Festive Frugaleering

[Unescorted]

[[https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/4340188-Savvy-savers-sashaying-through-September old thread]

Opppppps - we nearly filled the old one

Don’t remember that programme

Load ready for the tip then onto the pet shop.

Decorations are down and lots of cleaning and vacuuming has been done. I can't believe how much dust had accumulated in the short time since the cards and decorations went up!

Had some leftover chilli for lunch and dh is making pies for tea with some Christmas leftovers he froze.

I am also not sleeping well because of going g back to work dread. I know it will be fine when I am actually there!

House is officially de christmassed. It’s nice actually.

£17 to riding friend but I owed her that for our instructors pressie for Christmas.

Got thoroughly soaked when riding today. I had waterproof jodhpurs on but still completely soaked through. Even my pants were wet. Boots are drying - long boots with Jods tucked in meant that the rain rolled off and ended up in my boots. Sad face.

£12 pet shop, £2.29 the range, £17 home bargains and £5.29 kfc. Disappointing sales in store

Unescorted thank you so much that is so lovely of you . l agree we have lovely MNetters here
Em well done on the decluttering of the house from the Christmas ornaments , hope you are dry now
Not bothered with the sales this year Life
Humbug bless you re work returning , well done on the clearing and cleaning!
North l have only the greatest respect for you supporting your Ds , life is hard enough for the youngsters , you did great , l am so glad you are able to help bless him
Martha tell me about the food and petrol prices eroding our budget! It is, along with the fuel charges a real shock for us all

Tayto ahh thank you we had a lovely day , it was just wonderful so good to see them all it's been 6 months since we saw them and she is very dear to me
I have done the exact thing to pedestrians accidentally ,it makes me feel so guilty ! I was told the Spiderman film was excellent by my step grand children , they loved it ! l am sure your Dd enjoyed it too
Gen have a brilliant time !
Wolf thank you it was gorgeous
Spent 70 on lunch and 40 petrol but it was well worth it we had a lovely time

Well we managed to go out for a couple of hours and walk round local country house grounds. Got a bit wet but mostly nice weather.

Ham was delicious - cooked in apple juice, clove, peppercorn, bay and star anise and then glazed with honey, mustard, soy and brown sugar. We had that with baked potatoes for tea and had soup and Christmas cheese on toast for lunch. Rest of ham is sliced for ds for sandwiches for the week and probably a pasta dinner or something similar. Breakfast was American pancakes from my wonky bread box. Ds went into lidl for milk and bread and came back with a reduced loaf, clever lad. Christmas leftover crumble bake slice is delicious and held together which I wasn't convinced it would

Dog has been bathed and all dog towels and stuff are in the wash after the bad weather. Sofa throws changed as they smelled like dog. Ds sort of vacuumed the living room for me. I haven't managed to get to cleaning the kitchen floor which is disgusting but I'm knackered now so it'll hve to wait

Last of Christmas ham used up here too.

One day I WILL do a ham for Christmas! Or indeed at any time of year 😳

Spendy day - first time out of the house before Christmas! I had labyrinthitis for a while so have been a hermit. Went to have my covid booster, then wandered in town a bit.

Spends
Food/drink £7.19
Charity shop - mostly reading scheme books for Cagletini (24 Ladybird key word books for a tenner? Yes please!) and maths books for tutoring £22.50
Wilko - scissors for Cagletini and paint testers… and a plant with a pretty pot :o £12.70
Bus fare for DD1 85p

Tesco delivery was about £60 I think, DH’s account though. Seem to get fuck all for that money these days.

Going to keep a record of “food out of the house” and takeaway spends this year though - DH added up takeaway spends last year and OMG it was awful (even without adding those on my card!) - really bad habits built up. I want to spend more on fun stuff this year not takeaways all the time.

