Only Halloween will be scary in October - NOT our finances :)

[Leilandri]

Oldies and Newbies welcome....
Can't believe we are approaching the end of the year so fast. 9 months of money-saving, thriftiness, waste awareness. We deserve a large

[Xroads]

I've kinda been trying and our debt did come down a bit and then we went a bit crazy and now we are back on the straight and narrow, we can see the end in sight, 19mths until we are debt free (after about 10 bloody years!)

We are going to have a holiday at the end of it and I cannot wait!!

Top tips for being frugal?

[Fluffycloudland77]

Read the September thread, I linked all the previous threads so it's all there.

There is a test I lied there isn't really

[Badvoc]

Hello again!
Fell off the wagon majorly in sept but on the bright side am nearly done with my Xmas shopping :)
Also have for my agreed overdraft down from £800 to £259 so do feel I have achieved something!
Dh and I also looked at our ins etc and we have saved £50 per month by changing providers.
Have been selling a few things on e bay too.
Looking forward to the tips and chat this month!

[eslteacher]

Xroads - things that work for me are: meal plan and when you do the weekly shop buy only the things you strictly need for your plan, invite friends round to your house rather than going out to restaurants/bars, take packed lunches to work, don't carry cash (it stops me buying little things like magazines and drinks and snacks on the go, which I am always tempted to do when I have a few coins in my purse).

Congrats on the overdraft Badvoc. Nice thread title Leilandri!

So far October has started off OK: 4 euros in the supermarket yesterday for some drinks/snacks to keep at work, and 2 euros today since I forgot part of my packed lunch so had to buy something to accompany my lonely looking sandwich...

Trying to buy a coach ticket online right now but the stupid card authentication thing can't get its head round the fact that I don't have a UK postcode ARGH. Hopefully if it works I'll end up spending another £22 today, then can aim for an NSD tomorrow.

[AdoraBell]

Thanks for the shiny new thread Leiandri, love the title

This week I've spent £60 on groceries so far and about £6 on road tolls. Nothing else planned at present although DDs both need clothes and accessories in a couple of weeks for the drama group. DD1 has seen a £40 necklace that would work, natch, but I'm buying cheap tat for this! We have a White Queen and Red Queen this time around.

Well done on that overdraft Badvoc that's really good. And well done too to Xroads for getting your finances under control.

[Xroads]

I work from home so never buy lunch out, dd's and dh are allowed dinners on fridays. I don't buy magazines and drinks out are rare.

I went to the cash and carry and stocked up on loads of things to try and keep the food bill down, we also went to the market on sat for fresh stuff. My aim now is to only top up what I've got with fresh stuff for no more than £50 per week (which will be no mean feat as I'm on slimming world, I have 7 dc's to feed 5 days a week and dh lives on fizzy pop)

I'm a childminder so it's tricky to have NSD because I normally have to pay for toddler groups and parking as a minimum.

DH and I have both got apps on our phones to log what we are spending though because we budget and it will say we have loads spare but when it cones down to it we are in and out of the overdraught most of the time!

I predict a spend of at least £10 today because I need bread, milk, toddler group, bus fare for dd1, dd1 is finishing school early and going to McDonalds as a treat and I'm going swimming tonight as I get weighed tomorrow and it was dd2's birthday at the weekend and I ate too much cake........

I am working a lot though,10 and a half hours 4 days a week childminding plus 4 hrs on a thu childminding and I'm also an artist so at the weekend I'm painting murals for the local soft play place and I'm doing some boards for a local nursery during the evenings and any spare minutes I can get. I'm also selling stuff on ebay as we just cleared dd2's room out.

[CremeEggThief]

Yay, a shiny new thread. Thanks Leilandri :).

Best of luck for minimal spending in October, everyone.

[pregnantpause]

Id love to join you ladies. I was on the frugal Feb thread, fell off and have remained 5000 in debt since. I shouldn't be in debt, theoretically I could have paid half if that off but am out of control spending. No more.

I think I will start selling on eBay, any tips for a first timer? It's mostly baby stuff I have to sell, but hopefully I'll be able to raise some funds for the credit.

[ValiumQueen]

Hi, was on August thread and was doing really well. Sinned majorly in Sept, so need to be mega frugal again in Oct. I obviously blame DH mostly but after being housebound for 8 weeks I did partake in a wee bit of retail therapy. Nothing big, but little things add up, and the little things were mainly food. Baby to be delivered on 25th, and now on Mat Leave, plus DH will not get paid for Pat Leave.

I think online shopping for food is key, alongside meal planning. I just hope DH can stop popping to the shop to buy unnecessary things, as I got to the point where I thought why should I bother? I was cutting costs on the meals, and he was getting all the 'love' for buying treats and sweets for the kids. He has also started drinking more frequently. Not to an unhealthy level, but cost wise it is expensive.

[ValiumQueen]

Once baby is confirmed in the blue camp I plan to sell all the girls clothes up to 2 years, so I am also keen on tips as I am an experienced buyer on e bay, but a virgin seller. I also have cloth nappies to offload, as I have too many for an infant and toddler. They are my major downfall after food, so I am limiting myself to one e bay cheapie at less than £4 delivered. They come from china, so take weeks to arrive. Once it does, I allow myself to order another (addict)

[economymode]

Thanks for the new thread!

