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.

Another NSD for me - and isn't it great that snow is free? Had a lovely time in the garden with DGS and a sledge which we bought for his mum and her DB over thirty years ago. My DH also spent about an hour pulling him up and down the road.

Thanks for the info on Nectar cards, I live near a Sainsburys so will pop in soon (and try not to buy anything while I'm there).

storm I'm on here because dh and I haven't had any increase in pay for 3 years now. Until now we always seem to have less than we expect nothing left at the end of the month but can't figure out where the money has all gone. We earn enough jointly to have paid for our home improvements with savings. As we haven't saved, instead we have used credit card borrowing (2 x 0% deals) so to make that work we need to pay that off before the 0% ends. Both our jobs are secure in the short term so it is very doable. If we can manage this year then we'll continue in the same vein next year and build up some savings.

£5.03 today in milk, OJ and 6 pack if beans on offer. Also got loads listed on Ebay...hoping Paypal ac will cover my moving costs...have £26 due tomorrow too when some items are collected quick question, what age was DS/DD when you got rid of buggy? DS happy to walk everywhere but kept ours so far as handy for holidays if he gets tired. No plans for holiday this year, but maybe next by which time he'll be nearly 5 ...

nectar eshops

Just save this on your favourites and every time you are making a purchase, check there first to see if your retailer is on there, if it is simply click the logo and nectar automatically sends you to that site- its important that you always go through the eshops page though otherwise you wont gain any points!

Once you have a nectar card, sign up for a online nectar account-you can keep tabs on points youve aquired and there are sometimes bonus coupons available online that you can request/print off.

I did my shopping today, as usual took some 42p chewing gum through the till and got - a 160 bonus points coupon, used that along with my 60 points for £2 spend on stationary and my points balance increased from £6 something to £8 something after my shop(so effectively £2 back on that shop). Im saving my points to spend in the sainsburys half price toy sale at the end of october, ready for xmas. Hoping it will pay for most of the dcs presents for xmas 2013!

hth

Hi all. Hope you've had a frugal but happy couple of days.

I am here because as said up thread, DH is out of work and has been for 6m now. Last year he was unemployed for 9m and he also did not work for 6m the year the DTs (now 3.7) were born. I was made redundant at end of my mat leave and have not worked since. Now that the DDs are getting free nursery places and are well settled I have started looking for work, but it's difficult after being out for so long.

Before DCs we earned 6 figures between us so we've been lucky enough to have never worried about money until now. I have recently got to grips with our outgoings and am aghast at the money we have previously wasted and I am determined that it won't happen again. We have no debts except enormous mortgage and we do have a lot of equity in our home, plus we still have some savings, so we are OK, but I really want to set up our lives to make sure that doesn't change in the future.

We viewed some smaller houses at the weekend and I think the downsizing could work well for us as a strategy. I just need to get DH on board fully (!) and one of us needs to get a job. In the meantime I am stretching our savings as far as I can.

Ocado shopping today £40.20. Total spend on shopping this month so far only £122 so we are doing well. Tomorrow's to do list includes cancelling our security alarm contract (useful when we were both out of the house for 14 hours a day working in the city, probably not required now there is usually one of us at home!?) and viewing another house.

Happy thrifting!

Sorry, so long .

Cathartic though, thanks

Fluffy that is a nightmare, are they doing anything about it?

Mum2 DS1 hasn't really been in the buggy much since he turned 3, because we had DS2 so he was in there! We used a buggy board for about 6 months after DS2 was born, by which time DS1 was 3.2 and then since then he just walks everywhere. He does ride on shoulders if he gets tired, but he's 4.5 now and rarely does that unless we are on a proper hike.

1stMrs sounds like you've had a horrendous time with being out of work :( It is at times like that you realise how horribly slow recruitment processes can be. Shall keep my fingers crossed for you that something comes along that one of you can start quickly.

I spent £27 today, all in Sainsbury's. No costume, present or haircut so all of those still to be paid for. My remaining £13 isn't going to stretch that far I am pretty sure!
I got a lot for my money though, there were some good offers on a lot of the things I needed.

