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 🤗

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a low spend day I think - I wouldn’t generally class £30 as a small
sum, but prices are so high that it doesn’t go very far, I spent just under £30 in total - £14 in Waitrose on some banana and chia loaf, pizza base mix, sour dough bagels and Nduja paste, had lunch at Tortilla in the food court on my own - a naked burrito which was lovely and cost me £9.00, two Cadbury cream eggs for a quid, a loaf of bread from the Turkish supermarket £1.39 and a large Coke Zero from McDonalds which was £2.29 - expensive!

Today was also a LSD, popped out to buy shower gel, air freshener and an also picked up a bottle of water in Savers £7 all in. Roast chicken for dinner, going to make some chicken and orzo soup tomorrow using the leftover chicken.

Tomorrow will be Nsd, work, Pilates, school pick up, rinse and repeat.

I’m looking forward to getting January over and done with, it’s gone on forever, next Friday is finally payday, Spring and the longer & warmer days can’t come quickly enough. I’m going to tally up everything I’ve spent in January and try and work out how many nsd’s I’ve had, then continue through Feb, I have made a real effort not to impulse buy this month and I’m hoping to carry on. My groceries budget is £800 each month for six people, which does seem like a lot considering in 2020 it was £120 each week, I have £308 left this month, because we’ve been eating out of the freezer/cupboards lots 😊

Hope everyone has had a good weekend and is ready for the new week ahead.

Waiting makes us all a little reflective tbh @RumBananaSundaei hope the first half of the year goes fast for you xx
Love anything with potatoes and agree with @DirtyGertiefromno30jacket with cheese and beans for me!!

Party was so fun and I did indeed spend nothing when others were grabbing hot drinks. I sipped my water and felt smug and frugal.

Omlettes with wilted spinach and baby pots here. Nom.

So glad your mum had another great day @DirtyGertiefromno30she is doing so well recently. Makes me smile xx

Hope everyone did well on the bird watch. We had a robin, two magpies, three pigeons, twenty starlings and two sparrows. We normally have more of everything but guess they are shy today.

@Frugal25

we had
10 sparrows
12 starlings (a mass!)
2 pigeons
3 doves
2 blue tits
1 great tit
1 robin
1 wren

not Bad!

Oh you did have lots @FurForksSake!!! Yay!!

I did wonder whether when you had such a rubbish day you muttered your username in your head....
I hope the pergola and car are sorted quickly for you. Although I'm with you, nice to have the savings but urgh spending them xx

Oohhh no council tax. I've forgotten about that! I'll remove from the budget thanks @Nellieinthebarn
I'd also put yoga down twice on this month's budget. Wondered why I was £40 down.... Silly girl

@Frugal25 I said it on repeat for a bit when I saw the blinking car.

But, worse things happen at sea and all that. We had delicious slow roast pork for dinner and that eased the crappy day!

I wish I’d done the bird watch this year. I’m liking hearing peoples lists. Mine would be fairly parakeet heavy I think.

I’d also totally forgotten that there’s no council tax payments in Feb and March. Thats a happy thought!

today's spends were £11 on an uber and another £11 on green juice/smoothie at Sainsbury’s. Dd is obsessed with this smoothie which is usually £4.40 a carton. I went to buy a carton today and saw they were half price. They were also almost sold out so I stocked up and bought 5 of them.

4 days left till payday I’m really grateful for all the support on this thread as January has definitely been my most frugal month in a while.

Shnout my sister in a market town in the south has started getting lots of parakeets. I’m wondering if the kites will eat them!

£450 for the car. Will be done today

we have many magpies at the minute. And pigeons

That’s totally normal @Nellieinthebarna big shop after that long, especially with all the loo roll and dishwasher bits, that is always going to hurt at the till. That’s just life restocking , not you going mad.
The healthier food bumps it up, but it’s a good kind of spend and usually means fewer nipping out shops after.
January’s always a squeeze after Christmas, and your Mum’s birthday on top doesn’t help but l really hope she and you have a lovely time.
Next month being short and no council tax will feel like a little breather , this one’s just the reset month 🤗.
Council tax off and a mystery yoga duplicate , we love an accidental £40 recovery @Frugal25 😁
Also, water at the party while others bought drinks? Peak smug frugal behaviour, gold star 👏🤣
Food sounds yummy ,omelette with spinach and baby pots is proper healthy comfort fuel. Well done 👍
Thank you so much re my Mum fingers crossed 🤞
Twenty starlings is a full squadron 😁,the others were clearly busy elsewhere spreading bird gossip 🐦🤣
That’s actually a really solid couple of days spending @Johaanah but all planned and useful, not random bits 👏
£30 is a low spend now (mad but true 😅). Your food choices sound lovely too , budgeting but still eating well. And making soup from the roast chicken is so good.
£308 left for the month for six people is brilliant, especially using freezer stuff 👍
January does drag, but payday and lighter evenings are nearly here 🌤️ Good luck with the NSD today, you’re doing great.
What a bird lineup @FurForksSakeyour garden’s basically a café for wildlife 🐦 Love it 😁
Your Dsis is so lucky having Parakeets they are so pretty ❤️
@ShnoutOoh, that council tax break is a lovely little bonus , a happy February and March indeed! I forgot about it too 😁
You have done so well with your January spending well done 👍 ✅
@lifelongfrugaleer oh that's savage £450🙄
On a brighter note at least it's done and dusted 🤗
Spends today Aldi £60
Weather is still pants 🙄
Mum was ok again thank God 🙏

