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

Ohhelp I will try them, we've been using Pampers since DD was born but always willing to try something new!

Aldi nappies are great too.

I have had a pair of birkenstocks for years and really rate them. The wearing in period was bad but worth it.

50.20 on petrol. Tomorrow we're heading off for a family holiday. Just a cottage further north but I can't wait. Im hoping it won't be too spendy but will try and check in regularly.

I had a spendy day, but I was expecting that.

£13.10 for drinks and cakes at the cafe with DD1 while DS having his class, then £9.25 for McDonalds for tea.

Having said that, I would normally have spent this much a few times in the last couple of weeks so only one big spend day is fine.

I need to pay the water bill (now reduced as it was an estimate and way too high) and do a Tesco order. Also pay the window cleaner. Will report back.

Another NSD today.

magic welcome.

£29 on a water butt.

Just got in from work. Spent £2 on car park and then £18 on dinner for a work thing. I can afford it and I had to go to it as I was hosting the person and as I had invited the person down I definitely had to be there. Oh well.

Welcome Magical .

Tomorrow I have To buy cartons of juice, biscuits and fruit To take To hockey on Saturday morning. I might have enough apples already actually, need To check. Will need a Lemon To squeeze over them once chopped.

There's a new branch of the cheap but good supermarket just up the road but in the "wrong" direction, so it will be cheaper. I'd have To remove my wedding ring and not wear lipstik or a watch. Might venture over when DH is back form his tríp if it's another Zero return one.

I did tons of batch cooking yesterday, so have rather emptied the fridge and filled the freezer, but I know I'll be pleased when we have a newborn and don't have to worry about cooking for a few days. I lost my nerve on putting the lentils in because it was such a big batch of food to start experimenting with lentils on, but added tons of carrots and onions, so the four packs of cheapie lidl mince did two massive cottage pies plus four decent sized tupperwares of bolognese sauce (the pies and the sauce tupperwares will mostly do two meals each with bread and salad, so about 12 meals sorted for 3 adults and 2 DCs). I'll try with the lentils next time I make a normal sized batch!

Magical after many cuts we are averaging around £85 a week at the minute for two adults and two DCs (6 and 3, but both have reasonable appetites, especially the 6yo who basically eats what I do at main meals but has smaller snacks). Without trying it comes in around £110 a week for all of us, so I'm sure you can get yours down below £115 a week for two of you . I would say you should be able to get it down to £80-90 really easily and then assess how you're doing after a few weeks.

Another vote for Lidl nappies too, they are as good as any other disposable I've tried for a fraction of the price.

My Tesco shop came to £110.77 but that included all the Easter eggs for my DC and the nieces and nephews, plus fancy ice cream for DD's birthday party. I had a few more extras in the basket but I removed them as they were luxuries and I didn't want to go so far above my £100 per week target.

Adora, the new supermarket sounds in a scary area. Am I right in thinking you aren't in the UK?

Please can I join in? Feel like we're running to stand still, want to actually clear debts and save rather than allow things to slide before the end of the month.
Went to Homebase yesterday to buy a laundry basket and saw one half price at 15 pounds. Ummed and ahhed for ages and left it and then saw one for 5 pounds in Aldi! Made my day. Silly really!

Trying to keep food budget at 300 per month where we were spending 600 and to be honest I am not seeing a massive difference in meals etc, it was just treats that were costing loads. Made a meal spreadsheet which us extremely useful and kept on our fridge, happy to pass it on if anyone likes

Hi haven't posted for a while, but I've been checking up on you all lurking.

possibly after reading your posts yesterday, I decided to throw some lentils in the large batch of chilli I made, and it was lovely. Only one of DC noticed anything different, but was happy to eat it. It not only bulked it out but thickened it as well. Well pleased.

Just introduced my DD(12) to YNAB. I'm so determined that the kids aren't going to get into the spendy rut me and DH did. She's getting a small clothing allowance every month, plus a small amount of pocket money and we entered all her categories, and she's printed out her budget to take shopping with her today (inset day).

Was so pleased when she said "this might be as addictive as candy crush".

adora please wait for DH to go shopping with you!

insideleg hello. You sound in the same boat as we are in, not massively in debt but just blindly spending a ridiculous amount of money with nothing to show for it.

Hi potbelly. What a great idea to intro your dd to YNAB. It's good that she is liking it. I totally agree that it is addictive.

