New year frugalling commences. Save those pennies for January

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New Fred.

In the interests of sticking to weight loss I am now taking packed lunch to work instead of buying lunch on the way. To make me stick to it I have added up how much I spent and set up a weekly standing order to pay half of that into my savings and half into the account I use to save for my son. Hopefully if I waver I will consider how the money is doing more good there!

Late finish due to work. Just making a hot water bottle now as my feet are freezing! I’m going to be knackered tomorrow.... Still not spent anything but somehow doubt I’ll be sorting a packed lunch tomorrow.

Petrol 30 and milk. Shouldn't need to spend anything for rest of the day

My attempt at a NSD failed spectacularly!

£60 car parts
£11 toiletries
£110 food between 3 shops to get best prices in each- did big stock ups of 5kg pasta, 3kg potatoes, crates of tuna, beans etc so it was an economical spend. No more food will be needed this week other than milk, bread and fruit.
£30 petrol
£5 pocket money for chores done
£4 treats for dcs.

Spendy day £1250 flights for summer to France, £99 deposit for site, £1150 Easter holiday, I appreciate I'm very lucky to be afforded 2 breaks.
£30 fuel for car,

£852 for Spain in summer is a bargain.

Nsd planned today

Morning everyone.
Just had two nsd in a row. Today I need bread and milk and I am meeting friends for dinner so estimate about £20 for that. I haven’t been out in ages as I’m in a bit of a rut so need to make the effort to go.

Payday is next Thursday and can’t come soon enough. It’s a week early so we don’t have a six week month as we were paid early in the lead up to Christmas.

Good luck to your dd Unescorted

Well done all on the packed lunches! I always have a frugal dilemma as I get a free school lunch every day but I really shouldn't eat a big meal plus pudding each lunch time as il still eat a big dinner later. I've made soup this morning, which is still hot, so am going to pop a bit of that in a flask to take in (just have to avoid the canteen as I think it's sausage and mash today 😋)

We're having smart meters installed today. Well, we already had one installed by EDF years ago but their service was crap, they couldn't do the gas one and never came back and the electricity one stopped communicating with the panel. There was talk of compensation but that also never materialised 🙄. We're with Bulb now so hoping that by the end of today we should be able to keep a really close eye on our energy usage.

Spends yesterday
Homestore & More: €5.49 on six teaspoons(ds has bent all of mine) and a shovel for cleaning out the ashes
Mr Price: €2 sweeping brush - bought not because it was the cheapest but I like the head the best
Centra: €7.90 on six local eggs, a sistema yogurt & granola pot(had I known it was €5 I might not have bought it but the ones I have already aren't big enough) and salt
Parking 60c
Diesel €44 on fuel card so will get about 4c off per litre
Orthodontist Consultation €50, comeback in six months, dd will benefit from braces as her overbite could cause her front teeth to wear down, hopefully h was convinced of it being a necessity.

Ordered dd a dress on amazon at beg of Dec it only arrived yesterday, was offered refund or replacement by the company, so I requested a refund of the shipping charge due to the delay. Sunny Fashion Girls Dress Rhinestone Chiffon Bridesmaid Dance Ball Maxi Gown only £11.99 if anyone's got an event that their dd is attending this year, the quality is fabulous.

Need to buy wood pellets today & groceries tomo, joint account at an all time low so will have to pay for some of these on my own acc again. Can't wait to be financially free of h
Also have mechanics bill of €560 to pay for au pairs car too. and €120 for my own car's service.

Yesterday I made the call to close another credit card, I've now got one with my own bank with zero balance so must close this, kbc €384 balance(all owed from joint acc) and the big one of approx €5.5k. I think I'd like to keep one open just for cc protection on purchases, kbc seems best because I've an app on my phone for it and it does cashback on purchases.

Put an offer in of €15k under asking price on house yesterday and it was rejected, my hope was that the auctioneer would come back with, x would be acceptable but she didn't. just said they were hoping for the full asking price.

life holidays sound great. I'd like to take my two to Legoland this year, most likely Windsor rather than Denmark, but I'm going to buy a house first

verily if it keeps you out of the shops/takeaway for other food it's money well spent.

Had hoped to get ds into music therapy which au pair found a flyer for, but it's booked up and then teacher is going on mat leave until Oct

Adding bf to my car insurance keeps it at the same rate leaving me almost €50 on prepaid cc will see when renewal comes in. €454 currently.

em dd had conjunctivitis will every tooth I tried all the remedies, cold tea bag being most effective at reducing redness but it needed antibiotic drops every single time

Seacow hope dc are ok

Morning everyone 😀
Had a chance to catch up on the thread .
Unescorted good luck to your DD 👍🤞
@ChristmasSeacow l do hope your DC are better today m'dear 🤗
Hopefully a NSD today but l have to pick up our prescriptions from WR and l suspect l will succumb to one of their delicious cheese loaves 😄
We are not going to be able to go on holiday this year. I look after my Mum and l am afraid of leaving her. We will make do with days out. I don't mind as long as she is alright.
@Bornlazy have a lovely lunch with your friends 🤗
Better shift Mum to sort out have a good NSD everyone 😀

