We’ve had our Merry Thriftmas, now bring on the Happy Fru Year! All welcome as we Frugaleer our way into January 2018.

[Cagliostro]

A new thread in case we are too tipsy (or in my case, asleep on the sofa) to remember later.

This is a friendly group where we chat all things money related and all things everything else related. Everyone welcome so settle in and let’s make 2018 the year we save money!

Loving all the menu plans. Here’s ours, days will be assigned after the shop arrives so I know what the use by dates are on meat etc. I’m away a couple of days next week with work so we will have to work around that too

I’ve only been gone a day and you are all on p11! Welcome to the new people, this is going to be the busiest thread on mumsnet. Or maybe that’ll still be the weight loss threads

Unescorted I am keeping everything crossed that it is benign, what a worry to have hanging over you .

MissA I think we overlapped a bit before you had your frugal break. I remember a discussion about your DH being more keen to adopt but you wanting to ttc. So glad you talked him round, good luck.

Really good to have you back Creme and I am sorry life has been tough. Glad you dipped in to say hi and hope 2018 is better for you.

Lonely are things so bad you really are planning to hold back on food for yourself? . FWIW I would definitely ask ex-H for money even if I could manage without. Three children, he should be paying something on principle. Not conveniently ignoring it.

I’ve been thinking about about my goals for 2018. This is the year we’ve got to find our new ‘normal’ where I find a job that balances with childcare costs and also DS’s needs (for newbies, I have a DS(5) who has ASD and is pretty affected day-to-day so I gave up my job 18m ago to take a career break and support him. Popped out baby DD while off too. But this isn’t sustainable as I was the main earner and we are living on DH’s salary plus spending savings at the mo). I have no idea how we can make everything work and at worst, we’d have to sell and downsize/move further out of town. So lots of things will be decided this year. I also have other goals which I will jot down later if I get the chance.

NYE seems a long time ago but I stayed up till 3ish and then up at 5.30 with dcs. Hence yesterday was a bit of a write-off. I didn’t drink much but was knackered. It was hard being away with DS although friends we stayed with are amazingly understanding and accommodating. Friends that good don’t come along often. They used to be around the corner from us but moved away last year, I miss them greatly.

Anyway, decorations down tonight. DH is not keen as we have very little time in the evening after dc bedtime but i’m not leaving it till the weekend. School is back tomorrow do they have to come down. I’ve been itching about it all day

unescorted I hope it turns out to be nothing but a bit of gristle. The clinics work like very fast clockwork, so you should know more very quickly. If it's a nasty then it will be dealt with very swiftly too. We're all here for handholds if you need us. My mum had a small nasty removed 5+ yrs ago, she found a pucker, was seen and had it removed within 3 weeks.

Thanks all.. It is good to hear positivity. I have only told dh in real life because I worry that it will be a race to the most doom laden stories of someone's aunt's transgender brother's dog who died after excruciating pain and morphine addiction. If you lot had been like that I could have dismissed it as the ramblings of a badly programmed Russian troll bot.

I have lunch all ready to take to work tomorrow - home made soup and salad, plus a big tub of yoghurt which will stay in the work fridge and do me all week. Also hard boiled eggs for low carb breakfasts.

Dh and I are ordering new Tesco, Nectar and Morrisons points cards and going to try and use them EVERY time, particularly with fuel which we use a lot of. Liked the tip earlier of buying
amazon gift cards and getting points if you buy them in Morrisons. To offset this, I do buy locally where I can but sometimes just can't get what I want round here in time.

Russian troll bots

Nothing any of us says is really relevant because we aren’t radiologists who’ve seen your mammogram. But. A high proportion of lumps are benign. And a very high proportion of breast cancers are completely treatable. According to cruk, almost 80% of diagnoses survive 10-years + in the Uk now. I’ve done the googling so you don’t have to... no anecdotes, just the fact that the odds are very much in your favour.

Anecdotally, my Granny had breast cancer 15 years ago and only thought to mention it 2 years ago when my dad got stomach cancer. Even my mum (her dd) didn’t know. That’s a completely useless story for you

The wind is fairly howling around the house. Yet another Atlantic storm. I'm hoping the power doesn't go.

I spent approx. €4.50 on lamb pieces in my local butcher's shop and €10.20 on a top up shop in the local shop. Oh and 80 cents on a turnip in the fruit and veg shop. Dinner was lamb stew and I've enough left for dinner for tomorrow.

