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!

Love it Need!

I woke up in the night worrying about how we're going to pay for childcare. Eek!

Audit have sent you a pm.

Think our house prices are similar to catface's. There's a house round the corner to me up for rent for £50k a month

Should be a nsd. Work and nothing else exciting. Ds was up in the night with growing pains.

Oh need that just brightened my morning immensely!!

After the splashbacks of muck I got on my jeans this morning from the wellies and having to find fresh ones to wear at short notice for work I've come to the conclusion I need to dedicate a pair of trackies to feeding the hens each morning until the weather dries up

I had to wrack my brains to think if I had a fleece, and I do have one zippy one from dare to be, it's about 12 years old and still as good as the day I got it and one that I got in Dec 2016 that has a massive oversized hood, I wear it on hungover or really cold days. They would have been a big part of my college wardrobe but I've grown up a little since then.

snuggly hope things improve for you x

Need that’s a sight.... but they also look suspiciously clean. Are you sure they’re not for Saturday night best?

Colour printer if is, thanks for the feedback. I think that will consume all the vouchers so no fancy bedding. I did happen to see in JL website that for around £2-300 you could get 1000 thread count bedding , bet that feels amazing.

Snuggly me too. I can’t see a solution. It really is utterly crippling, and you’ve really been hit hard by twins.

I’ve remembered this morning why I hate giving Wheatabix to a baby - it’s so hard to clean up gritty slime. Right up there with houmous. I thought she’d eaten an impressive amount until I found a fair amount had escaped up her sleeve. We are only 2 weeks into weaning and she is refusing milk in the mornings and holding out for solids. I think she’s going to be An Eater.

Will deal with OM's after work. I have pro scanner on my phone (cost about £5 but is amazing) I use it to scan all my expenses receipts and email to myself. Definitely worth the investment.

I have an Epson Eco Tank 2550, it's amazing, not had to buy extra ink used for 18 months. It's currently playing up and I'm waiting on their tech guys to come back to me. This us annoying as I waited to message when I was working from home, and I bet they come back to me when I'm in the office.

Wee got a three in one printer scanner and copier. It's really good and was only about £30 seacow. It's on WiFi so I can print straight from my phone, iPad and laptop.

Yes Christmas Weetabix is like quick drying cement! It's just as bad when it reappears at the other end and needs loads of wipes to shift it. (Sorry TMI!)

DCs are hard work today. I'm just hiding with chocolate!

We have a 3 in 1 printer too. We only get Hp printers, the ink is easy to get hold of, and not too expensive. Ours is also wireless, and the hp laptops connected and printed without any fuss. I print from my tablet all the time. We have one which takes a big black, and the three seperate colours, so you only need to change them as they go. The black gets changed a lot more often than the colours.

Have 3 things to post today, will be £11. But that's paid for by buyers so I'm not counting it!

I still feel so ropey. Dd2 has started with a cold now too. Why do they always do bikeability in January?

snuggly it sounds like you're having a tough time. I can't imagine trying to wrangle 2 mobile babies, or keep them endlessly amused... dd1 will get some free hours? I think I found the part between my dc going mobile (6-9 months) and starting nursey the absolute hardest bit, looking back.

Lonely I totally agree. The hardest part for me was when ds was 18 months and could climb on to the worktop but didn't know it was a bad idea.

We currently have a 3-in-1 (not wireless though, that will be fab) and I have used the scanner and copier a good bit. Problem is if we get a laser jet rather than inkjet the 3-in1s are massive as well as more pricey. They look like office printers! We have space on top of a filing cabinet, whatever we buy has to fit on there. I will check out the app Audit recommends and see whether we can dispense with a scanner completely. I like the look of the printer Sunny has and there are some good prices for refurbished but I would quite like to use JL magic beans rather than real money, if it’s not silly to buy new. I shall keep looking.

I know those days Snuggly. I have some coop Black Forest tea cakes up my sleeve (not literally, although that would be a good system for emergencies). No doubt they will be tempting when I get home from school with DS and we hit the grumpy dinner hour. When do you plan to go back to work? And apologies that I have lost track but how old are the babies now?

Sympathies snuggly. I only had 2, albeit very close together, but not going to try to understand an additional one!! DS was 18 months when DD was born, but I actually liked the pre school but post tiny baby the best.

I am glad you all like the onesie, I am happy to provide style advice for a small charge Perhaps I also wear it to the supermarket seacow

mammy I've got joggers (God I am the style queen aren't I?!) for pulling over my work clothes for the early morning dog walks etc. I was the same as you, constantly changing jeans or tights etc.

