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 🤗 .
☃️🤶🎅🦌🎄🎁

And now I want shaped butter! That sounds super festive and cute.

@VikingNorthUtsire I’ve bought the moulded shaped ones from Morrisons before, but the butter is very mid. I’m hoping the moulds will give me delicious and flavoured butters in fun shapes. I’m going to freeze them and then pop them out into a bag and just get some out when we need them.

Christmas butter shapes! Shit, I am seriously slacking in my prep here! I have placed the order at the butcher, most of which can be picked up next week as it’s destined for the freezer or fridge. The only exception being the ham, which I paid £30 deposit for and I will collect on Christmas Eve.

tiny dribs coming back in - refund on a light that never arrived, refund on a broken chair has gone through, dropped off a return that will bring £33 when processed. Cancelled an item that was due delivery on Amazon (£16), deferred a Dermatica delivery until January (£38). Have thrown out one ratty bra but decided to mend another.

Spaghetti carbonara for dinner, need to get some bacon and some pigs in blankets for the Christmas freezer (while I think of it).

It is!
I don't belong in there 😆
To be honest though I don't think it's any nicer than a lot of farm shops.

Today should have been a No spend but i rather absentmindedly bought some groceries in lidl, mainly christmas treats for €21. Amazon for glitter for some christmas crafts and then a dress on vinted for €32 which i also don't need but think i will really like.

I could have done without buyuing most of these and its a lesson i need to remember. i was feeling peckish in lidl so bought stuff i don't need and i need to stay off vinted!

Of course you belong in the posh shop @ChipshopPickledEgg . We all belong in posh shops :)
Ooohhh carbonara..... Nom.
I got a refund of £7 for an item that didn't turn up.
I sold an item on vinted and posted that so that's £2 coming soon.

Then.
£40 for posting all my Christmas parcels and cards. And I've halved what I normally send due to the price. All sent second class.
£7 on a new address book as people keep moving. I need to learn to use pencil in the new one and not pen.

Just about to do a years budget for 2026. Seeing the whole year planned out really helped me this year. And although I've slipped due to Christmas. I shall plan better for that next year now I know.

I love booths. My nearest is now a Tesco but I go each time we are in Keswick.

I’m not spending as still in for tests. There are parcels arriving though for Christmas. I need to make the in laws a hamper but there is plenty of time
and I need to get DD as she’s so hard to buy for

I need to do a years budget - sounds like a really good idea, do you have any tips? Making a list of all expenditure and income is key I suppose and I know roughly how much we have coming in each month so I guess that's a good place to start :)

I finally got my £99 refund from British Gas... in a bloody cheque! Unbelievable really, so I've banked it and now will wait a lifetime for it to clear.

After mammoth spending over the last few days I have finally managed a NSD today, tomorrow will hopefully be the same, Friday I may need to spend a little.

Steak for dinner tonight, should be nice.

Spending today has been: £1.75 in Sainsbury on milk, £12 in Primark on slipper socks and velvet lined leggings, £15.98 on two Pyrex dishes in TK Maxx and £1.25 in Marks and Spencer on chocolate coins. So just over £30. Decided the trousers I bought last week in Uniqlo were too nice to lounge in hence the leggings.

Simple dinner of poached eggs on toast @chimichangaz? I won’t have it. Poached eggs is the food of Elysium.

You’re welcome to Gail’s @ChipshopPickledEgg. They are everywhere here. If I take the bus to the office, without exaggerating, I go past more than 10. I’m not a fan. Have never been to Booths though I can’t imagine they’d be as bad as Gail’s (or Ole and Steen).

Hope you enjoyed your tea @MaryGreenhill.

How are you feeling @VikingNorthUtsire?

How are you @lifelongfrugaleer? I hope you’re ok and that the tests come back ok too.

Blimey @Johaanah. Good for you. British Gas is awful to deal with. Enjoy your steak.

Off to a friend this evening. I realised the next time I was visiting was the evening of a therapy day and I’d feel even less inclined to go so will go today. I will enjoy it once I’m there it’s the getting there and back that doesn’t appeal.

Tomorrow is work teams Christmas dinner. So going to the office in the evening then onto a restaurant to spend my hard earned pennies having food I don’t really want to eat.

£22 in Sainsbury’s, of which 12.50 went on 60 pigs in blankets.

@RumBananaSundae do you know what, poached eggs on granary toast really are delicious - I was actually coming down with a cold and hadn't realised (dreamed I had a cold last night and woke up in the grip of one!) and all I wanted was my comfort food. It really was delicious but maybe if the toast had been proper sized instead of the mini sized loaves for one it would have filled me up more!

I have just gone through and updated my YNAB budget with all my spends from the last two weeks so I feel much better now and have a good handle on where I am at. I actually still have a healthy Christmas pot which is a good thing as I still have a few bits to buy.

