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Frugal the flip to make the festivities fun

997 replies

lifelongfrugaleer · 08/11/2022 21:27

Wasn’t going to be flip but decided to be polite
46 days or so

don’t panic frugaleers

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
BigSkies2022 · 01/12/2022 11:07

Happy 1 December, back, life. And to everyone else. About to get stuck into the painting - can't get the old window 'pull' hooks out of the frame, have tried WD40 and various screwdrivers, including a powered one. Luckily, there is plenty of painting to do, hoorah, so I'm not short of jobs while I ponder that particular knot. Going to listen to a podcast about Elizabeth Thingy, the Theranos scammer.

Last big bill that I have been expecting came in yesterday - £300 for some building work. Assuming (famous last words) nothing else goes wrong this month, I can settle my accounts, spread a little largesse (carefully!) at Christmas and start the new year with a realistic set of financial targets. DH, bless him, stepped up to the plate after the tooth fiasco. I have been paying off DS' foundation course fees for the last two years. Have cleared over £5k, and got it down to the last £2k (it was all on a 0% card, but you know, fiscal drag) and just felt so fed up with the whole situation that I asked DH if he could chuck something at the outstanding balance. He transferred £1200 to me, so I have dumped that on the balance, and will now be able to clear it by next August. It will have taken nearly 3 years, but it will be gone!

ememem84 · 01/12/2022 19:26

Took dd for her pre school boosters today. Well that was fun. She kicked the dr in the face.

Happierwithouthim · 01/12/2022 21:03

ememem84 · 01/12/2022 19:26

Took dd for her pre school boosters today. Well that was fun. She kicked the dr in the face.

Oh wow em feisty I like her 😈

ememem84 · 01/12/2022 21:14

That she is happier. That she is. 😂

Happierwithouthim · 01/12/2022 21:59

Sold my 2 seater couch €200, my new to me 3 seater with spilt recliners cost €400 so I'm ok with that, now I've room to put up a Christmas tree.

Dc had play dates so everyone's happy here.

Excellent big that sounds good

I'd salmon today need just cooked simply in butter lemon & garlic, it was from fishmongers & delicious. Half dc had spuds & half chips with chicken Marylands

Half I can imagine how emotional the diagnosis was & possibly still is. You've got this though Star

WeightoftheWorld · 01/12/2022 23:04

Haha em! Love it! What a story for you all, and for the doctor too! Hope she's ok after them, no temps etc?

Spends today:
£5 playgroup
£4.98 dressings for my ongoing shin wound. Accidentally bought ones that aren't self-adhesive but have the tape at home anyway. And am getting terrible skin irritation from the adhesive anyway so hopefully this wont be so bad. It's so itchy just the skin irritation from the adhesive not the wound itself.

Also paid December's nursery fees for both kids out of the TFC childcare account that I'd transferred money into last night. That came to around £1k as usual euuurgh. Horrendous how little I actually earn after the childcare is paid for. But for various reasons it's just not for me to give up work. And of course childcare is a shared cost between me and DH and he does see it that way don't get me wrong. Just he earns a lot more than me and we rely on his salary whereas we don't rely on mine iyswim.

Tomorrow will be a bit spendy, going to play cafe for drinks and cake for me, DD and DS and DD getting her hair cut.

lifelongfrugaleer · 02/12/2022 06:24

Brilliant em , love your dd

i hear you weight we were the same with my job and child care but I carried on working and it’s much better now they are older. You will feel like a millionaire when you aren’t paying nursery, chil care anymore. Although mine went on extra curricula activities and no pay rises but that’s our choice- the activities not the lack of pay rises

OP posts:
ememem84 · 02/12/2022 06:57

She was ok. No temps. But a bit irritable. She’s up with me now.

I have a stinking cold. Sigh.

CurlsandCurves · 02/12/2022 08:22

Morning,

Sorry to hear you’re feeling rough @ememem84 , I’m just about out the other side of a nasty cold myself.

Finally got to payday on Tuesday, feels like it’s been a long old month. Only spends so far is my standing order to the Christmas account and £10 on a secret Santa present for work.

Not working till later on, so my plan is to get a load of housework done and then tomorrow I’ll have time to get the tree down and decorated. Giving myself till 9am to drink coffee in peace then it’s all go.

