January Jingles, Valentine Capers, Frugal Fun Shenanigans & Looking Forward to Spring!

[DirtyGertiefromno30]

Welcome to the New thread everyone 😊
Here's to everyone of us and hoping 2026 brings us all health happiness and frugal finances 🤗

Well done on the Vinted sales @Johaanahaw bless you with the dark days it's horrible l agree .
Wow @TheOnlyMrsW that's a lot of money for a pound of mince 😱
Ah thank you so much @RumBananaSundaeyes l am thrilled to bits 🤗
Hope everything is ok with you sweetheart 🤗
Love the sound of your blue cheese dip @Lockin26 😋

@Shnout
They change weekly though I have noticed some repetition.

Good for you @FurForksSake
You have to look after yourself to be there for your Dc and your DH 🤗
Glad you are feeling better after a good night's sleep @chimichangaz well done on the veg!
Omg stilton and broccoli pasta sounds delicious 😋 @Vinorosso74
Well done on your steps today @BigSkies2022 you did really well especially as it is so cold 🥶

I don't know if you have noticed @MushyPeasAndMintSaucebut the good stuff goes oos very quickly 🙄

DH had an appointment at the eye hospital today, so I we made the most of being in town and did the banking we needed to do in a branch, mooched around the antique shops (didn't buy anything) and I filled up with petrol to take advantage of ASDA being a little bit cheaper than the local one I normally use. I made some sandwiches and took a flask, which we ate in the car like proper cheapskates.

DH eye appointment was long as usual, lots of waiting around between procedures. But we were looking forward to the chickpea casserole
I had put in the slow cooker, which would have been lovely on our return. If only I remembered to turn the bloody thing on at the wall. Beans on toast with a fried egg was filling hot and cheap, and at least dinner is already sorted for tomorrow 😄
Spends

ASDA
25 on a pair of much needed jeans for DH
37 petrol, should last the month if we are careful.

Hospital
7.30 parking, unavoidable, I didn't want DH walking far in the dark going back to the car. His balance is not good, or his eyesight, so this was me managing the risk of falls. Also its bloody cold!

Total 69.30

Could have been a lot worse, if we had bought lunch and coffee, and succumbed to temptation to buy bits and pieces we didn't need. Oh, and the bleed at the back of DHs eye seems to be reducing naturally, so it doesn't look like he will need anything doing. Which is brilliant. We have a follow up in about 6 weeks, so fingers crossed.

Omg that's such a relief for you @Nellieinthebarn 🤗

£7 on a chippy tea ( Curry not peas ;-) )
£3.95 on a meal deal at work, guess who left her lunch in the fridge at home this morning?

@Nellieinthebarn worth every penny of £7.50 (ouch!!) to park I’d say. Shame about the casserole- I’ve done that many times too!

Dh and I - even when we are not budgeting, would always take a drink out with us, unless there’s a freebie to be had, I have Monzo perks and can choose something from Greggs each week so it’s either a sausage roll for Dh or a latte for me. We often laugh at how tight we are , but I think it comes from being so broke when our children were small, there was no room for error at all and it’s just ingrained in us now when it comes to eating out. We always fill out the McDonald’s survey to get the meal for £2.99 as well 😂

06/01
The world has intruded on my excellent No Spend run! £3.50 on bus fares as we had a heavy bag to deliver, plus another £3.50ish on more bananas and parcel tape. Foolishly I didn't get a receipt so will have to check my bank for the exact amount to deduct from my groceries budget.

YTD: NSD 4, LSD 2, Spendy 0

Oh @Nellieinthebarnive done that so many times too, not put the slow cooker on. Also done it with the oven too lol. So pleased about your lovely DH. Yay!

I Def can see ways to reduce my spending even further listening to you all. Does inspire me. Thank you.

I've cancelled my subscription to deliciously Ella. I didn't use it. So that's £23 "saved" for the year.
I'm also going to cancel my subscription to tea. I love it...But I need every penny at the mo.

Sent off my two Vinted parcels so that £7 coming in.

