Austere April - Frugaleers continue to the next quarter!

[Leilandri]

Come and join us for another frugal/thrifty/down-right stingy month!

[TinyDiamond]

I am so in. after a very successful and frugal Jan and Feb I didn't make a proper plan for march and didn't do NSD counting at all. I may have managed some but I don't know.
I made quite a bit on eBay but respent it all although on stuff we needed dd's new bed for example.

my April nsd target is.......16.

I am also going to be ebaying more, not going out much and trying to turn more off around the house as our bills are crippling :-(

[AdoraBell]

I'm in, need puppy food and a few other bits today, but tomorrow will be an NSD. There will be a vet bill in a few days, one of the dogs managed to slice through his flesh on something in his quest for fresh rabbit.

I can't start April with an NSD as I have to collect OH from the airport, so that' be roads and parking.

[Thingymajigs]

Vets bills are always scary adora. Really hope its not too much. I'm always bemused as to why our vet gives the medication to our cats without even mentioning the price. What if we couldn't afford it? We've just found out that one of our cats needs a monthly injection that'll cost us £40 a time but we are happy to pay that if it helps to calm his anxiety. But he is one expensive cat with his specialist food, injections and calming spays.

[Thingymajigs]

Yes its called Feliway. We use that around the house but it doesn't help much anymore as he's very stressed. The injection is working well atm though.
I just read that back and noticed I typed "calming spays". Yeah, I meant "sprays".

[Piemother]

I think my goal might be 2 nsds a week. Which if I achieve it I will be amazed.
I have 3 more months of mat leave to lurch through so apart from essentials I'm aiming to postpone a lot of stuff until normal pay resumes. Luckily the dds birthdays are later in the year but dm is 70 is June and I need to make a big fuss of her so my spare cash is on that really.
So I looked at all this bar soap I have. It's lux skin whitening! The mind boggles but maybe good for laundry? Whites anyway
I've just been given a new batch of hand me downs for dd1. I can barely move for clothes now! She now has more nursery clothes than I know what to do with but that's pounds knocked off the next 2 years
I think my goal for the week should be putting baby stuff on gum tree.

[theancientmarinator]

Can I join in? I lurked through March, neurotically stuck to budget and managed to clear the overdraft and credit card bill by the end of the month and I want to make sure I don't relax my guard and let it all go to pot again in April. I went nuts in Aldi yesterday (yup, it's possible!) and bought three sides of salmon for £30. I have made gravadlax out of two tails, a stir fry with the third tail, hot smoked two of the remaining fillets and wrapped the last one in foil with lemon and parsley and put it in the freezer for another time. I am feeling smug and smelling a bit fishy. I might need to borrow some of Pie's lux-mountain to get rid of the smell...

[AdoraBell]

Back from shopping, £22 in supermarket, V indulgent snack for DDs while out shopping and £70 on puppy food and a comb for when we get Teddy Bear back in a few days. His fur is too long and thick for the brushes available. Vets costs are generally cheapet here than UK - a couple of years ago one of our dogs needed 3 blood transfusiones with 5 days of observation, so a week at the vet's and OH was horrified that it cost us £700, I'm sure it would have been 4 figures in the UK. Anyway, it worked and she's still with us

[LadyBarlow]

Been lurking for a while, but really need to get my act together so please can I tag along? Seem to be spending loads on food lately despite being really careful, I need to be having very frugal few months to help pay for our holiday in August. Love all the tips & I'm aiming for 15NSDs [buwink]

[AdoraBell]

Forgot To say, probably had about 8/9 NSDs this month, but not having kept track I'm not certain. I shall end the month with an NSD though.

[CoolaSchmoola]

Tagging along here too. The last six months has seen our income halved (DH redundancy resulted in a move so my job went too) and we are in the process of buying our first house so need to keep on top of our reduced finances. It's manageable but scary because we're used to just spending whatever, whenever.

Could someone please clarify exactly what an NSD is? I figure it's a No Spend Day but how far does that go? No new purchases, or no using things that cost - like petrol already in the car?

[takeaway2]

Hi cool
Welcome! My dh was made redundant 1.5 years ago too and he started his own practice. V scary but doing ok. Just that we don't have family support so kids still going to childcare (2nd one - older in school) and his income is not certain - famine and feast! All reliant on my income which is fine... But still halved!

