No more random spending for 3 months...........any takers?

[Collision]

Starting from 1 September DH and I have decided that the only things on the cc bill will be

food

petrol

car insurance (due 7 Sept)

We are no longer randomly spending on ANY clothes at all. The boys have their uniform and I have new NEXT-sale boots and a warm waterproof coat and we do not need ANY MORE CLOTHES.

Proper meal planning and shopping at ALDI and Sainsburys.

No more Costa lotta coffees.

No more takeaways or cheapy McDonalds/KFC for the kids.

We will use the library for books so no need to buy any.

Packed lunches

Coffee in a flask if I take the children out along with snacks and drinks bought from supermarket and not random cafes.

The boys are pretty much ECO anyway and brilliant at turning off lights and water etc and they only have showers and not baths.

We want to cut down on spending to see how much we can save over time. DH has a great job and I work at school FT so it will be interesting to see what we can do.

GULP!

Anyone want to help join me??

It is not as awful as it sounds Collision - you just learn to celebrate the successes with a bit more vigour

carrots that is brilliant :)

I have already had to spend today - money for stuff at school totalling £23. I am I am part of our local PTA and we fundraise like mad to avoid parents having these expenses thrust upon them but I suppose, with the cut backs, the school still can't offer what they used to without charging for things now and again. The advantage is that part of that cost was a Spree book which will save me money in the long run.

Kids came home from school with forms for pizza days (once a week) and milk (every day). It will cost $400 for all three children!!!! Would it be really mean to not sign them up? We could do it but I think I don't want to on principle; I know that there are lots of families that absolutely could not afford this AND I resent the pressure to do so. Just hope they're not the only ones in their class who won't have it. What do you all think?

Pop I would be against the pizza days on the basis of health as well as cost - cite Jamie Oliver and suggest a monthly pizza day. At least milk has some nutritional value.

Carrots what's a spree book?

I would reserve the right to do pizza at home & rely on school to provide better stuff lol
Can you ask around, find out if others aren't going to sign up?

Got my haircut today, finally, well overdue and was only £20 so not too bad.
Plus £1.49 on milk as stuff in the fridge was out of date (as I discovered whilst making my morning tea!).

Out to my afternoon orchestra in a minute, now have to pay 50p every week as church is raising funds for a new floor, grr.
Then parents tea thing at school, then home, so nothing else today.

But did an online food shop yesterday (have signed up to Ocado delivery so will stick with them for now) £85ish, can't exactly remember off the top of my head, did go through and question everything on the list.

A Spree book is a book of vouchers for money off. eg restaurants where you get one adult meal free when you buy one adult meal or cinema where you get one child admission free when you buy one adult admission and that sort of thing.

The school sells them as a fundraiser and you only need to use them a couple of times to recoup what it cost you. Thereafter you are saving money and helping the school.

I am very nervous as I have just put my first two items up for sale on ebay. Within seconds I had a question about postage abroad. I feel really bad but as I am new to this I thought I had better stick to UK postage for now.

Fingers crossed I will make a little money though on stuff I would otherwise just have given away.

I have had to buy bread, milk and eggs again, as well as some treats to take to my friends house when I went for coffee.

Oops! New coat for DS2 - £30! But he needed it - got his old one out yesterdays for school and realised it was too short in the arms and couldn't do up. And this time I decided he needed a good one - so found a Barbour type coat from Countrywide. Could have got cheaper but not that will last as long or cope with rain and cold. (Have I justified myself ??)

We are almost living on veg atm - I don't know how people cope without a veg-growing friend or relative. Mum is keeping us supplied atm.

I have my first bid! Yay!

Carrots - I warn you, it's addictive, checking on your listings

Right so ocado shop is actually £98.33 As I remembered more I'd forgotten. That should sort us out for non-topping-up stuff for a while though as we have been plundering the freezer a bit (which is good and needs doing every now and then but...)

So Sept so far:
98.33 (food)
20 (haircut)
1.49 (food)
77 (DS2 food)
1.99 + 8 (shoes)
1.50 (parking)
15 (presents)
4 (blue badge holder - not sure what category for this)
40 (food out)
0.50 (Wed orch now charges!)
= 267.81

that's in 7 days (plus Dh's costs i don't know about), so in (dodgy) theory, that equals: £1145 this month. That sounds like A Lot!

Have succumbed to the vending machine today - 2 coffees and a pack of crisps - knew when I was packing my lunch for today it wasn't really enough so am going to bake this evening!

Another no spend day for me!

Tomorrow will be the same.

DH and I are going to the cinema on BOGOF and I have enough points on my ODEON card to get in free! Bargainous!

Oh dear got sucked into Boden and bought DD some stuff in the sale for next year :)

and forgot to add £10 for babysitter for Tues night orchestra to my list

so 267.81 + 10 + 63.40 (!) + 3.80 (swimming this morning) =
345.01

£67.20 today & dentist later

JKSLtd I have started putting catalogues that come through the door straight into recycling as they draw me in and before I know it I am online spending money on stuff I don't need.

I have paid for my exercise class today, another loaf of bread and a tub of Flora. That ought to be it for the day.

Dh is being taken out to dinner with his colleagues as a thank you for good work done so I also don't have to feed him today (gets a lunch allowance at work)

I am being quite frugal with the meals. I am finding snacks a bit trickier. I tend to give mine fruit or sandwiches as we are often out after school. What does everyone else do about the ravenous, just out of school child?

C&C - we don't do after school activities with ours, but why not follow your name and give them some thinly sliced carrots or celery? :o

I'm not doing well at all, I always thought I was quite sensible but this month is proving disastrous. Has food shopping shot up recently?

Football they both went off to school today with carrot sticks in their packed lunches

The Boden shopping was online, sale & through Quidco so i've justified to myself - and actually i did some of it the other day and forgot to press 'go' so i intednded to do it anyway, now i spent less ad got some quidco cashback (not that i've any idea how that really works yet!)

Dentist was another £60, expensive day.

I have to take food & drink to pick DS1 up and he's only 5. no after sch stuff yet, swimming is our first and starts next week but we can come home inbetween.

I spent £48 yesterday in Sainsbury's. Pants and long-sleeved t-shirts for DS1 which were very much needed and bargainous. Jeans for me which I could have done without I suppose, but I was down to only one pair that fitted. Break, milk and a few random items we didn't really need. Gah.

Nothing today.

This weekend is going to be expensive as we are going to a wedding. No hotel, we are staying at my parents, but drinks and taxis will add up to a bit. Lunch out on Sunday.

JKS - I am not going to join you in multiplying up for the month, else I will have overspent by about 40%

No spend today and a free lunch provided at a work meeting:)

Football - yes I think it has. I do a weekly online shop with Waitrose, and where I used to spend £80 and then about £30 in top up shops, I am now spending £100+ and still the £30 in top ups, more some weeks.

I spend £20-30 a day for topups for some stupid reason. Granted, it's always in minimarkets attached to petrol stations, so a bit more expensive, and might include a bottle of beer and immediately needed household items, but still.

mmmmmmmmmm watching with interest...

I've had a few good days spending less than £1 a day at work. Shopping done on-line I had a £5 voucher off. No major plans for the weekend so no spending (fingers crossed).

Well DH was tempted to get a curry but I managed to persuade him to do sausages & mash instead (all in the freezer), well done me :)

Meeting friends at a cafe first thing tomorrow then out to another friends for lunch then collect DS1 and home, so shouldn't be too bad.