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

Just done the freezer inventory (I try to do it once a month)

Anyway we need to replace one freezer so going to try really hard to get the freezer stores down by using what we have. That is the plan between now and the end of March- just buy minimal groceries and use things up.

Thought I'd best check in before I fall off the thread again.

Those shoes sound like a worthwhile purchase.

I regret not getting a long padded coat before Christmas. It was £40 but I choose a nicer one with no sleeves. Headed to see if I can find it this afternoon.

My main goal is to keep the spending on the credit card down. It's paid in full but the lower the bill is the more we can save.

So far from 25th December £593. Last week was £202 on essential groceries and non groceries purchases. £33 on nails and a Kindle book which are more wants than needs. I'm trying to get it to £150 per week which will be hard as DS is 19 this weekend. Last two months I have averaged £360 per week!

So far this weekend:
Saturday £52 Coop with partner discount, £5.89 Lidl
Sunday £16 Hair Colour (2 for £16), £17.40 Lidl, £1.23 coop.

I’m cleaning my air fryer. Whoop whoop

Cold weather left battery exhausted. DH made a mess of removing battery to trickle charge it over night. So, we decided to get one of the new-style battery chargers that don't trickle charge etc. It's @ £75 that I'd rather we hadn't spent but it's much easier than trying to get a jump start from neighbours and much faster.

Made a chilli today which used up a rather sorry looking red pepper in the fridge from Christmas. I chopped the others up to go in the freezer! Back to catching up with washing today - DD had a dodgy washing machine so had been using ours yesterday. Still have a load of bedding to do - 😒
But a NSD today so 7/12 so far.

This will make rather more sense of my post (which is about the car battery):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DGQGKMZT?

Nsd which is good. I have booked a Morrison order for next Saturday. I'll go back to Aldi after this, but three shops gets me an extra £10 off.

I have also made a chilli and used up celery, carrots and onion from Christmas.

It will make two batches, one will be frozen and dh will take it on holiday when he takes the kids away for half term (I'm out of leave).

Few spends this weekend but lighter than usual on the discretionary spends.
£8 pet shop
£12 Saturday top up
£18 Sunday top up
£13 coffee and a cake for all three of us which was a bargain for the area.

Another £9 at Poundland for birthday bag treats for both DC on DSs birthday. It's a tradition that they both get a paper bag with their favourite treats in.

Have made lunch up for work so that's up to £6 saved tomorrow

Well done on all the frugality fellow frugaleers! I have had a mixture of NSDs and spendy ‘where the hell has all my money gone?’ days. Did an extra shift today and took in food for my break rather than buying it which was a new thing for me. Also had to buy a few things in Boots and remembered to pay with points! Have cancelled a couple of subscriptions which is helping but I am struggling. it’s a temporary situation but is very stressful. Every time I think I’m getting somewhere, another bill pops up. Deep breath!

Spent £145 today at the Nike outlet; got two pairs of Air Max trainers for me and DW, and a fleece top that I'll wear every day as I'm bloody freezing. Expensive but only half as expensive as if we'd gone to the usual shopping centre instead of zipping an hour away to the outlet. Did we need them however? Probably not, we could have waited, but both will get well worn.

I said I wouldn't take my DD to McDonald's in January but we ended up having a £3.39 spend for a happy meal for pure convenience this evening, managed to avoid at least another £10 of McDonald's spends if DH and I had of had something.

@BigSkies2022 I know that parking pain. Shop i worked at years ago had parking outside but you had to pay Mon-Sat, sunday was free. It had been this was for years! We all went in for a stocktake one sunday and parked outside the shop. None of us realised the parking had changed to include sundays and we all come out to tickets. Traffic warden must have thought he'd hit the jackpot that day.

NSD over the weekend. I'm feeling very pleased with myself, however the car is going in for its MoT and service tomorrow.............

NSD. Though by 8am this morning I’d already nearly pulled the trigger on 2 purchases. Only one of which I can remember now. I will need these eventually but not today.

all meals from the fridge and freezer and had parents in law for dinner so made a slight dent in the freezer stock.

i will need to go shopping tomorrow though as I’m out of pull ups for the child.

Captainladder I've been using YNAB for years, if you want to know anything just ask

€5.19 bagels & porridge
€10 parking
€2.80 trek protein bar

Slept in for the gym. Oops. Nsd yesterday but took mil to Argos as she needed a new microwave. She paid for her own groceries

€6.40 milk & a bottle of vithit
Realised I've left my porridge at home so will have to stop into shop again to buy breakfast and lunch

€425 for school bus aug to Dec ds
€155 prescription

Two washes out on lines in shed
My builder is back so today my kitchen will be tiled and finished

Result! my OH is passing a shop so will pick up the pull ups and some carrots. I will be able to avoid the big shop until the weekend at least.

I am the spender in our relationship so i'm only counting things i buy using our joint account or my personal ones. items already budgeted for and paid automatically i don't count.

Groceries are in a grey area i budget €500 a month but we have lots of food in the pantry and freezer stocks so i don't want to spend that much this month. Not spending it should also let me cashflow some other DIY materials i need. 25th is Payday so my end of he month I'm hoping to be in the green on all accounts this month

Congratulations on the job Nessa, I'm envious of the Seasalt coats! I wanted one for years for football season but couldn't afford them, now I could buy one but no more Sundays on the sidelines!!!
Not too spendy over the weekend and full to bursting freezers and fridge - was very frugal yesterday and spent the afternoon cooking to avoid throwing things out but struggling with where to put them now! £150 to last until the end of the month (I get paid the 25th so not long now) and anticipate a very small shop this weekend so definitely doable. Away for the night on Saturday for a friend's retirement part but hotel is already paid for so drinks only to buy there.

I love Seasalt, luckily it doesnt like me , everything comes up way too big on me. Last year I so fell in love with one of theirs - was £200, went to £100 in the sale and I got another 50% off, and it made me look like a Diddyman lol

For those of you who go in for a pint of milk and end up spending £30, what works for me, is using the corner shop. Because the prices are so much higher, I will only buy the milk or the loaf of bread - thats it. If I hit Tesco, then I have a dander about the clothes, about the books and homewares, and end up buying something

DH bought a new spare wheel for the car off ebay (as we don't have one and I don't like not having a spare wheel) so £73.50 for new tyre to be fitted!! Now we need to rummage in the shed and see if we have a jack etc before possibly buying a new one. NSDs 7/13

Another LSD - just a posh coffee to get me through a long shift at work. Took some food with me again.

Seeing friends tonight 🥳 but that will involve sharing a few bottles of wine ( left over from Christmas) rather than going out. Spent out on necessities - car insurance and mobile phone bill - but resisted anything else.

Definitely not a LSD for me as I have spent £70 on my twin nieces birthday presents. £10 over my limit (I mentioned earlier in the thread I buy for 18 children so try to stick to £30 each but massively struggle). I could have bought double that, I was tempted to buy them Heelys for £55 each but I forced myself to remember my desire to pay off debt, and resisted.

Also £150 for new headphones for DS, but £70 of that was an Amazon gift voucher. Ouch though.

Only spent 50p today woohoo the tuck shop at work just dragged me in 😆 but I did take my own lunch and didn't walk into the centre for a Monday fancy coffee (justified by being Monday.... tuesday wednesday Thursday too )

I don't actually have any corner shops, the closest shop I've got is Aldi 😆