New year frugalling commences. Save those pennies for January

[ememem84]

New Fred.

2.1/150 miles walked in January so far.

I have at least 1 recipe book for the charity shop too Wolf. Photographed the only recipe I ever make from it.

Just checked bank now that both of us have been paid and all the bills have gone out (except the car which weirdly goes out later in the month, I must change that as it often catches us out). Anyway, things are looking better than I hoped so I have paid back the money we borrowed from our savings account. Haven't paid the cc yet as this week's online shop (it was only about 50 quid) hasn't shown up on it yet but when it does I'll clear that.
Dh is going to pay in Christmas money from his and my mums today too. We are going use it for days out during the spring.

Hi all
Long time lurker that, dips in and out here, (message to you Rudi, polly Shelby etc) previously this thread helped me to save for various projects like buying a vw beetle and relocating....also swapping my beetle for a campervan, so here i am...handing myself back in.

Rough year last year, really want to get back into my frugal groove again so we can improve our housing situation for something more secure. Hoping for lots of no spend days and helping more people i care for rather than spending. Can i join please? .....

Curvy - our resolutions match :)
Happier - thanks for that post, i too have a wardrobe to clean today..

My spending pitfalls are cake, chocolate etc, Im an emotional eater and I spend too much trying to please my kids...my goals are just to be more mindful. Food waste this year too My husband has some debt to clear before we can save for either a rent deposit or eventually a house deposit..gotta get our house (in both senses) in order first. Thanks for all those links...good to read again as a reminder.

I think it's worth nothing the money saving expert take a day to sort your financial situation.

Basically go through everything and either cancel or get the best deal possible

Morning all. I need to buy a birthday present and card for a niece today, my favourite local gift shop starts its sale today so will go there first. I often overspend on them so I have set myself an aim which includes card and postage, let's see how that goes

Trying to decide what to do with ds today, I'm not sure he will tolerate another walk but I do feel the need to get out

Bed to be stripped and washed today and cookbooks to be taken to the charity shop. Will have a quick squizz in the wardrobe and see if there is anything in there that can go. But (as I've mentioned before and am repeating because we're talking organisation) I have a reusable shopping bag in the bedroom hung up near where I iron. I fill it with the too small/unloved clothes as I'm ironing and take it to the charity shop when it's full

I organised my downstairs cleaning cupboard before Xmas when the sink leaked everywhere so I feel I can mentally tick that one off the list too

Keep meaning to say it's nice to see so many new names - welcome!

Have sorted out the dreaded post pile. Looking at the dates on things I last did it in November 2018. This meant that most of it could he shredded or recycled and I just have a few mortgage statements, pay slips etc to file. Whole task took about 15 minutes. It would take seconds to just deal with things straight away but I won't. I'm not that sort of person. I have tried to be but I'm more of a "let it pile up then blitz it all in one go" type.
I have gone paperless with most things which means I can ignore my emails every month instead of actual post. I dread to think how.lo g it would take to sort out my inbox!

Christmas tree has gone. Living room looks a hell of a lot bigger now.

It is so nice to see so many people popping up and I'm being inspired by everyone's industriousness!

We're still away at the moment but I'm planning on sorting 1 DIY/house job per week (so 52 over the year) and 1 area to declutter. We go home tomorrow, so by the end of the weekend I need to order a bike chain/padlock and bike tarpaulin, so we can move some bikes out of the utility room and il sort through coats/hats/gloves/shoes etc.

I've also moved money around. It's looking ok, but only if we have a quiet and low cost January!

And I've transferred an extra £32 to our mortgage pot. I have no idea yet how or when to overpay this, having never made an overpayment before , but even if it builds up in the mortgage pot for a while, it's a start on the aim of the decade!

Morning everyone 😀
Off to my Mum to take her decs down and Clean , take her to the hairdressers 🤪
Planning a nsd today and no sale present buying hopefully 🤔
l get the emo eating Fear , it's instead of exploding at my Mum and sibs. Look after Mum , the sibs do bgr all to help. It causes me terrible resentment , not because I don't love Mum but because they are selfish , self obsessed swine's. There now only if l could say that l would save my hips and extra inch a year!
Thank you so much to the regular posters for your very warm welcome. It's much appreciated 💐🤗

I am back in the land of the living.

I had hoped for a NSD, but there is no milk left. I have carefully left enough for the kids to have a cup of tea each and I will pick up a bottle from the shop when I am out later.

It is lovely to see so many ambitious frugal targets. Looking at everyone's NYR lists it looks as if being frugal is a manifestation of gaining back control in life. I know it is for me.

Anyway I am out to go running for the first time this year …. wish me luck it could be a mess.

Today’s wins so far: resisted getting a cab so I could stay in bed longer. I do sometimes get cabs and see them as justified use of my PIP, but still I’m glad I saved the money (maybe £6ish) and I enjoyed the walk down to town. Here’s a tree I walk past that makes me laugh every time with its disapproving face :o
Also, remembered to buy milk AND resisted buying any extras while in the Coop.

