Decedantly damcing towards December - frugaleering Christmas ahoy!

[ememem84]

New thread

Had a lie in until 9!!! Dh got up with ds. Yay.

THey brought me tea in bed. Then ds bonked me in the head with my travel mug. I’m sure he meant it lovingly....

Today’s jobs:

Sort under stairs cupboard and put 100’sof rolls of toilet roll and kitchen paper away. Done.

Laundry on.

Bake cinnamon rolls. Although dh needs to go to the shop before I can do this. Hopefully he knows that they need to rest rise etc.

Also have to make beds clean bathroom sweep floors etc.

Also re my plight earlier in the week. I think. Maybe. Just maybe that af is on the way. Let’s just say I saw something earlier.

Seacow cookies

Sorry you are having such a shit time of it wrong.

Yes foil will be fine. It will need to be tight though and might extend cooking time.
What about a Friday fridge cake?

Phew em

Good to hear that @ememem84.

Spends yesterday:
£65 hairdresser
£22 takeaway (very occasional treat for us, in place of a lunch out a deux that didn't work out; lots of leftovers for lunch today too.)

Seacow I make rice pudding in the slow cooker although that isn't helpful if it's full of chicken! What about pancakes?

Fluffy - I’ve worked out my income and outgoings and budgeted everything. Including Christmas. I’ve checked my gas & electric is on cheapest rate, checked my direct debits and contacted my life insurer and income protection insurers as both policies were taken out years ago as a smoker. I’m now a non smoker and it’s saving me £56 a month across both policies. I wish I’d contacted them sooner to ask about it though!

I’ve discovered that my local college offer cheap hair and beauty stuff so I can probably afford to have a student to do my roots before Christmas.

I’ve sold everything that’s both worth something and useless to me on fb/eBay now.

I have a high amount of debt I need to chip away at, but if I budget properly it’s manageable.

NSD hasn’t happened though, I spent 0.99p on a bag of choc coins because I thought I still had a free code on my o2 priority app but it turned out we had already used it, but I promised my 2 year old. So I spent to save myself a tantrum...

snuggly I do rice pudding in the slow cooker too, I make it with alpro chocolate almond milk - it’s amazing

Christmas do you have a microwave? Micro sponge puddings are good.

kitkat sorry if ive not got this right but is the debt mostly credit card? If so are you doing the standing order trick? You can chip away at this loads if you do.

Dh and ds went to the shop. To get everything on my list. They almost managed it.

I’m making cinnamon rolls so need cinnamon. Specifically put ground cinnamon. While they were out I made a start on the dough as knew it needed to rise.

They bought cinnamon sticks.

Also asked for mixed spice. Dh bought all spice. Which he was astounded to find out isn’t the same.

Asked for table salt. He bought rock salt.

He did go back to the shop and came back with mixed spice. And mince pies. And a stollen.

Dough is rising. I’m either going to use mixed spice instead of cinnamon or grind up the cinnamon sticks.

EVes pudding christmas? Fruit in bowl. Sponge cake mix on top. Microwave.

Sea I second North’s suggestion. Steamed sponge pudding either in the microwave or on the stove is always a winter winner.

Back/hip spasoming after standing out in the rain for hours. Have taken some pain killers and hoping it eases enough to sit comfortably at the theatre this evening. Ds being a narky nightmare though so I’m not entirely looking forgot going out.
Ironing done and toys out to one side for collection tomorrow, they are going to local children who don’t get presents at Christmas.
H’s money still hasn’t gone into account. I have no idea if he’s complained as I asked him to.
Wrong you sound like you are having a really tough time. The people on this thread are a fantastic source of support

What is Friday fridge cake Life?

I love rice pudding Snuggly though DH doesn’t so I’ll remember that for when the slow cooker is free.

What is this microwave sponge pudding thing m? I think a jammy pudding would go down a storm with my lot. I have Jam and all the usual baking stuff. Will google, but if anyone has a tried and tested recipe for 4 people I’m all ears!

Kit

You are doing really well. Have you tried the grocery downshift, meal planning & doing valued opinion surveys for a bit of extra spends?.

The standing order trick is essential. Throw the extra money at the highest interest debt if you can. When that’s done move onto the next highest interest debt.

Microwave sponge puddings are the best!

I'm binging Netflix as I accidentally paid for it (money was in account and Netflix took it)

And doing laundry while keeping an eye on the electric.

So COLD!

@ChristmasSeacow

This is one portion but you could quadruple it or just do one mug at a time!

Had a nice day here, did a bit of gardening and took some garden waste to the dump, caught up some other jobs.

Mum treated us to lunch, I nearly had a fit as dd wanted a jacket potato and they wanted to charge £8.50 for it 😮 turns out they charged £2 for additional toppings. Needless to say she just had the one topping!! How they can justify that for a spud is beyond me.

Spent £5 in the reuse shop, got a dvd, a garden pot and some little cheese mice for that. Dd found the mice, they look really sweet and dd is busy googling to see if they're worth anything 😁

Fuck me that’s extortionate.

I often go to places and ask for a potato with no topping and I often get charged £8 still for it. If I ask them for a reduction it might be more like a fiver. Bonkers really.

Christmas this is the Bero recipe I use. In the top right corner it talks about adjustments for the microwave

Hi everyone.
Jam well done to your dd and to you for the marathon.

lonely your work are being dicks, you are amazing, don't forget it!

Autumn, sounds like a lovely but very busy week.

wrong for you, rant away if it helps.

em you must be pleased.

cag lovely to see you back.

happier glad your party went well.

Welcome kit.

Waves to everyone else.

Have had a busy few days, getting ready for the last week's of work, and trying to sort the house before Christmas.
Have got the younger two a Nintendo switch between them for their main present, £299!
The elder two are getting vouchers/cash for their favourite shops.
My siblings and I have clubbed together to get our mum a Pandora bracelet and some charms and one from the grand children, £70.
Did some rl shopping too and got my nephew the speak out game, parents v kids for £5.50 from the entertainer, so that was rather good.
Food shopping was £43
Tickets to go and see dd1 in Feb £85

Just fridge cake sea. Don't know where the errant Friday came from.

Sneaky have you got plenty of blankets, think curtsins and draft excluders? To try and keep one room warm and you in it.
Do you have a flask so you can have hot drinks without having to keep boiling the kettle.
Worried about you matey

I make hot drinks in the microwave too so as to only make exactly a mugful. I haven't done the experiment to see what's cheaper.

A friend of mine said the best way to stay warm was to effectively make a tent inside one room of the house and heat the tent. I thought that was pretty clever really. He said he was a master at living on the dole and intended to keep doing it in spite having just graduated with a degree. I wished for him that he could have had an actually warm house.