I got up this morning to find a 'Do not use' notice on the dishwasher (courtesy of DH). I put it on last night before I went to bed and apparently it was still going this morning and was stuck mid-cycle. DH is having a look at it now. I'm not overly optimistic about his dishwasher fixing skills but we'll see how he gets on. At least it's just the dishwasher and not the washing machine.

Unescorted best of luck with the biopsy.

Lonely very sorry to hear about your ex. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that he's just late with his payment. I just don't understand these men who turn their backs on their DC and walk away . Or in your case, fly away. I'm probably asking the obvious here but are there any benefits you can claim as a consequence of him not paying?

Lovely to see you back CremeEgg and also MissA. Best of luck ttc MissA. No sign of meadow - I hope all is ok there.

Nsd. Dinner from freezer. Another frugal aim to actually use up the stuff from the freezer rather than eventually binning it.

If it's stopped draining run the hottest cycle after draining out manually.

After we'd dragged our integrated dw out & had all the pipes off trying to find a fat berg I realised a 75c wash would melt fat.

Ooh I was not popular after that.

tayto all benefits are worked out without any maintenance payments included, as so many of us can't rely on them. They are regarded as a "gift" passes out laughing this pisses most ex's off I think. I am hoping it's just late. He paid on the 4th last year, but after a torrent of abuse. I sent him a "you cannot bully me" message then, and have remained silent ever since. And yes, we claim tax credits (working and child). I long for the day I don't need them - I'm working on it, but the threshold is about a million miles away.

I hate it when the machines stop working. I do a very hot cycle now and then fluffy and rinse the thingy in the bottom after the wierd jelly stuff (still not convinced it wasn't alive). The washing machine filter fills with sticks, stones (ds' pockets), hair bobbles and lego. Hate it as it floods the place as the drain tap is 5mm off the ground, and you can't get anything under it. Bad design.

Checked all of my lottery tickets lurking in my purse...not a single number. Another new resolution: don't but lotto tickets in 2018!

Adding hot smoked salmon omelette to my meal plan - got a side of smoked salmon at Christmas as a gift thanks wolf
Seacow I'm also itching to take down decorations but I've a lot to do tomo & I'm heading off to my parents again on thurs so it might not get done. Your friends sound wonderful

Shopping arrived 100 minutes late but it was a relief driver & weather is awful so I won't make a complaint - plus they didn't have a 4pk of Guinness so gave us 6pk for same price and 3x12 fairy tabs instead of box of 30 for same price. Only fail was pack of soup mix is the mix of pearl barley etc rather than veg, this I'm annoyed with because it was in the multi buys with veg so I assumed it was veg mix for soup I am happy with the amount I got for my money though so will try them again.
Got 12 pk dog food vs usual 6 and other non weekly items so will aim for €100-€120 next week or else do €150 for free delivery for 2 more weeks this month and do small Aldi shop one week.

Dementedma I also do the big pot of yogurt in fridge at work, this I will need to get at Aldi because it's €2 more expensive at SuperValu

Tayto this storm is definitely going strong, lights went out for 30 secs earlier here.

Lonely I'm so angry on your dcs behalf, he's an ex for a reason and you left with a teeny baby, but that doesn't absolve him of his responsibility.

My washing machine drain is really low to the ground too, I use a hollow handle over the little tube to direct the water out door of shed to drain it and then text dh to tell him we've a problem he's never here when it happens

Your north aren't you? I bet you have lovely soft water. Ours is liquid calcium.

Let's hope he pays. There should be an international court for cm. Like war crimes.

Hi all,
Apologies for not catching up on the thread will read it with a coffee in the morning super busy day today sorting the house and bills. 3 massive bags for charity shop, loads of recycling.
LSD rather than a NSD but really pleased, all tracked and on plan...NSD tomorrow and thursday, Yey!

