Meagre May ... watching our bank balances go up instead of down

[roguepixie]

New thread for all of us .

There not their.

Bad, bad spend day.

TKMaxx appears to be my nemesis. Went in there to get a swimsuit for DD2 for school. Came out with swimsuit, small baking tray, and four summer tops for the older two girls. 76 pounds later...

Waitrose. Wrong day for my waitrose. Had to go to get basic essentials. OK, got a trolleyful but no meaty bargains or anything of that kind. 77 pounds. Eek. Will have to be good now for a week.

Forgot DH had to refuel the car yesterday- 97 pounds!! Hadn't had to do it since the 25th of March though so limiting trips by car is paying off.

Hi all, hope you don't mind if I join. Quite simply I'm trying to be as frugal as I can (both DH and I are self employed so never a guaranteed income) so whilst times may be ok at the minute i want to have a buffer just incase. So really grateful for all your hint and tips.

Spent 55 pounds without leaving the house today, in fairness it probably saved me money as if I'd "popped" to the shops I'd of probably spend twice that.

Ordered 30 pounds worth of stuff from approved foods last week, due to be delivered tomorrow, never tried them before so I hope it's good.

Probably take my daughter swimming at the end of the week so that'll be £2.80.

Must admit, my problem is not spending when I go out it's actually when I stay in!! Internet shopping is my enemy and it really has to stop.

£6 at Waitrose

Got French sticks for 26p
Almond Croissant for 15p
6xchoc croissant at 9p each
Shallots 29p
Crumpets x 6 packets at 12p per pack
Bagels 49p
Hovis 35p

Most of this was for friends so will get the cash back.

NSD here, cba'd doing my errands, ha ha. I'll spend the money tomorrow

Our reduced to clear as nowhere near as cheap as yours. Even when I go to the proper supermarkets(we only have a Co op). Morrisons near my old house used to be good but I've not seen anything cheaper than half price for a few years. The big supermarkets are all24 hour ones so I think that was a factor.
Majority of our shopping is done on the market. On market day there's a v cheap stall but the stuff needs using within 1-2 days so we often bulk cook it.

Hi everyone (namechanger here)

Oh dear.

April was pants and May/june is looking pretty dreadful too...3 days in frnace (our summer hol this year) dh's 40th and ds1's 9th b days.

They are having joint family party, thankfully!

Any tips for cheap great parties gratefully recieved!

oh! and my weekend away this weekend!

(postponed from dec when I had an accident)

I have just finalised my Waitrose order for tomorrow - £145! But it is my birthday on Tuesday so includes a celebratory leg of lamb at £27, plus a couple of chickens and quite a lot of other meat.
My boys are 13 months, and 3.10 and I have really noticed in the last month that they are both eating a lot more. I have been buying the same size packs of meat etc and just stretching it around all of us, which has been good for DH and my waistline - but I have started having to get bigger packs, or make fewer meals from a big pack of mince etc.

I think it will be a NSD apart from that, although DH didn't take any lunch to work, just his thermos of tea and cereal bar for the train, so he will need to buy something for himself.

We don't have great supermarket mark-downs where we are either. Well, not without driving and it kinds of defeats the object of money saving to use petrol that you wouldn't otherwise use. I just buy cheap at Aldi, which, luckily is within walking distance and I do the main shop using our tank of a pram and a rucksack.

I've not done an Approved Foods order, but may well do when the little person is not so little and we need more food!

Spent £11 this morning on some next-size-up clothes for DS2 from a Facebook sell site, but sold some of his grown-out-of clothes for £12.60, so an overall profit ;)

Have spent £20 on DS2's Xmas pressy, as mothercare online had £10 off a Happyland Farm. Struggling to get anything decent for DS2 for Xmas, as DS1 has been a spoilt little buggar lucky boy and has lots of stuff, so this will be ideal. Bidding on an accompanying set of farm animals etc on ebay, as they can go in stocking so 2nd hand doesn't matter.

fishpond is there anything in particular, clothing wise, that you need for your DS? I have LOADS of boy's clothes that my two have grown out of, and would more than happy to post them out to you, if you could cover postage? Just a thought.. x

Afternoon all,

NSD here - although I did get a bill through the post for the next lot of swimming fees for DS2 and DD which have to be paid, and DS1 bought home a letter about the latest Scout camp which will cost £45. Its always something!

DD has another birthday party invite - which makes 4 parties in the next 3 weeks. If anyone has any cheap gift ideas for 4yo's I would be really grateful.

Check out your local Indian general stores, on my quest for supporting local businesses I have just found that my local one has a halal butcher selling chicken breasts for £4.99 a kilo!! Salam alaikum! I've come over all multi cultural:o

We have an Indian and Chinese supermarkets near us - they are great for bargains, especially fruit and veg, plus if you buy things like rice and lentils in bulk.

What if you dont agree with halal slaughter though?

I dont object to them doing it, I just wouldnt like to actively support/condone it.

I saw a pig killed on one of saint hugh's river cottage shows and they stunned it. I dont find animal slaughter so bad now, as long as the animals are dispatched quickly.

Quick Q for all you Quidco fans.
My weightwatcher subscription is ending soon and Quidco have the 3 month for £1 offer on again. Can I cancel my subscription and then rejoin through Quidco for the money off?

Oh and also my local thai market shop sells huge red peppers 2 for £1, same for cucumbers. Apples and clementines 6 for £1. Next I'll try the polish shop to see what I can get there :)

Debs, I just logged in and had a quick look and it says new members only.

But, if it's online only whats to stop your OH joining via your quidco?

$33 on petrol and will spend another $6 for eBay shipping later today.

Have decided to try and sell several things on eBay this month to recoup expense from the 1st and hopefully put a bit extra back. As I'm not working will sell my maternity work blouses, have 3 so hopefully will sell as a good lot. Some baby jeans I bought at car boot for $3.50 are currently selling for $8 on eBay, a day to go still crossing fingers they go higher.

Hello Peeps

I've name changed

Anyway, today's totals
Road tolls-£3
Fuel-£60
DD's hockey tops and shoes-£60
Supermarket-£25
Snack-£7-I was in desperate need of coffee and needed to go in the supermarket anyway. Didn't actually need the piece of cake

Still need to get the dog's deworming tablets tomorrow.

Thursday = rubbish!
Met friend for lunch £4.25
Fancied steak for dinner £18.20 after DH added Cidre and kids added sweets....

Yesterday was our start of the weeks money. £100 for everything except DDs and petrol. Also biggest shopping day. Spent about £28. We are trying to eat from the freezer this week due to going over budget last week so only buying bread/fruit/veg/cheese. Need to stock up on frozen veg though as we have no peas or corn.

NSD to report on Wednesday, needed one of those after the weekend. Yesterday was £15 at Sainsburys, just popped in at lunch for £1 budget egg sandwich as didn't take anything to work and ended up buying a load of other bits! Taking my lunch in today!!!

Voidka I've just bought a load of 4th 'party' presents for my DS1 from Early Learning Centre, they have all outdoor toys on 3 for 2, so I got golf sets for boys and croquet sets for girls, they were £8 each, so £16 for 3, plus I had a 20% off voucher (code for online is ELCTreat20 or I can email you hard copy of voucher to print off?). So I ended up spending about £13 on 3 presents, which is great really.

Also, if your playgroup or work or whatever have a Book People deliver, I recently bought a kids cookbook from there for £4 which made a nice birthday present.

I ended up popping to sainsbury's on the way back from voting yesterday evening, we needed milk and bread but I ended up spending £10, grrr.

Waitrose delivery coming today, should be a NSD apart from that.