Mumsnet Talk

Starting us off for September. Newbies and old hands welcome!

It's only been a few hours, but so far so good. MrEcomomy is happily shaving with his Aldi razor (£1.89 for the razor and some blades) - he asked me to get replacement Mach 3 blades but I pretended Boots were out of them when I saw that they were £7 something for 4 blades. So I picked up the Aldi one yesterday and said if it rips his face to shreds then I would get him the Mach 3 ones. His face is still in one piece!

£2.65 on a paper and some milk and hoping that is it for the day.

Can I join? I'm a newbie to Credit Crunch and need some old hands to keep me on the straight and narrow

Hello economy I've just been catching up on the end of the August thread - feel your pain on the shoe front. DS1's feet have grown 1.5 sizes over the summer! Hoping that the £40 school shoes will last most of the term.

August has ended up being pretty expensive for us, DH had an unexpected week off last week so we have been for a couple of meals out, and did a day out at a National Trust place that was free and we took a picnic.
We are off to Italy on Friday for a family wedding - flights and car hire are paid for, but we need to pay for the hotel (400 euros) and then some fuel and spending money.
Apart from that we have a few family birthdays this month, and I am expecting to have to replace at least one tyre on my car.

Adora I really feel for you. DH has his own business and is looking for new work at the moment. It is a tense time when there are no invoices being paid!

CremeEgg I hope your F/F is ok.

Thanks Ali. It seems to be, fingers crossed.

Today, I spent somewhere between £35 and £36- just under £28 on food from the Co-op, £2 pocket money for DS and £5.70 posting two parcels.

Economy, for starting the new thread.

Hello, can I join? Have changed to a cash only household after last months disasters. £400 on car £410 on school bus pass for DS £160 on school clothes thankfully only £35 in school shoes. That left £200 for food and holiday. Of course we had to use savings again to make ends meet.

But not again! So far spend today £47 on dog food that will last all month

Nsd day for me.

Found out sainsburys basics bubblebath is BUAV approved so I can start using it as handwash....Cant think of anything else to say.

You have to tell us the breed of dog you have Hope, right now I'm picturing a pack of Irish wolfhounds with praderwilli syndrome.

Signing in. Wish I could win the lottery.

Spent £1 on 10 birthday cards in Card Factory but DH must have spent squillions on unnecessary rubbish.

I have topped up the ketchup with value stuff. Waiting for someone to notice.

Tidied my bedroom, including under the bed. Not been able to do it for a couple of months as my foot has been bad. Actually found some breast pads from DD2 who is over two now (unused) so very glad I did not buy another pack this week.

Still pleased with my washable nappies.

Welcome welcome, hope and boer - we're a friendly bunch . I've switched to using cash for purchases in the last couple of months and has found it has really helped.

£2.65 was indeed the total for today. We had a trip to the park this afternoon and tired EconomyBoy out for free!

Fluffy, I think most if not all Sainsbury's toiletries are BUAV approved. As are Coop and Superdrug ones. But the Sainsbos basics is no doubt the cheapest.

Hoping for a NSD tomorrow, the first in a while.

Mind if I sneak in?

We are up shit creek financially at the moment.

We ended up with £3 for the whole week after food/bills etc last week and I don't want to be there again.

Both me and dh are crap with money but it needs to change.

Thank you for my welcome.

Our hounds are wheat intolerant retrievers. By buying in bulk it's cheaper. Fed a previous dog the basic range from asda he ended up at the vets with diabetes. Wrong cost cutting

Hello! I'm here, a newbie who will be watching and stealing credit crunching tips

Welcome to the newbies

Valium When I met DH he insisted on only eating Heinz ketchup... 3 months of me filling the Heinz bottle with morrisons own soon put paid to that!! He was shocked when I confessed

NSD here on Friday to finish August on a high note.

Spent £3 today on milk, mars bars and cola. The milk was essential, the others were not
Hopefully got someone coming to buy my Buggypod tommorow which will be £45 in my pocket

Hello and welcome to all the Credit Crunch newbies

I didn't spend a bean today, but DDs spent their birthday money from GPs. DD2 blew the lot, £30, but DD1 has saved a fiver for future use. We had a free morning playing with cars courtesy of the dealership OH bought from. I now know how to drive a 4x4 off road properly, through water & mud, down steep rocky slopes, the lot of course it cost us £2.40 on the roads to get there, but that was all.

Thanks Ali.

I've also switched to cash only.

Ooh, forgot to say, estate agents have someone who wants to look next week.

I successfully persuaded DH to swap to own brand ketchup, but have now filled that bottle with value ketchup. May be a step too far, but they have all scoffed a cooked breakfast with ketchup on the side, so I am hopeful.

Taxed the car this week. £170 ouch! Still that is for a year. Figured it was better to swallow it now, than again in 6 months when I will be on SMP only.

Hi all - Ive been following some of the credit crunch threads and finding it motivating, so can I join too?

Are we meant to post what we have or, more importantly, havent been spending?

Hello
September is a bit make or break for our finances tbh.
July and August were dreadful
Both up to our OD limits and it's fils 70th next week and ds2 is 4 in 3 weeks...
Oh, and I am 40 in oct!
And then of course there is Xmas....(starts to hyperventilate)
I drew cash out on Friday for food and have £10 left for the week.
I need to get the food bill down to £100 per week (there are 4 of us and some of us have allergies so need GF etc food) I think £25 per person per week should be more than enough!
Have spent £80 on ds2 for his b day...that is gifts, cards and stuff for his party.
I used some amazin vouchrs and nectar points to pay for it too. I am asking for cash for my b day to pay more off my OD
I hope by Xmas that it will be sorted...I have already contacted my bank and requested my OD limit to be reduced and will continue til it's £50.
Am determined to stick to budget at Xmas too this year!
Have bought soap nuts for washing and haven't used the tumble dryer for over a week! Also bought a lush shampoo bar for my hair...they last ages.
Will spend a bit today...need butter and milk.
Am hoping next week my groceries will be down to £80!
Also getting rid of the chest freezer...less electricity used and won't be able to buy in bulk things we didn't really need...

I use value ketchup. If you don't tell them then they won't notice.

I'm thinking of applying for a Santander cc so I can get cash back on petrol, my biggest expense after rent. I'm a bit nervous about applying though, I got knocked back for a new current account lastyear but credit expert said my credit rating is excellant. Bit odd.

Hello newbies, we post no spend days and try to economise. There's lots of previous threads starting in Jan this year with excellant ideas in them. I'll do links either later today or tm.

Badvoc, have you tried changing electric/gas supplies and turning the hot water thermostat down? Just the lowered stat saved me £30 a month. The new supplier knocked another £10 off per month and I got cashback via energylinx on quidco.

Thanks Fluffy. We have just got a Santander cc which we use for fuel and housekeeping. We are paying it off in full each month and hoping that at the end of the year there will be enough cash back to give us a weeks free shopping or pay for car tax or similar one off bill.

Badvoc - Im in a very similar situation. Our ODs and other CCs just have to be cleared someday, and I really want it to be by next summer.

Ive managed to get all housekeeping down to £100 per week including toiletries etc by swapping even more to value products and writing a rolling 4 week meal planner (idea pinched from another thread). I don't know how much of a dent this will make in the debt yet though because we've also had DS2 birthday in August and, like everyone else, have just had the school uniform and shoes expense.

I figure it's a start though, and am hoping this thread will keep me going because its disheartening spending time comparing how many pennies I can save on crunchy K versus special flakes and then the bank account still looks ominous!

Hello, I think I should join here. I'm a newly single mum having to deal with family finances for the first time and finding I don't know where to start!

I keep jotting down what I spend and trying to work out what that means in the long term, but I am weak Went out last night and spent far too much on drinks, then convince myself its ok, I deserve a night out and that I can earn the money in a few hours. I need a shake and stern talking to...

Will read the old threads for inspiration.

August thread

July thread

June thread

May thread

April thread

March thread

February thread

[[ http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1370447-No-spend-January January thread]]

I like this thread too

This is good, I think a lot of people have a slow cooker hiding in the cupboard

Not tried this myself but it might help some of you

I get vouchers for stuff here

This ones good some weeks and not so good other weeks

Quidcos quite good, they take £5 in fees off your first payment though

Topcashback dont but I bought something for £60 cash back and it's tracked at £35 so I've complained

Jan thread #2

Wow, thank you fluffy. I will read through these too, and take notes!

Wow thanks Fluffy - no excuses now! I'm on a mission.

As you can tell I don't have kids to attend to!

Sorry I posted earlier but I've now namechanged

My pledge for September is to take my lunch to work every day. It's only 2 days (3rd is at home and I'll eat from the store cupboard) but every little helps right

Thanks for all those links, fluffy!

Badvoc, nice to see you back. Sorry you've had a rubbish couple of months, money-wise. Fingers crossed that September is better for you.

I have had some good news! For those of you who aren't aware, someone drove into my car, leaving it needing a new wing. I thought whoever it was would never fess up. BUT, there was a note through the door this morning from next door but one, saying that they reversed into it at 4am last Saturday while leaving for holidays. They, fairly enough, didn't want to wake us so put a note through when they got back. Now I'm in the peculiarly awkward situation of asking for money from people down the road (she did say she'd pay for damage...)...

The aldi mayo is gorgeous.
I also used asda own brand oats and condensed milk for my flapjacks and can't tell the difference at all!
Am going down a brand In all things next week...I am notoriously fussy but I honestly can't tell the difference...
Spent a bit today at church as there was a charity cake sale...the kids had made them.
So.
Now have no money from the £100 left this week(my sil owes me £5 though)
Will have to take £10 from next week!!

This week, I had no spend days on Wed, Fri and Sat! If I can resist going out to buy chocolate, today will be too

Things I've started doing to economise;

Going down one brand, I've never bought branded stuff like Heinz anyway, but now I'm going from regular Sainsbury's down to Basics, IYSWIM. If something's really horrid I won't buy it again but I'm trying everything to give it a chance.

Walking instead of the bus (no car. This means I have to get up earlier but I need to get my arse in gear as I'll lose weight, which is much needed

Make my own lunch instead of buying it out

Buying bread reduced instead of full price. I only use bread for toast so this makes total sense to buy it when it's 19p instead of 99p and stick it on the freezer.

I've realised the key to being frugal and managing money is forward planning and organisation. I'm the most disorganised person ever so I'm really trying to remedy this.

Badvoc do you have a recipe for the flapjacks with condensed milk? They sound amazing!

Fluffycouldland77 thanks for all those links, I'm a total newb to all this money saving, will have a good read later

new here [hides]

i think were pretty good (?) with the 'saving money' sitch, but i know my DP is useless and uses my MN account to read stuff, HI!! so he could do with the help!

however, what is this top cash back thing? is it a scam? how does it work..?

Welcome to all the newbies .

Spent about £30 in town today, on bus fares, lunch in Cafe Rouge for DS and I (Their kids' menu for £6.25 is worth a look for a special treat. It covers main, dessert and a drink. There are at least 5 choices and the portion sizes are decent enough.), some Sudafed and S.T.s, an iced lemonade from Costa and some water. I also bought DS a Lego alarm clock as one of his birthday presents. It was £16.65, down from £25, in Boots.

So, that was our treat. Back to frugality for the rest of the week!

Hi, my first post here. I've started to get worried about my finances: I have had numerous problems with my car this year and every time opted to get it repaired thinking "oh well at least then it will be fixed and I probably won't have to spend on it again for a while" only for it to then have another problem the next month or so. Has set me back a lot but now have invested so much into it I can't bear the thought of having to buy a new one! Also as I live in mainland Europe now, a lot of my money ends up going on airfares/Eurostar back to the UK to see friends/family. I can see a lot of "big" costs coming up in the next few months (MOT equivalent, tax payments, weddings, insurance payments, travel costs, subscriptions for activities etc) so I am really going to need to watch the everyday spending so that I don't start going into the red every month as I did last month.

I love the ideas I've already seen on this thread for keeping existing "branded" packaging and just topping it up with value when it gets empty! My DP can be a bit fussy about certain value products, but I think it would be great to test out whether he can really taste the difference or if it's just snobbery with this method! Will definitely start trying that out.

Other than that, my aims for this month are:

- To take a packed lunch to work every day, instead of just when I can be arsed
- To buy no clothes/shoes/accessories/make-up/cosmetics. I don't think there is anything I will really need this month, except maybe more shower gel and shampoo. And I may also make an exception if I see a bargainous pair of knee high boots, as my old ones fell apart and I will need some for this winter. But absolutely nothing else, no matter how tempting.
- If I go out with friends, to only drink wine (v cheap here) and not cocktails (which I always get swept along into doing because everyone else drinks them and they are delicious)
- If I end up booking another trip to go to the UK, to book onto the coach instead of by easyjet. The coach is horrible and takes 10 hours but costs peanuts, and if I do the journey overnight I don't have to lose out on too much time with friends/family while I'm there.

Will be checking in regularly to keep myself motivated and keep reading everyone else's progress and fantastic moneysaving tips!

Meant to say, so far this September:

1st: 6 euros on some chocolates for a birthday present. Came out of joint grocery account though, which is different to my personal account. Even so, I should have planned in advance and got cheaper chocolates, but we left it until the last minute so fewer options...
2nd: NSD! (hope I have got the terminology right)

I also bought a sh*tload of meat at the end of last month (again with joint grocery account) because a supermarket had a special offer on large volumes. So the freezer is absolutely stuffed with frozen meats of all kind, and I am aiming to have money left over in the grocery account at the end of the month by just using all this frozen meat for our main meals.

Talking of, does anyone have any good and thrifty recipes for pork chops and chicken thighs? I don't usually cook those things a lot so my repertoire is limited...but I'm going to need to get creative!

I think I'm the only one with a husband/partner who really doesn't care whether he's eating branded products or not.

Welcome, riverboat. I'm afraid I'm no use for meaty recipes as I'm vegetarian, but if you have a slow cooker then I'm sure you could do something there.

Thanks Fluffy those links are great!

I have spent £1.90 today on eggs.
Took ds out on his bike so that was a spend free morning.

Going to plan the weekly shop tonight and try and get well within budget!

No slow cooker unfortunately. I've read so many recipes round here involving slow cookers that I'm starting to think I could do with one, but at the same time I really don't want to shell out on one in the next couple of months.

I do have a pressure cooker, but I am scared of it. My MIL showed me how to use it as she is a big fan of pressure cookers and is convinced that I waste too much time cooking "normally" over the hob/in the oven. But she then terrified me by telling me how her own mother scalded her face with one by taking the lid off incorrectly! So I am too scared to use it, even though apparently it would save me loads of time...

Good luck for your weekly shop Bonkey.

Hello, lurking for ideas as income changing drastically soon and we need to rein in our overspending. Love the idea of the no spend days! Going to read he old threads for ideas.

Hello sexy savers, I am jumping in and marking my place.

I am too scared to look at my bank balance and grimly holding on by the skin of my teeth to keeping things going at home. Am currently in week twenty of waiting for my DLA to come through, so you can imagine that I am starting to really feel the impact of all those extra things for coping with my shite health.

This week I really have to post a parcel, as I have been promising a lady for a while and just struggling with health and now money.

I have got to:

find cheap or no cost clothing for the kids - both have grown out of their trousers, DD can't do up her jeans, so I am making do with my elastic band trick right now, she thinks it's cool. DS is alright while I can put shorts on him, it's just that his trousers are also short, so need the next size up.

sort out school dinners - once they start school I can stop buying as much in, I'll be fine with cereal, toast and an occasional hot meal, unlike the bottomless pits both my children are, so I have planned on massive savings on food when they both get school dinners.

get DD school shoes - I have a £12 Clarks voucher, so I can get part of the costs towards it. I think DS's shoes still fit him from last term, he had to have his replaced after two terms, so going to try and stretch them out another term to spread costs. Other than that, they got school uniform when I made use of a £100 M+S voucher through Quidco and Sky (also waiting for £100 cashback and used the £30 for first years cost Sky from kids summer holidays fund), and through my darling friend who has a husband who works for Asda (thus discount).

send back a perfume I had an allergic reaction too - getting a refund and products as an apology, this will be my special treat this month as it's my thirtieth birthday.

take photographs and start trying to sell my pile of stuff - it's been collecting for a while, and now I would quite like the space (and money). I need this towards Christmas for the kids, so here's hoping I can cope financially and put it away, and not spend it on day to day crap.

fill out a few forms for grants - have someone from the reablement team helping me to fill out forms and sort out my finances (lets see if they can do better). If I can get a grant towards furniture and stuff to help with my disabilities, then I may be a little bit better off for a while, they are also trying to sort out my council banding to a higher band, and to help with the DLA getting sorted.

go to all three consultant's appointments - triple threat match this month, seeing my rheumatologist, urologist and psychologist, will try to ensure I get them on-side with reports for the DLA and also in helping me to get a bit fitter so I can maybe get out and work a bit. By October I should be all OLOGIST outed.

So hopefully if I can do all that and not spend anything unnecessary (keep me in line folks!) I can start October a little less frazzled and poor.

I think modern pressure cookers are ok though, they ought to be the amount they cost.

