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

Today was £100 for a parking permit and £100 payment to next. I'll try and put the parking permit in expenses but might be rejected. Who knows.

Colleague has offered to contribute to the work bits I bought as I know they won't get past expenses.

Seen how much we have in the bank account, definitely wont make it to payday without dipping into overdraft, but we were in it at the start of the month so that is why.

Two birthdays to buy for and half term.

Spent £3.59 Asda , took a tee shirt back so refunded £13
Primark for socks , a pr of Hello Kitty pjs & a top £28
£77 Tesco to fill up the fridge after the weekend onslaught of it by the family rugby weekend 😂

@pistachiosanscream Good thought, but DH has just checked, and no feet at all that he can see. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Morning all. £58 on Ddog's food order.

pistachio - great work in the garden. I have idly begun putting together a list for additional planting this year, and that's the extent of my efforts so far. I will begin clearing and cleaning up this week, probably Friday. Our garden is on a slope, clay soil, stays wet and cold for a long time. We have a daphne plant at the front of the house, which is a bit stringy. I'm wondering whether to prune her but think she might die if I do.

psuedo - many thanks for the pdf extracts. For those who would like to listen to the podcast, it's Paula Pant 'Afford Anything', the episode from 3 January. I love personal finance/frugal living/investing podcasts!

Book group meets today, looking forward to it. I haven't got a plan for a low-spend week exactly, (goal for week 12) but I am working on having a no-buy year for books. Book group, library loans, reading our shelves really should generate more than enough to keep me going.

Afternoon.

Thanks for posting the list. I've listened to the podcast and just to clarify it's American, therefore turning UP the thermostat is relevant there in some areas, if you have air conditioning, whereas here in the rather colder UK, almost always turning the thermostat down would save money! You all probably get the gist of it the list though, despite the lingo.

It's a great reminder though to review all aspects of finance and pick the ones that work for you.

£14 yesterday, it's rare I spend on a Monday but DH had a friend visiting from overseas and coming for supper and I bought a desert for us all as I was working all day (I did do a lovely beef slow cooker dish, prepared the night before and started at 6am!).

Nothing much else to report here I am afraid.

€2 on tea at work. I used cash!
€610 on flights for summer holiday. this is only one of the flights we need but it dropped in price so i snapped it up. unfortunately flying out a regional airport just means its expensive and this is considered a bargain.

Ive done up a menu plan for the next two weeks using stuff we have. I'm also being disciplined only adding what i need to the shopping list. Its clear a small local shop at the weekend will cover this weeks needs.

@bigskies "Our garden is on a slope, clay soil, stays wet and cold for a long time" YEP literally this, piece of crap new build garden! So I can't plant anything on 90% of my garden so I've been collecting big pots and am going to do loads of pot growing veggies this year, and just put them all round the edges. Makes me sad though as my old, well established garden was gorgeous.

In the future we'll get the garden dug out and reshaped. Debt first, kitchen second, garden third!

Today has been sickeningly expensive. I've spent £350 online on new clothes for my new job. I can't turn up in the leggings and hoodies I've worn since lockdown! I'll return half of it though I'm sure.

And £50 on DW's birthday presents, usual budget is around £100 each but I'm spending less, she'll be fine with it. She got me an embroidery set I wanted for £30 for my birthday two weeks ago and I was happy!

@BigSkies2022 I don't know if any good for you, but...Tails.com have £25 cashback on any subscription spend through Topcashback, and there is 75% off, you could get a months worth of dog food from £1.19 (depends on size of dog) plus the £25.

Petrol today, £12 less than I budgeted. I have a new car, first time filling it was extortionate, but it seems it's actually a bigger tank rather than being less fuel efficient luckily.

Last few day have been stressful. I wont go into detail, but one DD has stolen from the other two older siblings and those things need to be replaced, Not cost I factored in, but needs must. I've relied very heavily on Rob Dials gratitude podcast episodes the last few days and mentally I'm in a good place despite the stress.

I have a rough idea how my budget falls this month and have a list of things I'd 'like' to buy. Assuming no other unexpected spends come up, I can afford things like decent socks as mine seem to be developing holes like an infectious disease at the moment.

@NessaSmith sounds like a needed spend for work, I think clothing can be considered necessity rather than luxury especially if it's needed for work.

£10 prescription

Thank you psuedo, at those prices certainly worth investigating, although Ddog is a fussy PITA quite often, on food, and so much else. He's bugging the life out of me today and I really can't work out why.

£20 in Superdrug.
£11 Lidl
£20 Sainsbury's (of which £8.50 was olive oil and, er, £5 was chocolate, for me: Montezuma black cherry, don't mind if do).

