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

[AutumnLeaves12]

Welcome to the new thread!

That's a good idea, Unescorted. Will do that.

Lonely I'm very relieved to know that you're not cheesed off. When you did that whispers thing I thought I had really put my foot in it. Phew!

I've never really done vegetable gardening before much so I'm quite excited about it.

I will also ask about my ranitidine as that is worrying me too. Thanks Unescorted.

Currently putting the DC to bed at PIL house one is asleep, the other is refusing. Having to share a room to sleep with the light on is going to be fun

We now have loads more stuff to take back home. A few random choices of books, but otherwise quite sensible. Must have a declutter when we get home.

Definitely 2019 needs to be a year of doing more stuff together as a family. Less phones/tv, more fresh air and exercise. I also want to read more proper books, there is something much nicer about them than ebooks

Love that was what finally clinched it for us. Sleeping with the light on is a skilled business. Good luck!

I’m on the fence re stockpiling. In one way we’d be hit hard here if it came to it as we have only the one food storage warehouse now (because the government sold off the coop one for housing....) and we are reliant on the boats coming in to stock up the shops. On the other hand is it really going to be that bad?!

I have said to dh that our under stairs cupboard (which is huge) could be used for a stockpile. And we already use it for nappies wipes nappy bin refills toilet paper etc. All the amazon subscribe and save stuff. I’m a leeeeeeeettttttle bit tempted to keep uht milk and tins of things in there too.

We've been saying maybe we should stockpile stuff but haven't actually done so yet and also have no idea where we will store it. Garage gets mice.

How long should we stockpile for?
I'm hoping that it'll be like the Millennium Bug and all the panic will amount to nothing. I was only 20 then though and I didn't panic. Now I am a sensible grown up with children to consider I am concerned!

Unescorted I’ll take your advice and get myself to some cookware shops, actually hold the knives in my hands and then decide.

Still eating leftovers here. I made bubble and squeak which was lush. And I’ve been looking around for variations of it to try for future Sunday dinner leftovers.

Snuggly I’m hoping this will be a repeat of the millennium bug too. I voted remain and without getting all political, I don’t understand why we are putting ourselves through all this.

Anyway, good news the Echos are working today, after the meltdown yesterday. So many people bought them for Christmas that the systems couldn’t cope when they all tried to go online! DS2 is whizzing around the house on his Segway, I fear he will forget how to walk by the end of the holidays, lol. Lots of food still here but it’ll keep till we have friends over on New Year’s Day.

Must be mad but I’m going to weight watchers tomorrow. See what the damage is.

tbh it sounds totally bonkers to me that we would get in a situation where we needed stockpiled food. I just can't imagine that the government would put us in that situation.

I'm slightly hoping that if I start to do it then Murphy's Law will step in and make sure I look a plonker for having been too fast off the mark.

The thing with the millennium bug was that loads of work went in to make sure it wasn't a problem. If it had been left it would have been. It is an example of really good mitigation measures having been identified and put in place. How far do we think the govt have got with identifying the pinch points and putting in measures to mitigate this time. I know how little has been officially done to date but the cs are people so will have been doing their utmost to ensure that people aren't harmed by the policies that are put in place or unintended consequences resulting from policy decisions. We aren't supposed to but we do. I also know the pressure we been put under to do exactly as we are told to do...... Which is the square root of ef all.

That's what I'm hoping too autumn. I really really hope it'll all turn out ok or that even better someone sensible will just decide to stop all the nonsense and stay in the EU. Couldn't the Queen do something to save us all??!!

Unescorted I totally agree about the millenium bug. My dDad was involved in sorting that out and I saw how much work went into it. When the day came, everything went totally smoothly but it was because of all that work.

It's so hard to know what the government is doing though, because on the outside they look like such a bunch of muppets.

Snuggly yes I really hope it will turn out nicely. I'm not sure that the Queen can help us in this one if they insist that they referendum counts for anything. I don't understand how it does though, as it we were sold such lies in the run up to it and then the majority was so small. It seems to me that such a big decision should require a big majority.

Sorry, I don't mean to start a brexit debate. I have no idea what the decision should have been one way or the other. I don't feel we ever really had the debate in the first place.

We would love to grow food sometime but have a lot to sort out first. Plus the garden is pretty small (not complaining about this as we gained on the interior house size instead, compared to other 3 bed social housing I’ve visited lately it’s actually quite big). Friend did bring up a rosemary plant though which can go outside, DH put some with the lamb today and oh man it was amazing 😋

Sort of not an NSD, as I signed up for Netflix at last. This along with Spotify was my grand plan for Doing Something For Myself in 2019. Much as the others will use it too, it is me who has been really wanting both for a while and when my dad gave me that money I decided it was affordable and would make me really happy.

