Keeping our Fru Year Resolutions! Frugal January thread two (already) - all welcome!

[Cagliostro]

Eeek so the other thread filled up fast. January 10th must be some kind of record!

Tomorrow I'm signed up to an all day 'presentation skills bootcamp' ..Why did i do that? ( it was another stupid thing i did because I'm bored at work ) I cant get out of it .. so ill take it as personal learning opportunity ..

Ive also just lobbed a virtual grenade over in the 'possible inheritance saga' I mentioned a while back . Its all gone suspiciously quiet over there and I want to know whats going on ..

fluffy nope it doesn’t. Still can’t do it though. It’s like girlie said. The ick-ness.

Ick.

But then this time last year (before I found out about ds) I’d have said ick about nappies. No way would I change nappies. Ick. Second nature now.

Maybe I’ll give mooncup a whirl next time. Just at home though. Maybe. It is more eco...

laksa my lawyers lobbed a grenade in the shape of a letter (what I wrote) at our buildings lack of management. Sadly I’m non practising so have no legal force behind me. Lawyers been kept on retainer for the house sale so no charge for this.

Oh and I'm currently Mumsnetting the remains of the chicken i bought last weekend which I poached in a oriental flavours stock. Am simmering down the carcass in whats left to make Chinese-y infused stock cubes ..There was also a surprising amount of meat left on it as well so good for a stir fry tomorrow night i think

.. and that's my three posts for tonight ..maybe..

Another post !

Em yeah .. i get that ....other peoples poo etc . But it was surprising how quickly I got over .. and also all these years later when DGCs were at that stage ..(one still is)..

.. But the poo factor is also what puts me off getting a dog.. although I often think I might like one

fingers crossed our grenades have an effect!! ..

It's funny how differently girls develop. DD1 is 10, almost 11 and shows no sign of starting to develop yet. 2 of the girls on our panto team are 9, one has breast buds, the other has breasts, small, but she is very slim.

It was nice that they were completely unselfconscious changing, in fact the only one who stayed covered was DD1, who resembles a pancake

Spends £10 for karate and £5.49 on KFC lunch for me

Evening all. I have tried to catch up yesterday as well....

Baked spuds in the oven with a metal skewer through the centre. Quicker than the microwave and a nice crusty skin as well.
Mooncup I am in the ick camp too.
Public speaking laska you know more than your audience so just chat to them. I did my first keynote today. Not a huge audience but I am feeling very proud of myself. 6 months ago I would have been jelly.
This snow is very wet.

Haha lonely well for the most part Cagletini is providing contraception anyway :o but otherwise yes we are sorted but rather sick of condoms now so DH is going to get the snip :o

We used washable nappies with DD1, less so with DS but agreed no way this time, it's a shame especially as there are so many more user friendly options these days and some of them are soooo cute but this time just no, something had to give!

Periods have been fairly light since DS though so hopefully they'll stay that way now, not bothered by the washing of them TBH. A cup is an absolute no go though, I really can't handle anything like that (diazepam for smear tests and gas and air for internal exams...).

Game sounds great sunny the lacrosse kit arrived today and it looks amazing!

NSD. DH remembered to dig out the discount card for swimming which is good as I'd totally forgotten. I lazed with the baby at home - nocuts I watched Boy and the Beast, have you seen it?

You know it's post Christmas when your shepherds pie has sprouts in it 😂😂 it was yum.

Finally back to trampolining tomorrow, they canceled for months as they weren't happy with the leisure centre's safety checks, but sorted now. She's an awesome teacher. Hopefully I can make it out on time (DH is going anyway) as she wants to meet the baby :o

I’m back again, instead of lurking. If we can be very very frugal for the next 4months, we will be debt free (apart from mortgage) and will still be able to have a holiday this summer. If my very tight budget fails, it will take a little longer and will have to forget the holiday this year. I really want a holiday so am hoping that this will keep me going.
I’m going to meal plan tomorrow, and aim for 2meat free nights per week to keep the cost down, Once a week, we will have a home cooked “takeaway” and a Netflix film, plus a bottle of wine . I would like to find a way of earning some extra money from home, but have tried surveys and mystery shopping without much success.

You can do it Frazzled!

We are hoping for a holiday too although I don't know how we'll afford it. My job means we have to go in school holidays.

It's good to have a goal like that frazzled.

There is a couple of inches of snow here. No doubt town will be gridlocked. FFS. £5 on lunch today and a drink so probably £7. It's my old team Christmas meal.

4 months is no time Frazzeled, by then it'll be Spring & you'll start summer debt free.

Cag Is it a form filling kind of day?.

My bet lost last night so I should get a free bet now.