Wow! I struggled to keep up before, it'll be harder now. It's good to see so many new faces though, and some old ones.
Creme glad you're back and improving
MissA good to see you
Lonely I so hope you get the money from your ex.
Unescorted fingers crossed for you
need I stopped getting the BBC Good Food mag as it started to seem very samey. Before Christmas I decided to treat myself to the Christmas edition and nearly fainted at the price (£5+)

Busy but productive day at work today. My only spend was £20 on petrol. Dh spent around £5 on bread, eggs, onions and a cauliflower.
We had roast leg of lamb last night. It was given to us by friends (produce from their small holding) and was absolutely the most delicious lamb I've ever had. Plenty of left overs too so tonight's tea was a biryani type meal with leftovers that dh & I can take for our lunches tomorrow!
Tea tomorrow will be chicken fajitas. Not sure about Thursday's yet. We need to eat before we set off on our drive to Devon for our late festive visit.

Just used meerkat movies to book Star Wars for tomorrow 🤪. Comparing across cinemas really shows you where you save most too and I convinced dh we didn’t need to see it in 3D so we’re off to the cinema for £20 less than it normal costs us. We have had the movies thing since September but I never used it so thanks to this thread for the reminder

Can I join please? Desperately need to save up to move from area I'm in.

creme good to see you again..

lonely words fail me (but I dont know why since Ds father never paid anything ) .. Does he only pay once a year? surely not ? but you said it was 4th last year?

I have just have paid for the flights for our Greek holiday this year and for the hire car (haven't paid for the holiday yet!! but that's not a prob..we will pay in Feb no doubt but informal-ish thing with the owner now as we have been gong back for so many years !).. So ££££. but we do have the money saved for this .

Otherwise another NSD for me! (holiday payments dont count!).. A good thing is i wont be hitting the sales as have gone back on the diet .. I seriously need to lose weight again after putting back all i had lost a few years ago in pretty much just last year.. like 2 stone again .

wolf and tayto i also like the idea of hot smoked salmon omelette ..sadly dont have the salmon..

Just love seacow's post to unescorted, couldn't have put it better myself. It's going to be fine, modern medicine is an astonishing thing.

Don't anyone worry about keeping up, the thread is going mega fast.

north, you get about a bit don't you? Devon is a fair trek for you guys. I've gone veggie now but the sausages from the farm taste like no supermarket sausage, so I understand what you mean. DS adores lamb. Did you know that creme, I've gone veggie. I'd say vegan but I eat the eggs my chickens produce.

I tried the JO whole roast cauliflower tonight, it's intrigued me since I got the book. It was lovely. If you have all the middle eastern spices in, great value too.

Although last nights sweet potato and black bean burgers ticked the frugal box too.

Pinterest is a brilliant free resource for recipe ideas btw.

Oh and big kudos to whoever gave the heads up about the cinema offer, brilliant saving if you choose a cheap product, thanks

Happy NY all

I’m new and on maternity leave. On half pay until April and then nothing until July. First time buyer (renovation project which feels like a nightmare now), large mortgage and debt...I need to tighten my belt!

Xx

Sorry need cauliflower and Sprouts on that dish? Just wrong. Sorry.. you will be running on fart power I love cauliflower though.Not Sprouts. (or sweet potato) ..

Ive not signed up for meerkat movies yet but i do have a quote fro £1.20 travel insurance though,so will.

Conversation earlier re cashback sites ,I just looked and I have been on Quidco 2009 it says ,(I didnt realise it was that long ) and I have had over £1100 cashback!..

I do all our insurances ( and for DS) thorough quidco and things like utility switches and hire cars etc

girlie in year 8 DD really settled, she developed the maturity to find real friends, not the popular kids or kids that didn't give two hoots about her, but friends that are still her friends now in Y12, a mix of sexes too. Solid, decent, kind kids.

moan, we take dividends and shift the NI/ tax burden to the company, which isn't anywhere near the level of the big corps I know, but does afford some tax savings, albeit well within the norm and entirely acceptable to HMRC and the company pays the liability effectively. But not something a PAYE based person has the opportunity to do, I guess.

Crikey its chatty in here !
NSD
Flung another biriyani together and found some cod loin.
Absolutely delicious.
Dishwasher issues -best tip ever if it gets stuck is to empty water out by hand then pull out and tilt forward a few times.
There is a float thingy which stops the machine continuing to fill and then flood if the pipes block -sometimes it just gets stuck for no reason.
Lovely dishwasher man told me this and havent had to call him out since.

You don't know what you are missing laska

Welcome everyone new who has joined us today. So many new posters ! . This is a lovely friendly part of MN..

All of us have different priorities but all keen to be as canny as we can with the incomes we have.. so we get to place where we can spend on the things we want !