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 🤗 .
☃️🤶🎅🦌🎄🎁

Happy thanks giving ladies/(gents?).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone 🦃
Spendy day today , £60 on a Christmas present from John Lewis , £20asda , £20 Farm foods , £19 Home Bargains £17 Lidl .
Only on a few bits but 1 win l had was a bag of 7.5kgs of white potatoes from Aldi for free . It was on the free vegetable coupon l had on the app . It is £4.05 normally.
Hope everyone is ok 🤗

I am winning at life today I feel.
£69 in lidl. That was after the 10% discount was applied and it's the lowest bill I've had there for months. Yay.
£21 in sainsburys getting the bits lidl didn't do. I normally make do but these bits I actually needed.

Then I got £22 refund from sainsburys as they overcharged me on Tuesday. Whooo.

Oh. And £1.60 on the vending machine cheddars after swimming but seeing as DD swam for first time without armbands today I was very happy to oblige.

Bit warmer today. Hope everyone is ok?

@Frugal25 £1.60 is money well spent on those celebratory Cheddars because your DD swam without arm bands . That is a massive moment so pleased for you all ☺️

Oh yes Aldi have lovely coir door mats with Christmas pictures on only £3.99. I bought one with Mistletoe on so it will last me until l need a new one . Cheapest l have seen them too .

Evening all. About £7 spent today in Aldi and Poundland. Then paid for the carpet and got the cash out to pay the fitters. Bought three things in Uniqlo. Can’t believe how rude the staff member was. Felt like taking everything I bought back for a refund.

Picked up the blanket I ordered from TK Maxx. I rather like it so am happy.

Ohhh I was in Fenwicks as well today @Mochi1fudge. I didn’t stay long after seeing the cardigan I bought last week is now 20% off.

Good luck with your shopping tomorrow @Johaanah. And happy birthday to your husband.

Those potatoes will taste amazing @MaryGreenhill. Free always tastes better.

Well done to your daughter @Frugal25.

Amazon sent me a refund of my order as they delivered it on the wrong day. I’m not complaining. It still arrived intact and safely. I’m in Windsor tomorrow for a meeting. I am considering a visit to the castle if time (and my leg) allows as I’ve never been before.

Uniqlo is probably my favourite shop (after TKMAXX- lol) I am partial to M&S as well, most of my clothes come from those two shops - did you get the free fold up bag for the Arigato festival? My son gifted me loads of Uniqlo stuff he picked up when he was travelling in Japan - it’s half the price, but the clothing is a lot smaller, not a problem for me as I’m short and small, but when I measured against stuff I’ve purchased in the UK it was narrower and shorter!

I've heard that Uniqlo do different sizing for the Asian market and the western (if that's the right word).
I've never actually been in a Uniqlo and the website is a sensory overload for me.

Evening all. As (I think) @Mochi1fudge said up thread, busy week! I’ve struggled to keep on top of my to do list (how did I manage when I worked full time?!) and have just read through the 60 odd updates since I last read it. Sorry for those of you still feeling ill - hope you’re better soon. I’m really tired this evening so I’ve been in bed for about an hour, sinking further and further down…..

I’ve spent a lot over the last few days, mainly on Christmas but I’m sure some other frivolous spending has crept in.

Will try and keep up more as it really helps keep me on track - and I enjoy reading all your updates.

Today I’ve spent £26 on a haircut plus a tenner tip, £20ish in Sainsbury’s on a ‘various’ lunch at a friend’s who has just lost their dog and is feeling very down, £20 on a friends sons 18th birthday, £225 on house insurance renewal and £42 on petrol. It soon adds up!!

It was me @chimichangaz but suspect a lot of us are feeling it!

Love Fenwicks @RumBananaSundae I was in the Food Hall for the Christmas biscuit tins and taking photos of the macarons with a mind to buy some for Christmas Eve.

Happy Thanksgiving @MaryGreenhill and everyone else 🦃

Morrisons £36 mix of butchers and Christmas presents. Got a work discount.
Shein £42
Amazon £29.95

After starting the week with good intentions to rein in spending and calories, I have snacked all day on cereal, chocolate and crisps. Now I'm drinking a lavender tea before bed as if that makes up for it 😂

Ugh, busy busy busy.

Congratulations @Frugal25 jr. I am tempted to eat cheddars in vicarious triumph.

£23.49 on Christmas gifts from Bohomoon.
£46.75 😩on wine, fancy chocs and flowers for boss and her husband who invited us for dinner.

I’m all for eating Cheddars in vicarious triumph 😁.

The lavender tea very clearly negates all the chocolate and crisps @Mochi1fudge!

That’s not great about the Uniqlo staff @RumBananaSundae, I’ve never shopped there or bought anything there. Rude customer service pees me right off though.

Well done to your daughter @Frugal25!

Whoop to the potato’s @MaryGreenhill - we are using a lot more since I started receiving a veg box. They are so versatile and filling - I forget about the humble spud sometimes.

