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 🤗 .
☃️🤶🎅🦌🎄🎁

Strange how marketing can pull some people in. It has the opposite effect on me. I just switch off to it. The fact that facebook is predominantly adverts has turned me away from it because I can't be bothered to press the X so I don't see that ad again. They will just post another in its place.
If I want to look at something I'll go looking for it - right now I have ads for A rocky mountaineering and underarmour! Why they think I'll ever be interested in those is beyond me.

Could you consider a pre paid card I wonder Pearl? Revoult or similar?
I use one day to day more for card safety really but you could restrict your spends this way.
Life is one constant urge to spend unfortunately. Doesn't help that there is nothing for say £5 really now. I used to be able to go to the supermarket or something and spoil myself within a fiver

I was also going to suggest the Monzo or Revolut idea, just move on the amount you can spend and no more.

Have they helped get to the root cause and think about the core values that are leading you to spend? Finding a way to accept and acknowledge the urge but not act on it will be hard but help in the long run.

if you are able to learn any form of meditation that can help with urge control and time to react in a way you choose instead of instinctively.

I hope you are able to find some solutions.

Omg @needastrongoneagain l am so sorry to hear about your poor Father breaking his hip . You poor thing bless you and your Dad oh l know how worried l would be if it were my Mum . Hope everything works out and he is out of pain very quickly bless him 😭💐
Thank you for those kind words my DH is wonderful to me l am so lucky ❤️

Welcome @foxinasnowstorm love your username 😁

Thinking of you tomorrow @FurForksSake hope everything goes really well 💐

Spent just under £8 on milk, yogurt and a few other bits today.

I was quite a Ted Baker fan @Mochi1fudge. I have some gym clothes from there and they’re rather fab. They’ll like it.

Maybe nine months or so I think @Frugal25. Maybe it makes her a better negotiator? I’ve not replied yet. My surgeon was dreadfully rude and unpleasant but he was an amazing surgeon and did a fabulous job so I’m trying to be philosophical about it.

Sorry to hear about your father @needastrongoneagain. I hope he’s as comfortable as he can be.

Welcome @foxinasnowstorm. Your Christmas cake sounds like it might be a winner.

I think things like that will help with not spending @PearlTeapot. I’m a cash person and was spending much more when I was on crutches as I found carrying my purse and counting out money too difficult so I used my card instead.

Returned one of the Marks and Spencer sweatshirts today so that is £30 back. I ordered some carpet samples. Not looking forward to the actual carpet fitting. I’ll have to think properly about the logistics of it.

Have been thinking about Appletiser since yesterday. I have no idea why. I don’t like carbonated drinks. Actually had an OK day today though I can’t say I achieved much.

Need ❤️ hope DF is comfy.

i think cash is your friend their pearls. Get pocket money and when it’s gone it’s gone until next allowance day. Even cards are too easy to spend on. Remove them from everywhere online

Oh @needastrongoneagain sorry about your DFs fall. My DM is also 93 and very frail. Still at home but care 2 x daily.

@PearlTeapot positive news about your discharge. I have a friend who spends impulsively and she acknowledges it now - I'm not sure if that helps her to talk about it (in a safe space of course) and resist the urges. I think marketing is terrible (or terribly good?) at this time of year and I do try hard to not get sucked in and end up with ridiculous amounts of food. Heard it being called 'the Christmas itch' when you start to think you haven't bought enough for Christmas. So I now think 'resist the Christmas Itch Mochi'. Easier said than done though!

@ChipshopPickledEgg your comment made me smile. When I posted that list last night I thought 'OMG this looks like a child has written it' 😂 I tend to scribble when the thought is in my head during December.

Welcome @foxinasnowstorm love your username.

Hope all goes well tomorrow @FurForksSake

Sorry if I've missed anyone.

After a wet miserable day working in the rain I managed to resist a takeaway - I'm having left overs and making DC paninis.

£3.25 Morrisons cafe
£5.50 Morrisons meal deal

Also £39.95 Hollister for a pair of jeans. Popped by a local store at lunchtime and they are massive! Think the sizing there is the US. So they will be going back. When dyeing DDs hair I got hair dye on my absolute favourite flared faded jeans. Stained beyond repair - I'm gutted. This is replacement pair number 3, still not right.

@Mochi1fudge
It's actually a sign of intelligence!
That's why doctors hand writing often resembles a child's their brain works too quickly. My husband's is absolutely appalling I'm sure my daughter will have better penmanship before she's 5.

Good morning everyone 🤗
Just wanted to wish @FurForksSake all the best for her surgery today .
Take it easy and look after yourself sweetheart 💐🤗

Thank you! I’ve been consented and seen the anaesthetist so it’s just waiting now :)

Good luck @FurForksSake I'll be thinking of you and wishing you the best!