Think today's spends will be a fiver for my exercise class and that's it.

Hope the viewings go okay Catface

Love the onesie need . There are definitely times like sorting out animals when warmth is far more important.

Hope the viewings are going ok catface

Waiting to hear from my mum about what gets decided at my dads appointment that is happening now. I feel like I am going to puke! I couldn’t go as DD2 is home with me

Might do some cooking in a bit as a distraction as I have a shepherds pie to make

The waiting is hard Love, it's the sword of Damocles hanging over you.

Snugg You sound like you've reached the point where you can't afford to work & you can't afford not to work?.

NSD.

I need to find out how to buy bigger bottles of hydrogen peroxide (use it as mouthwash to whiten my teeth) without looking like a bomb maker. I get through one a month.

I seem to have fallen off this thread as it moves so quickly!

We are doing the envelopes thing for our food shopping at the moment. The equivalent of about £100 (not in the UK) per week for a family of 2 adults and 2 children (5 and 7). It has really opened our eyes to how we spend (and quite often squander) our money and in that regard is proving very worth doing.

Also it really encourages me to use up every morsel of food before it goes off. A bit of leftover salsa from a couple of weeks ago is defrosting as I type and will be added to tonight's chili, that sort of thing. It's hard work, though, as it's not second nature yet but I imagine it will get easier with time.

Have not posted for awhile. Have had to spend money with chiropractor due to sciatica. Am hopelessly out of shape -part of the issue, so to gym to get a work out programme. A New Years resolution forced upon me! At least I turned down a friend who wanted me to go on holiday in April. I was frank & said I had no money for that.

Re frugality, My staff tend to be in their 20s-early 30s & some are profligate. ( Buying lunch, while me, the boss, always brings mine from home) Just today, one staff member texted to say his wife left, & I am sure it is money woes. They took an eye-popping trip over Xmas -multiple weddings, & we all know what those cost to attend. I suspect all bills are now coming due. The result of the consumerist society, bring back the Puritans, I say!

On the budget front, I have reduced my hairdressing bills by 60% - slightly longer between cuts, and only get colour done when they have 50% off sale - 3 times a year. Otherwise, it is John Frida foam, a fiver, & looks pretty good!

Another Food in the bin = money in the bin. I freeze sliced tomatoes left over from salads. They go in soups. People laugh at me for it but I don't care.

Moan We've got a wedding coming up and I hope we don't get an invite. I hate going to random weddings. I didn't invite them to mine so fingers crossed. I'm bloody sure one of our relatives had two wedding anniversarys one year to swerve a party.

My dad is going to have keyhole surgery next week. Apparently all very positive as found very early.

6 glass storage jars sold for €12 including €2 for dropping them off
fluffy I think we're well met I keep ends of tomatoes that dh doesn't use and use them in my omelettes or tuna sandwich mix. I see my work colleague throw food in the bin every week and it baffles me why you would just throw food away.

Cross post love that's great news
anothershirtruined these things soon become habit

Love that sounds fairly positive ..here have an unmumsnetty (( hug)).. its a gruelling time for you all.
moan I also has sciatica recently.. what reall helped -when nothing else seemed to touch it - was (suggested by NHS Physio )was Mackenzie extension exercises . Easy and effective . Obviously it does depend where your sciatica is coming from but if its from centrally y bulging disc it really will help .youll know if it is if the pain is worse bending straight forward ..and straight back

I have reached exactly that point Fluffy! I think we will be marginally better off by me going to work than if I don't. Apart from the cost dropping them off and collecting them will be hard I think so I expect I'll be arriving at work last minute and leaving as early as possible and catching up in the evenings. It's going to be a hard slog for a while... I'm determined to cope though!

That's great love.

Well done Snuggly for plodding on. Would it make financial sense to have a child minder come to your house so you don't have to do the drop-off?

I'm been sleeping all day. I'm not normally good at that, but apparently today is a day of sleep.

Thanks for the encouragement Fluffy and mammy. Money in the bin is exactly what I say to myself every time I throw something away, and I find it a quite powerful mantra. I do still look forward to it becoming habit, though, as I often struggle to come up with ideas on how to use up all the little odds and ends. But it makes for some pretty eclectic lunches at times. My main trick at the moment is omelettes as you can put pretty much anything in an omelette.

I thought so Snugg. A colleague of mine did too. They bought a frozen food franchise to feed elderly people & became millionaires.

Bastards

When do the babies free hours kick in?.