Austere April - Frugaleers continue to the next quarter!

[Leilandri]

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

I spent another £35 in the supermarket yesterday as I was out anyway. Trying to balance shopping requirements with petrol use and keep mileage down as service is due in less then 200KMs.

Today should be an NSD

Parking was £1, coffee and a muffin for the boys was £3.90.

Decided to get DS1's feet measured, sure enough they have grown so £40 for new school shoes - argh!

Haven't been to the supermarket yet.

Was just looking back a couple of pages.

IsThat - I've always had my ISAs with INGDirect. The rate for the last couple of years has been just above 3% for the current year, and then dropping to 1%.
They have been bought by Barclays recently though, who I have never banked with - and I need to see what the new rate for 2013/14 will be. And also think about rolling the last two years' up into something that gets better than 1%.
I'm actually speaking to a financial advisor this afternoon so I might see what he says about it.

Yesterday could have been a NSD but didn't in the end. I went to sainsburys near the in laws as I was going mad just staying in. They had taken us out for lunch so that was free. Sainsburys cost me £22 or something like that. A top for me (that'll cover my tum!!), 3 puzzles for birthday presents for little girls (coming up) and some socks for my dd.

Today we left in laws to come home. Paid for petrol and then lunch. Something like £30 I think.

Tomorrow is a NSD in that I have lunch all packed up for me to take to work and DS will take a lunch to football camp. I will have to pay for football but that is fine.

ali I've looked around and the best I can find (that's not fixed as I need access to it just in case) is 2.6% but that doesn't accept transfers. But Leeds building society have one that accepts transfers and the rate is 2.55% it also only drops the rate if the balance falls below £1 so you don't get penalised rate-wise for withdrawals. There's a branch a few towns over so I shall be popping in at some point soon to open one up (it looks like a lot of faff online as I'd have to print and sign loads of stuff).

NSD today

Doing well here! Think I can get by this month without a mega Aldi shop so planning to run things down. It's an 18 mile round trip to Aldi so I have to buy a lot to make it worthwhile. There's a Lidl which is nearer so I might pop in there for the few things that I need. Food budget looking good this month so far.

I downloaded the free version of the ireconcile app which someone on here recommended. Takes a bit of getting used to but I think it will be quite helpful.

The mse newsletters all about isa's today.

2 good days here . £1 both days on a lime and soda at the pub (yesterday before a football match, today at my book group). Today a cheque for £210 came from the Inland Revenue. Need to keep this up for a while longer yet but April good so far.

finally set up a new bank account, I went with santander. I phoned specsavers and suspended my account for 3 months, I just need to book in with asda to see about getting a years supply of monthlies.

Even with fluids it's half the cost.

Gah! Spent half next week's grocery budget today trying to get ahead of myself because I'm stressed about money and selling the house.

Groceries £50
Roads -£4

North I can't find anything lime flavoured here and every time someone mentions it I can taste Rose's Lime Cordial drives me nuts hope you enjoyed it.

Fluffy am I right in thinking you are a feet person? Could I be really cheeky and PM you with a Q please?

Yes you can but I'm out at work till 4

Two children we know have their birthdays in April. We have cut down the number of presents we give to family and friends over the last couple of years but we really can't ignore these girls. Off to the shops to see what bargains I can find and that will be cheap to post!

Considering its the Easter hols and we could easily have gone out spending to have fun every day for the last fortnight I think we are doing pretty well chez Pluto. But it's a long time til pay day.

Thanks Fluffy

I had planned an NSD today but school requires DCs to have particular coloured tops for Saturday, and we don't have anything suitable at home.

Am joining to try to keep my spending under control. Did brilliantly last month, ended up with a bit extra so now feel like I've got a free pass! Terrible idea, we desperately need our savings and I just must stop buying anything extra.

Found a couple of fab DVDs in Pound land a couple weeks ago, Pluto Strawberry Shortcake and Squiglet, each a £1. Good to add to something else like a mini handbag for a gift.

Hello buildingmycorestrenght and welcome

That free pass feeling is lethal, isn't it? I think my OH has it as there should be some money coming in soon, but it's not here yet

Welcome building :)

Managed a NSD yesterday, 3 for the month so far which is pretty good considering it has been the school holidays!

Today I have paid next term's fees for music class for DS2, and french for DS1.
Need to pop to Sainsbury's in a minute to get milk and nappies and tea, and I'm about to take the boys to soft play for an hour before dinner which will be £8 plus a cup of tea for me.

Tomorrow the shopping will be delivered but there won't be any other spending apart from that.

Saturday we are going swimming but that is free with our gym passes, Sunday I think I will take the boys to our local NT place for a run around - also free with membership. DH is doing loads of work on his car atm to get it ready to sell - hence me needing to keep the DCs amused on my own for chunks of time.
So Saturday will be a NSD, Sunday I will very likely spend a few pounds.

£40 in aldi today but £30 of that was on wine for this weekend and 2 weeks time when we're entertaining. Am hoping that people will also bring a bottle so it keeps us topped up! I can do chilli and cottage pie for both weekends as it's different people so I feel a major chilli and cottage pie cooking sesh coming on very soon to cook it and freeze some. Am going to do the chilli with stewing beef as I have lots in the freezer and not enough mince. Really trying to keep the costs down but it's difficult as we'll have 4 of dh's family staying for 3 nights plus friends visiting too.
Welcome building. I never thought of myself as a wasteful spender but since I've been doing this I've realised just how much I used to buy that I didn't need. It's still hard sometimes not to spend when you get that urge but feels so good when you can see your finances getting healthier

£44 on new trainers for dcs but dd has gone up 2 sizes and DS 3 and looked at ds's school shoes which are really worn so they need replacing in the not too distant.

And lunch in ikea £15. I didn't go in the shop though so that's a plus for me.

Having to buy both dcs bikes as they have seriously outgrown their ones. Have measured them up at toys r us and now we're scouring the Internet for good deals. Whereas before we'd have just bought the first one that caught our eye!

A sort of NSD in that I brought lunch to work. But paid £10 for DS' football camp. Ah. Roll on normal work and school days!

I'm joining up. Even if I don't post much then seeing it on my threads might give me a kick up the backside.

Welcome Meglet

Got the requisite tops for DDs, at least as close as poss. Also got a couple of winter weight tops, so £45 in total.

Roads - £2.40

Coffee -£2

DD has had to go to a classmate's house to study together again. It's such a pain as I'm at the limit of mileage for the service and nearly out of petrol. Luckily another mum has to go that way so is ferrying my DD too. I'll have to pay her petrol money as to bring her home is out of the way. School's annoying me now, no consideration of distance between the DCs they allocate to work together and no prior notice either.