We're over halfway there - saving our way through July 2012

[Leilandri]

We've done over 6 months of penny-pinching, practical, prudent, scrimping money-saving. Well done to us

June didn't end too badly for me overall, not going to total it up tho
I hope the weather in July is better than it has been - plenty of NSD's at the allotment would be lovely.

Marking my place

leilandri don't worry about signing on, these things happens. It's what its there for.

Yesterday was more expensive than I anticipated. £10 on lunch, £5 in Sainsbos and £24 in the new butchers on 2 steaks and 2 chicken breasts. Won't be going back unless it's a very special occasion!
Today I need milk and will get a coffee after DD swimming lesson. That's it though.

I follow these threads but rarely contribute....I'm going to change that this month. My cupboards and freezer are full and our petrol tanks are as full as they need to be for our mutual 8 minute commutes (yes, honestly!). DD and I are vegetarian and dh has his meat supplied by a friend who is an organic butcher and won't let dh pay for it as he does his web page - proper bartering!

So in an ideal world it should all be about buying just fruit, veg and salad.

I'm really tight now about spending money - that can only be a good thing. I hate going out to eat now - I honestly think I can do better. I hate eating lunches at school - the vegetarian options always make me feel like I've eaten a brick.

I'm going to Tescos at about 3 to pick up (hopefully) reduced goodies and then that should be it for the week.

I'm going to spend no more than a tenner for the week and then my purse will be left firmly at home.

Well, some of us have fallen off the wagon at points in the last 6 months namely June and half of May. Didn't overspend massively but definitely not the tight rein I had on spending in the previous months.

By which I mean that I carried on spending wisely but a) didn't keep track and b) bought things that I wouldn't have had I been scrimping.

I've not been on these threads for ages, but have been keeping tabs on how you're all doing which has motivated me to keep going. At the moment our finances are very tight, however with the aid of this series of threads I'm managing to keep pretty much on the straight and narrow. Sticking to a daily cash spend limit within an overall weekly/monthly spending limit seems to work for me, although it took a bit of discipline to get going. As do tricks like no spend days, menu planning and going out with no money so I can't spend - sounds rather obvious that last one and why it took me so long to learn I don't know! Another big motivator has been steady growth in the 'end of year/December festivities' fund. £10/week is now a lump sum of £260 and will hopefully be £500 by the time it's ready to be spent. So keep up the good work one and all!

littleredant the idea of leaving the house with NO money whatsoever took me along time to adjust too. My weakness was the nursery run - either 8am in the morning, stopping into the bakery for fresh, still warm, bread, or at 5pm into the co-op for reduced bits and wine and chocs. I now do the nursery run without any money. I have emptied the car of all spare change too, as another habit was to pop in for some milk with the £1odd in the car, then spot some "bargains" and end up bunging £10 on the card.

NSD today - went to Cardiff to visit my Nan for her 85th birthday, my mum paid for petrol, and the bridge toll, so I had a lovely day with my nan, my mum and my DS's for free

NSD planned for tomorrow too. Helping a friend move house in the morning, then down to the allotment in the afternoon.

I want to join

welcome Trish the more the merrier :)

Thank you

As I'm new to this, any good tips to get me started?

Hi everyone.

Louiespence it kind of resolved itself - unfortunately the couple we were going out with are having some problems so the meal was cancelled! Feel awful now for bellyaching about it. I had decided to go to both though.

Welcome Trish. I only joined last month and have not been very good so far! A good tip I was given last month was to set a budget for the week and then draw out the cash and not spend on cards. I am going to do that this month.

I am going away this weekend and, inspired by this thread, I am resolved not to buy any new clothes for the occassion. I have looked in my wardrobe and cobbled together some nice outfits. I am not even going to buy any accessories! Oh, i have bought a new swimming costume though but that was in the sale and I needed a new one anyway.

I hope July is a good NSM for everyone!

Hello Trish and welcome

Okay, I'm starting afresh, I have forgiven the OH for buying two pedigree puppies last month, with all the attendant- and ongoing- vet bills. July is a new month

There's no money coming in this month, so DDs hard earned, they do chores, cash is being saved in the Bank of Mum until said bank returns to liquidity.

Freezer and cupboards are full to bursting so it's just perishables and dog food, plus vet bills, petrol and the dentist this month. Spent nada over the weekend.

I was doing this a few months back but kind of lapsed , so I am rejoining.

Am very much spurred on by the news that a close family member's job is finishing in a month's time (as pay would be downgraded so much due to cutbacks that it would be infeasible to stay working there ) & thinking of being in that position ourselves.

Also, we are trying to pay off credit cards/loans atm as we want to move in a year or so & our credit rating isn't great as so much debt

Things are looking OK this month, but have to pay big nursery bill for DS1 for July & August (he is 3.6, so in termtime bills are practically nothing due to free hours). However, from September he will be going to local preschool, so using free hours only, so no big bills. I will also be starting to work 1 day a week in 3 weeks' time, when my DM is back from her hols as she will look after DSes (I know I am very lucky, she is positively looking forward to it!), so more money coming in there.

