Marching into a miserly march with the mumsnet frugaleers

[Fluffycloudland77]

Newbies, helpful tips & lurkers always welcome.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

[Iamnotanugget]

Thanks for the new thread fluffy.

We're half way through the pay month and I'm confident that we'll be putting some money aside this month. I'm just not sure how much. I can't think of any purchases we need other than milk, fruit and petrol. I've been carrying round a small purse of the weeks spending money, for playgroup etc, and when it's gone, it's gone which seems to be helping.

Pancake day on Tuesday. There's a cheap meal that's always popular in our house.

[MercuryRising]

Hi ladies can I join you please. I am a student teacher so only have my student loan and dps wage to live on. I would really love to get our food bill down as it has gradually crept up and up. We have two dcs 7 and 5. Our budget is £80 but in recent weeks it has crept up to almost £100 without us even buying anything extravagant I am going to meal plan today and go to Aldi to see how much I can save. I definitely need to be more accountable and not just fritter money away. This week won't be a cheap one as dcs are having their hair cut today and mine is being done on Wednesday but other than that I am going to try to avoid the shops

[lilacclery]

Really need this thread! Hopefully march will be a better month - although quotes for christening next sun are making my eyes water & must get a breastfeeding friendly dress & left it too late to get it online. Will try tk maxx today.
Getting implanon in today which should mean the end of buying nuvaring monthly and if I'm lucky the end of sanitary protection too!!

[Passthecake30]

Hi everyone, March is going to be expensive bas its dps birthday (so meal out) and mothers day- where we live far from both we usually end up ordering expensive rip off flowers. Gonna check for cheaper options, though last year did the same, used e-flowers/florist or something and they were shite!

[Turnoffthelights]

TFI March! So pleased to be starting afresh after spending way too much last month. I had a little glimmer of good yesterday for payday - my main pay was £100 better than expected (I increased my childcare vouchers to maximum amount but didn't expect this much extra) plus I had another payment of £85! I have a feeling the extra payment is for some overtime I did a year ago !

I did think about adjusting this month's budgets to compensate for overspends in February but have decided not to...I'm still getting the hang of setting my budgets, just need to be more realistic about what will be spent.

Groceries - £200 (will include food and drink for mini-hol)
Petrol - £160 (at least two long motorway journeys)
Everything else - £240 (boiler service, dd birthday, holiday spends)
Personal - £80 (I have two nights out planned in April totalling £28 before drinks which I'd like to pay for out of this month's budget)
Nursery - £120 (this doesn't cover total bill, I'm going to carry some over to April)

So £800 in total.

Good luck this month everyone!

[SpottyTeacakes]

I am a lidl convert. Spent £38 and need to do a small tesco top up for things I could get/forgot.

[LizLemonOut]

Hi all, I'm a regular poster who's name changed! Formerly amber.

Welcome mercury

missnanersly great that you're two grand down, such a good feeling when you notice the reduction

[Fluffycloudland77]

Spotty you'll find that the top up shops get less & less as you adapt to lidl. Massive saving though.

[SpottyTeacakes]

I'm hoping so. Also next time I will go on my own without the dc so I'm not rushing

[claretandamberforever]

Just signing in. Haven't done my accounts and reconciliations yet but I'll do it this weekend.

New sofa has arrived so the front room is now complete.

New job was started on Monday and I love it (woo for flexi-time).

They paid me for 1 week, and I got 3 weeks pay from my old job but added together it it £50 less than I would normally get so I don't know why and I don't have either wage slip to compare.

But I only have to make it last 2 weeks as I will get paid a full wage from new job on 15th March (but it will be on the 14th due to the weekend).

Got a cheque for £207 from insurance company from self combusting car, and still have the road tax refund cheque to bank too.

I feel quite rich! But back to frugalizing now.

[expectingnumber3]

Thanks for the new thread fluffy.

Haven't checked in for a few days but have been doing my best to be frugal. Need to meal plan today and shop tomorrow for the week, hoping to get the spend down to £40 this time, Aldi voucher should help.

