Welcome, Stumbly.
We've been doing housework this morning. Plans for later are to buy paint to do the room for the new babies. We need a few other bits from the DIY store too. Take away tonight so quite a spendy day. Yesterday was NSD though and I think tomorrow and Monday will be too.
The cat has gone mad and keeps trying to climb up me. He's driving me crazy!

I've had a very lazy day so far only after having breakfast now!
Snuggly you've got far too much energy for a pregnant lady

Good idea Em. I used to be a tea person but in East Anglia it's just so dry that people hardly drink tea or they get really dehydrated. It took me a long time to realise and I still struggle to knock back the 2 or 3 litres of water that I need to keep right every day.

I feel I'm meant to say NSD at this point, but I'm just being rubbish about spending at the moment. I spent so much on activity books and things for ds in the holiday to keep him busy, and now with our roof being done, it just doesn't bear thinking about. Anyway, here I am, thinking about saving money at least.

Welcome stumbly. I need to list some bits on eBay too will sort that later. Am just about to put my third load of washing on.

Dd just spelt liquorice. I'm pretty impressed by this!

Dh is going to get the internal door tomorrow and my step dad is going to fit it for us in a couple of weeks. Also the vinyl for the kitchen has been delivered and his boss said they can come ere Friday and fit it in exchange for dh working on the Saturday.

That's rubbish about dh pay wreck.
Welcome stumbly. Make sure you pay off the highest interest rate first. Can you balance transfer/ consolidate to a lower rate? No judgement here.

£20 at soft play, another £20 on trampoline,. Dh went to sainsburys guestimate £40.

That's great that your kitchen will have a nice new floor Wreck, and wonderful spelling from you Dd. My Ds is the same age so I know what you mean by that spelling feat.

Em Did you see that you can now buy a smart hairbrush that sends information about hair condition to a smart phone and says what hair products should be used to get the hair even better. I wonder if it works?

creativity-online.com/work/loreal-smart-hairbrush/50484

Good lord that's quite the technological leap. I get a bit "what is the world coming to" seeing things like that. Makes me feel old. 🙄😂

DH is back from town.
Trainers and bags from decathlon :o less than £30 for two of each.

I keep reading this thread and thinking I need to join so here I am . I'm single 2 dc's one 22 who joined one of the services last year so effectively moved out. Dd 15 so in the next couple of year prom then driving lessons.
Last year I consolidated my debts and got a loan for 6000.00. Since then I'm still overdrawn and have managed to run up £1000 on another credit card. I start 2017 with a leaking shower and a MOT on a 12 year old car 😩. Already put 4 new tyres on the car which I've needed for a while.
A lot of my problem is I suffer from anxiety so I can't deal with checking my bank account it get's too much. Also to compensate I spend.
I'm not sure how long my car will last I don't do a massive amount of miles but I need it. I'm sick of having no savings. My house needs money spending on it.
So I'm in!! So far today I've been food shopping £40.00. Off to watch our local team play later so that will be bus fare and I've promised dd a takeaway as it will be about 8 when we get home.

Welcome brighter! I spend when I'm anxious too. I find charity shops great, although I'm still spending it's always clothes the dc need and much cheaper. Plus I love to get a bargain. Have you joined topcashback etc? Cancelled sky/looked for cheaper utility suppliers?

Hi all back from town, had dd feet measured as she has been moaning about her trainers feeling 'tight' and it turns out she has gone up a whole size since September flipping kids!! Was rather annoyed by this however at least footwear is in the sale atm. Picked her up some trainers in Clarkes for £10 which will do for school and my mum bought her some other trainers which cost an eye watering £60, these are for use at home and clubs.

We actually had a minor row about it in the sports shop as i feel £60 is too much to pay for kids trainers and also that my mum spoils dd too much as it is!! There were some perfectly good sketchers in the sale for £25 which would have done the job but my mum bought into the whole salesman spiel about dd having a weak arch thus needing the more expensive ones.