Should be a NSD.

Switched to nationwide. Wish I'd done it sooner as the £175 won't hit my account this month now but it's ok. All done and soon sorted.

Have chosen not to have an overdraft at all with the new account. It just gets me into trouble. So I need to really watch the pennies after the switch and be very frugal.

Morning (just)

@FoolShapeHeart I like your breakdown of days!

@Johaanah There’s an element of me stopping working that has brought out the past habits too. When DH first started the business, we had absolutely nothing for a very long time, he halved our income to start it. If we got to the end of the month and had a fiver for a shared take out pizza (in those days), that was a win. I still balk at spending £4 on a coffee, I just struggle to do it!

The chickpea casserole does sound lovely @Nellieinthebarn and that’s your meal sorted tonight.

@DirtyGertiefromno30 you’ll be pleased to know that my blood pressure is perfectly fine!

Spends
£3 on a large carton of fresh orange.
£12 marks and Spencer on a few fresh bits, including sourdough bread to go with a ‘use up’ soup I’d made last night.
£59 Amazon - pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, energy gels, and bee pollen - jeez that’s middle class shopping at its best isn’t it?

Managed a run with a friend this morning but it was treacherous in truth so it’ll be a treadmill outing tomorrow. Still in shorts 🤣.

Aubergine and peanut satay stew for supper, with baked potatoes - from Deliciously Ella as it happens. Funny, it’s one of the few subscriptions I really do use, although this is from her new book. 😊

I finally submitted my expenses for a work event i attended in early November. i should have €100 back next week.

I started on my betterme workouts yesterday. very doable and i feel shorter more frequent will suit me. i can then combine these with a walk.

Did a menu plan for the next few. days using items in our fridge. Today will be filo prawns ( christmas canapes) asian peanut slaw, brocolli and egg fried rice.

the diet part of healthy 2026 is proving difficult, yet i'm deciding to be nice to myself and focus on building up exercise this week as we still have too many rich and nice foods hanging around. Next week i'll get ruthless and hide it. I've always found that the 5:2 method worked best for me.

Tomorrow i will do our tax return.

Today i spent €15 on 2 long sleeve knee length swinsuits for small child. Last year we had unfortunate burnt arse cheeks as they spent so long on floaties in the pool.

Hoping life continues to recover well.

Contacted the job possibility yesterday, definitely jobs available so have completed the application form this morning. Will just get DH to proof read it later before sending it off.

Sold an item for £9.50 yesterday and posted this morning.

£31 in Tesco.

I need to get off the sofa now and find the paperwork for my third attempt on a pension contribution tax refund. Last attempt got a letter saying eligible but the figures don’t match. 3rd time lucky!

I can relate to that completely, our treat was chips in a pitta bread from the kebab shop on the last Friday of the month and we’d watch Big Brother whilst eating on the sofa 😅 we couldn’t afford anything else, and looked forward to that so much. We still talk about it lol. That was around year 2000 I think, and life was both much easier and much harder at the same time!

I’m impressed at the shorts (and the running) 🩳- I don’t even wear them in Summer.

Very spendy day today, £362 on an exam for Dd2, £66 in M&S and £47 in Aldi, this was not even needing much, cupboards and freezer are still full, just the fridge that needed topping up. I’m back on a diet from today, urgh - I’ve gained about a stone since October and absolutely cannot gain anymore weight, dd showed me a photo of us on holiday and I was wearing a bikini and I could have cried to see how much weight I’ve gained, I’m only small anyway so 14lbs is a lot! I’ll call it motivation and try and stay on track, need to somehow dispose of the bounty’s from the celebrations as I’m the only one that likes them which is doing me no favours.

Need to post more on Vinted at some point too!

Happy halfway through the week to everyone, not long until the weekend ☺️

@needastrongoneagain ah l am so pleased for you , l knew it would be fine 😊
Naughty Pharmacist 🙄

Oh I have the new DE book @needastrongoneagainso.i shall look up this recipe! I adore her books, I use them weekly.
@Johaanahi hear you with the chocolates.... Mine are here calling to me and I'm sadly the only one that eats them too. Tempted to just bin them.....
I find the 5:2 diet works really well too @pistachiosanscream. Trying hard to stick to it this week but it's hard, see above reg chocolate.

