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.

This thread is really motivating me, I owe £6000 all on a reasonable low interest loan so not too worried but have only just caught up , as had got into a situation where most bills were being paid 1 month in arrears and had committed to various holidays, memberships etc. I'm now in a much better place, bills up to date. Debt manageable. This years goal is to pay off overdraft (£500) , and start saving each month. We are having one UK cottage holiday which has been paid for, and I have signed up to park vouchers for next Christmas. I have £100 until next pay day (2 weeks) but enough meals in freezer to last until then so I'm going to try not to spend it all. Lots of bank holiday pay to come this month which will give me a good start .

That's great frazzled. You're getting all your expenditure clear in your head and that's the important thing, I've found. Everybody's priorities are different, but once you know what money is coming and where it's going, then you can start to make choices that work for you, and that's when it really starts to work.

For example, when I started frugaleering our house was really run down and I found it very hard to feel positive about living here. However, after a year of frugaleering I realised that we could afford to just fix all of the problems and now our house looks great. The best thing is that before the work I was quite lonely, but now people like to visit us because our house is nice inside, so we are getting a good social life and that is helping everything else.

Good luck with working it all out. It sounds as though you're really on the right track there.

Welcome to all the newbies

I think you're going to kick me out with my recent spends

£249.99 on a pushchair I did really need
£72.90 (i think) on passport
£6.45 on postage
£45 on food shop

BUT I did find £330 in the drawer that I had forgotten about so...I think it all works out haha.

cathode I feel for you. My DS has allergies (though quite mild) and it is hard cooking many different meals.

emem those hot pants sound great

Thank you, just writing it all down helps. We have a reasonable income but never any money! But we tend to fritter it away on small things that we don't notice and I was always accepting invites to outings/trips that we couldn't afford, then worrying about finding the money. I would love to spruce the house up but am going to wait until we have a decent sized savings pot. Until then I will titivate with what we have and give it a good clean . I might need to pop over to good housekeeping thread for motivation.

Welcome newbies. This is a great thread, very supportive. I love it and it has helped me a lot. Nobody judges and we chat about all sorts of stuff.
Another NSD today.

Good idea Frazzled. Looking back, I should have just thrown our carpets out of the front door years ago. I've no idea why I didn't think of it. The floor boards were okay underneath and it wouldn't have cost anything to just freecycle the lot of them.

Good luck there.

cath yeah...good point. Didn't think about the defrosting.

pixie silver sequin hotpants. They are the best. Dh thinks I'm a nutter for even having them. But sometimes I just take the out the drawer to look at. may wear them to the kiwi wedding in march just to piss off mil...jokes

Now watching a kiwi film. A "fulm" if you wull. "Hunt for the wilderpeople" it's funny and lovely. And so kiwi right now.

As much as I don't want to go in March, I'm desperate to do back to nz. I've loved it there each time I've been. I feel relaxed and free and chill (chull). It's the most beautiful place I've ever visited. And I'm so so lucky that dh is from there. So so lucky to be able to go back again. And again.

He wants to go every other year. (Eeek). I should really enjoy this opportunity.

In other news. Catface was bought a crocheted hedgehog. Full of catnip. £1 She's destroyed it. And is now tearing it around. She's high as a kite. But so purry

They do love their catnip. I wonder if she's ever encountered it before?.

Em my cats were given them for Christmas and were off their faces for days I need to buy a catnip plant for my garden as stoned cats are just hilarious!

Hi guys, havent posted in a while - changed my name back to blueteapot as I thought it suited me better than toasterwaffle!

Need to get back to regular confession on here lol :) we are coping ok so far on our reduced budget but money is tight. I am looking for new jobs.

£12.13 withdrawn from topcashback, £25.25 still pending.

Made £40 selling on facebook this week, all already spent on DS haircut, DS school dinner money for this week and a deposit on his birthday party, so back to square 1 but I suppose its £40 less out of the bank...

Selling a load of smaller bits on ebay which i havent done before so will be interesting to see how it pans out - all set to end tomorrow night. Every little helps. Must stop logging in to check for bids lol

Love the nail polishes, I have always been a biter but grown mine recently so gotten into painting them.

Freezer is stuffed, need to get my act together and do a meal plan. Spal bol tomorrow but thats as far as I've gotten

Welcome back Blue. What type of job are you looking for?.

Welcome to all new posters from a poster who seems to dip and out. It's a great thread, lots of posters in lots of different financial positions all trying to do their best with the income they have.

Spends today:
€59 hairdresser
€2 coffee
€3 snacks
€20 waxing
€46 supermarket (another relatively small shop as still using up surplus for Christmas, needed some meat though).

Great news about Teddy, Adora

Hello to the newbies.

Thursday £4 parking for the panto party. Got to see the panto for free, as did DD1.

