January Frugaleers thread brings no judgment just friendly banter & advice for like minded folk

[Happierwithouthim]

A place where all are welcome regardless of income, level of debt or reason for being in debt or debt free.

We're friendly, full of good advice and open to new ideas where to shave off expense and how to live your best life on the income you have.

Over the years we've celebrated debt payoffs, babies, leaving jobs, getting different jobs, bonuses, and we've been there for each other through difficult times.

New posters welcome always & I hope posters who have fallen off thread will rejoin too

Oh no north. Pleased they got there though

Another one here who takes all the meals I can to work rather than buying supermarket last min stuff. I do soup, salads, leftovers from the night before, toast/pitta & tinned fish if I've nothing more creative to take!
No regular spends for me today but dh bought eggs and cottage cheese £5
Just bought Eurostar tickets for a trip to Paris in June with dd and one of my aunties.
Trying to be as organised as I can at the moment as work is intense with all I am trying to do before I leave for my new job (starts in March). Really looking forward to it. I will be having a week of leave before I start so have booked 2 nights in a cottage in the Lakes for the first weekend of that. Dd and ds are going to meet us there. All trips budgeted for.
£31 on it's way to my bank account from Vinted

€30 eyebrow tint & shape & bikini wax
€7.57 Lidl
€37.64 hellofresh 50% disc code, free dessert. Enough for 10 meals

Oo rainbow and mrsw you must both be quite near me. I am near Burnley and drive all round that way for DS 2’s football matches.

my frugal win was getting car and house insurance renewed for £900 for both. Could have gone cheaper but that’s with companies I’ve heard of and some bells and whistles so I’m happy. DS1 and DD car insurance is due in March though and they are both new drivers so will be spendy. Awaiting online food shop tomorrow and I’m bored of it already (I love an in-person food shop) but it’s definitely cheaper.

lovely to hear news from old and new posters. Big shout out to em, I hope it feels like the end of treatment is in sight and good to have the holiday to look forward to.

nessa i love Cross stitch too although rarely get or make time for it, you'll have to show finished result if it's not too outing

Im old fashioned I know, but I never understand going into a supermarket to buy a meal deal when it takes just five mins to throw something together at home and take in with you

I no longer need lunch for work but DH does. Hes in construction so needs something hearty. Where he works mostly he has access to a kettle and microwave so mostly he gets left overs, well not really left overs, I make sure there is enough to make up a dinner when I cook and just serve up one in a take out box. I do it with most meals that can be stretched, and if its a day he not working, into the freezer it goes so theres something available for the times when I cant stretch for another portion. This time of year I make soup with whatever is around , hes very fond of the broth which is cheap as chips to make. This week soup has been free because of the free veg that I was given at the start of the week. The only extra's that I buy for his pack up, is one multi pack of crisps and one multi pack of chocolate bars - Lidl own brand. He and the guys take turns to buy the tea, milk and sugar

Been a pretty LSW ( not counting the oil and electric bills ) . I got hold of a chicken reduced to half price with still 2 days sell by so that done us two dinners - a roast ( had the veg in already ) and a stirfry. Had to buy coal £40 - hopefully will last two weeks - maybe more if this freeze passes - and because we had to go into town, popped into lidl to get fresh veg and a few bits needed - £26. Next foray to the supermarkets will be Saturday when I shop for mum ( I buy the food but she buys her personal spends and she treats DH to a box of Guinness ) and Ill pick up more fresh veg and milk

Mentioned at the table last night I was going online to buy coat hangers - I need skirt and trouser hangers - and mum says she has loads so will sort them for me. Have my hanging rail in place now so gathering up the coats and jackets and getting them put away

Pay day today for me ( thankfully ) DH has his tax bill to pay and hes had to insure his car. Hopefully now after this week all big spends are done and I can concentrate on finding the last payment for the new furniture we are waiting on and the last payment of a holiday in March. Then we start allover again when the next electricity bill comes in, we will need more oil and the rates come in !!!

marthasmum it's soooo cold, DH has messaged to say -10 when he got in the car this morning. Beautiful sunrise at the moment but my car looks like a popsicle, glad I'm not going anywhere until later!! suki1964 I do the same for DH - he starts work at 6 most days so has what he calls 2nd breakfast at 10am which is pasta bake or leftovers, and then soup at lunch which is always the odds and ends from the fridge. Don't go to the office much anymore but take lunch when I do as there are lots of lovely tempting (and expensive) places nearby! Saying that I went yesterday and after my freezing walk from where I park I was gutted to find out that the building has got rid of the coffee place in reception. He was a really lovely guy, independent trader who chatted about music and not expensive at all compared to the high street usual suspects.
NSD Wednesday and £6 for parking yesterday, today will be spendy as I need to do a food shop and I have a nail appointment. Have been having gels every 3-4 weeks for years - started out as a treat and I didn't have time myself juggling office working and DD/house/parents etc. It's got progressively more expensive so I've messaged this week and said I'll keep this appointment but it will be the last for now. Going to get her to remove the gel and just put clear polish over the top so I can take it from here. I don't feel too bad as I know that she's so busy that my appointment can be filled half a dozen times and it's something I can easily do myself now.

I had good news yesterday- I have got the job and my adjustments have been accepted! I'm buzzing, nervous to return to work after a few years out after health crisis, but very pleased our finances will finally take a good turn.

It's 13 weeks full time training but then the job is part time. Dreading having to do the 13 weeks but focusing on the fact that a) it's short term and b) the full time wage will really help get some debt shifted.

Another one with a low spends week. Food shop arriving today - £125. That's including some higher value items like meat and fish so pleased with that. I need petrol too - that'll be £40.

