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

[AutumnLeaves12]

Welcome to the new thread!

Both have categorically said they want proper cakes cooked by their indulgent uncle for their 21st not a cobbled together by their lovely mother cake. Ungrateful little toads.

We have a neighbour nobody parks anywhere near. She denys that it her even if you get the CCTV footage from the garage. As this is a village that can hold a grudge for longer than the Montagues and Capulets so it is easier to park in the next village and walk.

Thats annoying life
I have dashcam that records even if the car is stationary .
Triggered by movement .
Its pointed from the front onto my front door /garage and back covers the drive way.
We get lots of cat sitting on bonnet warming arse shots

Oh Wreck so sorry
Crap way to start the New Year.

NSD
Bank doesnt look too bad

life 10k. For me thats a lot, I usually average 4 or 5k lazy so it should help. Only my jeans are currently trying to kill me, so something must be done. I'm doing better today! Love that my white clocks fills up as I do my steps.

girlie here are my non spending 50p's. The olympics one is volleyball I think? Two Benjamins, a Tiggy and a Sqirrel Nutkin. But not a Peter yet? Suppose I'll get one by and by. The Royal Mint feeds my ocd coin checking issue beautifully

girlie I’m pretty sure I have some Turkish lira and some Israeli shekels somewhere. Pm me your address and I’ll dig them out and pop in the post.

Thank you for the offer of the tin, but I’ve discovered a very frugal baking tin rental shop here!!!

Just about to do my ancestry dna kit dh bought me. It involves spitting in a jar. Gross.

Had a busy day. I shredded/filed a load of paperwork and stripped the tree of decorations and lights etc. I still need to pack them away into boxes and get them into the attic but that's another day's work. Oh and I did some more Lego with DD. She's old enough to do it herself now so it's just habit really - we've always done the big sets together. We've only one bag left so we'll probably finish if off tomorrow.

Get well soon life and Sneaky

Curvy hope you sleep better tonight.

Wolf will you be working from home every day or just occasional days here and there? I called into my brother the other day and some roses were in full bloom on a bush in his back garden. That's unheard of for this time of year in Ireland.

lilly looks like you'll make some very big savings once DS moves to primary. Only 8 months to go!

Oh Wreck what a shitty day . I hope DH apologizes to you both.

Love good luck with the assignment.

Welcome back nocuts

Girlie I think I just have Euro coins to hand. There are old Irish coins somewhere in the house but I've no idea where. I generally find them when I'm tidying up and not actually looking for them iykwim.

That's rotten about your car life

Sneaky I read your post too quickly and thought your baking tray was 6'5". I was thinking you must have an enormous oven!

em I sent off one of those DNA things in December so I should get the results at the end of the month. I didn't have to spit in a jar - just cheek swabs. I'm hoping for something exotic but I'm probably 100% Irish.

Happy New year Frugaleers!

Well when I joined this thread (about 4 years ago, although as you know i fell off its a few months ago) It was because i was in quite bad CC debt (no longer thanks to this thread and YNAB) and DH was telling me that he was just about to retire !..... I was in serious need of frugaleer advice..

Now at the end of this last Christmas break and with his bonus safely in the bank , he has gone back to work again (he works away ) , but says this is definitely It.. He tells me that he is actually going to talk to the boss this week ! eek , and that means that I am also going to have to live with him full time

As for me I'm now partially retired , but still debt free and with actual campervan fund savings in bank, (but also a naughty clothes habit still .. )

So I'm back committing to posting here again .. it looks like I'm going to need to curb my naughty habits and get back to serious frugaleering ..

I had my credit card scammed before Christmas so couldn't use it . so that means that this is the first January I've not had any bill to pay! .. but boo hoo ! The Hush sale starts tomorrow

That's my favourite type of cooking sneaky.

Is he really, really laska. He's been threatening retirement for at least a year I can remember?

10,000 is none too shabby longer. I like your Garmin.

Much longer than that Life it was originally a 2010 plan!! (then we moved instead!)

nococonuts I often fall off the thread and when I return it’s moved on to a new thread 🤦‍♀️

Fuck sake life that’s bloody annoying.

Wreck I second 🍷 therapy

Ooh Sneaky hope the meds kick in quick smart.

One of my dogs brought a mouse in last summer 🤢

£75-ish on grocery delivery today, then £4.25 on coffees. DH bought the first round. Tomorrow we’re meeting up with stepson for a pub lunch. Friday we need to change collect dry cleaning, 5 suits and it’s £80 🤦‍♀️

Dinner tonight was risotto with left over turkey and pigs in blankets. I cooked a ham for New Year’s, need to slice and freeze the bit that’s left.

adora pig in blanket rissotto sounds delish!!