Does anyone use audible? That would be one thing I’d consider using for the Caglets as they like audiobooks to sleep. But they only had two books that I paid for individually on iTunes, and at over a tenner each that adds up!

My awesome new speaker told me it has a free audiobook (Mary poppins read by Olivia Colman!) but since it’s Alexa talking (it’s not an amazon speaker but has Alexa anyway) I was unsure if that’s going to be one of those things where you accidentally sign up to a free trial of audible or prime or something... any thoughts?

It’s been an awesome Boxing Day, had DSCs round to exchange gifts and play games :) I have greatest showman piano music book... these guys know me too well!!! 😍

I don’t really know about frugal goals. DH mentioned not being able to pay off the full CC debt this year, but I’m pretty sure we could manage to throw more at it now and then or increase the standing order a bit more.

And as mentioned, getting a private ed psych for DD1 is the biggest priority. Braces, I would also like to look into this but I need to get used to the hygienist first.

Unescorted your views on the millennium bug /Brexit prep concur exactly with my dh’s. He says that was fine because a lot of clever people put a lot of good prep work in. He’s not at all confident that the govt is doing that now! I don’t know what to do about stockpiling. We can put tins in the garage but having bought massive bags of rice this year and then found weevils when halfway down it I’m not sure I want stuff lying around for too long. But maybe I should have a moderate plan.

Lovely day, almost an NSD but I started a new knit and then realised I’ll needed a longer circular needle so amazoned it for tomorrow. Had a lovely day, took DCs to the park for a bit and bumped into an old friend. Then spent the afternoon playing with the DCs and winding skeins of yarn on my new swift /yarn winder combo that my sisters got me for Christmas. The swift is a thing of beauty 😍. DS was a bit get up today, maybe Christmas stress has been catching up with him after all. So that’s been tricky.

Food wise it’s been the 1970s here. Turkey à la King and sherry trifle for dinner .

Em that toast book looks fab. But on the garden thing, are you allowed to remove seaweed from the shore? I don’t think we are allowed to here.

Curls I went to SW today to weigh in. Managed to gain 2lbs in about 36 hours 🐷

Regardless of the result I don't think we should have had a referendum at all. It seems to defeat the whole point of electing representatives to parliament. Why not just have a quick show if hands over every important decision??
It also annoys me that they accepted such a weak majority when the same government tried to say that the teachers unions didn't have a big enough vote for industrial action to be legal.
Anyway it's the middle of the night and I haven't slept much so I probably shouldn't try to articulate an opinion about something so complicated!

I'm not sure how Brexit is going to pan out either. DH is a Brexit expert in his line of work, insomuch as anyone can be. He has a very senior role in financial forecasting/modelling. I asked him the other day if he thought Brexit would actually happen and his answer was, "6 months ago I'd have said yes. Now there's a chance it actually might not happen after all". I've given up trying to predict how it might play out, tbh. Haven't started stockpiling yet though. Must give that some thought!

We finally managed to get all 3 children to bed before 7.30 last night, after what felt like an eternity of overexcited post 9pm bedtimes. Two of them have since migrated in with us, unfortunately, and DD is going through night terrors, which is why I am awake at this ridiculous time. Sigh. Have just made a cuppa and written the tooth fairy's latest letter to DD1, whose tooth fell out on Christmas Day. Now trying to get warm and comfy in bed again. WHY won't small children lie under a cover??? Do they not feel cold? I'm flipping freezing.

Hoping for 3 NSDs in a row if I can get through tomorrow frugally!

christmas re seaweed. I think we are. The farmers take truckloads of the stuff for the potatoes. I’m not talking truckloads. Just a bucket maybe. It’ll al be stuff well above the shoreline and will be the dry stuff which isn’t still live. Just to compost down.

Re Brexit I’ve heard so many things it’s scary and I’d actually like them to hurry up and get a deal so we can work our how it’ll affect us.

cag I have audible. It’s somethkng like £7.99 a month for the basic and you get one credit a month for a book. Everything else on top of that you pay for.

I'm debating the Spotify 3 months for 99c too but instead I'm adding songs I like to a playlist on my free Spotify.
I'm delighted to hear of frugaleers doing something for themselves

Entered my meter reading for electricity and put in 6000 extra units by entering a 9 instead of a 3 have used contact us feature to get this corrected

I can't imagine ranitidine would be affected so much as more expensive, prescription-only medication given that's it's very cheap to produce and widely available OTC?

We don't have space for stockpiling really...actually tbh I guess we could put loads of stuff in the loft. Maybe we should start. The dangers of Brexit, especially a no-deal one, are real. However we hardly have any money atm so would probably end up needing to borrow money off my parents to stock-pile. They have money and loads of space so maybe I should suggest it gently to DM too. I agree it's not a good idea on a societal level, but I understand why individuals want to take precautions! Especially families with children, or people with disabilities/health conditions.

