Judicious June... the frugaleers continue!

[ArtemisatBrauron]

For those who like to plan ahead... god why is it not pay day already...

[takeaway2]

Massive spend today. Lidl with my £5 off came to £37 which is fantastic. Before that, dunelm mill to look at curtains. Didn't buy curtains but bought curtain rails and a picnic mat to replace a really tatty one that's lasted us 5 years?
Lunch was posh at McDonald's! £16.
Then to halfords. To get a freebie from o2, which led to £70 on a bike for dd. who is nearly 3. I'll be selling her brother's old one soon so that's ok plus I've made about £60 selling on eBay and Gumtree. So that's neutralized the spend!

[CremeEggThief]

£3.99 in total today.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend :).

[ExasperatedSigh]

£50 at Lidl today with voucher - got loads of stuff, the freezer is groaning, so going to see how long I can make it last.

Great paying back there Zorra, I am in awe. How is DD? (It's MK from t'other place here btw.)

[Zorra]

Thanks ES/MK

Have to not let my feeling of smugness tip me into over spending!

[AdoraBell]

Congrats on your new house Spangle

Hello and welcome To LucidLady

And Zorra playing off 10,000 in leas than a year that's collosall, well done!

DDs played hockey, I made coffee To take and left on the kitchen counter, so that was 60p for my coffee and £3 for 2 Gatorade's. Then OH appeared bearing Starbucks. Coffee and slightly soggy as the coffee spilt warm muffins. Must have been about £6.

[AdoraBell]

Oops, forget we bought foot ball boot type shoes for hockey 'spose they'll be hockey boots then which were, hang on, Chilean Pesos, exchange rate, engage Brain, erm, £80-ish for both DDs. DD2 needs costume for drama but given last year's fiasco I'm not buying anything until the date is published.

[MamaTo2FabBoys]

We had a good day out at the local gala yesterday but didn't spend that much as took juice and snacks. I did get a horrible big bill in for £530 though?Sad: Sad face Today we are having a bbq for my littles ones birthday but we have bought everything in so should be nsd number 1. Zorra isn't it amazing what you can save when you really need to.

[SagelyNodding]

Hi, long time lurker joining in! I recently found out my contract ends sooner than expected, and won't be renewed until September :( so I am planning a v frugal summer...

NSD today through to Friday, have cut ds2's childcare hours, and am taking on a couple of extra students (I tutor ESL). My shopping bill is next on my list of things needing attention: want to get from 80?-60? per week.

[monikar]

Zorra wow, that is a huge amount to pay off!

SagelyNodding I am working on my shopping list too. I'm getting there with using up loads of bits in my freezer so I have room for more batch cooking. I saw on another thread about bulking mince out lentils and vegetables so I have tried that. I make a shepherds pie which is really nice and makes loads. I use mince 750g, orange lentils (I put them in dry as they swell up in the gravy), chopped onion, chopped carrot, chopped courgette (leave skin on for more colour and fibre but make sure you wash it well, they are very dusty from my Tesco) , cook that up until the mince is browned then pour over boiling water and bring to the boil and then add gravy granules direct to the pan - saves washing up. Cook all that up for about an hour then divide into 3 - top one with mash and cook and then freeze the other 2 portions. I have had difficulty fitting all the plastic containers in the freezer so what I do now is freeze overnight in the container and then when it is a solid block, empty it into a freezer bag. I would say label it with a marker pen as lots of things look the same when frozen!

[ArtemisatBrauron]

Had a win today - my sports bras are all too big and not doing their job anymore and I was dreading replacing them as they are really expensive. Went to local department store today just to have a reccy and they were having a massive sale of odd sizes (since bra interventions I am now 28dd/e or 30d) and I got 3 sports bras reduced from £37 to £8 or £9 each!

[Blueandwhitelover]

I'm going to come back in this month, threw caution to the wind this week and booked a fairly cheap holiday for October. I need to save up for excursions etc for it. Recently I've slipped back into mid week topups which run to £20 a time, it's got to stop!

[shortscotty]

We just had payday and in a bid to see where it all goes plus revise my use of excel, I have made some spreadsheets.They have snowballed into a mass chart showing everything financial not just shopping. So I have decided to spend as normal and map it all then come back at the end of the month and see what went where. First glance on typing it up, most goes out on the obvious e.g mortgage and utilities ,then various insurance make that total a whopper. I am looking forward to end of month, I am planning to sit down and go through it with a chocolate bar and a glass or two to ease the sting!

[takeaway2]

NSD! I can't believe it! On a Sunday too. Ok this was first NSD for June. Drove DS to lessons and then came home. Had lunch and then brought kids biking and to the park. Was tempted by 'stopping off for cake' but thankfully cafe wasn't open and anyway it was past 4pm so nothing else was open.