I am fully grinning at your Ddog @BigSkies2022 - I’m right in thinking he’s of the Spaniel variety of canine? They are generally such obliging souls aren’t they?

Another plug for the Rebel Finance course on YouTube, especially with the changes to ISA limits in the budget, the Govt push towards teaching people about the value of investing, and Martin Lewis backing this initiative in general (not in a party political way).

Spends
£11 Amazon - bulk order of dental brushes (glam).
£30 Eucerin anti pigment cream (I’ve tried to find an alternative as good, but can’t).
£54 Hotel Chocolat. (Christmas presents).

As soon as DS is back from work I’m popping to Sainsbury’s to grab some pizza bases and toppings and a few ‘nice’ soft drinks as my nephew and family are here for supper tonight, they have 2 very young children so thought this might be fun and a bit healthier than a takeout. It’ll up the food budget but that’s fine.

Right - off to my treadmill in the garage while DH is asleep.

Have a great day!

Thank you to all for congratulations on no arm band swimming! ☺️ Def eat the cheddars @VikingNorthUtsire
Lavender tea def deletes all. I'm sure of it. @Mochi1fudge
Ooohhh pizza supper. Snap, here too! Enjoy the family being over @needastrongoneagain :)

I've never shopped at Fenwick or Uniqlo. I won't Google so close to Christmas or I'll spend my budget again. But def one to remember for next year.

A NSD here. And my DMum found my DDs mitten on a hedge on the way to pre school that we lost last week. It's having a good wash :)

Lost 1lb this week. I think the massive amount of ratatouille I've scoffed helped. Made me so full of veggies I didn't eat much else. Twas needed though. I've got a bupa health check in two weeks and last year they said I was overweight. So I can now proudly say I've lost weight!! Ha ha ha.

Sold one more item on vinted. So posted that at lunch.
And I'm pretty sure that at 5pm today I'll win that £200k from classic fm. I'm expecting the delicious Alexander Armstrong to call me himself. Or if he just wants to call me that's fine.

Afternoon everyone 😊
NSD for me today yay 😁
Thank you re the free potatoes @RumBananaSundaeand that was awful you had a rude person in Uniqlo, some horrible ppl about bless you 🤗
I hope you managed a visit to the castle 😊
Hope you followed your list today @Johaanah🤗
Happy birthday to your DH too 🎉 🎈 🥳😊
Never been in a Uniqlo either @ChipshopPickledEgg 😁
@chimichangaz tell me about the money racking up , everything is so expensive 🙄.
Never tried Lavendar tea @Mochi1fudge l drink ginger and lemon , and berry tea though.
Thank you for the Happy Thanksgiving l hope you had a lovely one too 😊
Hope you have slowed down a bit now @VikingNorthUtsire😊
Totally agree with you re the humble potato @needastrongoneagainthey have a bad press imho😊.
Hotel Chocolat yummy 😋.
Well done on losing that pound and finding DD mittens 😊
Good luck with the competition toi 😊

"Or if he just wants to call me that's fine."
😆

Happy Friday everyone. Today was looking to be an expensive day. Got a fill of oil, septic tank emptied and cleaners came. DH managed it all as I was in the office.

oil was much cheaper than I feared. Thought it could be €7-900 but it came in at €550. Also spent €28 at chemist and €10 on buns.

tomorrow I’m going to start decorating for Christmas. Love this and hoping the small child will have a good time too.

£36 in Aldi yesterday, plus £10 Christmas catering expenditure on chestnuts for the Christmas store cupboard and chocolates for DS’ advent calendar- if there end up being some spare, I’ll take the hit.

£27 in Sainsbury’s.
£4 in deli for the good pesto.
£6 on bin liners and packing tape from the corner shop.

carpet fitters cancelled today because no delivery. Rebooked for next Wednesday. Chair that arrived broken returned to La Redoute. Hope the replacement will be delivered more quickly than the original. So spent the day cleaning my own house for change and continuing to make my cafe curtains for the flat. I am not sure anyone has ever made heavier weather of cutting two panels and hemming with wonder web, but I’m nearly done - aim to install them plus headboard plus lampshades this weekend, and do a bit more here and there. The bathroom looks great and I may divorce my DH and marry my bathroom fitter.

dinner tonight is cottage pie stretched with lots of carrots and lentils and a potato and swede mash. Lots of green stuff on the side. Will set aside leftovers in advance.

going to do a Pilates workout now and then bath and dinner. Have a good evening all!

Spent on a train ticket and some odd bits in Waitrose today.

I didn’t get the free bag @Johaanah. That was part of the issue with the staff member. I gave up in the end so no bag for me. I do get a lot of clothes from there. And Marks and Spencer.

Good find on the mitten @Frugal25.

Crikey on the bathroom fitter @BigSkies2022.

Had a nice day today. My meeting was much better than expected though it lasted longer than I had anticipated so I didn’t make the castle. Not to worry at £36 I think I would have been in pain.