AdoraBell · 02/12/2022 09:48

Hope you feel better soon em, love your DD’s feisty streak 😁

Groceries yesterday, £112 🤦‍♀️

Socathe · 02/12/2022 12:45

Weight childcare costs are such a killer aren't they, we only have one DS and now he gets his 30 hours it is much better but it's still a substantial cost each month. Even when he starts school next year we'll have some wrap around to pay for. But it's getting better each year cost wise since he turned 3 so I need to keep remembering that. Our nursery has just announce a £7/day fee increase (!!!) though which is the biggest they've ever done. They've had a few complaints apparently but it's hardly a surprise, I'd rather they do that than have to close, and they're still competitively priced compared to others in the area. I'm just glad we only have a few months of nursery left now.

Em hope you feel better soon. Tis the season isn't it, DS has just gotten over a nasty cough and now I'm all bunged up and my ears are all stuffed up so I can't hear a thing either.

£47ish at the dentist yesterday (check up for DH and I, DS is free), £77 at Aldi, £25 Morrisons. Am within the £90 weekly food budget as some of the Morrisons stuff were Christmas presents which come out of another pot. But it's getting harder and harder to stick to that budget.

£10 for DS haircut this afternoon.

DH and I are going to the theatre tomorrow, it's a matinee so we're going to go for an earlyish lunch first, very exciting we hardly ever get a day like this to ourselves. We're managing money well this month actually, still have plenty left in our joint spends account for a meal tomorrow and the theatre tickets were paid for a few weeks ago.

lifelongfrugaleer · 02/12/2022 16:02

I’ve just been to the Christmas show at harrogate 241 tickets and such a laugh
£50 petrol, £58 Sainsbury’s this morning
have to pop to Aldi to and marks to pick up my free choc footballs

OP posts:
Captainladder · 02/12/2022 18:14

Hello! Been lurking in the background, thought I'd say "hi" and thank you as this thread helps me to try and keep to a more low spend mentality. - I've had to move away from thinking of spending less as "scrimping" which seems joyless and has the same effect as going on a diet - I panic buy because I'm going to "start" my spending less on day, Monday..... to "frugal" which seems more like a conscious decision to be less wasteful and more resourceful.
December is such a crazy month - I feel like it creeps up on me every year and suddenly it's Christmas 🤣. It's almost as if I am In denial
it happens at the same time each year.
so following you lovelies to try and frugal along with you all!

Timetoswitch · 02/12/2022 18:52

Nice to see you captain

I’ve been in to two M&S’s today, and they didn’t have the free choc footballs. Last one seemed to have loads of the gin that some people have on their cards though 🤣

Decafflatteplease · 02/12/2022 19:08

Welcome @Captainladder

@Timetoswitch bloody miles of the gin in our m and s too but all sold out of the free lights which I had on the app. I would have preferred the gin!

In good frugaleering news though I've sold quite alot of vinted. Well potentially sold I haven't received the money yet but it should come when buyers receive items apparently. Took ages to list and parcel stuff up though. Hopefully I'll get faster at it.

em London trip after your holiday sounds a good idea. Will you definitely make it back for the plane though? I'd be too nervous to leave the airport 🤣.but totally get what you are thinking about change of scene etc

Hope all have a good weekend!

AdoraBell · 02/12/2022 19:48

Captain I have always found December creeps up and last year I got really annoyed. So this year I started buying presents in March, then wine/bubbly/chocolates etc were all bought by November. I’ve got pigs in blankets in the freezer. All I need to buy this month is the fresh food. I’m enjoying the bliss of not thinking about it now.

WeightoftheWorld · 02/12/2022 20:00

Hi Captain!

Well done on the Vinted selling Decaffe especially when you've had so much on your plate atm, you must be so organised!

Spends today:
£6.50 on juice and cake at play cafe.
£10 DD's hair cut which included a coffee for me, think my friend (hairdresser) did me a mates rate as I'm sure I read somewhere she'd put her prices up a bit recently.

Little frugal saving was our bus didn't come for me and DD to go home from her French class so we ended up walking and saved my £2 bus fare. If it was just me I would always do that anyway as it is a walkable distance. However DD takes twice as long to walk anywhere, and in fairness had already done what for her is a lot of walking that day. She ended up on her feet for about an hour by the time we got home poor thing.

