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

Evening.

I'm the same re our corner shop. They are a lovely family, and we do support them (particularly with buying their home made bhajis and samosas!!), but it's more expensive than the supermarket, so we stick with basics and occasional forgotten items.

NSD - whoop!

(In fairness, Mondays often are).

Its warmed up enough for us to face going into town, so we paid some cheques in and , and DH moved some savings into a higher interest account. I spent £1.50 in a charity shop on a cookbook optimistically called guilt free baking, and £4.75 on a lip balm in superdrug.

We didn't get a coffee or anything, but that wasn't due to being frugal. It was because a road is closed and we had to park a long way from the centre, and we were both cold and tired.

Frugal tip. Don’t take teenagers into Sainsbury’s £33

NSD. Needed to pop into town at lunch time but didn't have time. So I didn't spend anything at least

£2.99 impulse purchase on a game I play. Darn it!!

I also support my local shop because I'd like it to stay open and have a good variety of stuff but keep it to max €20 spend I don't like only buying milk there but it is much more expensive. And it's one mile away compared to several miles away for all the rest who are also small expensive shops plus they're nice and will take packages & have a post office.

€21.59 in aldi on the makings of Bolognese plus a few bits.

Visiting DParents today, took DMum to Waitrose and bought some chicken breasts, a tub of Epsom salts and some daffodils. £20.57. Not frugal, but convenient, and quite fun.

DH chipper because he's lost over a kilo in 5 days - weigh in at weekly sesh with trainer. He bought some protein powder and I made some 'protein slices' with it, from the recipe in the meal plan. I mean, they're not terrible...DS suggested spreading chocolate spread on top, which I suspect defeats the object.

My coat arrived - lovely fabric, colour, nice length and notched lapels; but sadly, the oversized cut doesn't do much for me, so back it will go. This means I will not have spent money on a coat, but also, I still don't own a good coat in the style I'm seeking.

€25 knit jumper, went on website to look at a different jumper because influenced by Instagram & ended up buying this one instead!

I’ve been looking at vinted for new t shirt & jumper as have £31 credit. Seen a couple of bits but something is stopping me click buy

hoping for a NSD today. I've to pay for my pilates course but i have a voucher to cover that so won't count it.

OH went and got bread already so no need to buy anything. I did add some things to my amazon cart but i'll wait until the ned of the week to check out if we even need it. I realise a lot of my spending is impatience. I posibly already have something that will do the job but its not immediately to hand so i buy new again. limiting myself to one amazon checkout per week should help with this.

I also utilise the local shop when i'm avoiding a big supermarket shop. My local is a centra so fruit, veg and own brand are as cheap as the big supermarket but the smaller selection and name brands really curbs my stock up mentality.

I need to do a proper menu plan for the week as this also helps. i've some ideas but need to firm this up against my calendar to make sure its actually doable.

NSD yesterday (didn't leave the house so that helped!!!) but have to go to town today to return a parcel and need indian pickies to go with dinner, have already spent £46 at the Trainline sale for a trip DD and I have planned for her birthday though so today will not be an NSD! Finally warming up here and the ice is starting to disappear hooray!
Starting to firm up plans for later in the year - we do a lot of festivals over the summer and whilst the tickets etc are already paid for I like to make sure we spread the rest of the costs over the course of the year. So I'm looking at our camping gear, making lists of things that need to be replaced etc (and planning the booze stash!!!). Had decent weather for most last year apart from Storm Lilian when I thought our tent was going to take off so hoping for more of the same this year. Also have a short trip to the Canaries in March which again is already paid for but need to check warm weather clothes and budget for spending money.
Dinner is a very frugal lamb curry made from the leftovers of the roast and veggies we already had in so a win 😊

We don't have a corner/local shop- we're right in the middle of a ginormous new build estate (7 years old and still building round the edges) and they would make an actual killing if they plonked one here. As it is, the nearest Tesco Express is a 5 min drive away.

Except for the postage for a few letters, I'm aiming for today to be a NSD. I haven't had one yet this year! In fact I haven't even had any LSDs!

