Austerity in October - *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

In here please.....

Pinch punch, first of the month.

congrats thatsinteresting and confused

Utterly bonkers That'sinteresting and Congrats , I'm only slightly because I don't actually want any moré than the Two I have, but I've only been PG once, which is just not fair although in terms of frugaleering...

Ah we'll get four meals from the chicken breasts works out cheaper for us than whole chicken as DH and DD are fussy.

It's so windy here! Come back sun all is forgiven. Found some frost bitten pork so its pork chorizio and chickpea stew tomorrow good remedy to the chill that's announcing autumn here.

Congrats to all expecting frankly you're both mad

Congratulations on the baby thats.

Congrat's to all those expecting to you all.

Well £10 on petrol but 20% will be claimed back as its business mileage & £25 on led light bulbs, I should get £5 cashback on that. That covers the dining light and the utility room. Only 10 light fittings left to change.

I'm on a mission to slowly replace all the bulbs. If I leave even one unchanged that will be the one dh leaves on all night.

Tomorrow is hopefully flu jab day so that will slow me down on the spending front but save me money from lost earnings, I was really ill last year with a virus.

Congrats thats, welcome to the 3DC club

Scan went well, dc3 is also ds3 Costly business, paid for parking twice as first ticket blew away in wind. Also £6 on photos. Then mcd tea for ds1 as running late, plus nuggets for us

Another NSD. And congrats to all expecting a third DC. Omg. We have 2 and well they drive me enough round the bend!!

Glad everything is looking good Confused shame about the car park ticket though. Am currently shopping and had to stop for a quick coffee, will update later.

Welcome eastmidlands and congrats to all those that are preggers!

Im back after a bad week. Not financially but with an ill DS and me being ill too it's been hard. We are on matching his n hers anti-biotics so on the mend.

£2today on a birthday collection at work. I owe another £2 for another and £1 to a colleague for milk - I ran out of cash in my purse. Must remember to pay off my debts tomorrow.

Hope both you and DS feel much better soon Picnmix

I spent around forty pounds, stocked up on things which were on offer in the shop I don't get to often. Then fifty pounds filling up on petrol. Tomorrow should be an NSD.

Ohhelp unless the things you already have are worn out and now dangerous you do not to buy anymore of them. How's that?

I used to buy Sainsbo's ketchup as it had a higher tomatoe content than the obvious alternativa brand and the teens I was feeding at the time (cousins and stepson) all said it was nice. DDs were to young to hold an opinión

Well done ohhelp on putting all those things back! I have to brave Next on Saturday to buy a gift voucher - I shall need nerves of steel to resist buying shoes!

Doing a top up shop in Waitrose later (few bits for the weekend) then that should be it.

Both schools are doing harvest collections for the local food bank. Coffee was on the list and I found big jars of carte dor for £2 each in Sainsburys.

Couldn't post yesterday evening, very frustrating

Actually spent some money yesterday

£1.50 on bread and margarine
£1.78 on 2 mum and grandma birthday cards

Number of days to payday...19 (woo less than three weeks). Total personal money spent so far = £95.04 of which £47.05 was spent on presents / cards / work collections, and £20 a refundable deposit on a school book.

Total spent on groceries = £155.03 (£77 average, target = £87 based on a four week month) God, I am such an anorak.

Had to put the heating on yesterday. It was freezing when I woke up this morning and not so warm when I got in this evening. It's only set for 50 minutes in a morning and 3hrs 10m at night so hopefully it won't cost that much extra. I can switch it off again if we get another burst of okay weather.

Another nice, cheap, quick tea last night - giant yorkshire pudding and value tinned Irish stew.

Thanks for the petrol website Blackberry

All my days seem to be spendy at the moment, especially as I am back on the tobacco sigh . Today I have to go by my parents a wedding anniversary gift, tomorrow is my birthday, next week is the bloke's birthday. All money. Plus I need new shoes and a coat, unless I want to spend winter in hiking sandals and a hoodie (wouldn't be the first winter I've only had a hoodie on to be honest). I was looking at Karrimor but for both I was looking at £80. Nope. Tried Lidl but they didn't have my size (they said they did, the coat had the right size in it, but was way too small.)

On the bright side, my tea was cheap last night, cost less than 50p... a crisp sandwich. Diet's going well then!

Soup making day today. Mmmmmmmm. . As it's cold and drizzly here today it's not a hardship to get the soup-pan out.

And definitely a NSD here - desperately need one as have been a bit spendy of late.

Dwerf, does your Dr's surgery run a stop smoking programme? Some do and fund your 'giving up smoking stuff' for, I think, three months?? Sorry, only mentioning it as you appear to want to stop. And don't feel bad about a crisp sandwich...there's little more satisfying that a lovely crisp sandwich .

Yeah, they do, and so does the local school. I've done it two? Three times? Quitting is easy, staying quit is hard. I can do it on my own, I've done it loads of times I've done the Alan Carr book, I've used patches, ecigs, inhalators... I quit, and it's fine, and then my brain crashes and I'm back on the cigs. I think it's a psychological problem rather than a physical addiction.

My bank account is in the black to the tune of four figures! Unfortunately the vast majority of this is ds's money for his uni rent. I can't wait for it to clear and be gone. Over a grand of someone else's money in my account is scary.

Nsd here (hopefully), had to buy a plug socket yesterday.

Very jealous of those expecting, congrats! Ds2 is 9wks and I don't think we could afford 3 teenagers in 12yrs so he might be our last....

What's everyone upto this weekend? Cold and wet usually means jumping in puddles here! Which is lovely and free.

Third no spend day in a row today! woohoo!
So far this week £51 on weekly food shop £4 on cat food which will last til the end of the month, £20 on a Christmas present for ds (am so pleased as I got it brand new off eBay and they are currently selling for £80 in the shops so that's his main Xmas present sorted). Did get a bit naughty in town and bought the ds's a book each so that was £7.50.

I did buy myself a jumper but had a gift voucher. I also bought a second top but took it back as I didn't really need it. I think I need to avoid trips to town as it did make me want to get spendy!

I've cancelled the led bulb order, same things £8 on amazon.

They've still got a "reserve" on my current account so I can't order anything.

I'm hoping for free eBay listing this weekend, I've got a denim shirt from all saints that can go. I never wear it.

Watching another spin dryer on eBay, last one must have been bought cih because it just vanished.