Frugal the flip to make the festivities fun

[lifelongfrugaleer]

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

don’t panic frugaleers

Met old work friends for coffee and they paid. Worked with them for 4 years and 19 years on we still meet. I tried to buy biscuits but they paid for those too.

£33 hoodie for DSS and polo top for FIL. £20 refund from B&Q so in theory only £13

£23 DS driving theory test booked.

It's still quite chilly here but the house has stayed at 18° with a few hours of heating, whereas last week the house was not holding the heat at all. Hanging washing out and open windows sound bliss. I'm such a warm weather person why did I stay in the North? 😂

em hot pools sound amazing despite your MIL's antics.

curls great news on the tenant

unescorted hope the car heaters are not too much. Mine was done a few weeks ago - we survived and the car is so much better!

big all those dishes sound amazing!

socathe that's nice of your BIL to just say bring drinks. Enjoy it not being your turn.

Sorry those of you awaiting results, hope you have answers soon.

I really need to plan a food shop! Going to use DHs points card via his job, so have to go on his day off (Thursday). Very much winging it but its only the four of us for food.

Sorry if I've missed anyone, on my phone

🤣 at Gerty. Love it!

There's always some last minute spends isn't there Socathe? I'm in that 'must get a few extras' frame of mind too - threw stuff in the trolley today with gay abandon rather than sensible caution! It's a lot of work for folk when they get older hosting Christmas, it's a lot of work full stop I reckon!!

Hooray for the tennant, and sounds nice too!

Enjoy the MH boost em and ignore the MIL.

Definitely Christmas can add a layer of stress when it really shouldn't and isn't about that emotion at all!

Spendy day -
£140 Sainsbury's, ouch. Last minute Christmas presents, including DD's boyfriend, who wasn't staying for Christmas, but now is! Some booze and snacks etc. But this is why I shop at Lidl!!
£67 diesel. Much less than recently so at least this is coming down.
£200 cash out, technically not a spend though as it's in my purse. Taxi driver and hairdresser take cash but there's plenty over after this.

I set myself a challenge to last on my wage after DH's stroke. I didn't do it this most spendy of months. But didn't go hugely over either. So it's a fail but really a win, as that's a lot of money saved in reality, as we still draw his wage from the business, he's still an employee. Just think this might be care costs or something we might need to cover, so good discipline anyway.

(Wrote this last night but forgot to post)!!!!

@marthasmum jet lag is ok. I’m sort of over it. We’ve all had stinking colds though. Probably a combination of long flights stress relief (I tend to get sick when I stop) etc. the kids are sleeping well though. We’re getting loads of outdoors time and daylight which helps massively. And are eating at normal times.

It’s been a week since we left home. Which is crazy. We’ve been swimming every day. Which has tired the kids out.

It’s a win need as it gives you the buffer you need for other costs as you say.
ouch to Sainsbury’s bill.

not jealous em, not jealous at all

You know that moment when you realise that your normal behaviour is not the same as everyone else's.... Do other people not name their cars? kessie I have mentally budgeted £400. That is £100 more than the quote but it saves bursting into tears at the garage.

Need we have done the one salary thing for a while. Admittedly on mine which is significantly more than his. It does give a good buffer, but if costs go up much more (I am looking at you BOE interest rates) it will be difficult to not dip into his.

I have yet to brave the Christmas shopping... It can wait until tomorrow. On the food front I just need eggs chocolate cream flour ... & I will pick up some of the 19p vegetables for after Christmas. I might see if there are any camembert bargains to be had as well.

Big my family thought I was nuts for keeping duck fat trimmings and straining rendered duck fat through the year.

Our robo vacuum cleaner is called Bob. DH had a very useful colleague who fixed/cleaned stuff at the time we bought it, so was named in his honour!

Did you put googly eyes on it?

Our cars both have names. as does my friends car

I've never named my car but people do!

Took dc to Dunnes last night €104.95 for a few gifts & some groceries, went to their James Whelan butcher counter in search of their stuffed turkey breast joint which I got earlier in the year for €12, cheapest one was €20, there's only myself and dc for christmas dinner and ds doesn't eat turkey so I'll see what's in the other shops I think. I got a ham in 3 for €10 in tesco a couple of weeks ago and stuffing around the same time so dinner is pretty sorted except to decide and make some kind of indulgent dessert. Dc will probably go for the coca cola cake, I could cope with that.

€450 to school bus covering Aug to Dec.

em I'm loving hearing about your hols.

I'm in the early throes of a headcold, just sore throat and sneezing so far so I went to bed at 8:30 last night, hoping I can stave it off

Exh dropped off Santa that he purchased so I can return the duplicate game to Amazon

Gifts coming into work have been very generous but I need to put that cash against my credit card bill saving vouchers for reductions in Dec/Jan sales.

Got notification from Electric Ireland today that they're giving €50 winter credit to all their customers, I also got my bi monthly €5 reward from Supervalu towards my electricity bill and due another government credit in new year so that should be next electricity bill covered too

need that's a fantastic idea especially when the future is so unknown.

Hi everyone, sorry only going to catch up this last page. Manic here as always!

kessie That's so nice about your friend who you used to work with, hope you had a lovely catch-up. I am also in the North and also a warm-weather person!! I regularly fantastise about emigrating to Australia or NZ.