NSD can be whatever you want to interpret it. I tend to do it as no physical money leaving my purse/card. So I'm driving to work that's fine but I bring a packed lunch so I don't spend at work.

Good luck!

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

Can I join?

I am now working and will soon be primarily responsible for supporting the family, although I am optimistic that we will be better off in a year than we are now.

My first baby step has been to turn the heating down.

My biggest challenge will be to stop smoking and my second biggest will be to stop buying convenience foods and takeaway.

I am temporarily a single mum of three who is working full time. Very stressful and exhausting. I need encouragement to make changes. By June, my husband will be back with us, but I will need to support the family as his job is ending then.

[Fluffycloudland77]

One of the free sites, I think it's www.free-stuff.co.uk has an offer for e-cigs. I think its £9 for the whole kit'n'kaboodle. Much cheaper than fags.

When dh gave up the smoking cessation lady said to use two forms of nrt not one, he had patches and lozenges, as one isn't enough to satisfy the craving.

Some PCT's do free NRT, I think dh was issued 2 weeks worth of patches for one prescription charge at a time.

Welcome to the thread!

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

Thanks! I can quit with willpower and some lozenges. I just have to make up my mind to do it. I've done it before, many times.

[AViewfromtheFridge]

I'm in. Had a really frugal Jan then just completely went bonkers in Feb and March. Aiming for fifteen NSD.

[Thingymajigs]

ohhelp, I have heard second hand information that the waste from chargers and appliances on standby is minimal and nothing worth bothering about. Apparently if the plug is warm then it is using a significant amount of electricity but otherwise it is ok. I find the tumble drier and washing machine uses the most when in use and our huge TV probably wastes quite a lot on standby. Hopefully, someone who knows for certain can correct me on this.

[Piemother]

Yy to the elec thing - I'm getting much better at switching lights off but I still need to be more efficient with energy use.
Free sites? What are they? Any good?
I'm terrible for meal planning even though I wander around supermarkets trying to do it
I achieved a NSD today. I did fancy going to a nt egg hunt with the dc but I was really good and did stuff at home with them instead. We decorated an Easter tree (twigs sprayed white and hung with little eggs etc we use every year), made nests with melted choc and shredded wheat and then we planted some herbs in pots (already had piles of equipment). Dd1 thought it was an amazing day but then she's over the moon just now as we have new hand me down clothes that included lots of glitzy party dresses and I let her wear several today
I could rein in my spending more if I could convince myself I don't need to take the kids out all the time and spend money.

[AdoraBell]

Welcome to all the Newbies, and good luck with giving up smoking Katy

NSD here as determined predicted I regard my NSDs as when I spend nothing other than road tolls on the school run. Petrol is only counted as a cost when I fill up.

Tomorrow I'll have school run, toll for the airport and parking at said airport, maybe a coffee too.

[Helenagrace]

March ended ok for me with a couple of NSDs.

April will start off spendy as we're away for 3 nights. We saved money though by choosing a Premier Inn a little further out and cut the cost from £300 for 3 nights to £150 including breakfast for 3 nights. Two days will be spent doing NT / EH things so they're covered by our memberships. The third day we're doing something with friends so we've booked a group deal.

Need two tyres for the car this week.

[TinyDiamond]

For me I count NSDs as not actively spending any cash from purse or using card. I don't count direct debits as they would happen anyway and sometimes happen on different days so would be too complicated.
Sometimes we go to a toddler group which costs only 50p. If I don't spend anything else that day I count as a nsd as such a small amount. Anything over £1 I count as a spend

[Thatsinteresting]

ohhelp You can hire energy monitors from the library free of charge. They are useful. I had one as I was getting a tumble dryer and was truely at the cost of running the kettle. I now boil water and put the extra in a flask for later and although I now tumble dry 7 loads a week by bill has come DOWN £5 per month. I've also realised leaving the tv on stand-by only costs £7 per year.
My March doesn't finish until 12th April when dh gets paid but I think I'm doing quite well. I need to get some stuff on ebay to fund the read of the Easter break.