Thanks to the kind frugaleers who priced multipacks of Diet Coke for me. I have a box of 24 tucked away by the front door so I can take one on the way out. I don't want them in the house proper as we would just drink them. Cost £8 at Tescos round the corner from work so if my maths is correct, 33p a can, machine at work 60p can/£1 bottle so frugal win.
Another spend, £63 for the Premier inn in February. We are heading north Friday to Monday for my Dad's birthday.We can stay the Sat and Sun at the family home but other family will be staying Friday night. I normally book the flexible rate but this time have taken the risk and paid up front as it was a choice between £63 and £96. The £33 saved will buy us breakfast and pay for our taxis while we're up there. Just to book the train fares when payday comes tomorow.
It's really just about keeping your eyes open and being canny with money as someone said upthread, isn't it. Very satisfying.

I think we’re having a stay at home kind of day. I have a sore throat - that snuck up on me in the night. We have estate agent coming round this afternoon for pictures. It’s raining.

Ds has had his breakfast and is wiggling about next to me on the bed. He was awake at 630 so I’m hoping he’ll exhaust himself in a bit and have a sleep. At 630 I heard him on the monitor babbling away to himself but didn’t go and get him until 7.

The flat is clean and tidy although the bits I specifically asked dh to do he hasn’t done. He’s buggered off to work without putting clothes away or moving his paddle board. I can’t move it as it’s too heavy.

Should be nsd today.

Morning.

Sorry I've been awol the last few days. I've worked extra hours and honestly, having a pony at this time of year is NOT fun. Driving to the farm at 6am, in either driving rain, ice or snow (take your pick), wading through muddy field in pitch black is a bit shite.

Plus my hamstrings been sore and I am vair grumpy when I don't run It's fine now though.

I'll keep up from now on, today is my first day off. Plan this morning is to cook, bake and clean, run and do a PT session.

Still having a frugal month and will manage to pay the holiday deposit from this months monies hopefully.

I did note seacow's beautiful DD.

Also wrecked, as I've said to girlie before a few times, I found pre-teen and very early teens much harder in terms of hormones and handling volatile emotions than actual teenage years. And DD way harder (almost 100% I would say, but that could be character) than DS. I think your 'dealing with toddler' tactics almost come back into play. Remaining calm, reasonable blah blah. I've always apologised if I've lost my rag unreasonably too, and both of mine do this now, which I really like. It draws a line and take maturity to recognise you were out of line. Have a few rants on here. I even used to go out of the room and count to 10, disengage etc!!

Brilliant stuff Frazzled, that's excellent frugaleering. A holiday sounds like a plan.

I've 'saved' £400 by booking a UK holiday this year and not needing the dog boarding facility we use. DD plan a couple of city breaks as she wants to see Athens and Rome. I'll scout for deals

Someone here made sweet potato orange star anise soup? Can you either link the recipe or give me a pointer re finding it?

I’ve also just remembered that wanted down under is on. Eeek. First lot of trash tv this year!

Here it is em, it's from HFW's new book Much More Veg. So not online yet. If you can't read it then I'll photo it in 2 parts.

It's a book of joy for anyone wanting to eat more veg, brings them to life

Cheers need I’m going to have a go at that today. We have all the spices and I bought a couple of oranges yesterday.

I love HFW. We went to river cottage for a cooking class thing ages ago. He was superbly enthusiastic and tofftastic about everything. May see about getting the new book...

Oh I would have loved the HFW visit em, that would be right up my street. He's totally tofftastic isn't he?

Thanks Need. She’s even sleeping marginally better so we might keep her. The other one, on the other hand.... 😬 it’s beena difficult morning. Apparently J is for giant. The storm that unleashed when I said it was not so!

Anyway, I put my turtle door mat in the washing machine last night and washer is now broken 🙁

I'd have loved that too Em. I'd love to eat at the canteen place. I have almost as many of his books as Jamie's!

I'd leave that particular argument to the teachers then seacow

Here's last nights HFW. Potato, pepper and chard stew with saffron. Premise of the book is that you don't need to see veggies as a 'side' to accompany meat, they are magnificent in their own right.

Certainly keeps you regular

DS had sausages with his

need thanks for soup recipe - I also have everything in stock so might make tonight. Googled tamarin to discover it's soy sauce so I'm ok for that.

I also feel like that about the hens at the moment, changing into wellies, going down into squelchy mud in the dark, back to shed to change into work boots before going takes up 10 mins, in dry weather I just drop their food as I go and it takes 2 mins tops!

We had an amazing toad in the hole last night - made with superquinn sausages and everything else we had in store cupboard. The wholegrain mustard in the gravy took it to a whole new level of yumminess and I had some stock from cooking a roast beef last week that I used up frugally too. Its been absolutely years since I made this. Dc ate lots of steamed potatoes too.

Chicken roasting today.

em at your dh, look after your sore throat too

frazzled that's brilliant - 4 months is no time at all
duchess great saving regarding diet coke

I want to pay what's not needed in my account against cc but car still hasn't been fixed at garage so need to keep money for that too. Paid €150 instead.

Love looking at the inflated balance there this morning my current acc had 4 figures before I did my transfer to joint acc