Mince Pies, Mulled Wine, frugal festive frolics. Yuletide budgeting banter & Merry Saving Shenanigans for all 🎁🎄🦌🎅🤶☃️

[MaryGreenhill]

Welcome to the Christmas Frugal thread . We are a super friendly group here & everyone is welcome 🤗 .
☃️🤶🎅🦌🎄🎁

I bought some new Converse this week to replace a knackered pair, I got 20% off.
A fairly low spend week but Christmas shopping needs to be done so that will change.
We nearly got a takeaway via Deliveroo last nignt but wait times were long. Managed to cobble together a pasta dish out of what was in the fridge. Meeting a friend today but lunch is free as last time she ate there everything went wrong!

How was lunch @Vinorosso74 ?

So glad your flat is ready @BigSkies2022 . It makes complete sense they would do this with appliances. Will keep an eye out in future.

£35 on hair cut. Haven't been in 4 months and I'd started trimming it myself so was very much overdue. And bless him,.OH keeps looking at me and saying how beautiful I look. Must keep it up. This was on budget.
£15 on petrol. This was on budget.
£28 for DD gymnastics for the month. Not on budget as I'd forgotten to add it.
Was meant to pop to a shop to grab Christmas bits but the weather put me off so money saved there.

Hope everyone is ok this damp and soggy Saturday.

£21 on a chicken because couldn’t manage to stop anywhere except the expensive butcher as I was flying between errands.

£159 on my laptop battery- fingers crossed it takes me through another 5 years.

over to the flat with DH who put up the blinds for me while I began on first clean up. The guys have cleaned up well, but the dust generated by sanding down and re plastering just keeps coming back. Back tomorrow to install curtain poles and headboards and more cleaning.

chicken roasting. DS working until late so I get to use his snug while he’s out. I am very much enjoying the new layout in the room, though we don’t have any of the new furniture it will need.

Today was a break even day! I splashed out on a very rare lottery ticket this morning and won £20 - so got my stake back, paid £16 for food shopping in Iceland and put £1 on my Bonus card! 🙃

LSD yesterday - £2.99 in McDonald’s, also annoyingly picked up a copy of Vogue Magazine from WH Smith for Dd1 at £7.99 only for her to tell me that she’s already got it! It does come with a ‘free’ planner so I might see if I can either sell it on or return it - although I’m not sure if I have the receipt.

I have decided that TK MAXX is very dangerous, lol it’s a shortcut into town/high street and I just can’t seem to walk through without buying something. Yesterday was Chelsea Peers PJ’s £22.99 for Dd1 and a bag of Hi-chews for Ds2 £2.49 this will come out of the Christmas pot so I won’t count that as spends, I did buy a baking dish for me for £10.99, I do have one but another would be very useful especially coming up to Christmas- that’s what I’ve told myself anyway!

No plans to buy anything or spend any money today, I have a Pilates class this morning, then Dh wants help repotting some very large Monstera plants - should be fun 😣I’ll make some bacon rolls to get us through it.

Pie and Mash for dinner, with carrots and broccoli- no more roast dinners now until the big day, bread and butter pudding for dessert, looking forward to that. Dd1 going back to uni this evening so will be an early meal for us.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the weekend and the weathers not too bad where you are.

@Frugal25 lunch was ok thanks, not yhe most exciting but it was free. We did go on elsewhere for some more drinks. Spent about £25 so not bad.

So glad your lunch was lovely @Vinorosso74 . We love free.

NSD today. Went to the garden centre for a mooch but didn't buy anything. I have started prepping DD with "we are just going for a look at the Christmas lights and not buying toys" as she has begun a habit of getting a toy each time we go out.
I need to adjust my statement for yesterday. I declared my spending and then had two g&ts, and whilst merry I may have spent £10 on classic FM lottery to try and win £200k. I have already spent the winnings that shall be mine on paying off my mortgage. :)

Oh @BigSkies2022 I'm told that if you spray water into the air, it catches the dust and falls to the ground so you just need to mop. Might help?

Evening, I don’t think I spent any money today… for once!

Almost done on the Christmas shopping so December should feel a lot less spendy.

Yesterday was a fail! Spend £12 on two Cornish Pasties for lunch, they were very nice though.

Just spent 40p on two pairs of Levi's socks delivered thanks to the Christmas Bargains thread, great stocking filler for one of the Teenagers.

Making a sticky honey & soy beef dish for dinner tonight, trying to decide if I should pop to Sainsbury's and buy some sesame oil or just use the vegetable oi that I already have in.

Morning!

Boiler is being serviced. No idea how much that will cost!