Ouch @lifelongfrugaleer but at least it's done and fixed...

So glad your mum has had another good day. And this time next week it's her birthday 🎊 🎂 @DirtyGertiefromno30!!

Oohhh parakeets are gorgeous. I watch David Attenborough in London last night and they appeared on that. Really interesting programme.

£10 for me today on 2 hotel Chocolat hot chocolates for my friend who is retiring and that was her leaving doo. Seemed a lot tbh. But less than drinks or lunch I'm sure.

Tomorrow will be a NSD as I am refusing to leave the house!

@Frugal25 aw thank you it's so lovely of you ❤️ my Mum had another good day, and thank you for the happy early birthday to her!
I agree with you Parakeets are just gorgeous, I love seeing them on programmes like that too🐦✨
£10 isn’t too bad for a sweet treat, especially for a leaving gift , much better than a big meal out, that’s for sure. NSD tomorrow sounds perfect… sometimes you just need a day at home ❤️

Hello everyone, hope you all enjoyed your weekends i felt mine went very fast! Just popping in with a spending report before i do a catch up of the thread.

Friday DH id very well with the shopping and spent €65, this included 3 packs of chicken breasts on offer which are about €15 which pushed the price up a bit. I used these to make my own chicken Goujons for the freezer. Then i spent €33 on vinted.

Saturday was €50 for a present then €4.40 on tolls. And yesterday another €11 on vinted.

I also listed some more things on vinted and hope some of them sell.

Today i'm doing a 12 hour shift and so far i haven't spent anything! I've packed breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks so shouldn't be hungry.

I did our income tax return too but forgot to add in one piece for DH so will have to wait until its finalised and then do an amendment. we are due a nice refund though.

£11.50 in B and Q on coving for the porch cupboard plus sticky stuff - this is for a sort of maintenance job which will hopefully stop the porch from being an ice block by sealing off gaps.
£8.08 in MacDonalds I had points to use up on the app just because we wanted to and thought what the heck!
So a LSD today

actually £350 for the car and now it’s mot ready too so that a job in the next couple of weeks. Also insurance due this month

no other spends

We just bought a too good to go Greggs hot bag for £2.99
Fabulous stuff in it 😋
Macaroni cheese, chicken tenders , mozzarella cheese bites, tomato soup , wedges and BBQ chicken bites . I couldn't believe the amount in it . I had the tomato soup and it was very nice tbf . The others had the rest of it lol 🤣

That’s brilliant for the price!

Today. Oh well.

£35 on six new dinner plates after I smashed another one.
£10 for dh parking

Not too bad. The plates is annoying but we are down to five and for a busy family of four it’s just not enough.

Wow @pistachiosanscream that sounds like a busy weekend! Love that you’re getting ahead with your meals . Fingers crossed your Vinted listings sell quickly, it's always nice to see a bit come back in. Well done on packing all your meals for a 12 hour shift too, that’s proper planning! And yay for an upcoming tax refund, that’s always a win 👏😁.
That’s a proper productive spend though@Rainbow1901 house maintenance that will stop the porch turning into the Arctic is money well spent in my book ❄️➡️🏠. Future you will be smug and warm and thank you for doing it 😁!
And McD’s with points absolutely doesn’t count 😂 that’s basically free joy. Sometimes you just need a what the heck moment, like we did buying a Greggs hot tgtg bag tonight ! 😋
That's much better@lifelongfrugaleer and brilliant it's ready for the MOT too yay! 👏🤗

No it's not enough plates for you all @FurForksSake and these things happen sweetheart 🤗
I know that Greggs tgtg bag is amazing value . l couldn't believe the price of it tbh with you !