£21 in aldi for the weekly shop, £2.39 for the cat food. I just need some pork and cheap curry sauce and thats it for the food shop. I walked around with a calculator again which really helps.

There is a lot of new people here all of a sudden, is something going on I dont know about? or is it because christmas is coming up?

Anyone shop at Lidl?
Going to try it tomorrow I think, anything that I need to avoid?

Fluffy I think Christmas coming up is probably the reason. Suddenly Sep hits and everyone thinks 'shit its only 3 months to go!'

Summer holidays have us all on our knees, lol. School uniform costs probably have everyone worrying about money. I've dipped in and out before, but this time I really mean it.

Hello - I was on the Aug thread a bit, but namechanged (h oll er).

I've also decided to have a limit of £100 per week for food, toiletries, cleaning stuff, nappies, everything household! Should be plenty, but thought even having a set figure would be better than aimless spending. Plan is to do the weekly shop, and then withdraw the rest in cash for top up shops. I stupidly did the weekly shop at Sainsbury's though...

Will be completing monthly spreadsheet when DH gets home (fun fun fun). And have lots of ebay listings finishing tonight <crosses fingers>. It's not looking hopeful that I'll make much...

Main aim is to sell pushchair for more than the double one cost. We bought the double one last weekend in the Boots sale - 20% off, £50 worth of advantage card points (make up xmas presents) and £20ish back through Quidco. So that was kind of frugal. And I got my winter boots reheeled rather than buying new ones. Boooooring!

I went into Lidl for the first time in years last month (when my finance worries started to mount!)

I don't know if the products they have in Lidl here are the same as in Lidl in the UK. But the massive tubs of yoghurt were delicious, and the cold meats and various tinned stuff I bought were fine too. The only thing I bought that wasn't at all good was sliced gouda cheese (bought in an effort to motivate myself into taking packed lunches to work). The cheese was all dry and hard round the edges of every slice, had to cut quite a bit off. Don't know if it was a one-off or not.

Hello im a newbie!

I've been good today. Only spent £1 on porridge oats which will last ages. I spend about £70 a week on shopping for 4 of us, one in nappies and on formula. I don't think I could get it down further until he stops having formula. We have quite a bit of credit card debt that we are working on. This month is first back from mat leave so I have been paid for my bank holidays. Managed to get £800 paid off credit cards! Next month is a bit tough as we are renewing our tenancy for £120, renewing my at insurance so £80 deposit and we are down £240 from repairs on a house we rent out. All comes at once!

Rabbits, there's a great thread over in Chat at the moment - kind of like a MN freecycle. Might be worth asking if anyone has any clothes/shoes for your kids.

Oh, and Frilly, we used to bulk buy formula from Amazon when our son drank it. It worked out a few pounds cheaper. He drank Hipp Organic stuff but it's worth seeing if they have whatever you usually buy if it's not Hipp.

Oooh, good idea economy mode, I will check and see over there.

riverboat we cook chicken thighs alot in our house. A fave is to place in an oven dish, add wedges of fresh lemon, ripped up thyme or sage or rosemary, few peeled garlic cloves and drizzle with oil. Bung in oven (180c fan oven) for 20-30 mins, serve with scrubbed and diced sweet potato that has been bunged in oven with some oil, salt and pepper for the same amount ot time. Yummy

NSD here today. Actually have 'earned' £29 from various baby bits selling on FB.
Still waiting for ady to come and buy my Buggypod - another £45. Taking DS's to Legoland on the 11th, so would like some guilt-free pocket money

Fluffy for me it has been the double-whammy of increased spending over the holidays, plus uniform and other associated back to school costs. Plus a possible hiatus in invoices being due for our business.

Almost a NSD today. We bought a Sunday paper and some green beans for dinner because my brother came unexpectedly and I didn't have enough of any one vegetable.
Tomorrow should be a NSD for me. I need to sew name tapes, and clean my house before DS1's reception teacher comes to visit on Tuesday!
Tuesday I have this term's karate subs to pay for DS1, and Wednesday I am taking the boys out for tea with a couple of their friends.

Chicken thighs - brown with onions and garlic, remove from the pan. Add rice, peppers, tinned tomatoes, herbs, stir and cook for a few minutes. Then add white wine and chicken stock and add the thighs back to the pan.
In the oven for 45 minutes or until the rice has cooked through and absorbed the liquid. Add some peas and cook for a few more minutes.

Yum.

marking my place

Hello newbies

economy that's great about the car, glad the neighbours are decent types.

NSD here today, haven't left the house. DDs did ask to go to the shops just to look, so I explained about using petrol today when I need to do the same journey tomorrow to collect them from school. They accepted my argument

Tomorrow I need to get a few bits, but I have a freezer full of protein so it's just veg/salad/fruit and dairy this week.

Morning everyone.

I'm hoping for a NSD today in terms of food/random items/bits for the DCs etc.
I have just had to phone the plumber though, our overflow is leaking. We have such hard water here that the valves in the cold water tank get caked with limescale and need replacing about every 6-12 months. It should only be about £70-80, the guy we use is incredibly good value and has no call-out charge.

We found him on this website Checkatrade, and I really recommend using it for any tradespeople you need to find. Everyone we have used from it has been very good value and excellent quality of work.

Flapjack recipe:
300g of butter
300g of brown sugar
4tbps of golden syrup
500g oats
Half tin condensed milk.

Put butter and sugar and syrup in a lathe pan and heat slowly stirring so it doesn't catch.
When Butter has melted take off heat and add condensed milk.
Then add oats.
Stir together.
Put in Swiss roll tray or similar which has got baking parchment on and put in oven for 10-15 mins at 160 degrees.
Voila!

Makes loads. I used asda own brand condensed milk and their smart price oats (1kg) and it tasted great.

£1 tonight for ds1s youth club...really need to just buy milk/veg this week...have spent all my food budget for this week already!

Morning All - please may I join? We're doing ok financially, but I just have this nagging feeling that we could be doing better. I know I could save on things like:

- Where I do the weekly shop (must stop shopping at Waitrose....)
- Taking my lunch into work rather than dashing out to M&S
- Not buying a coffee every morning
- etc, etc

Money just slips through my fingers....both in my account and our joint account. With our 1 year old costing a small fortune in nursery fees (full time), I feel I need to rein in the spending before we do get ourselves into poop.

We only have one car and I walk to work and nursery, so in theory it should be pretty easy to have a few NSDs every week. I'm veggie and cook most meals from scratch so again, in theory, my shopping bill shouldn't be too large......but it is!!

Anyway, apologies for the long post - I do feel better about writing it all down though!!

Already failed today.....M&S coffee and croissant on the way to work....oops. Must try harder tomorrow!

Shoop, money used to slip through my fingers too.

I add up how much little stuff costs and the equate it to a bill. eg a coffee and a shop bought lunch might be £6 a day or £30 a week or £120 a month or £1440 based on 4 weeks annual leave working year, which might be like paying another council tax bill or gas/electric bill.

I leave my card at home. If you've got a packed lunch and enough petrol in the car what would I need to buy?

Today I just need smartprice curry sauce and ice cream wafers. I'm on the hunt for reduced pork shoulder.

Fluffy - you speak a lot of sense. . Shocking when you work out what that coffee and sandwich is costing per month / year. I'm an accountant too .....luckily I'm better with other peoples money than my own!!

I will draw some cash out tonight when I've worked out what I need for the rest of the week, and then leave the cards at home.

I need milk and bread on the way home.....must not get tempted by anything other than this.

Thanks for the recipe, Badvoc!

I've been good - had a coffee date but used leftover cash from last month. Bought baby supplies using advantage card points and got two plastic plates for toddler feeding for 22p in the wilko's sale.
Sold enough on eBay to cover what I spent there last week , and sold the single pushchair for more than the double cost . Still need to get carrycot and rain cover though...
So feeling happy w this frugal start to the month.

Doing well today - free playgroup and then 50p on a shirt that EconomyBoy can wear to a wedding next month.

Need to get cat food this afternoon, though. She's a fussy madam and will only eat the stuff that costs 89p/small can (an old lady, stuck in her ways).

I need to sell our single buggy, Silk, but can't shift it. It's a Graco one, that I love, but seems to devalue really really quickly. I might end up giving it to someone who really needs it as we need to get rid of it soon.

Have you tried gumtree economy? Or just a sign in the newsagent window? No fees this way.

Yep, tried gumtree and our local classified sites. Will keep trying again. Not tried a local sign, will give that a shot.

Definitely going to be a NSD here today - yay!

I have also made DH sit down and work through his direct debits to see exactly how much they are (reducing as we pay off some CC debt ), and they are less than we thought - in other words he is managing to fritter more cash per month than I realised...
I am a bit annoyed. He earns good money, but that is no reason to let it dribble away - especially when we do have the CC to finish paying off!

Silk I love Boots advantage card. DH is on their contact lens plan, so we get the points for that each month, plus a 10% discount on all Boots own brand products - including No.7.

alibaba DH also has a good income, but his idea of frugal is very different to mine. Grrr.
Feeling the Boots love right now. Got a pushchair in their parenting 20% sale, £20 back thru' quidco and about £50 off advantage card points - a special bonus offer . Aim to spend them on things we need (baby wipes, maternity pads, oh the glamour), and am trying to stay away from the beauty stuff!

Isn't it lovely to see this thread so active and catch up with everyone's news and tips.

£7.19 spend today, but most of that was on a bottle of wine and chocolates for our lovely next door neighbours, for looking after our cat last week. £2.39 of it went on pitta bread, cookies and a 2nd class stamp.

I am thinking of setting up a direct debit for August, in the same way that I do for Christmas. Does anyone do this already?

silk - I used points to restock my travel bag ahead of this weekend's trip. Little bottles of things really add up!

cremeegg the tips are good. My parents have always been pretty well off and my Mum isn't an especially frugal housekeeper so a lot of this is new to me. My Dad is tighter than a nun's chuff in some ways, but will go out and spend really huge amounts of money on things he wants for a hobby (camera, skis).
DH and I don't have the security of income that they have always done (Drs), so we need to be more careful and probably save a bigger proportion of our income.

Ok, so todays spending :

-£28 in Iceland
-£58.67 in Asda
-£3.50 in the pet shop

I have £9 left in my bank and £3.25 in change. Thats it until next Monday . .

Any money that goes into dh's account needs to stay there and try and bring down this overdraft before we get the bills.

I managed to get at least two weeks worth of dinners in the shop so next week will be alot cheaper.

All i should need to buy for the rest of this week is bread and milk top ups!

Done well today. Spent £2 on a Bear Workshop for DS1's teddy for Xmas, and £2.50 on all-you-can-drink coffee at Mummy meet. Did order dinner there, and split a 2 for £10 deal with another Mummy, but our food took so long to come out that we complained, got our money back and still had a scrummy lunch

Have made £28.50 today on selling baby bits, so a £24 profit - more days like that please!!

Sounds like a super day, Leilandri .

Fluffycloudland77 Pork shoulder is on offer £1.50 per KG in Morrisons right now if you're near one

I'd join in but DH is doing everything because my morning sickness is so bloody awful Man spends a fortune too.

I have spent today:

£1.89 in the corner shop for some diet coke (for me) and sweets (for the kids)

£5.95 for a bale of hay for the animals

£3.00 in Mothercare for some socks for DD to try on school shoes

My mother has decided to buy their shoes this year, so I've saved a fair whack of money there, she spend £34 on DD's shoes and gave me £40 towards DS's shoes. All good stuff.

I thought we'd had a good day, until MrEconomy came back from the dentist and said the hygeinist appt he'd just had cost £61, and that was with a discount. He also needed prescription toothpaste and has to buy an electric toothbrush. Like I said, I thought it was going so well...

Yes I have morrisons nearby I can get a small joint, shouldn't cost too much.

Do you think mens spending habits have always been like this and it's why men used to hand over the pay packet to their wives each week then get some beer money back?.

Shoop I am very surprised at your job! . I was useless with money for years. I learnt from my mistakes the costly way. Don't suppose you know any low cost business accounts? I spent £13 in fees this month and I want to tackle that next. Lloyds charge for cash deposits too now. Ideally I want to pay £5ish a month in business fees.

£10 in petrol today. Going to push the boat out tomorrow and spend £3 on getting the car washed.

Thanks for the recipe Leilandri - sounds like just the sort of thing I like, and I have rosemary and thyme growing in pots, and garlic in storecupboard, so just need to buy a lemon. Perfect.

Today I have spent...nothing! If you don't count the horrific amount of DDs that go out of my account on/around this day.

Was very tempted just now to pay to download some audio conversion software to sort out some unplayable music files I have sitting on my computer, but gritted my teeth and dug around on google until I found some freeware that did the same job. Hurrah!

Sorry to hear about the unexpected spending economymode. At least he was shelling out on something medical...not as unjustified as something more frivoulous.

True, riverboat. I was just a bit shocked as I thought it was going to be the same as his normal dentist appointment (£17). Oh well, onwards and upwards.

Fluffy I do wonder. DH's dad has always been shit with money, he drank all their cash.
My dad was really poor growing up, and so is horrified about high ongoing spending (supermarket, household items etc) but will splurge sometimes.
DH is useless. No concept of budget at all but he does love a bargain even if we don't need it
One of my brothers is useless, the other very good.

Argos/boots/amazon almost ALWAYS have offers on electric toothbrushes.

You might even get cashback via quidco.

DH has dentist spending issues too! Electric toothbrush last time, electric flosser this time. NHS but never seems to get change from £100 .

I know, fluffy, I'm planning on getting him for the cheapest one!

To his credit, he is very good with money. I was just a bit taken aback about how much that appointment cost on the NHS (and the fact he didn't tell me how much it was going to be). Or maybe he just gets the actual dentist on NHS and any extras are done privately (we go to different dentists so don't actually know the ins and outs).

ecomony we pay a v.small fee to see the actual dentist, I think £22, but the hygienist is essentially private so that costs £50 or possibly a bit more.
I do think the way that dentists have somehow opted out of the NHS is a bit suss

ah, well that makes more sense, alibaba! I am still on my parents' Denplan cover (have offered numerous times to pay them, but they refuse) so never actually pay to see the dentist/hygienist (they went private years ago). I guess I'll get a bit of a shock when my dentist retires (probably sooner rather than later, I've been going to him for 29 years!) and I switch to NHS, which is the plan.

Fluffy I reckon you are right, that's why child benefit was paid to the mother initially. My late father once lost the holiday money gambling, and he didn't have a "problem" as such.

I'm too tired right now to read through, just wanted to report my day's spending. Somehow managed to rack up £20 in the supermarket, £46-ish on petrol, £60 on dog food. Speaking of irresponsible men, mine bought two puppies who need feeding, vaccinating, de-worming, kennelling for our holidays, neutering and anti-flee-ing. We already had two dogs.

I also got the Xmas gift I'd ordered - £40, but it's out of the way now.

Tomorrow should be an NSD apart from road tolls, Wednesday I have to go into town.

Morning all!!

Well today has been a NSD so far - which for me is nothing short of a miracle. Porridge brought from home and coffee made at work. Bagel also brought from home for lunch...huzzah!!

I do need to spend £2 at M&S on the way home for rostis though but this was planned for and factored into the total amount of cash I withdrew last night for the rest of the week.

I'm up in the big smoke for the rest of the week so need to spend a small fortune on train tickets, but I'll be able to reclaim this from work over the next couple of weeks.

Fluffy - I know, I know - it's very shameful that I'm an accountant with my own money issues......hangs head in shame! I'm not sure about the business accounts. It's been a while since I've done personal accounts - I'm now in the big bad corporate world . I've still got friends who do personal accounts though so I'll have an ask round about what business bank accounts they're recommending to their clients.

In other news DH LOVED his Lidl sandwich meat yesterday! He was very very about me doing the weekly shop there on Saturday but he has been pleasantly surprised so far. .

Hope everyone else is doing ok.....

Does anyone have any inexpensive present ideas for a four year old girl who already has EVERYTHING? We are going to her (massively large scale) birthday party on Saturday. She is very girly and loves princesses, pink things etc. Her parents are pretty rich, hence large wedding-esque party, and she has so many dolls and Barbies and Disney stuff already. I need an idea for a nice but not too expensive present...

Whoops. £14 at the shop. Got some newspapers and a magazine for DD, plus some juice and a couple of treats.

river How about a stationary/making things/painting hamper?

All that stuff ischeap atm because of school.

Shoop, My dh was just the same so I didnt tell him. I used to decant aldi products into asda/sains wrappers/bottles and see if he noticed. I still do it now with smartprice stuff. Thank you, business banking really annoys me especially as I am always in credit and never go over drawn on that account. It's not like they have to lend to me <gets ranty>.

River, would she like some play make up? thinking back to when I was a 4yo (and also spoilt rotten) I loved make up. I had the avon victoria plum range and I loved it. I had some play lipstick, cheek blush, a powder brush and a compact mirror. They do this one now, but I'm sure there are other places that do barbie stuff. Who wouldnt want to wash their hands like Barbie?

Economy, One of the freestuff sites I go to has offers every couple of months for an electric Braun toothbrush for £1, I was going to get one for dh but decided he wouldnt use it. It's www.free-stuff.co.uk. They update every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so they might have it again soon.

river - I think DS might be invited to the same party! We can't go because we're away, and I am somewhat relieved.

