Friendly Frugaleers Festive Preparations and Financial Accountability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred

Busy wend here, lots of socialising!! Not been too spendy around £12 on food to take to said social gatherings.

Had a very Christmassy evening watching Elf, writing cards and wrapping presents!

Em my first car was a rover metro and they only came with driver side mirrors 😁

That's lovely ds loved the church sea, do they do any messy church type things near you? I used to take dd to that and it was always a nice (free) activity.

wreck that sucks. The joint account shouldn't be seen as him paying you. It isn't that at all. You are both paying into team Wreck. When we were really skint I did a monthly shop in cash - any change went into my emergency fund for those months that took me over. My mental arithmetic improved as I did a running total around Aldi.

wreck that’s rubbish. I agree though - what solution do you want?

Quick check in.

Have spent a huge amount over the last couple of days, but I've almost done everyone for Christmas, just need to get some chocolates for my mum and some pens for dd1.
Got some Christmas food too, so everything seems to be going ok.

Wreck, I agree with the others, it's not as if you are going on a spending spree! Hope you come to a solution.

Hope everyone else is ok.

I am unexpectedly nervous this morning - new office and new job. I work best when I know what to expect so I think this morning will be a bit of a write off.

Good luck Unescorted!

You will be fine unescorted. Good luck

Morning everyone. Just caught up with thread.

Hoping for a lsd today. I still haven’t bought all my Christmas cards, so will do that today. I am struggling to find ones for my mother and mother in law that aren’t too full of “have the best Christmas ever” type messages but are still quite loving. This is my dm’s first Christmas without my dad and MIL is still in hospital.

I feel guilty that I haven’t been spending as much time with my dm as I would have as I’ve just been so busy and overwhelmed with the situation with MIL. Every time I try to draw back on the visits a bit something happens and I need to deal with it. It has been a disappointing example of the NHS as there have been lots of mistakes and the poor communication is apparent.

Unescorted good luck today 🍀

unescorted good luck today! Smash it!

At Ford garage. I initially went to local car place round corner from us. They’d need to order the part but close on weds for refurbing. Not open again until January.

The guy I spoke to called ford for me. Confirmed they have mirror in stock. Super helpful.

£221.50 in total from Ford and they can fit it now. So probably paying over the odds but it’ll be done today.

Ohhh, new job! Nice time of year to start as you can get settled in while everyone is relaxed.

I like veg based, simple meals leading up to christmas. A pilaf type rice is a favourite as I can make it fragrant and spiced and then add heat to mine and dh's bowls with a hot sauce. Tonight it will be mac cheese.

Wreck, is it just the tight finances at christmas or do you do all the organising and purchasing too?

I missed that Unescorted, I thought it was just an office love for everyone. Hope it’s going well.

I am spending so much at the moment on food, stocking fillers etc. Grr.

Office MOVE, not love! Unless you’re not in the business I thought you were in...

Two loads of washing done.

On the way back from the garage I stopped in the wine shop. As much as I like buying wine from supermarket it’s nice to go to actual wine shops.

I like this place as it sells loads of craft beers. So picked up 5 for dh (2 of each), some beef jerky (made from jersey Angus cows) and a bottle of “ginnish” (for the house) £45 in total. But it’ll be a nice gift for dh.

So far I’ve got him a hoody, the beers, jerky, aftershave, a book, socks and some hot sauce. And a voucher for the garden centre so he can get a tree.

Dparents dropped ds back. He has a temperature (38.9) and a bit of a cough. Ffs. I’ve given him calpol and am basically forcing him to drink water. I’m hoping he’s ok for nursery tomorrow but if not I’ll deal with it.

Wrapped dhs gifts today. So have made a start.

No new job today... we get told tomorrow. The new office & our hosts are lovely but the network is flakey which is frustrating.

Today's frugal win - 2 bulbs of fennel 12p, currently being roasted with tonight's chicken. I will eat some & save the rest for another day.

Wow! Bargain Unescorted! I love fennel but it is expensive.

Thanks for meal ideas Wreck. I've added frittata and decided to make a big pot of chilli at the weekend and freeze some for when we get fed up of Christmas food!

snuggly you and me both. I am the only one that eats it here so can never really justify it. I am going to call into Morrisons at 11:30 on a Sunday from now on - they had loads of really good yellow stickers.

I sometimes use fennel instead of onion when I make a risotto. It’s something that I’d buy chop and freeze. Then use whenever.

It would go really well with fish / seafood. It also went down really well roasted with lemon and chilli... I have packed what is left into box with cous cous (made up with the left over gravy) and magic chicken pickings for my lunch tomorrow.

I always feel extra frugally good if my lunch is a reworking of dinner from the night before.

I have decided that my frugal aim this year is to save up for a camper this year - budget 6K... each time I make a saving by riding my bike to the train / wfh or making my own lunch or take coffee in a flask I will put the saving in my saving account along with birthday & Christmas money. Lunches = £3 per day, bike £2.50 per day and coffee £3 per week. Assuming 219 working days ( I get a lot of holiday) = £1341 + gift money. Which means I am going to have to find about £350 month. I can do this...we are going to be eating baked beans on toast and pasta a pesto mind.

I do that unescorted every day I don’t buy a coffee or lunch that money gets saved.

I’m going to have to save hard for my car next year. I said to dh I want to save up enough in 2020 so in 2021 if I want to I can buy myself a car. So I need around £10k for a second hand something. Whether I get it is another matter completely but I find having something physical to save for helps me immensely. Just saving for “the future” doesn’t quite seem to do it for me.

Ds has gone to bed. He dropped right off to sleep. I’m debating nursery tomorrow for him. He sounds awful (full of cough) but he’s been asleep now since 730 so fingers crossed. His temp is down a bit. If he goes to nursery he’ll be out of my hair and my day will be easier (no one around to help me out tomorrow). On the other hand of my baby babooo isn’t well I just want to snuggle him. On the other other hand he probably got it from nursery so send the germs back from whence they came.

I haven't bought coffee in months since dh got me one of those Bodum travel mugs with a plunger inside to make proper cafetiere coffee to go! It's one of my best things.

How's roasted tomato and fennel soup is amazing but requires quite a lot of fennel so is expensive to make. I make it once or twice a year as a special treat.

I also have leftover for lunch tomorrow. Quorn, veg and bean casserole with herbs dumplings. Dh just got a yellow stickered tiger loaf so will have nice crusty bread to dip in too. Looking forward to it already!

£78 in Aldi 😱 not sure how that happened! It has been at least two weeks since I did a proper shop but even do!!

£2.10 on lunch.

Bedtime now 💤

Christmas tree skirt looking good.

Looking good North.

Send him em if he is feeling better at least for a couple of hours.

House deposit next year so we can move on 18m with a smaller mortgage

He’s going in. Temp seems normal. He’s coughing a bit but hopefully he’ll be fine.

They can always call me and I’ll pick him up. It’s the temp I’d worry about so as he seems normal (around 37) I’m not too worried. He slept through last night (I woke up at 1 and he was coughing away but he was asleep).

Need to do a shopping list today so dh can do a food shop later on.

Might wrap some more presents and might take Dd for a walk

I'm way behind on thread and ynab too
Spent £7.49 to get amazon order on time, was meant to come yesterday didn't come until today so I got refunded the delivery charge

€15 on bikini wax
€47.61 on Saline nebules, calpol, nurofen and benylin for dc, major stock up done, if I'd organised myself properly I'd have bought most of this from chemist direct way cheaper.

Will catch up here this evening.