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

£120 first payment for summer "child"care/sports camp. He's now doing a qualification with them so it costs more! Typical.

Spent extortionate amounts on ddog this week

Accidentally cough ordered a takeaway last night as I just could not be arsed. Knackered doesn't quite cover it. Need to clean and study today but also hoping to just switch off with a book for a bit

weight so if you log into Compare the market and then go on menu you should be able to click on My rewards? V straightforward instructions although you do have to download their app too.
north what amazing news. You must be so excited, what a lovely surprise! Got me thinking as I have an NHS pension in two parts like yours - 2008 and 2015 I think!? I joined it in 1998. But my retirement age is 65, so perhaps I’m in a different bit of it to you. Can I ask how you found out about the change?

Don’t worry north I’ve just googled and can see it looks complex!

We had a Chinese takeaway wolf last night, no frugal regrets here. It was yum.

Had a very lazy day yesterday, lots of jobs to do today.

Glad you enjoyed the takeout @Timetoswitch

I forgot that I've managed to increase the credit on our energy account by £10, so credit is £540. I think the government payment covered the extra used over Christmas. We are on a cheap tariff too. Still being frugal with the usage but a bit more relaxed if it's chilly now.

Great news about pension, north My first bit kicks in at 60, then another at 65, then 67 and then the state pension at 68. I have 29 years state pension contributions, and I'm planning on buying some years back (but have to build savings first).

Have to order Ddog's food today. Looking at the joint account, I think we're unlikely to get through the next 18 days without going into overdraft, even with my most frugal efforts. Keep buggering on.

Hi everyone,

My washing machine has ripped another item of clothing (see photo) so I bit the bullet and picked out a new washing machine. There's a problem with the website and I can't add the installation charge - might be a glitch with the website? So I'm waiting for someone to get back to me. On a positive note, I've enough money in my bank account to pay for it, so I don't have to touch my savings. I'll need to order home heating oil soon and I will need to dip into my savings for that. My boiler is due a service but I might leave it until February.

It's my birthday today and I'm going for dinner later with DD, my Dad, my sister and her partner. Then we're joining family later in the pub for drinks. This is my last post-Christmas extravagance. After that I'm really going to tighten my belt. I need to re-do my budget and increase my savings. Seems like every few months I have a big expense (washing machine, lawn mower etc.) and I really need an appliance/emergency fund.

My electricity bill is due soon. I'm wondering if the government credit of €200 will cover it, or if I'll have to add to it?

DD really spoilt me for my birthday. She got me a fancy shampoo and conditioner and some eyeshadow and chocolate and dolly mixtures. I really wasn't expecting so much. She's a good 'un, if I do say so myself. My sister has offered to pick me up so I don't have to drive and can have a drink or two. Which is a really nice offer. But it means I need to give the downstairs a quick once over before she arrives.

DD got a new job and starts on Monday. It's really good news because she'll be able to pay for her bus fares and day to day expenses. It will also enable her to save up some holiday spending money. She'll be busy - college three days a week, work three days a week and work experience one day a week. She's almost finished the work experience though. I think she has another 12 hours to make up.

Well, that's about all my news. Seems like I'm just posting and running these days, but I'll try to come back tomorrow and catch up on your news.

Happy Birthday Tayto hope you've a lovely evening out with your family.

I was thinking of you as I think we are the only posters living in Ireland. I got a chicken from centra on Thurs & roasted it last night & it was absolutely gorgeous, I thought I must tell tayto

Also have no appliance fund & will have to introduce it at some point.

Unescorted I fake tanned for tonight following discussion during the week. Only did it this morning so it'll be light enough.

Happy birthday Tayto. You can plumb the washing machine in yourself assuming you have decent access and you have someone to help you shift the machine into place.

Happy birthday tayto, sorry to hear about the spends on the washing machine. Always frustrating to have to spend on something so dull.

We’ve cancelled Amazon prime again at the end of a free month offer, good thing as I swear the delivery drivers seem to turn up here far too often daily when we have it!

Redeemed a three month Disney plus voucher I got on a Tesco club card offer ages. Can anyone recommend anything good to watch? DH will watch the Star Wars stuff, and I’ll watch the new greys anatomy. Set up the reminder to cancel before the three months is up.

£60 on 2 x DC haircuts today

Happy birthday tayto, enjoy your evening out
sometimes only a takeaway will do, I was heading that way but have curry leftovers so defrosting them
£35 today on shite inc cinema snacks and £10 in a card

That’s annoying about the jumper and the washer

Happy birthday Tayto

Pension news now isn't quite as good as it could've been. If you retire from the 1995 NHS scheme then you can't continue to pay into any other NHS scheme if you carry on with any NHS work (That's only the case for the 1995 scheme). So we will need to do some sums to figure out what works best for us. I still have more options than I did but just not quite as good as I hoped.