I'm about to take the boys out for lunch, just to the Sainsbury's cafe so it should be under £15 for all of us. Then a month's fees for karate due later, £24.

Fluffy we use HSBC Business and get free banking, although we don't do cash transactions so I expect that has an impact. Have to say that they seem very good, we've had no problems and because we also bank with them for personal banking the money moves across from one to the other in seconds - which is helpful when you accidentally pay yourself the money that was meant to go to HMRC for the VAT bill this month

Do you get free banking as a start up incentive or just because HSBC are luffly? I wouldnt object to moving my current account if need be.

£62.68 on a Lidl shop today. At my usual supermarket it would have been £91.71. Spent another £8.44 on tins for Trussel trust food bank so still saved over £20!

Wow, thanks for that link, fluffy. I'll keep an eye on that.

NSD so far, hurrah!

Just 89p on milk today .

Thanks for that link, Fluffy.

Hi rabbits.

How old is you DS? My DSS has had a growth spurt so have some bits and pieces that don't fit him.

Riverboat

I did an oven risotto last night with chicken thighs. Chopped and fried onion, celery, garlic, tomato, chicken & rice, added stock and left to cook in wth oven. The original recipe is Spanish and includes fresh prawns and chorizo, but I'm not spending that money this week. You could add herbs too, I was rushing. I used two thighs and had enough for dinner for four plus packed lunch for 2 DCs, I served left over veg from Sunday.

I use chicken thighs a lot as I prefer them, it's OH who thinks chicken breast is better - silly boy-, you could use them in soups, curries, casseroles, roast, barbieque. Pork chops can be baked, brown them on the hob first, serve with whichever carbohydrate and veg/salad. I sometimes commit the cardinal sin of chopping 1 large pork chop and using it in a pasta sauce whispers for the whole family (2 adults, 2 children).

Today will be an NSD. I am determined.

I failed at no spending today.

The £14.00 earlier at the shop. Then £16 in town for some bits and pieces I needed. Then £10 in the shoe shop for plimsolls. Then £12.75 for two children's haircuts. Plus 95p for my son's bus ticket.

Whoops.

Thanks for the present ideas. I like the idea of something crafty. Will see what I can find in the shops later this week.

Today's spend: €3.82 / £3.02 in the supermarket on bread, cheese and a lemon. Bread and cheese to ensure I have enough stuff for work packed lunches up to the end of the week, and a lemon because I am cooking Leilandri's chicken thigh recipe from upthread tonight (minus the sweet potato as we had that a couple of nights ago, plus flageolet beans)

Hopefully tomorrow will be a NSD. But on Thursday/Friday I need to do a big food shop, plus buy the birthday present for the party this weekend.

Oh, and thanks for the other recipe suggestions Adora, the risotto one looks great. Do you just bung the thighs in whole and let the risotto cook around them, or do you chop up the meat and mix it in? Do you need to brown it first on hob?

I failed too. Took sil for a cream tea (£11 for both of us and DD shared). We take it in turns, so a future NSD is in the bag . Plus she supplies me with free babysitting, so can't complain...
Otherwise no spending, and about to invoice for work (freelance) before starting to look at big, huge maternity allowance claim form.

riverboat

I chopped and browned them last night, you can leave them whole but I still brown them even then.

My nsd failed as DSS starts footy again tomorrow but had no boots that fit him, argh. £25 later he's sorted. They were in the sale too, so slightly better

Hope you like the thighs riverboat nervous now!

Spent a grand total of 20p today. Spent morning at home cleaning, then went to a friends house for coffee and cake this afternoon. DS1 came home from hols in France today with my folks so on the way home I gave him 20p to get a chocolate Freddo from the shops, as his "legs were so tired he didn't think he'd make it home without chocolate for energy" FFS he's only 3!!!

Got to do a top-up shop tomorrow - milk, bread, cheese, beans, bananas. Hopefully no more than £10 unless anything awesome is in reduced chiller

Silk, I have to brave the maternity allowance form in a few weeks. Not looking forward to it. But I am looking forward to all that it entitles me to!NSD today, but need to buy bananas and apples tomorrow.

Wow these threads move along quickly! Enjoying the tips.

Three September NSD's for me. Also was given a load of free apples and some blackberries at the weekend, so spend hours peeling, chopping and baking. DH and DS's happily sampling.

But I failed today. £13 DS's haircuts. £18 on lunch out with a friend. But, I went to the card factory (thanks for the tip!) and stocked up on 20 cards for £2; and got two childrens birthday gifts in the Works for £7. Also I have gone through school clothing today and realised that the extra pack of socks I lobbed in the shopping basket last month for DS2 arent really needed so they will be returned for £5 refund.

Today I only spent £1.60 on the roads. I've gone back to baking and cooking properly after slipping into bad habits when I had puppies living in the kitchen. Don't ask. I have the kitchen back and clean again, so I'm using it

Tomorrow there'll be road tolls, parking and shopping- a top up and costumes for school, Independance celebration in two weeks. I'd forgotten about that.

Morning

Yesterday ended up being a spendy day.
£10 lunch in Sainsbury's
£68 spend in Sainsbury's (2 birthday cards, birthday present for a friend's DD, new landline phone for the house as existing one keeps dropping calls plus bread, bananas)
Karate was free because it was DS1's first class, so it will be £49 next week to join which includes the uniform and a month of classes.

Today I am taking the boys out with a friend and her DDs. Pizza Express, so will be about £30 for a pizza for me and 2 kids menus plus drinks.
I also need to get some coldsore patches, so they will be about £6 I think.

The boots £5 voucher is back. I got 3 bottles of my cleanser for £15 the bottles of setting lotion I bought to get the voucher kind of cancel it out but the S&B thread told me I had to try setting lotion I have another £5 voucher to spend too from buying the cleanser so I should be able to get nearly a years supply for £30.

One tube of Liz Earle is £20 and I used to think myself frugal for using that.

Bought reduced baking potatoes in morrisons for 45p for a big bag and a big bag of mushrooms marked down for 24p for the spag bol. There selected seconds, once it's chopped up in a bol no one will notice.

The card factory is brilliant isnt it? and the staff in my local one are really nice, so polite when the place is heaving with customers. I cant believe anyones paying £4 plus for greeting cards thesedays. I've seen Asda sell tatty bear cards a £1 cheaper than clintons sell them for. Good for gift bags for xmas too.

Ok, so today i spent the last of the money.

Cheese, bread, a cauliflower and hay for the Gpigs.

Tomorrow will be a NSD because I have nothing to spend!

Thankfully we are sorted till mon with things like food etc, bills to pay on friday when dh gets paid.

I use Liz Earle fluffy (well, for now!)
Did you get yours from boots??

No, I use boots no7 hot cloth cleanser now. Funnily enough the woman who served me used to use LE too and we talked about how good the no7 one is.

I miss the euclyptus oil in it but apart from that it seems to work the same.

I use a big bottle of spring water to act as toner. I miss the toner sometimes, it smelt wonderful.

£21.65 total spend for today. I will read through later.

Oh great, I'm another fan of the No 7 hot cloth cleanser, and with the voucher it's £5 a bottle. Marvellous .
Not much spent here - £2 in tesco top up, but a £5 for DH's work trousers to be repaired. I need to learn to sew! Actually, from today I'm officially a SAHM, so I need to up my wifely game (not really, am far from a stepford wife).

Nearly a NSD but had to pay HMRC my £10.60 NI contribution for the month as they buggered up my direct debit - does that count?!

Did my 'weekly' (could be 10 days, could be 3!) shop at Costco this week, so now have huuuge amounts of various foodstuffs (not many veggies, but I'm making it up with extra fruit )

Cooked 2 chickens (£7) and ate half of one between us (me + 3DCs) for tea, now have the other one + legs and bits to make at least 2 more meals.

My friend introduced me to Card Factory (7 for £1) a few weeks ago and also took me to some of the other 'bargain' shops nearby. She enters all her spending into a spreadsheet with categories for everything, she's so organised she puts me to shame! I need to get on top of it all though so am taking tips from her and from you!

Fluffy, I use HSBC too and got 18 months free banking as it was classified as a new account rather than transfer of account (which was 6 months free banking) but even after the initial period, most stuff is still free. The only charge that will affect me is for paying in more than 5 cheques a month (but the amount they charge will still be less than paypal fees for customers paying me by card). Most other charges seem to be for counter services, but if you bank online and use the cash machine its not an issue. I second that they are very helpful so far (only been a couple of months).

I use Liz Earle, it is lovely. I used to be a big No.7 fan but I've gone off most stuff recently, it doesn't seem to suit my skin in the way it did.

Doing that is the deal we have. 18 months free, and then I think ours will continue to be free after that because we will only need a very limited range of services.

Spent £20.61 in Sainsbury's - coldsore patches, toothbrush and savlon. Tea out was £28.

Tomorrow is a possible NSD. We don't need any food, and I think we have everything we need for our trip away. DH will be going into town to pick up his new glasses (already paid for) so I guess he might end up spending something!

Today was a NSD

Yesterday only £2.34, bircarb and condensed milk - for flapjacks!
I made Badvoc's recipe, they were amazing! I don't think I've ever baked something for the first time and it's come out perfect. Will make another batch with the left over condensed milk and try not to eat them all Can you freeze flapjacks?

I've got less than £2 in my purse, until Monday. My Oyster card is topped up and there's nothing else I'll need, bar a pint of milk perhaps, so it'll be a successful week.

I've got about £47 in my bank account. In the past, I'd check my balance and think, "Ooh, I've got £47 to spend!" That's why I've been so bad with money in the past, I spent it just because it was there.

I can feel a shift in my thinking, I get the same buzz now from saving money that I used to get from spending it, it's all very encouraging.

Finally had a proper bra fitting today - been putting it off as I knew I was going to need bigger ones (pregnancy boobs). £60 later, I come out with decent support. Wish my maternity exemption card was valid at Bravissimo! Excellent customer service though.

Car now fixed, so I just need to pluck up the courage to go and ask my neighbour for £287. Eek.

Leilandri - the recipe was great! I had to cook it for closer to an hour rather than 30m, but I think it's because the oven dish I used wasn't particularly appropriate. And with the flageolet beans soaking up all the lemon juice and garlic at the bottom of the dish, it really gave the whole dish a boost! Even my DP really liked it, and he doesn't generally like lemony/garlicky things.

I've spent €15.07 / £11.93 today on the birthday present. Not too bad, at least it's bought now!

Not a good day here,

Roads -£2.40
Parking -£1.20
Lunch -£6
School costumes -£35 for both DDs
Top-up shopping, offers on non-perishables £30

No need to go ino the capital again for at least a week, so for the next few days I should manage NSD's

I am very proud to announce a NSD.

Hello, can I join in too please? I've enjoyed lurking on and off since you started in Jan, but am facing a few weeks on statutory sick pay as I had a hysterectomy on Mon. That means I could do with some focus, and especially not spending on amazon etc while I'm recovering. Was very lucky to have my op done with BUPA, although I'm yet to find out what my bill for any extras will be (like phone calls because no phone reception meant I couldn't use my mobile, grrr)

Hello parttimegoddess

Welcome aboard, hope you have a speedy recovery.

I'm planning another NSD tomorrow, feel the need to recover from today so 'll probably pop back on Friday.

Adora, I really feel for you with the constant amount you have to shell out for school uniforms, equipment, costumes etc. Did you say you had a viewing on the house? Any news?

Welcome from me, too, parttime.... Hope your recovery period is unproblematic. Hopefully, we'll be able to help you resist the urge to splurge online!

Hi ecomony

Nothing yet, but the agent may have someone to look at the weekend, thanks for asking. Have you spoken to your neighbour yet? You should, especially as she offered to pay for the damage.

I've just arrange coffee with a friend for tomorrow, first time in a couple of months so that should be about £3

It's never ending with the schools here, the latest is they should have football boots in addition to trainers for the few times they will be selected for the hockey team. Some teachers can go whistle

Today was supposed to be an NSD, but that ended up not happening.

I read some online reviews of the birthday present I bought in the shop yesterday, that all said it was crap. "No problem", I thought, "I'll return it and get something else". Saw a lovely childrens book in a bookshop on my lunchbreak, so I bought that instead. After work, I went back to the first shop to get the gift that I bought yesterday refunded...and it turns out they don't do refunds, only exchange for gift vouchers or other products. I had forgotten how common that is in this country, having been so used to the standard full-refund practice of all large shops in the UK.

So, I have ended up shelling out an €10.00 / £7.92 today on the book, and gaining a €10.00 / £7.92 Toys R Us voucher. Will just have to hope that we have a genuine need to buy something from Toys R Us before the end of the month to relieve my guilt...

riverboat

No-one refunds here, it's an alien concept. Tomorrow I have to change the school outfits I bought yesterday.

Oh no Adora - so you'll end up paying out twice for the school outfits? Or can you at least do an exchange, if not a refund?

Do you find that there are "bargains" available in the country you live in, in the same way as in the UK? I must admit that I am a bit jealous reading about the Boots offers and vouchers and everything upthread. I love how supermarkets and big shops in the UK always have 2 for 1 offers and genuine bargains to be snapped up. That just exists much less here. I always end up spending a fortune whenever I go back to the UK because I get so swept away by the novelty of all the 2-for-1 and 3-for-2 offers everywhere!

Yep, all sorted with my neighbour, Adora. I made her brownies, to show there were no hard feelings.

£3.48 today on bananas, cocoa powder and cooking marg.

I fell foul of the no-refunds business here in the UK a couple of days ago - the two maternity dresses I bought in the New Look sale don't fit that well. But I can only exchange them. It's not a huge problem, but annoying nonetheless.

I'm a Bravissimo girl too economy I usually go once a year, near my Bday, as our closest store is Cardiff which is nearly 2hr drive away I buy in bulk, usually 3 or 4, and then try to only wear 2 everyday, so I have 1 or 2 for "best. That way my boobs gradually sag as the year goes on, but get hoyked up again for special occasions

Glad you liked the chicken riverboat Your version with the beans sounds yummy, will have to give that a go.

NSD here today. Took DS1 back to nursery after 6wks off hoo-bloody-ray and got cracking down the allotment with DS2, who mainly helped by eating mud, and my dear old Dad. AND sold more baby bits for another £3

Spendy day tomorrow. We were going to take the boys to Legoland next Tues, to redeem some free Sun vouchers, but we can't justify the extra petrol etc at the moment as it's a 3hr drive from us. So I am taking the boys to a local farm/adventure park tomorrow with some fellow mummy-and-baby friends. Adult entry is £4.70. My DS's get to go in free. Will take a picnic, and bottled drinks. DS1 will want a donkey ride which is another £1, and I expect I'll get nagged for an icecream, but hopefully can come away with precious little change from £10. Or atleast that is the plan!!

That should be two bras for everyday USE. I don't use 2 bras everyday, I don't need quite that much support!!

I did have to read that a few times before I got it, Leilandri! I'm a convert to Bravissimo, kind of hoping my boobs stay big enough to be able to buy bras in there again after pregnancy.

Did you get the issue sorted with your bank and the fraudulent cash withdrawals , by the way? I think that was you...

It was me. Not really. The ploce investigated but couldn't really get any leads.
Unfortunately withdrawing large sums of cash hasn't been unusual for us. Until we moved in February we were drawing out several hundred pounds a month in cash to pay rent to M-i-L, and the storage place where we had our stuff. We even paid our deposit and 1st months rent for our current home in cash.
I did have a rant talk to the branch manager. We resolved by being compensated half the amount stolen, so £150. And having an extension to our free overdraft for 12months, which in my current unemployed state, is very helpful. I have also put in a claim to our home insurance, worth a try. Not 100% happy with the outcome, still pissed that someone got away with our hard earned money, but the best of a hopeless situation...

riverboat

we do get some things on offers, supermarkets trying to outdo each other, but not as good as the Boots vouchers. I am hoping to exchange the outfits tomorrow.

economy glad you sorted the money out with the neighbour.

NSD here today. Out doing errands tomorrow, vet bill is back in my hands as OH hasn't managed to draw the cash out for it. Yesterday I took out grocery money for next week to put in my local bank account. They keep emailing OH to ask if he wants my account closed as it doesn't see much activity. As I said before, England circa 1950.

Leilandri

Glad you got some of the money back. I too was a tad confused about your bra habits, but it makes perfect sense now.

My local paper (the one with the property sections) has a £5 off a £30 spend at aldi. And a coupon for a free bag of cookies at sainsburys.

Check yours to see if it has it, mine published by central independant news.

I dont know if any of you go on S&B but setting lotion is being talked about a lot on there and it's fab. Very cheap in boots right now as it's 3 for 2 and gets you a £5 No 7 voucher.

Hmm, I might ask my mum to go into Boots for me...

Pretty good day today for me:

€2.75 / £2.19 on wrapping paper and ribbony stuff.

