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 🤗 .
☃️🤶🎅🦌🎄🎁

Mary ❤️ that’s a lot to deal with. We are your friends in your phone when you want us

Same for you fur ❤️

I love my SB leggings so well done on saving that £150

Afternoon everyone 🤗
Hope everyone is having a lovely day. I have been to see my Mum who was not in any pain thankfully but the meds are making her confused . Nothing l can do about it l just have to go with the flow .
A2 thank you so much @lifelongfrugaleer that's so kind of you 🤗
Spends today £8 Aldi on a gnome chocolate cheesecake 2 x waters and a chocolate trifle .

Im so glad your lovely mum isn't in pain. @MaryGreenhill . Maybe when things are more settled the confusion will go also?
How are you doing @lifelongfrugaleer ?

A NSD today. We went for a walk and blew the cobwebs away before staying in tomorrow. I found £1 on the floor! And OH treated us to Tesco pizza and sides for dinner which was delicious (ate already as so hungry after the fresh air!)

Waiting for Santa to come round on his sleigh. I'll give him the £1 I found on the floor 😂
I hope everyone is as relaxed and as happy as they can be this Christmas eve. I'm sending my love to you all, my lovely friends in this cozy corner.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas Eve 🎄

@MaryGreenhill no pain is better and although likely hard to see the confusion, you are right to go with the flow.

Took DD to get her nails done (£26) and a pizza slice x 3 (£12). Coop on way home for diet coke and water £6 ish.

DH home from work with 72 luxury mince pies likely with short dates (he works in food distribution) 😂

Merry Christmas Frugaleers 🎄 🎁 tomorrow will be a NSD at least 😂

Sending love to Nana Pumpkin x

Aw thank you so much for the reassurance for my Mum @Frugal25 & @Mochi1fudgeThat sounds like what will possibly happen once my Mum adjust to the dose , fingers crossed 🤗
That sounds like such a cosy Christmas Eve @Frugal25
Love the walk to blow the cobwebs away, then your relaxing at home. Finding £1 is a perfect little find 😁
Tesco pizza after fresh air always hits the right spot. Wishing you a calm evening, a merry sleigh visit, and a lovely Christmas sweetheart 🎄💫
I am thinking to myself @Mochi1fudge oh 72 mince pies that's only 12 boxes of 6 l thought 🤣
Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family 😊

AHH thank you so much @ChipshopPickledEgg that's so kind of you. Hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas ⛄ 🎁 🎉🎈😊

Mary- good luck to you and your mum. Our Olds feel more precious at Christmas don’t they?

£18 in Waitrose today- champagne for Ddad and DM for tomorrow, various cakes ld meds for DH who has flu? COVID? Shitty cold? £27 on the ham which is currently finishing in the oven under its black treacle glaze for our ham and mash Christmas Eve dinner.

took DS to see Ddad in the nursing home today- cheese straws from home and cake from the home. It was lovely- DS a bit taken aback by how tiny and frail his grandad is these days, but they had a nice time together for about 90 minutes before my dad was knackered. Dropped off gifts for Dnieces on the way home and plan to be utterly selfish for the next 42 hours until it’s time to go and collect DMum. Have a lovely evening everyone! Xx

Evening everyone. Haven’t posted for a few days but I’ve been reading updates (too many to fully keep up though!).

I’m so sorry to hear about your mum @MaryGreenhill - and all your other friends dealing with health issues Sending love ❤️

I too have been thinking about @PearlTeapot and hoping she’s ok.

My best friend’s dad is poorly at the moment, she’s visiting him in hospital this Christmas Eve. We usually spend it together so I’ve done something completely different and visited M&S before closing to see if I could bag some food bargains - and I did. Spent £18 and came home with 5 chicken breasts, 2 packs of diced chicken, a large mac and cheese, 2 haddock fillets, flatbreads, crumpets and 2 sauces. Very happy with that haul which is all safely in the freezer or in the case of one pack of chicken and a sauce, in my tummy.

I’ve decided to have a low budget for food in January, around £80-£100. I’ve plenty in the freezer and I’m away for a week so it should be totally doable.

I’m curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine, thinking of watching ‘You’ve got mail’ (if I can find it) whilst scoffing chocolate.

Merry Christmas all - I hope you have the Christmas you need 🎄❤️

That sounds such a lovely tender day for you all @BigSkies2022 ❤️
Christmas does seem to sharpen everything when our parents are ageing , the love, the worry, the gratitude all mixed in together.
£18 in Waitrose is practically a Christmas miracle and that ham sounds divine .
Your poor DH though, Flu/Covid/evil lurgy always picks the worst timing, hope it eases quickly .
I’m really glad you our DS got that time with his Grandad, even if it was a bit of a shock for him , those quiet, gentle visits matter so much, for all of you. 90 minutes is a good stretch when someone’s so frail bless him
Yes, be gloriously selfish for the next 42 hours, you’ve more than earned it. Wishing you a peaceful, cosy evening and a very happy Christmas tomorrow 🤗 🎄

@chimichangazI’m so sorry about your best friend’s Dad that’s so hard, especially when traditions have to change, but you’ve handled it with such kindness and practicality.
Thank you so much for your kind words about my Mum and my friends bless you 🤗
What a brilliant haul from M&S, well done you on setting that budget in January too.
Have a lovely Christmas tomorrow 🤗 🎄 🎁

Families how can something so wonderful cause so much heartbreak and destruction sending gentle thoughts and wishes for the season ahead.

