Frugaleers, keeping their frugal resolutions in the new year. Keep on, erm, resoluting!?

[Cagliostro]

Hello everyone! :)

[Cagliostro]

Hi everyone, welcome to newbies! Loving the January inspiration on this thread! :)

Stumbly DH and I have £20 a month each for personal spends, but that's for fun stuff really so it's like pocket money. So DVDs, books, apps etc. We don't have specific budgets for things like snacks as that'd come under groceries (although maybe I should set a chocolate budget for myself...) and clothes/toiletries aren't something we need to budget for as neither of us are remotely interested so it's the bare minimum anyway IYSWIM.

Frugaleers, you may remember that I wasn't sure what nice things to use some of my birthday money on (most has been used for boring things such as bus passes) - well, my friend told me about the Pontins sale, she's been to this particular one before and in term time it's mega cheap. So we're going together. £69 if we take our own linen (friend already said she would take as much luggage as we needed in her car as we will be getting the train). A home ed holiday with our best friends. :)

[Maxwellthecat]

Thanks peonie that's a good recipe.

[CathodeRayTube]

Cag That's a wonderful idea to go to Pontins. I went there once and it was a lovely holiday. I spent nearly all of the fortnight in a paddle boat while my family watched Wimbledon and it was so relaxing. It was much much better for the brain than dashing round sites of cultural interest, which was what we usually did.

I love that you also have no budget for toiletries. You're right, we are like peas in a pod.

[Cagliostro]

We are! I've always felt we would get on IRL. :)

We'd mostly stay on site, there's a castle though which I'd like to get to if we can. It'll be in May so hopefully decent weather, but the pool is indoors anyhow. :)

[Needastrongone]

Cath We used to have to hike up various mountains in Scotland every year. Which is actually really good fun now, but not so much as a kid, or worse as a teenager.... Glad you've enjoyed your walking. I'm a big advocate of fresh air daily. Such a simple, easy thing but so good for the soul. And especially good for you for emailed the consultant.

Cag Brill re Pontins. Great price too.

Frazzled Those are the 2 things I would spend birthday money on too

Spent £34 on a half marathon entry fee. Which is daylight fucking robbery when London marathon is less, but hey ho, I want to do it.

Various subscriptions to Amazon too. I have also planned my week and feel organised, which I like to do.

I phoned my mother and had a normal conversation. She never once mentioned calling me a worthless piece of shit. I asked about her day. Checked whether she needed any shopping or taking anywhere etc. Weird. I can't figure it out but can't quite go NC.

[Needastrongone]

*emailing, apologies. Phone post.

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Hi all, thanks for the new thread Cag

Had a busy wend working but managed a NSD today so thats good, dd had a fab time with her Grandparents who took her to some beautiful local gardens today and a horse sanctuary ystd - lucky girl!

Work looks awful tomorrow, we have people off sick and it's busy anyway so trying to absorb 8 or so more visits is going to be interesting...

Welcome newbies, everyone welcome here.

Its cold need to turn the thermostat up - brrr!!

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Need am guessing there is part of you that is still trying to please your mum or wanting her approval so you will hold on for that, unfortunately by the sounds of it her issues run deep I guess as long as you can protect yourself and manage the contact it will be o.kay (told you i'm an amateur psychologist ) however you may have to accept she won't ever change.

[Needastrongone]

You are spot on Girlie as usual. That's exactly it.

DH says (as a JOKE), that I need to hold out for the inheritance, as she's worth loads of money.

[TheMonkeysOnTheTable]

Wilderness I hadn't thought of Ebooks for dd. The ones I want to buy are a set of phonics books (they're actually £20 not £40) but I'll have a look online first and I'll definitely start downloading other books. Thanks!

My food bill came to £42 - £12 more than I hoped. Dh, dd and I went to Sainsbury's local on the way back from the theatre which probably wasn't the best strategy as we were cold, tired and a bit stressed! A few unnecessary things made their way into the basket :-) I did have to get dishwasher tablets and detergent though which bumped up the cost. Will try and stick to online shopping from now on.
Does anyone know which supermarkets have low minimum spend for free delivery?

Having a roast chicken for dinner tonight and the leftovers will be my lunches for the next few days. Hoping to spend on tube fare only tomorrow.

[frazzled74]

Thank you snugly, which is the new book? There seems to be 2 superfood ones out?

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Totally wait for the cash need.
£2.45 angry birds movie, was good.

