New year frugalling commences. Save those pennies for January

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New Fred.

thank you girlie and curvy she's still very young and spends most if her time building Lego and playing with her figures. I have been reassuring and told her it's ok. I think joked she would be able to borrow my clothes which she found funny.... she's currently got my tights and my t-shirt on 😂

lsd yesterday- met friends for Lego club £8.80 for the bus, £6.30 in McDonald's. got a refund in Primark for some hold ups that wouldn't stay up that was a fun conversation with the young guy on the check out!! gave friend £10 back for a coat she got my dd in a sale ages ago 😁

Just taken DS2 to spend his vouchers on his terms football kit. He’s only 10 but tall for his age so he’s had a small men’s size, which bumps up the price even more. But it’s what he really wanted and he’s well chuffed.

Nipped to Dunelm after for a new outside doormat (the old one was falling to bits)£5. And a new sink drainer. Rock and roll.

This afternoon I’m going to use up the last few bananas to make banana loaf. And clear out all the old veg in the fridge to make a soup.

@Fearofawelshplanet well done on the yoga! I just discovered it a few months ago and I absolutely love it. Got my first class since before Christmas on Monday, I’m going to ache after that!

Forgot the direct debits went out yesterday - £133.23.

I don't need to spend any money today though, and should only need to buy bread for lunch over the weekend.

I'm on benefits as a single parent and carer for my disabled son so don't have much going in, I also live in a shared ownership property so although I get housing benefit for the rent part I still have a mortgage to pay. No help from the ex as he's a jobless alcoholic.

I try and save a bit every time money goes in, so I have money for school holidays/birthdays/Christmas. So I'll chuck £20 in every time I get tax credit, carers allowance and child benefit. It's tied to my current account so I can easily transfer it back if needed.

Ow ow ow poorly back ow

£51.50 Ikea
£12.40 mcds
£2.60 pharmacy
£17 ds haircut
Walk in the Park - free

Have built said Ikea bits and cleaned the top of the cellar head pulling out all the old storage, cleaning, sorting into h, charity, keep and bin piles. Installed new storage and refilled. Much better and safer for accessing the cellar but hence ouchy back.

Washing done and hung. Second lot on as it turns out ds hasn't washed his school shirts in 2.5 weeks (not like I haven't asked).

Tomorrow I need a trip to the charity shop again and a trip to the tip. I also need a plastic post envelope or box for niece's gift

Hurrah. DH only applied this morning but we’ve already had confirmation that DD1 is eligible for free school meals. That’ll be a huge help! Need to find out how it all works with the canteen etc. Some local schools do thumbprints rather than cards!

Ouch Wolf… but well done on the sorting. DS & I have blitzed his room - which wasn't as bad as it looked. Payback is that he helps with the laundry tomorrow (most of it is his and DH's bike bits)

OhMs if things get tight you could downward staircase so the rent element is @ LHA. I don't know how long your ex has been an ex. You may have it all balanced.

Slattern I love credit unions. I wish there were more of them.

Today would have been a household NSD but dd has split with her BF ( a good thing in my opinion, but I have remained silent on the matter) Therefore dh has been sent out to the butchers to get sausages to go with the mash. Comfort food at it's best. And as it isn't a NSD I will order the tool box for all the bike tools from my Christmas money. First resolution hits the dust.... but at least they won't be distributed around the house & I won't have to put up with the bickering about where things are.

Dropped 4 bags of clothes at the charity shop. I found things id forgotten about and shamefully things still with labels on.

Made sure everything is the right way round and hung up properly.

Ironed everything which needed it.

That is good news lane

Not quite no spend, but only veggies (we had some in coop today em.. Hope your boats arrived.. I remember being on holiday on Alderney where they didn't for a few days..)

Happier yes DS has manged to keep in work through temporary contracts for some time now, but its always in the back of his mind. But has had some great training opportunities now, and being dyslexic is not such a big handicap in IT support.. In fact it seems to be quite common, (Suppose, it means they can think out of the box). Anyway its a great relief and he is hoping that he will finally be able to think of buying somewhere.
Dgs is 7 now..time flies ! Doing fine and we see him a lot.

unescorted have you a new job?

Planned NSD didn’t go according to plan, £10 on eyebrows and moustache threading.

God, I need to iron too!!!

Not yet...I am in batch fuck up. 15 of us get to be interviewed for our jobs. Despite assurances that there would be no job losses and there would be plenty of space for us and the new people. We now have more people in Risk than AHP. And most of AHP is central function - delivery will be about 20 of us with a budget of over 4bn. est 70% of outputs. Organisation 1400 people. I am not amused.

I've not kept up Un , (just read a few times here recently) but that sounds a right fk up , agreed. Will they offer redeployment options if it doesn't work out ? Ffs they need people doing your job more than ever! 🤞 for you..
Glad I am out of it, ( but a bit sad also)

relief boat came in. Our main conventional goods ferry is broken. The ramp won’t open - so 15 containers of food was stuck on it the other day. And 35 cars.