Ah bless you @ChipshopPickledEgg .
l was there with Mum today and my daughter came with me , who looks the spit out of my mouth. Mum thought it was me when l was young, it was lovely to see her interacting with 'me' even though my Mum was confused. It's bittersweet but it's all in for the long haul ❤️

Merry Christmas you wonderful corner of Mumsnet and lovely Frugal Friends.

I am not a ‘sharer’ in RL, so you lot weirdly know more stuff about me than ‘actual’ folk I know.

Massive kudos to you all for being fab and an especially big shout out to @MaryGreenhill for keeping this thread so wonderfully supportive but also for all the crap life has flung at you the last week. Sending lots of positive thoughts and love. I have read or at listened on a podcast that a lot of people die WITH cancer rather than OF cancer - I’m thinking of prostate in particular, but given our aging population then I’m sure this fact might cast its net further and I hope your DM is getting the correct pain relief now.

Spends - £50 on a subscription that had the audacity to be deducted this morning!! In fairness, I reviewed my subscriptions last month and this is one of the few I decided to keep.

Enjoy a lovely, hopefully joyful, peaceful, fun filled day - whichever is your choice or life situation xx

Merry Christmas frugaleers 🎄❤️🎅😍

Happy Christmas to us all , hope this year will be a very good one for everyone 💞🎁🎄🎉🎈⛄❤️

Happy Christmas day to everyone 😊
Been to see my Mum who was miles better today . Care home manager says that Mum will get used to the pain relief and won't be so confused and it's obvious she was miles better today, thank God . Best Christmas present ever for me l can tell you ❤️
Ah thank you so much that was so kind of you to say that @needastrongoneagain1❤️
What a wonderful little corner of MN we have here ,we are so lucky to have each other 🤗
Hoping everyone has the most wonderful day and the new year brings us peace, health and happiness , especially health for those of us here with health issues. @lifelongfrugaleeryou brilliant, brave ,fabulous woman, sending you hugs galore and the very best from us all ❤️

Merry Christmas my beautiful frugal friends in this lovely corner.
I hope we are all enjoying the last few hours of a beautiful day.
Oh @MaryGreenhill that's the best Christmas present!!!! Your lovely mum being more like herself on Christmas is all you can ask for.
@needastrongoneagain I love that you feel you can be yourself with us. It's so much easier through a screen at times isn't it.

I've been utterly spoiled all day and had some beautiful gifts. Very happy and content.
Going to enjoy the next couple of days and then revisit the budget. This month is very tough and it's worrying me and keeping me awake so giving myself permission to enjoy Christmas before worrying again. I too am looking at a very skinny food budget going forward @chimichangaz so any food plans you have for your January id welcome and I'll share mine too. Although I did manage to freeze four Tupperware of leftovers from today so that will help!
Sending love to you all xx

Well I managed a no spend day today at least 😆

Merry Christmas!

I dld not manage a no spend day, spent £60 on bloody Amazon.

we’ve had a lovely day, loads of leftovers and the turkey was delicious. It was expensive but so much better than last years and we’ll eat all of it. We put two bag fulls in the freezer for new year pie and January curry. Then we have gammon and white meat in the fridge. Gammon, egg and chips tomorrow.

I want to do a freezer and cupboard order and eat through a lot.

Merry Christmas Frugaleers and hope everyone has had a peaceful day.

£36.80 for a Greene King voucher for drinks in our local - 8% off by buying via work scheme. Have £15 left on the voucher - we have a table for New Years Day.
£5.13 Shein for DD although she will give me the money from her Christmas money.

We have a ridiculous amount of leftovers, biscuits, chocolate and cheese - I'm not buying anything sweet until DS's birthday in 3.5 weeks!

Ah thank you @Frugal25 you are right ,that was the best present ever my Mum being more herself today bless her😍
So glad you had a lovely day
And well done on the leftovers 😁 👏.
🤣@ChipshopPickledEgg
Glad you had such a lovely day @FurForksSake and well done to you too on saving the leftovers 👏😁
Happy Christmas to you too @Mochi1fudge and great savings on the Greene King voucher that is an excellent saving well done you 👏😁
Spent £14 on Sainsbury's sale 2 prs of warm soft brushed fleece Pjs , the freezing cold weather today encouraged me 🤣

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope a nice day was had by all.

great to hear your mum is adapting to the new medication @MaryGreenhill

weve had a lovely Christmas with lots of entertaining. Lots of cheese gifts so we will be eating that for a good bit of time. Going to a sisters today for another party. We were going to stay over but DH has decided to drive.

Anyways it will likely be 3 NSDs in a row for me as I’m too busy to be shopping!