BigSkies2022 · 02/12/2022 20:15

Do you live in Harrogate, life? I have been googling property there recently - looks a lovely place to live. DH really likes it too (we have only a passing acquaintance with it, but sometimes that's enough).

DS home for a quick and unexpected weekend, so ran around today getting stuff sorted. £38 in Sainsbury's, on not very much really. Then (shameface) £47 plus a tip for the driver on Chinese takeaway, sort of celebrating DS home. It's a long time since we had takeaway and it has gone up by about 50%, I reckon. Heating on a fair bit, as I am feeling every draft in the house currently. Have just put self-fashioned draft-excluders at the cellar door and back door.

Ddog getting his hair cut tomorrow, which will be about £40. We have the car back so I can do a proper shop at Aldi and visit Dparents with DS. I must do my Christmas order at the butcher as well, and soon.

lifelongfrugaleer · 02/12/2022 20:38

Hey captain, that’s a good mindset as it can be relentless otherwise

about 50 ish minutes north of harrogate, it’s lovely but the town center is a town of 2 half’s imo. One side is quite scruffy and dates then the next street has all the designer shops.
I’ve not been for a long time before today though and we were just at the HCC so it could have changed

OP posts:
lifelongfrugaleer · 02/12/2022 20:38

Well done on the Vinted sales decaf

gws em

OP posts:
Decafflatteplease · 02/12/2022 20:44

Thanks @WeightoftheWorld I'm really not organised at all 🤣 just grabbed stuff out of the bag earmarked for charity, took a quick pic and hoped for the best. Short walks to the dropoff place will be good exercise.

Trying to up my activity levels as DC has a hospital appointment soon so I have to get dressed put makeup on etc first time since the op and wrangle DC plus wheelchair around the hospital 😱 so need to build up to that.

@BigSkies2022 takeaway sounds good and lovely for you to have DS home is be home from uni have I got that right.

I did our butcher order before the op as I didn't know if I would be mobile in time, I am as it turns out but good to get these things sorted. Ours has gone up of course but still good value. Basically they do a small hamper and a big hamper. We always get the small one and have done for years but now the small one is the same price as the old big one.

Our milkman has gone up too. We cut down our order by one less bread a week (we get milk bread and juice) but it's £10 more a month now even though we are getting less. Want to keep it up as long as we can they are an excellent service have never missed a delivery even in lockdown etc.

Right I'm off for a glass of wine and some sewing! Does anyone "watch" that netflix fireplace thing? I'm a bit addicted it's so cosy and I swear it warms the room up! Impossible obvs 🤣

marthasmum · 02/12/2022 23:17

Oo I have just googled the fireplace on your recommendation decaff it’s great! We put our decorations up with it on.
I have actually had a NSD today - only left the house to go to the gym and that’s already paid for for the month. Going to DParents tomorrow to help them unpack after their move. So will be a tiring weekend, got a few nice things planned next week though like a Carol concert at the local church.

HalfWomanHalfChocolate · 03/12/2022 00:56

Netflix fireplace? What is this magic?!

£6.30 for two coffees - I met the school HT for coffee (I am Chair of Govs) and he had to dash to move his car so i got it. Then 19.xx? for two prescription charges, and £122 weekly shop. Less food than normal but more toiletries /foil etc. I’ll still need a few bits locally that I’ll buy fresh midweek.

the children are adamant that the tree is going up tomorrow. I love a real tree but we invested in a really decent fake during 2020 lockdown (was worried we wouldn’t be able to get a real one) and actually find it prety good. And it’s free to use, vs £60, the hassle of sawing the end off, getting it in and out and shredding it afterwards. Getting anything down from the loft is a mission though because it’s filthy so I’m steeling myself. Also need to do the twinkly lights out front, my favourite bit. Love lights.

So tired but can’t sleep. Insomnia is a bugger. Will try a podcast.

Theskyoutsideisblue · 03/12/2022 05:39

Haven't been on for ages. Everything going up. So depressing

Decafflatteplease · 03/12/2022 10:43

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate if you search on netflix for fireplace for your home there's a couple of them they are films of a fireplace and they crackle etc like a real fire would and change shape etc.

Hope you are ok @the