Festive frugaleering - Merry Christmas, and a happy 2019 to you all.

[AutumnLeaves12]

Welcome to the new thread!

Not yet seacow but I have picked out some lovely teal velvet chesterfields. With a bit of shuffling about and some snake stacking I think we can fit the 2 seater and the armchair in. They are huge. The "armchair" will fit me and 2 littleies on.

We have been making do with the sofa I fixed up, but it turns out that I am not a furniture restorer, and dp parks his at least 18 stone arse in the exact same spot, which has made it very unhappy. Time for a change. And a lovely rug too.

Oh, and I fully appreciate that the colour is not for everyone!!! But it's like they made it just for me.

Ooo I like it Lonely. I’d love a supersize armchair

Love that lonely

That is basically the colour of the dress I wore at my wedding :o

Gorgeous Lonely

@ snake stacking !

That's really nice lonely. We desperately need new sofas as both of ours are very saggy broken and I think this contributes to my general aches and pains. We have a three and a two which is the best configuration for the shape of our room so will probably get the same again. Really worried that one of cats will use it as a scratching post as she does with our old one...

lonely love love love! Beautiful rich colour. Would look ace with hot pink cushions (enabling)

cag love your dress was that colour. Xx

Since we’ve come home Dh has said I’m like a whirlwind. I have done the following:

Bathed ds
Cleaned bathroom sink and shower screen while ds in bath
Made dinner (leftover pork from Christmas stir fried with sweet chilli sauce and oodles of ginger and spring onion and noodles)
2 loads of washing
Emptied and folded one laundry basket
Put things away
Emptied bins
Folded cardboard recycling
Stuffed the rest of the Christmas rubbish in the bin
Listed my Almost new trainers on eBay
Self cared my face - make up off moisturiser on
Self cared hands - moisturiser
Restocked my shelf in the shower - shower gel needed.

Not massive jobs. But necessary. Dh has sorted some clothes. Played with ds. Washed up etc.

He’s now watching a film. I’m in bed sorting stuff out.

I’ve told him we need to get organised. So tomorrow we’re going to do a sweep around the house and make sure everything is in the right room.

Then room by room tackle it. I may take the Christmas tree down. This will mean I can put the decorations in the loft and get them tidied away.

That’s my favourite colour Lonely, they’re ace! I have rug /cushions that colour in my sitting room but neutral sofas. We need new sofas but I want something I can clean a bit (chenille or velvet won’t last five minutes with my lot... as they have already demonstrated )

Tomorrow’s jobs include: recycling, post office to pick up what I think may be the bosses crisps (which a refund is in progress for...oops), and clean things. Fridge and oven being the main ones.

Another frugal thing I do - reuseable washable make up wipes. And sanitary pads.

The wipes are ace. I’d usually spend maybe £2 a month on wipes or cotton pads. These were £20 for 25. I have 50. But are used and washed loads. I use either micellar water (which actually at present I’m not rating) or take the day off. Which is amazing. Wipes are better for my skin than the disposable ones too.

The pads are amazing. Eco friendly. Saves me maybe £7 a month.

Savings may not be loads but it all adds up right?!

Love that sofa. Too tired to catch up, sorry.

£4.70 on coffees.

Love the sofa lonely
NSD

Have been reading but not properly posting this week.
Jam what a great present from your dh, how exciting.
Lonely that chair is beautiful, love the colour.
We're using a mixture of bar and liquid soap here. Interested to have a look at the naice soap Quite. Palm oil is a nightmare to avoid & seems to be everywhere.

So, a summary of our week:
Hugely successful Christmas presents for the dc. The 2 Alexas went down very well. Dd was so irritated by Alexa that she was raising her voice to her by 1000!!
My aunty was "piddled" by her own repeated admission by early evening & so provided some entertainment for the dc, but some concern for the rest of us as I suspect she is showing early signs of dementia. She has never married & so we are her family. Tough times ahead possibly. It was quite amusing every time Alexa spoke, aunty would shout "bloody stupid woman!".
I have been in extreme leftover use up mode, so no food has gone to waste yet. I used the cooking liquid from the ham to boil the turkey carcass & have made the most delicious turkey & veg soup with the stock. We're off to Devon on Sunday so will need to do some freezing tomorrow, before we go.
Went out with friend & her family last night & had a fab time. Had tea out & dfriend made sure we booked a table in time to get a half price deal (Italian restaurant). Garlic breads, mains, some desserts and 2 rounds of drinks came to £110 for 9 of us.
Tonight went to an evening wedding party which was lovely. I drove which saved us a lot of money in alcohol costs and taxi fares.

Em dd got Cheeky wipes in her stocking to replace cotton wool pads. They're great & I'll definitely get some for myself. I also now have their reusable pads to use as well as the mooncup.
Am going to buy a Contigo cup for dh's birthday in Feb I think.
I go along with most of Seacow's frugal principles.
Still need to ponder on my frugal goals for 2019.

Love that chair! It's a beautiful colour. I wear that colour a lot.

Beautiful colour Lonely.

NSD yesterday. Used the remaining antipasti selection in a Basque Chicken dish. Have meal planned the rest of my leftovers before I food shop today. I love doing this.

I too use washable make up wipes that I sewed up myself, though I could do with sewing up some more.

Morning.

The breakfast club aka dh and ds is in full swing downstairs. I’m in bed. Dh just opened the curtains and has brought me a cup of tea. Apparently I’m to rest up and stay in bed until I’ve finished my tea. Wondering how long I can make the tea last...!!

£30 today riding. Then have chores to do.

Hi, struggling to keep up, love the chair lonely it looks super cosy.
Going to catch up on jobs : ironing mountain, VAC everywhere, walk dogs. Have a good day everyone.

Lovely chair lonely!

I like "Le sigh" as well.

I had a thought.

I wondered if this year we could have a version of NSD that indicates that we didn't do any emotional spends, sort of.

For example for days where working people didn't buy lunch or coffee out. And days where I find ways to keep myself busy by doing projects that don't need money spent on them?

I would find that super-useful and it would mean that I could contribute more meaningfully to the frugality discussion, as there isn't currently language for what I'm trying to do.

It could be something like NeSD. Does that seem like an idea worth trying?

Why not autumn. Give it a bash I say.

Riding for dd today but she got a couple of lessons for Christmas so £0.
Stormy here today. I can hear the wind.
Dh going to see his parents for tea.
I'm going to sorry some toys, take down decs and do a bit of work.

Sort not sorry

So you’re saying an emotional spend day = spending on non essentials? And essentials are allowed (food electric etc).

I get it. I’ll be rubbish at it....but will give it a go.

Was almost an NSD after all. Friend gave me some money she owed me so that virtually covered my share of the takeaway. Yay! Was nice to have some grown up chatting time.

Morning all. Just off to take ds to see his dad and then will do some washing and jobs and maybe a nap on the sofa as I had a lousy night.
Ds complaining of pain in his side, I think he’s slept funny so hopefully it will wear off

That's what was thinking Em.

So for me it would be things like enjoying playing my clarinet without giving in to temptation and buying another book of music.

The more specific goal would be to learn to recognise emotional spends as they happen.

I could then cop on and just go to bed, or have a rest, or a sit in the garden or set boundaries with whoever is currently yanking my chain when I need it instead of spending money.

I've been being extremely heroic this week with telling people where to get off btw. You would all be proud of me. Ds has had two baths, with only minimal complaint.