Put those purses down and enjoy an austere August instead

[economymode]

A new thread to support those wishing to rein back their spending - come one, come all.

Sounds nice adora wouldn't mind some of that myself! I wonder how long it will be before they have school kindles? The local High School has given every kid an iPad apparently.

Well we've managed to have a lovely time on holiday :)
Really managed to relax and unwind about some of our money troubles. We were thouraghly (sp?) spoiled. Spent £95 on petrol, and still have 1/3 of a tank left. £10 on some beers for a BBQ, £20 on bartab at DFiL's local for his Bday pressy, £10 on drinks and entertainments at Chester Zoo. So not a bad tally for a week away for 2 adults and 2 little boys.

I am going to chase the bank again on Monday, now that I've got over the shock, and push to be compensated. Also got to get hold of tax credits as apparently we owe them over £4000?!?!? I DON'T think so!!!!

Good Lord Leilandri I bet that was a shock! I am terrified something like that will happen to us this year. Still to hear from them. I hope it is soon resolved, and they should be willing to agree reasonable repayments if there is money owed to them. Sounds as if you had a good holiday.

I've just had an email from credit expert, if I log in at anytime from now on they will re-start my subscription. How kind. Sounds like a con to me.

I'm in. I think credit expert etc are cons, tbh.

Please don't feel the need to read this but it will help me to write it all down to get my head in order!

So: august always going to be a tricky month for us, it's 5 weeks between paydays, and that always causes problems. Luckily a very tiny pay rise was backdated for me so we got £300 extra at the end of July which made a huge difference for us, and I'm going to do a couple of extra shifts which are paid the following week so hopefully that can be our week-week cash (petrol and food) for the last couple of weeks of the month. Most of our bills have gone out, and we have the money in there to pay the rest when the DDs come along.

I need to get some food today, but I have meat and veg in the freezer so it's only fridge stuff and fruit we need. I'm going to go to Asda and aim to spend £30.

I need to get school shoes for ds who starts reception on 10th sept. Can I chance going the first week of sept when most schools round here have already started? (they stagger the recept intake which is why he's starting a week later). I don't want them all to be sold out but that will make it after payday so will soften the blow of that £40!

I've finally put in all my travel claims for work so if they pay those on time that should be an extra £150 at the end of the month.

Mum's taking me and the kids on hols for a week next week, so that won't cost us much at all, except abotu £60 in petrol. And I've just realised I get paid in 17 days, so that's not too horrific at all!

leilandri that is appalling. Don't take any nonsense from your bank. Keep complaining and go to the ombudsman if necessary. £300 is nothing to them but a lot to you so don't let them fob you off.

Does anyone else put off checking their bank account? I really have to steel myself to do it. Here goes.....

what do you need to get £40 shoes? Asda do some pretty decent ones (apparently) for about £10, or eBay? I try to get them in the sales and buy the next size up. So far they have been fine.

I have only just got online banking, but still need to check. When I was single I used to write every expense down so I always knew exactly what the bottom line was, but DH is appalling at spending, and with the chaos that is tax credits, I never know where I am now, so just try to be as frugal as I can. I feel frustrated though when I am so careful with food shops, and buying stuff second hand, then he orders a pizza or treats himself or the kids. Occasionally he treats me too, but I wish he wouldn't. I never enjoy stuff we cannot afford. Grr! I know, I know, I should tell him, but I have tried and he is unlikely to change. Some people are just like that I think, and thankfully we are managing.

I'll have a look at asda shoes, I didn't think they had leather ones though, and I worry about him being in them all day. This is how clarke's make their money, isn't it? neurotic mothers and their pfb's precious feet!

It's annoying isn't it, when you scrimp on food then get back from work to find they've all been out to lunch! Or bought you a present you don't need, even though he's trying to be nice.

god, asda do loads of leather shoes! i'm off there now!

I know, it is hard with pfb's. I have passed all the shoes from DD1 to DD2, some bought new, but most from eBay. All clarkes, and I bought a foot measure gauge so knew they would be ok. I am expecting a boy this time, and initially I thought 'oh no! I will need to get new shoes!' school shoes get such heavy wear, with wet and mud and scrapes, and get lost too. I hate buying them. I look forward to hearing how you get on

where did you get the foot measuring thing from, can you remember? I once tried to measure ds's feet to order some online wellies, they were about 5 sizes too big.

I got an illegal one off eBay about 5 years ago. At the time they were going for about £70, but I got mine for £10 as it was listed wrong. They now sell legitimate ones on eBay for a few quid.

Search for 'child foot gauge' and they are proper clarkes ones. May be cheaper elsewhere though.

Just spent £40 at approved foods. Only buy every 6 months or so, but got some bargains. Mostly dried foods and sauces, plus snack bits for school lunches. It seems some baker boys cup cakes and creme eggs fell in the trolley. No idea how that happened! £2 for 36 cupcakes, and £1 for 10 eggs, it would have been rude not to!