Gym this morning which is going really well.
Grocery shop £79
Stayed in last night, going to friends' tonight, taking drinks left over from Christmas so no spends.
Went for a walk with dd earlier, very windy but avoided the rain.
Packaged returns up this week from Christmas

Meal plan:
Sun: Chicken curry with veggie sides and HM bhajis
Mon: Chicken curry with chickpeas & other leftover bits from Sunday
Tues: Stir fry pork & veg
Wed: Lasagne & veg
Thurs: Salmon & veg
Fri: Tea out at aunty's house

I shopped well for the meal plan & it's using up freezer & store cupboard stocks

Well done life on resisting takeaway!

Happy birthday tayto
north I would have needed peeling off the ceiling with news like that. It is a shame you can't pay into other occupational ones.

I have had a very spendy day,.. £40 on books, £30 on birthday presents, £20 on a woolie hat for my mum, general shopping, £80 petrol for dh's car ( mine had better come back from Scotlandshire full)

I stepped away from the fake tan...
I worry it is beyond my grooming skill level ( wash, brush my hair and teeth and get dressed are my limits).

Happy Birthday Tayto have a wonderful day
Congrats on your Dd new job
Life Well done re takeaway, l am afraid we are having fish and chips tonight
North sorry about the pension expectations not being as good as you would have liked
Unescorted my grooming routine is as yours except l do put on Navy mascara because otherwise l look like a pig
Happier that is very evenly put on well done, normally Dd2 is very streaky and she used the very good Skinny tan mousse too!
Wolf cough here too ahem takeaway tonight
Martha we had a £20 fuel voucher from last year's Compare the market car insurance quote but we haven't done it this year as Dd1 car ins was still much dearer than if she has stayed with Esure . I read that insurance is going to be higher this year, like everything else it seems
Time well done re cancelling Prime , it's just a matter of being organised enough to be able to stop them , am copying you re the takeaway but not the jobs, hope you got a lot done
Well done Need that is excellent planning
BigSkies your pensions sound really good to me having them in sequence , l just missed out on the OAP pension at 66 by a couple of days it's so maddening having to wait an extra year!
Spent £ 317 on Dd1 car insurance , l pay because l share her car , saves in the long run , £55 petrol
Hope everyone is fine

Happy birthday tayto

mrs I am certain you look nothing like a pig! Enjoy your takeaway xx

life that’s heroic resisting 😁 we had a beetroot and feta orzo which sounds gross but was actually absolutely delicious - from the One Pot One Pan book.

meal plan:
Crispy butterbean, kale and tomato bake
Celeriac and parsnip stew with cheddar dumplings
Courgette and halloumi fritters (all One Pot/Pan)
chicken, leeks and lemon (Nigel slater)
Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

spendy day £36 on 3 months probiotics for me and DH, £60ish on groceries, £25 on nails and I hate the colour 😫

Happy birthday Tayto

Apologies on the app so now I can't see the posts, I did read but my short term memory is awful (dyslexia).

Pension situation seems unfair tbh, why is that the rule?

Unescorted I'm similar to you in terms of grooming skills! Never used fake tan, wouldn't be brave enough to. I tan fairly easily in the summer months though anyway but am pale throughout the winter. I have a slight olive-y tone to my skin though as I'm from a mixed ethnic background.

Grim here as DS is unwell. He's almost always unwell, my nerves are shot with it all. He definitely won't be able to go to nursery on Monday in view of his diagnosis and being put on ABs. Side note, I always see people complain about 111 service but we've found it to be really good for under 5s in the few times we've used it over the last few yrs.

Today was NSD as stuck home all day with poorly DS. Tomorrow I will take DD out though and it will be DH's turn to be stuck at home.

Managed to sort my Meerkat rewards. Turns out I already had it from August but didn't even remember! But have extended it to December now with the more recent insurance purchase. Probably won't get a lot of use out of it, but maybe the odd one here or there. Every little helps...

@Taytocrisps happiest of happy birthdays!

I looked at that beetroot one gen and thought urg. I will review my thoughts

ah weight you are having such a time of it ((((hugs))))

the leftovers warmed up were lovely, beef stew and dumplings today

I love stew and dumplings. It's toad in the hole or hot sausage and onion baguette for us today. Most likely the latter as it's minimal effort.

North it might be worth you reading the FIRE thread. Some good pension and savings advice for retirement on there. I sat yesterday and crunched what I would have to save year on year for the next 17 to send ds to uni, pay off the mortgage 3 years early to avoid the rate change, bridge the state pension gap and have a year's living cost put away. I look at AVCs and the payment you can make to take one of the pensions early (so 65 rather than 68). Can't afford it again this year but I have a reminder in my calendar at this time every year to look and think about it. Now if anyone has a crystal ball and knows what inflation is going to do over the next 17 years that would be amazing because of course all my figures are at todays prices and the way the world is going that'll buy peanuts.

Dishwasher is on. Cuppa in hand. Need to clean the bathroom this aft (am waiting for ds's post sport shower first). Other than that I'm hoping for a lazy day as I studied for a big chunk of yesterday and all of Friday.

Happy Sunday frugal folk

life I felt the same but DH really wanted to make it so I let him and honestly it was so tasty! The orange zest and nuts really made it.

