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!

Spends for today, £32 in aldi, should have cost less but apparently i am unable to stick to a list.
£23 in mcdonalds. Promised the kids a mcdonalds today as a littlw treat before we go back to school/ work. It was so cold by the time i got it home. I was complaining to OH i could have cooked everyones meals at home for a lit less and would have been way cheaper. Im sure the kids opt for mcdonalds because of the crappy toy. Sigh, they enjoy it though.

I find myself eating it even though it's way more than I would normally eat... Next time I'm going to put 1/2 of it in the freezer and he can have it for lunch. I couldn't stomach it twice

@lifelongfrugaleer that's not cheating at all but rhfitness says not to change any setting on Fitbit for exercise as it changes your calorie burn artificially, when your hr goes up you're burning extra calories anyhow.

Decided to go for €150 shop & free delivery, then have a week next week or after with just small topup shop instead

I'm not looking forward to work tomo either wreck you're a lot more organised than me! I'm starting work an hour later than usual though so will do lunches tomorrow morning

Hey copper! Lovely to see you back :) nope not moved yet but much higher on the list now so we are hoping this half of the year. Trying to get as much ready as we can because you only get a week or two to move in if offered somewhere. Exciting :)

Born I completely agree, baby steps, every penny counts quite literally. I get easily overwhelmed with big changes, so the celebrating individual achievements works really well for me, for all things like decluttering etc as well as frugaleering.

NSD for me, small win in fact as we had our takeaway yesterday (can I resist another for the whole month now I wonder... this was actually DH’s choice and cheaper than going out after the circus as planned) and normally I’d maybe use half the leftovers then chuck the rest, but today I had it for lunch and dinner, it was lovely, and no waste. Used up other stuff in the fridge for the Caglets too.

Must get my tax return done this week. It’s ridiculous as I realised last year it’s really not a big deal (low earnings so don’t even pay tax) so why I’m procrastinating I don’t know (well I do know. My brain is stupid.) [sigh]. Next year onwards will be even simpler as I won’t have any wages to add (left paid employment last summer).

Need to try and get little madam to bed now, it’s been one hell of a day, just writing off this whole week TBH and starting afresh tomorrow! :)

Just checking in after a busy weekend.

Friday - £26.76 Waitrose top up shop due to unexpected weekend guests....they stayed two nights 😱

Saturday - NSD for me. DH paid at the pub from his own account (we have our own accounts and then joint for household expenses).

Sunday - Ocado shop delivered at £65.73 which I'm pretty pleased with. Meal plans for the week done and the shop included shampoo, toothbrush, and toothpaste for DD as well as some Sistema pots to replace some old snack pots that had warped over time.

Day off tomorrow with DD who doesn't go back to school till Tuesday. She's desperate to spend some of her Christmas money so might be a spendy day for her but hopefully not for me!

Low spend weekend nothing Saturday .Sunday. MacDonald lunch between fils and then £15 on TV unit from Facebook selling sites perfect size . shopping today so need to be careful..

Good luck to everyone going back to work this morning and those with dcs going back school

After my spendy Saturday Sunday was nsd. Dog walking. Voluntary work in the morning. Took until a late homemade soup lunch. Chilled evening reading and watching very. Will need to spend 25 today.

Thanks Mammy.

Beck to it this week - school/ work/ activities.

Born. Stick with it. As cag says baby steps and gaining new habits will make a difference. It takes time though.

Cag - do your tax return. Don't risk a fine. Stern voice to you.

Only activities planned spend today £5 skate park, £6 cubs.

Got £99 on stuff on eBay and still waiting for the boots to end tonight currently at £10!

Really pleased with that. I owe my mum £30 from an eBay purchase but the rest is mine. I hate packing it all up and going to the post office though, plus the one in our village is now only open until lunchtime so I will have to find another one to go to and no post office likes it when you come it with 15 parcels!

Hoping for nsd here. No spends due.

We’re planning on a lazy day. I still feel full of cold - although it still hasn’t come out I just feel all bunged up.

I need to take ds to get weighed at some point so may do that this afternoon. But if not definetly this week.

I have a load of admin things to get done too - passport form, christening reception etc.

Just discovered how low maternity pay is will need to tighten belts metaphorically if I get that BFP ... it’s also a bit worrying that my work seems to have a clause saying they will only give you your job back if you go back after 26 weeks otherwise it may not be possible, I thought that was illegal??

NSD planned.
Have squirreled £45 in cash from food budget over past 2 weeks

@Peonies my understanding is that if you go back at or within 26 weeks they have to give you your exact job with exact conditions as previous. I thought though if you return within 52 weeks they can offer you similar roles with benefits no less desirable than your current role or position but maybe not the current role you have.

Morning all,

Bit of a spendy day today gym membership renewal. But if I pay for the year upfront I get 12 months for the price of 10 so I am saving kind of!

Cub/scout subs are also due but I’ve got till the end of the month to pay that, it can wait.

Off to Zumba I go!

spendy weekend, but I got 12 rolls of wrapping paper, gift bows, and some baubles for a total of £2.35 so that's gone in my store cupboard, and loads of bagains all over. Things which if I waited until the end of the year would cost loads costing me pennies. So spendy but fairly frugal really.

And we won't be spending on wrapping paper, baubles, and crackers until next year in the sales ;-)

Plus I got the last bits I need for my daughter's 3rd birthday (not for months yet! but get it while it's cheap if you know it's coming...)

and I won't be spending today, the kids are back in school and I'm "resting" (chasing the 2 year old around doesn't count) between school runs.

I did delay repay when my train was delayed and they only refunded one half of the journey when both were delayed. I emailed and again and the refunded the other half and I've just looked this morning and they've refunded the whole thing (again!) so I'm £28 up.

Boots I do the same with giftwrap (REALLY autocorrect? “Gift warp” is more likely than giftwrap? 🤔) - I love Boots and M&S Christmas wrapping paper, it’s lovely quality so I tend to buy when it goes half price. I haven’t got round to looking properly this year but I have quite a healthy stash anyway so it doesn’t really matter if I don’t.

I’m managing to be a little organised this morning so feeling quite good compared to yesterday when it was all I could do not to kill someone :o

Cag I'm an awful procrastinator too. I had to promise myself something nice to do just to get my tax stuff ready.

Eugh something in my salad has made me feel all bloated and sick. It's always salad that does this to me.

Fantastic excuse never to eat salad again.

I know sunny but I have at least half a stone I need to lose! It was really tasty too

Aw wreck I hate when that happens!!! Will you be able to work out what it was?

Busy day here.

Tax return done.

Emails sent to prospective building management companies and phone calls made.

Call to schedule next Dentist appointment made (£250 the next one......)

Printed ds’ nursery application

Researched passport photographers.

Two loads of washing. Hoorah!

DH Has also called to let me know he’ll be in London in february for a Friday. Do I want to fly over and we can spend the weekend.

I said no. Because I don’t want to fly with ds on my own for the first time. Turns out dh meant just me. We’ll discuss it later apparently. Don’t want to do it. Don’t feel ready to leave ds for a day let alone weekend.