Judicious January - Long may the credit crunching continue

[roguepixie]

So, the credit crunching team are into Year 2013. Happy New Year everyone.

Let's continue our cost-cutting, , money saving,penny and pound pinching, NSD ways.

Today started badly with our car not starting. It's now in the garage so fingers xed it doesn't cost too much to sort out. My only spending otherwise has been bus home from work and bus back part way from the garage. Have to rethink my meal plan though because I was going to go to Aldi after work to stock up.

Withdrew this weeks budget in cash this morn and shopped in line with this weeks meal plan. Only thing not budgeted for was gift for next doors new baby boy who is 4 weeks early! He's a cutie

2 Ebay listings ended this afternoon...£26 made there and will go towards removal costs to new house...paid deposit for that today too, £40...balance due by moving date, 23 Feb, so need to get finger out and get listing!!

www.free-stuff.co.uk is advertising a coupon on supersavvyme that is a £1 off Always towels, in Tesco the 18 pack of towels are a £1.

£1.59 on speshul DH milk.

I under pay my EDF bill, they wanted to raise it but I told them we couldn't afford it and instead we pay £25 a month more but this is optional, I'd rather have a bill than over pay all summer.

£19 spend in Tesco, considering £4 of that was a few sippy cups on special for DS I am very pleased (we normally shop at Lidl so proper supermarket costs bring me out in sweats).
£25 on book people over the weekend & £9 on Mcdonalds

northender, fingers are crossed car is back & it was very cheap.

MrsFrugal, fingers are also crossed for your DH & his job interview!

Have a stockpile of things to list on ebay, but with most of it being baby stuff wonder if it's better/less stress to just do a car boot? with a 1 year old? Hmmmm.
If anyone is listing 12-18/18-24month boys clothes on eBay in the next few months would you kindly pm me a link?

What a lovely idea storm, I hope your friend gets over to you.

Well, £2.50 on postage, plus £15.00 for a birthday present. No other spends, apart from oyster bus journeys.

Defrosting ham stock to make large pan of ham based soup ... mmmmmm.

DS not very hungry tonight (odd ) so will do a "what's in the fridge that needs eating" dinner tonight.

Lovely catching up with everyones' news, hints and tips :).

Another NSD here. DS was NOT impressed that we walked home in the rain instead of waiting for the bus though! It wasn't much more than drizzle.

Gary BuseysTeeth...Ive a wee stockpile of DS things to go soon but are mostly 2-3, 3-4...if you're interested let me know

Rogue if your trip out was purely to post something, you can print off postage labels from the Royal Mail website, I believe, so saving you a trip. However, I do understand that sometimes it is just good to get out of the house, particularly with kids in tow!

Didn't spend anything else today, but didn't get Gumtree items listed either. At work tomorrow, so may be a small spend there as charity shop down the road does all clothes for £1, so always worth a look!

Fingers crossed for your car northender. Must check when MOT due on ours, have no idea!

Fluffy I think we are underpaying Npower atm. Were paying £101/month dual fuel, but were in credit by about £80, even taking into account the cold snap we have just had. So have reduced it (can do online as we manage our bills online) to £75, with the thought that the credit should cover us for a couple of months at least, and then the warmer/lighter weather should start to kick in again.

Just been informed that my sister will be picking me & my Dad up from my house to go to work tomorrow (all work together), so I guess I'd better get tidying to make this tip somewhere near presentable. So, if you see me on here before 7.30pm, kick me off again!

I've just catalogued my freezer. I think we have meat, frozen leftovers and fish for 4 weeks worth of meals if we eat some odd things mainly were we'd over bought for parties (chicken satay skewers, filo prawns and mini pizzas for tea anyone?) . I also found 3 steaks I'd completely forgotten about :)

We will need more veg though.

I have no excuse for overspending this month. NO EXCUSE

NSD here that's 4/7 so far this month

£20 on my fruit and veg box, which was delivered today. This should last the next 2 weeks with just a top up of potatoes, blueberries, and bananas next week.