[Charlesroi]

Don't forget Lidl have half price mince (£1) this weekend. Got some this morning plus a couple of half price red peppers.

[Splatt34]

Been a lurker for a while!!

Clareandamber - is it a tax thing the wage difference? You might be on an emergency tax code with new employer!

My waitrose card finally arrived which meant I would take my girls to the cafe after the park and it only cost 1 for a cake for them to share (my free tea and they drink tap water). Also got a free paper as needed to buy formula anyway - thinking we might attempt some paper mache later in the week as would never normally have newspaper

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Just got back from Aldi - I am amazed! Got all the fruit/veg on the list, dairy free butter, soya milk a few other things (inc. little treats like olives, sundried tomatoes) and pretty much everything I needed except for dried beans, chickpeas etc and veggie sausages which they didn't have. I estimate there's about £10 of stuff to get and the Aldi shop was £32.89, about half what I'd usually pay elsewhere waitrose

and I wasn't tempted into buying lots of extra stuff like I usually am elsewhere.

In love

Has anyone tried the lacura SPF skin cream? I am about to run out of my moisturiser but I have very easily clogged skin so worried it would be too rich and give me spots!

[Splatt34]

My DH (!!) loves the lacura hand cream. and it's only 75p!!

[Fluffycloudland77]

My aldi does quorn sausages now, I used to get veggie stuff at iceland though.

Approved foods can be brilliant for dried goods like beans etc.

I use the Lacura on my neck but I can't use it on my face so I use a la roche posay one which I'm hoping to get six months out of. The wrinkle stop is legend though.

[SpottyTeacakes]

My top up shop was £26.44 wanky tesco. Because my closest one (15 minutes away) is only medium sized I had to by normal pitta instead of value ones, same with kidney beans etc so it cost more. Still in budget though.

£30 petrol.

£8.75 on ds' passport photos should have been £9.99 but got a student discount

[SpottyTeacakes]

Tell me why I shouldn't have Chinese for dinner?!

[fuzzpig]

Expensive day today as DH arranged a bowling game (due to his old casual job and his new FT job overlapping, he's only got today off out of 13) and it's adult DSS' birthday too. DH also picked up and paid for an Xmas present that he'd ordered months ago ([hmm]@Waterstones)

DCs have apparently come up with what they want to do for Mother's Day, we've agreed though that from now on we won't choose anything ourselves for each other like we used to, as we can spoil each other on our birthdays and we have our 'allowance' anyway. Mother's/Father's Day will now only be for DCs to choose/make something.

I was really chuffed the other day, got my tesco online shop down to 1p over the minimum :o

[frazzled74]

Good start today, checked the freezer before doing an aldi shop and now after spending £35 including a bottle of wine, we have enough meals for 1 week and packed lunches for 2 weeks! It was a nice change to shop in aldi and will be going there again. I'm also going to eBay a few things tomorrow as free listing. I have a couple of jewellry pieces (gold) that I don't want and aren't of sentimental value, is it better to eBay/or sell to jeweller?

[Thebluedog]

Just marking my spot for March. Onto SMP from this months so it's all belts tightened in this household

[kazzawazzawoo]

Hi, can I join in again? We have a very tight budget, as dh is out of work and my income is very low. We are myself, dh, ds aged 22 and dd aged 12. I have started shopping at aldi and spend between £55 and £70 per week, including cleaning stuff. Dd and I eat low carb, it helps my IBS and dh is very overweight and loses weight best this way. It is a struggle, but thanks to the excellent prices at aldi our food bill is much lower now.

[SpottyTeacakes]

That sounds tough kazza hope your dh finds work soon

[Fluffycloudland77]

29p on fusilli because dh won't eat penne but I'll take the penne back to aldi & get a refund next week.

20p on a pizza because I had coupon but I can get 25p click snap cashback on it so technically a NSD.

If we have takeaway I cook my own rice, then we can just order mains.

[SpottyTeacakes]

It's done. We're having one. Using money from the council tax fund as have a spare £50 not allocated.