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

Thanks. As ever❤️. He's in bed. I've poured a wine, just a glass, but it feels like a treat. It's quite mentally and physically tough at present.

Good work there Happier, I'd be sitting down now too!

Fair play re the pension figures wolf. A good goal.

Mrs me too re certain items and cost. I just can't bring myself to spend that much, even if it means going to Lidl when I wasn't planning to, coffee springs to mind.

Mean plan - Meat Free Mowgli

Aubergine Dhansak
Paneer, cashew and coconut curry
Spiced omelette with masala fried bread.
Egg, ginger and spinach curry
Mushroom tikka masala
Squash and black bean curry.

Hope you enjoy the wine need

i get the Aldi price match stuff from Sainsbury’s and get the nectar points as Sainsbury’s is actually nearer

Great news on dmam being discharged big, hope parents settled home ok?

Dparents very happy to see each other, life - although will doubtless be sniping by this morning! DM's meds overhauled, and now she needs to eat, gain weight, and chill a bit. The last a near-impossible ask for her, alas. More investigations to come on an OP basis, but with luck, there is no underlying problem and they can focus on enjoying their new home as the spring sets in.

Will spend today catching up - took the decs down days ago, haven't yet put them away. Might make a cake if I have the ingredients in and don't have to shop. Laundry, floors, and ooh, Happy Valley tonight.

Have just started Winifred Holtby's South Riding - pulled it off the shelf in search of distraction the other night. Gonna be a good one. Very funny opening and brilliantly setting the scene.

That’s good news big

@BigSkies2022 that’s great news,

DH and DS2 are at the football, think it’s just finished so they’ll be home soon. Got a roast prepped and ready to go.

And I may have just got myself a personal trainer! I’ve not been doing as much exercise as I’d like for ages. A good friend of mine has been seeing this trainer for a long time and I’ve been watching what both him and her post of their sessions on Instagram. Thinking ‘I want to do that’ . Been putting it off, making excuses and then today decided to message him and go for it. He’s done me a brilliant deal on a block booking of 15 sessions for £250. And I start on Tuesday. I’m so excited but also really nervous.

Curls awesome.... I joined the gym at the end of the summer and have not looked back (14kg lighter and 15cm thinner). The best bit is how much better I feel - who thought how good it feels to get up from the sofa while holding things in both hands or not needing to lean on the wall / sit down while I put my socks on. A huge part of it is the encouragement I get from the PTs / floor walkers at the gym.

Big great news that your DM is back home.

Curls and Unescorted - thank you. And great work on the exercise commitment and weight loss.

My decorations always take ages to find their way into the loft again @BigSkies2022. Great news re your DM.

Brilliant stuff @Unescorted and @CurlsandCurves re the commitment to a healthier lifestyle. I'm starting to pick my running back up and managed 5 runs last week (3 were short). I'm a better person for running. DH thinks I should do a marathon again next year (this year will be too much as we find our new normal), but I like having the goal. I'm not done with running yet.

Spends.
£12 local shop for wine, dog treats and Skittles (latter for DH).
£50 (2 x accessible taxis).

That's it. Very low. Can't see us going out at the weekend for a while so I'll save what I can while I can.

Cool about the personal trainer, that sounds great! My only new years resolution is to start doing some exercise, I've literally done none since I had DS and he's 14 months old ...!! However the last few weeks I've been thwarted by poor health. Was still recovering from laryngitis initially then that finally went but now I've had stomach pain for the last couple of days which DH thinks may possibly be my appendix or my gallbladder. Great...just keeping an eye on it for now as don't have time to go the GP this week really.

Yesterday spent £108 in Tesco and really did not get a lot for that. Although about £20 of that was just loads of nappies and wipes to be fair.

Today NSD, visited DH's DGM who kindly gave us all some money for Xmas and also paid for our chippy tea. We couldn't see her over Xmas due to all our illnesses.

weight I had a really awful stomach cramp... It felt as if my intestine was being knitted. It lasted about 3 days. It turned out I needed a good fart. I hope you feel better soon. Sorry for the overshare.

Need the thought of a marathon is more than enough for me. I can do 3-4 miles at a steady pace over the hills. Anything more and I break.

I had a nsd. The first for a bazillion years it feels like. I have awarded my self a shiny.