I love the idea re toasted nuts! I'm going to try that - agree that the ones in the supermarket that are flavoured are a silly price usually,

@big. Poor Ddog being tormented by the fox! And very well done to your DS for his theory test. And also to your DH re the new meal plan. Protein powder can take a bit of experimenting with until you find one you like and a way to make it palatable sometimes. I don't mind mine with Greek yoghurt or porridge, others have it in a smoothie etc. I don't use it daily, but it does help bump up protein intake and is very satiating too.

Well done on the job @NessaSmith! The full time bit will pass soon enough.

Great news on the job nessa

Well done @NessaSmith best of luck with the new job.

your post @TheOnlyMrsW reminded me i need to get my BIAB removed. its not suiting my nails so i'll be taking a long break for a while. i did love having nice nails that didn't break though. My own nails are rubbish.

Another NSD yesterday. No school again today but the big melt has started so we may go to the nearest village to get out of the house and get a few groceries. We are low on fresh fruit and white bread.

Ordered a radio for my mum on amazon but resisted checking out anything for myself.

I do need to get some items in boots so will order those today.

So far, keeping up with the New Year’s resolution of no takeaways in January, dry January and eating out of the fridge/freezer only. 21 days until pay day and we’ve only spent £130 of our food and fuel budget which is absolutely unheard of for us.

Got yoga tomorrow which is free and will probably go to our local National Trust property on Sunday (we’re members). We’ll have lunch before we go and take snacks.

Did the Octopus energy saving challenge the other day and make the most of it. Probably won’t have saved loads but it all helped.

MIL gave us £4k so we paid £3k off the mortgage and £1k off our holiday.

All in all, it’s been pretty good!

ham - your frugal January is impressive!

Nessa - great news on the job - best of luck with the training/onboarding. 13 weeks sound some pretty intensive training.

£5 on chicken drumsticks from the butcher. Otherwise, a NSD. Budgets, both personal and joint, are being made to do a lot this month, leaving me with a princely £40 in my own account for fun, and £130 for food in the joint account. We do have a lot of food in already though, so shouldn't need to spend much for another 10 days.

Things I do when the fun money runs low:

• home mani-pedis
• clean and declutter/reorganise
• read a lot - own shelves, library, media online
• home workouts, followed by nice baths with a podcast
• box sets on whatever streaming services we already have/are free
• prep for French language class (starts up again next week) - so try and do the foregoing activities in French
• long emails to friends - 'like having a penfriend from the 1980's' said one friend, not altogether as a compliment
• plan holidays and fun activities for when the money kicks in again!

I really want to go and see A Real Pain, but am waiting for our local cheapo fleapit to schedule it.

Thanks for all the good wishes for DH's new health regime. He's feeling motivated at present!

Hello,

Hoping this is okay..

Too cashback are doing up to £18 cashback on £45 minimum shop for Sainsbury's..
I will pop my referral link below, I would get some too from TCB for referring but you also get a £10 bonus on top so up to £28 cashback for a £45 shop..

www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/cadburyswholenut

£4.95 on pumpkin seeds. No other spends though, so that's a win.

First Amazon spend for a week, which is a vast improvement. To purchase washing pods that should last a good few months, £50.

Morrisons coming tomorrow, it's £100 which feels like a lot for what it is.

I cancelled my Sainsbury’s shop of £96 and spent £76 in Aldi and £22 in M&S instead. Still need to get some bits from Sainsbury’s next week so no cheaper really. Hey Ho

I skipped the boots top up. Don’t actually need it until next week so will order then.

did a small grocery stock up for €29 and also €42 on cinema tickets for 5 people. It was meant to be a Christmas trip but flu and snow delayed us.

9.1 £10.55 at the Post Office, £17.55 food shop (no frittering, the bulk of the cost was buying chilled items that I can freeze for weekly packed lunches) and £2.80 on drinks, which was avoidable if I'd prepped better. Then a reckless £12.39 on dinner out 🤦🏻‍♀️ totalling £43.29
10.1 NSD

Total to date is £132.84, which is an average daily spend of £13.28. Tomorrow I need to get some potatoes for jackets, but I can pick those up after LO's regular budgeted activity. I really, really need to get those budgets set!

@Happierwithouthim and @NessaSmith
i’m a crossstitch fan to. I’ve still got a few big ones to do in a drawer so I’m not allowed to buy anymore until I’ve done what I’ve already got.

the running total idea is a good one. That’s where we (mostly dh) go wrong. It’s lots of small spends here and there and because it’s small it doesn’t seem like we’re spending much, then suddenly at the end of the month it’s - where’s all the money gone! - Amazon is bad for this.

my dishwasher stop working yesterday so I wasn’t happy about that future expense. I told dh I might just see how I go without it for a while and he just laughed (he was right) but after a bit of investigating it turned out the dishwasher is fine and it was just the socket it’s plugged into that’s faulty, if I can’t fix the socket myself I’ll just have to plug it into somewhere else. So I feel like I’ve saved a few hundred pounds already this month.

Almost a NSD apart from petrol as I was pushing my luck nearly running on fumes

Nt sure if anyone has shared this yet but Iceland have a somewhat ridiculous 10 for £10 deal on at the moment, if you can free up space in the freezer or go halves with someone else, then it's a really good offer.

www.iceland.co.uk/offers/frozen-offers/easy-teas

You probably got more stuff life though but lost loads of time

€10 parking
€46 diesel

Now I want to take out my cross stitch
I've now got a living room which currently has no tv might perch myself there & finish the sunshine kit I started in 2021, there's a drawer alongside my couch which it could live in safely while I'm doing it