Festive frugaleers saving through to the new year!

[SnugglySnerd]

New thread! Tried to post on the old one and it was full. Newcomers welcome!

Lovely positive post unescorted I’m glad 💐
Spendy as hell today. My child free time was cut short as Cagletini got really distressed and wanting me, so I joined the others (they were at a family party for veterans DH had a hand in through work) and we did a bit of Xmas shopping after. And I bought DD1 her first actual proper bras 😭 feeling quite emosh about that if I’m honest! Bless her she is really growing up. ❤️ And completely gorgeous #biased

Anyway since I had so little chill time I have been dismissed to the pub this evening. Tandoori grill etc, £20ish. Being able to eat my own dinner free from thieving toddler and read an entire chapter in the book I’ve been trying to finish since before we moved in summer, PRICELESS 😂😂😂

Okay...so my "sweeping ups" Amazon basket is £200 I'm going digging for gift cards and shall see how I do!

Oh I hate when you think you are almost done but the last few bits end up costing loads @LonelyOversharer.

Spends today:
£5 lunch; was once again quite disappointing; I'm out all day tomorrow and at this rate I'm tempted to bring a packed lunch...
£10 Post Office
£16 2 packs of vests for DD (I'll return the 12-18m once if I can get away with the 18-24m on her).

cag I dreamt of hot tea.
Why is it that the little bits cost so much?

Lonely
I have Boden brushed cotton bottoms.
Bought last century and so soft and cosy .Great investment .
Q Uniqlo do nice soft joggers,plain and slim leg and no logos .
I wear brushed cotton pjs and night shirts in the winter .
Its so cold ❄
Fire is lit

Just braved it and checked my account, I have £100 to last till Christmas eve which is a bit better than I thought! Am mostly done for presents, just a few small bits and am going to try and not buy much food until next wend then I'll do a Christmas aldi shop, I seem to remember they slashed their prices around that time last year....

Are we ready to start talking frugal 2019 aims yet?

Mine are to continue to save, I have saved a good amount this year and would like to continue with that.
Things I am saving for; a holiday to Cornwall, to get the hallway floor done and any unforeseen emergencies!

I need to be more organised with food so will aim to get better at meal planning and writing shopping lists.

To use the January sales for gifts to use throughout the year!!

Umm I think that's it for now....

That sounds like good planning @Girliefriendlikesflowers; I must think about mine too.

EVening.

Funny thing happened today. A colleague who is more senior than me asked for a word. No issues with this. He started by talking about our Christmas party tomorrow. And wanted to ask me if I could keep an eye on his wife and make sure she’s ok and not hassled to drink. Turns out she’s pregnant. She’s got a son around 14. And she’s same age as me so it’s all basically new again. He asked me because “you’ve done this recently and she’s freaking out a bit...” I told him I was still freaking out and told him why. Turns out if my dates are right we’ll be a month apart.

q yes! Jack wills sale sale are ace. I got my fave joggers from there. Reduced to about £25 I think from £65. I do find that the mens ones tend to have better reductions....

Am home with ds. Dh is out at his works do.

We had dinner with dparents then dropped ddad off at a retired old mans works do.

Currently in bed dressing gown on and have a cup of camomile tea some squash and a fibre drink (another forgotten joy of being pregnant). And some lebkuchen.

Ds thinks my new boots are hilarious. I chased him round DMs kitchen this evening. I took them off and “walked” them behind him. Occasionally giving him a gentle kick with them. Screeching with laughter. #wierdkid

I videoed it and have sent it to dh. So cute!

Cats showing signs of cystitis again. If it is I’m requesting a trial of amitryptiline.

Amazon order well and truly done. So. 26 items £254. I used £110 gift cards, £16 refund money (£17 to go in when 2nd pair get back) so it was less on my card than it could have been. Have made appropriate payment to said card.

Also warned dp that several (!) boxes should arrive next week.

em thats a massive age gap! I think 2 under 2 will be easier than starting over in 14 years! The thought of having another baby now exhausts me never going to happen, phew

So now I need to make a foody list for center parcs, a baking list for chrimbo treats and start to secretly pack. Luckily we only need swimmers and joggies, plus one nice evening outfit each.

