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

[needastrongone]

New thread.

NSD.

Argh spendy day!

£80 dunelm got new curtains and rail for the dc's room. Think I got the wrong sized rail though it's too big. Plus cushions.

£10 home sense on a birthday present and wicker basket for all the hats and gloves

£30 Sainsbury's on some bits for the present cupboard and new jeans for ds. Oh and a birthday card and crackers for next year.

£10 between the lines on three new tree decorations

£7 boots on a No 7 eyes shadow palette (half price)

£9 John Lewis cafe

£39.99 eBay on a new sitting room chair, had been looking at one similar in Tesco for £90 and eBay have 20% off until 6pm with this code PNY2018

Ouch. That's it now though!

£9 bus, £15 presents (felt things were a bit uneven and we aren't seeing DSCs till Saturday), caglets shopped with their money. I didn't get anything, saw a couple of bits but not enough to buy it.

I have £100 to use for something but no idea what. I'll just use the cash for daily stuff in the meantime.

Tesco online inc delivery £37
Diy stuff from wickes £113
Swim bag amazon £6

Daily spend £156
Weekly spend £193

£31 M&S coat and top for DD1
£20 gap
£30 Asda on summer/winter PJs for both DDs
£31 on eBay on rose gold supergas

Ooops.

Still need to get DD1 more leggings too.

I need to do no essential spend January too.

I have various bits of clothing to return next week though as I tried to buy nice things to wear at Christmas but none of them fitted. Tops were huge and skinny jeans that wouldn’t pull up

Hope your Dsis is doing ok em

Sorry to hear about you dsis Em. Poor soul. I think being a teacher must be hard when there's stuff like that going on, and having to stand up in front of people every day.

We're just mimbling today.

Had a spendy day yesterday but was all Christmas money/vouchers
Guerlain Aqua Allegoria -the grass/green tea one . Wanted a new spring clean scent.
More nightwear from Cyberjammies ,in the sale .
Kiko lipsticks -soft pink for spring and after reading the French thread in S&B researched their reds and ended up with the perfect red .
Great prices and lovely formulas that last.

My little no-spend streak ended today as both the children have birthday parties to go to next weekend so I thought it made sense to get some presents in the sales, plus we needed some medical bits.
£16.20 Amazon
£15.00 Argos
£8.48 Chemist Direct
I'm definitely going to try and do a low spend/ no spend January but I think I'll stay here to do it rather than joining multiple threads. I can barely keep up here!

I haven't spent much as been ill so been at home feeling sorry for myself. Managed a top up shop today. £22 included nectarines reduced to 30p. So sorry for your sister em likely to always blight future Christmases as well. Can be such a hard time of year with associations like that.

£75 at coop on food shop.

No spends otherwise. Dsis and I and dh have cleared her house of bils stuff. Well we’ve packed it all up and left it in the spare room. Bil is bringing a van to collect later on.

Tomorrow I’m taking dsis to see a lawyer I’ve recommended a good one who specialises in marital disputes. They’re not married but he’ll be able to deal and he’s done us a decent mates rates deal.

Have read back a bit and re your sister em, what a rotten time to drop that particular bombshell.

Glad you've had the positive experience overall that we've always had with the NHS cag. How on earth did they get an old number ha!

I'm up for the only essentials spending in January too.

Turkey broth for tea for the family, I'll use up some left over nut roast. Doing well with getting though the leftovers and not wasting.

Afternoon all,

thats so rubbish re your dsis Em is there someone else involved? There almost always is when men break up in this way

Have managed another NSD that said am still struggling to get through to check out on NEXT online, anyone else tried? Might check out Dun Elm as well as need to decorate dds room this year, she needs curtains, a bed and a desk...

Seacow I'm sorry the baby's been so ill and also that you felt Christmas was a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully DS will find things easier now that he's back home and back in his normal surroundings. Most DC find Christmas a bit overwhelming so I can only imagine how much harder it must be for DC who have ASD .

Wreck I hope DS starts to improve soon.

north very annoying about the Amazon package and their response to your complaint left a lot to be desired .

Cag what an adorable photo of Cagletini!

Welcome back Fridge and welcome to freshturkey also.

em so sorry for your sister. What a rotten time of year to have someone break up with you! Not that there's ever a good time obviously. Hard facing into the new year with so much uncertainty.

Laska the visit to your parents sounds rather depressing. Are they always this negative or has their illness made them worse than usual?

