Austere August come join us!!

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New thread.

Grrr Helenagrace that is so rude! They could at least be professional enough to hide that shit

I spent £41 in Lidl on Monday and £82 yesterday getting the tyre fixed. So happy to shop in Lidl, that 41 squid bought us so much food. AND I had both DC with me and they were unbelievably well behaved The whole shopping environment in there is so much calmer and nicer - no glaring fluorescent overheads, no BUY ME NOW!!! deal signs screaming in your face, no noisy announcements...I've noticed before how, when we go in there, DS doesn't bug me for this that and the other.

I was telling him how proud I was of them both for being good in the shop and he said he hates Morrisons because it's too big, bright and noisy and there are too many trolleys. So another benefit to budget shopping!

Helenagrace what a pain! At least you have had some good job application & interview, though

Exasperated that is an added bonus! My DSes both love supermarket shopping, for some reason, so I am lucky never to have experienced the whole 'tantrum in a supermarket' thing (walking down the road, yes, but never in Tesco )

Jonbon things like car brakes are essential, so you can be forgiven that one

Welcome to triggles

Leilandri well done on helping out your friend. I'm sure she will pay it forward when she can Also thanks for mentioning Cars lunch boxes, will have a look in Lidl

Petals welcome. My Dsis raves about Costco, but I am not sure. It is good, I think, if you like brand names, but we always buy own brand/value so it is more expensive than that. Great for random things like BBQs & scaffolding towers, though. Also, ours has a really cheap tyre place attached.

Today will be a low-spend day for me. Have to take DS2 for his second hearing test (where I am desperately hoping they will suggest grommets) & so my dgrandparents are having DS1 again - they are amazing, both in their 80s but still happy to have my DC for a couple of hours so I can take the other one to appointments/lessons, and then they feed me lunch too So, I will take them some cakes as a thank you. Also got to get a few bits in Asda plus pay in my work cheque (2 weeks late as I have not been in work for 2 weeks )

Have had a house update that our tenant is willing to vacate the new house on 24th August, vendor then wants a few days to clear it out, so completion on 28th August. Council have said this (leaving voluntarily) is fine & won't affect tenant's position on housing list as we already have all the paperwork to kick her out . BUT, she is only willing to go on a holiday, not to stay in a grotty B&B for 2 weeks, so we are splitting the cost with vendor to send her to the local Havens for a week, which will cost us £300. We feel it is worth it just to make things happen! I still won't believe it till she's gone, but it looks promising!

Also, in other exciting news, I think I felt the baby move yesterday (11 weeks ish, DC3, is this possible)?

Thank heavens for that confused. £300 cheap at twice the price to keep the mortgage offer you've got.

I have friends who won't shop in aldi for chicken but who drive a 30 mile round trip to get costco chicken breasts for the same price as aldi. Seems a bit bonkers to me.

helena that used to go on all the time in the nhs, you'd see a long queue of people arriving for interviews, then you'd notice someone from the adjacent pct who's known the boss for years turn up. They ought to change employment law because all this advertising posts just wastes applicants time.

£15 on a Le Creuset roasting dish in tk maxx, it was £37 in John Lewis. I want a smaller one too but it can wait. Apparently they don't get stained or chip easily like cheap ones do so it should last me years.

Managed two LSD's - almost unheard of for me - only spending on lunch, which is cheaper than me risking a supermarket shop!

Oldest DCs are on hols with family so DH, littlest and I are trying to avoid grocery shopping for as long as possible. We have loads in freezer and pantry but our nanny apparently thinks I'm evil for knocking littlests £8 a day berry habit in the head - it's amazing the bad habits you just slip into

Fluffy I've had my Le Creuset things for about 12/13 years, very happy with them. I got mine, seconds, from their shop in one of the big outlet malls, paid more than £15 though , what color did you get?

Helena that's terrible, can you give that charity person a call?

Confused fingers crossed for you and Yay at feeling a baby kick

Platinum £8 a day how big is littlest? And does your nanny think the stuff your earn grows on trees and you just pick some more as and when?

Colour bloody Spanish auto correct, leave my spellings alone

Adora My new dish. s1295.photobucket.com/user/Fluffycloudland77/story/86141

They've got loads of it down there, not much volcanic orange but bits and bobs. There was a lovely almond casserole with a lid, £52 selling for £19.99.

I spent so long comparing two identical dishes I'm sure I had a plain clothes store detective watching me, he followed me to the till, I saw the sales girl peering at him like he was trying to communicate something to her. That or he was just a weird stalker type.

NSD yesterday today £5 on bits for a picnic and £3 parking at the picnic park. Not too bad really. Going to shopping centre maybe tomorrow to finish off last bits for school, plus need undies overhaul for littles. Noseyed online catalogue and put what I liked in the basket....£46! er not likely for undies so heading to Primark.

Oooh, I like that colour much nicer than my volcanic orange I was stalked by a store detective in HMV years ago. A friend and I shared an expensive CD habit involving limited editions. We were looking at our next fix but I was skint can't imagine why so we had a conflab about how to get the disks, settled that I would stay put with disks in my grubby mits while she went to see if she could get cash from her bank not with a shotgun when we realised we were being watched very closely, he even watched us pay once she'd scored some dosh!

Spent another £5, all OH had as his card has been blocked by wait staff not understanding this new chip & pin system, so now we can't get any cash until a new card arrives.

Platinum just realised my comment may have come across badly I meant is littlest 7 foot tall or summat, not is he overweight. Sorry.

adora youngest is a bit of a chunk and nanny is deliberately blind to cost of anything and somehow I fell into that habit of every time she said "oh can you get littlest berries" I just gulped and squeaked "ok!"