I have spent nothing this week, not a penny except my Asda shop which was half what I usually spend. No petrol due to broken leg, so I think I am allowed.

nothing all week! that's awesome. I just spent £80 in asda, food and (hoorah) leather school shoes, plus a new lunchbox which ds will need in sept, and it was spiderman (his favourite thing) so I grabbed the chance and bought it.

That should now be enough food in the house to get us through to the end of our holiday (26th august), with a £20 top up shop for fruit and milk and bread. Next friday we're taking the kids to stockwood park dinosaur exhibition, £12.50 entrance and we'll take a packed lunch but will buy ice cream and a little present probably, so £20 in total, plus petrol to get there.

While me and the kids are away I'm sure DH will live off takeaways, so probably £60 on him while we're away. We should have enough to get through the month without too much palaver.

There are advantages to having a broken leg. I have been very good online though. I have been avoiding eBay and amazon.

What do you think of the shoes?

I hope you have a lovely holiday.

Valium - I did an Approved Foods shop yesterday, too. Spent around £48 and mainly got couscous, coconut & orange tea bags (I love these and normally really expensive but 2 for £1!), crackers and lentils. They didn't have as much stuff that I wanted as when I did my last order, so a little disappointed, but that's the luck of the drawer I guess. Last time they had loads of tinned fruit in juice, but not this time.

A bit of a faily weekend overall - caved and bought a new hoover (our current one is 4 years old, not much I know, but it doesn't actually pick much up, just redistributes the crud), so that was £110 but will come from savings. Then £48 on said Approved Foods order. Then today I mowed over our flymo cable so will need to order a replacement one (only £10 or so, but still) and also got a maternity swimming cossie as my old one is rubbish (mothercare, seems to think I have huge boobs...) that was £20 at the pool.

I'm supposed to be getting EconomyBoy's feet measured again next week according to Clarkes, but not sure if he really needs new shoes yet. He got his first ones around 6 weeks ago and there seems to be a bit of room in them yet. Can't face spending another god knows how many £s on tiny shoes just yet.

Leilandri, so glad you managed to relax on holiday. Good luck with the bank (and tax credits people) .

Not a bean spent today. I have no clue how much was spent yesterday other than £20 wasted in McD's. We got fuel but OH has some kind of voucher stylee card from the dealership so it's free for a while.

Oh, spent far too much money on new carpet being fitted tomorrow. It's madness we have to replace the perfectly good carpet in order to have any hope of selling the mill stone house. And earlier last week I spent about £90 seeing a Dr. Also overspent on grocery shopping but mostly non-perishables so I didn't waste the money.

Tomorrow I need to buy eggs and bread, not sure what else but not much. Still no idea what to do about DD2's birthday present, they are counting down the days.

AARRRRGGGGGH! Just remembered OH hasn't paid the vet, words will be had in the morning.

economy I wasn't overly impressed by the selection either, but my basket was 'valued' at nearly £140 and I paid £40 so felt it was worth it. The main reason I use the site is for the couscous! I will never again pay full price for the stuff I got a few little bits to put by for party bags too.

adora how old will the birthday girl be? Are you doing a party?

Valium she'll be 11, twins who have too much already but really need an iPod touch. I'm going to look again this week, cruise a few more shops a bit further afield. Not sure about the party yet, they have grand plans that we can't afford. What I really need is someone to take over so I can spend the rest of the year month in bed hiding under the covers. Any volunteers? No, never mind.

11. Oh dear. Not an age you can fob off with something from a charity shop then how about getting a reconditioned one? I think Apple do them. I have a recon iPad and it is as new.

Hi all, Fluffycloudland77 told me about this thread so I thought I would join :)

So today I have been food shopping but first I did a meal plan and made a list! I only picked up 3 things that weren't on the list (scourers, celery and fruit split lollies -DS1 actually picked those up but he was being good and they were 79p) Total bill was £64.51 this included £19.96 worth of nappies (Aldi's are brilliant, much better than P).

So this week the plan is:

Monday: Steak*, SW chips & salad.
Tuesday: Take Out, long day at work :(
Wednesday: Chilli* in the slow cooker
Thursday: Bacon and boiled egg salad.
Friday: Chicken Curry*
Saturday: Spaghetti Bolognese.
Sunday: Roast Chicken.

*Steak from freezer
*Steak pieces from freezer for chilli
*Chicken breasts from freezer

Kids have snacky lunches and fruit each day and DH and I make salads for our lunches.

I feel better having a plan :)

I had a lovely meal plan sorted until DH decided he wanted to go back to Slimming World tonight. Guess I need to following the plan too. Grr! It should work out cheaper though as he does not buy drinks and snacks and take-aways.

Had a lovely suprise today. I bought a PnT pushchair 5 weeks ago (with pocket money) off eBay and it was delivered today. It was pick up only, but the kind lady delivered it as my leg is broken. Need to buy a raincover for it now.

Aldi nappies are good, but washables are better

Valium, I thought about washables but with how bad DS2's tummy is (milk and lactose allergies) I doubt they would be able to contain his bum emissions :(

You will love your PnT, I got one on Ebay it was brand new! It will last, they're like tanks :)