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!

Bornlazy decluttering is an ongoing process in my house.
Yesterday I eliminated the shoes that no longer fit dc and some grubby looking tea towels, could make cleaning cloths from these.

laska I always do stock, it's always rubbish. I have clearly gone for quantity over quality, I will use your method from now on. Thanks!

em fab! Gorgeous boy. Nice blanket too

Ex has put money in, but £200 down again (I sound grabby, we have 3dd's and he is on £££). Happy Christmas girls! He hasn't bought a present for any of them since dd1 was 9. She's 15 this month. So I was overdrawn for two days, I'll be charged £6 for this, but thank goodness the facility is there.

Got some posting to do today (buyers have paid postage) and need a few bits like eggs. Going to check the cheapest place for gourmet cat food (double delicacies only, fussy cat) and buy in bulk if I can. I want some bits from zooplus too, so hopefully they have it on offer.

Have cleared the top of the chest freezer (finally), so will audit it, it's pretty full and very jumbled!

bornlazy I have a bedroom of doom! I can no longer get to the window it is very high on my 2018 list.

Hello all,

Was hoping for a NSD today. Went out for brunch with some friends and treated us using a £50 voucher that expires in a few weeks.

78p two boxes of paracetamol.

£3.64 on postage for a small package. I did decline next day delivery which would have been over £7.

Won a lucky dip on a lucky dip lottery ticket from 23rd Dec so got that today too, I'm living in hope!

Chicken stock recipe is a tasty one, I always forget to do this with the carcass.

Bornlazy I am the same. I have a little study of doom - can’t see the floor. Plus the utility of doom and the spare room of doom. Rest of the house looks passable but I need to get a grip.

Mo I am also getting a bit more serious about weaning DD. She’s still gagging on literally everything but seems willing to keep chewing so that’s something! I thought I’d cleaned her up this morning after a crack at a yoghurt but I see now she has some dried onto her eyelashes. She’s not letting me near it.

Just spoken to my accountant about doing my 2016/17 tax return. I was employed at the time so taxed at source. So probably not much either way other than tax code twiddling, hoping they owe me rather than the other way round though.

I’ve just finished the Christmas cheese. It was soooo good.

Oh and about £17 on a top up shop in tesco metro today. Mostly fruit and veg, because I need a range of stuff to steam for DD. I’m meant to start her on the veg before letting her at the nice stuff

I usually make chicken stock much like Laska. However, it had never occurred to me to freeze carcasses to boil up later if time is an issue. Duh!

Oooh is the blanket a Lonely one as well? ♥️ Yay!

Totally totally agree on the clutter being expensive. Just generally being disorganised costs us so much money. Anyone wanting to tackle the clutter etc would be more than welcome on the Fledgling thread on Good Housekeeping - it is loosely based around the Flylady site but following those rules isn't mandatory, it's just a supportive thread like this one but based on clutter/housework/running family life. Frugaleers and Fledglings are the only two threads I go on daily :)

NSD as not going anywhere, family are coming later instead so jacket spuds for dinner. Oh no actually I gave DD a tenner as her friend who's been away over Christmas is taking her ice skating. We are all going on Friday too but with the home ed crew, the rink closes soon.

Em napping in cot, big progress! Love the styling of it and he's just so gorgeous 💕

Lonely that stress every month is just horrible and then to cut it back is just plain terrible, your poor dc.

Hoover was our own fault, there's a filter missing that protects motor. Cleaner uses her own one so I'm going to wait until I can afford it with vouchers from shop and scan I think.

€25 for waxing
€15 in Dunnes stores on €19 worth of vitamins used €2 valuclub vouchers and balance from gift card, €1 off two of the three packs.

My house looks superficially tidy I just squeeze everything into drawers and cupboards.

I think that if I could change my mind set and only buy what I need once I have used up what I have, I would be much happier and much, much richer.

em he is so handsome!!

Hello you chatty lot!

I'm at a trampoline park, dd and her friend loving it! Snuck food in and her friend paid for drinks so only special delivery so far has been tea and cake for me!! £5.

I've never had a penny off dds father, occasionally think about chasing it but I don't really want anything to do with him.

Hello you chatty lot!

I'm at a trampoline park, dd and her friend loving it! Snuck food in and her friend paid for drinks so only special delivery so far has been tea and cake for me!! £5.

I've never had a penny off dds father, occasionally think about chasing it but I don't really want anything to do with him.

£4.95 on lunch out. Currently hiding from the hideous Northern Ireland weather... need new jeans and trainers but can’t face going out in rain!

Girlie wouldn't it be lovely to chase him for it when she's almost of age and him have to pay it all to you and you could give it to her as a start in life? Does it even work like that? I don't know anything about how it works.

Been to work again today & probably need to go back to meet computer guy as the most important computer in place isn't working

Meh. So much for no spending days. Have been on nights and secumbed to evil vending machine for snacks. Note to self, buy some healthy ones to take in and a box of Diet Coke cans. Poison I know but cheaper than a pound a pop from the machine. Am generally good when not on nights.

On happier note, planning cheap and cheerful National trust walk this weekend. Will do cull of books to take them for their bookshop. I will also make some toffee and a cake to celebrate epiphany. And parcel up old Christmas cards for a charity which can use them.

I cleared some Christmas packaging off the top of my locker and unearthed approx. €4.30.

