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 spent nothing yesterday, spend around £80 today. £45 on a term of toddler gym. £11 from cafe at Toddler gym.was a decent burger and chips and a nice smoothie, but I should bring lunch next time. Also £30Something on petrol.

Does anyone have emotional difficulties around charitable spending? We are Christian and it's important to me but decided which and how much is hard. I wrote an essay about my mental health then deleted it. But I want to reduce my monthly payments to world vision but can't do it emotionally right now. I'd agreed with DH as he set up a monthly payment to our church instead.

@Alwayslearning25
I'm not religious so I don't understand the religious pull side of it however sometimes you need to look after your own.
@MaryGreenhill your welcome :-) now pop those snowball's down.

Everything comes at once doesn’t it @pistachiosanscream? Boo re the extra expenses. How much use does DH generally get re the gym? Seems sensible to drop this expense if it’s not cost effective.

@Alwayslearning25 - could you find out what percentage of your donation goes to help the particular charity rather than its expenses as make a decision from there? It’s very hard - we had a lot of small donations set up monthly at one stage - it really adds up .

NSD

£10 on Amazon and £100 on boots. £10 on Amazon was stuff to clean and prep before my surgery next week.

Happy hump day guys 😁

Monday was a successful Nsd, I thought yesterday was too - until I realised I’d purchased train tickets to visit Dd1 at uni next month, I go up the Saturday after term finishes and spend the day with her, get lunch and do a little bit of last minute shopping, then we come home on the train together. It’s nice to spend time in her territory so to speak, plus there will be probably be cake involved ☺️

Today I have also managed another Nsd, like quite a few of us here I am running down a very full chest freezer, I’ve also put a few bits on Vinted, sold a pair of jeans for £4, so will drop those off tonight when out on my dog walk, Also just checked out £36 balance into my current account from previous Vinted sales.

Thanks @MaryGreenhill for the new thread

@Alwayslearning25i don’t do tithing, but we have committed to sponsoring a little girl in Senegal all through her schooling via Plan International. So what we do is use Lend with care - a micro financing charity - for our charitable donations along side this, which means if things are really tight we can miss a month, if the finances are looking good we can give more.

@Mochi1fudge- on the previous thread you mentioned cooking teriyaki chicken/salmon which sound delicious- would you mind sharing the recipe please and thank you 🙏

hope everyone’s had a pleasant day.

@needastrongoneagain yes small bits add up for us, it's a monthly donation of £5 or £10 to a few charities. A percentage of income is the recommended was I think.
@ChipshopPickledEgg we do work to look after ourselves as well as having a spiritual and religious view of giving to charity. Which is where my personal conflict lies, and sometimes I think I'm far richer than 90% of the world I need to donate some. But we're not high earners, but my parents have gifted us money over the years.

Thanks so much for this, I hadn't seen! We're going for our kids plus my mum theatre trip at the start of December - it'll make a huge difference during the most £ time of year!

Oh good about Pizza Express- love their food but never go anymore as it's just so expensive.

Spent £17 on a Starbucks as a treat but shouldn't have bothered. Wasn't worth the money and just felt guilty.

Evening all - I haven’t posted for a few days because, life, but I’ve just caught up with the old thread and this shiny new one (thanks @MaryGreenhill 🎄)

I’ve spent more than I think I have - if that makes sense - as, like @Johaanah said on the last thread I too get lax around ‘payday’ and don’t spend mindfully.

However, yesterday I needed some new makeup and some body lotion so I recycled five of my toiletries empties at boots, spent more than £10 and used the recycling voucher to get £5 worth of points added!!

I’ve also been busy on Vinted but buying rather than selling- using my balance so I fell like that doesn’t really count…. I’ve bought a dress for my upcoming birthday meal - in bright pink which I don’t usually wear! Need to get some gold shoes and a bag to go with it but I have my eye on some.

