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

[AutumnLeaves12]

Welcome to the new thread!

At least yours are laying quite, I currently have 6 free ranging in the garden: 2 ex bats (very bold), an araucania (that lays about a dozen blue eggs a year), two ancona bantams and "kiwi" who is a home bred chuck who looks just like a kiwi bird without the long beak! The blighters chase me round the garden, frighten the cat and get into the house at every oppertunity. And lay no eggs. Sigh. Maybe in the spring.

We'll get some pol light sussex (and some Appenzellers if we can find them) once the weather gets better.

Which reminds me, I must get chuck food next week. The 25kg sack lasts 2 months just now.

You sure they arent laying some hidden in the garden?
What colour combs?
Half of mine are red,the sensible non layers are orange .
I found one of my bantams sitting on a dozen eggs under a tree in the summer 😂
Oooh new chickens -so exciting !

Sneaks back in...

All of my parents chickens got killed by a polecat the other day.

(I won't try and catch up but hope you all had a lovely Christmas)

WRECK fab to see you!!

Sorry about your parents chucks though

Hope you all had a wonderful christmas. We're all still bumping along here.

quite nope. Very pale combs. I can wait, the weather is horrid for them just now, but at least they can scratch about in the garden; they will be back in the poly ark once I get it moved (onto a concrete base to deter rats, ugh).

Our mum ancona hatched 11 eggs in next doors garden when it was empty. We have 2 of her babies left.

Hey wreck, great to see you back. Sorry about the chucks

Hows it going for you wreck

Hi wreck, great to see you back

Its OK thanks, life. Dh finally got paid we're plodding along. Lapland was AMAZING! Worth blowing all our money on it

Wreck! It's so nice to see you again. It hasn't been the same without you.

Wreck, glad you all had a great time!

Wreck lovely to see you

Dinner out was lovely but spendy ds is shattered so I’m hoping he actually goes to sleep rather than burning the midnight oil again

wrong I will come and hunt you out.

Wreck good to see you back.

Hurrah to bring paid and to Lapland

Happy New Year everyone. Having a quiet one at home. I had a chat with DH the other night and we appear to be on the same page re: frugal goals for 2019 i.e.

• continue to pay off credit cards

• put money away monthly into DD's college fund

• look into increasing DH's pension contributions

-check out my own pension scheme (I'm in a pension scheme at work but I don't know much about it )

My personal goals are:

• read more books

• less time on the internet

• earlier bedtimes and more sleep (see above)

• a lot of walking

• buy more products from physical shops and preferably Irish shops. I made a conscious effort to do this when shopping for my Christmas presents. It might not tie in with being frugal but I don't want physical shops to disappear and I want to support Irish businesses (and Irish jobs) in so far as I can. This is my own personal goal and I appreciate that many people are on very tight budgets and have to buy goods at the cheapest price so as to stretch their money as far as it can go.

Good to see you again Wreck.

Tayto that’s a good goal to shop local. I’ve tried to do a lot of that over the last year, especially for gifts and you can always tell the custom is appreciated

I wonder if I save up I could start going to the local butcher every few months and freezing what I get?

I agree about supporting more local businesses.

Sneaky local farmers will do that for you. They struggle to get rid of the cheapest cuts so see if you can take some of them. Alternatively you can find someone who doesn't want the neck, skirt, shoulder take them and they can pay the premium.

My 2019 goals were posted somewhere.

But I’m all for local shopping. And trying to be as plastic free as possible. Single use plastic anyway.

sneaky amazon sell takeaway tubs. Not frugal. But I’ve bought them previously. I like them as they stack nicely in the freezer. Dsis also donated loads of her actual takeaway empties to us. A takeaway here is very rare. But is so enjoyed. 😀

We’ve just watched black mirror bandersnatch.

I’m in bed. I am starting my sober journey. Dh offered me a beer. A real beer. Not a Heineken zero (which for no alcohol beers are really good!). I said no. I am content with my raspberry and rose cordial and sparkling water. Let’s see how long I can go. I’m tracking it on an app.

Obviousky I am preggo. So the official line is zero booze. But midwife said the odd small glass of wine wouldn’t hurt. And I had a wine maybe once a month with ds and he turned out ok. But I had planned on dramatically lowering my alcohol consumption in 2019 anyway. Obviously not to this extreme level...!! Haha. Anyway. Cheers. To a happy healthy and fabulous new year.

MAy we al be the best versions of ourselves we can be.

Happy New Year 🍾

Happy New Year to you all!
May we keep on keeping on! 🎉🍾🎉😙

Happy new year everyone!

Happy new year! We watched fantastic beasts and kinda missed the year turning!

Sleep well xxx

Woah em I missed your news congratulations!