Parcels packed up
Jar spat in and packet up
Laundry done
WShing up done
Dinner eaten (fish Katsu)
Laundry folded
Ds in bed
Catface fed
Shopping done (dh did this)
Handbag emptied and switched
Living room tidied
Outfit for tomorrow chosen.

Gws sneaky
life that's bloody annoying, hope it is covered.
Hi nocuts
Tayto, thank you, I hope so too, I'm heading to bed soon

Girlie would she be interested in South American coins?

I’m on the look out for a specific coin, but it’s a limited edition silver £5 so not in circulation. It has a relly of DH’s family in WW11 uniform. I have no idea how much I’ll have to pay when one eventually turns up 🤦‍♀️

John Lewis quality for 50p perfectly reasonable fluffy 😁

Sneaky hope you feel better soon.

Another boring NSD here. I'm really having to try hard though. I have a car service booked for next week so I need to have these NSDs!

I remembered the other day that I left my childhood coin collection in the attic above the kitchen in my old house 😩!

I couldn't get a Tesco delivery for tomorrow so I've opted for Saturday instead. My budget was €60 before delivery charge and it came to €54.70. I was considering a bottle of wine but left it off .

It was em I’m glad you mentioned clearing your handbag out, I need to sort mine for tomorrow and had completely forgotten 🤦‍♀️

Oh no Wilderness . We made a fabulous find, I might have mentioned it, a very valuable gold pocket watch that the previous owners had given up for lost. We actually bought from the owner’s adult DC after both parents passed away, and the eldest had been told that Grandpa’s watch would go to him. They searched everywhere. We found it when DH dismantled a huge built in book shelf. He was super pleased to get it back.

Wreck that's a crap day. Hope dh sees the error of his ways...
Sneaky hope you're feeling better soon
Em busy day, well done you.
nocuts hope you manage to stick with the thread, I'm sure it'll help you focus.
jam ds is going back already? That seems to have whizzed by.
life it's not like you could cause that sort of damage without realising, is it?
We had a reasonable journey back from Devon & had a pretty frugal few days.
Just had an email from bil who gave us a mattress they didn't want. They bought it new at £675 but didn't like it when they got it. The company refunded them but didn't want them to return it. We were in need of a new mattress but not wanting to buy one for at least a year if we could help it. So we took their offer of the mattress. It's memory foam & certainly not what I would've chosen but will manage with it until we buy one.Anyway, bil has asked us for £150 for it. Dh is furious as his dsis had said we could have it for nothing as they hadn't paid anything for it. I'm annoyed because it destroys my frugal January in one fell swoop! I would feel differently if it was a mattress that I really liked and so was saving us money in the long term, but I don't want it long term so it could end up being relatively expensive. Rant over!

On a more positive note, I have done a tidy up & audit of the store cupboards & freezer which confirms we should mostly just need fruit, veg & dairy shopping this month. We are hoping to have the driveway done & the garden landscaped this year, both things desperately need doing, so I am on a big frugal mission. We will need to borrow some of the money, but the more we can save, the better. It's the last big job we've got to do on the house. After that it should be mostly maintenance & minor upgrading on a gradual basis.

That’s cheeky when it’s free, your not meant to profit from family.

Your bil reminds me of someone 🤔 😉

We watched “tidying up” on Netflix. It’s a show with Marie Kondo.

I’ve done well today. A little bit every day and we’ll get there.

Catface is pouncing everything. She’s just jumped up on dh and bounced off. Obviously having a mad 10 minutes...

north I hate it when people say you can have something and then tell you a price so you then feel obligated to take it.

Laska There is a very fine camping site in our village that has your camper van to be's name on it.... I can bore you to death about failing housing policy.

Adora I need to do mine as well. DD has borrowed it so I may have to use another one.

I have just for the first time in my life reported a thread. My mind boggles as to how nasty the herd mentality can get. I am even more bolshi without wine.

Good for you unescorted I have hidden AIBU as that always seems to end in a pile-on.

adora bag was only cleaned out so I could put it away so I can use a different one which goes with my new coat...!

Found £3.79 lurking in there. A pound coin and two notes. Plus change.

I quite enjoy the Argy bargy of AIBU. But this was too much even for me.

Em I need to watch that!

I was all set to watch 'Derry Girls' 'cos someone posted on FB that it was out on Netflix. Turns out it's not available in the UK and Ireland yet . I missed it on TV and I've heard great things about it.