Happy new year everyone🎉
mrs oh the jigsaw you treated to yourself to is gorgeous😍. It’s making me want to do some jigsaws of my own.
gen have a lovely holiday☺️
tayto I feel you on Christmas being hard work. I’ve tried to keep it quite minimal since having DC but I still find myself stressing. Let me know how the bauble storage box is I’m considering getting some of the Christmas decoration storage stuff as every year it’s a faff sorting putting up/away the decs.
life I hope your dogs feeling better💕
sing that calendar sounds ace I might make my own one of them. My takeout spends are shocking so I bought myself a cookbook that I actually want to use to make cooking more exciting.
unescorted I love your New Years resolution
north not soft at all he can’t help it bless him. And well done to him on the podcast how brilliant🎉 I hope your DD’s feeling ok
em I’d sort your leave out and let DH do the majority of stuff with kids school etc. Maybe then he’s realise it isn’t as easy as he thinks it’ll be.
£14.99 on a tea strainer as I accidentally smashed mine the other day and can’t live without my tea😂.
Went through budget and filled in my diary. Decorations went down on New Year’s Day and I had a bit of a new year clean and burnt some sage I’m hoping to sort through the kids wardrobes and donate the stuff they’ve grown out of.
I also booked my booster for tomorrow. I feel like such a baby but I’m so nervous I really don’t want to be unwell like I was with the last two. Really wish I’d done it earlier because Dh is back to work tomorrow so can’t help with the kids if I want to just go back to bed.

north well done to your DS - I love podcasts. Let me know the name of the series & I will have a listen.

Wolf it sounds as if your cub is making an effort.

Sing food prices have shot up. I did a budget shop today (overspending over Christmas). £30 in Aldi for the week with no luxuries and everything is from scratch. It did not include any spices, sauces, oils, cleaning things et al. So not a long term sustainable shop. I do not know how people are going to cope.
Day 3 of my an art a day challenge.... I am really pleased with it. I think the difficulty is finding material to draw. All suggestions gratefully received.

Today's frugal win... Steamed chocolate pudding with left over custard that may have been a day out of date I didn't realise it is so easy to make.

floating paracetamol is your friend. I hope you have no side effects.

Good to see you back sing. Agree a takeaway habit can creep up on you.
Hope the booster is ok floating
Dh and I went for a walk on the coast this afternoon. It was nice & flat for my hip & just good to get out though it was quite bracing!
I've finalised our budget for the year and we are all set up to switch mortgage deals when ours ends as life suggested, we are reserving the deal that they are offering now. It means we will have it paid off 6 years from April. I think we have enough slack in the budget to manage it and live pretty well, we just will not have to fritter money on takeaways and such like.

I saw Tenko, think it was in the 80’s but not sure exactly which year.

Well done on the frugal books Sing

NSD here, spent most of the day gardening.

Ooh yes Tenko was a family watch in our house too!

We also watched tenco.
@floatinginmyhomie I was ill after my booster only for 24 hours though.
We ended up going away for a couple of nights so spent a bit. Frugality starts today.

DH, Pup and I had a lovely peaceful break between Xmas and New Year in mid Wales - no spends as we took food with us (mostly leftovers and chocolate
We were supposed to be going out for the day on 2nd Jan with DS1, DIL and GC but DS1 was waiting for a PCR result so transferred barbecue and rest of food to them by leaving it at their gate
Back to arranging MIL's funeral today - still have not received death cert so will be chasing that today - also need to arrange family flowers
Only non planned spends have been a printer - as now Im not working I need one at hoe - probate forms, etc

Granny I am glad you had a break. Probate looks drawn out and a lot of forms.

DS is back to college today - he is under instruction to pick up any LFTs they are distributing. We live in a area with a lot of retired people who have time to queue "first" thing when the pharmacy opens at 9:30... I would need to take time off work to pick any up.

I need to de- Christmas today.

£30 return parcel fees but should get those refunded

NSD for me, home all day. Back to work (mostly online). Sorted my pension too, had to choose % etc.

Also was sensible and cancelled audible after spending some remaining credits. Really silly I kept it for so long. I’ve started getting into audiobooks now (I discovered that slightly speeding up the narration if they’re a slow talker really helps!) but I have loads built up so I can listen through that lot before rejoining (maybe).

De-Christmasing here too.

I was wiped out following my booster but that only lasted 24 hours.

Hope the paperwork gets sorted soon Granny, glad you got away for a few days.

Spendy but frugal day here, jeans and a silk Jeager scarf in M&S outlet. Jeans were down to £10 and the scarf was reduced from £110 to £20 😁

NSD. 1st of 2022. May need petrol tomorrow unless I risk going for Thursday😁