Afternoon.

A LSD - £2.49 on some Tangfastics for DH.

£1 on air for my tyres but that was scraps of coins at the bottom of my bag as the card payment option on the machine was broken.

The snow has finally gone!!

£22 in Iceland - I only went in for eggs!! But did get the OAP discount and then rounded up to add to Xmas 2025 savings!! 🙃

£8 in Lidl - potatoes, cheap wine (for boeuf bourgignon) and bagels. Sneaky cottage pie for me and DS tonight while DH is out at a works do (he'll probably come home and eat the leftovers, but anyway - I'm trying not to tempt him from the way of lower-carb righteousness). Frugal win (well, not really): got my sourdough 'free' at the bakery as it was the 10th stamp on my loyalty card. To get this, I will have spent about £45 though.

We have lots of shops, both chains and indies, within walking distance, and everyone seems to be doing alright. I try and buy from the local bookshop rather than Amazon/big chains/charity shops, and I give clothes to the local charity shops while they're still in good nick rather than Vinting them.

Need I like your dhs taste
I'm currently pricing around for trek millionaire shortbread, in my opinion these are like a healthy snickers, not at all like millionaires shortbread

€28.95 in Aldi €4.30 was covered by bottles and cans returned to re-turn machine

I need to do a dunnes order to cut out daily trips to shop, nothing impulsive though

I was based at another site today and ended up stopping for a breckfast meal deal in Tesco £3.60 as felt a bit unwell.
We're having fridge food suprise for tea.
So LSD. Happy with that.

No spend week last week besides petrol for £45 and £10 in Waitrose on non essentials on Monday, and the usual monthly sinking funds moved over.

No spends this week yet, avoided a spendy day today as I still have no idea what to get my husband for his birthday, maybe a dash cam if anyone has any recommendations? I did get 6 months Amazon Prime free so at least I can get something delivered in time.

We have a one local convenience store, with a one star hygiene rating, has been since we've lived here and they are known for short changing and over charging. We don't use it, luckily not a far drive to the main shops. One home we lived in only had a Spar within walking distance, very expensive!

So yesterday MOT and service wasnt too painful as there were no extras/problem.
£4 for a plug socket to replace the one that wasnt working. Glad I found out it was a socket problem before replacing a perfectly good working dishwasher!

£98 for shopping delivery which is cheaper than usual. We are aiming for less than £100/week and so far we just about made it. Last year it was closer to £130/140

The week is going well here so far. I had a lovely Sunday home alone and took on an impromptu kitchen spring clean & sort out. Went crazy with the label printer so everything is super organised now, no excuse for DH to claim he doesn't know what things are!!
DH & ds had a great time in London though ds was not a well bunny on Sunday after over indulging in Saturday's post match celebrations haha!
Tonight's tea was delicious leftover beef curry from the freezer. I did curried cabbage & peas to go with it. Tomorrow's plan is a Gousto recipe for hoisin sausage tray bake to help use up the hoisin sauce we've got.

£50 on two fan heaters (I'll take one in to work as it's freezing and the oil filled radiators are rubbish) and £20 on fish and chips.

Car insurance quote came yesterday cheapest I've had ever, I haven't shopped around yet, I do have penalty points which I need to notify them about but only three so I don't think that will affect quite

pistachio what € country are you in?
Just wondering if I'm the only Irish poster on thread now @tayto has been absent for a while

Managed to only spend on the trainline yesterday morning, Indian pickies were £6 in Tesco for just bhajis and veg samosas so didn't bother and just made rice for DH. I follow a (mostly) low carb woe so like the samosas/bhajis/pakoras along with curry instead of rice or naan but that's ridiculous price for 4 of each!
More to spend today - arranging a trip with DSis to the Tim Burton exhibition at the design museum in March so need to book that while there are still tickets available and trains are cheaper. She struggles with holidays as has 3 in primary so can't book a cheaper session during the week so has to be a weekend slot - at least I can stay with her instead of paying for hotels 😊