We have Spotify but DH gets the student deal which is a pretty good deal, much cheaper. We both use it a lot to destress so deffo worth it. I listen to podcasts on there as well as music. We also have Netflix but we share it with my parents and siblings and DF gives me the money for a year at the beginning of each year so we get that free basically. A few years ago we used to share with a friend that we lived with for awhile, he had it so we had a DD for half the monthly amount into his bank account and shared it til he cancelled his subscription and then we got my family on board instead .

Dh reckons tidal is better than Spotify & hotuk deals usually have a free trial offer.

I have free Spotify which dh finds odd 🤷🏻‍♀️

Morning all. I think I’ve finally caught up. I’m so pleased that so many of you had lovely Christmas Days and Boxing Days.
I shall not be growing vegetables because past efforts to do so have led to extreme and expensive failure.
Quite your post was very interesting, I wonder how some of us have changed over the year
Pay day needs to hurry up. Despite me thinking I’d planned well on costs this Christmas I think I need to revisit, ds’s birthday and Christmas within a couple of months of each other have always been a bit tricky but I thought I’d nailed it this year, apparently I haven’t so I need to rethink.
My limited access saver has its anniversary soon and I want to move the money so I need to look around for a better interest account.
Went to friends for Boxing Day yesterday but was done in and wasn’t feeling brilliant so came home relatively early on, I’ve been throwing myself at the Christmas cleaning and organising, including on Christmas Day as a distraction. It’s worked brilliantly but I am exhausted

I think I posted my frugal goals on the last thread but I will have a bit of a think about some personal ones. Sticking with the frugal thread and frugaleering all year might be one. I’ve been on and off this thread for years, I think the best I’veanaged before is to post until June. This year I’ve made it through the year and the support from here has been amazing

wolf I'm garbage at growing veg too. I fancy a go though, so thought I'd do it.

Your house cleaning sounds very satisfying. I've been enjoying that more and more in recent years as I find I want less stuff and value the space and cleanliness more.

We have Deezer and it’s linked to all our devices. I think, relative to some of the tv media packages, it’s good value. I have news radio on all day and therefore rarely if ever buy a paper. It can link to most cars I think now ( fluffy will know). We share it over the four of us so that’s a lot of devices. Access of all forms of music, podcast, audiobooks etc seems good value - if manageable of course.

I’ve updates my finances, ordered staples from Sainsbury’s (trying to utilise the delivery pass), cancelled two direct debits that are not needed. Planned a few meals for the next few days that utilise what I already have (just need coconut milk to do so).

Fennel is something easy to grow but very expensive to buy. I tend to try and grow more unusual stuff but am of the opinion that you don’t save much growing your own overall. Unless you have an allotment.

Today is training, gym, few house bits etc.

wolf - I was you yesterday. Shattered. Like the bubble had burst.

girlie - Lush! How did I forget Lush - of course... talk about the obvious choice. Thank you. Plus, I think cacti would actually work well too. They flirt between girls and young women don't they in terms of maturity at that age.

Yes it’s such a bizarre age. I think in many ways DD1 is a very young 11, still plays with lots of toys etc, and yet also sometimes wears make up (very subtle, she’s actually really good at doing her eyes), has actual bras now 😭 and her phone etc, she’s getting her ears pierced soon too which was one of her Xmas presents.

I’m not really sure about stockpiling. Technically there’s nothing to stop us especially as we have tons of space now. So it wouldn’t hurt to just buy extra tins etc.

I’d not thought of deezer etc 🤦‍♀️ How much if you don’t mind me asking?

I can’t remember if I said but my plan is to get the Caglets an echo dot (or whatever the cheapest one is, and I will wait till the next time they are on offer) for each of their rooms. I never thought I’d do that but times they are a changing! They use audiobooks to sleep, especially DS who struggles without. He uses my old iPhone but the two audiobooks got deleted as well. It would be ideal if they could have the speakers but no screens in their room so they could say “play Percy Jackson” or whatever, and also have whatever music they want playing during the day.

Cag ds has had a dot in his room for just over a year. It’s great for him. It also helps that Alexa can roll dice so he can use her to help him play warhammer and similar
I have recut the budget and my aim is to cut my food budget by £50 pm next year in order to plough more money into annual expenses, specifically Christmas, clothes for ds to account for paying vat and the car which is likely to need a fair bit of work this year so I need to get a grip back on meal planning and budgeting food more carefully. Like others I don’t intend to shop now until the fridge is empty and I’d like to make a good dent in the freezer too.

So that’s a frugal goal.

I also need to switch power provider at the end of Jan (using north’s referral code if I can) and increase the amount of interest I’m being paid on some savings. I will use Quidco/clicksnap more as that’s paid out quite well this year