Sending love @FurForksSake ❤️❤️❤️
Your poor dad @needastrongoneagain . Hope he is feeling ok?

£92 in Lidl yesterday. That's two weeks of eating out of the freezer but the bill is higher than normal. Baffling.

Got to post thank you letters today (I'm old school and still write to say thank you for gifts) and two birthday gifts so that will be my spending today

Also sold two more vinted items so posting them too!

Went through DD toys again yesterday. Another black bag to put in vinted this weekend.

Hope it's gone well @FurForksSake😊

@needastrongoneagain how is your Dad getting on?
I hope he's not in a lot of pain bless him 💐

NSd for me today , been to see Mum who was fine there thankfully 😁.
Home and just stuck in the house watching Storm Claudia 😁

I spend £5.11 on odd grocery items.

Well done on the freezer two weeks @Frugal25. I’m failing at it.

Went to Lidl today to look for the alpine Fairy washing up liquid but they didn’t have any. I was most disappointed.

I had planned a freezer/cupboard dinner today but ended up buying something new. I how have left over items so will have to think of a way to use them up that will undoubtedly lead to more grocery buying. I really should meal plan.

Next week will be spendy so I’m bracing myself. I was hoping for a bit of a recovery month but it’s not to be. Hoping that it might help me stick to the freezer eating. Glad it’s the weekend though I have no plans other than maybe a locksmith on Sunday.

£62.50 superdrug. Aftershave for DH and beauty advent for DD (both on offer)
£38 Next still trying to replace the jeans but do have £50 worth of jeans to return..
£49 M&S 3 x pairs of White Stuff tights. Bit of a splurge but I am so fed up of my black work tights being mixed up with DD's school tights and I can never find the ones that fit me. So spotty and sparkly tights for me this winter!

Christmas shopping feels like it's begun in earnest now.

Hope the surgery went okay @FurForksSake

Good luck with the freezer eating @RumBananaSundae

Well done on Vinted @Frugal25

Hope everyone else is okay.

Hope Storm Claudia not too bad @MaryGreenhill we are eating in an outdoor pod tomorrow lunchtime for a joint 60th but hopefully the worst will be gone by then here 🤞

Surgery went ok! Very involved and he’s done a lot to rebuild my hip, but says I’ve dodged the replacement for a good chunk of time on this side. The other side will betray me first!

£95 on domino’s, people who have had a general anaesthetic shouldn’t do the pizza ordering on the way home across rural Oxfordshire, navigating flood waters and roadworks!

oops.

But I’m home! And I don’t have to pay for a night in the hospital or dh’s petrol to do an extra trip.

Not spent anything since Tuesday when I took my NDN shopping to Iceland, Lidl and Home Bargains. Can't remember what I spent now but it wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things.
I defrosted the kitchen freezer yesterday which I've been meaning to do for quite a while. It's now clean and clear of all ice but because of the awful weather I couldn't be bothered to run across the garden to the shed to do an audit and bring in some food that we could eat. So we had Jacket potatoes for tea with Heinz's Beans with Pigs in Blankets and cheese. The beans were an impulse buy from Iceland but they were pretty good to be fair.
Hopefully I'll get to the shed over the weekend without getting wet!! But at least I now have room for Christmas food which can be stored frozen over the next few weeks.
I've made a list of what I want to buy in for Christmas and we have family for dinner on the big day - could be ten of us if NDN joins us too - but if she doesn't I'll still do a plate for her. I always think the list is massively long and probably too much but it does last until well into January and we enjoy the treats. Tea will often be a selection of exotic and beige foods with a beer or wine but we do enjoy it and if you can't enjoy treats for a while then life would be pretty dreary.
Glad all went well @FurForksSake
Don't beat yourself up about the freezer @RumBananaSundae - it happens! But if you can make a list of freezer contents - it's easier to menu plan. DH and I have on occasion had the most bizarre meals put together from leftovers - it's a time to be adventurous - some items go surpisingly well together even though you would never put them together. Admittedly - some don't either - but there you go!! 😅

You enjoy every bite of that takeaway @FurForksSake and enjoy the leftovers too!!

So glad it went ok. Phew. Well done on ordering with anesthetic and floods. No easy feat so you take the win. So pleased you are home xx

Oh absolutely marvellous news @FurForksSakel am thrilled to bits for you sweetheart 😁
You look after yourself 💐

Thank you @Mochi1fudgebut it's been bad in Abergavenny and the surrounding areas unfortunately 😔
We are fine here though so it's inspecting the damage tomorrow.