Next week is the last of my temp working contract and although the money has been good (and I’ve challenged my brain - a lot!) I will be glad to get back to my semi retired life and crack on with Christmas prep & the long list of ‘stuff that needs doing’ 😊

@Johaanah the salmon teriyaki recipe is on the Good Food app which I begrudgingly pay a subscription for, I say begrudgingly because it was previously free. But use at least one recipe per week so it's worth it.. I've added a shot of the sauce ingredients. The veggies were just bottom of the fridge fried off and then I added the sauce ingredients to the pan. Baked the salmon fillet and chicken fillet in foil in the oven and the added it all together with steamed jasmine rice.

The image hasn't come up yet, I'll check back and type the ingredients if needed.

Today was £15 M&S dine in deal. Also got £46 refund from M&S. £6 Tesco meal deal (the YoSushi one) and £94 food delivery from Morrisons.

Sods law, a week after buying ds wellies I found some old boy style ones DD wore 5 years ago, in the cupboard when getting out uht milk(don't judge my storage system)

@Alwayslearning25
I'm judging ;-)
(Just don't go NEAR my understairs cupboard.... Or any other cupboards in my house ;-) )

@Alwayslearning25 I used to add a new monthly donation a year but stopped when I got to 5.

im away for work in a nice hotel so just had my lovely breakfast and will be fed by a conference later. I’m meeting a friend later but dinner can be expensed. I do plan to do some Christmas shopping while I’m here but I have a separate pot for that. From my regular pot I’ve already spent €56 today on the inkey list. I’d run out of serum and they had 30% off for an early Black Friday offer.

@ChipshopPickledEgg haha. They are exactly the same size as his current ones so that makes 3 pairs of wellies in his size at the moment. 😂. I might donate one as a nursery spare or charity shop.

NSD for me 😁
Been to see Mum who was fine there thankfully.
Hope everyone is ok and having a good day 😁

Love the new thread thank you @MaryGreenhill . You using up the last thread made me giggle too!

@Alwayslearning25 similar to you, I had a few charity donations going out until last year tbh. I was very emotionally attached as they meant an awful lot to me and it took some doing getting rid. But it has made a difference to my budget and when I'm in a better position I've promised I'll go back to them.

A spendy two days for me. Which makes me feel a bit sick.
£5.80 on a coffee and tea for my friend at work during a break. I always make mine for free in the kitchen but she doesn't and I said I'd treat her in that canteen. Wish I hadn't.
Then went to lunch with same friend. £9 on a salad. A salad!!!!!!!!! Wish I hadn't done that too.
Was out out last night and spent £27 on food (got half price deal as friend I was with had a voucher) and £20 on cabs as I was drinking.

Today.
£108 in lidl. And I didn't need anything!!! But Christmas is topped up and I bought stocking fillers and gifts.
£7 on play group. DD had her Christmas photos taken so I shall buy those later. I opt to buy them all on USB and print myself as it works out cheaper.
Think that's it. Oh. No. £1.60 on vending machine cheddars after swimming. And £20 petrol

How do the tesco points work? I have a card and just don't understand it. Seems to be a brilliant thing from what you are all saying.
Also. The boots recycling scheme, do they accept bits that you didn't buy from boots?

Out again tonight. I wish I wasn't. Could do with saving the pennies. Although one of the friends is unwell so I'm very secretly hoping everyone says it's cancelled and we rebook for when she is better.....

Love that recipe for the salmon thank you!!

It’s been spends!

£59 in Tesco on Christmas stocking and good bits for dh and kids
£28 in home bargains
£28 in pound stretcher on wrapping paper and more Christmas bits

£10 on prescription for dh.

I think that should almost do Christmas stockings. So that’s good! I used my Tesco Clubcard points to reduce the cost there, I log in to the Clubcard website and it has my vouchers and they have barcodes you can. Scan at the till.

Evening All -

Thank you for the sparkling new thread @MaryGreenhill.

Spending yesterday and today has been about £13 in a combination of Sainsbury’s and Asda.

Good on the Vinted front @SockHop and @FurForksSake.

Welcome @LetsGoDoDoDo.

I laughed at your salad horror @Frugal25. I do the same. I’m always horrified at the amount I pay for a plate of leaves and who knows what when I go out for dinner. I said no to a December outing this week as the restaurant had one vegetarian starter. Carrot soup. No wish to go out and pay £££ for a bowl of carrot soup.

