Stop wasting money support thread. Lets get frugal!

[LoveMyGirls]

I don't want to cut all spending I just want to cut down our spending so we can pay off the overdraught by christmas but at the moment it's not going well which is why I've decided to start this thread, those that want to join me can, those who don't want to join then your support would also be welcome.

I think if i write on here what I spend everyday I can see where to stop wasting money, it's also public so I'm open to others telling me where I could be saving money too. Any tips on organising our money better would also be apreciated.

At the moment we have seperate accounts (well one is joint but dp has lost his pin for his card)

Joint account is £2000 overdrawn. (reasons for this are I lost part of my income in August/ september and dd2's birthday and my mum's birthday too)
dp's bank - dp has just been paid he has £1000 in his bank.
Savings has £70 (went in by SO today)

Typical monthly spending is £2,470 a month

Typical earnings from next week are £3,100 per month

We have 2 childen and 2 cars (he needs his to travel for work, I need mine for work too) I shop at aldi and meal plan.

Total spend for today..

petrol £20
toddler group £2
brownies £1.50 = £23.50

[lucysmam]

I'm in. Haven't time for a longer post at mo as lo to pick up from nursery in 15mins but will pop back later

[SaintRiven]

your car. Do you really need it? Could you walk? Or his? Can one travel by bike/bus/walk?
Cars are a massive expense.
Electrcity and gas. Turn everything off. It really does help. At the wall plug too and make sure washing machine is full and line dry.
Take packed lunch to work and thermos. All those lattes add up.
How's that?

[SammyK]

Oh I will join, writing it down will stop the trips out for chocolate bars and newspapers.

Today so far...
zero
Am about to do a shop for ds for christmas though so halo will be falling off later!

[Marne]

Today i have spent

£10 petrol
£2.80 on cake
£15 on clothes (for dd's)
£2.50 on a book
£30.30

I need to stop spending, we have £6000 dept, 2 cars, 2 kids and a dog.

The price of petrol is killing me.

[Thomcat]

I bought value loo roll yesterday {grin]

However I have 2 dresses on my bed, easch worth £250, one I have already worn to a wedding at the weekend. The other I really like too. Do I send themn BOTH back???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[expatinscotland]

today i have spent: £0.00

[Thomcat]

Other than my childcare (£45 a day), nursery fees ££1,000 per term) and whatever petrol it took to get me to work and drop kids off and pick thm up again I have spent:

£2.00 on breakfast

£4.10 on lunch

No more cash is expected to leave my purse again today.

[Snaf]

Today I have spent: £6.90 in Sainsbury's.

I made a cake instead of buying one with bananas that were going black in the fruit bowl. It's a bit squidgy but fabulous with butter (and jam).

[RoRoMommy]

Thomcat: Yes, sell both dresses, we're in troubled times.

Marne: go to the library for books, or lend among friends. Cut down on clothes spending that is not absolutely necessary (ie, mend and have them share if possible)

Totally agree with SaintRiven on everything else.

Though, that said: 8.70 on lunch and a latte; 90p on the bus; 60 quid on the cleaner

[RoRoMommy]

Packing a lunch could probably save me 30 quid a week; if I didn't have to take the tube and a bus most days I could save 20 quid (ouch), as it's 2 pounds there and back.

Cannot, will not, give up my lattes; though, say I did? We're talking another 10 pounds a week (minus the investment in a thermos to cart it from home).

TOTAL SAVE: 60 pounds a week

[SaintRiven]

amazing how those little drinks and snacks add up!
I've not left the house today so haven't spent any money

[Simplysally]

£4.95 for dd's school lunches
£2.10 for my breakfast (bacon butty/mocha coffee)
£2. something for lunch (chips, mostly)
£1.89 on throat lozenges/chocolate
£15 Brownie Subs next week (but that will take me up to Christmas)
£1000 rent
£19 tv licence
60p car parking
Whatever my petrol was to get to work/possibly gym later (public transport not an option for either - I don't pay for my gym membership btw)

Think that's it for today .