Anyway as my mum pointed out its her money so she can spend it how she wants, which i suppose is true.

I got myself some of the perfectly good sketchers though for £25 which I think is a bargain as originally were £65. No other spends as couldn't find any invites and draw the line at the ones in WHS which were £3.50 for 4 I reckon Sainsburys will have some much cheaper than that.

Got someone popping over later to buy a corner unit, so that will be £40 in my pocket and going to sort out some of dds old clothes etc to put up for sale on the local fb page.

Dd paid in her Christmas money and spent £10 in Waterstones with a voucher she got for Christmas, she is very into a series called Murder most Unladylike which is kind of like Agatha Christie for tweens!!

Hi, yes I'm a member of topcashback and quidco but I forget to use them. I'm with scottishpower fixed it again last year do regular meter readings last one I got my payment reviewed to £72 a month. I have basic virgin package dd pays for Netflix I pay for now tv £6.99. Car ins is due but ds is insured on my car so difficult to get it down he does pay over half the monthly payment. I don't smoke and rarely go out.

May I come in?
(Hopes cag around to be nice to me)

Long story but I am currently £25 a week down thanks to DSS suddenly declaring I no longer warrant support group.I don't have huge debts,but struggle rob Peter to pay Paul with bills.any ideas gratefully received
At present we have freeview telly
Broadband/phone £20month
My mobile £10 month
Live in coldest house on earth and couple with 3kids that breed washing And eat like plagues locusts I am struggling badly.dd2 comfort eats and is veggie.ds has problems with gaining weight.currently under dietetics and is a good eater but have watch his fat/fibre intake or makes him I'll.lil zoo has dairy allergy and eczema so cant skimp on cheap wash powder/body wash etc
have 2cats.don't drive.current bill for food(incl cat food and sundries)£100-120 a week.
Examples D's diet-
Large bowl cereal and full fat milk,yogurt,3x toast and banana
2marmite roll,bag crisps,cucumber sticks,carrot sticks homemade banana oat muffin and drink(school days)
Pm snack-cheese,ricecakes with little butter.4biscuits and milk
Sausage stew,lots pasta.yogurt
Apple.slice bread and butter
Before bed-4 biscuits or homemade cake/bun
If he eats less weight falls off him

We don't eat out at all.trips anywhere are very very rare

I really,really need help

Try and go through topcashback for your insurance as that'll give you some extra cash..

Girlie £60 is a lot! We love sketchers and all have some

Meal plan:

S: pizza
S: sausages, mash and beans
M: wraps
T: chilli with nachos and ?wedes
W: kievs, mash and veg
T: tuna pasta bake
F: soup for dc and chicken with leeks for us

Lunches are: soup/bagels with Philadelphia/sandwich thins/ham/falafel/pitta/humous

Am going to start making smoothies in the morning too. Usually do spinach, cucumber, Apple, pineapple and chia seeds.

Food for the week under the £75 budget.

Welcome Still hopefully we can help. Cheese scones are a good cheap thing to make I find. That's all I've got right now. Cath is the one to help with food re allergies etc! And mummyreindeerlegz

Welcome brighter and zoo glad you've found us (zoo has joined us from flylady thread)

Would DS have high calorie stuff like nuts, coconut, avocado?

Waves to zoo!

Nearly no spend day here today (60p on a newspaper). We usually go out for lunch every weekend but it's about an £80 a month saving if we stay in so felt virtuous with nice coffee made in cafetière instead of Starbucks and Lidl smoked salmon sandwiches (about 60p cost verses £4 shop bought). Unfortunately tomorrow is a very boring shopping trip-need ten light bulbs so hoping b and m bargains has the right ones. We're going out for dinner to a friend's house which should he lovely and a good opportunity to offload a box of Christmas chocs.

wreck cheese scones are one of my favourite things-you've officially started a craving.

Sorry purple those and shortbread. Mainly because I can make them without eggs as I never have eggs!