A good fart 😂😂

unescorted bahahaha 😂 also congrats on your weight loss! How did you do it? I am basically losing and regaining the same stone every year or so, really want to just get to goal and stay there.

gen consistency, sheer bloody mindedness and very dull eat less move more. I have stopped drinking alcohol and juice, doing a loose 16:8 (skip breakfast and no snacking), reduce portion size, eat more green and grains, deserts a distant memory and hardest of all no crisps. Moving more is now 5x 90min gym sessions (working at 85% max heart rate or higher even when doing weights) every single day.... I try to get my gym membership down to £1.25 per session.

Great results unescorted I love my gym sessions, but need to be more disciplined with my eating. The PT is a good idea curls and that's a really good deal
Spendy weekend here as we had friends visiting and we went out. It was lovely though, so definitely worth it.
Back to more frugal ways today. Lunch is leftovers, all evening meals planned & shopped for, should be a low spend week.

Hello everyone. Well, my financial month has finally started properly, with income in and standing orders/DDs kicking in. I have done my budget for the month and, after all my usual SOs/DDs and my new commitments to repaying credit card balance, setting aside money to build cash reserves and a travel fund, plus what I need to pay this month towards the sofa reupholstery project, I will have....£24 personal spending to get through until 7 Feb. Of which £10 is already earmarked for travel to north London on 21st. So £14 really.

Feel quite exhilarated by this prospect, though I am sure it will be wearing thin by the time the end of January hoves into view. But there is nothing I need to buy really - all prescriptions sorted, have supplies of toiletries in place. I can buy 14 bunches of supermarket daffodils and make the house feel jolly.

Christmas decs went away yesterday, and managed to streamline them into 2 from 4 boxes. Also made the Victoria sponge of my life - 4 eggs, followed Felicity Cloake's 'perfect' method, used light brown sugar rather than white caster. Can't remember when I was last so popular with my DH and DS!

Right, Aldi for some essentials. Doing it on foot to raise step count and deter unnecessary purchases.

Must check that method out, haven't made sponge for years

Ooo light brown sugar you say >>>> eyes over stock of sugar

I love Felicity Cloake's recipes... Yet to find a dud.

I have just realised that it is after 4 and it is still light.... Happy days.

£29 in Aldi. Veg and lentil soup from odds and ends, ham stock from the freezer, for lunch, and some there for tomorrow. Last of the cream used up on potato dauphinoise for dinner, two duck confit legs plus broccoli. One leg (the duck's not mine) left for a cassoulet later in the week when I take some of the sausages out of the freezer. And when I can find puy lentils, which seem to have vanished from Sainsbury's. I'm keeping a note of food expenditure and meals in my kitchen diary, to keep me on target. DS returns to university next week, and has asked for cottage pie before he goes, so I will have to break my no-meat-purchases-in-January rule to get mince. Kids, eh, scuppering your good intentions.

A fart 😂Actually the pain wore off yesterday over the course of the day. So possibly nothing, almost certainly not appendix, could be gallbladder if it comes back. We will see.

Spends today, just £2 bus fare home from work but will claim that back as an expense at a later date, so really an NSD. Bit of a stressful day at work today which has knocked my confidence. It's quite a new role and massively better paid and more senior than anything I've ever done before, whilst at the same time very insecure. I work with some very senior people and already have imposter syndrome as it is and feel there was some underhand, undeserving criticism of me today which has shook me a bit. Unless I'm just massively misunderstanding which is a possibility given my pre-existing anxieties.

The health kicks all sound good. Yet to start my exercise plans. Running on 5-6hrs of broken sleep a night which is wearing me down. Partly due to DS sleeping badly and partly just because I can't sleep, my own sleep is just awful.

£28 vet (again). Have been told to expect a bad night and no sleep. I may have said what else is new

We once had ds in emergency hospital following midnight gp visit due to suspected appendicitis. It was his birthday. Turned out he just needed an enormous shit but he had all the drs fooled

@Wolfcub what is happening that you need so many vet trips
nightmare
NSD here

I had to pick DD2 up from school early, as she was looking really unwell, hot etc. Came home, she did a massive poo, and then was fine! 🤣 Fortunately it was my day off or it would have been annoying.

I’ve been reading but not managing to post much at the moment