Sashaying into September savings, the frugality continues....

[Fluffycloudland77]

NSD.

Thingy how funny! There must be something in the water And you are moving house, too - we have bought a new house recently & will be moving in once we've done it up hopefully before baby arrives We moved ourselves & DH found a firm that hired out a Luton (small lorry with lift thingy on back) for £70 per day. If you are in Essex I can give you their number, a lot easier if you have loads to move

NSD for me today and also found out we're getting a 1% pay-rise from 1st October which is only about £9 a month after tax but better than nothing. I have an interview next Tuesday for a better paid job and a manager's job has also been advertised where I work now, so I have applied for that too. DH has also got a payrise too which is £155 a month after tax (better than mine) so I will try and put that away and try not to get used to it so that when the interest rates go up we have a bit of breathing space.

Heating went on today in the house, just to give the boiler a test run as we turned the heating off in April when we discovered we had a £642 debit balance. Balance is now at £148 which is a lot less distressing but I'd hoped to keep the heating off for as long as possible. My payments were £191 a month but they've only reduced them to £166 which is still more than I'd like to be paying.

Moneysaving things I did today: took leftovers in for lunch (Tuna Pasta Bake)

There was a woman on money saving experts pay your mortgage off threads who put all her pay rises onto her mortgage and paid it off in record time.

£15 washing line & £10 petrol. Tomorrow should be a NSD.

congrats on 3rd baby Thingy!

Confused - there'll be just under 5 yr gap between DC2 and DC3. DC1 will be 6. (I fell asleep today after I put kids to bed at 7pm, so I'm wide awake now craving poached eggs on toast/fried eggs on toast & a mug of tea...Only 5 hrs left until I can get up though)

Debating whether to drive to shopping centre tomorrow after dropping off kids. Need out & about!!! Also need another indoor clothes airer/dryer from Argos & a general walk around looking at pretty things!!

Thanks lineup.
Thanks for the offer confused, unfortunately though we are in the East Midlands. Hope the house renovation and move goes smoothly for you.
Good luck with the interview next week clare.

lineup both Sainsbury & Tesco were last week doing 3 tier clothes airers for about £15

My mum's rich aunt always told me that the way she made her money was to live off the old wage, and save any pay rises. She used her savings to buy plots of land, which she then sold when their value went up massively (in 70s this was!).

It's a fine idea if the cost of living doesn't go up a lot too and a pay rise is much needed to live comfortably.

well we are hoping that in the term that DD turns 3 and gets the 15 hours free at nursery, we will be able to save significant amount of money and that will go into a savings pot that will help pay for our renovations of the kitchen etc!!

Yesterday was very spendy. DH decided that he needed an iPad Mini to enable him to do demo's for work - so I got sent out to buy one...that's £529.00 plus £35.00 for the smart cover - it may be that he can expense it but I am sure it will get a lot of use if not.

Today was £135.00 food shop - that does include meat for the week and all fruit, veg and snacks for DS (who can't seem to live without some form of snacky thing on the way home) .

Think the home/contents insurance is due soon so will have a scout around for a good deal.

DS managed to lose his pencil case yesterday and it has not been handed in today so I need to replace that plus pens and pencils - trip to BX tomorrow then. Also need to do a Costco trip - toilet rolls, kitchen rolls etc etc etc so may do that tomorrow too.

Ooh, an Ipad rogue very posh! We've only ever had an iPod Nano between DH & me & even then we never used it It ought to be expensable/tax deductible, I'm sure.

Love the idea of saving any pay rise you get. DH's wage, when it goes up, usually goes up by around by £100/week before tax, but we usually manage to spend it all! It's a bit like a ladies' handbag, I think - you always reach its limits, however big or small it is.

NSD today apart from lunch money for DS1, which I don't think counts as it's unavoidable. Also got another £3 for selling something on FB selling page.

Second try at Book Group tonight, see what I think of it. I have only read part of one of the books, plus all the other ladies who made up the membership were about 20 years older than me & know each other from way back when, but I'm trying not to be put off by that. Am taking a box of Fabulous Bakin' Boys mini choc chip muffins that only cost 30p for 12 as they were reduced. Will decant them into a tub so nobody sees the yellow sticker

NSD 3 of the week :).