I actually have plans this weekend. I was hoping to do some bits about the flat but not sure I will manage it. Feeling a bit tired and it’s not been a good week rehab wise. Think I’m going backwards. I’m putting it down to overexertion in Paris and hope it will work itself out. Lidl have sweet potatoes on special this week (I think) so would like to get there at some point.

Sorry about your rehab @RumBananaSundae . It is probably paris. Not nice though. Maybe a bath and chilling out tonight?

@BigSkies2022 i shall buy a hat for the upcoming wedding.

AA didn't call. Sigh. I shall continue saving the pennies and dating my OH instead :)

Have a wonderful time decorating the house @pistachiosanscream !

Another day of too much spending. I had to buy ds1 decent thermals for scout camp. I went for decathlon men’s stuff and it really added up. I’m hoping it will do him and his brother for a good while.

dh bought bread and brownies in the bakery.

dinner was beans on toast and I had stew from the freezer.

Ocado are brining a frighteningly expensive shop tomorrrow, but it’s got the drinks and nibbles for Christmas and the next few shops should be very cheap. I’m trying to think of it as budgeting across the month.

i think I’ve got three presents left to buy and the kids Santa bits.

I checked Klarna and an order I returned was showing as due to be paid soon. I’ve now marked it as returned but I’m worried as it’s £400. Fingers crossed it will sort itself out.

Expensive Black Friday although hopefully a few wins.

£200 at Argos for DS1 expensive headphones, but they were on offer plus hopefully I'm getting cashback, bonus cashback, Nectar points and Avios on that spend.

£16 at eBay, cheapest place for part of my sister's Christmas present but 15% cashback.

£5.25 at M&S treating myself to a cute little bottle of perfume that apparently is a Lancome dupe.

So question about psychology of spending.
I find it really hard to go and spend £100 in the supermarket on a decent shop. I grew up quite poor where money was pretty sparse so it makes me nervous.
But I probably spend that anyway through the week in dribs and drabs.
Anybody relate?

I'm like this but with clothes or stuff for the house. Just can't bring myself to spend it, even if we've got it. But then fritter the same amount away on bits and bobs.

Funnily enough, I don't mind spending on food. Maybe because subconsciously I think that buying and cooking food is an act of service for my family, whereas something like a coat or new boots feels selfish.

I'd love to read a good book on the psychology of spending, and where our habits and prejudices come from, of anyone has any recommendations.

I still find it hard to spend on anything other than a food shop. We had little money growing up and food always came first, so perhaps there's something in that... I am getting better so this year bought new boots and a coat, although the boots were £12 on Vinted...

Black Friday
£££ on an American style fridge freezer. Long overdue ours is 15 years old and not enough space. Still feeling guilty about spending so much even though it was bought with cash.

Amazon £25 on three different sales, lucky I have Prime so no delivery costs
M&S £10.75
Boots £15.10 - money off stocking fillers.
Asos £75 got £25 off trainers for DD Christmas.

Got a huge list to get through this weekend. I've been laid low with a UTI today and picked up a prescription earlier (although still managed to get to the shops!) so hoping some of the Black Friday deals stay on this weekend 🙏

oh @Mochi1fudge - hope you’re not feeling too poorly and are getting better quickly.

@RumBananaSundae - that’s annoying about the bag, I hate when I get bad customer service too, but I could never boycott Uniqlo!! I did get the bag- there was brown, dark green or beige available, it’s nothing special, last years water bottle was much nicer and the cup from 2023 Dh takes to work every day.

Unfortunately I don’t find spending difficult at all, infact I’m the opposite and have probably wasted thousands over the years, although similarly I also grew up very poor, Mum was a single parent when I was small then married a man who was terribly tight fisted and controlled all the finances, all my mum had was her family allowance as income.He would buy himself all sorts of luxuries, but we were lucky if there was enough food by the end of the week, if we ran out of milk for example there would be no more until the following week. I remember getting school shoes for Christmas one year. Anyway I think this has led to my issues with buying stuff, the fact that I couldn’t have the things that everyone else had. Even once I was a teenager and eared some money in the 90’s babysitting I had to buy all my own toiletries and tights for school, so that was all spent on essentials. Oh well!

Yesterday was successful- got almost everything on my list right down to the chocolate coins for stockings, one pair of trainers I’ve now ordered online for £40 cheaper than they were in John Lewis, Dh paid for lunch and £9.50 for parking - ouch, all I spent, other than the gifts that came from the Christmas pot, was £6 on two Krispy Kreme doughnuts 🍩 however we did have a nightmare leaving. and it took almost an hour to get out of the multi story car park plus another hour to battle thought the traffic, just short of 2 hours to get home 15 miles away.

Todays plans include bringing the Christmas tree and decs down from the loft, housework that didn’t get done yesterday and probably a long walk if the weather isn’t too grim, Steak and Chips for dinner as it’s just Dh and I - everyone else will be out or sorting themselves something.

Still need to get to grips with the food side of Christmas- so far we have quality street and Pringles, every time I read how organised everyone here is I start to panic a little, but not enough to sort it out apparently.

Have a great Saturday everyone.