Only Halloween will be scary in October - NOT our finances :)

[Leilandri]

Oldies and Newbies welcome....
Can't believe we are approaching the end of the year so fast. 9 months of money-saving, thriftiness, waste awareness. We deserve a large

A complete newbie here, first time poster, have been avidly following the September thread and have read over August also.

For past 2.5 years I have monitored our spending, started when on mat leave when finances changed and days at work were cut.

Have found recently that grocery shopping is getting out of hand again. So need to get back to meal planning and getting stricter with what I buy.

Aim used to be ?140 per week but it has been creeping up.

Have extra work in December so going to put that money aside and try do a monthly shop for meat and non perishables at start of Jan and then just have the perishables to purchase in Aldi each week.

Who finds monthly or weekly shopping more cost effective?
We are two adults, 17 year old stepson and 2.5 year old dd still in nappies but hopefully not by end of this month.

Morning All. Normal service has resumed after exam hell yesterday

secondchance so sorry to hear about your sad circumstances, but nice to see you here. It was my first month economising last month and posting on this board and it really made a difference. I now think through my potential spending a lot more than I used to.

NSD on Tuesday.

£40 spent on travel yesterday but I can reclaim that through work.

Today will be a NSD I think.

I've got a few baby bits to sell too - I was thinking about local Facebook page as the items are all too big to send and so definitely want to sell to local people. I doubt I'll make much but it will help with the Christmas present fund!

Hope you all have good, thrifty days :)

I find weekly shopping cheaper, I do check out the local supermarkets for marked down meat, bread and eggs.

In the summer I buy marked down pork pies etc for picnics.

Adding it all up on a calculator as you go round helps too.

I was a newbie in Sept, was doing really well, writing down everything I was spending!

I've fallen off the wagon so reporting back in October with high hopes that I'll get back to being frugal!

Hello to all newcomers.

Secondchance, I wish you all the luck in the world in your new house. I can't imagine what you've been through, but hope you are coping ok.

Not a lot to mention so far, just wanted to add my welcome.

Shoopshoop glad the exams are over, sorry it didn't feel good though. Fingers crossed for the outcome.

Lilacclery welcome

I shop weekly, but with half an eye on monthly purchases, iykwim. I'll stock up on special offers when it's the things I normally buy, which means I won't need to buy loo roll for another 8 weeks or so and washing powder, shampoo etc should last another month. The most effective thing is meal planning though. Mine has slipped again recently, but I find it cuts down on waste and cost. I'm currently pouring over a What's For Dinner thread in Food to pinch some ideas

Hi everyone, can I join please? Been following the thread on and off all year but I'm needing to watch the pennies now as we've just moved house and it's needing work. Big plus though is dh will now save £400 a month on fuel. Mostly being spent on bigger mortgage unfortunately.

I was doing really well selling things on local facebook page over the summer and have this week started that again. Sold a dishwasher that previous owners unexpectedly left behind. Was brand new but took forever to do a cycle so plumbed my old one in and sold theirs. We weren't expecting it to be left so £60 of 'found' money. Also sold a few baby things as we are definately finished on that front

On a plus our new house is walking distance to Aldi and I tried it last week for the 1st time. Couldn't believe how much I got for my money. Only had Asda in our old town but here we have Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda. So far I've been getting what I can at Aldi then going to Asda or Sains for the bits Aldi don't stock. Everyone has liked pretty much everything except cereal.

Things are going to be pretty tight here as house needing a lot of work. It's liveable though so just doing a bit at a time. Hoping to get some more stuff sold over the next week or two. Have DH's car advertised so fingers crossed that goes. We can't justify the expense of a 2nd car now we are so close to DH's work and he can cycle and could really use the cash to get carpets instead. So off I go on my no more wasting money journey

Credit card bill nearly £1500. Funny how it has almost doubled since I finally gave DH a card. Need to have words, as we had agreed any expenditures over £5 were to be discussed if not previously agreed. Most things I know nothing about. One trip to shoe shop he said he spent £20, but it is £65. Not happy.

£1.00 on lunch again today
£1.50 on breakfast club for DS2
£4.00 lotto money

and yes, I do only pay the minimum on my credit cards each month. I keep wanting to add to it but (stupid this) I'm scared of leaving myself without any money if I make overpayments, but if I don't make overpayments and leave the money in the bank I just spend it...

Wow, welcome all newbies. It's good to have you all on board :).

I had a spendy day today, as I ventured into the city to get a replacement for DS's new winter coat; the zip was faulty. But I stuck to my budget and even had enough left over for a loaf, without having to take out any more cash today.