Get well soon to everyone with colds. Our house has been full of all sorts the last few weeks. At the moment DD has a mild cold - cough, sore throat - but is ok in herself and at nursery as usual. DH is ok. I'm ok, but I had a horrible cold viral illness about 2.5 weeks ago that I'm still not fully recovered from, my sinuses are still bad and my throat is still slightly sore can you believe it? DS has had his usual back-to-back illness, he got sent home from nursery on Monday afternoon for a high temperature and has been off since then unwell. I'm taking him to the GP shortly. It will be his 3rd GP visit in less than a week and I feel they might be getting sick of me but I'm concerned about him. On Monday the GP sent him to A&E which was scary but A&E sent him home without doing much. They said he has bronchiolitis again - his 5th bout in about 6 or 7 months (and that's not including all the other illnesses he's had!). Poor wee lamb. And juggling work for me and DH is so stressful with all his nursery absences. I managed to take today off paid as a combination of annual leave, TOIL, and paid carers leave though thankfully.

Spends today, I'm going to post office after I take DS to the GP to post something SD, no idea how much that costs these days. That should be it for today as otherwise housebound with DS anyway. Xmas shopping all done and dusted now I think!

I’m beginning to get the twitch about whether we’ve bought the DC enough presents. There’s less than normal, but we normally over do it. Argh!

Hope all the poorly frugaleers and DC feel better soon x

Our car is a very silent hybrid, and we call it Whispering Death. Have to remain aware at junctions that pedestrians can't hear us, and if they don't look before stepping out, it could get very nasty. Bit macabre, but works for us.

Took Ddog to the woods today and cut some ivy. Very squelchy underfoot, but the sun was out and the woods were lovely. Not bad for the shortest day. Happy Solstice, pagans!

You have enough time, step away from the buy button

£35 Physio and £15 insoles
£47.50 piercing
£1.85 trifle

tired now

It's the Christmas twitch time other than a lighter coat for DS (which he needs) I've managed to resist. But definitely experienced it more this year as I was wrapped v early, more time to ponder.

Sorry to hear about the ongoing bugs weight it feels endless at the time..
unescorted we paid £100 for the part (reconditioned) and £180 for labour (the motor was in a tricky place in mine) plus VAT so £336 I think. I was expecting £60 labour plus a loose wire!

We've never been fond enough of a car to name it, bit know plenty who do. My DD calls her violin and ukulele Gertrude and Bertha.

Spends
£25 hairdresser
£3.50 Lunch meal deal

Frugal win - £28 refund for a calculator that arrived too late so I had to find another. Amazon don't want me to return it so I have a spare for free, when no doubt, DS loses it again!

Frugal fail. Left the heating on while I was at work and the house was empty. It's not even that warm as the windows were also left open! DH was the last to leave but he wouldn't have noticed. Nearly £10 where it would be about £5. The smart meter monitor is turned to face the wall in disgrace 😊

Whispering Death 🤣. My Mini is Meryl, DS's Seat is Sergio 🤣.

Think I've had a NSD, few and far between at the minute.

And a great months figures at work, I thought we'd go under without DH, we've made profit every month for 7 months, not one member of staff has left, in fact, they've just stepped up further. Proud of them.

STEP AWAY TIME!!

Ouch re the heating kessie, I've done it before too, we all probably have.

What you got pierced life?

Love Whispering Death!!

Today ended up NSD as I got out of the doctors for DS later than expected so sacked off the Post Office. Will do that tomorrow.

Frugal win, we just cancelled our buildings insurance free of charge and took out a new policy, exactly the same with the same insurer, for less than half the price via comparison site. Isn't that just utterly bizarre? It's our car insurer too but they would only give us a ridiculous quote over the phone as an existing customer. Sigh.

Might try and go the bank tomorrow to deposit my November work expenses cheque, if DS isn't too poorly to drag out with me. He hasn't had a temp today at all so hopefully finally starting to recover.

Kessie Gerty's predecessor was Gertude. Gerty is a boy car... Still in short trousers, but aspirations of an accountancy career. Gertrude was a dowager who dreamt of second wind as a Kardashian.

big they are nearly the death of me! We live on blind bends without a pavement. The only way to cross the road is to listen for cars.

Time you can use* *your present buying skills to get mine. I still haven't started.

weight that sounds hard with all the poorlineaa
need that’s amazing about your business and I’m glad your staff have been loyal. It must be yet another stress, on top of everything else for you.
Loving whispering death…The DC name our cars. My current one is a dependable sort and she is called Pammy. I sometimes worry about how much I love Pammy…I’m not a car person at all but I did so much research before buying her and she is just exactly what I want. Mainly, large enough…she is a Ford galaxy. Before Pammy we had Polly who was a minx and kept breaking down.
just realised today has been a NSD. My first day off - cooked some soup for the Xmas period, went for a walk and spontaneous cuppa with a friend and shared stressed about our teenage DS’s. We’ve known each other since before they were both born. Came home and launched into a massive deep clean of the bedroom which has literally taken hours - taken down all the many books from the bookshelves and cleaned them, cleaned behind the bookshelves which I don’t think has been done for about 10 years [hides in shame]. It’s a big attic room so took a long time. Have now just scoffed a slice of the nigella chocolate fruit cake I’ve made. Not frugal as I needed to buy coffee liqueur to make it, but worth it.

Our car has a name - we named it after the (slightly weird) bloke we bought it off 😬
I have caught some horrible virus or maybe strep A - have an agonisingly sore throat, cough with mucus/bronchitis and lost my voice. It’s spoiled all my plans this week, won’t get to see my Dad at all now 😰 absolutely gutted tbh. Have worked so hard all term and had less than 24 hours off before getting sick.

Oh no gen hope not strep and just this dreadful bug that seems to be going round. 🙏

Not that I'd even wish a dreadful bug on anyone but I've had strep throat and it was on another level of sore throat 😩