Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Quite a productive morning so far - just stopped for a coffee. Have sorted clean laundry & done the ironing, made Delia Christmas braised red cabbage - now in oven & starting to smell nicely festive & poached fish ready to make a fish pie later.
Next job is braving the icy depths of the freezers so I can shop as many meals as possible from home next week, both to save money & free up some space for Christmas baking.
More present wrapping planned for this afternoon. 
Well, that's my caffeine fix, I'd better go & get my notebook & see what frozen treasure I can unearth.
Chat later - I've been thinking about posting the festive financial pitfalls of my past Spendy Decades. I think that might ring a few bells with some of my diary readers. I'll perhaps go ahead with that & post one each day, idk.
Cheers for now, 
F (intrepid freezer explorer) x

Tescodealqueen

Christmas silly shopping rings a few bells with me. Looked at the piles of presents bought for my four year old and thought “not enough!)”.it was………!!! spent 100 pounds on a table game two days before Christmas which he barely noticed it and sold it for a fiver at a car boot four months later. I have gone from being that stupid to almost being Ebenezer Scrooge

Baileys_Babe

I would enjoy reading of your previous exploits @foxgloves I like the way you write and I am sure you could make even a shopping list great reading.

Blackcats

Yes please to Christmas spending silliness.  You and your readers (definitely me) could end up in a game of silliness top trumps! 

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

another vote for your daily tales of silly seasonal spendiness foxgloves

I've just bought 4 theatre tickets (one for me and 3 for Xmas gifts) plus 3 tickets for the theatre for boxing day for me and my DDs. I've debated and dithered over both for ages; in the past i'd just get out my credit card without a second thought and while i was buying tickets for my production of choice i'd be browsing the what's on guide and buying tickets for a few more shows at the same time!!  Now i'm a reformed character and am very selective about what tickets i buy.  I bought the tickets for boxing day using earnings from surveys so that feels like a freebie treat

love Deni 

Sun_Addict

Before Mr SA’s illness he always used to be one of the many men who left Christmas shopping to Christmas Eve. One year I gave him a list of 3 perfumes I liked so if he couldn’t find one he had an alternative. You’ve guessed it, he bought all 3. Not only that but he was caught by saleswomen on the Estée Lauder counter and ended up filling a very large gift box with assorted expensive creams and serums. Apparently they asked him what skin type I was and he said women’s skin😆 So there was quite an assortment in that box. He was quite pleased that they gave him the gift box free. Then for good measure he filled another large gift box with a vast assortment of Origins body products. He got a free head massage there 😐 Everything was lovely but I felt sick at the thought of how much it all cost. I had only budgeted for one bottle of perfume and nearly died of shock when the credit card bill arrived in January. Took months to clear it off. 

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

I bet he wasnt the only male shopper spending lots of money in a panic on xmas eve Sun_addict. Was your skin lovely all that year or did you come out in a stress rash due to the expense 

foxgloves

Oh my life, @Sun_Addict - I think that beats even Mr F at his spendy worst pre-LBM! 

OK, thanks for all your comments. It looks like there is interest in my suggested content, so I will defo cover past bad festive financial behaviours. I've jotted these down & they fall into around 10 categories. I will post one each day, starting tomorrow. I know some of these are going to resonate....& Mr F (we were still both very spendy when we got together) won't be let off the hook here either.
F x

Humdinger1

Foxgloves, can I creep into the must do better corner? The food is ordered but I need to order most pressies.   Dearie me,  I do admire your military logistics!

Humdinger1

Just adding yes please to tales of depraved festive spending! An advent calendar, one shockingly hilarious story after another.   The best will be on Christmas Eve then on Christmas Day the light bulb moment!