Then €88 / £69 on the weekly shop, which I am pretty pleased about. I made an effort to go to a supermarket other than my normal one - it's definitely cheaper, but it's at the end of a really long, bumpy, pot-holy road that I hate driving down in my tiny car, so I usually avoid it. But this time I braved the bumps, and I think it was definitely worth it. I also went down a brand on a few products and resisted non-essential, snacky temptations. Yay me.

FluffyCloud77 What's setting lotion? Is that for your hair?

I had a cheapish day, exchanged the school outfits, no extra cost, coffee with my friend was £3. including tip. That got me a double espresso and two half size criossants. Lunch, too busy cleaning to make something before I left £6. Tights go with the outfits, £4. Roads £3, refulled car, about £60, not quite sure now. DDs spent some more of their credit from Bank of Mum but the bank is now closed for a few weeks.

Setting lotion is the really old fashioned stuff our nans used to use for setting their curls.

It's fab, I only used a tiny bit (not enought really) but my style held which is a minor miracle for my hair as it's heavy and wants to be dead straight with an annoying flicky bit at the back .

It makes your hair all shiny too and full of body. I'm going to put it into a spray bottle later and have another go. I'm also considering taking it to my hairdresser next month and asking him to use it so my style lasts...Which I'm sure he'll be delighted about .

Im doing really well with the NSD's. Taking left over soup, veggie curry etc to work every day.

DH getting on board and will list random stuff we dont need on ebay, or someone on here mentioned musicmagpie for discs, so will try that too.

Can anyone explain the Boots voucher? In the past I've just binned them because I've assummed it's just a way of luring me to buy more stuff I don't need! If it's £5 off, do you have to have a minimum spend? I don't have a favored skin care brand, but slather on Nivea every night. I also had a sample of some lovely Estee Lauder foaming cleanser - can anyone recommend something similar that the voucher can be used on?

I haven't spotted any bargains to share, but I have registered on the BBC site for free audience tickets to forthcoming shows - a friend and I fancy free tickets to watch Strictly this winter!

The boots voucher is £5 off No7 skincare plus £3 off No7 makeup.

I use the hot cloth cleanser, it's on offer 3 for 2 then I use my voucher too so a £10 cleanser costs me £5 each.

Other people use it on handcream etc.

Ah, ok I get it now Fluffy, thank you. I will have a look.

<btw I just saw you on the octopus thread, lord knows why I opened that, but Ive scooted back over here to safety sharpish>

Thanks for the setting info, Fluffy

A big to Fluffy for all links and tips.

Another NSD, mostly due to my benefits being stopped and me now being in dire circumstance.

Oh dear Rabbits, are you coping ok?

I shall, yes. I have a great bunch of friends and lots of support at the children's school. They gave me a token for the food bank, so we got a (massive) amount of food to last us, and potentially again should I need it, plus all the mums from my Due In 2008 group have been sending me bundles of clothes for my DD because she suddenly got too big for her old stuff. All my direct debits are paid, and most of my rent too, so by the time I get things sorted I should have a back payment in time for next months bills. Still got child benefit and tax credits too, so it's just a case of being very careful for a few weeks.

And you never know, I might finally get my DLA decision after twenty plus weeks, would be perfect timing right now, lol. The key is to never let it get you down, there is always a solution, and there are always worse situations than yours.

Rabbits, you have a great spirit, I'll bet you are a great role model to the DCs. Fingers crossed on your DLA.

Ditto what Downfall said - your attitude is inspiring Rabbit! I hope your benefits get sorted out soon, the stuff I am reading in the papers every day about the way the government is ruthlessly cutting support for people who need it really sickens me.

I have texted my mum, who is fanatic about snapping up bargains, using vouchers, buying in the sales etc, and asked her to get the boots hot cloth cleanser for me, since I've wanted to try one like that for ages

Today will be a NSD for me unless anything drastically unexpected happens. Quiet day at home, before we go to the birthday party tonight which looks like its going to be a pretty lavish affair...

Hope you're ok rabbits. I live on benefits and it's hard (and that's when they're being paid on time!) We're rooting for you

I'm tempted to go into Boots, but I've managed to avoid them for over a year. I've got an entire drawerful of toiletries to use up so I'll resist!

Rabbits, your attitude is nothing short of inspiring.

Just had an afternoon at the seaside with DS. Lovely, although it took the best part of two hours to get there and it'll be the same to get home. This is one of those times I wish I could drive, as it would have been 40 minutes each way in a car! Total spend: £24.55.

Hope everyone finds a way to enjoy the weekend .

gah just lost my introductory message but please can I join? Recognise some names from amigoingmadhere's thread.

Dp tried to get a huge loan on thu to pay off our zero credit cards as he is sick of them (we got caught out and missed a payment which had been taken off a diect debit leading to £70 charge). I think we can pay them off though if we cut spending massively and the loan was refused so we set to work drawing up excel spreadsheets of out goings. bit of an eyeopener!

Have 1 toddler in nappies and 2 under 8 aiming to spend less than £70 pw on food gifts one off items and cleaning stuff. not sure if thats a bit too restrictive.

Hello Pookey - I'm a newbie to these threads too. Everyone has their own level of credit crunching they need to do. CC debt from previous years when DH earned very little is our nemesis too.

I find it really motivating to check in and see that everyone is trying hard to make sacrifices. And the 'old hands' post great tips!

Pookey, I heard that they dont like making loans for debt consolidation as they think people will not pay the loan but use it to increase other spending.

In other words they would rather people adjust their outgoings than borrow again. Which is easier for some people than others.

They wouldnt lend to me either when I had cc either. They offered me a loan at 20% which would have increased my monthly payments so I worked out which loan was "cheapest" and paid the most expensive one first.

I think it took a year to pay them all off but I still have the letters off them all saying the balance had cleared, I've kept them 4 years now.

Hello pokey and welcome aboard.

I spent a fiver today on hair things in national colours for the school thing. Nada apart from that

Thanks for the warm welcome Interesting about the loan info fluffycloud - that seems remarkably public spirited if they are refusing loans so people don't get in worse debt but it could just push people to get more credit cards but yes they may have done us a favour and it has focused us. Very good idea to keep those letters.

Well done AdoraBell - dp always moans about spending money on school things but nice for them to feel they have everything they need when it comes to school.

Have just looked at acouple of the messages randomly and have to say very excited about no 7 cleanser as used to get liz earle - think I have a boots voucher from buying dp razors (gutted there is no aldi nearby) tbh have just been leaving my face bare but want to wear makeup so really need cleanser to cleqn it off.

I spent £2 at dp request to buy a multipack of mckoys and some tonic to finish off a dusty bottle of gin - still its cheaper than spending £5 on wine and a multi pack of crisps means I can use the leftover packets for a picnic tomorrow. Also got 3 loaves of bread (inc 1 multi grain type) for £1 reduced.

Resisted dp's crisps and planned to be really frugal and not eat but have given in and had some toast - ah well at least the thought was there

I think it's more a case they think that people will use any extra spare money to fritter away not pay debts off.

I think I read it off MSE.

Right, no-one is coming to view the house this weekend, apparently they've gone off travelling. Good news tough, OH has some money coming in next month so we can cover the mortgage, phew!

DDs had a party to go to today (short notice) and the money they spent yesterday, on clothes, included getting a skirt free which was intended for something they have planned involving Birthday Girl, so that served as her gift. DDs are learning about bargains. I have a couple of dental appointments coming up and then we can send our docs off to BUPA. It's not worth sending just one thing as the local post is unreliable and so we have to use a courier. I may take DDs for their check-up to include those invoices too. I feel a need to get as much in 1 courier package as possible.

pokey my OH also frets about money spent on school things, but I feel that being the forriners in the school they need to be seen to put in the effort. This month sees their Independance celebration and the kids perform traditional dance in school. This dance is graded on performance and appearance. I got them hair clips with the traditional tri-colour ribbon made, four of them. Plus if we move back it's something nice for DDs to keep because they feel like Chilenas.

Rabbits I am impressed by your positive attitude, good for you and I hope you get the benefits sorted quickly. My sister is living on benefits, she's disabled, and I really worry about her payments being stopped.

Hello all, thank you for all your kind comments. I do panic, don't get me wrong, but I have to use that mantra to keep going and it does work. I've been in worse situations myself, when my mum left my violent dad we were in a homeless unit with hardly any money at all, and it wasn't as bad as you might think, so I know that even at the worst end of the scale it's not going to mean sleeping in a cardboard box.

One thing I want to mention to you all is that I do lots of surveys and product testing, I get the occasional Amazon vouchers as reward for most, which go towards my monthly pet supplies for the rabbits and guinea pigs (they work on a subscription basis, if you order through them on subscription it knocks 10% off of the price, plus delivery is free, which suits me being disabled and all). Sometimes I even get cash, £15 this month for testing something secret I am not allowed to tell you about, lol. Plus it's often things that are useful, I tested washing gel and got a massive bottle that did all my laundry for two months plus, and this month I have two lots of shampoos and conditioners to test, saving on toiletries. It's nice to do if you have a bit of spare time, and can be quite useful too. Most of them work on a referral basis, so I could email you if you like, or perhaps someone you know does the same (really not touting for referrals, promise).

Inspiring attitude rabbits Hope it all gets sorted soon.

Spent £8.35 on Friday on our day out - entrance for me, and an ice-cream for me and DS1. A great day, so was worth the money.

NSD yesterday Another allotment day with my folks- really trying to get as much done while the sun is still shining.

Will be spendy today - £8 on Facebook for a gro-clock for DS's. Trying to teach DS1 that just because he has woken for a wee at 5am, doesn't mean that it is getting up time
Have to do a top-up shop today. Need lots of fruit&veg, cheese, milk, yogurts, squash - but hoping to get change from £30.
Back down the allotment this afternoon to tire us out

Let me challenge you.

Store cupboard rice recipes anyone? I have a huge bag of rice, but unless I cook chilli or curry (which I can't right now as no chicken or minced beef) I am struggling a bit. What other stuff do you do with rice? Got pretty full up freezer with loads of frozen veggies, and full up cupboards with condiments, spices and sauces etc.

Jambalaya! Great for a rice-based dish. It's great because you can just chuck in whichever bits of meat you have (sausages/ham/salami/whatever) some spices, some veggies and you're good to go. Google Jambalaya recipes and you'll find tons.

I also like savoury pancakes stuffed with rice and peas (again you could chuck in some ham or whatever)

Or a cold rice salad with tuna and sweetcorn, good for packed lunches...

Where do you all buy toothpaste? I usually go to 99p shop but wondering if there's anywhere cheaper?

There was children's toothpaste in Home Bargains as cheap as 29p. I tend to find all my stuff in there. They do a tube of my toothpaste which tends to be three quid a pop for 59p. It's a smaller size, but it means I can spread the cost more.

Rabbits

Last night I did rice with chopped veg and bacon.

Fried onion, leek that was lurking, carrot & half a packet of bacon (optional), then added the rice with a veg stock cube (also optional) and let it cook until the rice was done. I've also done veg curry similarly. Mix chopped veg (frozen is good) with rice, add curry paste or whatever you use with hot water, cover and microwave. Or you could do it the old fashioned way and just mix the rice in. Nit all my meals include meat.

Today is an NSD, we're staying home.

Thanks, rabbits
I'd never heard of Home Bargains before I MNed. I'm in South London and nearest one is in North London. I'm thinking it might be worth the train fare to go and stock up, I'll take my massive rucksack!

Hello all, sounds like weekends have gone well.

Great news on the incoming money, Adora, you must be very relieved.

I hear a lot of talk about Home Bargains, but not sure we have one near us (in Oxford). Might have to investigate further...

Relatively good weekend here, total weekend's spending comes in at under £10. It would have been even cheaper, but we went to some friends' for lunch today and can't go empty-handed so bought a few snacky things from Aldi. I would take some homemade cake/dessert, but left it a bit late to ask if they wanted me to. Will do that next time.

Rabbits - I do loads of surveys , but don't seem to be very good at getting on the product testing scene, where do you sign up for yours?

Nope, no Home Bargains within 25 miles. However, they do have an online shop, so will have a peek.

Hello all. Managed NSD Fri and Sat, but had to go to Aldi with DH and DD x 2 today (so he could drive, push trolley etc),and Aldi spend was £58 which included new wellies for DD1 at £6.99. Unfortunately that's not the week's food bill though, as Tesco scheduled to come tomorrow night, mostly with ready meals for me and DH for the week as he does a lot of things, but cooking isn't really one of them

Another NSD today makes it a NSWeekend for me. Today we all slept in very late, then spent the rest of the day at home doing various jobs and and playing games.

The birthday party we went to yesterday evening was insane! It was a full on wedding-reception style thing including champagne on tap, sit-down meal and disco, but for a 4 year olds birthday. It was also fantastic for DSS, there was a magician, a bouncy castle, table football, giant lego, a wii etc etc...he had a great time. Got to love these friends, I don't think their motiviation is to spoil their daughter but rather to share their wealth by constantly throwing these massive bashes and inviting all their friends and family...

Anyway that little taste of luxury has topped me up a bit, and will hopefully stand me in good stead to be strong and have more NSDs this week.

Oh, and my mum is a big Home Bargains fan, she is always mentioning to me things she got from there for ridiculous prices. If only they would expand overseas...

economy

Yes, very relieved indeed. We're having a few days away soon, kind of half term, and now OH will be able to relax properly.

Happy to hear you have had some good news, Adora .

I am going to have to spend tomorrow as I don't have any fresh fruit or vegetables. Which means I have to look at my bank balance, eek! And will need bread, milk and butter to. I am good for toiletries I think, and cleaning stuff, although I may need to get some washing powder again soon.

Will have a look at selling some stuff that I have to make a bit of cash for the next couple of weeks. I absolutely have to get my little girl a book bag from the school, but not until half term I think. Plus both of my children need PE kit, although again my DD can wait until half term.

Had a NS weekend, yay!

Oh, and the best survey sites for doing product testing I have found are IPSOS and Synovate. If you need a referral, give me a shout. x

Didn't manage a no spend day but at least I kept away from the supermarket. dc 1& 2 had their first swimming lessons (one of a couple of classes set up before we cut back but I'm glad they are learning.) Went quite well but it was too early. We later went to aldenham country park we paid 3.50 for parking and my mum bought ice creams but apart from that we avoided the activities that required payment. Had a lovely day.

Good luck with bank balance check rabbits well done on no spend weekend also to riverboat - in awe really!

Also glad to hear your good news Adora, what a relief for you.

Wow - sounds like lots of you had really good, thrifty weekends which is great. I had quite a spendy end to the week with lunch out and a couple of coffees.

We made up for it at the weekend though by sorting through the cupboards, freezer etc and combining what we already have with what we managed to get from our allotment, and it turns out we have enough to get us through the week with minimal additions and careful meal planning.

This is quite a revelation for me - normally I would just do my normal online shop under the assumption we just need our usuals. I feel a bit for being so wasteful actually.

I had a few things sell on eBay over the weekend so that was a bit of money coming in which is good. I've transferred the funds to my bank account from my Paypal account, and withdrawn the cash this morning. I'll put it in my Christmas fund envelope this evening.

I've also withdrawn £10 to last me till next Monday for incidentals - bread, milk etc. I will need to do a supermarket shop at the weekend though as we'll definitely need a bit of a top up by then. I'm going to try Aldi for the first time <excited>. DH was quietly impressed with Lidl so I'm hopeful he'll like Aldi too!!

Anyone know where I can get cheap gin from? I've got one batch of raspberry gin on the go, but want to get some gin ready for when we go sloe berry picking. The last gin I got was stuff that PIL brought back from Spain, so can't really easily get any more of that!!

Well done on the thrifty weekends everyone!

Rabbits your attitude is amazing, I really hope that your payments get sorted out soon.
With PE kit, I got some plimsolls for DS1 from Sainsburys last week - they were £2.50 which I thought was an absolute bargain.

Adora good news on the work, and well done on managing to exchange the things for school.

Shoop for sloe gin I think I would use a supermarket own brand because you are adding all the flavour.

We've been in Italy for a wedding this weekend, had a great time but now we're exhausted! The flights and hotel and car hire have been expensive, but everything was laid on all weekend in terms of food and drink so we barely spent a penny!
I have lots of euros to change back which I am hoping will keep me in cash for top-up shops and the odd coffee for the rest of the month.

Online shop is being delivered this morning, £60. Other expenditure this week will be a book bag for DS1, and then his joining fee, subs and uniform for karate which is £56.
This coming weekend will be a quiet one, maybe just swimming, but we only have to pay for DH and I because DS1 gets in free because he has lessons at the pool and DS2 is too young to have to pay.

Ladies, I finally plucked up the courage and went to Lidl! £16.93 spent on loo roll, kitchen roll, bathroom cleaning spray, Comfort fabric conditioner, 2 cartons of juice, a lime, 2 jacket potatoes (probably have to use them up in the next two days), some Jaffa cakes, a Swiss roll, a 4 pack of Kinder Buenos for DS, paprika, oven chips, cheese and organic eggs . I don't know what took me so long! I shall be even braver on my return trip next week!

Lovely reading about everyone's weekends.

Lidl's great isn't it? Do you have an Aldi nearby too?

Unfortunately no Aldi. Used to have one where we used to live, and I popped in there quite a lot.