I think I spent just short of £6 in Morrisons today but I bought some things for packed lunches and breakfasts enough for 3 days so not too bad.

I am going to put the payrise to one side and try not to get used to it because DS1 has just announced to me today, in parents evening, that he wants to do a degree course at Loughborough University which will mean him moving away. This was the first I had heard of it!! He had vaguely mentioned Leeds University which meant he could stay living at home and I harboured the fanciful notion that he might even get a job and pay some board money laughs hysterically but now it looks like that's been blown out of the water and we'll have to support him! The chuffing course is a 4 year one too with a sandwich year....then when it stops there's the possibility that it'll start all over again with DS2

throws self to floor and weeps

£6 on contact lens fluid.

£10 on lunch out today with a colleague. My turn to pay but that got us yummy grilled chicken, nan, salads, drinks and a tip at a Kurdish place! Bargain.

NSDs for me, Tuesday, yesterday and Today. OH went into town to clear his office out, gave a load of things we have no space or need for to the building security guard, they don't earn much here, and noticed a café open. Nothing else was, but he decided he wanted to go out, so we went to the cinema. Didn't see How much he paíd but I reckon about £20-25. I can see I'm going to have knock him out to stop him spending. And steal his car keys.

I don't need to Get anything úntil next week, but the week after I have to pay Two lot's of Pilates. I thought about dropping it but they said I can pay later and it's keeping me sane ATM.

Rogue hope you can write that iPad off to tax or expenses

Just remembered DD1 is going out with a friend Tomorrow, she'll need a little bit of cash.

Claret stepson decided half way through his first year that he'd made a mistake and needed to change. He didn't tell us the new course was 4 years. We paíd his acomodación for that time which was not an issue, but we weren't expecting 5 year's worth.

Confused hope the book club goes well, what yellow sticker?

Been away with work. Not very many NSDs . Don't know if I told you I got the job so goodbye zero hours college.

I started the new job this week. DH has insisted I get a cleaner but my pay rise is three times what the cleaner costs so we're still up. The most important thing was to ditch the college.

Right will go back through the thread and catch up with all your news!

Adora, the idea is/was to expense it - it will then 'belong' to work... however, the chance of DH actually doing that is remote - he will find some reason to justify keeping it

confused, we do have quite a lot of Apple stuff. Weirdly DH will not countenance having an iPhone???? Very strange as we have 2 x iPod Touch(es) (Gen2 and Gen5), an iPad and an original iPod. Can't fathom why he is so against the iPhone...he is weird .

claret, the best laid plans of mice and men ... will get blown out of the water by the plans of our children. My DS is 13 and I dread finding out what hideous cost will be laid at our feet when he goes on to Uni. The upside is...you have a DS that actually wants to continue his education and is prepared to study for 4 years for it .

Well done to everyone who has managed NSD's and LSD's. This week they are an endangered event in my house...after £135.00 on groceries yesterday I spent another £40.00 today!!! On stuff I had forgotten. I despair. Also £7.95 on a prescription and another £32.50 on a sinus rinse kit...I know...bleurgh . Dr said I had to do it as I have an inner ear/eustachion tube infection that needs to be cleared...yuk.

Congrats on starting your new job helena and am slightly of your DH insisting on a cleaner . Good for you, glad you are still up on your money in column.

oh pants
Had to get out of the house yest, so instead of buying the clothes airer i spent a tenner ona massive candle (pregnancy nesting hormones right?), then a fiver on a starbuck bacon sarnie, then 6 quid inT k maxx on a hello kitty First Piano book for DD Xmas. She will LOVE it.

then today ws planning a NSD, have prepared a slow cooker beef curry for tea then this afternoon picked up 4 lovely pieces of haddock for a tenner for another pregnancy craving FISH & CHIPS homemade later, so will have the curry tomorrow. Needed potatoes and milk so that was another fiver.

have had to ask DH for more cash to last until end of next week. We have separatea accounts, where i manage all food shopping & money for my own bits and pieces, anything else comes out of his acct. We used to have a joint account but not sure if this worked well, as I knew there was enough in it, so i just spent more. This way, we actually both use a spreadsheet where extra money is there but is put towards his debts (I dont have CC debt) and savings.

but just think i need to budget better. but what to do? sOmetimes a pregnant woman needs to go with ger food cravings!