Anticipated spend today £2 spending money for DS1's nursery trip to farm (trip paid for with nursery bill), £1 for milk at Tesco + possibly some spuds, 50p for toddler group with DS2.

Sorry for such a long introduction

OK, actual spend at Tesco £3.05. This was for big bag of carrots which I shall peel, chop & freeze for later use (saves soooo much time & effort), bag of potatoes for the week, 4 pints milk & jeans for DS1 reduced from £5 to £1 (he keeps wearing holes in the knees of his trousers ). Had 30p coupon to help. Quite pleased with my haul, although I forgot yoghurts so will have to go out again tomorrow!

Oooh carrot bulk buy! Do you cook before freezing or ok to freeze raw?!

I just freeze raw as I only use them in casseroles, pies, soups etc, and if in pies (such as shepherd's pie) I zap them for about 1 minute in the microwave from frozen or they stay too hard. None of my family eat cooked carrots as a veg, but if you do, I would think you'd need to blanch them first.

Hi everyone - welcome newbies and good to see jenduck and duchesse back.

So, just back from a weekend with the in-laws - spent around £50 on lunch out, parking in Bristol centre (way way cheaper than Oxford!), soft-play (damn this rain) and a jar of dolmio sauce to replace the one that MiniEconomy broke.

Just spent around £10 on some lego silicone moulds from ebay (triple nectar points on there at the mo) - going to make a chocolate lego set for MrEconomy's birthday. The plan is to melt down some dairy milk and make it into little lego men and bricks. It's not a lot, but we're on a budget. Plus I'll make him a cake. He's working on the actual day, so we'll save by not having a day out to celebrate.

Just over £20 at Aldi stocking up for the week. Now we're going to have a use-up-the-freezer couple of weeks.

Hi All! Glad to have found you again. Lovely to see some old hands back and welcome to any newbies.

Hi everyone!

NSD here. Tomorrow won't be. I need to go and get my friend a housewarming gift. She is having a tough time at the moment so I want it to be something good. We are on holiday next week so need to save up cash for that. We are just going to Sussex and the weather will probably be crap so our plan to have free picnics is scuppered!

Spent £2.65 today at the library on fines kept the books 1 week longer then I should've, but I have scanned almost an entire book from all the useful pages!! Was expecting it be worse, as DS1 decided to colour in a few pages in the book he borrowed, but because he carried his book in and apologised so nicely he got away with it!!

Will be spending about £30 tomorrow, £20 on a brew-your-beer-kit for DH, and £10 on chilled goods - milk, butter etc.
Did a massive shop in Aldi yesterday while visiting my Nan, to the tune of £81, but as she lives over an hour from me I decided against getting anything chilled or frozen

Welcome back to some old-timers x

Some more tips trish

• Meal plan, whether weekly,fortnightly etc, then only buy what you need for those meals.
• Checkout poundland/99p stores for cleaning materials, toiletries etc.
• Use Quidco for online purchases where possible to get cashback tho I have no idea how it works
• Downshift your supermarket to Aldi/Lidl if possible, local butchers/markets etc, or drop branded names in favour of own brands/value brands where appropriate.
• Batch cook and freeze when cooking meals like chilli, stew etc. Easy meal ready for when you can't be bothered to cook, without reaching for the takeaway menu.
• www.approvedfood.co.uk/ good site, fab prices. Can be very good for stocking storecupboard

We've had more hints and tips but I've forgotten loads
Oh and sorry for mammoth post

Hi all, I've read this thread and I'm in awe of you all having NSD's and being disciplined enough to save. Well done....so can I join too?

It just so happens that we have gone through our finances today as DH off work. Our main aims are to pay off credit cards and to get the best out of our money. I have my own budget for houehold bills, food shopping and petrol, children's clothes, and my pocket money.

My credit card balance is zero at the moment and would really like to get to the end of month Witt having to out stuff on it for the last week as I want to close this account. I need to pay off a storecard.

But most of all still feel I should be saving a little bit for Christmas, and 'rainy day money'. I know I could if I didn't fritter it, I was very shocked to discover how much I spent on coffees and eating out in June.

Phew...

Last month didn't go so well...not horrendous but not fantastic

I've just had the most awful mobile phone bill, £145 :( no idea how, paper bill comes tomorrow so I'll have to go through it with a fine tooth comb but tbh I think its a combination of the kids getting hold of my phone and calling random numbers and I've had at least 9+ VERY long conversations with a friend who's having some problems (I rang her to see if she was ok)
No idea what im going to do....its a HUGE amount if money, absolutely huge

Managed only one nsd last week. Have only 20 quid for rest of week. Going to lots of beans, rice, and toast going on the next 6 days. might have to nip over to my mums for quick shop in her pants..

OMG! A shop in her PANTRY..not her pants..thanks autocorrect..

We bought dog food and 3 small rugs to put in the puppies' travel crates, in which they sleep. That was about, um, err, £35-ish, not sure because OH dispatched me the the pharmacy for paracetamol (£1.20) while he paid. We also had lunch out, OH was cold at home wimp and needed to get out, that was £40. Then coffee after dropping DD's off with friends, £4. Add to that £4 on the roads and it ruined my run of NSD's