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

[roguepixie]

New thread for all of us .

I would like to join, I have £70.00 bills each month & about £700 incoming, lots to save. However I over-looked paying rent over the summer for my Uni house, so that's £400.00, &120 for my extensions re-done & hair cut. It's a very similar price for them to be taken out so I may aswell use the spare hair & get them re-done.

I have £310 saved up, which was for my eyebrows to be tattooed on, however Its going to have to go on rent! No worries, I'm going to go into mac for a make up lesson & not leave till I have perfect eyebrows!

I have listed everything on eBay that isn't nailed down, so am stuck as to what to list next! Hmm.....

• would like to save another £500 for new hair, clothes and teeth whitening! Urgh, god! I need to make myself feel nice after a year of having baby, being fat & not having enough time in the mornings to put make-up in before work with a baby that doesnt sleep!

DD1 has just started ebaying and sold her first item within an hour! They were Pokemon cards which she has had for years and I thought she would
get pennies for, they went for her buy it now of £15. She is very happy, especially as she has another 15 sets to put on. I just wish I was so good at selling.

Anyway not too bad this week although snacks yesterday cost me £7, 2 drinks for the dd's and 2 for me as the offer is better than just getting 1 and then a chocolate each. I need to get some snacks in bulk for Thursdays and try to ignore the lure of the shops

Not sure who was asking about Quidco and WW. But if you have more than one email address (work and personal?), couldn't you cancel your existing sub and then rejoin using a new email address? We've done that with LoveFilm a fair few times to take advantage of offers for new customers.

Oh, and apparently ELC have a birthday club where you get 20% off for your child's b'day. My sister in law has added her children's friends as her children so she gets discounts quite a few times in the year. Not sure that's strictly allowed, but how's a computer to know?!

Debs, your DD did very well! I have some stuff I could eBay, but it always seems more hassle than it's worth and I usually end up taking most of it to the charity shops.

Expensive day yesterday! Almost £75 on online shop, which is coming tonight, just under £40 on a day out (food, coffee, travel, museum entry, card and gift for ill relative and token gift for DS) and £10 for my childminder. £125 total!
So far today, £1.10 on my bus fare, but I only need to get bread and milk later and possibly the bus if it's raining heavily at school pick - up.

After the WORST April I have ever experienced (both weather and budget wise) we started the month in minus figures for the first time this year! :(

However we did our weekly shop on Monday and haven't spent any money since !!

Hoping to keep it up as fridge, freezer and cupboard are stocked and menu plan is in full swing... Fingers crossed!

Kate

Hope you get great eyebrows, I know what you mean about not feeling good about the way you look. For me it's frizzy hair, but I've found a lovely hairdresser here,Chile, and it was only £25- mega bargain

So, today I need to get the ham I forgot yesterday and few bits, no idea what yet, to bulk out a packed lunch. DDs are playing volley ball at the coast tomorrow, it's free but they need to take sustenance and it's a loooong day.

Blondie

Good luck with the budget, it's horrible to start off from a negative position.

We have some money owed to us, or OH does, and he's not sleeping because of it.
I mentioned a while back that he had permission- not that he needed it- to make a large purchase but changed his mind upon inspecting the item. Well, the company is now having cash flow problems and is trying not the return the sizeable deposit.

New school bags will have to wait until Sunday, I got the wail of - but I want to choose my owwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn ooooooooonnnnnneeeeee muuuuuuuummmmmmyyyyyy so they are still lugging around overly heavy bags.

Must get to the vet today for de-worming treatment, it's exactly half way between the other places I need to go, but on a different road and I keep forgetting to turn off

Adora! I'm glad someone understands!
I have so many frizzy hair products to recommend, probably not next for a no spending thread! I'll be back later with the links!

adora have you tried doing curly girl method? - really cheap cos you use less and your hair looks great... linky

Hmm, spent a bit more than I planned, as I found I also needed salad and I bought DS some crisps and a Frijj milkshake and some more scones, as I had some clotted cream left to use by today. Still, £8.87 isn't too bad.

Adora..

These are my best frizz products:

bed head conditioner

Ciment Thermique

bed head smoothing stuff That ones £5.00 i paid £10 for mine!

My Favourite

I used to but the Salon Size Bed head conditioner for around £15.00's from TG Hughes, little bit sad its shut down!

Thanks for the hair tips, I'll look at the links over the weekend.

I got the de-warming tablets, and a dry shampoo. Both pooches are in need of a bath but it's not warm enough now to do it outside and I can't face the routine of them escaping the bathroom and running all through the house.

