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

Checking in even thought I'm headed out to spend tonight, taking DD and friend to an ice disco and I'm off to Aldi.

Credit card month is nearly up so trying to keep it down. Pay it all off every month and the lower this is the more we can save.

So far today I've spent £4.99 on a TGTG bag from a burrito bar to collect on the way home later. Will see what's in it.

Our shopping for 3 adults and one teenager tends to be £120 - £140 groceries and toiletries. Add in other costs like beauty treatments, medical treatment, meals out, kids activities etc it's around £200 pw

Spends today Tesco £89
Waitrose £12.60
Asda £38
All on groceries, a new kettle , 3 bottles of half price OGX shampoo from Waitrose £4.20 it's the only one she uses .
Need petrol tomorrow
God it's never ending 🙄

Have a great time @kessiebird and the tops from Asda were fab thank you 👍

@ChipshopPickledEgg i love that math. Let’s hope I’m quids in from now on.

even with the treats I’m up money as childminder doesn’t work school holidays and I’ve spent less than I pay normally in a week. I don’t begrudge a penny of what she’s paid but it puts the spending in a different light when I think of it like that.

today was €4.60 on tolls. I’m getting paid next Tuesday and it actually looks like I might have leftover money!

My Sainsbury’s order was £107 yesterday, £20 DS hair and that was it
gosh yes childcare costs. You will feel so rich after

I'm off for a hair cut and dye today, will be £85 plus fiver tip. I am glad that I've found my hairdresser- she has a salon from home in her conservatory and it is MUCH cheaper than local places, she's been doing it for 20 years and is very good and efficient.

Today was an almost spendy day as I started to click through on an Instagram post to buy a pair of boots. Decided to have a little peak on my ‘running debt’ list and resisted. If they are still there when I get paid on Tuesday I’ll get them 😂 Got an unheard of 100 quid to last till pay day.

Oh dear, spent £100 in the restaurant of the National Portrait Gallery last night. DH and I were both ravenous at 6.15 and the bar snacks rapidly mounted, plus two carafes of wine. On the plus side, the Tudors and Romantics galleries are excellent, and all free entry. And it was good fun.

Unicorn was...meh. Strong first half, fell off badly after the interval, and the Garrick, in common with so many of those old, pretty West End theatres, is bloody uncomfortable. It will also take me a bit of time to get over hearing Steven Mangan, national treasure, say 'butt play' and 'my cock'.

Anyway, as a consequence of last night's raid on my account, I now am £30 adrift on this month's guilt-free budget, and have to undergo the next nine days as NSD in penance.

£115 left in joint account until Friday, and a food shop in order today.

Sounds like a very eclectic night big. Good luck with your penance.

more spends today though some for mil.
need to buy a hose connector as mine won’t

@MaryGreenhill pleased the tops were a success! I so need a wardrobe clear out and update!

Hope the 9 days of NSDs go well bigskies sounds quite a night at the theatre.

Last night was so typical - £17 for the ice disco, £26.81 Aldi. The TGTG bag cancelled saying not enough surplus so of course then DD was hungry so it was Maccies £9.68 for the two girls and then Lidl £7 for sanitary products at 9.50pm!

This morning I got three Lidl bakery items and a bag of sweets for free via the Lidl Plus App. Gym class in with membership.

£22 at a vegan place today for me and DD. We are not vegan but DD asked for a smoothie bowl. V nice. 0.87p parking.

Hoping that's it for today 🙏 been out since 8.15am so happy to stay put now. Weather is mild and windy so washing is out on the line!

Thank you @kessiebird

Sounds like you had a brilliant time yesterday and this morning 😊 great freebies from Lidl too
Great time at the portrait gallery last night for you and your Dh @BigSkies2022 😁
Worth the penance l would say 😁
Ordered Dd1 presents from Amazon £110
Nothing else so far 😁

I almost spent £160 on Zara but quickly cancelled it before the bank cried 😆
£15 supermarket
£3 dog treat she's a expensive but worth it lady my daughter loves getting 'her' xxx a treat.

£85 Asda. Some for mil some might go back
train and horribleness here. Fire is on

I put on heating at 9pm last night woke at 8am this morning to discover I never turned it off, I'm afraid to check the oil tank

Oops happier

Aldis £39 in including £12.99 wireless headphones.
Stocked up on Mum's stuff in there and will take it in for her tomorrow.
Aw bless you @Happierwithouthim l completely understand hopefully it won't have used up too much oil because it wasn't cold last night fingers crossed 🤞

Managed to spend £50 on Friday night after a relatively low spend week. Not good! DP and I were at a gig last night £25 on drinks (fab gig).
Today about £50 on food, that's lunches for during the week for 3 of us and some other bits were needed before Sainsburys delivery on Tuesday.
I'm working all week and have no plans so it should be a low spend week.

Two NSDs down, 7 to go! Food shop yesterday (included some spendy stuff like razors and dishwasher tablets) came to £90, so we have £25 until Friday for bread, milk, etc. I have deferred my next delivery from Dermatica which saves £25 in March, which means I will have enough in guilt free spends to get my hair cut next month, yes! If I had only been this vigilant when younger...(and had had a better career plan, or one at all, with a higher-earning trajectory, ah well).

This week's micro-finance task from Paula is: set up a credit monitoring system. I didn't realise what was meant by this at first, but it's switching on notification systems from your bank accounts/cards to monitor spending. It's an early alert for unauthorised spending (so, fraud), or will let you know when you're about to go into overdraft/incur charges. I have this already on my main accounts, and I check my accounts pretty much every morning anyway.

Greenwich Park with DH and Ddog this afternoon. Watched Tár on Netflix last night - not always a fan of Cate Blanchett, but her rather wooden, queenly style was just right. And the clothes are the bomb! I have been flouncing around today in an oversized button-down striped shirt, cashmere tank top, big coat and chunky flats, doing Lydia Tár like mad. Not her ethics though, v. questionable.

£50 lunch out. Family meal for DMs birthday. Difficult family dynamics so I went and put £50 against the bill before it got to the table for an easy life. Cut into my budget for next month but felt better to do that. DM in her nineties enjoyed it which is the main thing.

Other than that no other spends.

Oops happier I've left the heating on all night and woke up drenched in sweat at 4am. Only one night 🤞 not too much used.

I've had a HUGE blip!
Feel like I've spent my whole day and yesterday evening shopping online.
Not exactly sure what I've ordered either - darent even begin to look.
Perhaps I'll wait until it lands and then work out the damage after.

Well done @BigSkies2022 on your NSDs hopefully the next 7 will fly.

ah @Happierwithouthim ive done this more than once! It was never as ruinous as I made out in my head.

@ChipshopPickledEgg it’s just so easy to spend!

weekend has been lots of small spends which add up to a nice bit. Not going to list them all but there were some restaurant bills, market items and a few other bits. Adds up to about €150. Iva also totally deleted my social battery and want to hibernate tomorrow.

in better news I found €20 in the handbag I pulled out to use today!

payday is on Tuesday and it’s my short month!

If you want or need to cancel it, can you?

If not, is there something you noticed about what drove it? Useful observation? If so, keep that and put the rest in your rearview mirror.

Won't be able to cancel the purchases however I have intention of returning a fair few things.
Definitely the falling down the dark hole!
Looking at my bank accounts it isn't as bad as I thought but I was so pleased with my month!
Payday Thursday woohoo.

ah chip we’ve all done it
before, be ruthless when is gets here do I like it will
i use it? Do your returns straight away.

yeah to finding £20
half term here. Office day for me