I have instigated a new budget awareness plan to help us both keep an eye on things. I have worked out our budget after all direct debits are paid (minus quite a bit of wiggle room) and written it on in big black numbers on a piece of paper stuck to our livingroom wall. I will then check accounts and adjust it every couple of days so we can watch in horror as the number gets smaller and smaller. I'm hoping that knowing I will have to stare at it everyday will put me off naughty spending

Welcome to the newbies and delurkers :)

NSWeekend here
Spent Saturday de-moulding various areas of our house [and taking photos as proof for Landlords] and cleaning carpets.
Visited DM-i-L on Sunday with DS's and went for a lovely, free walk in the woods and a splash in the stream :)
Spent today catching 40 winks on the sofa whenever possible as DS2 had me up twice in the night and still woke before 6am {Yawn!} My folks popped up today. My Dad changed the light fittings in our playroom from 2 4spot hallogen fittings (400watts between them ) to 2 normal fittings with 8watt energy bulbs, so should save some pennies there. My mum modified some of our curtains so that they no longer hang infront of our radiators, therefore increasing the heat into the rooms. Also have enough material left over to re-cover our dining chairs, and possibly make a few cushion covers :)

Got to do top-up shop tomorrow as we need milk, braising steak, bleach and sandwich pickle!

Hey all, not doing too badly, although spent around £25 on new baby gifts and card etc for closest friend who has just had a baby. Just one of those spends I didn't want to scrimp on. Am writing down all expenditures down for January to see where the money goes and really seems to help to be more conscious of spending already. Also, went to supermarket and stuck to my list - miracle! How's everyone else getting on?

NSDs today and yesterday here. Spent some money on Saturday though as did my Aldi shop. It came to £47 and I nearly died - it's usually around £30 - then I remembered I'd picked up a digital thermometer from the specials aisle for £12.99. Have meant to get one for ages but they're expensive in Boots etc, so when I saw that I thought I'd get it. Have had a play with it and it's great, will be really useful when DS or I are next ill.

I think I'll have a big expense coming up as my car needs to go to the garage, so not looking forward to that. It'll have to go on the overdraft .

jenduck, no, not a special trip to the post office. I had to go round to my DMum & DDad's with paperwork. DDad has just been diagnosed with very early stages vascular dementia and we need to allocate power of attorny to my DMum before any significant degeneration takes place. It maybe, God willing, that he stays at this stage for years(or at least, a long time) but if not, then this needs to have been done prior to him being assessed as not able to take decisions. It's so sad . He's my pop's. Thankfully he's still as lovely as usual. I also meet DS from the train every afternoon after school - he was mugged last year and likes to have someone meet him to travel home with.

£85 Aldi shop - month's worth of toiletries, cleaning products, snacks and a week's fruit and veg. Had fun spending our gift cards and vouchers. Got lots of lovely perfume reduced in M&S - would make fab presents if anyone has a birthday to buy for!

We have a viewing on our house in the north thus week. Hoping they fall in love with it and want to buy it. Paying £1400 rent AND £750 mortgage is taking its toll on our finances.

Hello everyone

I'm too tired to read through, sorry, will try to catch up tomorrow.

Today I bought school uniforms and shoes £720 ish, that's almost everything for two, we have a few hand me downs for DD2 but it's only about 10% of what she needs, and I got 2 pairs of shoes each as we can only get them up to March here. I don't think that was very expensive at all, but OH worries about every penny and believes every family in the UK buys their DC's uniforms in Asda or Tesco

We had a late lunch out, £5 on a shared pizza for 3, DDs ate twice as much as me.
Supermarket £45
Roads £2

Tomorrow will be £40 on their volley ball for a month and probably a few quid on a coffee for me after the gym.

Hi everyone - will catch up tomorrow.

NS weekend here too!

£32 today on food shopping and some more pants for DS1. I'm still within my £50 limit for the week, I've got enough for more bread and milk and fruit too if we need it.

Food shop coming on Friday, I'm aiming for about £85 and I have got a £10 voucher to use (thanks Waitrose!) so £75ish. Another NS weekend planned - we have discovered geocaching so we are going hunting for a couple of those.

I can imagine with school uniforms that Pfb gets everything from the school recommended shop, logos on everything and lovingly stitched on name tags.

By the time Pfb hits year 3 and Dc2 starts reception I can well imagine its Tesco all the way.

I think for secondary school kids here its about the same for new uniforms. I remember sil paying out £300 plus for when dn started, everything had to come from special shops and be of a certain type eg blue long jogging bottoms, no logos apart from the schools. It must be so hard for people with little spare cash to afford it.

