Austerity in October - *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

In here please.....

Pinch punch, first of the month.

I also decided to keep the gym membership for the family as we get so much out of it. The good thing is the things I am keeping I now appreciate far more than I did and see their true value so I don't feel hard done by with the things we are cutting out.

Ok, I've looked at the cost of sanex. Fairly sure my homebargains sells it much cheaper but at the moment superdrugs doing it for £1.50 with free home delivery & topcashback will give you a few pence towards it (literally as cashbacks not great at superdrug but every penny etc). You could order 12 and hide them for dispensing as needed.

Could he switch to a double edge razor? Replacement blades are very cheap and he could have a fancy shaving set for Christmas which needed blades.

Men are very resistant to change so I usually do things but don't tell him. If he notices I deny all knowledge, he thinks batchellors marrow fat peas are the best but hasn't noticed the switch to Aldi ones.

I've found a lot of veg freezes really well, since doing this I've cut down on waste & I spend less. Lovefoodhatewaste has lots of storage tips, I would imagine things like apples and pears keep well in a plastic box in the fridge, it comes from abroad ok so it should last a while once it's actually here. Try tinned & frozen fruit, especially berries. Asda had 1kg of pears in juice for 50p last week. Much cheaper and perfect for winter puddings.

I don't know what to suggest wrt to fussy eaters, my childhood didn't involve fussiness because there was one option for meals & tough if you didn't like it. Cod roe sticks out but looking back I realise they didn't have much money. It must be a bit tiring cooking multiple meals though.

You won't be missing out, you'll have more money in the bank for one thing, and why should you help buy the CEO of Tescos next yacht?.

All this talk of bread and butter puddings is doing me no good at all.

OK, I'm joining in this time. DH's self employed pay is having a wobble so I'm sole breadwinner this month.

We are budgeting carefully but it's going to be extra-frugal cooking. I'm also trying to lose weight which means I'm trying for a lot of fresh fruit and veg.

If anyone banks with Halifax, they seem to be doing a thing where special offers just appear randomly in the online banking. I have been sent one for 20% off at Morrisons which might actually beat Aldi for a fortnightly shop.

Hello BTW

Thank you all.

I do tend to get the sanex when it's half price (tesco do this periodically) then put it in a box which is affectionately known as 'little tesco' where my stash of stuff goes. Nice idea about the razor and was strapped for xmas ideas for him, so I'm going to suggest that! He likes 'traditional' things so that might be an idea!

Oh and tassimo pods from tesco that I can't seem to get cheaper elsewhere. Now I KNOW thats a luxury, but the costa works out at a fraction of what DH would spend getting one every day on his way into work (and we do only have one a day each from it.....)

I also think I could make more money from my hobby. I make sterling silver jewellery with fairtrade silver from Thailand. I sell a few bits, and did a party for friends earlier this year which made me about £150 profit (everyone said my stuff was reasonably priced and pretty, but there are only so many 'friends' I can encourage to buy stuff and I don't want to be pushy). I work entirely with men barr one other woman! Keep thinking this could be making me a bit of extra money too.... somehow!

Hello to all newbies waves

Forgot to mention in yesterday's spending the £75 on diesel , but that should have filled the tank & hopefully last a week or more. Also pleased as I got about £2.50 off with a voucher & put it on the Cashback credit card so will get 3% back.

DH was also on the phone last night for a good while with an accountant. He has just gone self-employed & wants to hire one to help him with tax returns etc. This one is £1k per year, but focusses on DH's industry, which HMRC have apparently been clamping down on loads lately. The idea is that the accountant should save DH above & beyond this money, as well as being the person who knows what to do & what to claim etc.

Actually, that reminds me - his current contract finishes at the end of the month, so we're hoping there will be something else afterwards. In his industry you only ever know for definite if you'll have work the working day before you have it, which can get a bit hairy at times!

alabaster re tassimo pods, sign up to their website & like them on Facebook! I got a £10 code plus free delivery this weekend (minimum order £25) from Facebook. They do this about 3-4 times per year, so we stock up then. Also, you can register your machine to get £10 (I think) off your first online order.

