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!

I can do £40 a week plus £70 a month Costco plus £50 Amazon if I use Aldi. But it involves eating a roast and using leftovers and is a bit repetitive. I have a two and a four year old and they are dairy fRee. Would be cheaper if they weren’t. So that’s £60 a week ish.

Morning All !
Just caught up.
Did a shop yesterday -13 days with no shopping and fridge was bare .
Waited until the evening and it was absolutely dead in the supermarket
There were about 3 of us !
Got massive amounts of reduced bread,wraps ,crumpets and cakes for the freezer -all at 14p so very happy .Chest freezer is full -I think everyone is low carbing
Tired after first week back at work but both elder DC back to uni so will have a quiet pottery weekend .
Spends
£65 supermarket
£35- should last the month as rarely use the car.
Seacow
Essentially the £40 a weekers probably dont buy formula,wipes,nappies and have 1-2 DC
I can do £40 if I have to but thats with a fully stocked and used freezer and meal 0lanning.
We also eat anything but dont do cheap meat /ready meals .
Fruit and veg is eaten in massive quantities but its from the market -apples,mandarins,bananas ,pears,grapes at this time of year -no berries unless frozen cheap ones.
DH has porridge or eggs (own hens ( so no pricey cereal .

Em our tree was the same. So satisfying hoovering up the needles though.

£45 Aldi
£3 Halfords on de-icer (free on o2 priorities) and a new ice scraper
£40 fuel
£5 Tesco
£25 between the lines on three cards and a present for my best friend as it's her birthday soon.

Yep. Absolutely so so satisfying.

Had to get out of the house so left for the stables early. Dh was saying things about helping “me” but hasn’t actually surfaced from bed yet. So I left. Needed petrol and to collect my boots order. Took forever to get petrol so haven’t made it to boots yet. Am sat waiting at the stables for my lesson. Will head to boots after my lesson.

Drew £20 out of the joint account to pay for ds’s haircut, bread, cereal and a few bits. Got home and broke our kitchen clock whilst cleaning it so have ordered a new one at 13.90.

£9 .55 swimming, £52 sainsbury. Moral of that story don't take DC when they are hungry.

Our shopping bill varies wildly, anything from £40 to £100 a week, because we are so bad at planning. On the low spend weeks I end up topping up more I suppose. I think the key is going to be spending more consistently but planning properly for all the other things we need food for during the week, so looking ahead to whether we have people visiting, snacks for the Caglets after activities (as we so often end up buying stuff when we change buses in town), and also planning for the times I’m most likely to need something quick and convenient particularly if pain levels are high.

This morning DD is back at ballroom and usually gets snacks and a (fizzy ) drink and brings a sandwich home which she only eats half of, because DH is a softie . So I made a big point in front of both of them of giving her a bottle of water and multipack bag of crisps. She also took a handful of dried mango (I’d found a big bag reduced in Waitrose) for the way there. I found out she was getting a small pot after gym each week which must really add up. She gets a flapjack too FFS. I can’t be annoyed though really as I am just as bad when the Caglets are with me. I am only tracking my own spends this month but trying as a family to cut down on this stuff as goodness knows how much we are spending.

A basic flapjack would be easy to bake despite a crappy oven right? I avoid cakes, bready things etc as our oven doesn’t keep temperature accurately, but oats and syrup can’t really go wrong can it? I’ve never tried.

Ooh I just got a ShopandScan invite in the post, does anyone do that? It’s via Kantar who I’ve had positive experience with.

I meant I gave DD a pack of crisps FROM a (cheap) multipack bag by the way. Not that I’d given her a whole multipack :o

Cagliostro a basic flapjack would be fine in the oven even if it’s plying up a bit, just keep a close eye on it. The ones with condensed milk in the recipe are the closest to the texture of the bars you buy

Cag I have yet to meet an oven that keeps its temperature correctly. You are flapjack is difficult to mess up. Set your oven to the suggested temp. Check at the suggested time. If it is underdone you know next time your oven cooks cool. Obviously if it is too dark it is hotter than the setting. Mine is really uneven front to back and a slight left to right gradient. I just turn the tray 180 degrees half way through. It also cooks hotter than it says on the dial so set it a shade cooler than the recipe says.

I didn't do a big food shop this weekend. I'm hoping to eat out of the freezer/kitchen presses as much as possible for dinners, so I'll just do a small top up shop.

MIL and FIL invited us out for lunch tomorrow and I think they're paying at least I hope so so that's one less dinner.

Our shopping bill varies wildly too but that's because I include cleaning stuff, formula, nappies etc in with it. I did for for just under £50 last week and I think next week will be similar as we are quite well-stocked at the moment.

I'm counting down to when we can stop formula and give normal milk now. Not long to go...

Meal plan:

Lentil Dahl
Broccoli and pesto pasta
Shepherd pie x2
Sausages and something
Chicken wraps
Rendang beef.

Just making he flapjacks for JO five ingredients. Will let you know how they turn out cag!

YY flapjack is easy in any oven
I kept my food shop below £100 this week but that's cos I still have loads in that I need to use up.
I read the poverty thread a while back and it's true I get panicky at the thought of an empty cupboard. I'm trying to reverse that.

The Mary berry ones are dead easy. I will photo it

Mary's

Cag
I must admit I dont really do snacks but could you get a container and get your DC to be responsible for remembering to take something each time or each have their own snack box for the week?
I would murder DH if he bought sandwiches etc each week

Ooh brilliant thanks. They look simple enough even for me! I do want to try the peanut butter ones posted a few threads back but DS wouldn’t eat them so I’ll start simple. Yay! Caglets are excited too as they don’t get to do that sort of thing really. I’ll get the ingredients in our next shop.

My dc are addicted to snacks they get them at school though etc so 🤷‍♀️ I try to make them healthy... I'm a serial snacker too but I can't eat massive meals.

Pink ‘tis true we have got into some awful habits! I am determined to get much stricter this year both for health and finances. We spend so long out and about especially as we get so many buses, and yet it always takes me by surprise . I think a container would be a good idea, I also need to be more organised about doing stuff like chopping up carrots in the mornings. I have a decent cool bag now so no excuses!

Dh and I just raided out holiday savings tins to see how much we had £72 in mine which I’m really pleased with and £200 in dh’s. He is doing very well. All money back in new tins but I’m feeling comforted that I have a third of my holiday spends stashed away safely.

NooooCag
No one chops carrots in the morning !
Do it during dinner meal prep -5 minutes lunches/snacks packed.
Also bags packed /coats/shoes etc

Ack posted then realised you HE
Ignore me !

Determined to keep up this year. Determined to be frugal also. Although spendy yesterday at the sales in an outlet shopping centre with my friend. It was her birthday so some treats were necessary because she has no family at all.

99p bread in M&S.

Come home and dh has asked for a list of chores and told me how difficult it is trying to get anything done with ds. Must be true if he’s said it.

Picked up order from boots. Hoorah. So we’ve got enough nappies now for the next few weeks. Still no sign of my Lidl ones though.