Sleep well everyone, it's finally the weekend 💤💤💤

Just home. I need matchsticks for my eyes. Friends bought me dinner for driving. I objected slightly and paid for tram tickets so £9 is the total evening’s spend for me. I did spend £45 in Sainsbury’s earlier. Bed shortly

Put the Switch in my Amazon basket Hoping the price would drop and it's actually increased

Oh how annoying sneaky :( can you wait till post-Xmas sales? Maybe there will be a good deal then. I also must say I don’t find amazon good for console stuff, we ordered ours on the Game website in the end.

I'm hoping so? I don't know if Amazon do January sales or not, but Game/CeX are far more expensive...

I'm trying to be an adult and get the best possible deal

EBay sneaky? Could you get a 2nd hand one?

Early start for me, working all weekend 😢

It's peak buying sneaky. Wait for the sales.

Nsd yesterday. DS off school. Food shop today £130

Morning all. Despite getting home after midnight I am up to take da to contact grrr. Weather is not pretty

Not helpful now sneaky but last yeat we got our ps4 in October. By mid dec it was almost £80 more for the same bundle. I got dd3 a 3ds on ebay early last month (2nd hand, to replace her old very loved also second hand one). The bidding on them now is through the roof.

Ebay right after christmas is your best bet for an "unwanted present".

Wrapping and sewing up knitting for me today. I'm going to take advantage of the empty living room and cleared table to get on.

Wrapping Santa this morning as dc are with their dad & putting together ds's trike. 🎄 🎅🏻 🎁

Spends yesterday
€8.50 on lunch at local shop including piece of biscuit cake for me & colleague
€3.99 Christmas tree decoration for Grandad from ds
€3 on toffee & pecan sponge pudding from Tesco for my Christmas dessert, serves 2 so I won't be eating dessert for days & days
€12 haircut ds
€1 vending machine sweets after haircut
She nicked his ear with clippers so next haircut may not be for a very very long time
€20 horse riding
€150 au pair incl money for babysitting tonight while I go to my Christmas party

Got a lovely giftset of emotivo wine from a sleazy customer
€150 Christmas gift from a sub contractor
€50 for tonight's Christmas party for drinks for my colleague & I Wish donator was going to party though would prefer to enjoy the drinks with him rather than just spend his money.

Thurs I upgraded my valet to full valet €120 my car is like brand new one now though

Girlie That's a good idea to think of aims.

My frugal aim is to stop emotional spending and instead spot where the actual problems are and to get them fixed so I can get on in RL. That involves spending money on solving the actual problems, and that takes a lot of thinking as I'm a shocker for being too tight-fisted when it comes to the things that actually matter.

So more spending money on the right things, and less spending money on the wrong things.

Also learning how to talk to actual people in actual RL, which is a bit of a stumbling block at the moment.

My metric for really big success will be if I manage to travel to London or Paris, which I would really like to do.

2019 frugal aims:

Spend as little as possible on self. Only buy necessary things. And try and only buy in sales.
Am going to go to jojo etc and buy some basic maternity stuff after Christmas.
Save as much as possible for maternity leave. Again.
Save for a built in wardrobe in our room - this to be done by the end of 2019.
Use eBay and Facebook more for buying things for ds and new dc.
Subscribe and save for essentials - review this.
Sell stuff on eBay - I have a pair of worn once trainers. Which I paid £60 for.

I need 2 pairs of jeans. A couple of skirts and a few tops for maternity wear as a minimum.

Aims for 2019
Payback 0% cc before 0% period ends €500 per month, might need to revert to smaller payment on second cc until this is done don't think €700 pm is doable.
Save weekly for 2020 gym membership
Sell house & get own mortgage for new place
continue to reduce grocery spends
restart savings from joint account for Christmas & Heating

Aim for this morning - get my ass out of bed - lovely lie in reading on kindle app & catching up here & on FB & Instagram & Ynab