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.....

Did my big stock up shop, £42. Then I found out there's an aldi voucher next week so now next weeks shops not going to be enough to use it . I'm trying not to let it bother me.

Planted up my herbs with compost off my long suffering mil.

Love my e-cloth mop, the floors mopped twice a day now.

Had my free eye test at tescos & a free trial of contact lenses, they are really cheap for contact lenses. It makes specsavers look expensive, they were charging me 50% more for cheaper lenses.

Bought curtains today. £99. Which was half price!!! But they were v needed as the curtains we had were from the previous owners who had the house for 40 years.... And I'd been wanting to replace them since we moved in 2 years back.

Dh finally put the curtain pole up and we bought the curtains this afternoon.

Had a free hot choc at a local cafe as the manager treated me.

Bought a bolero thing for an outfit but it doesn't look good so will return tomorrow. Feeling virtuous! Got dd a pair of slippers for £6. Half price.

Happy work week next week everyone. More NSDs around!

Kill him

Welcome ellie

fluffy that would bug the hell out of me. If you have the room/money can you stock up on things like rice, pasta next week to make use of the voucher?

ohhelp im with fluffy.

Today I spent £10.02 in Aldi. Im still living off of big meat purchases and cooking I did pre Christmas. Last night friends came round with homemade curry for me and DS. Looked at it today and the portions are vast! Including rice! I've portioned up and there's enough for three meals each so 2 are in the freezer. It was really lovely of them as we were supposed to go for tea but DS not up to it. Looking forward to stuffing myself now though.

Oh also spent £116 on two nights hotel stay for my mum and me. She'll pay me back though. I have also signed up for a free graze box and will then cancel. If anyone is interested the code is YOUAPDBOX.

What Fluffy said, but slowly.

Fluffy I would also stock up on non-perishables To use the voucher.

I've sold an electric monitor for £20 incl postage

Final value fees are a bugger though.

Well another nsd day. I haven't spent anything since Friday night. We have had an ace weekend. DP has been at work but,me and dds have done loads. Played board games, we melted down a load of Christmas chocolate and made cornflake buns. Played hairdressers and generally enjoyed each others company. We went to my mums for a massive Sunday roast too which filled me up for the day. Then to top it off I found a tenner at the bottom of my handbag with a load of receipts. I was like this . I have put it in my little secret savings pot. Which isn't much of a secret, just a cup at the side do my bed.

I am cross with myself as I got the email about free eBay listing and forgot to do it.

Welcome Ellie good luck with clearing your debt. Keeping an eye on these threads helps loads.

Not a cheap day - MiL's birthday - but we did DP's tax return and are getting some refunded (although in his head I think he's already spent it..) and had a go at the tax credit test and looks like we're eligible for a small amount this year due to our majorly reduced joint income.

Recommend you check it if you haven't especially if you're self employed. DP made a loss in his 1st year due to investing and it takes it into consideration.

How do I hear about eBay free listings? In my new effort to declutter I'm going to set aside a very few items for selling.

If you have an eBay account they usually email to say free listing or if you check ebays web page on a Friday because it seems to be weekends when it happens.

Had good clear out of food cupboards n bagged up jars tins packets we no longer eat for whatever reason n took to Asda n popped in their big collection pot for a local food bank

ohhhh n then spent £12.47 restocking cupboards with food we do eat.

Anyhow was better than chucking out n hopeful helps some people out.

fluffycloudland - where did you get your Aldi voucher from, if you don't mind me asking?

Wow this thread has moved on! Had a crazy few days. Lots of NSDs but also lots of stress!

DH's contract probably isn't going to be renewed so he's applying for jobs as they come up. We're going to have to relocate again . At the moment he's applied for things in Hampshire, Swindon, Surrey, Birmingham, Cheshire and Lancashire. There's quite a bit coming up at the moment which is good. I'm trying not to think about what happens if he doesn't get something.

Going to do my monthly monster Aldi shop on Saturday. I want to take the children to the cinema too. Does anyone know of any cinema deals?

The aldi voucher will be in the mirror/daily record on Thursday.

£6 in asda on kitchen tea towels etc, houses need a lot of stuff don't they? It was all smart price though.
£5 on clay pots for my herbs, only planted yesterday though
£23 on a super king duvet, no covers for it though so we've wrestled it back into the box. £169 originally! Dh keeps complaining I steal the duvet in the night.
£10 on fuel

I was wondering about the Aldi vouchers too, I haven't seen any anywhere. Another NSD day, good job as i don't have any money anyway!!
Tonight we have to pay the £10 deposit for ds Cub Camp but we had already put that to one side anyway so in the budget.
I have Slimming World to pay for tomorrow then nothing on Wednesday or Thursday then it's Pay Day - hooray!!!!!

Another 9/10 days til pay day eurgh 30Jan long mth always last Thursday of mth makes roughly every 3rd mth a 5 wk mth luckily husband gets paid same date every mth

NSD.

£9.20 for softplay, coffees and lunch for DS. I ate his scraps so that kept the cost down

This afternoon I spent my £10 Tesco voucher, courtesy of the Sun, on toiletries.

Signed up for a waitrose card last night as there is one not too far from me and next to a great park. Im thinking a free coffee and shared cake with DS might make a nice cheap treat.

helena sorry to hear you're having to relocate. I only have experience of Cheshire out of your list. There's some lovely places to live there.

I saved some money today by phoning BT - they offered me 12 months of free evening and weekend calls (extending an offer we've had before but which had run out) So, I think that's good? Even though I was planning on asking them to put us back on a regular tariff.

NSD today! Getting stressed about job interview next week. It's for my own job but at a higher grade (so promotion). But I have 4 others to interview with..! I'm the incumbent so hopefully that's a good thing...

Not a huge help but Tesco/ Nectar points can be spent at Odeon/vue cinemas Helena. Really sorry you're looking at moving again so soon.

I know I'm probably missing the obvious but how do you cancel sun thing? I've got my voucher and I definitely don't want to be subscribed any longer!

£2 playgroup and sold some stuff on fb, £40. I'm fairly sure I could have made a little more on ebay but once the fees are paid there's probably not much in it and I haven't had to faff at the post office. I think I maybe converted.

Splurged on ice-cream Today, it was 35 degrees C while I was shopping. Total £40 in supermarket and £20 at the greengrocer's, needed nuts this week.

I'm working through cupboards and freezer.

Will catch up Tomorrow, hope all is Well with everyone.

iamnotanugget I did it through a live webchat thing on the app. Can't remember exactly how I got to it but I'm guessing there was a 'contact us' section or similar.