Welcome insideleg cutting your food budget in half is pretty fantastic.

I can't remember who said that they are eating more cakes and muffins and puddings since they started baking? That is so true! I never bought the stuff, but now that I bake (DS' fad at the moment) I have never eaten so much.

I spent £6.05 for my fruit and veg shop for the week. £2 for sport relief too. Later I am spending £20 for waxing (ouch) and a tub of DS's favourite ice cream if Waitrose have it in stock.

Oh and inside leg what sorts of things are on your spreadsheet - ie what do you use it to work out?

I think i used the wrong word there, i use a spreadsheet for my outgoings monthly and yearly amounts that i need to account for each month. So for example I added up all my car outgoings to include insurance, tax, mot, servicing and then set up a standing order for 70 per month into a savings account to cover.
For our groceries i have made a grid covering 7 days with 2 boxes, one box for the meal, one box underneath to record which specific ingredients i need to buy - i try to meal plan so that i use cupboard ingredients first.
Underneath that i have a list of items we tend to buy each week eg milk, yoghurt, etc etc and i circle whatever we need. Extras go under that. It sounds pretty complicated but honestly it is so quick and easy and i can fit 3 weeks on one a4 paper.
Then i go online and order all of these. It takes no more than 10 minutes to do an online shop as i have this list to stick to. If we stick to 60 per week with a 10 extras top up for milk etc for the weekend then it can work. Although this is our first strict month. We had been doing 400 for a month or two.

Ah okay. I used to have a spreadsheet for budgeting and working out my budget, but now I use YNAB which has revolutionised the way I budget and spend. I know it sounds dramatic but it really has. I bought it for just over £7 on a steam sale.

The food/meal spreadsheet is a good idea. I am so bad at meal planning. I have a rough plan in my head but never write it down. I don't know why I am resistant to it.

Audit I'm in Chile.

It's not that it's an especialy rough área, but there is underlying resentment of Those who have money, or appear To, and with our forrin accents people assume we are American and therefore walking round with Loads of cash.

I don't know if Americans do walk around with Loads of cash, but that's the percepción here.

Insideleg welcome

Potbelly I was thinking of waiting for DH but then I remembered that he gets all British stiff upper lip and therefore stands out like a bloody sore thumb. He's at least a foot above most locals so I can't exactly hide him, ha ha, I'll Go with a local friend, if I Go.

I'm glad your DD is taking a positive view To budgeting. One of mine is struggling because DH has had a cavalier attitude towards money like his little spends at main car dealerships, not To mention his bloody humungous spends there.

I have apples a plenty so shan't buy moré for the hockey match.

coolcadbury i have heard of ynab but not downloaded yet. Does it help project figures etc? I downloaded a really rubbish one which was so confusing and maybe that has put me off.

insideleg YNAB is amazing - try the trial first. I'm only about 2 weeks in, but already I can tell this is going to revolutionise my spending habits! It's a bit like the old fashioned way of getting your weekly pay, and then putting it in jars or envelopes as a way of making sure when big bills come in you have the money already allocated to it. I luffs it.

cadbury I just missed out on the steam sale, do they often have them - I'm running out of trial.

adora you're going to tell us that your DH wears socks and sandals aren't you, and that's why he sticks out like a sore thumb not admitting to that being my DH at all

OK great will definitely try it, will download tonight. Exciting!

Cadbury - I think that was me with the baking! I eat so much more now!

I have a top cash back question. I got my car insurance through the site yesterday. It said it would take 6-8 weeks for the cash back to come through but how long does it take to show in pending transactions? Thanks

Inside well done on cutting the food budget! I found it so hard initially, but week by week my food shop seems to be reducing. Your spreadsheet sounds v useful.

potbelly I can imagine my DC1 will be well into budgeting - a real analytical little mind. I am also determined that they will know how to run their finances when they move out.

YNAB is not intuitive initially - I found it tricky to get into initially - but it is well worth it. I'm another for whom it has revolutionised the way I spend and view money.

adora, do you know, I had a thought you might be in Chile? Are you anywhere near Valparaiso? I have a friend there, although I have lost contact with her. I do worry about her though. I know it's crazy talk but odder things have happened but I wonder if you know her or if your daughters know her children?

potbelly. I think steam have flash sales of YNAB about 3 or 4 times a year. Last one was in January.