Since Badvoc posted the flapjack recipe, I've made them 3 times

In Sainsbury's today the (sweetened) condensed milk was 99p for 397g. In Asda it's £1.12.

Today;

£3.76 in Card Factory, for all the birthday cards I need up to the New Year (I din't send Xmas cards)

£3.03 in Sainsbury's, two tins of condensed milk (see my PP) and big jar of own brand golden syrup, £1.05, the cheapest I've seen it, that's cheaper than Asda Smart Price.

Savers, 69p on toothpaste.

Asda, £1.15. 75p Smart Price oats (didn't sell Basics oats in Sainsbury's) 2 pint of milk reduced to 40p. A good day!

Feeling quite good as I biked across town to the hospital for a scan/research study appointment, rather than driving and having to pay for parking. They were running an hour late, so would have been an expensive visit if I had to pay!

Also have some more work. And had some at the weekend. Not mega bucks, but it all helps.

Good on you economy. Healthy and thrifty

Kind of tempted by this flapjack recipe now. - I have some golden syrup that needs to be used up. Just need to work out what condensed milk is called over here, and whether it's in fact available...

Today I spent £50 on a hotel reservation, for a wedding we are going to in November. That's just for one night - originally it was going to be two, but in fact I have family in the area so in the name of thriftiness (and family love) we are going to stay with them for the first night. But for the night of the actual wedding it would end up costing a bit in taxis to get to/from wedding venue to their place, and then we'd probably get in very late and wake them up, so I think we're more or less justified in booking the hotel. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

That's good news, economy .

Hi all

I spent £18 today in the supermarket and £5 having a snack, missed lunch and was starving after collecting DDs from school. Tomorrow I have a dental appointment and have pinned the vet down to 1pm to pay that bill. Puppies are being neutered so thats another bill in a couple of weeks time.

I can't get golden syrup here, did see it once in a posh shop next door to Luis Vuitton, but I don't actually shop on that street, for obvious reasons.

river I think thats a good enough excuse to stay in a hotel.

Will be reading this thread for ideas as £ very tight and really need to learn how to budget better!

We would love to start to save for a deposit on a house...once we've finished paying off an old debt!

Yesterday was a spend of £27, thanks to child benefit, and we have fruit, veg and eggs milk and cheese.

Not too bad I don't think.

Rabbits you are doing so well. Will you get back dated money for this period where they aren't paying you?

Is anyone pregnant on this thread? I have a lovely, barely worn size 18/20 green maternity coat, trench coat style, that if someone was in need of I would be very happy to post on to a new good home.

Yesterday I spent £37 in Sainsbury's. Shower proof coat and some wellies for DS1 for school, nappies for DS2, nappy sacks and potatoes.
Today I need to spend £3.50 on a book bag for DS1, and then the karate fees.

I hope they'll backdate me.

I got my mobility scooter today. I am so excited.

Alibaba, sadly I am not pregnant nor a size 18-20, but I almost wish I was as I have an unhealthy obsession with green coats. I already have two, but yours sounds lovely!

Great news re the scooter Rabbits! When are you going for your first test drive?

NSD today, I can pretty confidently say. Really had to force myself to make a packed lunch for work this morning as I was feeling very lazy and just thought I'd buy something instead, but thinking of this thread really kept me motivated. Plus the end of the week and the weekend ate going to be spend for me as I have some social stuff arranged.

For shoes for the children I go to Clarks to get measured and keep watch on e-bay. DS2 start-rite sandals were £6 incl postage and lasted all summer!

Also keep watch for clarks and Geox trainers always pleased with the condition. I buy a few pairs of trainers so they can kick around and not have to worry about them getting wrecked. I bought a pair from Asda and they were utter utter rubbish not even worth the £6.

I recently bought a few birthday cards from Home Bargins for 27p each!!!! a some here branded. Perfect for parties and better value than the value card stores. I also buy wrapping paper on a roll and have a girl and boy roll so always useful.

Making up yr own yogurts with quality plain yogurt, add tinned fruit and a bit of honey or agave could use value strawberries at £1 per pack. Much more substantial than those pots. Hubby love nuts sprinkled on his too.

I just buy one multi cleaner now and pop some in the spray bottle with a little water. Gone are the days of endless cleaning products.

Great news, Rabbit . Hope this will make things a little easier for you.

Shattered today, after staying up to listen to Andy Murray win the U.S. Open! But at least I didn't spend much. £1.70 on bus fares and £2.84 on parcel paper and two jiffy bags. So £4.54 total.

Mega bucks today, paid the vet bills that OH was sitting on. With the exchange rate it works out about £460. There'll be another after our break, neutering x 2 and "hotel" for all four. I also paid for blinds for the lounge. Too much money for me to get my head around right now.

rabbits glad you've got your scooter, my sister relies on hers most days, I know how much of a difference it makes.

Really pleased about your scooter news Rabbits.

Ouch Adora to todays spend but each item seems like its toward the greater good of a happier or easier life. New blinds and a hotel treat sound fab.

Ive had an odd spend day today. I have been really strict on NSDs so last week was one tesco shop and one tank of fuel and nowt else. Today was another weekly food shop (£90), a coffee out (£2) and I returned 18 water pistols to a pound shop (random!) but only could get exchange so have stocked up on toiletries I dont really need now but I spose will save from spending next month.

Rest of week looks very spendy - swimming lessons, cubs subscription and other activities to pay for; two childrens birthday parties and lunch money due.

Made kedgeree for tea tonight - bought the cheapest smoked fish on the counter which today was kippers (shhh, the DS's dont know thats what they ate!). Was yum.

Only £10 on Oyster card today.

Got two interesting books from the library;(walked there and got bus back - economy!)

Feed your Family for Under a Fiver by Gina Steer

How to feed your while family a healthy, balanced diet with very little money...the entire title is too long to type on my phone...by Gill Holcombe

Downfall

It's not a hotel this time, it's kinda camping, in a kinda tree house. Sounds loco but I am so looking forward to a complete lack of structure, and time tables, and too expensive meals out. They have a coffee shop so we can get a coffee and piece of cake if feel the need to splash out.

The blinds are to finish the room off. We're desperately trying to sell the house and it's a balancing act between not spending money and having the house looking "finished" so that we can sell it.

I miss libraries.

Makingmama - welcome! I really recommend excel spreadsheets to track regular ingoings and outgoings. The figures are a really good incentive to resist old bad habits.

Adorabell - read somewhere that anything you will need for you(eg fluffy towels) r new home you could get now to 'display;' your house.

Boerwarkids I was planning to go to sainsbo tomnorrow so will be stocking up on golden yrup and condend milk, sounds like a great recipe badvoc slightlky embarrased cos I think I gave you a flapjack recipe on another thread

sorry for crap typing i have a mega typing delay really annoying.

Got some rocky robin caramel bars in teso reduced to 38p for a pack of 9.

No no spend days but my spend since sat is about £10. £2.50 a day that is def a record for me.

So pleased about scooter rabbits

Yes, pokey I'm trying to do that, the blinds were kind of essential because until now we hadn't put any in the lounge as we couldn't afford to after building the house. We're remote enough to get away with bare windows but it's really not a selling point. Well done on your low spend days.

pookey If you use sweetened condensed milk, you could reduce the amount of brown sugar? I didn't and they were a tad too sweet.
I halve Badvoc's recipe anyway, my baking tray isn't big enough for 500g

I wrote a long post and it disappeared - dammit.

About £6 yesterday, but £10 in Boots points on expensive formula milk for DD. Any ideas how to get her to drink full fat cows milk?! She can't stand the stuff at the moment!

Almost a NSD forecast for today but need to get some cream for a watercress soup I'm making tonight.

£4 left till Saturday of my self imposed budget..... might be tough but I'm going to keep trying!!

Hope you all have good days....

Anyone want to share their spreadsheets for tracking money? I think I need to start doing that.

Thanks guys, can't believe what a difference such a small thing makes. Doing a stress free school run has a massive knock on effect to everything else.

I'd love to have a spreadsheet but I haven't got Excel on my computer, I'm not sure how much it costs?

I write it all down on paper (old school )

Shoop, could you not just mix milk into things - pancakes, cereal etc etc. My son won't drink milk, so we get it into him in other ways. Also yoghurt and cheese. They don't necessarily have to drink milk to get their calcium intake!

Sorry for short post, electricity going out any moment for work on the street....

So, power still on, despite saying it was going off 'right now' an hour ago..

Not a bad few days, considering we needed to get stuff. All got as cheaply as poss.

*50p yesterday on play group
* £7 on catfood
* £10 on electric tootbrush (ebay)
* £55.65 cheque for Tumble Tots subs (this is the only 'big' thing we're doing)
* and I have now pretty much done the Christmas shopping - sonic t-shirt and lego calendar (cheap from ebay) for MrEconomy (he's a geek) came to around £30. EconomyBoy has a train set that we bought a couple of months ago. Never before have I been so organised. Will be very grateful when December comes around.

Rabbits mine doesn't have excel either but there is a basic works programme and that has an excel spreadsheet - it also has lots of templates for household management but I haven't looked into them properly. My spreado is a work in progress at mo Somehow spent £7 on childrens books in british heart foundation a bit cross with myself but putting thme away for christmas.

Sainsburys didn't have the bargain golden syrrup and I got confused with 55p evaporated milk as opposed to £1.40 condende sweetned milk. Did buy £1 squeezy bottle of tate and lyle syrup so will def make flapjacks soon.

Trying to make yogurt at the mo ... prob should go and look after my 22 month old now!

Nah, I'm sure the 22 month old can manage making the yoghurt, no?

I got the rest of the weeks groceries this morning, £30 and £2.40 on roads doing school run.

Thanks Pookey I'll check if I've got basic works.
I once used evaporated instead of condensed, it didn't bind. Still tasted nice, I just had to eat it with a spoon

Well done economy . DS's birthday is the end of this month, so I can't think about Christmas until after then. Having said that, I booked our pantomime tickets today. £25 (on the credit card. Sh!) for DS and I on the day school breaks up, so it will be something to look toward to. Other than that, today's spend was between £14 and £15, on milk, sugar, bus fares and our pre-swimming treat in a cafe.

Doing well here this week.
Sunday turned out to be £47 - £8 for DS1's clock, and the rest on top-up shop.

£12.50 on Monday at mummy meet. Paid for another mummy to have dinner, but she will get mine next week, when I'll no money, so it all balances out.

£20.50 on Tuesday - spent the day with DH and DS2 at the allotment while DS1 was in nursery, then spent £3.65 on chicken food, £8.62 on some winter veg plug plants and garlic bulbs. Then later £8.23 in Morrisons - got 6pk of white rolls for 9p a pack, so got 7 packs for the freezer. Sausage rolls 4 for 27p, sliced chicken at 24p for 300g, doughnuts at 17p for 6, and some other bits.

Today NSD - another allotment day, with a lovely picnic of sausage rolls, chicken and salad baps and doughnuts

Have to go uptown tomorrow. Have got a wedding to go to in a few weeks, my boys are wearing smart shirt, waistcoat and nice jeans. Looked in DS2's drawers today to see that he has no nice jeans, only mud incrusted ones from all his crawling! So off to Primarni for me. Need tights for my outfit, and a new tie for DH too.

Good news on the scooter rabbits hope life gets easier for you from now on.

Does anyone have any good and cheap ideas for a 2nd anniversary gift. It's supposedly cotton for 2 years......

I'm impressed economy...I haven't even started to think about Christmas yet. I probably should.

Rabbit - I have a simple spreadsheet that I use. I have a tab for each month. At the end of every month, I download a file from my online banking current account thing, that shows all the payments/debits from the account that month. I then have a simple formula at the end to show me whether I'm up, down, or even at the end of the month. The final tab on the spreadsheet keeps track of the net result for each month.

My DP uses Microsoft Money and goes through the bother of keeping all his receipts and then using them to assign all his spending from his current account to categories at the end of every month, so that at the end of every year he can see how much he's spent in each category. I just can't motivate myself to do the same - it takes him ages!

Anyway, if you want a copy of my spreadsheet let me know, but a) it's not that fancy, and b) it's only useful if you do online banking.

Today I've spent £3.20 on onions, bread and yoghurt. Hurrah.

I'm impressed economy...I haven't even started to think about Christmas yet. I probably should.

Rabbit - I have a simple spreadsheet that I use. I have a tab for each month. At the end of every month, I download a file from my online banking current account thing, that shows all the payments/debits from the account that month. I then have a simple formula at the end to show me whether I'm up, down, or even at the end of the month. The final tab on the spreadsheet keeps track of the net result for each month.

My DP uses Microsoft Money and goes through the bother of keeping all his receipts and then using them to assign all his spending from his current account to categories at the end of every month, so that at the end of every year he can see how much he's spent in each category. I just can't motivate myself to do the same - it takes him ages!

Anyway, if you want a copy of my spreadsheet let me know, but a) it's not that fancy, and b) it's only useful if you do online banking.

Today I've spent £3.20 on onions, bread and yoghurt. Hurrah.

Oops, apologies for double post.

Leilandri - how about baking a cake or some cookies, and icing them with a personalised message, or his initials or a love heart or something? Not sure how you can get cotton into that though! Or else if you want something a little more spendy the obvious thing seems like a cotton shirt...TK Maxx have some really nice ones at low prices. I got DP a Calvin Klein shirt for his birthday from there, and it was something like £20.

economy thanks for the suggestions. I may try cows milk on her morning porrigde. I've tried half and half bottles - half formula half cows milk, but the little monkey just spits it out. She still loves her morning and evening bottles (she's only 13 months) so I want her to enjoy them. But I also want the convenience and relative cheapness of cows milk.....we'll get there I'm sure!!

I'm hopeful it may be a NSD for me today. Breakfast and packed lunch sorted and dinner planned so I won't need to buy any extras on the way home.

Lel I see you have children - what about making some "vouchers" for your other half....like a cheque book type thing. On the vouchers you could promise various things like lie ins, breakfast in bed, gourmet packed lunches, a meal out, etc. PIL did this for us at Christmas last year with babysitting vouchers and it was really appreciated. It isn'too expensive and things like the meal out could be saved for when you're feeling a little flush? I know it's not cotton related....sorry .

Yesterday was a NSD.

Today will just be butter and bread. and anything I see on offer

£10 for the childminder and £1.90 on a loaf of bread and a cinnamon doughnut from Greggs. I needed it after cleaning the whole house!

NSD today. Probably my last one for at least a few days, I have some spendy stuff coming up.

I have never even tried a cinnamon doughnut, but now I want one...

Did some Xmas shopping today, so a bit spendy but saves doing it later.
Got Lamaze rattle toy for friends baby (due Dec 27th) in TKmaxx priced at £9.99 on the ticket, reduced to 99p!! And a book for MiL from my boys at £3.99.
Some Lightning McQueen pens and colouring book from Poundland for DS1 so £2 there too.
Spent £2.49 on some clogs for winter gardening/chicken feeding. 1 strap was broken so reduced from £7.99. Don't need the straps anyway!

Got bargains in M&S for the boys wedding jeans. DS2 pair of jeans+socks for £11, scanned through till at £9 though. They have 20% off kids clothes on at the mo, so that made them £7.20. Remembered that I had a giftcard lingering in my purse - turns out there was £25 on it!! DS1 found some jeans priced at £5, went through till at £3, with 20% off came to £2.40, and that came off the giftcard too. Bargainous Enough left on the card to hope that M&S do their "Meal for Two for £10" in time for our anniversary.

Thanks for your pressies suggestions for DH. Managed to get something excellent. Was in Primark and found a tea towel saying "Save water - drink beer!" Sums up DH perfectly, 100% cotton and only £1.20!!! Also he can use it to clean up the mess he makes when doing his homebrew, win win

Sounds great, Leilandri .

Not a bean spent here today tomorrow I need to get a few food bits to take away next week. DDs finish school for a couple of weeks so I want to get it out of the way without Pesci Pestering Children.

20 week scan today, so we celebrated with 1/2 price Pizza Express pizzas from Tesco - £2 each. I had fully intended to cook something, but the work I am doing is very time consuming and had no chance...

Shoop, does she get enough milk in her cereal and yoghurt etc? If so, then I wouldn't worry too much about trying to get her to drink it straight. From 13 months our son didn't drink bottles - gave up trying to get him to drink milk from a cup and I didn't want him to have a bottle anymore. We tried long and hard to give it him in a cup, but it would just be thrown across the room. As long as they are getting their calcium from somewhere, it doesn't matter if they won't actually drink it as a drink. Could you give an evening bowl of milky weetabix instead of a bottle? Our son may be the exception to the rule, but we just cut his bedtime and morning bottles out and he couldn't have cared less! I do make sure he gets plenty of calcium from other sources though, don't worry. If you do need to keep buying formula, check to see if you can buy it in bulk on Amazon. That's what we used to do. Hope this doesn't sound like a lecture, just passing on my experience .

Oh, and milky puddings like rice pudding, semolina, custard etc.

Today £2.96 in Sainsbury's. Every time I go in, I pick up one or two Basics products to try. I'm working my way through the range. Some Basics stuff I love, like the plain tortilla chips at 50p

Today it was pancakes for 20p and chocolate covered wafers for 66p. They were okish I'm trying to stop eating processed food anyway.

