Judicious January Jangling & Juggling *blows budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

Sorry, couldn't resist going overboard on the J's

Happy new year y'all. Welcome to expert budgeteerers, newbies, lurkers and de-lurkers. We're a very friendly, non-judgmental bunch so please use this thread as you choose whether it's as a spending diary, to confess your money sins, ask for help or have a general whinge at the cost of living.....

On-line shop done, delivery tomorrow: £90.00, but that will last for the coming week and weekend, plus some larder staples too which soon last the month. So tomorrow will have that spend attached to it.

Will be going through my cupboards this week to see what I have in there ... so many duplicates makes me think I need a clearer idea of what I have!!

Btw, anyone know when a free listing weekend might be coming up on Ebay??

Juggling Certain loyalty cards are worthwhile and vouchers are always good. In terms of cards, it just depends on what you buy and where you go. I used to pick up every single one going but only used a few so I just keep those now - Boots, Nectar, and the stamp card for a local coffee shop. Nectar is good because it links with eBay, which I use quite a bit, as well as other stores. I think I have about £15 on the Boots and another £15 on the Nectar, and tbh I'm not entirely sure when I racked up those points, but it helps! I am also getting a John Lewis card because I go past there often and they do monthly rewards like a free coffee. The Waitrose card gives a free coffee but the only Waitrose near me doesn't have a café so I don't use the card.

I also search for vouchers online if I want something from an online store; eg for free delivery, money off. Body Shop always has an offer on, big name takeaways (ie Domino's, Pizza Hut) will regularly do 50% off, H&M has a seemingly permanent £5 off voucher which I use to cover the delivery and £1-2 extra.

When the supermarkets have these offers (eg £5 off a £20 shop), they can be good as long as the items themselves are not a lot more expensive than shopping elsewhere. The other trick is to not stick with that place just because you used the offer - this especially applies to online shopping - keep shopping around and as mentioned before mySupermarket is a good way to compare some of the prices. Waitrose do £75 off your first 5 shops - I think it's something like £25 off the first, £20 off the second, £15 off the third...

If I receive voucher in the post I also put them on the fridge as a reminder of what's available.

Ooh, last one On Quidco you can add retailers to your list, so you will get an email if one of your selected retailers changes something, eg new offer, voucher, increased cashback. I search Quidco whenever I'm going to buy, you can even use it on JustEat (which you can also use with Nectar but the cashback is better). When we upgrade phones we usually get about £100 cashback.

Thanks for the welcome and ideas delasi - I have a card with Notcutts and should remember to use each month for my free coffee

• trouble is it's quite easy for that to end up as an expensive coffee if you aren't careful !

Blimey, this thread is filing up fast! Haven't been on for a few days thanks to house move/money pit (why is there ALWAYS expense when moving house?!), and no internet access makes managing money more or less impossible for me (what did we do before internet banking?).

The upside of moving (apart from smaller outgoings) has been that we have had to empty all the cupboards and freezer, so I have more of an idea what's in there. We are on an empty-the-cupboards-and-freezer mission for the next month - our chest freezer is actually brim full at the moment, which is insane. It's not a massive one, but it still holds rather a lot!

Wow, this thread moves so fast!

Not doing too badly - haven't spent anything from my personal spends budget yet but need to book train tickets to a reunion of people I used to work with. I am going to need foundation too but intend to use every last bit if the current lot first.

Did an online shop for delivery Thurs - about £46. That will last until 16 th if I'm lucky and I still have £220 in the pot so doing ok.

Another NSD here, think that's the third one in a row which is a great achievement for me.
Dd came home last night with info about an after school football club they had been promoting at school. Its a 6 week thing, £3 a session, paid up front. She was really keen so I've managed to find a £10 surplus in Ds' dinner money account and I'd overpaid dd's dinner money so have managed to pay for it out of money already budgeted for. I probably should say, I budget for all expected one off spends at the start of the month (eg dentist, drama club etc), work out a cash budget for everything else. Anything from the cash budget is counted as a spend.

www.hotukdeals.com/deals/january-grocery-cashback-offers-1784764

These are the new food cashback offers.

NSD.

Another NSD here so that's good, being back at work is definitely helping me! I have to pay for dd Rainbows subs today but that £24 is in the budget and so is the £4.95 I will spend at Slimming World tonight. I am dreading going, I'd already put 5lb on when I got weighed on NYE and I haven't really got back on track yet. I think I may have put even more on now!!

NSD AND a few days supply work .

I'll read through later.

BAH

NSD here but I forgot that I had said DS1 could have school dinners. TBH I think I spend more than £31 a month on stuff for his dinners anyway but it brings my Grocery budget down to £223.98 with three big shops left to do (gulp).

Fluffy forgive me for being dense but how do those food cash back things work? :)

£21.50 in Iceland but £12 of that was on half price Xmas joints that have been cooked and are currently cooling to go in the freezer. That's Sunday dinner sorted for the next month.
Shouldn't need to spend any money now till Friday.

You download the apps onto a tablet/phone and when you buy the item in the stated outlets, usually the big 4 supermarkets, you take a photo of the receipt and upload it to them.

When you have enough money they payout, I've heard it's £5 for shopitize.

My food allergy rules me out of using them most the time. Sometimes the cashback equals or exceeds the price paid or the various apps overlap.

Hello possibly hope the move went ok and you're settling in!

Nursery bill came in at only £74 whereas I'd budgeted £185. This will be the saving grace of the everything else budget!

I've done a fast day today on 5:2. It's been ok actually. Spread the calories out so haven't felt hungry. Could result in a saving on the grocery budget!

NSD today. Bit of a relief after all yesterday's bills.

Got stuck into a new freelance project too which should bring in some money by the end of the month but until then, going to need a lot of NSDs.

Another NSD!

Ok ladies, I need to get rid of the belly, post baby 3 years later... I'm a size 8 and 5ft3. But this belly is starting to annoy me now. Does the 5:2 really work and how do you do the fast days?

Well I think the 5:2 does work coz I've seen my secretary go down in size like at least a dress size or 2. But I can't fathom the fast days!!

I'm not aiming to be a size zero...just want to reduce the belly! Thanks!!

There's a parcel comparison site, you enter the size of the parcel & the weight and it gives you quotes from all the different carriers.

Im on a fast day too turnoff

NSD for me today. Had another appointment with the Halifax to transfer over another account. They gave me another £100!

Just signed up for a free day's gym membership to use on Sunday. I just can't justify a membership at the mo so I'm looking forward to it.

Ah I see thanks fluffy. Would be worth doing if it includes online deliveries (tesco) but not sure the receipt would count. Clever though!

£50 in Tesco, £14 of it was a big bag of dog food. I've gone gluten free in the last couple of weeks and the gf biscuits are a ridiculous price.

Any Kindle owner you can find what books have come down in price in ereader iq. I signed up to follow my favourite authors and get an email when their books are reduced. I always rush to download the books I like as soon as they come out but I'm going to stop. I'll check the library and if it's not there, wait until they have been out for a while and get reduced.
I paid £9 for the new Bill Bryson in November and its 99p on the kindle now. I haven't even read it .