Bread and butter Pudding is lush with frozen berries in it, wif custard or wifout.

Thanks Ifcatshadthumbs as I can reach a big Sainsburies by bike and will try their bread- really glad for a recommendation. We have Sainsburies Local opposite us but they only have Genius (at least they have something which is great!) We do make popcorn a fair bit which is a hopefully healthy carb and certainly cheap! Dd will live rice crispy cakes.

I'm liking the soup idea. We often have tired celery etc looking sad and use it that way.

We're focusing on travel economy too at the moment (!) It's a mile to school so walking a lot instead if the bus but I must say it tires me out as I never seem to sit down during the day!

Tagging along for another month...

Thanks for the tassimo facebook tip!

Does anyone want a pair of 2 4 1 days out tickets? I got them with tesco petrol. They're valid at the merlin places - legoland, madame tussauds, chessington, etc etc... one free ticket with one paying adult. Won't cost me anything to get them to whoever wants them courtesy of office franking machine

I know it's not saving money to go on a day out but even so, might suit someone as a DC Bday treat or whatever. Doesn't seem to have an end date on them (says 2013 season end, but some places are open all year round?) but that would need checking. Shame to chuck them in the bin.... in the rare event more than one person wants them I'll try to be diplomatic and give them to whoever gets in first!!

Spent moré Today than I anticipated, £7 in the grocers, £3 on a snack and £8 in the supermarket. Got some hash browns for OH's breakfast but they were expensive so I need to prep lot's of potatoes, bought 5 kilos, to chuck in with eggs etc in the mornings.

Rogue my OH would do the same, but with him it's moré that eating is a waste of time that should be Spent doing something moré productivo, hence the headaches he used to suffer from and the diagnosis a few years back of pre-diabetes. He's learning, slowly.

Nearly forgot the other £9 in the Health food shop.

Ohhelp sorry you've had to cancel and hope DH is better soon.

Hello to all the newbies. Our energy switch has happened without incident, it only saves us about £5 a month but it all adds up and came with £100 cashback. £160 saved = short summer break. Broadband and phone switched 2 weeks ago but after numerous calls from mobile, we still don't have a landline. I will be making a long complaint when it's fixed. So far we've had 3 people out to look at it. This switch only saves 42p a month but got £70 cashback and better broadband. I think I've been chasing good deals for so many years I can't really do better. Cashback from switching is the only way to make money.

alabaster If you sit down one evening for 3/4 hours and really look at your spending you can make changes. Our income is around 10k less than yours, we don't have childcare costs, our mortgage is £850 a month, apart from that we're debt free. We take our income minus bills, food, petrol etc, then put aside some for annual costs, Christmas, insurance etc, then roughly dividr what's left by 3. One lot is for dc entertainment, swimming, clothes etc and the other 2 are for me and dh to spend on whatever we wish, beer, take aways, clothes, haircuts, swimming/cinema with dc. We don't get a lot of 'pocket money' but you quickly realise what you really need vs want.

I've spent half my life getting into and out of debt. I know which one is easier but I also know which one makes you feel empowered. It's a project. All projects need a goal, a plan, a manager and regular reviewing. You'll get there.

My halifax money is in, £100. Phew.

Evening all! I'm definitely, at some point, going to make bread and butter pudding :-) We're not really a pudding household either, my kids will think it's either Christmas, or I am giving them bad news.

Today's spends
£1.00 (grocery budget) on a bottle of pepsi max I am addicted to the stuff and I guzzle gallons. If DH can get all his packed lunch shit out of our grocery budget then it can damn well fund my pepsi max habit.
£10.00 (cash) in my next door neighbour's birthday card.

£2.07 on three birthday cards
£4.00 into two collections at work, one for a 30th birthday and the other for a leaving collection.