Will catch up soon, but got some work to finish first. Just wanted to say hello, and thanks!

[Fluffycloudland77]

When you sell nappies on eBay you have to list as new then put used in the description or they get funny about it.

[ValiumQueen]

I noticed that fluffy funny how they get arsey about used nappies and not used clothes. Kids clothes are likely to have had the odd bodily fluid on them too.

[Xroads]

found this for anyone who wants to make extra cash too

[pookey]

thanks for thread leilandri

xroads childminding expenses shouldn't count as spending you def need the boost of being able to say NSD!

valiumqueen love it that your drip feeding your nappy habbit!

[Fluffycloudland77]

I've just ordered radiator reflector panels off Amazon, I got enough for 10 radiators which is more than enough hopefully, all the rads here are huge. They get great reviews from people saying how much warmer the house is with them. I remember my nan having foil befind the rads on the walls.

Leilandri gave me the idea on the winter thread on here, I had totally forgot people used to do this. At least I can take them with me to the next house too.

I have a hot water bottle on me, it was that or put the heating on.

[AdoraBell]

Xroads with all that activity I'm surprised you have time to save money.

Today I need to get fruit juice and yoghurt but not much else. One of the puppies has just chewed my clothes pegs box, so that'll need replacing. I can get things like that dirt cheap here (one of the few things I can).

Tomorrow I'm heading into town to do errands and will look at cheap tat accessories for the drama costumes.

[CremeEggThief]

£4.08 total for today, on milk, floor wipes and posting a parcel.

[economymode]

Righty. Work done.

So, sold old pram on ebay (£20, shocking, but it's better than nothing), plus broken laptop (£82 - buyer still to pay but assures he will pay tomorrow) and a toddler waistcoat/shirt combo (£8).

I've never had much luck selling kids' clothes on ebay - stuff you think will go, well, doesn't. So I was pleasantly surprised.

Just finished some editing work, but no idea how much I'll be paid as their PO system is down. Still, it'll be better than nothing. It did mean I had to spend time working at the in-laws over the weekend, when I should have been relaxing.

I also need to invoice for some admin work I've done.

All this will pay (and more) for our weekend with the in-laws. £18 on admission for 2 to Westonbirt Arboretum. We took our own lunch. Plus £25 for a meal out while the in-laws babysat (would have been more, but they had no brownies for pudding) and £25 at Ikea.

Valium - good to see you back! Was wondering if you'd had the new baby yet. By the way, I think that, technically, you're not allowed to sell used, washable nappies on ebay for health reasons. But I might be wrong.

I used my £5 off at Aldi voucher and forgot to get a few things, so we'll see how we go, but hopefully a top up shop will be under £10.

Some birthday and xmas presents also to be bought this month, to spread the cost.

[economymode]

Ah, I see the ebay nappy issue has already been mentioned.

[ValiumQueen]

Many people do sell them on eBay. I love a challenge.

[Leilandri]

I find selling baby clothes etc more successful on local Facebook buy/sell groups. Made £6 today selling some clothes on there.

NSD today - spent the day at home with DS's, and a friend with her DS too. Was a nice day of gossip and coffee :)
Have to phone Jobcentre tomorrow. I got paid my Jobseekers today even tho apparently it's been suspended, so I'd like to know what is going on. Though VERY happy to have an extra £142 in the bank today.

Nice to see some new and old faces re-appearing

[claretandamberforever]

Hooray - New thread - newbie here

I owe shit loads on credit cards, I need to get them paid off. I need to be more frugal and also find a better paying job!

I can't remember how much I spent so far so I will start off today

£1.00 on lunch at work (budgeted spends)
£0.00 on incidental spending

[Secondchance]

Another newbie here. Need to economise big time - long sad story but general gist - am widow with 6 yo girl - husband died suddenly (in his sleep - was only 29). Have just moved house so loads of initial expenses but hopefully with it being smaller it will prove less costly.

So far
Monday 1st £50 Diesel and £21.32 Aldi
Tuesday 2nd £7.62 Aldi
Today £1.18 Aldi

Need to get firelighters 2moro but don't think will need anything else. Will prob be in and out of shops daily until I get new place stocked up but pass Aldi on school run so no extra use of diesel

[AdoraBell]

Hello claret and secondchance and welcome.

Secondchance so sorry to hear your sad circumstances, do you have RL support?

Claret do you pay just the minimum on your credit cards? If so adding just a bit more each month, as much as you can afford, will make a noticeable difference. They usually manage to charge interest almost equal to the minimum. Something I did once I cleared my cards was put them on full payment by DD, that really curtailed my spending

I got my top up shopping plus a few bits for a shared snack in school. I laughed my way through paying with the DDs pleading and begging, on bended knees, for a DVD which I had no intention of buying. And I didn't. One parent behind me was highly amused and another was surprised that I didn't cave. The lady on the till was just pleased I bought a bar of chocolate. This supermarket pushes a particular type at the till and the cashiers have to offer it to every customer. Happens to be OH's favourite choccy bar.

So my total for shopping was £16, £2 on road tolls today.