I also treated myself in Primark. But I got 2 pairs of mittens, a scarf, a purse and a diary for next year for £13 :o. I could have spent double that easily if I'd gone elsewhere, and it's all stuff I needed.

Hello to claret secondchance lilac and mum23 Welcome to thrifty living - it'll change your life

Spent £10 in poundland today - lots of bits to finish people off for Xmas, so Dnephew, Ddad, DFiL, DSMiL all done and DH's stocking bits are finished :)
Spent £9.58 in Morrisons on milk, juice, and sandwich bits.

Lilac I find monthly shopping easier. We are 2 adults, 1 3yo and 1 1yo. I try to alternate freezer big shop one month, and cupboard big shop the next, then just have perishables/fruit&veg etc to buy every day it seems like month, and throughout the month.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I do have good RL support Adorabell - have great family and friends.

No major spends 2day - £50 into household account for electricity and £6.08 in Aldi.

£50 for electricity is budgeted - am going to try and alternate weekly putting money aside for electricity and fuel so hopefully will have no major shocks with utility bills. Hard to judge amounts yet as only recently moved in but house seems to be warmer than old one so hopefully will be cheaper to run.

Will need to get few bits 2moro - we're having few friends over for a little housewarming/strictly party (my 6yo loves strictly and is having two of her friends for sleepover). Am actually looking forward to it - Mums are staying too and are bringing most of food so will just need to get few bits for kids

Thanks for making me welcome. Today I only spent £2.57 cash in Sainsburys. Used £5 nectar points as well. Took my list and stuck to it. DH had a nsd as he was home decorating. 2mrw will be a good day as I've sold stuff on fb totalling a whopping £170. Stuff all away 2mrw morning and I'll put the cash straight in the bank or I'll spend it over the weekend.

£5.40 at the Post Office (posting stuff I've sold on Amazon )
56p pint of milk

Rest of day, bit of a disaster
£4.50 baguette and coffee for lunch
£10.15 Dinner at Nando's
Need to organise and get my shit together!

I have to confess to spending more in the supermarket £12. I'm drowning in food stuffs to the extent that I don't want to make things, or even go into the kitchen. So, to give myself a bit of time feeble excuse I bought junk snacks for DDs to take to school. They are happy, lunch box police don't exist here and I can spend tomorrow sorting cupboards instead of dreading next week's lunch & snack plan. Tolls were expensive as I was short on time so used the fast road there and back.

Doh! Posted too quickly,

secondchance I'm glad you have support from family and friends. Hope you enjoy the housewarming

Hello mum23, and well done on selling all that stuff.

Hi I'm coming out of lurkdom. I have been following your September thread and now that its October I thought I'd post as things are really tight.
We lived in the UK (London) for 10 years but came 'home' 2 years ago to NZ (my home- DH is from South Africa) We had a decent deposit and the dream was to buy a lifestyle block (small farm) so DH got the first crappy wellish paying job and I got a years fixed term position as a teacher. We have a fabulous place with 12 acres and 6 calves, 4 pigs, 5 chickens 6 sheep and 3 lambs (so far!)
Only problem is my job finishes at the end of the year so I'm job hunting in a very difficult market (school closures due to earthquake among other things) and DH hates his job but can't move on until I'm in a for permanent position.
We have 2 preschoolers so have an au pair to look after them and have to run 3 cars and spend lots on petrol each week.
Need to have lots of NSDs as we are all out until Thursday when DH gets paid again. I don't like being this close to the bone!!!
Positive side of it all is we don't have any debt and have just rearranged our finance and are now due to pay off the mortgage in 15 years instead of 29 years it was set at. Just need to keep meeting all our current costs!
DH has just built us a glasshouse over the winter and has been busy planting loads of vege so hopefully food bills will go down. The cost of living is really high here!!!!

Welcome fever, good luck with the job hunt and the veg. Hoping for lots of NSDs for you.

I had a horrible day on Wednesday, arrived at a work appointment over an hour early, it was tipping it down with rain. I wandered round the area with my umbrella for ages until I admitted defeat when my ill-chosen shoes started to leak in water. Withdrew ?20 so I could sit in a cafe and be dry for a bit!

NSD yesterday. But this evening is going to be spendy: restaurant for a friend's birthday and I also owe someone £10 towards the gift...

Febes not fever! Stupid auto correct...

I'm a newbie/ lurker . We're desperately trying to save as every penny saved will be a bit longer I can afford to take off on my maternity (plus we're trying to pay back my lovely parents who lent us money to buy our (new to us) car as old one was utterly dead! There's no interest on that money and they've said they aren't in a hurry to have it back, I hate having the debt hanging over me.