£61.92 in my car for petrol. Hopefully that should last me around three weeks.

Took the leftover corned beef hash for lunch and tonight's tea is meatballs and value pasta in a value tomato pasta sauce with value garlic bread with value cheese sprinkled over the top.

I'm back, although on a non-frugal note as DH is picking up a takeaway curry right about now.

Using the car so much less since DS started school, so hoping for some savings there.

£14 on top up shop. Grr because I left dh to do the weekend shop as I was at work all weekend, gave him waitrose coupon and thought he'd be fine. He spent £75 - ok for waitrose but wait, he ended up with 4 apples. How? He said it was expensive. Well yes, he bought the posh apples. Even for waitrose standards it was posh!!

So cue me having to stop at sainsbos on the way home to get fruit, bread and milk. Then picked up some reduced croissants and Danishes. Doh.

I was v good at being frugal for a while. Now it's difficult. Mostly I think because I've not had a chance to batch cook. This week for example, we had filled pasta tonight, pizza last night and some pasta with sausage thing on Monday.

Looking forward to Friday when I'm determined to take the day off and batch cook some things. This weekend is kinda clear too so I'm hoping for lots of freezable portions of food!!

Huge thank you to whoever it was upthread who suggested a traditional razor and twinsided blades for DH. Subtly brought up subject and he got a whistful look, reminisced, and said he'd love another as he hasn't had one for 20 years..... cue sorted Xmas gift and it's a long term money saver to boot!

thatsinteresting - yep, that sums up my adult life too. Spent my younger years not earning much, but had my own little house and kept my head above water, but in and out of little bits of debt. Then I met my first husband.... he earned a packet. I was able to live as I fancied. I feel sick when I think about it now, seriously my stomach turns over. Our wedding in 2003 cost £18,000 and we had three big overseas holidays every year. I used to drive miles to fancy celeb hairdressers, have my nails done every week. I spent a stupid fortune on clothes and make-up and cosmetics. I wasn't happy. It was all vacuous rubbish. Ex-H was a twunt, who spent lavishly, and also poked his widger around lavishly as well, mostly on other women other than his wife. I came out of the marriage terribly. He was a manipulative, nasty, sociopath and I ended up taking a very low settlement just to get away from him and cut all ties. I ended up at 37 starting again with a 25 year mortgage and a huge change of lifestyle. Within a year I'd met my lovely (poor!!) DH and we now have two much wanted children together, but our financial lifestyle is much, much different. I'm much much happier, but much much poorer!!

I switched!

Applied online late Monday night, got approved, had my card on Thursday & was all set up with Internet banking by Friday night.

I got the account with the monthly £5 credit.

Glad you are happy now AlabasterAngel that's one thing you can't put a price on.

Morning Peeps . The sun is shining (for a while, at least) and it makes everything seem so much nicer.

So, yesterday was £50.00 on diesel (it's taken me above half full so I hope that will last for October).

Today the on line shop is coming ... £100+ but I think that will be it for the day.

Have decided that, excepting DS (it's hard to knit Lego and XBox games ), that everyone is getting knitting and handmade gifts this year. Am completely fed up with the horrific bill that comes in at the start of January. Although...I do have to check out a basket on Amazon (the start of the Christmas purchasing????? Or can I possibly play it off as normal purchases ). May do that today or wait til tomorrow.

Alabaster, totally agree with Adora ... completely priceless. .

LSD yesterday - £4.50 for tickets to the school Halloween disco, today I'm hoping for an NSD and also tomorrow too. Need to get new front tyres for the car so off to find online quotes for that.....not on cashback sites, how rude!

alabaster - completely know how you feel, my ex-H was very controlling and took years to leave with DD but am about to marry DP. Being happy is something that can't be bought.

NK5BM3 - we've had pasta three times this week already because I didn't cook last weekend, and won't get the chance until next Tuesday!