November Numbercrunchers *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

In here please.

Feel free to post a daily spending diary, to ask for advice or just for a general money moan.

Not quite a NSD here - spent £12 on a new appointments diary and some biros (rock 'n' roll). The nanny got £40 out in cash too, but then realised she didn't need to pay for the group she thought she did, so that's just extra in her kitty - she is pretty frugal so it will last a while, so I'm not too anxious about that. Have accounted for it in my budgeting software so it doesn't take me by surprise later though!

Am in SAHM mode tomorrow, and I always find I do little spends when looking after the kids, so will have to be extra firm with myself not to do any coffee shop treats. Am going to have a fun morning with DS2 going through the freezer and seeing what we can turn into meals to minimise the next few food shops.

Right - I need to get back into frugal mode. I have been spending like there's no tomorrow. I am going to withdraw £80 tomorrow and make that do for the week. There is plenty of food in the freezer to last us and I will bake bread and make soup. I will need milk though.

Going out to lunch (unfortunately) on Friday but will have something cheap. I could drink water and refuse desert, or is that going too far?

I am going to go back to going to Tesco at night when everything is being reduced. I save so much that way. We are also getting an ALDI built 5 minutes walk away. I think it will be open for Christmas.

I have been selling bits on Gumtree, must put some more things on.

NSD today at least!

Swimming today with ds, £2.20. Butter and eggs from Sainsbury's as we have only 2 portions of porridge left between 4 of us as breakfast options.

Possibly I used to be generous with my money but now we have dc I realise several things, one of those was that people expected my generosity but weren't that grateful, sadly. Now I still do things with the dc but use vouchers or Tesco points. There's only a finite amount of money no matter what you earn. The local sealife costs about £56 for 4 people (I know, shocking). Using 2-4-1 either means we can go twice for the same money or I can put £28 towards first cars/homes which ultimately will be of use to dc when many early experiences will have been forgotten.

That makes me sound beyond tight! I just meant in years to come my dc won't remember or care that we took a picnic to Drayton Manor instead of buying lunch, easily saving £20.

NSD today.

My zips gone on my work trousers so I need cheap navy trews tm & flour & chick crumb for cat litter.

Apparently there's a "grabbit while you can" thread on mse for tesco price glitches so I will see if I can find a link to it. People are buying wine for £2 a bottle , I imagine most of us have a tesco nearby.

The electric cashback came through today so I will put that & the washing machine cashback towards the £270 I owe to the savings account for a furniture deposit.

It feels like Christmas come early when I get cashback.

Sainsburys grabbit thread

Tesco grabbit thread

Hi can I join too?

Dh out of work since June and I can't increase hours at work - only on 12 hrs.

Have claimed child tax credit, JSA, and related benefits.

We've cancelled life insurance and pet insurance apart from for my ill cat.

Now just paying utilities, BT package which is £40 for landline, broadband and tv, mobiles, home insurance, mortgage, council tax (reduced due to JSA), tv licence, gas service. We can't cancel BT or mobiles due to tie in period, don't want to cancel boiler service as the boiler is getting on a bit and causes problems nearly every year!

Food shopping is main expense as I don't eat anything with gluten or dairy. I've started using Aldi, but struggle to get weekly shop below £75. I know eating lots of pasta and very little meat would be cheaper, but I would feel very ill.

Petrol cost is very low as I only drive a few miles to work 3 times a week.

I've looked for babysitting, dog walking, cleaning jobs locally, but times are hard and there's nothing. No supermarket work either. I'm looking for a fulltime job too, but there is nothing locally.

Any good tips for cutting bills ?

Have you rung bt & said you want to cancel? When I did (and I really did want to cancel I wasn't just after a discount) they offered to reduce my package straightaway.

You could talk to your mobile provider too, they might cut the cost for reduced minutes or data.

Have you swapped electric suppliers? Or have you already checked that you have the cheapest deal?