So far this month has been a bit mixed but looks a bit like this:

Spent
£12- on maternity dress at Mothercare (reduced from £40)
£20- on Sylvanian (sp?) family house (Crimbo pressie- half price at Tesco)
£70- petrol (not optional as need car for work)
£45- (ish) food
£12- children's clothes (all £1/2 from Tesco sale- to be used as gifts)
£5- foam for hobbycraft to make bath toys (for crimbo) linked on crimbo thread
£3- felt from hobbycraft to make home-made baby/ xmas gifts (will post on these)
99p- same as above

Saved
£40- music magpie (got rid of remaining dvds)
£?- taking clothes to shop where they sell them on for you and give you half the money- hoping for £100 but will have to wait until it sells to see.ll
£10- claim full chicken from Nandos from their loyalty card

Nandos loyalty card tip if (for example) there are three of you in the family who normally go, each pay for your food separately (as long as over a fiver) and get the stamp on a separate loyalty card. This way, you get three times as much free chicken/ veggie option than you would with just using one card.

Hi all,

I'm doing an online shop today as I'm painting a mural this weekend so no time to go shopping (dh would spend a fortune and not get the stuff we needed plus he's got loads of other stuff to do) so my mission is to spend £50.

Also trying to put off putting the heating on, luckily our house holds the heat really well and because I am out in the mornings and then have a house full it doesn't get too cold anyway but I've found at times when I need to get a bit of warmth I can use things like the oven, tumble dryer, hairdryer, jumpers, blankets etc so I'm going to try and eeek it out to save money.

One of the reasons I love this thread is that you get a little glimpse of other peoples lives too. I love reading about life in Chilli, and now NZ. It also makes me feel very grateful for my own lot, reading about others who clearly have more of a challenge than me. Plus those who clearly are making great strides forward. Really quite inspiring all round.

I have yet to speak to DH about the credit card. He told me it was scary before it came, and he did not know why. I will look through it today and get a good idea on how much we spent on different things, and how much he frittered. Thankfully we have always had it on a DD to pay off in full, and can this month. It just means we have nothing to fall back on.

Tax credits have been cut by £300 a month, and work have yet to tell me how much less I will get on Mat Leave, which starts Monday. Childcare will be less, hence cut in Tax Credits, but petrol and travel will still be considerable as DH does not drive, so rather than paying £100 a month for a bus pass, I will be chauffeuring him when I can. We have been doing this as I have been on leave, and no clear savings, but I try to link in a shop or other task if I am taking him somewhere. Maybe this is actually contributing to the extra spends though?

We had a lovely meal out for my Dads 79 th birthday last month, which was nearly £70. At his age I do not know how much longer he will be around, so I do not mind that at all. He was so happy and got rather riddled on wine at £5 a glass. He did not know we were paying, and has been apologising ever since for ordering so much

Hi everyone :)

second I'm so sorry to hear about your husband.

Valium - nightmare about your DH and the credit card. It would be the lying that would upset me most - indicates that he does have a problem of some kind with his spending.
I really sympathise. DH got us into a huge pickle with money this time last year, he had overspent gradually for a couple of years and not told me, and things came to a head. We are now totally open book with each other and he has altered his habits entirely.

Mixed start to the month.

£20 top up shop on Wednesday, plus £1 parking at the hospital for DS1's check up.
NSD Thursday
Today is going to be the weekly shop (£78) and we are having fish and chips from the chippy for tea which will be about £13.

DH managed to stick to his budget for work lunches/coffee/books on his Kindle etc last month.

alibaba I knew he had a problem with spending when I met him as he had just gone through bankruptcy. It was the first thing he told me, after his name. That is why he has only just had his name on the card. We have been married 7 years, and he has been a student until the last year, so everything has been on me, and with DC3 due in 3 weeks, it has been quite a weight on my shoulders. Thankfully I have always been very good with money, and earn a fairly good wage. I had to trust him some time, but we clearly need to talk. It is the only thing we ever argue about really. I love him to bits, and there are worse things. Some people are just shit with money.

Hello febes and Wiggy and welcome aboard.

Valium at the CC, hope you can get it sorted quickly. We had a "CC conversation" last week. OH was actually trembling as he told me " I don't want any credit cards in the future, only debit cards as you can't get into debt with a debit card, so no credit cards, ever again, we don't need credit cards" so I asked him how much CC debt he's sitting on and he actually squirmed as he as he answered.

Today should be an NSD as there's really nothing I need to get. I'll check in again later to confirm my NSD, fingers crossed.