[OneLieIn]

Today I have spent 0 - took packed lunch to work, spent nothing.

[3kids1cat]

Ok I'm up for this. My main problem is that dp is the only earner in our house. He has debts from before we were together, and I have no idea how much he pays. He also pays the mortgage on the place he lived before we met. All our money goes within a week of him being paid.

Anyway, today I have spent,
£102 on tesco's online order
£28 on some top-up shopping to get us through until shopping gets delivered tommorrow.

[harpomarx]

plan your meals, write a shopping list...

[BodenGroupie]

I started writing down everything I spent last month (I won't bore you) - it's a real shocker. Find it works with dieting too!

[lucysmam]

Well, I checked my bank balance when I got in from picking lo up from nursery & someone has put an extra £65 in my bank account from somewhere & it's not showing where yet.

So treated us to some steak (reduced from £8 to £4) and a crate of beer to last until after the weekend £10 and a mag each plus fags for oh) Spent £25. something; but, since I gained 65quid, I spent nothing

[beautifuldays]

count me in, i have spent a fortune in primark today buying everyone pj's and dressing gowns, we are trying not to put the heating on until november.....

need to STOP buying little bits here and there, like drinks and choc when we're out in town. must be more organised

think posting on here will help. thanks for starting the thread lovemygirls

[LoveMyGirls]

Hi everyone

Good some of you didn't spend much if at all yesterday.

I ended up spending £17 in asda on clothes for dd2 but it was her birthday money so I wasn't spending my money. Dd1 didn't go to brownies because it was cancelled so saved £1.50 there (woohoo) BUT dp checked his bank account this morning and he's only got £550 left! I've checked mine and I've been paid wftc so i'm £30 better off (£1,968 overdrawn)

Saint riven - I can't manage without my car and neither can dp (he works too far away and theres no trains to there and I've got 2 school runs to do in different directions with 5 minutes to get from one to the other so no chance of doing that without a car, infact if anything I need a bigger car if anything)

bodengroupie - the dieting threads plus ww and exercise helped me lose 2 and a half stone so i'm hoping this thread will help me pay back my overdraught so we can start saving/ paying for our wedding next year!

thanks beaitifuldays

will be back later to see how we're doing today.

[LoveMyGirls]

Dp takes packed lunch when he remembers and dd1 does sometimes too.

I need to ring wftc to let them know dd2 has started nursery too.

[lizziemun]

Go through you fridge/freezer and cupboards and work out what meals you can make, then only buy at the shops what you need this week.

I only use cash when shopping for food/household bits (300 pounds per month) for dh,me and 2 dd's.

[Chocolateteapot]

I want to pay as much off our mortgage before our fix ends next year so am trying to be careful.

Yesterday I spent £53.19 on a week's shop, £3.89 to get us through the day until the shopping arrived. Also spent £95 on log delivery which hopefully will see us through the worse of the winter. Loads of stuff went out from the current account eg mortgage and rent, but that was all budgeted for.

Today I have to pay for DD's piano and Maths which is £20 and £2.30 for her lunch (she gets it once a week) but won't spending anything else.

[GordonTheGopher]

Ooh I like this thread, it's like being accountable to someone!

I'll go on what I spent yesterday (obviously as it's only 8.20am).

£92 Tesco shop - was being really frugal and I reckon I've bought enough for 2 weeks.

£3 for 3 long sleeve tops for ds (thanks to another thread for that tip!).

£1.60 bus fare home (yes I know I should have walked).

Total: £96.60

Will report back later. Oh and I still don't have the heating on. My fingers are coooooooold.

[sherby]

I'm in

trying to have a zero spend day today

we have to go to the hospital so thats £4 on parking but not much I can do about that

[GordonTheGopher]

Sherby can you park nearby and walk?