New year frugalling commences. Save those pennies for January

[ememem84]

New Fred.

Ooh I’m not spending anything in 2020 either...food is ok, travel to family, but everything else can stay in the shops.

It’s hard though. I got stuck in a shopping centre the other day (boring story) and had to work so hard not to spend.

Do you find not spending makes you feel...cleaner? Is that weird?

thanks curvy and curls for the lentil recipes have saved both and will try them out!

em my cat has become very attached to a box from Christmas, she will be very upset when it goes out for recycling this week!

curls do you blitz the soup or leave it chunky?
My sprouts, broccoli & blue cheese soup turned out well. Had to buy blue cheese £3 but used half and have half left for another soup later in week.

As suspected Saturday was extremely spendy, £94 for five of us on an indian meal.

Today I have cleared all the washing and got it away. Tomorrow I shall start on the towels and bath mats and then the bedding over the next couple of days.

DH is back to work tomorrow (he got a couple of days in last week by working from home). He may have to go up country at some point in the week so that'll mean petrol and food money for that. FiL has to go into hospital to have some work done on his knee and his Nan was rushed by ambulance to hospital after a fall in the nursing home. We're just waiting on news to see what's happening.

Spent £74.77 in Tesco today.

I've just checked the bank account and the Child Tax Credits have gone in so that's £139.77
Also had the £30 CU standing order go out and £10 for DC1 college lunches.
There was 94p moved across to the saver account.

15 yesterday. Subs for a group and a drink. Pet food needed today. Up ready for work. So hard this time of year

Good luck to everyone going back to work today. I have an ocado shop coming tonight so it won't be a NSD for me

Massive achievement today. Was bumbling about on fb and came across an ad for the feelunique sale. Instead of clicking on it I’ve unfollowed them.

@northender I give it a bit of a blitz if I’ve not chopped the carrots finely enough.

Ugh, really not feeling it this morning, first day back to normality.

Well done Em

Confirmed with HR that my December pay was wrong and that will be rectified at the end of this month. I don't think I've had a single pay cheque that's been the same month on month since September

Morning everyone 😀
@ememem84 that's a great result , well done 👏
@CurlsandCurves hope you feel better today 💐
Am off to my Mum's in a bit , l look after her , l am her full time carer. Having a tough time atm , it's really hard. Not like me to moan , just feeling it this morning 🤗
Haven't got a clue what to give her for lunch , need to change it up a bit she is off her food . Hoping for a nsd today but we'll see 🤞👍.Hey ho better shift have a great day everyone.

Well done em

Thanks!! I was twitching to buy lovely beauty products at 50% off. But don’t need anything.

I had another nsd yesterday, but today I am going off-island to visit DF , so far £13 on hovercraft, we will be going out to farm shop and Lakeland but hoping he won't want lunch out.. ( only because I got on the scales this morning )

Ryvita, low fat cream cheese and cuppa soup for lunch. I may as well be eating a cardboard box.

Had a bit of a shock today when my phone DD went out today and was more than I expected. It is usually £17 a month but was £28.55 this month. I hadn't checked when I had the notification text so went to check my bill and it was the phone bill gone over with all the calls I've had to make with organising stuff etc. since I've had to stop working. So I will have to be mindful of that.

We've just had a bit of good news. DH has got a bit of a promotion. It's only for 6 months but there is a possibility of it being extended beyond that. With it means he will have a wage increase , which is amazing. So I'm going to have to get on to tax credits and let them know.

I'm having a sewing day today. To save money on Christmas presents this year I've made bags for all my nieces and nephews. I'm not seeing one set till next week so I'm just doing their presents now. One down and 2 to go.

Well done @ememem84 that's something I struggle with to.

Finished article. Need to do two satchel/messenger bag type things for my nephews.

slattern they're lovely - would it be an option to sell them on etsy? Bring in some extra cash for you?

Thank you. I am looking at doing this to earn some extra pennies but I wouldn't be able to do Disney or similar because of rules etc. it's working out the costings on them. Also with my illness I have days where I can't do anything.

Do you do anything resembling a lunch bag, possibly a little bit bigger. Dd has a bag for the days they don't need their school bag but ds doesn't.

Ugh stressful day.

Lunch £8.24
Boots - STs for DD1, shampoo, couple of toiletries sets on sale £9.49
Taxi £6.20 - this I’m annoyed about but I’d spent so long sorting other stuff I was completely done by that point and the thought of getting two buses back in the rain was just NOPE. I still don’t feel warm after a hot bath 😡

Fantastic bags slattern 😍

Well today was rubbish. Nothing awful happened, just first day back and it's dragged. I forgot that at work I can't just eat/drink/wee whenever I feel like it

Posted too soon. It was an NSD ar least. Love the bags Slattern.

Slattern the bag is lovely. If you fancy doing a lunch bag let me know.

Welcome new joiners … Batley and Nib - it is fab to have loads of people on the thread.

First day back to work today..... not good so I may have gone via the wine section.

I need to get organised - I have caught the bug after rearranging the laundry so it functions as a laundry kitchen over spill and not a bike shed. It has cost me my Christmas money to buy a tool trolley and 2 days of my holiday.... but the feeling of not having tools and bike parts all through the house is worth it.

2 minutes on my banking app and 10 minutes on the phone and I've had a cull of unneeded direct debits. £22 a month extra saved.