Austerity in October - *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

In here please.....

Pinch punch, first of the month.

Karbea, yes Waitrose do give away Sunday papers, however, I think a minimum spend of £5 is necessary to get said paper (on weekdays too) and you need a 'My Waitrose' card?

I've got the card, excellent, going to cancel the Sunday papers too then!

rogue is correct, it's £5 minimum spend; Observer, Telegraph & Mail I think on Sunday?

Helena, where in the country are you? I find Netmums has really good listing pages for local events & stuff.

NSD here, £4 in Tesco yesterday & whatevs DH spent on my birthday card for tomorrow so I may have to buy myself a treat tomorrow!

Right, Sunday papers cancelled.
I've hung out some washing rather than using the tumble dryer and printed out all the money off vouchers I've not used from tesco, came to £35!!! Did ironing from yesterday's washing and now eating leftover curry from last night for lunch.
Tried to download a voucher for pizza but it wouldn't print, so I've emailed the company :(

Managed to get the vouchers to print :)
Spent a while in Santander whilst the nice man tried to find my Bradford and bingley isa, he couldn't so he's going to try the master system and call me.
Then I went to tesco, I got...
Frozen mixed veg £1
Frozen pizza £3.99 (but had a £2 coupon)
2 x Alberto balsam shampoo were on offer £2 ( I did have a coupon for Aussie, but it was still more expensive, this'll be interesting as my last shampoo was over £10 a bottle :/)
Fairy dishwasher tablets £6 (I had a £1 coupon)
And a birthday card £1.50.
Using vouchers and coupons, I spent 39p :)

Checking in for another NSD for me.

Found out today that work are interviewing 10 of us for the supervisor's job instead of the six I had thought. I feel slightly gutted that they're interviewing so many when they have the perfect candidate in me. It feels like they are saying to me, if I get the job it's only as a last resort.

However had a text from old, old line manager who told me my old (public sector) employers where I adored working are going to be externally recruiting in the near future WOOHOO. (not that I am desperate to work anywhere else, I just need more money).

Still no repayment from my credit card.

Karbea you are on a roll, don't forget to break those dishwasher tablets in half

I have a 15% off code for garden trading, I still can't afford the outside lamp I want but they've started sending me Moc so it's a start.

It's moneysavingexpert newsletter tomorrow, it's sad how much I look forward to it.

£2.70 on lunch, left my sandwich in the fridge

fluff I don't think I can break them in half as they are the liquidy ones.

I never really know what to do with martins email, so it'll be good to chat it over with you guys!

Evening all. Stay focused and positive claret!

Milk and a can of pop today so just £1.89. Visited a friend this afternoon who has a 3 month old. Gave her loads of clothes and books and it feels good to have emptied a cupboard.

Work tomorrow but I will need petrol as nearly on red. I listed some items for sale on our intranet last week so hopefully I'll go in to some responses.

Not spent much today, just £5 on a guided walk/craft session at our local big park, then £2.90 on tins for harvest festival plus cakes for playdate.

Not tried splitting dishwasher tabs, but I find the powder a lot cheaper, buy Tesco Daisy brand & use 1-2 dessert spoonfuls, box lasts ages.

I use half a tablet but only on the Eco wash, never on the 30 minute cycle.

I use aldi classic tablets because they aren't tested on animals. Co-op, astonish, M&S own brand and ecover are all cruelty free.

Sometimes an intensive cycle with a cup of soda crystals thrown in the bottom of the machine really improves the wash.

NSD. Brought lunch to work. Haven't paid my cc bill yet nor have I claimed for my £12 parking ticket. Just got home from work (I usually do a 9-5 type job). It's only the start of term and I'm already burnt out.

Spent £6.82 on milk, eggs and something else (?).

I've also made a donation to NSPCC. We donate £2 every month but I normally give them something extra at Christmas. We have some bills coming up and Christmas to pay for and I'll feel like a dick if it gets to December and we can't afford to donate so I've done it now. The money's gone if it means my dc get slightly less they won't even notice anyway. We're awash with plastic tat, building blocks, cars and beads.

I always use half a dishwasher tablet and, like Fluffy, find it's fine on an eco wash. If your machine isn't getting stuff clean try putting the tablet on the bottom instead of in the drawer.

Morning all,

Dinner last night cost £20 with the voucher, it ended up being a bit of a birthday celebration for a friend so cost more than I wanted really.
Today will be a nsd as I'm not now going out due to the rain, so more ironing and cleaning ;)
Hope the guy from the bank calls!
I might phone the inland rev today as I'm sure I'm due a tax rebate after giving up working.

Oh and I've started using the Eco function on the dishwasher, I'd never noticed it before :/

NSD yesterday but need to get bread on the way home so not today.......
Thanks for the books tip claret, DP has decided he's going to have a cull of CDs as well so will wait until he's finished with that before I see what we can get

Evening all. Only thirteen more days to pay day. £122 in my shopping budget left and £31 in the petrol budget. Both cars are pretty full although DH will have some work mileage to do

Spent some money today - £1.69 on a bottle of pepsi max as I simply could not face a day without pepsi max and £3.95 on a Kindle book - I haven't bought one all month but couldn't face a night of football on the TV.

Remembered my MOT is due in the middle of November, no way will I be able to afford to pay that in cash. Utterly gutted.

Rang Natwest about the loan and they said they'll accept printed from the internet statements so I printed them all off. It made for depressing reading - every month for each month both the spends account and the bills account have had more money going out than has been coming in. I'm really mad for letting it go under the radar for so long - and they are just the months I looked at.

I really, really, really hope I get this job although manager let slip today that if the calibre of candidates at interview is as good as the calibre of the application forms, there will definitely be second interviews.

Could you go to a council run mot centre? They don't do repairs so they are less likely to fail you.

£12 on two thermal tops from M&S outlet, should arrive tomorrow

65p on milk & I have a voucher for a free steak dinner at the beefeater, not had a meal out for ages. I can't actually remember the last time we ate out.

£13 rebate off council tax.

Chilli was yum, now left with 200g of mince to use tmr, what can I do with it that's very different to chilli eg not spaghetti Bol!

Meatballs?

Good call!

Will catch up later, just grabbing a moment away from RL, had 3 NSD's but Today DDs need yet more bloody art supliese for a school project, it's being graded and count towards the IB so I can't really refuse.

Dogs have been Frontlined, or whatever equivelant DH got, plus de-wormed again. DH always quotes in US dólares since we moved so I think it was around £150.

The week's shop I did last Saturday is doing Well but DH really needs to grasp How much moré it costs to eat omlettes, potatoes, ham, fish, mushrooms etc for breakfast instead of me just buying a load of bread each week. He's not exactly being arsey but needs his eyes opening. I think I shall send him out with a very select shopping list and disect the Bill with him when he gets back.