[ItalianWiking84]

I'm here trying sorry for not being on got long. Baby dd has colic and must admit that has taken all my time, as well as being alone with both girls for many days because dh been working loads.
But hoping to be able to be more on from now.
We have snow again. Managed one week without it and now it's back again, at least dd is happy and it's only a little this time. But the weather forecast are saying more snow
Baby dd is growing loads so I have already sorted out 3 whole bags of clothes, unfortunately it dosent sell here unless is brand. But dh has 2 colleagues who's wife's are pregnant so they are getting it, better they get used than trown out I think.
I'll have a read trough and then comment

[frazzled74]

This weeks meal plan,
Fish and sweet potato bake
Cottage pie and veg
Chicken curry
Vegetable stir fry
Home made chicken kievs , wedges and salad
Pork fajitas
Roast chicken. All the ingredients are either in the freezer or included in my online shop being delivered tomorrow £62. I have a week off, so I'm going to find a bread recipe that works well in my bread maker, trial and error.

[SnugglySnerd]

It's the superfood family one, Frazzled although I have the other one too and they are both good. Recipe books are my weakness. I have been good lately and asked for them for Xmas/birthdays but I find them hard to resist and even read them in bed! Luckily Pinterest also has loads of nice recipes and they are free!

[frazzled74]

Thank you snuggly, I will order it this evening. I'm thinking that the skirt and book won't add up to £50 so may treat myself to a bottle of gin

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Fab photos Italian.
I love recipe books but never seen to cook the food.

[FiveShelties]

May I join, I am planning a low spend year to (try and) make me use all all the stuff lurking around. I have decided to read my way along the book shelf before buying more books, to only buy clothes which I really need, rather than because they are in the sale and to reduce the amount of cosmetics I have. I have somehow accumulated a huge amount of stuff and am on a use up campaign. I have been lurking but have decided to leap out of the closet and join in.

[ItalianWiking84]

em like that you think 21% in tax is a lot, we pay 40% but then again I think our system is set up differently and we probably get more for our tax, I sure hope so. I don't really mind paying it. And i work for the tax authorities so shouldn't mind
This month we are getting children support money for both dds, so 1000£ next Friday
Have set up a Disney land Paris saving account and the plan is to go next year late summer. Just waiting for finding out which weeks dh have summer holidays before booking our week in lalandia, we can get 5 nights for the cost of 3 night which is an okay deal I think.
Just checked our accounts and we have 350£ left till payday, which is duable.
Regarding how we manage our finances then we have everything jointed. So all money goes to budget account and from there gets allocated to the right accounts. We have saving accounts for both gifts, pension accounts for both of us, usage account and a car loan and mortgage. Our bank has a super smart app that allocate all spends under categories so we can follow how our money is spent.

[ItalianWiking84]

*snuggly if it wasn't so expensive sending stuff I would send you all our baby clothes but I fear that it would be a bit expensive otherwise I would have loads you could get.

[AdoraBell]

Thanks for new thread Cag

Just updated on old thread, NSDs Fri, Sat, Sun and tomorrow. Will spend on Tuesday.

[Cagliostro]

Whyyyy does our tap water suddenly taste all chloriney? It smells like a swimming pool :( I don't have any filter bottles at the moment

[WreckTangled]

Nsd. Ended up having dh's best friend and her dd round for dinner but that was fine. She brought extra veg and dessert.

[SnugglySnerd]

Thanks for thinking of me Italian but you're right, the postage makes it unrealistic. How's it going with the little one?
Jamie Oliver spinach cannelloni was a bit of an effort but very tasty and made enough for about 3 days. We are going to try to 7 veg tomato pasta sauce and the batch cook frozen pesto this week. We need to get our freezer stocked with meals before these babies rock up!
We are beginning to get organised at least.
Cat now has a sore eye so that looks like another trip to the vet. He's like a money pit! Lucky he's so cute!

[CremeEggThief]

Welcome to all our newbies.

Welcome back, Italian. Beautiful pictures!

Cag, Pontins sounds like a great use of the money. Amazing how cheap it is in term-time!

Cath, I hope writing the letter helps, as it's expressing your disappointment and no longer churning around inside. I've written letters a few times in my life when I've been furious, just to get the feelings out. I haven't even sent most of them, as writing them was cathartic enough.

Glad you had a lovely time in the hotel, Need, and that you spent so little on top of your pre-paid expenditure.