Fail of the day: turned up at the wrong time for my appt. 😳🤦‍♀️😂 Luckily it’s later today and I can still go to yoga with my friend first 😊

Forgot to say welcome to all the new joiners and returners! I love January, new thread with lots of new frugal friends all sharing goals ❤️

Oh, I like that book case @ememem84. I have a small home, so I (exP, really) lined the hallway walls with Billie bookcases. I love having books on display!
Planned NSD here, I’ll make a bread in a minute. I have a stomach bug, I am in agony, on top of a cold, I’m feeling rather I’ll. so I’ll take it easy today.
@Unescorted, good luck with the run! I love running, I’m addicted.
@Mrsmadevans have you asked for your siblings’ help? My brother and I have a deal, we deal with the family together, always 50/50. And if one vetoes, neither of us do it 😂. It’s helped over the years, as we have a big family and they now know to contact us both, individually neither of us will do anything. We’re known as ‘those two joined at the hip’. But we had some pretty major traumas in our lives and really there was no one else with enough common sense to do it.
@maddenlightfoot I have a standing order for my mortgage, I overpay the day I get paid by £100. I don’t miss it as such, it’s become part of the bills.
@Wolfcub that’s one of my new year resolutions, to get on top of birthdays, too many times I left it till the last moment and overspent. What are you getting her?

May I join my resolution last year was to divorce. Got the first part unfortunately despite doing all the blah he has not engaged or gotten a lawyer.so its of to court.
I had saved and continue to save spending a lot on this crap but because i realised how much money was being wasted ie a letter had to be sent by the lawyers to tell him.to stop hounding me to sale a property before the divorce finances were sorted that sort of thing.
I decide to spend on myself not going over board but just treating myself as Im.going out more often.
This year pray I dont have to have another christmas with him.
Continue to be careful with money so I dont get into debt due to massive lawyer bills
Try my hardest not to kick the 18000 pound car he bought on xmas eve despite using my car for the past 6 years with no contribution towards maintaince tax insurance or anything.

In the interests of decluttering I have just eaten the last of the Christmas shortbread. I'm on a roll today

Can I join in?

I decluttered the bathroom and redecorated it yesterday (emulsion, gloss to do yet) and had a quick sort through my clothes. I'm determined to get more organised and one such goal is the ransack the loft and get it tidied.

Just paid off my student loan do that's a weight off but it wasn't going out every month, I was offered settlement as it's deferred but I'm glad we saved enough to write it off.

Now need to save £1000 before June for our holiday, so £200 a month to go into Monzo pot. Hoping I'll make it. I also have a huge garden revamp to sort as it's been stripped to bare beds and now needs filling.

I've sorted all DDs to go beginning of the month.

Still have £1k on credit card but 0% so chipping away at it....

Trying to "eat up" freezer contents. I too have finished the Xmas chocs, just so I can pack the bowls away 😉

Can I join please?

I really need to be on top of my finances more , before I go back to work on Monday I'm planning to go through my finances in detail and work out where I can save money . Also trying to have a nsd as much as possible, has one yesterday , today will be harder as we are off to the panto later!

snuggly 😂

Dm has just called me. She caught me at a bad moment where I was in the middle of picking up dh’S mess (again). So I stupidly ranted at her.

Apparently I should have known this before. And shouldn’t expect a man to do 50/50 of the chores. Or even any of them. I shouldn’t expect downtime. And basically because the house is a mess it’s my fault.

Thanks Dm.

Buddah I wish I could say the same. I love it when I am out ( I fell run so the views are amazing) but will find any excuse not to get my sorry arse out the door. If only I could store the love of the hills in my memory bank rather than the feeling of my lungs being coughed up.

Em I hate it when my mum does the 1950's martyr at me. I frankly don't care that it was not a 50/50 split in her day - she can give herself a shiney for stupidity if it makes her feel better. If I haven't created the mess I am not going to tidy it up. I am certainly not going to feel guilty if the house is a mess when she visits.

Welcome new new people - GFD you have reminded me that I need to tosh some paint around the bathroom at some point.

OK rest of the day - washing, read a chapter or 2 of my book, then off to the food bank, make curry paste batch and some Naan for the freezer / tonight.

Gosh GuyFawkes that's a lot you've achieved already this year!

I can imagine my mum saying similar Em. Dh pulls his weight but she gushes about how marvellous he is and how lucky I am and imagine a MAN changing a nappy and so on. He used to find it hilarious but he realised it's actually quite patronising now. It's a generational thing. We just roll our eyes to ourselves and take no notice.

Happy New Year everyone.

I have been reading but not posting as I have not been very frugal recently I need to get back on the frugal wagon and start meal planning again as the takeaways have been increasing. January will be tight but we don’t have many expenses this month so hope to not have to raid savings.

I was working new year so no expense there but having family over today for a takeaway which will be spendy. After that I am determined not to have any more this month. Need to sort freezer out so I can batch cook and freeze as it’s full of “not quite meals” at the moment.

I have achieved quite a lot in the house last year but it all came to an abrupt halt when MIL went in to hospital. We need to adjust to our new normal and stop making that our excuse for spending needless money and achieving nothing. We desperately need a new kitchen so will have to factor that into plans this year.

em your mother is so like mine. It’s so frustrating 😬

Welcome to all the new people it’s lovely to see so many of you

So today am aiming for a no spend day.

I'm doing the saving thing where you start with 1p, 2p etc every day. But am hoping to do that weekly. So will work out what it needs to be each week and move that. Maybe monthly towards the end. Will see!
Also trying to remember to move any pence at end of day into my savings account.
Once children back at school am going into the garage where I have 2 buggies and a jumperoo to check, clean and sell.

Hi Born it is good to have you back. How is your Mil Doing now?