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.

[lizardqueenie]

Thanks for that pixie

[frazzled74]

can i join please? I tried in june and failed miserably but have now started maternity leave so i am a sahm for 9 months, I will be poorer but im hoping that i will be organised and better at sticking to my budget.

[AdoraBell]

Hi Frazzled and welcome to penny pinching, in the best way

I haven't spent yet, but I'll be going out soon to get a few bits. Shall report back later.

[CremeEggThief]

Somewhere between £36 and £38 spent today, and approximately £30 of that was on food and groceries. The rest was bus fares. A lovely friend treated me to coffee and a brownie in Costa this morning, so saved about a fiver there :).

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

[janek]

lizardqueenie i think the possible difference between a playgroup and a mother and toddler group is that you can drop and run at a playgroup and she didn't want you to get the wrong end of the stick. i don't reckon she meant anything more by it. i am not her by the way!

[lizardqueenie]

at Janek are you sure? Yeah I'm sure it probably was, I thought playgroup was the same though & said I'd be coming along with dd. never mind.

Total spend today £5.30 I like keeping track like this.

[AdoraBell]

I didn't get out so only spent £4 on some veg after picking up DDs and £1.20 on road tolls. I've only delayed spending though, it negated it, will do the errands after the weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

[economymode]

A fairly spendy week, as MrEconomy has had the week off. A couple of lunches out (totalling £25), stocking up on Pregnacare (3 for 2 at Boots, so 3 months' supply for £8), Baby Nurofen, toddler swim vest from Chav Direct (£11), cat food (£8), Aldi (£22). All stuff we needed, well, except the lunches out, so I don't feel too bad, just shows you how things add up.

I really do have to pay my NI contribution, £25, by the end of the month. Otherwise I'll get fined...

[economymode]

Oh, and just spent £19.95 on 1000 nappy liners from ebay. The glamour.

[jenduck]

Not a good start to the day here. Just paid £52.95 on a parking charge from when we went into town last week It's fair enough, the time allowed for free parking is 2 hours, we were nearly 3, but it's so annoying!

Yesterday's spend was £2 entry to soft play + £2.25 coffee (don't normally but very rough night with DS2 so I needed it!) and around £3.50 at Tesco for Bonjela, milk, a jar for DS2 & crisps.

Need to buy a washer & dishwasher salt today, as dishwasher not been cleaning properly, this should hopefully fix it.

Have a good day all

[Originalplurker]

It's not great here either jenduck, been on emergency run to tesco express and spent another £26 that's £175 since last Saturday on, I also had the softball - need to let ds run off steam and stay out of my face for a bit thing!

1 x bargain ocado, did stock up on meat and washing powder
3 x tesco express runs, inc special food for picnic yesterday.

I've spent £25 on McDonalds and a lunch out. I know this as went through my accounts this am after receiving a water bill for £90 and car tax reminder promptly checked accounts to see where i can swindle this from.

But I stand by my £75 spend on opening Christmas savings account and £60 in debenhams sale.

[frazzled74]

well ive opened a christmas saving account, better late than never! and im having a week of cooking up whats in the freezer and cupboards, Ive also put a couple of things on ebay, and bought a few birthday/christmas pressies for dds friends/dns from accessorize sale. Im going to stay in most of next week as want to tackle the house and do a spring clean before school breaks up.

[louiespence]

Not doing too bad here, spent £20 on Friday, on a night out with my friends, but we had a kitty, each put £20 in, and when it was gone we stopped drinking!

Yesterday I just spent £25 at Aldi topping up a few things. We are taking the DSs to Thomasland on Monday (free with Tesco vouchers!) and so I've bought some things to make us all a packed lunch to save a bit of money that way.

[ZombiesAreClammyDodgers]

Marking my place. Yesterday-
Had takeaway with spare change (chap was a bit sniffy at first but ok later).
Found out have been missold PPI for years though that won't of course pay for groceries immediately.
Dug heavily into savings to get out of overdraft as a result of having badly miscalculated last month's spend.
Switched some providers and saved some money.
Asked for my gas provider to refund me a credit rather than setting it off against future bills.
So all in all, a very mixed day!!

[Leilandri]

Original and frazzled so glad that you've opened Xmas accounts too - I've mentioned it to my friends on several occasions and they all seem to think I'm barmy I'll be the one laughing though come November, when I can go mad with the shopping, and it'll be paid for already

louiespence Please feedback about Thomasland. We're thinking of taking DS's next July (2013) as they'll be 4 and 2 then, as a treat before DS1 starts school.

Spent £4.33 yesterday, got bananas, strawberries, sugar for jam making, and maltesers Went to my mothers and she helped me to make 8 jars of VERY yummy blackcurrant jam - so that's a couple more Xmas pressies sorted, just got to print some pretty labels.
NSD planned today - the sun is shining so that means a day of laundry and allotment here.

[frazzled74]

well I spent £20 in asda today on extras needed to add to whats already in the cuboard and freezer, ive made a rough meal plan, lasagne, chicken curry, prawn stirfry,sausages and veg bake, spaghetti carbonara, pork casserole, fishcakes and cous cous, and have enough food in for packed lunches etc, so im hoping that that will be my spending for the week. Im going to have a look at breadmakers later but probably will resist buying one until payday ,unless my ebay sales go well.

[economymode]

Frazzled, by all means buy a breadmaker if you want, but they're not essential - I make all our bread without one. I make a big load at the weekend and then freeze some of it. I use a recipe that only has one lot of kneading (for 10 minutes), so it's not too time consuming and faffy.

[jenduck]

Hi all, hope you had good weekends. After my bad start (parking fine ), things picked up somewhat.