After three days of family gatherings, I'm enjoying a blissfully lazy day. We watched 'Dunkirk' last night. DH went for a long run today.
DD and I finished assembling her Lego set and we might finish watching 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' later. Tomorrow we're hitting a big shopping centre so DD can spend some of her birthday money and vouchers. I have some vouchers myself but I think I'll hold onto them for a bit longer.

I haven't been near a shop since the 23rd December although I got DH to pick up some bread yesterday and we had a take away last night too.

I did up my monthly budget yesterday. I need to get a shop in soon. Maybe Saturday.

Fuel for both cars today £60 ish. Dh went to an open air museum and bought lunch £10 ish.
Of work now until Wednesday.

I'm up for no fritter January. I have enough food in to do minimal shops. Going to eat more veggie too as back on the health kick.

Pay day tomorrow thank fuck

I have managed another nsd!! Can't believe it, but will have to shop a bit tomorrow. Need food and pressies for mil as we are heading up to see her Saturday.

Spent hours helping my big sis move into her new home. She is just at the start of divorce proceedings, so hard, but I think it will be a huge relief to be out of the £££ down south rental (think about most expensive area outside central London). Turns out she has been living with a man child.

em if they weren't married and the laws are the same as the uk, she'll get half the house if her name is on the deeds, and nothing else. To do it out of the blue, there has to have been bad behaviour (ow)? What a shit thing to do at Christmas. And he'll rewrite history too, they always do.

Dp made tea, it was ready when we got home. He is a pita and shite with money, but sometimes he makes me happy! Unprompted cooking without requiring medals and eternal gratitude is one of those times.

It seems so odd that my sis is back here, they moved south 6 yrs ago. We are like chalk and cheese, but I think it will be lovely having her and my squinky gorgeous nephews near by.

NSD for me. Cancelled the grocery delivery I had booked as we still have lots of food from Christmas. We did needed a small top up, yoghurt, fruit juice and bread, but DH paid because he slipped another £60 of other stuff in the basket

He also spent money in Pets at Home. 2018 needs to be a very low spend year.

Adora how is teddy dog now. Did he make a full recovery?

Physically yes, life, but he’s still struggling mentally. He is very afraid of cars, and we live on a main road so can’t walk him without cars and lorries going past. We need to move. Somewhere with a few acres for him to run around, no neighbours to consider and no bloody roads.

Thanks for asking.

Quick check in. Work today was busy but good. Circuits class tonight was tough but good.
I haven't spent anything. Dh on the other hand, is still off work and has spent money but on planned, budgeted items.
Cold meats & bubble & squeak again for tea for me & dh. Ds used up some leftover sausagemeat & made meatballs in tomato sauce with spaghetti for himself and dd.

Should be NSD today. Friends visiting later and we have all the buffet stuff for lunch. More in fact as it turns out Saturday's visitors aren't coming until after lunch (roast for dinner).

Cagletini slept almost six hours straight woohoo!

Should be a nsd here too. I'm going to do a meal plan/shopping list. Might even try and do a two week list. I'm fed up of shopping every week.

Ds seems much better today but still tired. He's actually eaten something which is a big positive.

Adora poor teddy

Cag yay for sleep!

Was discussing weekly shop with friend day before yesterday & she uses SuperValu online, I never have and she's the second person in a couple of weeks to mention them so I've put in an order & got €15 off €75 spend think you've to spend €150 for free delivery, I'll see what else is needed when I return home at the weekend. Tayto I know you're a Tesco online shopper so maybe this might interest you too, my gut was I can't afford to shop there

Christmas tree is two layers of puff pastry spread with Nutella

Visited friends & relations in last few days & regifted wines & chocolates today I hope to visit friend with a new baby, I'm thinking cash in card because otherwise I've to go to next town for gift.

Woo hoo to cagletini's big sleep

Oh no poor teddy. Fingers crossed for lotto win.

It's snowing here- we were going to go into town and go swimming. See how it is in an hour. It would replicate Wednesday spends

Wow cag amazing sleeps!!!!

Ds screamed and threw a tantrum for around 15 minutes last night and would not be put to bed. It felt like hours. No idea what was up Although I suspect overtiredness.

Dh is Home from work this week which is lovely but he’s thrown our routine. Ds needs to nap. Dh claims he can nap later or doesn’t need to so isn’t putting him down. Then we get to early evening and he’s a nightmare. Must get routine back soon.

I’m heading to town with dsis in a bit. She needs to change phone to her name, make bank appointment and see lawyer - he’s on holiday but is popping into the office to speak to us so we can have a proper appointment next week.

Dh wants to go to the cinema later to see Star Wars. So Dm will babysit.

I may see if I can get some more jammies in the sale.