I reckon degrees could be read in 2 years, when you count up the long holidays its only 2 years study anyway. My course was clinical so I was in 5 days a week 09.15 to 16.45 every day. Some academic courses were 15 hours a week with a lot of reading around expected.

£6 on port for dh as a present.

Free bodyshop hand cream with the vouchercode app.

Half of the cats dental op fund saved I'm sure he would be delighted if he understood.

Well done Helena, I was hoping you'd get out of that zero hours contract. I'd like to see them banned.

£1 so far today on a shop-bought sandwich as I didn't have anything sandwich worthy in the fridge. £1 isn't bad though is it? Cheese & onion Mmmm food of the gods.

Do need to get petrol though but only enough til pay day so another £30 worth. Also need to go to the supermarket to get next week's sandwich stuff and do an online shop to last til the end of the month this evening.

I have a job interview on Tuesday and it's been 10 months since I've had to wear my own work clothes (uniform) and I've gained almost 2st in weight (yes 2st in 10m) since then so discovered today almost nothing fits anymore. I have a black jersey mock-wrap dress which I was planning to wear but DS1 told me I look like I'm going to a funeral, so I'm going to go shopping tonight to either but some colourful loud accessories or else some patterned tights. Anyway - at least it'll cost me less than a new outfit.

Thanks for the nice words about DS1, I guess I am very lucky. I'm frustrated because although we have 2 incomes coming in, they're not massive, and we have credit cards etc, but to all intents and purposes for grants, loans etc... it looks like we've got a good income but when it comes to reality there's not much spare money. The loan he would get wouldn't even cover a year in halls of residence but I guess things like that wouldn't occur to him. He's only in Year 12 anyway so things may change yet.

Hope you all have a nice weekend x

£1.90 for DS1 school dinner, then £3.60 in Farm Foods for milk & pork chops for dinner.

Claret if you look in charity shops (or even a car boot sale on Sunday?) you may well find a whole 'new' outfit for less than a tenner. Otherwise, a colourful scarf or patterned tights is a great idea, or maybe some bright costume jewellery. Good luck, anyway.

Helena congrats on starting your new job, I hope it goes on as well as it has started

Lineup you need lists! I'm quite lucky in that my pg cravings are fairly cheap & easy to satisfy - orange juice, chocolate (Tesco Value for 30p is fine) & avocados

Congrats Helena, fab that you are still up even after paying a cleaner.

I gave DD1 about £7 and have just broken the cooker. Melted a ring to be precise, I can only think the gas wasn't flowing evenly and it over heated while I nipped to the bathroom. I have no idea if we'll be able to Get a replacement part, have to Go to the importer next week and ask. The rest of the rings are useable.

Lineup pregnancy hormones are responsable for so much

Fluffy glad you've made some savings. Interesting what you said about your course. Here in Chile students usually gradúate at age 28, and most can be seen out on the montaña bikes all weekend and most week days too.

28? Do they all graduate with PhD's?

Hello, can I join? Is it too late?

We have about 6k debt, bills looming and are brassic.. We are trying really hard to stick to budget but its been a tough week.
I've just meal planned and spent £86 in aldi, got a few top up bits about £5 to get from tesco. If we can keep our spends to £100 ow ish we should be able to start paying down more debt.

Am dreading Xmas. And it's ds2s birthday in 2 weeks and I so desperately wanted to have a
Party for him :(

Welcome aboard puffylovat.

Fluffy I don't think they all do, it's mainly a cultural thing. Parents are responsable for the DCs úntil 28, unless they are married before then. It's still not comon to move out before getting married or remain un married after 28.