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

[Fluffycloudland77]

NSD.

Or have a look \link{http://www.nectar.com/collect/nectar-adpoints.points\here.} And then log in.

Sorry - I was being lazy.

Thanks Cozie, I un subscribed from lots of emails so I wasn't tempted to spend!.

This obviously has a downside. I just have to remember my login

NSD!! slept lots, i did the get up early shift with the kids 7am - 10am to let an overtired DH sleep in...then i went back to bed and he took the kids for a long bike ride. then i went for a lovely FREE beach walk

then home & cooked the homemade fish & chips! was delish, would have paid 30quid easily for it from a takeaway right?

out tomorrow for a special family lunch, prob spending 60quid

there really is no way around not spending in this life

iheartshoes : def library visits, morning walks with a flask and a supply of biccies and fruit in your buggy, packed lunch, visits to museums/friends houses/ or stay in for a morning, do batch baking, then afternoon walks as above. i remember having to make everything so so simple when DCs were small, simple snacks in the buggy, bottles of water, used library lots for dvds and books and magazines for me, ( I read lots of cookbooks to keep me sane)

Typing this from my bed after a busy day! NSD here. Got some food shopping in but I was able to use a gift card again for that so effectively free. I've got family down but not staying with me as my flat is too wee. We had dinner here and im going to their hotel in the morning for a dip in the pool. They'll have my DS so it'll be my first swim without him since he was born. Think I may have forgotten how to swim!!

Fluffy I use lavender oil, mixed with any other oil, on my temples, neck, shoulders and sometimes arms and legs when I'm stressed, it really does help. Hope that sore paw recovers soon and you feel better too. Right now I'm using herbal chill pills because I stubbornly refuse to take what my Dr. wants to prescribe they really help.

Had to buy emergencia sanpro while out Today, and the painkillers where on special offer so I got Those too, about £6. Had to use my CC though as couldn't find my other card. Must Go through my bag Tomorrow.

Hope you enjoy your swim picnmix

Morning! Spent £51 on bras. But they are my post bf bras (dd who is 3 today!!!) has been persuaded not to bf anymore. We are on day 3...

Friends bought us brunch which was really nice. Spent maybe £6 on ice creams. About £20 at sainsburys as we put a whole lots of coppers in tht coin star machine and got £5.45 so got that off our shop.

So this weeks 'food shop' was only £40 which included a £11 pj set for DS. I'm happy. Will try and eat out that freezer and see how we go.

Happy birthday to takeaway's DD

Can I join? Am trying to save for DD's future- she's 4. From 2 to 3, I put away £1 a week for her, but that stopped and I feel bad Also, where do you shop at? We are at Tesco, we have £20 a week for food and wonder if it's cheaper to spend £2 on the bus to go to Aldi, Lidl or Asda in town?

Welcome Alltwerkandnoplay

Could you put away a smaller amount for DD's future fund úntil things improve? Even just a few pennies so you can feel moré positive? I'm over seas so can't help with the supermarket thing but I'm sure someone better placed will help you.

Happy Birthday to takeaway2's DD

Hello Twerk. I just did a long post and the Internet ate it . I shall start again.

I would keep the £2 and shop at tesco but use value range for fruit, veg, frozen stuff, meat and cleaning products but make cake because some value cakes are teeny. I've used value sanitary towels for ages, partly because it annoys me so much that it's a VAT rateable product.

These vegan brownies taste like normal brownies but cost pennies allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6036/vegan-brownies.aspx

england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ This is good for recipes and storage tips, no point throwing food out after all.

www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/ Also good.

resourcefulcook.com/ Not tried this one yet.

Happy Birthday to takeaways DD

mortgagefreeinthree.com/category/frugal-food/

thanks for those great links, Fluffy.

Pleased with myself that today we popped into a massive shopping centre this afternoona and I managed to spend zero zero zero pounds. Settled with a good look at pretty things in Cath Kidston & Next home and this seemed to be enough for me, I was able to walk away!!! meant a lot to be able to do that - willpower.

15quid on bits and pieces for lunchboxes for the week including a lovely 'cif' floorcleaner for wooden floors which was reduced to 2 quid. Will make house smell lovely

Happy birthday to the little 'un , and welcome all newbies. Hope everyone had a good weekend?

Spendy day out in Whitby yesterday (about £50 altogether, including travel, lunch, dinner and a birthday gift for my mum), but had an NSD today.

Just spent about £12 in Tesco today, on bits & pieces. DH spent £30 in Homebase on a circular saw as if he doesn't have enough tools to fill the store already, anyway

I had a good couple of hours at the new house today packing kitchen stuff away, which I was really please with as I feel quite grotty & coldy. DH has been dividing one of the bigger bedrooms on the middle floor (a good-sized double) into two for the DSes, then they will have the other good-sized double as their playroom & new baby will have the box room. He has also knocked through the two bedrooms upstairs to give us a larger bedroom & ensuite shower room. Exciting stuff

Tomorrow will be fairly spendy - 50p toddler group, 50p class money for DS1, £4 football for DS1, at the very least.

Thanks Fluffy and all the links. Adora I think I could, even 50p would at least add up, especially if/when my income improves (and any money I have left over I split so some is saved for emergencies, some goes to her). Never thought I'd be doing this, I didn't think my income could change so much

Thank you everyone for birthday greetings!! She really enjoyed herself. We had her party last weekend so today was just cake and dinner with close friends (like family). That was £50. DS went to chess club - first time ever and loved it!! That was £1 but kept him and his father occupied for 2 hours. Not bad for a 5 year old! Oh and filled up the petrol tank - £67.