I’ve bought socks and pants for the kids stockings from Levi (and a pair of jeans) and a hotel chocolat wreath for my parents from Amazon with Black Friday and additional discount. I’m so close to being done!

Morning.

Had to smile at the tipsy spending @Frugal25, we’ve all been guilty at some stage, if not because of alcohol then boredom! 😊

DW was most probably correct re the spending @PearlTeapot 😊

@Johaanah I’ve decided that just shops are dangerous! So easy to pop extra things in the basket, I’d have done exactly the same in TK MAXX. I use Ocado for supermarket shopping, which I know isn’t the cheapest, but I just buy the things I need so it probably saves me money in reality.

Well done on the win @Rainbow1901!

We’ve had a cheap weekend. A kind person gave me their parking ticket when I visited my DF at the hospital, and DB paid for the takeout on Saturday night (we host Christmas etc so things like this are their contribution to cost).

£3.50 Tesco
£6 local shop.

Today will be a NSD. It’s the last day of the month, so to speak, for me. We’ve money left in the food pot, bills pot, general spends, and my cash pot (for the cleaners), slightly over by literally a few quid on presents, pets, and eating out, and £50 over the cost of DH’s care (will recoup this month as we were on holiday for the next billing period).

The plan this week is to crack some more Christmas shopping.

Salmon and I’ll make fried rice for tea (there was a full pot left from the takeaway, I’ll add a load of veg and goodness to it).

Afternoon everyone 🤗
Had an ear infection that's why l have been AWOL 😊 but am fine . Have a spray off the Drs and it's sorting it out 🤗
Spends today Aldi £68
Post office £36 for 32 second class stamps and a parcel with Christmas presents in for my Mum's friends . Glad to get that done tbh .
Hope everyone is ok and having a good day 😊

Sorry to hear about the ear infection, the spray stuff it brilliant and works pretty quick in my experience. Wishing you well!

I nearly tagged you today to check you were okay @MaryGreenhill - ear infections are awful - hope you’re okay ❤️

I use boots recycling scheme to boost my spending power in boots, very easy to do

Aw thank you so much @needastrongoneagain@FurForksSake. I am honestly fine 😊 just couldn't seem to concentrate on much but it's so much better 🤗

Glad to hear you are feeling better @MaryGreenhill , ear infections are the worst. The cold weather has probably been a factor and all the wind.

Aw thank you @Johannahl had a nasty cold about 3 weeks ago and l suspect it was the remnants of that and the windy weather . Omg l was going to wash my hair this morning .l am so glad l didn't, l forgot .
Baptiste for me for a few days l think I 🤗

Using our farm pass we managed to do a NSD, by bringing a picnic. We nearly stopped on a cafe on the way because I had planned to go straight from school but then realised it didn't open until 10. Fortunately ds napped and saved us from a cafe. Just went on my phone for half an hour Good for my diet too, allthough I had found a nice looking one en route.. for another time. Another tricky one was walking through the gift shop. He picked up a few toys but put them back. We have all that stuff at home. I knew if we got something this time, it will be harder next time to not get anything. Staff member helped out by telling him to be good.

Aw bless your Ds he was so good doing that 🤗

Another weekend accommodating my children's social life!
£30 bar bill yesterday for an event we were at.
£33 food shop Saturday
£25 Chinese yesterday
Did a little shopping today £80 on some clothes for me (I'll end up returning £20 once sizes are tried on)
Payday on Thursday but have started the budget early as won't have time to sort pots out etc later in the week so it's a novemdecember budget.

Feel that so much @Alwayslearning25 I am always worried at starting things like a treat in the gift shop as she picks routines up so quickly I can't be arsed with the arguments every time.

Well done on not buying anything @Alwayslearning25 . We have got into a bad habit of getting a small toy every time we go out. I've started to nip it in the bid and gosh, the tantrums.

@MaryGreenhill so sorry about your ear. Those infections are so painful you poor thing. I did wonder why you were quiet yesterday.

LSD today. £2.99 on a chocolate for DD stocking.
£12 for hair dye. Needed. Haven't dyed it in a while.

Got given another £50 from work to say thank you. On top of the £75 already. I've chosen matalan vouchers to hopefully finish off Christmas gifts.
Dds pre school is shut tomorrow for an emergency so may take her with me and make it a fun girls trip.

Oh thank you @Frugal25 🤗so kind of you sweetheart 😊
I am fine now no worries ☺️
You did well with the voucher from your work and that's a good amount for you to spend on your Christmas presents.
Have a lovely day with your DD tomorrow 🤗
@ChipshopPickledEgg it gets worse let me tell you 🤣
They have a better social life than we do 😁