Frugaleers dripping their way through a wet January...

[SneakyGremlins]

Hang on, that makes us sound like alcoholics

We have shnow too. The trains were all bolloxed so I went to one station walked to the other to pick up the car (high heels in the dark with snow...the glamour of my life) and then drove to the town 6 miles away to pick up dd because she missed her normal bus and then they cancelled all the ones after that.

I may have felt sorry for the poor dishevelled half frozen mite I found waiting for me ...and I might have bought her that really expensive electric toothbrush she has wanted for a while. Can't imagine how that happened. And we may have decided that there was no time to cook before we died, literally died of hunger so we may have got a takeaway in a box.

In more frugal news - one of my colleagues has been promoted & may have offered me a job that is a promotion. Apparently arsy bitch is a core competency that is required.

North if it is a course I am, on pretention is going out of the window.

I don't understand why people get upset when "their" area is missed off the 10 best ....lists. Unfortunately our village got included on a best winter walks one - and now it gets parked up 3 miles from the start of the walk, both sides, leaving no passing places. I can only imagine what Cornwall in summer is like.

Someone is currently bidding £9.50 on my eBay item. Wahoo

Is it used shoes again Em

Ooo exciting Unescorted. Will that make you a 5?

Don't know we use a different system of "career grades" - inherited from one of our predecessor organisations. It would depend on the actual job description..

No snow here just v cold. Thank goodness for flannelette. Frugal win , 4 mincemeat puffs from sainsburys 10 p!! ( diet fail though! ) taking train to nearby city tomorrow so dd can practice her route for work experience. Will also need clothes for WE. So probs spendy.
Sounds good unescorted go you!

No snow here but bleeding cold. I forgot tights under my jeans for my car park stint and got very cold. We ran out of food today one of the usual donors had zero waste.

Spent £4 on coffees and £1.50 on chocolate covered raisins. Fruit. It’s clearly a health food.

Girlie I’m looking for the coins, will send them soon.

Thanks adora

I'd love to go to Ireland for a holiday, would love to take dd to Dublin and then maybe somewhere with good wildlife/nice beach for a few days. I should look into it as flights and air bnb probably wouldn't be as much as I think!

The thread seems quiet atm 😔 hope our regulars come back, still can't believe fluffy has deserted us. Has someone inboxed her to make sure she is just fed up and not stuck under something heavy?!

Managed a nsd today.

I agree girlie I'm missing lonely's crafting too.

I’ve “seen” quite on another frugal thread today that I’ve been lurking on and I’ve pm’d Lonely. I’ve not seen Fluffy around 😟 I wish they would come back

I really want them to come back too. Loving the holiday chat too though. Sorry, can’t remember who asked but we are staying on Anglesey, right by the coast. I do need to check the deposit situation though as I’m not sure it’s gone through. So maybe we haven’t booked at all?!? A job for tomorrow.

I love edinburgh too. My sisters went to uni there, lucky them. And lucky me, as I got to visit them.

Not a frugal day. Wfh without huge work pressure does lead me to wander into internet shopping a little . This time the culprit was Seasalt (end of sale so final reductions). I was really pleased to find a top in the sale that I had liked ages back but hadn’t wanted to pay full price for, and a dress that I already have in a different colour but love. So probably good buys. I chucked some heavily discounted jumpers in too but I don’t think I’m too likely to keep them.

Ocado also came today, it was a pricey one as I stocked up on DH’s stupidly expensive cereal, which was on offer, and 1kg of peanut butter, loads of cheese, shampoo, deodorant, water wipes... there were lots of offers on things we usually get so I stocked up. But £160 . Normally we average about £100 pw.

I have been really cold all day... no snow here but it has been perishing. I wrapped up
at my computer and drank a lot of tea.

It's cold here too but no snow forecast. In fact it's milder today with rain forecast.

Should be a nsd not planning on doing anything.

I wish everyone would come back.

Today may be spendy as I think we may have lunch out/wander around town after picking DD1 up from her activity.

Everyone is exhausted here at the moment. So quiet weekend afterwards.

We haven't booked a summer holiday yet. I'm kind of leaving it to DP, which means we probably won't book anywhere. Frugal though?!

Yes used shoes. But not trashed ones. These are a pair of heels I’ve worn, loved but haven’t worn for a couple of years. Pink leopard print irregular choice heels. I’d rather someone else for joy from them than them just sit in a box. Unloved.

I'm in contact with both quite and fluffy. I'm not sure when or if they will come back, like lonely. The last few months on the thread were enough to get folk fed up. I've been trying and keep doing so though!

Sneaky it's probably a bit late but I suspect it was the PAT testing for the electricians, needs to be done annually. Was it that?

Yesterday was a NSD, but the previous two were more expensive, so a good thing. DH has been abroad and I see a duty free bag, but he'll pay for that - he did ask if I wanted perfume, but I don't need any, so declined.

Today is chores, optician for DD, gym, run etc.

I need to menu plan too.