Anyway, that was a very quick £20
Roads were £4 today

What is it about Police cars, eh? While I was at the vet's a couple of officers arrived, no idea why, and parked behind me. Plenty of room to manovuer, so why did I end up doing an infinite point turn to get out?? I'm just glad they couldn't see the car park from the dog area

Whoops I need to confess to clothes and shoes shopping online last night

I also bought a couple of things in Laura Ashley yesterday - paid £35 for a dress and a top which should have been over £100 full price.

A NSD yesterday again, hooray! Converted some of my tesco clubcard vouchers into tickets for Thomasland so that will be a free day out for us in the next few months (if it ever stops raining!).

Hoping for a cheap weekend too, will take the kids swimming, which is free (technically not free as we pay for membership, but won't cost any extra!) and then to the cinema (kids club on Sunday morning is only a few pounds), and maybe to the local park aswell. Will take sandwiches and our own snacks and drinks as I find a lot of the cost of a day out is the food you end up buying.

I do need to buy an outfit to wear for a hen night that I'm going on next weekend, I am hoping I can get something fairly cheap though, will avoid the pricey shops, probably head to TKMaxx and maybe supermarkets to see if I can pick up something there!

buy the daily mail twice to get a 'free' family railcard - i've been waiting for this offer since i missed it last year!

Not a cheap day here. We've done some food shopping and needed some tools for the garden so that's eaten this weeks budget.
If dh isn't working tomorrow & it stays dry I'll do a car boot so fingers crossed I'll make some money and get rid of all my crap and overflow of plants

Bumblequeen

How old is DD, is she aware yet that you've raided her birthday money like we all have to occasionally borrowed a little bit off her? If not then don't stress over it, just start building it back up gradually. 10pence here and ther, that kind of gradual, it's not going to take food off the table and you'll feel less guilty because you're paying it back. Then, when you can, make larger contributions until there's enough to buy something/stick it in the bank for her.

I have no idea how the day will go spend-wise, don't actually need to buy anything, I did fancy having lunch out as the DD are fully occupied with volley ball, but OH is mega worried now about finances, so it'll probably be a sensible NSD here.

the first codeword you need for a free family railcard is FAMILY.

We have our nephew's Christening next weekend and have yet to get a gift. Then it's his birthday two weeks after that, so two gifts to get. I'm a bit annoyed about the Christening thing as sister-in-law (as lovely as she is) is doing it 'because it's a nice thing to do' (did it for her daughter as well). I have no problem with people being Christened if it's a meaningful occasion for them, but it's more of a chance to have a party in this case.

So, what to get as a gift? Any ideas for a non-bank-breaking present? I could make something, but I'm not that talented a sewer. Stupidly, we gave our niece £100 for a premium bond when she was Christened (back then we were both working, no children, so could afford it). We really can't afford to do that this time round, so we're a bit stumped.

Spew

Could you stretch to one of those traditional silver gifts? Afraid that's all I can think of ATM. I know what you mean about the reason for a Christening, ours are not christened but it's becoming a problem socially for them so I may have to give in.

We ended up spending loads today after all.

Roads £5
Lunch-lovely curry-£50
Dog food plus bits & bobs for OH's office-£70

DDs had a great day playing volley ball, DD2 especially because the coast is considerably cooler than here. She delighted in telling me- mummy I was shivering, it was lovely- my protests that if she's shivering she needs to put her fleece on fell on deaf ears

My best idea for a christening present for a boy - given to DS when he was christened by his godfather who always knows exactly what to get - Swiss Army Knife. They look more expensive (you can get lots of sizes), you can get them engraved, they are useful later in life. Everyone I know that I have ever suggested this to thinks it a fab idea.

Spew have a look at Notonthehighstreet.com - they have some lovely (cheap ish) things like personalised piggy banks or paintings.

Please can I join you? We are really feeling the pinch at the moment.

I've returned to work part time recently. After childcare costs, we are left with £400. Dh was underpaid by £1000 this month and the car had a £550 mot/service. So needless to say, cash is short.

We've cancelled our romantic weekend in the Cotswolds - our first break without DD. we just can't find the cash.

We are planning £75-80 weekly food budget including nappies, plus £10 extra for picking up bits along the way. I've got a well stocked food cupboard which helps. No takeaways etc, which is our downfall. Other than that, I'm going to try not to spend cash during the week, max £3 day. This will exclude tube travel etc - not a lot we can do about that.

So, please can you let me in?

Another codeword for free and half-price family railcard is FRIENDS. I've just tried the two and they seem to work! hooray!