A mothers guilt and all...

Ho hum! Dinner was a bit of a no spend fail. I had chicken thighs out the freezer and bacon from the fridge and then half way through cooking realized no tomatoes or garlic, one trip to the local shop later 2 x tins of tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, Parmesan and garlic later large slab of choc there was no change out of £10. Bugger.

Need to have a think about tomorrow. I don't work Thursday's so nice opportunity for me and littlest to do something - it's difficult to avoid spending I'm crap I'm starting to realise how much of my spending is habit.

God we're going to be fucked if DH doesn't sort out a new job.

Nsd for me. Rummaged through our dvds to find a couple that I haven't seen so many times I'm word perfect yes, you Toy Story We also dragged out the craft stuff. I always thought I'd enjoy doing craft with dcs but it can be a hit and miss experience. Had a good time today though.

Need a small top up shop tomorrow but that should be it, £20?

Nsd for me. Rummaged through our dvds to find a couple that I haven't seen so many times I'm word perfect yes, you Toy Story We also dragged out the craft stuff. I always thought I'd enjoy doing craft with dcs but it can be a hit and miss experience. Had a good time today though.

Need a small top up shop tomorrow but that should be it, £20?

It takes a while to get a store cupboard sorted Platinum, I forgot passata this week. Ruined my week that has.

Habits can be broken though. At £8 a day it'd be the same as smoking.

fluffy you're right

We're a typical feast or famine house - my cupboards are usually fit to burst with breadsticks, beans, tapenade, etc but I would love to be able to make a food plan and stick to it. The savings wold be great but equally I hate the general waste

LSD - sold an old mobile phone and got £12 for it. Used that money to pick up a few things at the supermarket that were needed. So no money out of the bank account anyway. I'm happy with that.

. Brought lunch to work but not NSD. As paid for legoland tickets. £60 as its in a different country! Not tomorrow either as have to pay for DS camp £20 I think. Then we on holiday when it will be spend spend spend! Argh.

NSD today hooray, feel pleased even though I planned for it! Need to shop for the rest of the month at some point this week but hoping to get by until Saturday as then I can go on my own & do it in peace........
I have £110 until payday in 25th (outside things like out of school fees) but at work all next week so petrol is going tobe £45 of that-meal pkanning & emptying freezer here we come

Ended up spending £2.50 in Farm Foods today for cakes for grandparents & bread. Then a further £3ish in Asda on a few odds & ends, none of which were really necessary

Tomorrow will spend £10 on some secondhand clothes for DS1 from Facebook, most still have labels on & there are 10 items, plus I know DS2 will use them in the future, so not bad at all! Then may have to nip to Tesco for a few bits as will want to avoid it this weekend - one of the big festivals happens in the park literally on the outskirts of our village, so going anywhere this weekend will be a total nightmare. At least I'll get to hear the music for free, though

Spent about £15 today on drinks and snacks at Tate Britain. Had a fab day out though :) Tomorrow will be v spendy as meeting up with some friends at Blenheim Palace and need to fill up car before we go.I will atone with a NSD on Friday.

Well done Trigglesx

I need to stop going to get top ups with DDs in tow, and stop answering my phone too. I spent £3 in a local grocers, £4 in the supermarket, replacemt chocolate, flour and a large pot of yoghurt. Then I collected DDs. It was downhill from there. DD1 is going to a sleepover and told me a few days ago that she needs to take a snack and drink, which I forgot, so back to the supermarket, then I decided to get salad for tomorrow, remembered we're out of cheese and bought more yoghurt because OH likes the set stuff. So that took care of the other £10 I had. One benefit of taking DDs along is that they are noticing how much food costs.

Planning on a NSD today, so fingers crossed. I know Friday will NOT be one, as I need to purchase a few things.

£7ish today on beer, choc, cheese (spot the stressed out person), paracetamol and pickle.

If you download the amazon cloud app and log in like you would on amazon it syncs music you've bought in the past. It's not moneysaving but if you've lost CDs that came from amazon then as long as its on their list of CDs that can be stored on cloud you can have it back again.

I am watching a spin dryer on eBay. I am determined to have a spin dryer. So far it is 99p.

Exasperated Blenheim Palace sounds like an amazing place, I hope you enjoyed it!

Adora you definitely need to ditch the kids for shopping! Can DH look after them next time you need to go? I am fortunate that mine are still at the age that I just tell them 'no' and if they ask why, the answer is 'because I said so'

Triggles hope you managed your NSD

Fluffy hope you are not too stressed Is a spin dryer one of those machines that you load wet clothes into, push the lid down & then water comes out of a hose attached to it? Or do you mean a tumble drier more so? We had the former when I lived at boarding school, a very useful thing!

Well, I got DS1's 'new' clothes today for £10 & am quite pleased - 10 items, mostly M&S, H&M, BHS & Disney Store. A little worn, but perfectly good enough. I also put £20 of diesel into the car. Then spent just over £20 in Tesco but that got children's painkillers (always keep stocked up!), present & card for friend's DD, fizzy drinks, milk, butter, natural yoghurt, tinned toms, fr eggs, pasta, rice & potatoes, so I felt I did quite well. Plus I got a 10p voucher for next time

Tomorrow should be an NSD as we won't really leave the house due to the festival. Our village & town will be swarming with people! It's great for the local economy, but not so great if you have small DC you want to do things with, such as go to parks! Am thinking I might get DSes to 'help' wash the car, I'm sure they'd love that

NSD for me, OH bought cinema tickets and sandwiches for 3 of us, número quatro is at a mate's house tonight.