£52 on groceries, should see us through for at least a week. Mainly veg, fruit, eggs, cheese and some larder things like flour and teabags.

I counted 5 main meals in the freezer. 2 chicken, 2 mince and 1 fish, so I only bought some lardons and ham in the meat department.

Hoping I can make this shop last for 10 days or so, making up the rest with eggs, cheesey things and pulses for dinners. We can have soups and sandwiches for lunches, and porridge or toast for breakfasts. Annoyed I forgot to get cereal, even though it was on the list. Which I did remember to take with me for once.

I will probably need a top up for bread and milk at the local shop, so I will see how expensive their basic cornflakes or similar are. Aldi has spoiled me a bit, I think anything over 80p for plain cereal is extortionate.

I made a lemon and sultana cake as a hole filler and morale booster with a cup of tea. Being frugal can be a bit depressing, and life is always better with cake.

I also bought some plums, I thought half could go into a crumble with some apples as Sunday pudding, and maybe cook the rest to have on top of porridge. They were reduced to 99p, but are still as hard as iron, so will need to be cooked.

Off to add some detail to my meal planning. Hope everyone is well and staying warm.

Spending today was £6.05 on random groceries. I pushed the boat out and bought some king tangerines in Marks and Spencer.

That’s good news re your husband’s eye @Nellieinthebarn. My fingers are crossed too. Apple and plumb crumble sounds good.

Good luck with the job application @Holidaysandchocolate.

Ticked a legal job off today so that was some relief. But that was quickly replaced by stress about what will happen next. To the runners on this thread any suggestions where to buy a good sports bra? Currently have Marks and Spencer Ultimate Support but they aren’t working anymore.

Has anybody ever used the 50p direct debit service?
I would really like to benefit from the account switching offers but don't want to cancel my main account.
Considering setting two of these up to another debit account looking at the websites it seems quite simple to do it.

Howdy. Took mum to visit dad today. We had lunch together then helped dad with a telephone consultation with his surgeon, Mr Plastic Fantastic. All set for a simple procedure under local anaesthetic in about six weeks. So that’s good.

£39 in Sainsbury’s on the way home. Thai pork salad thingy this evening, heavy on the raw veg, preceded by a Pilates workout. And in case that sounds too healthy I am about to even it up with ice-cream and Stranger Things before bed and my book.

Glad you were able to sort out your Dad's telephone consultation @BigSkies2022
You made me lol about the ice cream and Stranger Things 😁

I find that I can either be frugal and concentrate on saving or eat healthier and concentrate on losing weight - anyone else struggle to combine the two? I saw the new nutrient rich meals in M&S today after hearing about them, I struggle with fibre and protein so was interested to find out more, £7 each 😮 and not even that big! Also £9 for 5% minced beef, honestly I can’t get my head around these prices, it used to be cheap to bake but now it’s less costly to buy a cake than make one.

Only Dh and I for dinner here tonight, so he had a pizza and I had a mushroom omelette, the nduja pasta i’d planned will wait until tomorrow when five of us are eating🍝

Hope we’ve all had a good/frugal day, either/or one is enough 😊😊

Also - just wanted to add that I hope everyone here looking after elderly relatives is doing ok and looking after themselves too, I know from DH’s situation how stressful it is and how it takes its toll, mentally and physically. ❤️

I agree with you @Johaanah about the cost of Baking and cooking , the ingredients are so costly it's not cost effective to bake, especially when you factor in the extra electricity and the washing up and tidying up .

Ah thank you so much @Johaanah it's such a rollercoaster. I am nearly 65 and my DH is 70 it's very hard .
You have to fight for your loved ones to get proper care from GPs , the NHS in general and in my case the care home staff .
It's frustrating, heartbreaking, stressful, infuriating and downright Impossible sometimes.