Rogue that is sad about your Ddad, although it is definitely best to be prepared. My Dsis is a probate solicitor & she says she has dealt with many very sticky messes where somebody has died intestate or is incapable of dealing with their own affairs but has not appointed anybody.

I have to say, we did get all DS1's uniform from Sainsbury's/Tesco! He is in pre-school, so they don't have to wear one, but most children do. I wasn't sure what to do on the first morning, so sent him in plain home clothes. Most others were in uniform, so I popped out the next morning to the supermarkets & all the uniform was half-price! So, I stocked up for this year & next, for about £20 . I think lots of places have second-hand uniform shops, too, although I don't know if it's different in your country Adora? Alternatively, it might be worth (for the future), setting up some kind of swapping/selling system between parents whose offspring have outgrown their uniform?

At work now, but will have to spend shortly as the tights I am wearing are too small due to too many Xmas chocs & keep falling down . Will also browse charity shops at lunch for some material to make a throw for our bed & a cover for the ottoman in our room.

Thank you jenduck. He's quite an amazing character!!! He's overcome so much from his early life and form health issue later on and has accomplished so much professionally -it's horrible to see him scrabbling for words, knowing he knows it but not able to recall it. But you are right - it needs to be sorted whilst he is still judged as being competent.

You mentioned charity shops - I have made a resolution to visit my local ones more often. There are two (a bit crappy) very close by but if I go to West Hampstead then I can visit their very lovely charity shops - apparently get lots of designer stuff!!!!

Re: school uniform ... I spent £800 when DS moved to secondary school. Everything, and I mean everything had to come from the school shop -even the plimsolls!!! The only things not were pants, vests and socks. Everything has to have the school logo on it and no deviations are allowed. Great school, but dear lord!!!

Posted two more Ebay items (£4.40 on postage but that's already paid for, as it were). Might need to buy some rolls and a celeriac, if I can find one today but will try to avoid.

The person who sets up an Ebay type online market for specific school uniforms will surely make their fortune.

My day changed when we had a text from my DD saying DGS had woken up at five o'clock and would probably be grumpy this morning and need a sleep. He wasn't grumpy but we put him up for a nap at eleven (he's still asleep) and therefore couldn't catch the bus into town. It's an ill wind .... as even with going out to the library with him this afternoon, we won't be spending any money. NSD 4 for me then.

I'm finding it really hard to avoid the shops today but so far so good. DD went back to school this morning. I dropped her off and coming back had to pass the local cafe. It smelt great but I resisted the urge for a bacon sandwich.

I got home to find a letter from BT. I assumed it was another advert but opened it anyway only to find that they've sent me a cheque for £42 in respect of an account I closed in late 2009!!. Apparently they've discovered an accounting error so there was a credit :) :) I went out to the bank and put it in before they changed their mind. I had to pass more shops but manged to go past and not walk in.

Agree uniform is so expensive. Most of DD's is school specific and comes form one shop so they get away with charging a small fortune for it

Rouge glad you're getting POA sorted out. My friend had a terrible time when his mum was ill and ended up spending a small fortune on legal bills to resolve it

I'm having such a hideous day that I'm thinking that instead of saving all my money to waste on a holiday I should put all my efforts and money into getting the house ready to sell and moving away from ths horrible town.

Trouble is I have no idea where we'd move to and am terrified of jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Spent £3.40 on bus fare. I bought a new bag today but used a credit voucher and Christmas money so t wasn't out of my actual money. 65p on cotton buds.
£1.50 on bits and bobs to dress DS for school, another dressing up day, there have been about 5 since September and its really annoying me!

Cecy, so sorry you are having a horrible day. . It's a miserable situation to be in - when you dislike your surroundings or location as changing them is a major issue.

Are you able to consider moving? Not knowing where you are located, what areas are achievable to consider moving to? If you are seriously unhappy (or even not seriously but just unhappy) then maybe the right thing to do it save everything you can in order to move and concentrate on getting your house ready to sell. Do you own or rent? A holiday is lovely and it can provide respite from a nasty situation or experience (or location) but you still have to come back! If it were me I would set my sights on a move (that's my opinion, not that you asked for it )

Have sold another Ebay item - however, I have to part with this money as it was a new leather jacket that my DDad didn't use - he'll be happy though - more paint supplies!!!