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.

Hello VQ! Im using up the last of his Pampers nappies for nightime. Should have enough to see me til end Sept, that said he is dry most mornings...but if I think he'll still need something for a wee bit yet I'll definitely consider it! Interested to read your update...£50 weekly budget would be a goal for me (currently £100) any top tops to help me plan?!

Forgot to add...Im a Tesco/ASDA shopper, have never gotten into to Lidl thing, just dont feel I can get everything I need in the place-always end up 'topping up' iin the aforementioned...which I think defeats the purpose, extra trips = more petrol/time...excuses excuses lol but maybe as my planning improves it will be more cost effective. I can also bulk buy ar Costco...in the meantime Im switching a number of things to the Tesco Everyday Value range...thought Id share successful swaps so far...beetroot, toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, salad cream, fajita wraps, custard creams and icecream! Have made a start on meal planner for the week too-chicken mushroom and tarragon pie with veg tonight, DP on his own tomorrow as Im in Brum on business, not back til 8...chicken stir fry for Wed, mini burgers and salad Thu (DP cooks Thu as his day off so keep it simple lol) - all of which I already have in. Oh, and lunches for DP!

Please can I join in? We are trying to save a huge stupid amount by April, but have been spoilt and used to just buying what we fancy (food, I mean, not gadgets and shoes!). I need to get stricter about meal planning and better at cutting back generally. Am a sahm who does some freelance work (that'll stop soon as I'm on mat leave again soon), DH works FT. One toddler (so far), and no animals.
Have meal planned and weekly shopped for this week. Will aim for a NSD tomorrow. Today I bought top-up shop from sains (stuff asda didn't have, £10), teacake and coffee (£2, so cheaper than it could have been [defensive]) with DD, maternity top on ebay (3.99 inc p&p - should be able to resell it eventually).
Best frugal thing we've done this month is use icebox for a picnic and thermos for coffee on a day out. See, I said we were beginners .

holler, welcome to the thread.

Fergus, I halved my shopping bill going to aldi, even when I did an asda top up, over time I found ways around doing two shops and now do an aldi shop and a markdown section at morrisons shop which I pass on the way home so no extra petrol.

If your food bill is say £60 a week and in aldi it's £30ish it's still worth it even if you factor in petrol/time. I work for myself too and can be round aldi and out in 30minutes.

I mean if you come away with joints of pork, bacon joints and prime sirloin of beef for £8 and you get loads of meals out of then it's still worth doing.

I like Aldi but cannot drive at the moment. I have been doing online shopping and find Tesco easier. I search 'value' and everything from the value range cones up. I also check the half price section, and the BOGOF, and then search for the bits I am short of. With all the searches you can do a cheapest first, although I wish they did a cheapest per item or 100g search as sometimes the bigger packages are better value.

When I am fit and mobile I shop mainly at Aldi, try to check out the reduced sections in the supermarkets, and use the value ranges. I always by free range eggs as DH will not allow anything caged in the house.

I buy my toilet roll from Home Bargains.

I used my Tesco points to buy washable nappies.

I am actually getting quite a kick out of being frugal, have not thrown anything out for weeks as I am more 'on top' of what is in the cupboards and fridge, and am stretching meat and poultry to do two or three times as many meals as before.

Approved foods is good for store cupboard basics, and I do not need to buy spices, pasta, rice, couscous, sauces or sweets (for the kids obviously) until next year!!

I am lucky as I have a Tesco, Aldi, Morrisons, Asda and Home Bargains within a mile of each other, about three miles from home, and on my way from work too.

DH has set up his new smartphone and has spent all evening ringing me and complaining my picture didnt come up when I called him.

He's put my number in wrong and has been phoning some random person all night. 20 times he rang them.

This morning he sent them a picture of the cat.

Tbh I should have twigged when he said "Oh it's working now your ringing me", "I'm not ringing you".

Lol @ Fluffy...Im reminded of an unfortunate w/end of calls from a random female who believed me to be her DHs OW!

Welcome Mum2Fergus and holler
Doing well here - spent £40 at meat man on Sunday, so that will keep us going for ages. Veggies are finally coming in from the allotment, so we are eating/freezing LOADS of courgettes, runnerbeans, beetroot, carrots, parsnip, sweetcorn :)
Chooks have settled in nicely. Can't wait to get eggs from them - feeding them up well on DH's bacon rinds.
Have had some lovely sunny days here, so am getting as much washing done and line dried as possible - am doing all the curtains at the mo, so I won't have to do them again until the spring.

Went to a Mummy meet up today at a local soft play centre. Spent £2.50 on refill coffee (had 5 cups!) Supposed to pay £2 for DS1 but DSiL works there, so got him in for free. Planned to have lunch out and do a 2 for £10 meal deal with a friend (as a light lunch 1 adult meal splits nicely between me and both DS's) but my friend paid for my meal in exchange for some old baby items, so result!

Wow Leilandri...an allotment and chooks...I for one am well impressed! Alas our garden is small and laid to lawn, only renting and dont think l/lord would be pleased. There are some allotments nearby but there is a waiting list...one for our own place once I get deposit sorted - hence my delurking to join you all- just another £3k to go!

fergus We have a teeny, lawn garden too. I plan to grow some herbs in plants on the fence to save buying and inevitably wasting supermarket pot herbs. Should look good, and save a few £. I'm also going to plant an espalier fruit tree up the fence.

Could I join you please? I have finally finished uni and am staring work and need to try and budget well. No kids yet but I will be at work all day long so need to start to batch cook etc to not be tempted to pig out on fish and chips.

Bus fare has been one of the biggest expenses again today- or at least certainly the worst value. £4.40 on that for me and DS.