The dishwasher needed a new washer, but a spare parts shop tried to sell us a new arm for £16.50. DH found a washer at Wickes for £2, saving us £14.50! I also received a pack of 20 Pampers nappies through the post to trial on DS2 (much needed as he is teething badly & getting through 6+ nappies per day atm)

Yesterday spent £20 on diesel & got £2 off £20 till spit for Sainsburys, which I will probably use this week.

Today went to soft play again (had planned strawberry picking but was too wet), so £2 entry + £2.25 coffee. Then Tesco for bread, milk, pancakes, potatoes for £4.52. Also managed to sell a TV unit on Gumtree for £15 - only cost £4 originally (car boot sale) & used it for about 4 years, so very pleased with that

Frazzled, you could always ask on your local freecycle re breadmaker, or look in a charity shop. It's the kind of thing I often see. Although I agree with Economy, it is easy to make bread by hand and quite therapeutic too (I was always told you make the best bread when angry, as you bash air into the dough which helps it rise)

[artifarti]

Hello, can I join you I have two boys of 3.11 and 3 months. I have always been a tightwad careful but now I'm not earning, I'm more conscious than ever. I already mealplan and bulk buy for food but want to get serious now! Over the next couple of weeks I want to review all of our energy suppliers, insurance companies etc. as I am pretty sure I can make some big savings there. I have also dug out the reusable nappies from DS1 for DS2!

I know I have to pay £30 to some people that looked after our cat when we went away the other week and have to go to the post office but hoping that's it for today. It does seem to be the trips for bread and milk that start to add up.

Looking forward to any tips from you old hands.

[jenduck]

Welcome artifarti You are in the right place here. It is such a big help to write things down, I have found, as it makes you think about what your money is going on & identify high-spend areas.

One little tip from me is to sign up to Quidco & Topcashback, if you are not already a member & go through them for every online purchase you make. This will be particularly useful if you change energy suppliers etc. I have recently received £66.50 for the new mobile phone I bought, you can get £50 cashback on AA dual membership costing £100 etc. Of course, some net a lot less cashback, perhaps only a pound or two, and it can take a few months to come through, but it is all money in your pocket!

Today should be an NSD for me, my first this month, yay! Have found 2 pairs of DS1's outgrown Clarks' shoes & wonder if it is worth putting them on Gumtree? He had 2 pairs at once (as I 'lost' a pair, my DMum bought him a new pair, then we found the old ones!), so both are in quite good condition as they only got worn 50% of the time, iyswim.

[Leilandri]

Welcome artifarti :)
jenduck I use Fb selling groups and it's very suprising how many pairs of kiddies shoes are bought and sold on there - so I would put them for sale. You never know unless you try :)

Spent £2.93 today. £1 on a set of kitchen utensils in poundland very proud that I went in and only spend a pound and £1.93 on some toffees as a thankyou for my Dad, as he is helping me collect and re-assemble a chicken coop on Thursday

[artifarti]

Thanks for the welcome. Oooh, those cashback sites are great - I do a lot of shopping on the internet. How do they work though if you are using a comparison sight to find the best energy supplier/insurer?! Can you do that.

Not a bad start today. £30 for the cat, £5.90 at the post office, £1.29 on milk. On the savings front, DP is cancelling our lovefilm subscription, which we never use, thus saving a mighty £10.20 a month or £122 a year! The reusuable nappies are also out so saving maybe £15 a month or more - £180 a year!

I have so much crap lying about but selling our conservatory on Ebay nearly gave me a breakdown...not sure I can go there again.

Vegetable thai curry is cooking which looks like it may well feed us for the next month...

[jenduck]

artifarti, tbh I am not entirely sure how the cashback sites work, but I know that you get money for loads of transactions! A quick search shows that if you go on the Uswitch website through Topcashback & actually switch your dual fuel supplier, you will get £21.21 cashback! Just make sure you click on the website through the link on Topcashback/Quidco. Interestingly, if you set up a new account with LoveFilm (in the name of whoever has not had a previous account with them) you can get up to £15.15 cashback for having a free trial!

Leilandri, thanks for that. I have put the shoes on Gumtree for now & will put them on Facebook, too.

Booked DH's car in for MOT today, at the local Council MOT test centre. Martin Lewis (moneysavingexpert) says they are a good bet to save money because they don't do repairs, therefore will not invent 'problems' that your car will need fixing. Testimonials say that people have taken cars for a service & been quoted hundreds of pounds & then gone to one of these centres & the car has passed the MOT! Worth trying out, certainly. I have not driven DH's car before so am taking it on a run tonight to the chippy to get used to it (nervous driver, only passed 2.5 years ago!), so will spend about £2 there.

Tomorrow will be fairly spendy - Edward Bear, charity shops afterwards, treat for DS1 from bakers as he has an induction morning at 'school' (pre-school, he is currently in private nursery) & I think he will be a bit shaky as it's with new people etc.

[Greedygirl]

hello everyone, not been on for a while as hectic at work and at home but have managed 2 NSDs after a very high spend weekend away! Ideally need the rest of the week to be NSDs, at least until Friday so planning in lots of free activities. At work tomorrow so that always helps. Hope everyone is being thrifty and saving lots (or at least not spending!)

[lizardqueenie]

Hi everyone
Haven't been on for a few days, so haven't managed to post on here what I've been spending but def got me thinking the right way. Tesco delivery came yesterday- though it was late so they refunded to delivery charge £4!

When I did the online shop I swapped loads of things for own brand/ cheaper brand items so pleased about that.

Found a new playgroup for DD that costs £3.50 for up to 3 hours, free parking & you can buy tea/ coffee. But they had loads of activities going on for them & bonus it runs through the hols!!

Today should be a NSD- dd's swim lesson & then gym for me & crèche for dd in the afternoon so all already paid on advance.