First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go

[Laska5772]

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

Yy to frugal recipe please.

They're not a common item in Ireland fluffy but Argos and Littlewoods now sell them for around €120, will wait for a decent discount code from Littlewoods & buy it then or when I've enough from my shop and scan to buy it in Argos

Will catch up later slept 10pm to 10am without waking and still tired 💤

Yeah my water bill has gone up as well Wreck I went over by £12 but they have upped the DD by £4.50 a month just had works with dd about being a but more careful with the water again!!

Have just been crunching the Jan figures and they are pretty eye watering, food was way over budget coming in at £214 for the month (I aim to spend £160) some how spent £70 on petrol and in the extras box I spent a whopping £417!!!! That includes dds birthday stuff, my mums bday, a haircut and a the spa trip but even so.....

This month has got to be better, have got dds party to sort which I have budgeted £100 for but in theory no other big spends. I am going to pay another £30 off dds school trip today and put £10 on the school dinner account.

Also need to do an Aldi shop today which will be £40 or under

Luckily Feb is a short month!!

Wreck your water bill is still a lot lower than mine!

Just got my National Trust magazine and local activities guide. Lots of bluebell walks, lambs, chucks and Easter Egg hunts. Excited about the spring now!

Snuggly I genuinely don't think I've ever realised you are vegetarian before ! But my thoughts on these things are like you. I try to do my bit, to improve the ethics of my consumption and to ease my conscience, but it's just a colossal shit-show really and I have limited means (money, knowledge, disability). I feel permanently guilty about my choices. I get fucked off with people who actually call their lifestyles 'cruelty free' because they're vegan for example. I support veganism totally and feel awful I'm not a vegan, but I don't believe anyone's modern lifestyle can be called 'cruelty free'. There are always things we are overlooking and things we have limited power to change. I applaud anyone doing something, I get that people do the best they can generally.

For people asking btw, I am 20 weeks on Tuesday, so very close to being halfway there. I think the last fortnight have gone quite quick (thank GOD lol) but generally yeah it feels like it's been dragging cos of the HG. I still feel nauseous a lot, and I still vomit in the mornings a lot if I get up early, I also can't do much travel as that triggers vomiting and sometimes sudden intense smells or brushing my teeth still set me off too. Bleurgh. BUT I am miles better than I was so am clinging to that and thinking hopefully things will just continue to improve gradually...

Also we haven't paid water here at all, or in our previous 2 flats. I don't know if the freeholder or the letting agents or the landlord pays it. I guess it must be quite common for big blocks of flats. Saves us some cash.

Just caught up with thread. Hello to new people.

Feeling quite positive as got paid on Thursday and still had some money in bank to put towards site fees for our caravan. January was a long month!!

Menu planning has been a real success, and I am hoping to experiment with different recipes once I am more sorted. I can't believe how much food I must have been wasting

Hope everyone who is ill feels better soon.

Thanks Meadow you are right it is better to do something than nothing. If everyone made a few small changes it would make a massive difference.
Well done for making it to 20 weeks and I hope you keep on feeling better.

Pleased the meal planning is helping Born. I couldn't manage without it. It saves time as well as money.

Do you have the flu like me Mammy? Sleeping a lot seems to be the main symptom. It's really weird. I could never normally sleep 15 hours in one 24 hour day.

Just catching up as my gym session was interrupted by a call out. It was rubbish any way so I'm secretly glad. I have the core and body strength of a jelly it seems.

YY actually 4 jobs but one of the same team but different grades. All civil service and 3 at promotion. I miss the promoted grade although I'm on a lovely team.

I hate Palm oil to and avoid as much as possible.

The right house will be out there catface.

Back to catching up.

It's a difficult one re ethics and food. I think if you make the best choices you can afford which fit your beliefs then that's fine. I realise this sounds a bit preachy which I don't mean. Ie farmer friendly milk, local food, red tractor and so on. When you can make the rest up.

£70 on Morrison's and I though sainsbury was going to be expensive. Included mostly non food stuff.

Yes sunny I do, proper flu not just a cold. Dh said I was coughing all night I've no recollection of this, no wonder my chest & throat hurt

Life good luck with job applications

Fluffy we've agreed to buy a spin dryer as well our current dryer is 12 years old, it takes 2 hours to dry clothes & sometimes longer the one dh is picking up has sensor drying so will stop when clothes are dry & apparently will dry a load in one hour, this will reduce more when we get spin dryer.

Welcome to newbies
Need that was a lovely statement from your ds

You won't regret it Mammy

An efficient dryer is a wonderful thing. Ours is a heat pump one so super quick, it does have a sensor as well - a word of warning though for some reason the sensor doesn’t work so well with bedding (if stuff ends up tangled in the cover it just senses the cover itself is dry even if the other stuff isn’t) so we put it on again for bedding but other than that it’s brilliant. I can fit two big washloads in at once :o

There are currently 9 people in my tiny tiny living room. I have escaped upstairs with the baby (she was overtired and hungry and distracted which was a good excuse to hide from all the awkward

Back on the boat.. weather is now even worse.. Took curtains back but spent the refund on a lamp and some fabric.. so no better off.. didnt get wool though.. def will go obline .. only other spend was on some veg for dinner!

Trying to have a no spend weekend.

I have enough food in the house and tomorrow we’re going on a walk/picnic with some other families, so it should be doable!

The heated airer sounds fab. That might just be my next (accounted for and planned!) big spend.

We never use our heated airer. It creates loads of condensation. It's OK for stuff that's a bit damp but not stuff that's soaking wet.
Our washer dryer is worse than useless but we have no space for any other sort of dryer unfortunately.

Sorry to hear that Mammy. I've had proper flu in the past and it's a real beast. This thing I've got is very mild by comparison. I hope you feel better soon.

Spin dryer purchased from Littlewoods
€149.99 reduced to €123.99 in their electrical sale used a 20% discount code & buy now pay no interest for six months code so got it for €99.19 will pay back €5 a week & repay it within 6 months

I got it last January too sunny

Loving this thread such a lovely friendly group with lots of hints and tips as well as the chat especially as I live alone and my grown up children are a good distance away.

Having been frugal in the past then disappearing down a big black hole called MH and spending on anything and everything I'm now back on track. Credit card debt is going down and once that's done I'm aiming to swap my car for a mini camper.

So food budget is in place. All unnecessary dd's are cancelled and walking where I can to save fuel. (I already walk to work) though downside to that is I finally have to replace the walking shoes I've had for years as they are a little leaky.😁

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that Mammy. That's no fun to have two in a row like that.

I got groceries delivered from SuperValu yesterday they had some issue so couldn't deliver at correct time slot & gave us a box of lindor as compensation

I bought a pack of 3 chicken breasts on the bone for €5 as opposed to a chicken for same price, more white meat for all of us, we're going to have roast dinner tonight. Is it too late to put them on high in slow cooker?

The discussion of spin dryers just reminded me that we're on a trial of a fancy new electicity monitor that records the usage of every individual appliance. I just logged in and this is what it says of our electricity usage. (image attached)