Spent about £1.90 today in Aldi and Marks and Spencer but I’m counting it as 30p as I found £1.60 in the gym. Paid for the TV licence so a more spendy day than planned but I wanted to get it done before moving into a new money month.

Weather wasn’t too bad here @DirtyGertiefromno30 but think I’ll need a kayak tomorrow. Glad your mum is doing ok. What a TGTG. Greggs bags can be bonkers but I’ve never bought a hot one. Did you have any of the macaroni cheese?

My bird list would be parakeet heavy too. They roost near here. The noise. The mess. I’ve decided to keep the jacket. I really do like it. Think I’ll give the event next month a miss. I looked at the airport transfers and they were more than the flight and the hotel. I think there’s one in Paris in April so I’m crossing my fingers and will go for that instead. Will be most disappointed if I’m hedging my bets in the wrong direction.

Today was a bit spendy as I had my counselling session (£50) then treated myself to some skincare and cheap make up in boots, used points for some of it but that was about £12. Some vitamins in Holland and Barrett (again used points) £8 and then an M&S sandwich £3.75 and train tickets into city centre £2.70, top up grocery shop tonight of £21.

feeling pretty pleased with how we’re doing with grocery shopping target for the month, after today’s top up we have £30 left of £500 budget. I’d like to try and use up the freezer but had a look today and wasn’t sure if some things were from last September or the September before… need to get better with freezer admin.

I also started listening to frugal hedonism audiobook which I’m enjoying so far.

@RumBananaSundaeLove that gym cashback logic 😂
A 30p day sounds way better than £1.90 😁. Good move getting the TV licence done too and l get the thinking behind it , l was the same over the car tax l just wanted it done and dusted.
Parakeets are so beautiful,we haven't got them here though sadly 🤗
Keeping that jacket is definitely the right thing to do , l think you will get a lot of wear out of it because you love it 😊
Skipping that event sounds very sensible too. April in Paris just sounds so lovely 😍
Greggs bags can be wild the amount of stuff in them!
I have never had a hot one until tonight. Sadly the Mac n cheese wasn't mine, it went in the blink of an eye 🤣
@EmbracingUncertainty
That’s good spending though , counselling is an investment in you, and your health and that is an investment in my mind sweetheart.
You’re doing brilliantly on the grocery budget too, £30 left is great going. Top ups instead of big shops really adds up the costs.
Freezer sort and listening to Frugal Hedonism , you are doing great well done you 👏 .

Lots of parakeets here too. I’m not a big fan of them- very noisy. We get lots of pretty finches and tits too (can’t be more specific I’m afraid/ I know what a goldfinch looks like but not otherwise), noisy magpies, blackbirds, woodpeckers (the spotted ones rather than the green, although I have seen those too). One year there was an owl! Also a sparrow hawk. But not all at once. And I am sure there are others that I can’t name.

Spends: £17 in Waitrose, mostly on lunch food for me and dad, wine and a newspaper for dad. Parking at hospital £3.50. Hoping dad heals well now and we don’t need to return, but we’ll see- he has that very fragile, papery little old person skin!

Got home about 6, dog chores, workout with weights while watching Stranger Things, dinner, crossword with DH and DS. Now can’t decide between another episode of Stranger Things or bed with a book. The latter would do me more good!

I once came home to find a sparrow hawk on my milk bottle holder at my front door. It was most discombobulating

We also have car woes. Mine is staying put until a loose heat shield is looked at - it's so old with v low mileage and I'd rather do a preventative repair than make it worse. Garage has a two week wait so it's going in this week. DS has taken his car to his first late shift and the steering is clunking. We have family AA cover thank God. However he can't contact the AA as he can't have his phone on the shop floor (and only started two weeks ago) so DH has gone to meet him there at 1am and take it from there. I'm sick of them - it's as though I don't have a job when this kind of thing happens. Came out of a meeting with my boss to missed calls and about 10 messages from DS and DH. Needing me to fix it. Hopefully they will both get home safely. DS is likely stressed and anxious (he's only 20) however he will not leave it there overnight for the AA to deal with in the morning.

Totally agree January has been endless. I wonder if it's because there are four full work / school weeks in it and we've been back since the 5th. Can't wait to get paid and remove the council tax and water bill for two months.

Doing okay with meal planning at least, made leek and potato soup as this week's fridge soup and also prepped a sausage and squash bake for tomorrow

Yesterday:
£29 Asda
£31 Temu - some trinket trays for side tables and a couple of unusual boho vases. One of them will be perfect for my DM birthday next month and I will fill it with flowers.
£10.49 Amazon

Today:
75p Milk Bottle sweets from Morrisons