Lsd. Few bits in the shop e.g. milk and crumpets.

The dcs have been really good fun today. Very funny and imaginative.

Still living more or less from the freezer and cupboards. Had sausages from the freezer for tea with mash and veggies. Going to make pizzas tomorrow to use some basil and cheese up.

Oh Unescorted, I was hoping that would have been sorted for you, (I'm ashamed I can't remember your line of work, but know we need you!)
When will you find out?
Keeping everything crossed for you too.

£34 spent on new PJs plus £4.00 on coffees after a lovely long walk in the park and another £10ish on McDonald’s

Writing this down is making me realise that I’m not doing well at this frugal milarky - this frittering has definitely contributed to the monster CC bill!

Awareness is the first step I guess.

I’ve got £92 in my account for “fun money” as all bills are paid from our joint account. This must last me until the 20th which is £4.60 a day. Hopefully that will focus my attention.

Curls and curves - thanks! Im trying to make myself either do yoga, a walk or the tiffany rothe bikini work out. Want to shift a stubborn stone, going back to work next week will help. I have been in such a good mood today, no heavy worries on my mind which I put down to the Yoga! Will continue and report back! Its nice to be supported.

Oh Ms- sounds like your doing a great job your situation sounds hard..

Unescorted- your job situation sounds unnerving, hope it sorted soon for you ...

Evening everyone
Have spent about £15 in Home Bargains today, this was on things like scourers , bleach, cough medicine, ibuprofen, paracetamols, Bombay mix , don't ask Dh loves the stuff . I also made a cauliflower cheese with 2 caulis left over from Christmas and cheese left over . We are having this tonight with a piece of boiled ham l bought from Mr T for £2 instead of £5. Nothing wrong with it just Christmas stock they want to sell. Also sorted out my Broadband , free weekend calls, BT Sport through Sky, free weekend calls and line rental for 39.49 a month. We don't go out so the family like to watch the BT sports . We were paying 50 a month for this so it is 10 a month cheaper.
Sorry to hear about your Job Unescorted it's very stressful for you

Laska that’s great news about DS. He’s had to be so tenacious to keep getting short term contracts so it’s great to know he’s got his chance at last. Does he live on the mainland?

Snuggly it’s so lovely when the DC have a good day! DD has been back at nursery today so I’ve been home with just ds - easier to finish the Christmas cleanup but I’ve missed her! They’ve both been really well behaved and lovely over the holidays, I’ve really been enjoying them Hideous scooter trip to the park excepted

Slattern glad it’s not as bad as you feared.

Someone mentioned OneNote - was it Unescorted? I had a quick look and it looks good, I write a lot of lists on the notepad but that looks much better. I never have paper lists handy when I need them.

Tile samples arrived today and I really love one of them! They aren’t the cheapest by the square metre but I worked out the total cost and it’s not more than I’d budgeted overall so I will go for them, yay! It’s a huge load off my mind to have decided. Now I just need to pick a bathroom suite and decide whether I want a plain basin or one mounted on a shelf/table (hotel-style) or vanity unit. We’ve also got a massive alcove on one side of the bathroom and I’ve to decide whether to put in floor-to-ceiling cupboards there. We currently have a granite ‘kitchen counter’ with 3 cupboards underneath and we use the counter as a huge changing table - dead handy, but those days will be over soon. If I had a wall of cupboards we’d be able to store all family bedding and towels, and bathroom stuff, easily. And laundry hampers. That would be very handy. Downside is losing the changing table Before DD is potty trained (short term problem) but also making the bathroom feel smaller. But it’s quite big so I think it’d feel fine once we get used to it.

That was boring sorry, just thinking aloud!

Took DS out for brunch, £16. He was so happy and it’s lovely to spend time with just him. £4 blueberries on the way home. I’ll probably buy some bathroom bits for the en suite today as the men can install them next week when they are here to do the main bathroom - we still need a little storage cabinet and a rack in the shower for shampoo etc.

I’ve spent almost 2 hours cleaning the sitting room today (including moving all the furniture and cleaning behind everything). Defo fake tree next year!

Laska you well out of it. I wasn't too happy with the headlines today either coming from Nmbr10.

Allmy it is too easy to do. I keep having to remind myself that I need to stop buying small things.

Baked camenbert for dinner with salt and pepper roasted onion French bread and wine. Le grande yum.

Ds went to bed about half hour ago. Absolutely shattered. He just screamed from his bed. Turns out catface has leapt at his door with the biggest meow. And then Meowed right near his head. Such a jerk. 😻

Sea yes it was me.... I am One Notes number one fan.

I went to download it to my iPad but it needs a newer version of the software. So I’ve started downloading that, which probably means I’ll shortly need to reset all my passwords.

Does anyone use a password keeper app that they would recommend? I really need to start noting them down as I simply can’t remember everything and I am constantly resetting them. Modern life has defeated me