@Happierwithouthim l was interested in the dress you put on l had a look and l can see it's gorgeous , different colours as well and such a bargain. I hope you don't mind me putting a link on for anyone else who might be interested in this m'dear. Forgive me if you think l am overstepping the mark 💐 not my intention .
Sunny Fashion LB11 Girls Dress Rhinestone Chiffon Bridesmaid Dance Ball Maxi Gown Age 6 Years Black www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074Z33TG2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_e.xhEbFWF8T9A?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Of course not mrsmadevans dd is delighted with it

Popped to chemist. Dd needs to see the dr for drops. So I’ve made an appointment for tomorrow morning. I would have gone this afternoon but dh has the car. She’s fine in herself. Just a snotty baby with a gunky eye.

£5.20 at post office sending the fridge shelf back.

Expensive day today and we're only half way through. Hoping not to spend anything this afternoon though.

€212 on vaccinations for DS
€35 for swimming classes
€25 on train tickets
€9 on a top up shop

€52.50 on 6 bags of pellets and a bag of waxies(environmentally friendly firelighters made with recycled materials, apparently no kindling needed)

Happy with my frugal lunch, before I went away at Christmas I had meatballs that needed using, I cooked them in the actifry the morning I was going away and then froze them, so no waste. Today I had some of them in corn tortillas with pasta sauce and eat lean cheese for lunch. Hate wasting food.

cheese did you vaccinate against chicken pox? I know that one's expensive.

@Happier I vaccinated against meningitis B. Its covered by the NHS in the UK but not offered publicly here in spain although all parents are advised to pay for it if they can afford it. Cost me 156€. Then €56 for another meningitis booster thing that they advised I get. Not sure how necessary it is but rather safe than sorry.

Interesting thread How much food do you keep in the house I lean towards jam packed cupboards and my fridge is never empty, when I was looking at decluttering threads earlier this month where people had cleaned out their fridges before shopping day I was amazed as mine is never that empty.

I freeze bread/milk/leftovers/half pack of sausages etc etc

cheese interesting, not something I've considered. It's €160 per shot and 2-3 are needed per child here.

That’s an interesting thread happier

I’d favour a full fridge if I’m honest. But dh is the opposite. I’ve started cleaning out the fridge on a Tuesday evening before dh does the food shop.

I’m on day 14 no frivolous spending. I said to dh yesterday that by this point I’d usually have hit the sales big style.

Good luck unescorted DD

Would you go to asking price happier? Lego land is great my 2 loved it and world go back but they never play with Lego. I will save some Kellogg's vouchers for you. Do you get them in Ireland?

I'm going to read that thread. I food hord as a result of poverty upbringing.

The dress is lovely but DD won't have it. I thought she could have worn it for my brother's wedding but no.

Poor snotty gunky DD em

Nsd today woopwoop

Hi Ystd spent £48 in Aldi which was good as hadn't done a food shop in over two weeks.

Today was a NSD.

life happily I'll explain more by pm. They might make other dresses that she'd be happy with or is she a trouser suit/playsuit kind of girl? What will you wear for it? We do get Kelloggs vouchers here too, I'll start buying Kelloggs when I know for sure we're going!

em doctor told me that conjunctivitis doesn't hurt the child

She is a play suit/ trouser suit kind of girl. Not sure what I'm wearing. I have until October to decide. Probably the phase 8 ted baker price point

£4 post office today
£4 in pharmacist.

NSD yesterday.

Another NSD! Really pleased as I'm not usually very good at these.

I'm going to have a look at that food thread as it's something I find really interesting.

My dm is a real food hoarder; she says due to food poverty in childhood and a sense of feeling she's 'made it' if she can offer a guest whatever they desire when they come to visit (obviously within reason but means a full range of beverages, biscuits, cakes, snacky food at all times). She always has a heaving fridge and cupboards and has two freezers.

I've gone completely the opposite way - perhaps due to a childhood of excess? - fridge down to the last jar of gherkins before each shop and rarely have more than one tin of anything in the cupboard.

I have got better since it snowed last year. My dts were unwell at the same time and by the time we made it out to stock up, shops were very depleted and we had nothing in at home. It was actually a real wake-up call to not assume that because we live in the centre of a city we don't need some basics in supply. I do now keep a few spare tins and have flour, yeast etc for bread.

Il never be the hostess with the mostess though and my guests often have to make do with half a packet of Jaffa cakes (as I don't like them so they hang around for longer 😂)

I'm sure she'll be beautiful in those choices too. Shift style dresses suit you don't they?

Madden cupboards were always full at my parents & dm now shops daily for meat for dinner& their fridge & freezer are still packed. I'm the same need to run them down before moving house.
When I was first with h he bought same things every week no list & lots of food thrown out because it went out of date because hidden in fridge or forgotten about, I put a stop to that. Sometimes apples end up as stewed apple when past their best but nothing gets thrown out.

NSD!...