Today has been ok.
I nipped to Tesco and only spent £4.98 on salad stuff to go with lunch, and bought a scratch card 😶 but I won £4 So that can go straight into the cash tin.

I went onto predict my bill (British gas) to see if I was going to have a massive gas and electric bill. But so far so good, there will be enough in the account to cover the gas and electric when i get the bill.

lonely cag

The nap didn’t last long. About 45 minutes. But better than nothing.

Am at hospital now waiting for my appointment. Boooorrrrrrrrriiiinnnnggggg

Went for lunch with mum & dad. Was accosted by a lady with her baby granddaughter. Could grandaughter “have a hold” of the baby. She loves babies. Specially baby girls (?!?!) what a lovely baby girl you have. What’s her name?! I said Charles, cos you know, that’s his name. Grandmother said “Charles. What a lovely name. Short for Charlotte?” Ffs.

I also said no sorry but her snotty coughy sticky looking grandaughter couldn’t “have a go” with ds. He’s not a toy.

Got a raised eyebrow from the lady, an embarrassed face from Dm and a smug proud “atta girl” facefrom ddad. Haha!

Seriously though?! Seriously?!

Have left ds “napping” (he’s in cot but has no intention of napping) with Dm and ddad while I’m here.

He's getting big now Em. Such a gorgeous little boy.

£6 superdrug, two toners on bogof.
50p litre of Tesco smartprice shampoo for washing delicates in the machine.
£2.80 top up shop in Aldi.

Was going to buy new Microfibre cloths but I checked the garage & took back all the ones Dh has pinched for washing the car 🙄

Booked for a Tesco eye test. Still free even though vision express run them now.

Our downstairs loo is a disgrace. I need to decorate it & then we will want to keep it nice. There's a toolkit, two beach chairs, a bag of rubbish out of my old car, a bag of work clothes. Grim.

@seacow dd chokes too so I'm mostly ticking to puree atm. She has no teeth so I'm a bit cautious.
@laska stock is in fridge cooling. I'm excited for tomorrow's soup!
@lonely you don't sound grabby. Your ex should pay a fair amount he needs to
provide for the children he made.

Went to the shops where they had mince and pork steaks reduced to 99p each. Bought two of each and they're in the freezer ready for batch cooking then integrating into the meal plans. Got apples, parsnips and broccoli for dd. £5.84

Hi all! NSD here
Em your little boy is lovely, ( notice I said boy not girl, ffs I used to get that all the time because my son had blonde ringlets, then with twin girls I got "ooh, are they boys (NO!!!)
Born- I clear clutter into bags for charity shop, recycle, family or bin, drawers I have a crap box, that then I clear through while watching television...would that help? I dropped 3 huge bags at charity shop today with lovely things that are in great condition but are just wasted with us, its a crime keep nice things if your not using and don't need them.

Just under £5 spent in Sainsbury’s on cream (to use up some heat and eat mince pies whose best before was yesterday- I hid the packaging from dh), salad and dip to go with leftover cheese for tea and some crumpets for breakfast

That is part of my problem if someone buys me a gift and I don't use it I feel so guilty that I keep it for ages. I need to keep repeating that mantra - its a crime to keep nice things if your not using them. Hopefully it will sink in

Anyway NSD today and yesterday. I haven't done my budget for this year yet. Not sure what I'm doing really as I've never done anything like this before. Is a spreadsheet best?

Think I might keep all my daily spends in a small notebook so I can keep track. Also think I'm going to stop using paypal so much as sometimes I loose track of what's still to come out of my account.

Wow! This thread moves fast! Great excuse to sit down with a cup of tea

I’m jealous of your meal plans because it’s something I find really hard to do. Doesn’t help having kids with very restricted preferences so meal times are always a battle ground. DH is suspicious of anything spicy and lately is watching his weight so skips meals and to be honest I find that I just dread dinner more and more. There is not one single meal that the five of us can all sit down to.

I find breaking the bones makes for a deeper stock. I used to keep veg trimmings in a bag in the freezer (carrot tops and peelings, onion roots etc) and throw into the stockpot with herbs and bay from the garden. It’s perversely satisfying to make something from what would otherwise be rubbish. And obviously it all is strained off at the end.

I sometimes make rubbish soup using the starchy water from pasta or rice and the off cuts of veg like asparagus that is trimmed to size or the stalks of mushrooms, and a cube of homemade stock.

I need to clear out the freezer. There’s meat in there that is at least two, maybe three years old. Not sure whether it would be ok or not. Any thoughts??? I never cook big joints because there’s no one to eat them.

£4 odd on painkillers for DH. Pilates tomorrow, that will be £40 for this month. Plus I will need a new screen on my phone, quoted £50 but not sure yet if it will be tomorrow or Friday.

Ann if dh is skipping meals, it makes it cheaper! If he doesn't tell you in advance, make a big batch (of something you like) and then portion up, he can have some if hungry, if not it's for you for another day! I'd defrost and cook the joints one at a time. Pulled pork with a piece of shoulder is so tasty (pintrest is your recipie friend), again, portion and freeze leftovers. My ds has a very restricted list of tea time foods. I don't sweat the small stuff and feed him what he wants (pizza, sausages, chicken, repeat).

If your frozen meat is well wrapped and isn't showing frost damage I'd go for it. A long slow (very hot!) cook.

Been out, b&q for guttering bits £19, asda £20 and £4 in b&m. Had dd1 with me, bad influence that she is!