Thanks economy - doesn't sound like a lecture at all! It's really interesting to hear about other peoples' experiences. DD LOVES her bottle - has one in the morning and evening and just water throughout the day. She cuddles right in to me or DH but holds the bottle herself <cutie>. We've managed to cut out her daytime bottles but I'm not sure how she'd cope if I cut out the other....perhaps I shoul start by recuding the quantity first? She was 8 weeks premature so I expect she's a little behind on certain things - food / bottles etc being one of them. I'm going to pick up some normal milk today and try it on her porridge over the weekend when we're not in such a rush to get out to work. When she gets in from nursery she has half a banana and some yoghurt (as nursery gives them tea ridiculously early) and then just before bed has her bottle. I tried weetbix but it was thrown across the kitchen . I'll keep trying things slowly - it's not really too much of a problem, more an inconvenience! Good tip bout Amazon - I'll have a look later. Also huge congrats on 20 week scan - how exciting!! Did you find out if you're having an economyboy or an economygirl?!

I need to do a big food shop tomorrow so that will be a bit spendy, but I'm going to do as much as I can at Aldi (quite excited - never been there before!). Lidl was quite a success so I'm hoping Aldi will be too - we're so lucky to have both near to us.

Leil - love the sound of the tea towel! Perfect . Your M&S purchases sound really good value too. I might pop in over the weekend for DD. She could do with some vests in the next size up.

Boer, how did you manage that?? I popped into Sainsburys' for "a handful of things I can only get there"- and ended up spending £56.33 ! It was all stuff I will use and will save me quite a bit on the food budget over the next few weeks, but I still spent nearly three times the value of my list!

£41 in Aldi this morning. Might be a new record...I think it's because I stocked up the baking cupboard so needed 3 types of flour, 2 types of sugar, bicarb, baking powder, yeast etc. Also loo roll (not for baking...), which we don't have to buy every week. Even so, prices there are increasing (still great value though) - their 15 pack of free range eggs have gone up 20p, for example.

Then £2 on some building blocks in the charity shop for EconomyBoy and £3 in Iceland on frozen med. and Oriental vegetables (the latter are an experiment for stir fry).

Shoop, I do know the gender of the next EconomyBaby, but am keeping schtum .

Boer, I too am very impressed with your restraint in Sainsbo's - we had to pop in last week and I commented on how glad I am that I don't do the weekly shop there as there is SO MUCH CHOICE! At least with Aldi, you get what you're given!

Leilandri, very jealous of your M&S (not literal) steals!

Epic fail today - £10 M&S Dine In and then a big splurge on a couple of dresses from The White Company for work. I got 20% off but still came to over £100. I needed some new autumn winter work clothes after post baby diet, but that was slightly excessive, even though I know I'll get a lot of wear from them . I'll be listing some of my old fat clothes on eBay to try and claw some of the money back.

economy good for you keeping the secret! I'm the worlds worst keeper of secrets so would have told everyone by now!!

Does anyone know where I can get nice lidded cardboard boxes from - slightly bigger than shoe box size? I want to do mulled wine kits for Christmas presents for some foody friends and whilst I want them to look nice, I don't want to spend a fortune on packaging!

Sorry for the essays today.....don't quite know what's come over me!

The dc school keeps sending home tempting after school classes. Because dp and I didn't do any kind of clubs really as children we find it really hard to say no especially if its something that might be good for them (and certainly better than watching tv, which is what often happens, I think they do too many already though.

Yes Boer how did you manage to resist the lure of sains bargains! I bought 16 richardson sausages for 1.60 originally planned to slow cook them but think grill from frozen best bet and wait until I have good quality sausages for slow cooker.

The yoghurt worked!!! Not much cheaper than buying it but art least its organic.

Lovely to hear baby talk. I loved being pg but a bit at the end of my teather at mo so think 3 is enough for me ... well at least for now

Shoop if you divide the dresses by predicted likely wears then do some algorhythms and equations multiplied by longevity and likely hand onability the white company dresses might work out to be v reasonable

My spending spiralled out of control a little but think I have come very close to target. Had a look athe works spreadsheets and it has made me think I should be budgeting for things like prescriptions, presents, dentla hygenist (dentist said I need to go - have never been before so putting it off) , clothe etc over r the winter months.

leli you are a fabulous shopper! The tea towel is inspired

I spent £27 in sainsbury's yesterday, but we went to a free toddler group and then the park in the afternoon.

Today has been a good day too - weekly shop delivered for £52. I will need to get a couple of bits in sainsbury's tomorrow, but £20 should see us through until almost next weekend.

grr went out hunter gathere like for 13p bread - did get one loaf but also kit kat chunkies and choc digetives (they were half price but still) also needed baby wipes and goats milk which are slightly more expensive than in sainsbos (tesco express 1 min away from house) Need to stock up on baby wipes and kitchen towel but being without makes me more likely to use cloths.

ali it sounds like you had a lovely but frugal play day

Hello peeps

Spent too much today warm PJs for me for our kinda camping trip next week - I got severely cold camping in the summer and the forecast is snow for next week- £30 - groceries £50 and far too much on roads £6. Over the weekend I need to buy salad stuff. Going to a BBQ and have been asked to take 2 salads. Host actually asked for 1 salad & 1 side dish but I coldn't think of what side dish. DDs have spent at bit more of their credit, that's their lot for a while now as I use my CC and I don't want to pay any interest.

Well done on all bargains everyone.

Shoop - maybe Ikea for the boxes? Or Wilkinsons sometimes have that sort of thing too, as I remember. Failing that, I guess you could find something on ebay if you did some digging.

Yeterday wasn't as bad as it could have been. €3.40 on a sandwich for lunch (couldn't face another home made cheese sandwich, getting sick of them), €1.50 on two tins of baked beans (imported so have to pay a premium) and then €30 on an evening out to celebrate a friend's birthday. I withdrew 30 euros at the start of the evening and vowed to myself that I wouldn't start paying for stuff on the debit card. Sure enough I ran out of money earlier than I would have liked, but I just stuck to drinking tap water afterwards and it was surprisingly OK. I was impressed with my own will-power, but I don't think I could manage it every time!

Have fun at your BBQ Adora

Well done, river .
Have fun, adora .

Amazing willpower power river, I am going out with friends this week and not sure I can be so strong. We are trying to teach dc 1 &2 to ride bikes so we got up really early and went to some abandoned tennis courts. Still deliberating on more classes for dc. Spent £11 in tescos including stock up bits and picnic bits.

Spent £2.70 in Morrisons yesterday on some bread, milk and sausage rolls
Spent £10 on petrol.

Went out with my Bestie last night to celebrate our silver anniversary - 25 years since we met in primary school. Redeemed a voucher for Mecca Bingo so we both had our game sheets for free. Spent £6.49 on 1 bottle of delicious Bulmers cider, 1J2O and a portion of cheesy chips. Seriously cheap in there!

NSD today as at allotment all day.
Should be NSD tomorrow too

Enjoy adora
shoop try Card Factory nearer Xmas - or look in TKMaxx?
Economy Congrats on 20wk scan, glad all is well. Well done for keeping your secret.
Well done with your resolve river

I have fallen in love with Lidls prices and food;

Cucumbers = 30p instead of £1.00 at Tescos,
Fresh salmon = £2.50 for 2 fillets instead of £4.00 at Tescos.
Creme Cramel= 75p for 6.
Bordeaux wine £3.50 (very nice wine)
7 chicken thighs= £2.50

yum yum yum.

Went out shopping again today, OH wanted DD1 to have "proper" walking tourers for our trip. Those were £30, £2 on the roads. I need to buy salad things tomorrow.

Hello top haven't seen you before so welcome. Well done on your Lidl bargains.

economy glad the scan went well.
Lielandri how sweet, glad you had a good anniversary night out.
riverboat well done

90 euros on the weekly shop yesterday. Had hoped to spend a bit less, but ended up having to replace nearly all our cleaning products which ran out at the same time, and saw some things on special offer which I stocked up on. So not too bad I suppose.

Mecca Bingo sounds amazing Leilandri! My 30 euros the other night bought me three small glasses of wine and a plate of distinctly cheeseless chips...

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster - £102 spent in Sainsbury's. A lot of that was wine, we got 12 bottles of very good wine (RRP £10+) for an average of £5.50 a bottle. That will keep us going for the next 3 months.
Some very reduced lamb for dinner plus vegetables and few other things that I had missed off the delivered shopping, and birthday cards up until the middle of next month because I had a voucher to get extra Nectar points for buying £4 worth of cards in one go.

Today is going to be a NSD.

Tomorrow DH is taking lunch with him to work, and I won't need to buy anything or pay anything. Same on Tuesday.

DH has also been offered 2 contracts, both of which would keep him in work for the next 9-12 months. We are just waiting for paperwork and then we'll decide which one to take based on who looks likely to pay the invoices in the most timely manner! Huge relief, and means that we can plan a bit.

pookey thanks for trying to make me feel better about the dresses! I still feel a bit guilty but have spent ages listing stuff on eBay. If and when that goes I'll start to feel a bit happier!

Aldi shop was great. £42 but that bought loads and loads. Freezer full and fridge full. Meals all planned for the next 10 days. I did buy some felt and other bits off eBay yesterday too in preparation for making a felt advent calendar - there's a thread about it over in Arts and Crafts.....drool. So a bit spendy but it will keep my hands busy in the evening and stop me from drinking a bottle glass of wine!

Thanks Leil and river for your box suggestions - We have a TKMaxx and a Wilkinsons very near by so I will have a rummage. Failing that I'll wait till a bit nearer Christmas and try the card factory.

Ali I don't know your background, but it definitely sounds like great news about your DH.

Adora your road tolls sound like a nightmare! Do you have a Decathlon near you? I found them to be quite reasonable for all kinds of outdoorsy or camping things - just in case you need anything else for your trip.

Hope everyone's having good weekends

NSD here today
Must've slept funny on Friday night as my neck and shoulders were aching yesterday but with some pills and deep heat I soldiered on. But that was not the case today, even moving my head has been making me feel quite sick So I have spent the day chugging pills and gradually doing housework.
Have managed to clear out our wardrobes and have 3 black bags of clothes to take to Cash4Clothes in the morning for a few pennies, and have sold £6 worth on Facebook.

Don't plan to send much tomorrow - £2.50 on Mummy meet coffee, and we need potatoes for tea. Child Benefit on Tuesday... Woohoo!!!

shoop

Nothing close enough to avoid the tolls unfortunately, we're abroad so don't have all the same shops. I got the salad to take, £10. No tolls today, green grocer is now well established at the roadside, even doing deliveries too.

Ali great news on the contracts.

No spending planned for at least two days and minimal spending for the rest of the week.

Unexpected NSD for me yesterday. Spent all day gardening, baking and doing music practice. We were going to go out in the evening, but couldn't be arsed in the end. Stayed in and watched a DVD instead.

Congrats on the thrifty Sundays all, it seems like everyone did pretty well

Oh and Leilandri, I hope you're feeling better - my DP had exactly the same type of neck and shoulder pain after sleeping funny last weekend. Stupid man insisted on going to his sports training anyway and made it ten times worse. After a week if painkillers its finally getting better. So take it easy, don't push yourself.

drove to aldi for first ever shop there spent £28 but included an award winning white burgundy type for £4.19. Got razor set mentioned on here for 1.89, thanks for that tip. All in all will go again but makes sense to make use of shops I can walk to such as lidyl and sainsburys.

First no spend day on sun!

Thanks river feeling much better today. Allotment planned tomorrow, but I shall ensure that DH does the hard work

Got £4.50 for a black bag of stained clothes at Cash4Clothes
Spent £7.35 today in Lidl on veggies for tea, and some beer and biscuits for BiL's Bday pressie which I forgot all about

Should be spending £15 tomorrow on some pre-loved clothes for me, as long as they are ok when I collect, but will hopefully get 12 new tops for that money.

Pookey Well done for discovering Aldi! I love it there, although I now have to drive to another town for the nearest one The razor set is ace, and so is their shaving gel to go with it

What a day! EconomyBoy dropped my laptop on the floor (climbed onto the table and shoved it off while my back was turned) and has broken the screen. Thankfully we've been able to hook it up to the tv with a special cable so no work has been lost, but I will need a new computer. Going to wait until Windows 8 is out, but that's a few hundred quid I wasn't planning on spending...as I do some work from home I do need one.

pookey - that was me that mentioned the Aldi razor. No complaints from MrEconomy yet.

Oh and there's a free Approved Foods delivery code until midnight on Wedneday - enter ship45 at checkout. You have to spend at least £45 and your basket has to weigh under 50kg.

economy Oh no, the laptop! We had a similar thing with DD1s lap top meeting the floor a couple of years ago. NSD for me today, yippee.

Is there a website for Approved Foods? OH is seriously looking at moving back and I couldn't find them on tinternet.

adora, it's approvedfoods.co.uk I think - can't link as wriggling toddler on my lap

also, if anyone fancies £20 (cash or amazon vouchers) go here http://www.free20quid.com/r/1571216

it's an annoying survey involving a lot of opt outs, but you do get £20 credit at the end.

So, is a move back to the uk a serious option, do you think, adora?

£9.19 in Lidl and £5 in Tesco, which should keep us going until the end of the week, apart from milk. So maybe that £56 in Sainsburys last week was for the best!

Adora, how do you feel about possiby moving back?

Economy, thanks for the survey link, and sorry to hear that about your laptop.

Oh no lost my message but CET your planned spend is amazing. I am going to try hard to use stuff up this week but DP wants big apples and kitchen towel, will need goats milk and maybe cheese etc

Nearly missed the reduced bread at tesco, they had it in a white sack but let me root around in the bag and buy the loaves even thought they had scanned them as wastage.

Survey sounds interesting economy thanks.

Doing 5:2 diet. If I skip meals rather than spread out calories and buying fancy stuff it will prob be the cheapest way to diet (as opposed to low carbing).

economy what a nightmare about your laptop! A glass of water went over mine earlier in the year and it cost £300 to repair.

I don't seem to get on with Approved Foods, there is never anything on there that I want to buy!

Adora well done on the NSD!

Yesterday ended up being a spending day after all. I joined the gym and had to pay a fee plus a month upfront, which was £59. From now on it will be £33 a month which is the cheapest in our area by some margin.
Went into town to get DS1's glasses fixed (free) and took advantage of being there to pop into Holland and Barrett for flaxseed and dried apricots which were both 'buy one get one half price' - £11.77. Also spent £6 in Poundland, which I only ever go in when I happen to be in town - not very often! I got some toothpaste for DS2, a big pack of cookies, enough gift tags to do all my Christmas presents, some Tupperware, and a big bar of chocolate and a big pack of dental flossing stick things.

So £76.77 in total!

But, I returned a couple of things and got £57 credit to my account, plus I changed 120 euros back into ££s and got £90.
Also I was so quick in town that I only paid £1 for parking

Today is a NSD.

hope the survey gets you all a few £££

Just discovered that if I buy a new windows 7 laptop now, then I can upgrade to windows 8 for just £14.99. I imagine that new windows 8 laptops will be pretty pricey so may well go for it now. I also have a 10% off ebay code, so will see if there is anything on there.

ali, been there with the water too! Thankfully, it was in warranty then, so I got a free replacement as I had taken out a free month's trial of the accidental damage cover!

Approved Foods does sometimes have some really good stuff - tinned fruit in juice, couscous, lentils etc. I don't buy the muffins/chocs/sweets but if you do, then I imagine they are good for lunchboxes. I normally check it every few days as stuff sells out quickly. Nothing we need/want this time though.

Thanks for the approved foods code economy - clubbed together with a few neighbours, and our basket reached £48. I do order the muffins etc as they are an easy bride for my Dad when he's doing DIY!!
Also with the survey, account has been credited with £20 - but can't find a way of getting it actually 'paid' to ne - any ideas?

Wow adora would you want to come back to UK? The weather is sucky...

£40 spent today - £24 on petrol, £1 on 6 bottles of water, and £15 on aforementioned tops that are all lovely.

Leilandri - go to your account profile and you have a choice to either get paid in amazon vouchers or bacs - you need to add an account by clicking 'update'. They pay once a month. The above is from memory as on my phone, but should get you in the right direction. I'll look properly tomorrow if you have no luck!

No internet connection at home since Sunday pm...thank god for internet on my mobile, but reception v patchy in the house. Hope broadband line is fixed soon.

Anyway, just a quick post to report NSD's yesterday and today. Thanks for the voucher link ecinomy, will check it out as soon as internet comes back.

economy just did the survey but it seems the site won't actually pay out unless you have a balance of at least £100 - have I missed something? How do I get the £20 in the form of cash or amazon vouchers?

Lielandri

I know, but here we get so much radiation it's dangerous. The south has towns with no ozone cover, as much as I love the sunshine that hole in the sky makes me a tad nervy. Also, a degree from the UK is worth much more than a Chilean one. Today at the BBQ, lots of fun all round, a chap was telling us about his Uni days. Had a project & had to hand in a report. After pulling an all-nighter with other students they felt they needed another 8 hrs. Called Prof. and asked for more time.Prof said "why are you doing this? Just get a copy from last year's students, we ^only need your report^". Plus there's the England cerca 1950 angle. OH was speaking to a chap here, from Argentina, who is fed up with the bank calling him to authorise every cheque his wife writes.