Ok meal plan....hmmm

Lentil dahl
Goujons, chips and hoops (swimming night)
Butternut squash soup and cheese toasties
Leek and ham hock frittata
Burritos
Spag bol
Cheese and onion 'burgers' in brioche buns (swimming night)

Pea and bacon baked rissotto this evening
Making a batch of spag Bol today too. Proper meaty spag Bol. Might slow cook it actually. Then save some for Monday and freeze the rest.

Wardrobe guy was helpful yesterday. Suggested putting wardrobe on a different wall to where I’d originally wanted it but it makes sense and We’d get more storage.
He quoted a ball park of £2k 😱 but that’s including labour and materials and will be a forever thing. So will see where dh gets to with the carpenter to build the same.

Riding today £30 and I need to find £6 to collect some dinosaurs for ds from near the stables.

Oh have also got sausages and cauliflower cheese. So lots of meals.

Morning all,

jam 😔 I hope they come back.

It rained a lot last night, still pretty dismal this morning.

Plan today is take dd to riding and then go to the flooring place, am hoping I'm not too late for their January sale!

There's a community litter picking thing this afternoon so might do that for a bit. Also need to pop to aldi and finish my job application!

Lazy morning here so far. Dd is staying with my dparents, ds has cricket net this afternoon. Dh and I will be tackling the loft room today, to sort and organise the storage, it's like the final frontier in the house!
I need to meal plan & make a shopping list for the week ahead. We're going to dparents for tea.

Morning all. Lazy day so far. Need to pick ds up from camp later, de-gunge him and his kit and take him for contact. Right now I’m going to go and have a nice cuppa in peace

No planned spends
Yesterday spent £38 on diesel on top of my takeaway and film spends, ds took his own money to camp in the end

£39 hairdresses done. £10 and £5 DC activities.
Probably£50 on lunch and drinks with girls including train.

Say hi from me jam as I'm shit at keeping up with PM's

I was feeling really positive at the start of January and had lots of plans for good habits like healthy eating and walking and reading etc. and then last weekend I woke up feeling awful and had a row with DH. Then my period arrived and it all made sense. So I had a bad weekend last weekend and didn't do any walking and ate rubbish and generally felt sorry for myself. But I'm back to my normal self now. Isn't it awful that we're hostages to our hormones? I've been reading a lot though and I've joined the 25 book challenge thread. I got a few books as Christmas presents and there's a box for second hand books in work so I've found some good books in that. I posted in the 25 books thread that someone put a copy of the Maastricht treaty in the box - I will definitely give that a miss! I've resolved to buy one physical book a month in my local independent bookshop. It may not be enough to keep it open but that's €15/€16 a month more than I spent there last year. I also bought some of my Christmas presents there.

DD came home all excited about a school trip to Germany, Holland and Belgium. It's €575. We can afford it but it's likely to have an impact on other things e.g. family holiday, furnishing the teenage hangout room etc. So we've agreed to hold a family meeting this afternoon and decide what our priorities are. I asked if anyone is ordering coffee and cakes for the meeting. And if I have to wear a suit .

No snow here but it's very foggy this morning.

Happier sorry to hear about the heating problems. Hope you get it sorted soon. The holiday sounds great and it's good that you can chat to the other parents before you go, so they're not complete strangers. I told you about the money programme but then I never watched any of it. Yes, I remember Bosco. Is it a puppet show you're going to see?

Sorry to hear about your freezer Wolf

Wreck sorry you'd to cancel your plans yesterday and really annoying that you cancelled them for no reason . Anyway, I hope DD is better.

Hope you enjoyed the burgers em

Unescorted great news about the promotion!

Like everyone else, I've been enjoying the holiday chat. Lovely to read about all your plans. I was in Edinburgh years ago for a weekend and loved it but the weekend was too short - there were so many things I never got to see or do. I'd love to go back I would also love to do a road trip in England and visit Stonehenge and the Cotswolds and the Lake District. They're all right beside each other, aren't they? . It won't be this year though. I love planning holidays and looking up maps and googling attractions. That's almost as much fun as the holiday itself.

Tayto love the idea of a family meeting! Will do that when my dc are older. I'm dreading the pricey trips we really need to get into a better position before they start. Dd is still feverish and miserable, perfect weather for it though. I think I'll ask dh to take ds out so at least he can let off some steam.

Happy Saturday! No snow here but it's very cold and rainy. I also have a bad cold so I'm feeling very grumpy.

Yes I'm missing everyone too. I wish they'd all come back.

Tayto family meeting is a great idea.
We have done really well with our spending in January, but need to continue so I've suggested that at the end of each month, if we've done well, that we go out for tea. The dc get to choose where, from a list of 3 which are all independent places that do weekday teatime deals. It shouldn't ever come to more than £40 for the 4 of us. To start things off this month we've got vouchers from when I complained about gave feedback on a disappointing meal, so we can go out for tea at no cost in January. We haven't had any takeaways and have done home made pizzas at weekends rather than buying supermarket ones, ds is now the only one who hasn't had a go at making the dough! We have talked a lot to the dc about what we will be able to do with the money we are saving, and actually our changes don't ake life any worse, it's better if anything.