Festive Frugaleers gather round the (best value and carefully researched) Christmas Tree for support, advice and chat. All welcome.

[needastrongone]

New thread.

Parsley stalks are also good to put in stock , I freeze mine just for that purpose

Nope, whitefish is all much of a muchness Sea. Your poor boy having that much to deal with at 5yo.

I am a big believer in christmas not being a frugal time of year. However I think saving for Christmas is a great idea.

Will start my Christmas saving in January. Put aside £25 a month while I’m not working then ramp this up once I go back.

Payday tomorrow. Last payday from work until May. Must get a handle on our baby budget and goon budget.

*food budget. Not goon budget

I have more of a goon budget tbf.

£115 Christmas for shop. £107.50 in Nectar vouchers rest on card. £6.50 delivery cheeky bastard's.

Read the chat, meant to comment, promptly forgot which is a sign I need to sleep.

Mines a Goof budget!! .. ( as in dont be a Goof anymore) have done this for the past three years now ever since I paid off my credit card debt .. I save £35 a month in my 'personal spends budget' (which is to pay for presents) and £35 a month in a 'Christmas food savings' category out of our joint house account... All on YNAB....

December.. I spend it !..

Hello all busy day here with work and then dds carol concert tonight which was brilliant.

Interesting that someone thought we weren't frugal enough, I guess they mean that some people aren't poor enough thing is you can have money and still be money savvy iyswim.

I'm frugal due to necessity but hopefully one day (when I marry a millionaire ) I'll be frugal just to be sensible

Spent £4.50 on some shampoo and conditioner that was on offer plus a beauty advent calendar that was being sold off v cheap.

Lsd.

Mine is definitely a goon budget. I balanced it perfectly today and then impulse bought two bottles of booze, blowing it to bits.

How many Frugaleers use YNAB? I'm on it every day at the moment while my free trial still lasts, but I don't know if I can justify paying for it. I'm terrible for only using something whilst it has novelty value. Do they take the money all in one go, or is there the option to cancel when it gets dull pay monthly?

I've never had goose either. I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to cooking new and expensive things.

littledorritt you can pay monthly, I did for 7 months until last Christmas when I changed to yearly

Laska me too spend it in November like to be sorted early for Christmas

I wrote my Christmas cards tonight but didn't wrap because dh went to bed early in spare room & I need to go to attic out of that room to wrap remaining presents

Ffs just lost a long post.

Jealous of pfeffernusse or however you spell it. Really want to try some, I didn't even know it was a thing until I read it on MN the other week.

Yes seacow we have been incredibly lucky that our pediatrician has basically broken the rules. She said she's not supposed to see us again but she wanted to because she is convinced there are other conditions present and doesn't want them left unassessed.

Sorry about OCD worries :( common dual diagnosis of course but if it helps, DD went through a couple of years with pretty severe symptoms but she has really outgrown it and learned to cope very well with the worries I thought would set in forever. It took time but she is so much better now.

£35 lovely dinner with home ed friends :) Cagletini had lots of cuddles (including with norbert :o) and I got hands free to eat, win win until I spilled ice cream on her during a feed

It does help actually, thanks Cag! I can manage the situation now, I just don’t want it to spiral iyswim.

I have cooked goose a couple of times. It makes a mighty mess of the oven with all that spitting fat! I therefore think it is tastier when it’s not my oven

Had a nightmare that i slept in for work & that dc were in bed & that I'd to decide whether to leave them home alone or not

Got to work on time anyhow!

Oh no mammy! I live in fear of my alarm not going off which is crazy because the dc always get me up before it goes off anyway!

I have a hospital appointment this morning. Need money for parking.

Today should be a nsd. I have to collect things from the post office and boots. Then am going to a drinks event work are hosting this evening. Yay! Only for a couple of hours so can mingle with colleagues and clients etc. Will be nice.

Ds slept almost 13 hours he's desperate to go to London today but still has a temperature not sure what to do.

Aldi are doing the Christmas veg 29p incl big bags of spuds.

I don't think I need to spend today....50p away from a valued opinions voucher which is really annoying.

wreck I think it was more an unconscious dilemna which is the priority work or the dc! I've only slept in for work twice in my ten years here, and even then I wasn't late late just didn't get to sort my food/hair/clothes etc before getting here!

Thanks Mammy, I think I'll try it for a couple of months and see whether I stick with it.

Hoping for a NSD day. Have relatives coming so hopefully too busy cooking, talking and eating to spend!

@littledorritt have you another email address? You could subscribe again and get another free month to see if it works for you? Cheeky referral link

Dorrit I am also a YNAB fan. It’s completely changed the way I manage my money. I pay annually.

Morning. Only just awake! The house is barely stirring, guess the dc are truly knackered after a long term at school.

Quiet day today, just to my mums for a cuppa later. Might take some biccys if I cba making some.

Shopping tomorrow. We're going to break the turkey and slow cook its legs (I do this a lot) then roast the rest Christmas morning. Due to eat at 1pm at my parents. We bring the meat, they do the rest. Only 15 mins away so this is a good arrangement.

I was keeping track (just!) of my spends, but lost my way mid October once Christmas spending took over. I need a better system for next year. I'm thinking of amazon gift cards bought throughout the year, as I have mostly been in the amazon this year.

I’m going to suggest the same to DH re vouchers. I could just add £x a month to my gift card account or something. Just to know the bulk of the money is there.

Need to pick up a few nice foody treats for my parents after the hospital today, will go to TK Maxx for this. Prime twitching territory so good thing the Caglets will be with me! Although that doesn’t stop me twitching for baby... I may get something else for her.

She is so smiley and gurgly this morning it’s so distracting we aren’t even out of bed yet!

Urgh, DS was wide awake and playful from 12-3am last night and then woke up before 6. We weren’t friends for a while but she’s cute so is forgiven now.

Cards finished last night, including a proper letter to my Granny and a stack of photos of the dcs. And DS’s first proper school photo and his Reception class photo from the local paper (complete with a giant post it arrow pointing at DS as I doubt she’d find him without it ). I am a very sporadic correspondent, which I feel bad about, so I try to make it count when I do write!

Today is baking and wrapping day, tomorrow is card making and going out for lunch, Saturday is cleaning day. I am starting to feel festive!

DS is whining about wanting to go to school though

£44 in sainsbury but £22 in last of nectar points. Now to start saving for next year.
Hoover skip of a car. More decorations out to put up this afternoon.