Storm I'm jealous of your 9 NSDs, I blew it today

Roads £1.20
food out with DDs, oh must have been £25 all in

Oh, and OH has decided to loan someone a large amount of money, it's a business thing. Apparently the guy who works with OH has used up all his credit, nothing coming in, house at risk and his wife has had enough. I sympathise with her, she works FT and runs two successful businesses and he swans around spending money but not bringing any in. It won't do OH's business any favours to have the bloke go off the rails if she divorces him. I don't where the money is coming from though.

I'll catch up with the thread tomorrow.

1stMrs Your situation sounds similar to mine. My DH was made redundant from a six figure salary job a year ago and is still out of work.

Fortunately we have savings but I need to make them stretch as far as possible because once they're gone I don't think we'll ever be able to have the same sort of safety net again.

I usually only lurk on here, maybe I should post more.

Adora - and that is precisely why I insisted on being a 50% shareholder when DH set up in business Seriously though, argh - I would go mad!

Aphra - it is frightening. Will he be able to get another job at the same salary again?

Sorry I was so short yesterday, ds is teething and fairly screamy.

Its interesting to see why so many of you are cutting back and it makes me realise how lucky I am at the moment. We think our financial situation may change for the worse sometime next year but at the we don't know what the outcome will be (a long boring complicated ongoing court case DPs business is involved in hence me saving like mad for the kitchen etc.) We should be left with enough to live on I hope but I'm determined to get used to being careful.

Ive spent just under £9 today. £5 on dishwasher tablets, the rest on newspaper and a magazine, surface wipes and bread. I picked up a couple of packs of nice sausages but actually managed to put them back thereby saving £5. Its odd I found myself looking for an excuse to go in a shop, I was desperate to buy myself something. The magazine was 99p and came with 2 free recipie books which will fit in well with my new years learning to bake resolution - hope it will anyway

Fluffy that's so frustrating about your place of work not paying up. I have had this situation before, too. They seem to think that because you're not on a payroll & they are not liable for your taxes etc, you can wait because there is no consequence to them

storm well done on all those NSDs!

Mum2Fergus we have 28 months between our DSes, so when DS2 was born we got a secondhand double pushchair. Used that for about 6 months, then graduated to a buggy board for longer trips only. He has not even used that now for about 6 months (so since about 3.6)

1stMrs that sounds like an awful work situation to deal with, especially coming from good salaries before. Hope one of you can find work soon.

Adora your DH sounds like his heart is definitely in the right place, but I can see it would be frustrating from a financial point of view!

I have not had the best start to my day. I knew our MOT was up sometime soon, so dug out the paperwork to check - turns out it's a lot overdue . So have managed to get it booked in for this afternoon at the Council MOT test centre (this is recommended by Martin Lewis as they do not have any affiliation with repair garages, so will not tell you something is wrong just to get the money for doing the repairs IYSWIM). So that will be £46.50, plus a coffee at McDonald's (next to test centre & has a soft play), and possibly some repairs so that it passes.

Also, my Dmum rang to say my Dgrandad was rushed into hospital last night, with rectal bleeding (sorry if TMI!) which has not stopped now 12 hours later. He has lost a pint of blood. I think he will be OK, and my Dmum does definitely lean towards being melodramatic, but still worrying

On the plus side, I got my Tassimo order today & am doing a nice dinner for DH birthday tonight, so that is all good.

Adora In your position at the very least I'd get legal advice regarding the money loan and have a contract drawn up should the loan go ahead. Your DH's friend sounds financially irresponsible if he spends like there's no tomorrow, has no credit, no money coming in and is at risk of losing their house, so I'd be very concerned that you'd never see that 'loan' money again.

NSD.

I bought a smart price duvet for snuggling under yesterday and a Pantene deep conditioners mask. £10 for both in asda. That masks £1.69 more in boots, boots are such a rip off.

Kyle off Beverly Hills housewives swears she only uses Pantene. And people on tv never lie now do they. I'll use it up on Dh if it doesn't work for me.

I've replaced Clinique city block 40spf with Hawaian Tropic SPF 30 for sensitive skin, it's oil free and much cheaper than Cliniques. I bought it off Amazon as it was cheaper than boots. Oddly my skin looks better since the switch. I always thought all those antioxidants would help the skin but obviously not.

Thank you everyone for your supportive comments.