Off for a rewarding glass of rosé whilst staring at the tv 😊

Ooohhh poached eggs in toast. That has to go on a meal plan next week I think.
We had veggie korma tonight. I forgot to buy enough dinners last week (first time ever as I am such a planner) so OH came back from work with ingredients and did very well.
My budget plan for the year @Johaanah . I do a separate sheet on Excel for each month. They mostly look the same. Wages in and bills out and then What's left. But each month will also differ in what birthdays I have and what expense I have for that month. So Jan is DD birthday and boiler service. Feb is home insurance and Valentine's day. Etc etc. I found when I was unable to pay for anything that if I had a whole year, I could split up the bills a bit and balance it out better.
Hope that helps?
@RumBananaSundae have a lovely time tonight and I hope tomorrow is not too painful. My work Christmas do is Monday next week but a lunch not a dinner as everyone said no to a dinner. I hear you though. This time tomorrow it will all be over

Pouched eggs on toast are a popular breakfast here. I've been getting into soups and strews. Slow cooked meat based. Perl barley, stew mix and orzo are great dried goods on the store cupboard to make them more filling.

@Johaanah catching up. But use the money saving expert tool for an annual budget. It’s in affect a spreadsheet but does the calculations for you.

I’ve been reading along, tried to post a few days ago but it got deleted. So here goes again!

I’ve now hit £700 in eBay sales since the beginning of November. I thought my listing days were done, but got another 14 days of free postage again so still on the hunt for more unwanted stuff to list. The pile of stuff to sell isn’t reducing, as I keep adding more. We have so much clutter. I am really bored of packaging stuff and the post office see me every day with my random large packages.

Loads of spends going out, but a few bargains here and there. Got two sol de janeiro sets for the DDs- £24 in total on a new customer deal, so that was a good find.

GHD/ Evri have lost my Christmas present. I’ve re-ordered it from amazon, as I assume eventually I should get a refund but the reviews on the site make me suspect this will take ages.

This morning I need to write my CV, ready for the new year job hunt. Obviously, I am procrastinating on mumsnet instead 😁

I hope you get to go home soon life

Has anyone found a way to buy Amazon or Next gift cards at a discount? The best I have come up with is to buy them from Tesco with my Chase card (1% cashback) as Chase categories the spend as groceries. At the moment you also get double points at Tesco on gift cards. Most discount sites don’t include Amazon or Next.

Good luck with the job hunt holidays. DS working hard on his - steeling himself to actually attend networking events and contacting individuals directly. The hunt itself is skill-building!

Gleefully on train to London Bridge and thence to Tunbridge Wells for lunch with friend. Between home and contractors at the flat I have been rather over run with hairy-arsed fella energy of late and can manage a femme-lunch very happily today.

£700 is ace though holidays.

hopefully home today

£20 on necklaces for DD Christmas

Oh well done on your sales @Holidaysandchocolate ! My pile is the same. Doesn't ever go down!

@BigSkies2022 enjoy Tunbridge. It's a beautiful area and I am constantly eyeing it up on right I've as it's on the way to family for me.

£84 in lidl this morning. Then £1.60 on cheddars at swimming. Everything else was prepaid today which was nice.

Off out tonight for a wreath making evening with my bestie. I'll can it there and back so I can have a drink and get home safely so that will be around £20 in all.

Working in London tomorrow but will sneak home during my lunch break. Doubt think I'll be spending anything tomorrow other than travel. I take my own lunch and we are making our own pizza for dinner. I may have bought baked beans to put on it. Don't judge. It's divine.

Had a spendy Christmas shop in Sainsburys and Home Bargains - paid for from Christmas Savings pot so not too painful!! 🌞

£49 Morrisons
£25 last night for a two course meal and soft drink
Spending has slowed down since Black Friday weekend as I've more or less finished present shopping. Got a spendy weekend ahead for DHs 60th although a lot was paid months ago.

Hope you got out today @lifelongfrugaleer
Well done on the ebay sales @Holidaysandchocolate

£18.94 on vinted for 37 on old phoenix magazines for my daughter for Christmas. She gets them on subscription as a gift from my mum and there her favourite thing. So I spent 50p a magazine, which is good...or am I just buying junk?....

I'm a member of Lego insiders and love the winter gazebo on there at the moment. Talk me out of spending £135 so I can get it. There's a little saxophonist and I play the sax...well used to before I had small children....I mean I can get friends and family Lego for Christmas....

£9.50 on tea and cake with a friend
£4.28 in Lidl

Managed to make yesterday spend-free. Didn't succumb to the middle aisle OR the bargain Hotel Chocolat advent calendars on the bargain thread.

@lifelongfrugaleer hope you are home and doing ok.

@Frugal25 I mean, each to their own but....beans on pizza? 😂not sure I am cool with that.

What is wrong with beans on toast? That’s the best meal (I look forward to DH going away so I can eat variations of this excellent meal- neither he nor DS lie it, weirdos.) why would you put beans on pizza?

We had tuna and cheese toasties made with reduced sourdough for supper, amazing.

I think I’m down to two presents to get, which is so good. I spent £100 on Uniqlo for a present and a couple of bits fell in for me.