Looking forward to a couple of NSDs this week. Not tomorrow as have school dinner to pay for and tennis. But I'm bringing my lunch so that is ok. Good luck everyone and have a good week ahead.

[northender]

shortscotty try to keep a record for several months or I don't think you get a true picture. We've been doing it all year and plan to continue to the end of the year. It's been a real eye-opener.
We're away at the moment so spendy days coming up but will do our best .

Have a good week everyone.

[lucidlady]

Hello everyone (and thanks for the welcome Adorabell)

Attempts at NSD this weekend failed rather spectacularly due to lawn mower self-combusting and having to be replaced. Today is a fresh start so let's see if I can avoid the coffee shop and vending machine at work (I have a packed lunch in my bag).

Good luck all.

[lucidlady]

Meant to say, I agree about tracking and analysing expenditure. I bought the Banktree software last week (no connection, just a v satisfied customer) and omg, I have been wasting so much money. Took a couple of hours to import my bank statements since April and analyse spending, but what an eye-opener. For example, £180 in one month on coffees and cakes...! Eek!

[Fluffycloudland77]

Yes, its shocking when you add it all up and realise you'd be be mortgage free if you'd used that money for better things.

Vegan brownies are a brilliant sugar fix. Cheap, fudgy and they can be cut into little bars for work. They don't taste weird either.

Got to post my eBay stuff now. Hopefully I'll get a cheap pizza with my coupon.

[monikar]

It is shocking when you add it all up. I also am guilty of popping to the supermarket for a loaf and spending about £30 on a few bits and pieces, so this is a habit I am determined to break. I was discussing this with a friend recently and she said the way to not spend too much money on grocery shopping was not to go to the supermarket, and there is some truth in that. So now if we have run out of something, say potatoes and I need them for that evening's meal, in my old life I would have gone to the supermarket and bought potatoes and about £30 or other things, but now I will substitute rice, or pasta instead. It does make for some strange meal combinations but it does work.

Fluffy Do you have a recipe for your vegan brownies please? They sound great.

NSD yesterday but it's not looking so good for today - I have to get petrol but I do have a 10poff/litre coupon for Tesco. Just hope it's still in date.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Vegan Brownies

Some people in the comments box advise using less oil, I followed the advice and they came out really well. Because there's no egg or butter/marg it's really cheap to make.

No cheap pizza for me today. £18.60 buying stamps and posting parcels for eBay, one cost more to post than I thought so I must watch that in future.

[Thatsinteresting]

I've made those brownies and they are very good. My dd (4) loves them too which surprises me as they are more of a 'grown up' flavour. I have added (non-vegan) chocolate drops and/or nuts for a change.

Like a couple of others on this thread I'm in Trafford so making the most of extra half term week to have a cheap, self catering holiday. Sun is shining all week so I'm hoping to spend lots of time on the beach and just buy a couple of ice creams and one or two glasses of wine each day.

I really need to do some ebaying when I get back, few spendy things coming up. Have a good week everyone and enjoy the weather.

[AdoraBell]

YY to analysing more than one month, it's a bit like grocery shopping - you probably don't buy toothpaste and washing powder every week so it's easy to forget a few items.

I had an NSD yesterday, OH took us all out the eat, but I didn't spend any money. We shared main course and pudding so that kept the cost down. DD1 playfully chastised her sister for choosing the most expensive desert to share with OH while I and DD1 shared a much cheaper one. Ours was lovely though.

I do need to get shopping today as DD1 finished off the disinfectant cleaning the under side of her hockey boots, don't ask. I also need some packed lunch bits, felt a bit mean sending them off with a couple of cream cheese sandwiches and a frozen veg salad, but poor planning meant that was all I could do this mirning , they have calcium, vitamins and carbs so it's not like are hard done by. And some fruit too.

[SpangleMaker]

Two NSDs at the weekend (great ) then £30 at Sainsbury's on fruit, lunch things & unnecessary stuff like magazines for DC (not so great, especially after doing a big shop last Thurs). Keeping out of the supermarket is definitely the right way to go. I spend much less when I stick to Ocado, even though it's not particularly cheap as supermarkets go.

[SpangleMaker]

I've also handed £600 (ouch) to DH towards work on our bedroom in the new house - replastering and new fitted wardrobes. DH is in the trade, which means we get a good price for the furniture but also that he wants to try out the latest fancy pants things. Last night HE was trying to persuade ME to have sliding wardrobe doors with Swarovski crystals

[Blueandwhitelover]

NSD yesterday and today. Having a lunch out tomorrow after I finish work but that should come in at under a tenner.
I took out £20 for purse money on Saturday and that is it! Should only need milk and maybe bread and will probably get them on Wednesday.