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!

Happy New Year everyone!
Welcome new people.
NSD for me to start the year.
Going to try and catch up with the thread now.....

MISSA!!!!!!! Helloooo! (If you are thinking who the feck is this stalker, I probably had my previous name then, were you also on a minimalist thread a few years back?)

Beware sending amazon gift cards via messenger... my friend chose that option and it got redeemed by someone else in the few minutes before I read the message! He went on the support chat thing and they said “just to clarify the person you wanted to send it to was ‘Jane’?” Errrrm no! I have a totally different name! Thankfully they sorted it out but WTAF?!

I agree with having a rainy day fund. Stuff breaks, kids grow etc. We have some money in an ISA which is earmarked for moving/furniture etc but I am glad it is there. Focusing more on the CC though now.

Ooh, I was on that minimalist thread!! I can't remember under which incarnation though. I loved those threads so much and was really sad when they petered out.

Wow it's been busy on the thread today. Lots of new names - welcome! Hope I can keep up!

MissA! Great to see you. Last I heard l think you were doing your pgce? Hope all is well.

Hope you get your computer sorted Sunny. See you soon.

NSD. Very tired so off to bed.

I was a little known name for hedgehog beginning with f and rhyming with duzzpig

Have soup mix coming tomorrow evening so going to use lentils I already have & make a pot of soup & freeze into portions. Will bring for lunch one day a week in January.
Updated my ynab tonight.

Am feeling so touched that people remember me I loved those minimalist threads too, they helped me clear out a lot of stuff at a very transitional phase in my life.
snuggly I’ve finished both the PGCE and the NQT period now, and have been made head of Department, this term was the most stressful I have ever had, but I thibk it will get easier with experience. It’s a large department of 9 full timers which means inevitable conflict and a lot of cover as someone always seems to get sick.
Am currently hoping to be pregnant sometime this year, and maybe even having a new born will be less stress than herding the cats who I have to manage
Quite a frugal day today, used national trust passes to go for a walk and visit, £7 in tea room but came home for lunch and otherwise NSD. Off to Ireland tomorrow to see family and will be spending on meals out am doing dry January so will hopefully save some money that way.
I also need new jeans as I’m down to one pair, two other pairs both ripped within days of each other.

cag !!!! I remember you as Fuzz....
hope you are well!

And last one mammy yes I’ve been well since a fourth and final big operation in 2014, thank you for asking I’m so grateful every day to be able to eat and drink and exercise etc, all the things I missed so terribly in long hospital stays.

Head of dept! Congratulations! I've gone the opposite way since having 3 kids in 3 years! (I chested by having twins!).

I was on the minimalist threads too and they were fab. The dcs sadly are not minimalists!

Aw yay! Yes I am well thank you, currently have a 2 month old fuzzpiglet on my lap who has turned our lives upside down in a wonderful way :o so exciting about TTC, really hope it happens as soon as you want! This thread seems to have an odd effect, loooads of frugaleer babies over the last couple of years, so fingers crossed :o

*cheated!

Yes congrats on the promotion too!
Totally not minimalist here yet by the way, but definitely less clutter. Far less. Still got a way to go. :o

Aiming for lots of NSD's, today being the first. Iceland tomorrow for food bits with a love to shop voucher I got for doing a survey.....

Awww cag huge congratulations! snuggly twins, that’s so cool (and exhausting?) the SMT have behaved pretty abominably (not to me personally just treating all staff very badly, morale is low) so I would love to announce I’m off on mat leave

00 I agree, clear credit cards before saving.

Spent £4 on coffee and cake. I’m on the No Spend January thread as well.

Oooh, Fuzz! We were all of us on that thread together. I was a sugary treat at the time. You won't remember me. Think of a pixie picking up sticks...

It was suggested I join on another thread, so here I am! I will review this thread for ideas, but basically I need to cut way back until I clear a tax bill - this will take 18 mos. I have budgeted, cut back everything non-essential, go to cheapest possible places to buy food, but am open to any other aids, such as coupons for doing surveys.
I changed my broadband to TAlktalk awhile ago & got lots of great coupons, so anything like that.

If you want a cheap food shop buy smartprice basics of cleaning materials, tea, flour, garlic breads, butter, yoghurts, rice, pasta, veg, toothpaste, mouthwash. You get the idea.

You won't notice a difference on the vast majority of it. Especially cleaning stuff. It matters how often you clean, not so much what with. Detergant is detergent. You can use cheap dishwasher tablets broken in half from Aldi & the plates will still come out clean plus it's a cruelty free brand. Water your multi surface cleaner down by half. Still works.

I probably buy 4 bottles of all purpose cleaner for the whole year.

@moanranger do you use top cashback? My mum just renewed her boiler cover through it and got £100 voucher from the company and £75 from top cashback. Not all payouth are so big but something is better than nothing.

Prolific is also a survey site used by academics that pays cash for doing short surveys.

Aaah it’s like a reunion! Class of 20...14ish?

Definitely finding the principles learned on those threads are helping me. Easier to spend less when I don’t want as much - so far the difference in how much I’ve got for little Cagletini is staggering, I keep looking at toys and thinking nope. Massive change. :)

@fluffycloudland great idea to water down all purpose cleaner! Why I have I never thought of this!

Hey All,
Just thought I'd pop on and wish everyone a Happy Frugal New Year. Life messaged me earlier today, so it made me think of you all. I've read this thread all the way through, so I'm up to date.

It's lovely to see some old faces back, like MissA. I'm shocked that it's as long ago as 2014 when you had your surgery though. It doesn't seem that long ago!

Huge congratulations to Em and Cag on your new arrivals. I haven't been on the thread since August, I think, so you were both still pregnant then.

I'm not sure I'm up to posting every day, but I'll definitely try to post at least weekly. I've been struggling with depression and anxiety for a few months, which is why I haven't been on. I'm having counselling now, which is helping, but I still have a long way to go.

Great to catch up with old friends' news and of course, welcome to this very supportive thread, all newbies.

NSD to start the New Year, BTW!

Hi I'm new here. This year I am aiming to try and clear as much of my debt as I can. I became a single mum last June and have three children 12, 9 and 7. I ow £2000 on my credit card and it may not sound a huge deal but I only earn 12000 a year and dont get hb. After rent and bills I we live off just over £100 a week for all other expenses so it's going to be hard going. I occasionally get did maintenance of £200 but can't rely on it. So it's going to be a hard slog but I'm going to try and do it.

Chocco so is Topcashback the best site? I was a little suspicious of these sites because they asked for a fee, but I’d you can defo recommend I will look into it.
Also Prolific.
My backstory is a bit “first world problems” as I run my own business so should be on top of finances, which normally I am. However, I went thru a very bitter divorce with a lot of financial disagreements. When it all finally settled, I found I owed HMRC a substantial Cap gains bill. I paid off a fair portion of it, but I now have to pay the balance over the next 18 mo.
Then in late Oct, my accountant informs me that if I withdraw any more money from my business until the end of the financial year, I will have to pay £8k more in tax!!! V cross at accountant as I had been pestering her since May to do my personal taxes. Would have been nice to know this sooner.
Upshot is I have had to come up with the dosh for 5 months of living expenses practically out of thin air. (Principally using a 32 mo interest-free CC for this) I will also have to run down most of my savings. In April I can resume taking dividends, but will need to both replenish savings AND pay down CCs. Before this happened, the whole concept of interest free balance transfers and interest free CCs were foreign to me-no more. Saying all this, my situation is nothing compared to those who struggle to pay their heating bills, rent, etc, so I ask for no pity. I will get through this, but “fun stuff” is off the agenda til HMRC gets paid back.