On the other hand, today's event in Mancherster puts me off, even though we wouldn't be near there. Is it any wonder I want to live in a little hut in the middle of nowhere?

Anyway, NSD here

It's surprisingly easy to not spend any money when you don't have any.

Need tips on how to spoil myself on my birthday tomorrow, for free. There's a challenge for ya! It's my thirtieth too.

Oh, Holla, didn't realise that - should really read all the small-print. Sorry, everyone

Oh dear, I'm not doing well. Just bought new winter boots, which I do kind of need. They're from the Boden junior section, so not as much as adult boots. Plus I used a 15% off and free p&p code I found on here. So all in all, £45. I'm not one of these people who can make shoes last a decade - I literally wear mine all day every day and do a lot of walking. Oh, and double nectar points. Look at me trying to justify my spending.

Still irked that I'm going to have to spend all the money I'm earning with this work on a new laptop.

Really should do the ironing and get away from the computer (MrEconomy's, not mine. Did I mentioned my toddler threw it on the floor. RAGE).

NSD yesterday - whoop. Quietly pleased with myself.

My dresses arrived yesterday and one is really, really itchy (I have issues with wool), so it's going back....£50 saved.

economy nightmare about your laptop....I've got all these type of things to come with DD I think <panics> I also feel your pain with wearing out shoes and boots. I walk a round trip of 4 miles a day (not a marathon I know) but I really struggled finding shoes and boots that would last longer than a few months. I ended up relenting a buying really ugly Croc slingbacks for about £20. They seem to be indestructable and can go in the washing machine. I change at work into work clothes and heels. The Crocs are great even in the rain as they dry so fast! Can't wear them in the snow though.... .

pookey - what's 5:2 diet? I could do with losing a few more pounds!

Lunch out with a friend today but only spent £5 so not too bad. Rest of the day will be a NSD.

Today hasn't gone all that well, have ordered some new clothes online. I have lost weight since last autumn, and things don't fit so I do need a few bits.

<joins economy on the justifying bench>

Spent £35 on a top up shop in Sainsbury's earlier - mainly fruit and carby things to try and fill my children up!
Also spent £2.70 on an hour of creche at the gym for DS2 - that is going to be a regular spend but I really do need to get fit and shift some more weight.

Tomorrow will be a NSD I think.

On the plus side I went through the bank accounts yesterday evening, and we are on target to be about £300 under budget for September which is brilliant! That is going in the pot towards our night away for our 5th anniversary at the end of next month.

Investments, Economy and Ali, investments .

£13.80 today, on bus fares, our after school/ pre-swimming treat and a book from the charity shop. Oh, and £46.75 for the next lot of swimming lessons! Also had to pay £28 for Cubs last night. Guitar lessons cost £111 last week and I had my first Relate session on Monday, which cost £35.

Once you include back to school costs and DS's birthday, as well as 5 friends/children of friends, September for me is probably more expensive than Christmas!

Hmmm rabbits that IS a challenge....
: Could you visit a local museum? Ours has free entry.
: Take a picnic of yummy things to a pretty park, with a good book and enjoy some sunshine?
: Go to a Boots/Debenhams make up counter and ask for a free makeover?
: Phone your local vocational college to see if they need any people to practise massages/hair cuts/ nails etc on?
: Bake some yummy cakes at home and scoff the lot?
: Hot bath, candles, nice smelly bubble bath and all the time in the world

Spent £42 in Morrisons today on lots of bits and pieces, mostly freezer stuff.

Got to go up town tomorrow to hand in some job application forms, will pop into £land and get some spring bulbs for the allotment, so maybe £5 expected spend.

Happy 30th Birthday Rabbits Have some and x

Happy Birthday Rabbits!

I was going to suggest a museum or anywhere else locally that is free. There are a few English Heritage places around here that are free to go into the gardens, and you can take a picnic and have a nice walk.
Then some homemade cake and a film this evening?

Happy Birthday, Rabbits .

and .

Big happy birthday wishes to you from me, too, Rabbits!

Happy Birthday Rabbits! Hope you found some lovely things to do

Shoop check out the thread ( no 4 is latest) on weight loss topic. v interesting if your into diets!

Happy belated birthday rabbit! Hope you found a cheap way to have a nice day.

Still no internet at home, but quick report from phone so I don't lose track: NSDs Tues and Weds, £3 on green beans and cotton wool pads yesterday.

£2 in Poundland yesterday on some deodorant for Dh, and some mealworms for the chickens. What a glam life I lead!

NSD today. Waiting in for Approved Food order this morning, and catching up on housework while I wait. Then off to the allotment for a bit of path laying this afternoon

I am having a sleepover with my closest friends. Sort of a pyjama party. They are bringing pampering bits, films and some food. I shall provide beds and cake. It's possibly the best free thing I could have done.

My mother also took me shopping after a birthday takeaway. I have bulging cupboards for not a penny of my own. Bless her.

Oh, that sounds lovely, Rabbits. You deserve to be spoiled. .

I've just ordered a new dining table and four chairs set online from Homebase, to replace my 10 year old one from Argos. Who said cheap furniture doesn't last!

The one I ordered is £199.99, but I got £30 off by putting the code FURN15 in the apply promo box. Some of it was swallowed up in delivery charges, as I don't drive, so couldn't click and collect, but still £178.94 isn't too bad. The code is valid until the 24th September. I got it by e-mail, so I don't know if the same code was sent out to everyone, but if it was, and you need some new furniture, I hope it will be of help.

Oh Rabbits I'm so pleased people have/are making a fuss of you Have a brilliant time!

CremeEgg that is a bargain.

I've got to go into town this afternoon to pay in a tax rebate cheque that landed yesterday!! Very unexpected, and very welcome!
Am determined not to spend much any of it, although I may treat us all to some yummy and prepared food from M&S for this evening.

My clothes came and I love them. I need to buy some boots and a proper coat for the school run, but that will be all for a good while.

Today was a NSD, spend today will be under £20 on some nice food, tomorrow and Sunday will also be NSDs and I have saved hugely on the grocery bill this week because we are going to my parents for the weekend. I have got a lovely pudding in the freezer which I am taking as our contribution to the festivities.
Monday I will need a shopping delivery as there is literally nothing to eat, and I do need quite a few store cupboard items so that might end up being an expensive one.

Sounds perfect Rabbits

Spent just under £20 on night out which is great. I have gone over my target spending but will hopefuly not spend much next week to compensate.

good news about tax Alibabaa!

pookey that is good for a night out!

I spent £39 in M&S yesterday, but that did include some basics for a packed lunch for DS1 for Monday which I will have to make before my online shop arrives.
I took one of the things I had ordered online back to the shop because on reflection I didn't love it enough. I could only exchange which was a pain, but I got myself a scarf which I have been wanting and a top for DH which he needed and will give me the money for. I used to waste so much money not returning things, stuff would hang in my wardrobe for months or years unworn. Makes me so angry to think of the waste, and there were many times I could really have done with the money.
Parking was £2, so a total spend of £41.

Today and tomorrow NSDs, and Monday will just be the weekly shop.

Marking my place to come back and read up later. I've dipped in and out of these threads over the last few months, but not been fully committed. I hope you'll have me here as I've just received my credit card bill and I'm £150 over my limit so will ne doing a car boot tomorrow in an attempt to clear some of it.

We are broke at the moment. Had a Shitty month with loads of unexpected bills. Plus we have just had to replace our washing machine. The pressure will ease somewhat when I (hopefully) start getting my maternity allowance in November, but until then things are tight. No insertion fees on eBay this weekend I hear so will be sticking loads of stuff on there too.

Hope the sleepover went well Rabbits, and you were thoroughly pampered!

Nice to hear about tax rebate Alibaba, and I'm glad you like the clothes you ordered. If you really love them, I think it is worth it. I also need to buy boots for the winter, but am having trouble finding some that I like. I'm kicking myself for not buying a second pair of the ones I bought this time last year - they were only 80 euros for beautiful leather boots, which were both pretty and comfortable. I wore them more or less every day throughout autumn/winter/early-spring, and eventually in April they died a death (my job involves quite a bit of walking). The shop I got them at doesn't have anything similar this year...boo.

Congrats on the cheap night out pookey, how did you manage it?

bumponboard, welcome to the thread. It's those unexpected bills that are the killer for me too, and are the reason I ended up on this thread. I've found that the thread has really kept me motivated to avoid spending on unnecessary things, even if they don't cost much. Good luck with your car boot sale and ebaying!

On Friday I spent 4 euros on lunch (failure to take a packed lunch to work) and 10 euros on wine and flowers to take to a friend's party. Had a lovely night at her place, so not too bad overall.

NSD yesterday!

Today I exchanged a couple of dresses I bought in the sale for some more maternity skinny jeans and a couple of tops. It's my pregnancy uniform! A lot of maternity stuff from last time round doesn't seem to really fit anymore, or is really summery.

Then vitamins for EconomyBoy, milk and a paper.

Oh, and my friend got me a heavily subsidised version of Office through her work (£7!) for my new laptop. So that saved mega-bucks. Before you all scream OpenOffice at me, I bloody hate it!

Riverboat, depending upon what size feet you have (and how vat works where you are), is it worth looking at children's shoes? I've just got a pair from Mini Boden (actually, have sent them back for a size smaller as they come up huge) that aren't kiddy-like at all. They have to cater for teenagers, too, so you can usually find some fairly nice stuff at a lower price.

Tomorrow should be a NSD.

Oh, and a sub £20 shop at Aldi the other day. Am working through what's in our freezer and using up what we have in cupboards, so only needed basics.

40p spent today on 2 chocolate Freddo's. Have done 2 very long walks today, interspersed with some park playing. DS1 "needed" the chocolate to get home, and I thought it was a good idea too!

Have £3.20 in my purse, which is ALL the money we have until payday on Friday Have meal planned using what's in the house already. I have milk and bread in the freezer, so we should be ok. Payday can't come quick enough tho. NSD for tomorrow - going to have a messy day with paints and glue etc.
Should be a NSD on Monday too

I have an interview on Monday, only for 16hr a week job, but it would get me off Jobseekers and feeling less like scum! Crossing fingers that I can rummage something smart from the depths of my wardrobe, as most of my clothes have been trashed by my little men now.

Lwilandri - good luck with interview. It sounds like you are being really organised hope the week goes ok

Economy I couldn't get on eith open office either.

riverboat sounds like you had a nice weekend so far. Maybe night out is stretching the truth in my case tbh! We went for a curry and I nursed a glass of wine. Resteraunt let us chat after they cleared the table until we left at 11.

bumpon how has ebay gone - I posted something on freecycle and gumtree this week - baby steps - bit scared of ebay.

Oh welcome by the way bumponboard

Anyone got any ideas for either a homemade or cheap (but not tacky) wedding present? The couple in question have a John Lewis list, but it's all overpriced and really boring. I'd like to give them something personal and memorable, but a bit stumped for ideas.

Haven't looked at this thread for a while

A couple of people asked how I spend so little money in Sainsbury's. I leave my purse, incl. debit card at home, and just take in coins.
It really works! I buy exactly what I need.

When I go in with my card I end up buying 2 for £7 books (I've stopped buying books, use library), shampoo, soap, etc, when I've got a whole drawerful of toiletries to use up.

This is the first month I've been on this thread and really glad I joined in I've definitely got more money left over by keeping track of my spending.

I've applied to start Open University in February, so need to be careful with money even more now

Today is a NSD

Meant to add - we have a HobbyCraft up the road and I am kind of proficient on a sewing machine (lines are a bit wobbly still)...

80 euros / £63 on weekly shop yesterday...my lowest spend so far! Actually we are going out to dinner a couple of times in the upcoming week so that's probably the reason for low spend.

Economy: I am not crafty but my MIL is. Some ideas based on things she does: buy a cheap plain white lamp and hand-paint the shade, buy a set of cheap glass dishes for nibbles etc and cover in pretty patterned napkins then heavily varnish over the top (hard to explain!), do a big clip-frame with a photo collage inside, or do a painting on big canvases...

Or, I have seen clocks with a space for a photograpg by each number (hard to explain again). Or a nice set of massage oils?

Good luck, Leilandri. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Boer, that's what I'll do next time I have to go to Sainsbos. Although for once, the overspend paid off, as I spent less than £20 on food last week and I think this week's will be under £35.

Pookey, I'm the opposite, as I've braved eBay recently (sold 9 of my first 12 items, but had to let some stuff, like a lovely wooden Noah's Ark I paid £30 for go for 99p and I've underestimated postage twice), but freecycle and Gumtree seem more daunting to me!

River, you must be really pleased with that! Are you in the Republic of Ireland? Food is so expensive there! (from there originally).

Just bread and milk to get today. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekends.

Economy For our wedding we bought a nice frame, inserted some paper instead of print, and asked everyone to write a message. We then added a wedding shot once they were developed, and voila! Our guestbook mounted on our wall! It's lovely, and the messages never fail to make me smile.
Maybe you could do that, but use an existing image of the couple, maybe baby photo's, instead of a wedding shot, so that it can be presented complete later in the day? Hope that makes sense!!

Another idea is to get some cheap champagne flutes, and glass paints and do some personalised glasses.. names, wedding date etc?

NSD going well here just aswell as it's chucking it down DS1 took DS2 to all sorts of places this morning, in his space rocket/bus/pirate ship made from Approved Food boxes Currently CBeeBies chill out time coffee time for me and then we are bringing out the playdough and paints....

I got a sewing machine for my birthday, so I am hoping to become proficient on it enough to recycle old clothes and be able to be a bit crafty and thrifty with it. Currently knitting a pair of mittens and a hat for a friend from my stash wool. It's going really nicely, slightly new technique to do holey pattern, took a few starts, but I got it now and I am also getting better at picking up dropped stitches and working out what went wrong. May be knitting for Christmas so long as my hands hold out.

Happy Weekend All. (mine was a NS, but an easy accomplishment given my situation, haha.)

Hi, well have had some serious budget planning this weekend. Spent about £6.60 yesterday in Aldi on fruit and veg. Had a day out in the park and a long walk so no other spending

Pouring with rain today so car boot was cancelled .Gutted after spending ages getting it ready yesterday. Held off eBay as have listed stuff on some local selling sites instead. Fingers crossed!

No spends today.

economy we had a lovely rose for our garden a few years ago as a wedding gift from my sister. It had a romantic name (which I can't remember now ) Everytime it flowers I remember our wedding day. One of the best gifts we received

Meal planned rest of week using up what we have in. Making own bread so just need to buy milk. Pay day Friday, can't come soon enough!

Thanks for the suggestions. I really do like the idea of a plant, but they are renting at the moment and will probably move at some point - it's a bit of a faff to move a plant if it's established itself, isn't it?

Have listed a few bits and bobs on ebay, including broken laptop for spares/repair and the pram I haven't been able to shift on local classfied sides.

Today was a NSD, yay!

However, if the weather is this dismal all week, I have a feeling that there will be at least one visit to a soft play centre (I'm at home with the boy full time).

Hi All. Sounds like some good weekends have been had!

NSD here on Saturday and Sunday was just a £19 top up shop in Tesco, but now have enough to last us till a week today according to my meal plans.

Baby Shoop is now on the cows milk....hurrah. No more expensive formula milk. .

£105 net amount made in eBay from sale of my "fat" clothes which I'm really pleased with.

Pay day tomorrow - yay! There's a lot more left in the bank account than there was last month, so thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow.

PS rabbits happy belated birthday. Sounds like you had a lovely time. Also, great about the sewing machine. I got one a couple of years ago as a gift and love it. Great for repairs and making little handmade gifts.

Wow shoop sounds like you have it sussed!

What about a patchwork quilt economy (Hobby craft too expensive for fabric though, maybe ebay?)

Dp has me making a cake/cakes for his work this week which is mounting in cost but fun!

Don't think I am doing that well compared to some of you but at least I am monitoring my spending. I am a shopaholic - even lidyl will do! seem to find it hard not to stock up. That's my challenge for the week as then we are onto the next month.

Fingers crossed for your items to sell bumpon!

£14.33 in Lidl and £23 in Tesco. Will need a loaf and a litre of milk and possibly some salad before the weekend, but that's it.

£3.01 spent today, on butternut squash and cheese.
Interview went well, came out feeling positive, but never really know with these things. Won't know for about a week tho

Tomorrow will have to be a NSD, but not sure what to do with DS2. DS1 is in nursery 9-4. Might have to do some walking practice!!

I hope you get the job Leilandri, it's awful having to wait that long to find out.

Dont forget there is nothing wrong with claiming jobseekers, it's there for people who need it.

I claimed it for a few months, I think I got £20 a week!.

£12.85 on Amazon (after a £5 voucher code deducted). Christmas presents.

£113.09 on Ocado. But I bought loads!. All but two things were on a special offer of some kind. That's nearly all my Christmas shopping done. I only do an Ocado three or four times a year tries to justify.