Friday, £4 parking or panto; £18.80 for fish and chips for 5; lunchtime shop was about £20 but included toothpaste and a spiral isn't on offer in Tesco.

Today £4.99 on mushroom and bacon.

DD2 has moved up a level at swimming but don't gave her badges in stock this week.

Tomorrow spends will be £2 parking for DD1's final panto show

Hi Blue nice to see you back :)

Em loving your NZ accent!

Ah, catnip. Cats go crazy for peppermint too - I once walked into the kitchen to find our cat wearing a peppermint tea box as a collar - he'd attacked it. Teabags everywhere. :o

That's great that you're looking forward to your trip Em. Thanks also for understanding my sausage-related travails. It's an odd life.

We're doing well with low-price entertainment here. Dh is playing Gilbert and Sullivan music on the piano now for ds, who enjoys it a lot. He even bought the music books secondhand.

I've started buying a low circulation local newspaper which is full of good news and interesting information about the town. The big local newswpaper here is a ghastly fearmongering rag, and I only just noticed this other newspaper. It makes me feel much more positive about living here, which is all to the good.

Just spoke to in laws in New Zealand. Twelve weeks until we go!

Today I'm going to eBay/fb things to try and get some cash for dd's passport.

I think its completely passed me by that you're going to NZ wreck thats amazing! Em you're gong at some point as well aren't you? I am so NZ was the top of my places to visit and i had all the paperwork needed to work over there when I found I was pregnant! Scuppered that plan will def go one day though.

Nice to see you back Blue are you looking for GP work? Hope your two little ones are o.kay (and that I have got the right poster )

Quiet start to the day today but we are going to get going in a min and go for a run, need to try out the new trainers!

Should be a LSD, need to get invites for dds bday as want to get them out next week, Morrisons delivery due at 9pm tonight as that was a cheaper delivery slot

Girlie you must remember my bargain flights of £1200 for the four of us?! I'm so excited it'll be a proper holiday too as PIL's can have fun with the dc whilst Dh and I rest

Thanks for the welcome back guys :)

Not much of my ebay stuff has any bids (ends tonight) but loads of people watching all but a few of them so fingers crossed by tonight we should have sold a few bits on there.

Fluffy - looking at jobs in the charity and pharma sectors at the min although theres not a huge amount in this area

Just had a look at the freezer and cupboards I reckon with meal planning we could probably go most of the rest of the month without a proper shop - full to the brim. Would be good to empty the freezer as it needs a good defrost. I am also one who splits up larger packs and freezes in portions, find it saves have extra cooked meat 'to use up' in sandwiches etc instead of as part of an actual meal.

Spag bol today with an 800g mince from lidl (on offer £2 this weekend) and lots of mushrooms that I had sliced and put in the freezer - will scout out and see if I have any lasagne sheets to use up the half of it, if not I will make a bolognese bake for tomorrow out of normal pasta with a HM cheese sauce.

Hi girlie yes right poster! Sorry I had that previous reply typed out but not posted for a while so didnt see yours :)

That's great that you have that trip planned Wreck. I had no idea you also had inlaws there. I hope you have a great trip.

My ds has a proxy Granny and Grandad in New Zealand. We got to know them in a local garden centre when he was tiny, and they were here on a sort of gap year. We still get emails from them sometimes, which is very nice.

Ds and I have just been out and tidied the greenhouse and planted some seeds just for fun, to see if they manage through the cold weeks coming up. My best hope is radish, so I will cross my fingers. If nothing else, the suspence will keep us busy.

interviewing a cleaner today - so will see how that goes.
Been having a cook off - soup for lunches, gammon on brown sugar for tea and spag bol for tomorrow.
We are living out of the freezer until its gone so probably just a fresh shop this week too.
Ds going skating this afternoon as footy off £5, I need to go to argos and get a shredder and phone (£18 + £25) will use £25 voucher.
Might let dd loose in primark with her voucher. Lastly boots for a free cleanser.

Good luck with the job hunt blue.
Wreck and Em wont you be in NZ about the same time - wouldn't it be spooky if you bumped into each other although massively unlikely given the geography.

Haven't had time to fully catch up on the thread so will read back later...

Had a 'swap shop' girl's night in last night where everyone has a clear out and brings what they no longer want (clothes, house stuff, toiletries, etc). We can all take anything we want and then the leftovers I sell on eBay and split 50/50 with the owner. There is about 5-6 black bin bags full so should make at least £100 I think!

Today we are going into town to swap a duplicate present I had at Christmas and spend £30 Debenhams Vouchers. Then having lunch at Ask with vouchers we've had

So should be NSD other than car park which is cheaper on Sunday...

Oh and also got three pairs PJs, lots of Neal's Yard and Molton Brown toiletries (from friend allergic to anything scented) and three tops from the swap shop!