The contractor I thought I’d found has vanished and I have entered email ping pong with the solicitor. I’m bracing myself. I had been looking at a pair of pajamas and finally made it to the shop to look at them and they weren’t nice so a sort of saving there. Am breathing a sigh of relief as I think surgery is off the table for my injury now.

I spent 42 quid in Iceland and still forgot to buy eggs!! 😕My Bonus Card is now at 21.81 this has been built up literally with rounding up the pennies every time I shopped in Iceland this year. Will start adding a quid or so each visit between now and Christmas - this will cover all the nibbly freezer bits that DH and I love to munch on over Christmas and New Year.
Nectar has not been so successful as I've just not got to Sainsburys very often and has grand total of 3.51!! 😆But it will pay for something!!
Not even got enough points on the Tesco card to get a voucher!! 🙄 I think we can safely say that Lidl has been my shopping centre of choice!! 😂
We won't be buying so many sweets this year as DH is diabetic but I will treat him to some dark chocolate which he can have in moderation. I don't particularly like chocolate and I much prefer the savoury bits like cheesy footballs and japanese rice crackers which DH isn't keen on. More for me then!! 😉
Have sold another item on Vinted so that is packed up and ready to go tomorrow morning. Need to tweak my new laptop - I don't have a pound sign!! 😩
Been doing extra hours at work which keeps me away from the shops except for the daily paper I buy to read from cover to cover and then do all the puzzles. It's been good in a way but it's not getting the present shopping done!! I have been saving each month for christmas and so far it has paid for GCs Xmas Train trip, a visit to Santa at a Garden Centre and half of one of the GD's Xmas Pressies. The rest is waiting for me to be inspired or getting ideas off family for the other GCs! but in the meantime is sitting tight in savings!!

Money just seems to be flowing out here, but just on the normal necessities.

We’ve also upgraded our broadband (it is currently very slow). We almost signed up to a new deal last weekend, but held off for a Black Friday offer. This was a very good frugal wait as the deal was now so much better.

Also, I set up as an ebay seller to get rid of some stuff and then I got sent a free postage offer by eBay. I’ve made £8.75 so far. The only frustrating thing with this is the very slow broadband means listing things takes ages. 50 items listed. Small steps though!

Oh well done @Holidaysandchocolate on your black Friday!
I hear you @RumBananaSundae , I'm off out for a work lunch for Christmas and I've fingers crossed the veggie option is good. I said no to it initially as we had to pay for ourselves, but seeing as I'm not going to the team doo in Scotland (I've yet to tell the boss) as it means two days away from DD which I've never done, I paid the deposit for the lunch.

Went out last night in the end but as I didn't drink, the girls let me off most of the bill and my share came to £20 which I had in cash so it didn't touch my bank account. Yippee.
£44 this morning to secure DDs new gymnastics activity for the month. OH gave me money to go out with which I didn't use so his money covered this instead.

Hoping that's it for today. Oh. I spent £70 on Amazon on Christmas bits, thank you cards and more leggings for DD as hers are getting way too small. Shall sell her old ones on vinted.

I think where I'm so loyal to lidl my tesco points are small. But something to keep in mind next year to build up and use :)

Morning all. £8 window cleaner and £3.50 at the co-op on yogurt,milk and a Mars bar. Why do I do it? Chocolate crisps and wine are my downfall and I need discipline!!

Will be shopping today when I get my act together and there’s quite a big list but mostly non food related.

@Frugal25 yes the boots recycling scheme takes all sorts of toiletries - there’s drop down lists of brands (but you can still add even if it doesn’t list your brands- I’ve deposited a Spanish toiletries empty before - and a Superdrug own brand). They also take travel sizes - I’ve deposited the mini conditioners you get with hair colours before. It is quite complicated in terms of claiming your voucher so read that bit carefully but it’s well worth doing.

Afternoon everyone 🤗
Tesco £67
Aldi £15
Cancer charity shop £3
Marks £9
Hope everyone is having a good day 😊

@Frugal25 it's on my list for today to cut down on a monthly charity but I didn't do it. I did buy DD new pe t&shirts as they were sold out when I bought the rest of her uniform in the summer.