French class tonight, really not feeling it this term, but plod on. Book group yesterday was great though, and my interlibrary loan came through. Love the library service (well, good ones, not ones pared to the bone and existing only as adjuncts to gyms, or computer terminals).

It took 5 days but I got there with a NSD! 1/5 😊

€10.50 on a box of cards

Well done @Rainbow1901 . Ive only had 1 NSD this month too.

£10 at coop. Only went for a can of beans but made the mistake of letting the hungry teenagers come with me.
£25 on pet stuff, who knew little guinea pigs could eat so much

On the up side I'm doing a flylady style house tidy/declutter/sort out and was clearing the random handbags that get left hanging over the bottom bannister. I went through them before putting them away and found an old purse I'd forgotten about and found £28. Did a little happy dance. 😄

Mixed bag here with frugalness. Totted up last week's spends and although within budget, I'd spent £41 on lunches while at work. So this week's theme is 'take your lunch to work'. Have managed so far.

Today was £15.60 at the Chinese takeaway. DD and I shared chow mein and a starter as I couldn't face cooking. But no other spends today.

I've listened to part of the podcast that was recommended. It's good and not too late to start it.

Morning all. I have had some interest on my chairs on Facebook Marketplace! How do people manage payments on this platform? 20 years ago, when I was house clearing via Ebay, it was always cash on collection.

Meeting a friend to visit St Paul's and have lunch today. So will not be a particularly frugal day, but I have a guilt-free spends budget.

DH's PT is offering a Valentine's Day offer of a 2 for 1 session, so I will be joining him for a free session on Monday morning. Will be a bit of shock after home workouts.

cash on collection still big imo
enjoy lunch and PT

I've just sold a fridge freezer on FB and the buyer paid by bank transfer before they took it away. Cash would be fine too.

@BigSkies2022 cash on collection or immediate digital payment if you have a revolut account or similar that does instant payments and you can see the money in your account.

@NessaSmith work clothes are definitely a necessity. I'd aim for a small capsule wardrobe as you're ideas of what would work and the realities might be different. I remember after going back to work after Covid i'm no longer wearing the same type of clothes. i definitely wanted comfier things. I don't wear trousers and only pick my most comfortable dresses and jackets. nothing that digs in as i'm too used to comfort now.

I'm feeling the want to spend money today. And i could justify it too! Small child could do with a new pair of runners, we have spares but they aren't ideal as have laces.

I also want to get some storage boxes for toys to keep in the wardrobe. They aren't used all the time but i still want them to be easily available as they get used when cousins are over.

Neither of these are needs right now. However mid term is coming up soon and i'll try to wait until then to buy these. We could do a little shopping trip together to get them.

Had to get heating oil this morning €640 to fill the tank.

Also still need to buy our return flight for our holidays. its come down a bit in price but still so expensive. I'd just love to have it sorted

Trying to login to my Electricity account to make a payment but its having problems! so annoying.

Otherwise i'm hoping for a NSD today (OH will pay the oil from the joint)

Afternoon.

No major spending to report here. A few returns sent back.

£38 shopping, top up and some craft beers for a present.

Ocado order tomorrow but otherwise, nothing other than food shopping (with the above gift included).

£20 on gut supplements for the dog, £40 on a gift for a friend, and £20 on a nice moisturiser for me as a treat, and also I have nasty dry skin on my forehead. So almost medicinal 😁

No further forward on the Dishwasher front, its still firmly in place, and it looks like the kitchen will have to be removed to get it out. This is further complicated by some electric sockets that were fitted on top of the work surface after the whole lot was put together. We will probably have to get someone in to remove them first.

That’s really annoying Nellie. When it’s ready to come out I’d be so taking a hammer to it

£20 chipper tea? £10 coop. I’m must sort a shop

NSD here, and sorted out a new savings account to put the spare money at the end of the month.

Tax return netted me €641.52 and my vhi claim €25, have apprised €300 worth of expenses to claim too so my half day with ds home sick wasn't a waste!

Paid my car insurance €440, up €50 due to my penalty points
Today Ireland has new speed limits and it's not very clear which roads they're on. I think maybe half my route to work is affected.

€1.85 Lidl for lunch bits
€50 beautician for myself and dd
€70 diesel
€19.85 circle K included pack of strepsils for ds

Well yesterday was not a NSD so 1/6
I went shopping with DH and spent £30.09 in Lidl and £46.45 in Home Bargains. I also made a payment towards the big family holiday in October but hanging fire on the June one as the earth is a bit shaky out there and hoping that everyone stays safe out there.
Have DGS coming along later as Mum is working and he has a swimming lesson later this afternoon so that should keep us busy. So fingers crossed it should be a NSD today but who knows. 👀