Aviva have confirmed DH can cash in the historic insurance policy for around £7k so we will be able to put that off credit card debt once it comes. That will leave us with £4K of IVF loans, £5k car loan and my student loan of £2k so hoping 2023 can be the year we are debt free.
I haven’t heard back about the promotion I applied for so I assume it’s a no, I wish they’d have the courtesy to send a one line email to unsuccessful candidates so I can stop obsessively checking my emails!

Morning everyone,

thanks for the birthday wishes. We had a really good night out and it cost me very little. On the way to the restaurant, DD informed me that she was paying for my meal (did I mention she's a good 'un?). We were just planning to have a main course and a drink, because we were going on to my nephew's engagement party afterwards. Anyway, the service was painfully slow and when the waitress finally brought the main courses, there was no sign of mine. She told me that mine would be just another two minutes. It ended up being a very long two minutes and the others were almost finished before mine arrived. So the waitress told us that she would take my main course off the bill. The engagement party was great - we met some lovely Scottish people who had come over for the weekend/party. And my family insisted on buying me birthday drinks. Today will be a sofa day for the most part. This is why I don't drink very often - the next day is a write off. Dinner will be a frozen pizza and garlic bread.

I saved myself a few € on the washing machine. I sent an e-mail to the helpdesk and explained that there was an issue adding the installation charge. So the sales assistant sorted it out and e-mailed me back with a payment link. But the payment link was about €30 more than it should have been. So I queried it and the sales assistant explained that she had added a delivery charge by mistake (should have been free). She then sent me a new payment link without the delivery charge. Just as well I checked. Wolf I know I could (in theory) install the washing machine myself but (at the risk of sounding like a helpless female) I'm really rubbish at all things DIY. I would rather pay the charge and know that it has been installed properly and won't cause me any problems.

DD loves fake tan and is quite good at applying it. If you like, I can ask her which brand she uses. I stick with the very pale and interesting look, although I wear make up for special occasions.

martha that's a good saving on your home insurance.

need that TGTG bag sounds like a really good buy. We don't have Greggs here. The taxis are so expensive but obviously can't be helped. That's the hidden cost of disability, isn't it? You don't think about all these extra costs until you (or someone you know) is impacted by it. The Diesel jeans were definitely a win!

Big I'm using Ex's Netflix account (with his knowledge and permission) but I think they're cracking down on account sharing, so we may need to make a decision about that. We pay for a Disney Plus account which we share with two other households.

Wolf that's really unfortunate about your high home insurance costs. The sports camp sounds expensive but maybe his qualification will enable him to teach the sport in the future? One of DD's friends took swimming lessons for years and eventually qualified as a lifeguard. She's making good money sitting at the side of a swimming pool when all the other friends are working in shops. I've just realized that I might be coming across as jealous or bitter but that's not the case at all. The family must have spent a fortune on swimming lessons over the years and I also admired her DMs dedication - getting up early at weekends and driving her DD to lessons (she worked full-time).

north that is just brilliant news about your pension. I'm so, so pleased for you.

Weight sorry to hear that you had to cancel your night out. Hope your DS feels better soon.

life I love stew but I've never had dumplings.

Weight, sorry to hear about DS' ongoing ailments. Is there a reason for continuing infections? Apologies if you have said this before, or if the question is indelicate.

Glad your birthday went well, Tayto!

£49 on dog food, including a fiver discount for returning the woolstrips the orders come wrapped in (was going to use them for extra insulation, but DH put the wind up me with his talk of moths, so back they go). And, eek, £43 in Sainsbury's, mostly on cake ingredients, which will last, I suppose. Once the DDs are taken into account, we're already in overdraft by £8 this month on the joint account. Although I do have £26 owing me, which will buy a bit (although not in Sainsbury's, it seems.)

Oh well. We're having roast Moroccan-style chicken today, and chocolate cake, for Sunday dinner with my parents, and we will live well tomorrow and Tuesday besides. After that, I will have to top up, but carefully! It's not too bad, but on reflection it might have been sensible to opt for monthly payments on the house insurance this year.

DH is not enjoying the AF weekends too much (although he is already looking fitter and trimmer) and stomped off last night to stock up on AF beers, a bottle of AF wine and a strange sort of Campari substitute. Paid for from his own account, thankfully, 'cos these things are annoyingly expensive, despite not being very nice.

Pleasant surprise this morning: a fella knocked on our door having found DS' cards in the street. Dropped them as he came home from a night out. In DH's words, 'Turns out not everyone is an arsehole.'

Happy Valley tonight! Love the way they are ending each episode on a cliffhanging confrontation, and then pick it up in real time - was it always like this?

Had a good, chilled weekend here, which was very needed.

Ddad not really improving and more pain meds being given. I’ve been to the care home twice today, once to visit and then to drop off some more joggers for Dad that he needed. I think clothes get eaten at the care home, a bit like when you find an odd sock and can’t find the other one.

£35 in Tesco on joggers. Will need to do a trip to primark for some more, but not enough time today.