I went to Poundstretcher and got 8 loo rolls, a packet of Johnsons wipes, 8 packets of crisps for DH and 2 litres of milk for £4.87 which I was pleased about.

But then I bought lunch at the wholefood shop and spent a bit too much (in money and calories).

And that's my day!

Hello and welcome holler

I'm finding this depressing. We've just spent way too many thousands on re-carpeting the house to try and sell it, so OH won't permit the DDs to have a birthday party at home. He pulled the same last year, after I'd shelled out for everything. I knew there was a reason for me not pulling my finger out and getting shopping organised. And because we've spent all this money that's not being replenished, we can't afford to have a party out. And he hasn't paid the oustandong vet's bill. And he's still talking about expensive cars and boats in the future.

Anyway, what with road tolls and grocery shopping I've spent £90 this week already. We shouldn't need anything other than a top up on veg. Times like this are the reason I overspend on non-perishables when I can. I reckon I've got about ten weeks worth of loo roll, and tons of pasta, rice and beans.

There's a thread in Food for peeps to add their family meals under a fiver, it provided me with tonight's dinner

Herb garden a good idea Holler, will have a look into that! Well yesterday I spent in the region of £110 but the good news is it was all business related so can claim all back via expenses...so is that my first official NSD?! Today I just need to get some milk., taking the plunge and heading for Lidl

Nothing wrong with lidl fergus, I prefer Aldi and I think it's cheaper for fruit and veg.

Adora, you have my sympathy. I found out the other nights dh's cc is at £1200. Not the end of the world but I am seriously pissed off about it. I try to be frugal earning about twice what he does and he goes and uses a cc.

I had thought he was paying it off after doing a balance transfer. So I've been making noises about not having a TV licence come october.

I just dont think men understand the bread and butter today so we can have jam tomorrow philosophy.

Totally agree with the "jam for tomorrow" point, Fluffy and Adora !

Hi all - I haven't posted on here for a few months, but the summer holidays have really battered our bank account what with extra treats/outings and all the things DS1 needs to start school. So I need to get back into a more frugal mindset. We do have a decent income, I don't know what the bloody hell we spend it on sometimes!

Things I know I need to get this month

• Lightweight buggy to take on plane
• School shoes for DS1
• Wedding present for my cousin

Oh and I had a NSD today. Not sure about DH, although he did take both breakfast and lunch with him to work.

Oh folks...I hear ya!! DP is awful with money!!! He sees having £1k left of a £3k limit as £2k left to spend!!! We seriously nearly split up over it a couple of times but I think he finally gets my thinking (now that Ive vowed to stop bailing him out!). Bulk of his wages now come to me on payday and I take care of things from there...bit if a pain but I know its all going where it should! Never did make it out for milk but should manage til the morn. £15 spend today...birthday cake for DS 3rd birthday!

I've stopped paying for meals out, we used to go halves but I think fuck it.

On days out using the national trust cards I only take cards and a picnic hamper with tea etc.

If he wants a frigging cappucino he can pay for it himself.

£21 today - £1 at stay & play and £20 to renew my season ticket to Blenheim Palace for the year. It's worth doing as you can spend a good while there each time you go - take a picnic and make a day of it exploring the grounds and wearing EconomyBoy out in the playground. It's one of those deals where you buy a day ticket and can convert into an annual pass for no extra cost (a rip off for just one day, but for a year it's good value).

Tomorrow it's BabyLab in the morning (helping research into childhood development and something to do for free!) and then probably a park in the afternoon. Hoping for a low, or no spend day.

Ooh, just checked and I have just been able to claim another £10 amazon voucher from surveys I've done. Treats for me!

Yay for the "treat" voucher economy, hope you find something nice to spend it on. I treated myself to breakfast out today, out of my own money rather than joint. Had some blood tests done which needed the 12 hour fast so I was desperate by the time that was done.

I can't take control of the finances while we live here, I think that's why it's getting to me. Everything is set up in OH's name as I don't work here and it's very England circa 1950 in that respect. The good news though is that the local economy may be about to crash which means we'd be forced to move back to Blighty and I'll be able to stop him squandering money. I just hope we can sell the house before that happens, everything is invested in it.

So, today was going well- £6 on my expensive breakfast, £2 on road tolls, £12 on yet more undies for DD1 that kid is growing too fast, I'm going to stop feeding her and £4 in the supermarket. Then the school nurse called, DD1 has hurt her leg and can't bear weight on it. So I sped back, had to take the expensive road so that was £4, then another £140 at the clinic having X-rays and £9 in the pharmacy for antinflamtory pills. My bargain for the day was a complete heart check-up for the princely sum of £90. Money well spent as I'm no longer worried about the effects of the stress, which I was last week, which was exacerbating the effects of stress! I'm hoping those nice people at BUPA will reimburse me at least some of today's costs.

I want a herb garden

Adora what a nightmare - makes you realise how lucky we are with the NHS that these things are all paid for!

economy we have a season ticket to our nearest zoo, plus National Trust and English Heritage memberships. It is good to be able to go and have a nice day out towards the end of the month without the bank balance squealing.

Yesterday was a NSD for DH as well, hurrah. He has taken lunch and breakfast with him again today, and I'm planning a picnic and a walk with the boys later - not even any petrol required - so a NSD for me too.
Tomorrow won't be, Waitrose order being delivered (£105) but that will keep us going for most of next week.

DH has next week off work, somewhat unexpectedly (he works freelance), so I am trying to plan a few cheap days out. We have got masses of jobs to get done at home so we won't want to be out all the time, but at least 2 proper days out are needed I think, and we will swim one day which is £11 for all of us.