Aphra is its difficult isn't it? On the one hand you have got money for things you need, but on the other you have no idea where or when any reprieve is going to come. His job seekers allowance runs out next week too. Still at least we unexpectedly still have our child benefit!

Was not planning to spend today, but DH had to have antibiotics, so £7.65 or whatever it is for those.

However, there is some good news, as I have been invited for an interview next Monday.

1stMrs does JSA not entitle you to free prescriptions or was I imagining that?

Car failed its MOT, kind of thought it would. But it was only handbrake calipers & new bulb for rear numberplate, which DH says he can do himself, so not terrible. Had coffee & DS1 had drink at McD's nearby while we waited (good soft play area there), so £2.18 on that. Then £1.29 on milk for DS2 & paper, as I won't be able to drive to supermarket for a while now, so want to be stocked up!

DGrandad still losing blood, but apparently is not cancer etc, just a tear in bowel, which is fixable. They are gluing today so see how he goes overnight. Might try to see him tomorrow if children are allowed in (bus goes from our house to hospital luckily)

PS 1stMrs great news re interview!

Hi, I'm joining as the gas and electric bills arrived today and gave me a shock. £480 combined! I will be phoning tomorrow to set up a monthly DD for the future. Our debts are a joint £3000 overdraft and £700 on my credit card. Today I applied for a 0% balance transfer card so fingers crossed.
I plan to save my part time wages into a savings account until I have enough to pay the overdraft off in one go with a fixed amount skimmed off beforehand to pay off the credit card. I'm hoping a year will do it.

Alibaba I don't think he'll get a job at the same sort of salary, but we can live with a pay cut. Having that big salary was nice for the couple of years it lasted, we had some lovely holidays and managed to save a lot, but we can live on a lot less.

1stMrs Yes, the uncertainty is the worst part. Still, we are very lucky to have savings so shouldn't complain.

Spent £2 today on running club subs. I did a beginners course last year (bit like couch to 5k) and try to run 3 times a week. The improvers course pushes you that bit further and and gives a bit of variety. And it is miles cheaper than gym membership!

Have to return a Christmas present to Debenhams and buy a birthday card and present so will be spending again tomorrow.

Thanks jen. income based JSA does entitle you to free prescriptions, but not contributions based JSA. We have too much in savings to get income based JSA, so no free prescriptions and no more JSA after 26 weeks either :(

Good luck with the interview Frugal.

Whoop! Finally managed a nsd. It was a close thing, I had to divert an invite to go for a coffee to a trip to the park with a flask of tea instead. Luckily it was freezing today but lovely and sunny so my friend was persuaded by a promise of a go on the swings :o

Got quite a few bits I need to pick up tomorrow though so might be a bit spendy. I'm going to write a list tonight and pledge to stick to it.

This thread is definitely making the difference though. Before I would have just given in and gone for the coffee but I was so ashamed of having to come and admit to failing at my nsd again that I was determined not to be swayed.

OK, I'm scared now. My Dmum has just rang & my Dgrandad has gone into surgery. Apparently the doctors have been preparing my DNan for the worst . And I have been stupid & looked at Dr. Google

Sorry that's off thread, I just had to get it out. DH not home for a couple of hours, so nobody to talk to. Kids playing up too as tired.

Welcome IamShe :)

jen glad the car isn't going to be too expensive to MOT.

Good luck with the interview MrsFrugal :)

Spendy day today.
£11 on dry cleaning
£20 on lunch out with DH and DS2 - really should not have done this but it was bloody freezing and hot fish and chips called!
£8.67 on a few essentials in Boots
£7.99 on a haircut for DS1, plus £1 parking

Actually that isn't too bad, but it felt awful after a very frugal week.

Still need to get a costume and present for DS1 for Saturday, and I am doing my meal plan and online shop this evening to be delivered Friday. I'm hoping I can keep it to £80.

I still don't know how much the plumber is going to be, the shower valve is leaking into the wall (at least he could tell us what is wrong!!) and needs replacing which will be about £200 plus his labour for fitting it and replacing the tile.
I had our repair guy out today to look at the tumble dryer, it is squeaking and we think the motor is packing up. He said it is dying but that it isn't worth the cost to fix it and he recommends replacing it. Argh.