NSD on Sunday, 13 euros today on lunch with a friend. Would have suggested we get stuff from the supermarket and have a picnic, but it was absolutely miserable weather, so pizza restaurant it was. My first meal out this month though.

Currently wavering over booking a ticket to go home to see my parents for a weekend next month, as feeling guilty after a phone call with my mum. She will pay half my ticket...but it's still not going to be cheap, even with a horrible overnight coach journey one way in lieu of eurostar...I swear, a massive reason for my budget problems is due to travel costs to go home to the UK for various stuff. There is no easy solution in sight, sadly. (CremeEggThief, to answer your previous question I am in France).

Good luck with the job Leilandri, let us know when you hear.

Fingers crossed, Leilandri.

£4 something yesterday on porridge oats and vanilla extract. Porridge season is now officially underway.

£75 this morning (I know) on a heated airer from Lakeland, but last winter was awful with the amount of nappies and clothes we had to wash - we couldn't move in our kitchen. We don't have a tumble dryer, and don't want one. This costs something like 5p/minute to run and I had a £5 voucher Lakeland sent and then found another £5 off promo code online, so got £10 off in total.

I've written a list of stuff we need to get in October and it's quite daunting - xmas presents for nephew and niece, birthday present for my mum (b'day beginning of November), new jeans for MrEconomy (his are getting beyond repair, but will get some from Sainsbos/George) and then a trip to Westonbirt next week. Eek.

That should be 5p/HOUR to run!

economy I just nearly spat my coffee out at 5p per minute for tumbledryer. I was about to phone DH and demand it be taken out of the kitchen!! I'm glad it's 5p per hour....<cold sweat gradually going>, but it's still expensive. We hang out our washing whenever possible but rely on it in the rain. Perhaps I should invest in an airer....the Lakeland one looks great from a quick Google.

Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you Leil. A week's wait is awful though.

NSD yesterday but I've already spent £23 today on pyjamas for DD, some bread rolls to go with dinner tonight and some tins of soup for work lunches for the rest of the week. Not a great start to the day but never mind...

Tomorrow I have a day off from work and it should be a NSD as I'm frantically studying for an exam.....why I even thought about taking an exam I don't know. I already have my accountancy qualifications so there was no need to put myself through it!! .

Totally forgot - yesterday wasn't strictly a NSD....£4.99 on a Christmas present for DSiL but paid by card online. So easy to forget online spending

Shoop - the heated airer is 5p/hour to run, tumble dryer would be much more I think. I hang out the washing in the garden until the bitter end, but we have one (two come Jan/Feb) in washable nappies and general washing meaning come winter our kitchen is pretty much full of washing ready for the toddler to throw about. Hoping this will speed things up a bit. At the moment we just have standard airers and things take yonks to dry.

The holiday home we stayed in had one of these heated airers and it was great.

Hello<waves>

We've had a lovely-cheapish- break. Spent too much money, natch, but far less than staying in a hotel. I can report road tolls of £18-ish each way, so near on £40, petrol about £240. Various days out-most free activities- and a couple of meals out- no idea how much we spent there really.

DDs used a bit more credit from BoM and I bought a £18 hand knitted cardigan which would have cost ten times that in Santiagio because it's artesanal.

Thanks for the approved foods web site economy

Rabbits glad you had a nice birthday.

I need to get a few bits today but first I need to check what's here

Oh economy I think I need a lie down and a ......I got myself so confused!! I'm just going to shut up about all things laundry related. I'm sure 5p an hour is good value when compared to a tumble dryer! I just hope a tumble dryer isn't 5p a minute!!

Adora - glad you had a nice break

If the tumble drier is a 3Kw appliance it will cost 3 x your cost of electric, mine is 11p a unit so 33p an hour. Plus VAT at 5%.

Bosch do a tumble drier that is is only 1.5kw but it's nearly £700.

Sainsburys are doing 25% off TU clothes again, I got round the house clothes and thermals. I love my thermal long johns.

I've put another jacket on our hot water tank, it's really made a difference already. The airing cupboard isnt hot when you open the door now. Wickes is doing them for £5.

economy

Just seen your Q about wedding gifts. The best one we received, IMO, was a bay tree. As in the bay leaves we use in cooking. It will need to be planted but can stay in a large pot for a couple of years quite happily. You can get them from herb garden centers, but it must be an edible bay tree as all other laurels are toxic. I hope you find an idea that works.

Thanks, adora, good to hear you enjoyed your break.

Tbh, I guess you wouldn't have a tumble dryer in for all that long, so although 33p/hour sounds a lot, would you really use it for an hour at a time? Hopefully we won't need to have the heating part of the airer switched on for more than a couple of hours per load.

I got a new, separate tumble dryer, when I had to replace my 10 year old washer/dryer in July. I try not to use it much, but it's fab! I can get a whole load of towels dry in 80 minutes now; it used to take 150 minutes to do 2 bath towels in the old one!

£4.40 on bus fares and £1.15 on milk today. It hasn't stopped raining up here since late Sunday night .

Glad you had a lovely holiday, adora .

I've had to resort to running the tumble dryer I'm drying jeans and towels at the moment as they take so long to dry. Our dryer is in our utility/playroom so I'm hanging all the other stuff over airers, closing the door, and the dryer is helping to heat the room and dry that lot too, so not as scarily pricey

Spent £1.45 today on 4pts milk. DH took my last 69p for some chips on the way to his Geek Night, so now I have nothing until Friday

Glad you had a nice break adora
Whereabouts in France are you River? My folks own a cottage in Brittany, it is lovely there, and I benefit from cheap when they go away

Ooh, we have a bay tree in the garden and it's fantastic! I love being able to just go and pluck leaves from there when I want them for cooking. Excellent gift idea Adora.

Leilandri - sadly not in Brittany but in the Paris area. Yes, wine is one of the few things that's a lot cheaper here! Of course that's the only reason I drink so much of it, because it makes economical sense ;-)

Well I thought today was going to be a NSD but I just this moment caved and booked a Eurostar ticket to go to see my parents for a weekend next month. £72 one way. My parents are going to pay half of them though, which is nice. So in a way my total spend today is only £36, which sounds a lot better!

I still need to book and pay for the return leg though, which I'm going to have to do on the horrible overnight megabus. Leaves London at 9pm on Sunday evening, and 8-9 cramped, uncomfortable hours later it arrives in Paris at 7am on Monday morning. Last time I did it it was awful, I couldn't get to sleep and we all had to traipse off the coach at 2am or something to have our bags searched at customs...but, all that said it's only £20! A lot cheaper than any other option, so coach it is. Must remember to pack earplugs and a pillow.

NSD as made homemade bread was beginning to find late night flit to tesco embarrasing.

Had the heating on yest to dry clothes but it felt cold and damp so served 2 purposes. Economy were you inspired by the rain thread - I really like the thought of the lakeland airer if we don't get our tumbldryer fixed.

trains are so expensive riverboat it's nice that your trip is next month and you can look forward to it. Talking of trains did people see about the split ticket thing on the martin lewis programme, was quite interesting I thought.

Well, after my shock credit card bill, Ive managed to sell some stuff to clear half the overspend so I am feeling a bit happier about that. Dh's birthday on the weekend, presents paid for, just need to think of something lovely to cook for him once the children are in bed.

I have budgeted spends for October, will be a tight month, but I think we can do it. Have gone through all the cupboards and freezer and most of the meals until the end of next week are using up things we have. I then have the job of defrosting the freezer ready for christmas to look forward to.

Aldi shop on Friday when dh gets paid, plus a few things from tesco which ALDI doesnt sell. Hoping to do the lot for under £60 (which will include cleaning stuff, toiletries aswell as food)

Think I am able to claim some PPI from an old loan so going to attempt that. Has anyone else done this and how long does it normally take from the initial letter until (hopefully) getting a cheque?

Made some flapjacks today as the cupboards are looking bare and we could all do with a treat!!

Just quickly, riverboat, you may be interested in this: £18 coach return London-Paris for travel until 15 December

And £2 off £10 at £land (can you tell I've just had the MSE newsletter through?!)

yesterday I replaced my non stick pan, which got ruined, used a gift card so I kinda didn't spend £20 on it. I drove to have lunch with OH, £4 on road tolls, wont be doing that very often. This week I just need to buy veg, fruit and a few other perishables. I do, however , need to drive into town again to exchange something DD2 bought in the supermarket. I am planing my week to avoid a third trip. also need to get petrol today, that should be around £60 ish

Theres a £5 off a £35 spend in Aldi in the Daily Mirror tomorrow.

£10 or so today, on bus fares and hot chocolate and cake. I used up my loyalty card to get one of the hot drinks for free in Cafe Nero and I have another loyalty card to redeem next week.

Thanks for the tip, fluffy!

I got my car insured with aviva, £237 with £80 cashback off quidco. £157 for the year and no admin charges if you do them online.

Admin charges really annoy me it's just a way go squeeze more money out of us.

Topcashback confirmed my mobile phone cashback,£60.60 back for a £7.50 a month contract. It pays for the cats vets bill.

Dh is positively green with envy, he didn't want to bother with the cashback because he couldn't wait to go and get a new phone.

AARRRRGGGGGH took cash out for shopping so as not to overspend. So far so good. Then I went to the supermarket with DDs. Not good. They were jabbering on at me, in stereo, while I paid and I used the card instead of the cash <palm to forehead>. Also paid for something DD2 was supposed to be paying for. I've told her she owes me the money, on principal. So, that was £40 plus £53 on petrol. Plus I bought them doghnuts as I needed coffee.

OH isn't getting paid this month, again, as well as last month. I'm heading into town today, need to exchange a couple of things and get papers signed for BUPA. I don't want to ask the vet how much we owe, but it's only going to cause him stress in addition to me to avoid it. Poor chap was at the Dr yesterday with high blood pressure because of too much work related stress.

Turns out I CBA to drive into town today, I'll leave it 'til next week and get a few more birds with the one stone.

Just £1.60 yesterday - 6 books @10p each from library sale (some decent paperbacks) and some veggie burgers from Iceland for £1.

Spending today working as got another editing job to do. I guess this stops me spending money, but it's so nice outside that I don't want to be stuck in all day.

Adora - it takes a while to get used to using cash rather than card, don't worry!

Bad day yesterday in that apparently my Jobseekers has been suspended due to me not applying for enough jobs - I don't see how a minimum of 12 per week isn't enough?! Will be appealing the decision, but will still be £71 a week worse off in the meantime
Spent £18.50 yesterday in Primark on single quilt, pillows and sheets for DS1 who is moving into a proper single bed this weekend.

Spent £50 in Morrisons this morning on groceries.
Have got an interview in Morrisons this afternoon, so I am hoping that I get a job soon......

Will have to go to meatman and Aldi tomorrow, so probably be another £100 gone there, but I have mealplanned for the whole month so won't be buying anything frivolous. £20 of that will be going solely on nappies..
Going to fill up the car tomorrow too, before all the DD's come out on Monday and leave us skint again

Hope everyone is having a good weekend

Been a few days since I checked in...NSDs on Wednesday and Friday, about three euros on some salad bits in supermarket on Thursday. Could have been a lot more as originally was supposed to go out for dinner with a friend, but in the end she came round mine and I cooked, much better for the wallet.

Have just done the weekly shop, but - big error - DP came too! So of course ended up spending 116 euros instead of the 80 I'd been aiming for. Grrr.

Adora, I can imagine how you felt with the cash/card thing, things like that are so annoying.

Leilandri - thats awful, I can't believe that 12 applications a week wouldn't be enough, that's got to be a mistake? Can you challenge it? Either way, I hope you find something soon. Would you get staff discount if you worked at Morrison's? That would be awesome!

Leilandri that is dreadful How can that possibly be right, you hear of people who apply for almost nothing and still manage to get it. Fingers tightly crossed for the interview.

I've had a few NSDs this week, I bought myself a new winter coat which wasn't cheap but needed and it will last me years.
Shopping delivered today - £113. The only thing I need now is nappies.

Payday on Wednesday and I've reviewed the bank statements etc for the month and we've done ok. I have really cut back on the random spending. I no longer go past Sainsbury's to drop DS1 at preschool because he is in Reception this year, and I hadn't realised how much I was popping in for one thing and buying £20-£30 of bits and bobs.

NSD today. Baked cakes with store cupboard stuff and made apple crumble with apples from garden. took kids out for long sunny walk in woods. Now they're out with a bunch of friends building a bonfire in the back garden.

Leilandri that is madness - do they tell you how many you need to apply for? What an anxiety to have to appeal it and wait for money.

racingheart sounds like a very back to nature kind of day

The cake I made for dp's work was only ok, gutted I spent so much on vanilla pods didn't really taste better than escence.

My grocery spend this week was only about £45 but dp had a day off so we spent £10 on savers getting him lots of right guard and he wanted me to buy lottery tickets and pizzas for dinner tonight rather than making with food we have in do so a bit irritating. Men! DP would now point out it's my totm. I seem to have abandoned cheap reduced bread in favour of breadmaker but I think we are having withdrawl symptoms!

Almost NSD today. £1.20 on sweets for DC after footie match. And I'm off to buy some butter (on special offer ) after tea. But had a gorgeous day watching their footie match, going for lovely autumn walk, having a peaceful bubble bath and reading a mag, helping DC with fun (for once) homework and music practise and ended up with DH's final BBQ of the season.

Total spend all weekend: £9.20, including £6 DC pocket money and tonight's butter. Sad eh?

Can't comment on DH's spending though . Spotted a box from Majestic Wine when he swung by after the match. He spends as though he were employed, and he isn't and hasn't been for some time.

It's quite often the men racingheart, we get being frugal. I think of it as bread and butter today for jam tomorrow.

We are in a hotel this weekend and had a row last night as I didnt want to spend nearly £50 on food for one meal, I can feed both of us and the cat for not much more than that. I had a sandwich in the bar instead.

I read in good housekeeping about a site called everythings £5, its an auction site.

Spent £125 on groceries today, £35 of that at the meatman (and I got an awful lot for my money as I got there as he was packing up, and he likes to leave with an empty van) and the rest of that in Aldi. Apart from milk, fruit etc, that will be us done for groceries for this month.
£50 on filling up the car, but that will last all month, hopefully abit longer as I have no long journeys planned.

Went to a carboot with DS's, spent £5.45, got 3 new books for DH for Xmas, never even been opened from the look of them, 2 Thomas Tank toys for DS's and a Tigger aswell to replace a broken one at home.

Spent £15 on mid-sleeper bed for DS1 this evening too, to move him on from his toddler bed.

Thankyou for your supportive comments. I have no idea what they class as enough jobs per week. I have worked out that since I have been claiming, I have applied for an average of 14.3 a week - so far only 2 interviews from that - shows how hard it is to find employment at the moment, and that is with 7+ years of managerial experience in the field that I am applying for
I shall definitely be speaking to someone once I've recieved my letter.....

I think what they mean Leilandri is that you haven't applied for and accepted a zero hours contract at £4.17 ph for which you buy your own uniform, that is four bus rides away. You workshy layabout, you!

Leilandri good luck with the interview and dealing with the benefit thing. Sounds like a nightmare.

I agree that it's frequently the men who don't "get it", we had to take the car in for snow chains and as OH nipped off to look at Porches he asked the sales manager to "sell that" (a Jaguar) to me. The bloke knows me though so he just organised a coffee and left me alone . Seriously, OH is almost frantic about losing the plot house and still looking at fancy cars

I've had a few NSDs, OH is off on a long trip soon so he stocked up on dog food and while he's away the general food bill will be lower. We had lunch out today while walking the dogs - sandwiches and chips so not extravagant. He paid and I think it was just over a tenner. Had to get DD1 more underwear yesterday ( she's 11 and changing rapidly, so last week's undies are no longer suitable) that was £16 yesterday. This week I need to get washing powder and dishwasher stuff so a more expensive grocery week than usual.

Hi All, I haven't posted for a while as I'm in exam / revision hell at the moment and so have been heavily reliant on DH to keep the household going!

Last week ended ok apart from £10 on Dine In in M&S. Oops.

This weekend was pretty thrifty - £15 top up shop in Tesco but that was DH spending and he bought beers, snacks for DD (even though we had loads already in the cupboard) and other non essentials!

I've got a big Ocado shop coming tomorrow as I can't get it together to do an Aldi / Lidl shop this week. I had a 20% off code to use so I've got quite a lot coming for my £65.

Today and tomorrow should be NSD's.......apart from the Ocado order of course!

Leil - that's crazy about the job seekers allowance. I really hope that you are able to successfully challenge the decision.

Ali - you sound so similar to me. I hadn't realised how much I was spending without thinking about it. I also have a Tesco right near DD's nursery which I was visiting all the time. It's still a small victory every day when I go past without spending anything!!

Hope everyone else is ok and had good weekends.......right, back to the studying

Are we starting a new thread for October?

Just updating for the last day of September: NSD, a good way to end the month!

well my update for sep is my grocery spends were about £70 p/w but hope to get them a little lower for oct - still its an improvement.

Oh yes please can someone start a thread for October! This one has been quite interesting to read and I need to get my compulsive spending in check

Someone witty needs to think up a title including the word "October".

I am not witty.

New Thread Here