Happy week ahead everyone.

can anyone share how they budget fort he week ahead in terms of doy ou get cash out at start of week or do you only pay by debit card for things, so you dont end up taking out cash AND paying by card?

does that make sense?

I'm going to do an experiment from this week where it's cash only. I'm thinking i may need to change food shopping from a monthly large shop & several small top up shops, to a weekly shop where i have a certain amount of cash ONLY and will see how it works, if it works better

as really, using card then topping up with cash shops just isnt working for me at all, or it hasnt worked this month at all

Lineup - I think it really depends on how you spend and how you treat credit cards.

For us, we pay off our cc bills at the end of each month. We don't owe any on the cards. That means the spend on cards only gets us things like nectar points or store card points (eg John Lewis cards give me a couple of tenners every few months based on my spend or nectar American Express card collects points even if I spend at other places so it makes sense to buy say clothes on cc as every pound I spend gives me a nectar point which I can use to redeem at sainsburys etc).

Having said that... I took out quite a chunk of money a few weeks ago and it's great seeing the money still in my wallet. There are things I pay with cash but the fact that I haven't had to withdraw money every week or every few days has made me feel quite virtuous.

I think using cash gives you control. None of the 'oh another £10 on drinks doesn't matter...' Having said that if you are going to use the stuff (toilet roll or whatever that can last) and its going for cheap then you need to think whether you can spend that money now...

Sorry. Not very helpful!

NSD here.

Welcome alltwerk.

When I get paid I work out what I've got foe the month, put a little into my isa and then work out my weekly budget. Each week I take out the cash. So this month I have £70 a week. This is pretty difficult as I can use £40 a week petrol but at the mo I have lots of food in my cupboards and freezer, and it's only me and DS, so manageable. I find it easier to have the cash as I can physically count it each day if I want, and finishing a week with even a few quid left feels like a big achievement.

NSD yesterday but only because my visiting family treated me to lunch.

Didn't get a swim as DS was being awkward (think he's teething and he has a bad cough) so it was just getting too complicated to leave him with my rellies. Im hoping for one this morning though so fingers crossed!

Happy (belated) birthday to takeaways DD. Glad she had a great day.

Welcome to all newbies and welcome backs to all those returning.

Saturday was a NSD but yesterday was a little spendy as had a "introduction to fairisle knitting the continental way" class - it was wonderful and lovely and I had a great time. The teacher was amazing. Anyway, I had (had to ) buy some wool .... DH and DS spent the day together without me being around and had a great time, sans Mum. Must do it more often .

Meeting a friend for coffee this morning and ill need to pop into supermarket for bits and pieces but will keep it to a minimum.

Adora, I think I may have missed an entry or two - so sorry about your DH's job. Are job prospects good for him? Having been in this position with my DH a few times (he is an engineer) it is stomach-churningly worrying. Your essential oil treatment sounds lovely - I will give it a try. I always use lavandar oil in baths when DS is ill - it is very kind and soothing and good for helping to reduce scarring (in chicken pox)!!

Someone upthread (sorry, can't find the post now) talked about going out for coffee - I would suggest picking a coffee house and getting their loyalty card - Costa do one that gives your pence per purchase so, over time, you save enough to 'buy' a coffee/tea for free - what I mean is...loyalty to a particular chain then get a freebie every now and again (if you are buying out).

Ooofft busy busy weekend! I was out of the house for a whole NINE HOURS yesterday watching three football games. This wasn't even following a professional team to an away game, it was three junior games and all the associated trekking about that entailed. Anyway - that made Sunday a NSD.

After I'd written my post on Saturday I had to have a long chat with DH about out money situation. To cut a long story short we have £1000 to spend on food, petrol, and everything else including personal spends and should try to save summat from that. Last month, he withdrew cash and used the debit card to spend £350 which is a third of our available money and more than I had spent on groceries for the whole month, leaving us only £15 available til pay day (I could go into the overdraft so I am not destitute).

Anyway we've decided he can have 50% of our estimated surplus which is £190. I'm pretty frugal so although I have the same amount for myself, and the two DS's I should have plenty left and be able to make savings in groceries etc... I am quite looking forward to not having him plundering our current account, I should be able to start saving up for a new carpet without worrying that he will just go to the bank and make umpteen cash withdrawals.

So his £155 extra in his wage will become the emergency savings accounts as I desperately don't want to spend it as it's our cushion for when interest rates go up.

However in order for him not to make any cash withdrawals this week for lunches I had to go to Morrisons on Saturday afternoon and spent £14.69 in total, of which £8.34 was stuff for him to make packed lunches, and the rest was a top up shop.

8 days to go till the 1st and we are down to £41 to spend on food only before going over budget. Uh oh. I need to really plan meals and be strict.

thanks ilovepicnmix, i think I'll try a similar system to yours, taking out cash for the weeks household food/toiletries

it will make it seem more real to me, having X amount to use and no more

i've hidden 15 quid in a mug in the kitchen cupboard as the start of a cash savings plan, until i get round to picking up one of those unopenable moneytins. feeling optimistic that i wont spend it this week