Have you joined topcashback & quidco? You will need to buy things at some point so you may as well get something back.

solid that must be tough. Lots of gluten free pasta/lentils/eggs. Could you make gluten free bread? It is heinously expensive (I occasionally buy or make it to cater for an intolerant friend!). Cheap cuts of meat in casseroles.

I would phone BT and mobile providers and explain the situation - mobile provider might be able to extend contract at a reduced monthly rate? No idea if they will, am just speculating.

Hi fluffy Thanks for your reply.

We haven't called Bt. because we need the broadband, but are tied into the tv as we took it out before dh became unemployed. So we need the landline for broadband (I work from home a lot) and are still tied into tv, not sure how much longer, but will check.

O2 reduced my bill when I asked, but wouldn't go lower than £20 per month. Dh can't reduce his until late December as its a business tariff.

I think I am a member of Quidco, but haven't used it, as I thought it would only be a few pence. Can I use it for food shopping? Tbh I'm trying not to spend on anything else! Although obviously will need to spend a bit over Christmas.

I swapped electric suppliers in December do would have an admin fee to pay if I changed. Our direct debit was recently increased, so I think if we left we'd still have a deficit to pay off, even if we could leave. I always change provider each time the tie up period is up.

solid a friend of mine phoned her mobile provider asking for the code needed to transfer to another provider and rather than lose her as a customer, they cut her monthly bill quite drastically. I don't know what her contract was at the time tough.

Possibly, eating carbs like bread and pasta cause my IBS to flare up, as do beans, lentils etc i have a huge problem with food It would be easier if I didn't eat at all!

Just ordered a case of wine for my fil from naked wines with a voucher I got from lakeland. Cost - £4.99!
I can get rid of my mob contract in march thank goodness!

Thanks monikar. I have tried calling O2 but they were very unhelpful and refused to budge as our terms and conditions state we can't.

Well so far, in 14 months, I'm £600 up from topcashback. Mainly for new mob contracts, swapping fuel providers, general shopping stuff.

I think bt offered me £7 a month off my bill when I rang up.

I work for myself & I have a work mobile, £7.50 a month from talk mobile & I got £60 cashback from that too. I've never been told to get a special business tariff, I suppose it may be more relevant if you are vat registered.

solid oh dear, that is a pain then if O2 are so unhelpful.

Just under £32 today, on travel, lunch out and some food shopping and Xmas shopping .

Fluffy, dh was talked into a new Samsung in December and they told him it would be cheaper on business tariff. His phone was broken do he needed a new one. Just we'd gone for something cheaper.

I will look again at Quidco but don't think I'll be getting cash back for swapping providers at the moment.

Fluffy, was it you who gave me the EDF CEO e-mail address?

Well, he passed it onto someone else who has e-mailed me, cancelled my payment plan, confirmed they won't take any direct debits from me if I leave, and credited my account with £25 for the inconvenience!

Result!

I never asked for or even expected cash compensation so I'm highly delighted - thanks for the push :-D

(will just bury here that I bought two more work tops from Asda at £10 and £12)

Evening all. Was on strike till 12 today so I'll be docked half a days wage but not till January. Got to fight the fight though On the plus side I only spent 39p on a can of diet coke. Just about to transfer £8 for lottery subs. I should really come out of the syndicate as I know we're never going to win but the fear is, of course, that they'll win the next week!

No one listens to me in real life.

Claret wow, that's brilliant, well done!

Have just realised I've been charged twice for a purchase made through a top cash back link last night. I've checked emails and the tickets I ordered have definitely only been ordered once, so not sure what's happened. one transaction shows the full amount, and one the full amount minus the cash back sum. Suppose I'll have to phone and see what that's about?

Excellent result, claret.

Well done claret, great result.
badvoc I thought you meant 4.99 a bottle when you first mentioned the wine, per case though.........bargain.
that's interesting you don't sound mean at all, I know exactly where you're coming from
I've made a non essential purchases I need to confess to. £3 on lunch at work but I did really enjoy it and the cafe at work has been closed for months so it was a big treat .
Got onesies for the dc for Christmas, another thing ticked off.