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

Sorry Liz, missed the posting malfunction! Shows how in the ball I am at the moment!

Helena, hope things improve for you really soon.

NSD for me again. Doing my invoicing today for Feb. not as much work as I would have liked but not too bad. £250 into my work account, pleased with that, but need to buy printer ink, paper and would love to do some more training so that is more spends!

Welcome Themoneyone and good luck with your on going project.

Spotty hope DP gets paíd.

NK hope you Get some sleep tonight.

Trying To Get uber organised now that DDs are back at school. Key word appears To be trying. DD1 needed money for school Today, and will need a new padlock for her locker. The other new one she started using yesterday will not open so she has To pay for the school To call out a person with Bolt cutters. Not the full fee, luckily. Then she'll need a better lock. She's learning about false economies at least not sure if I will achieve an NSD this week.

Forgot, does Anyone know about using vinegar in place of fabric condicióner? Is that a real thing that works or am I making it up as I Go along?

TIA

andora. I've seen lots of posts about this so wondering about it myself. All I want to know is does your washing smell of vinegar when it comes out of the washer?

NSD for me today but that's because DH has the car and I can't am too lazy to go out.

helena hope your DH gets something soon.

Joining in... money seems to flow like water out of my account.

Not a no spend day. Just paid for dd1's school trip, been putting it off for ages. Was hoping her father would contribute towards the cost, but that was being a little too optimistic.

I've just booked the dc in to have the chicken pox vaccine £224 for both of them. Got four weeks to save up

I use vinegar instead of fabric softener. your clothes don't smell of it as the smell evaporates. I use white vinegar in a spray bottle instead of cleaning fluid as well. it smells vinegary initially but the smell soon dissipates

NSD yesterday, 3rd in a row, yay! Should be today as well.

Thanks, I'll give it a Go with the next wash.

Thanks for the good wishes

I use vinegar instead of conditioner, I just pour it into the tray for conditioner, the washing doesn't smell of vinegar. I always use white distilled vinegar.

I finally got round to cancelling our british gas care plan yesterday, as we had a new boiler installed under the government grant scheme. Also filled in the online form to let hmrc know I am no longer self employed as they were still taking out my ni contributions, although I am now employed, so presumably paying twice!

Need to think about dd 12 birthday in a months time. She really wants a new phone, she has a very, very old mobile of dh's which is now struggling a bit. I'm trying to weigh up buying one outright and putting in a payg sim or taking out a cheap contract. I know she'd like an iPhone or something snazzy like that! I'm trying to sell my ipad to put the money towards it. Also have to find the money for a cinema trip and Pizza Hut!

Have you got any tesco vouchers you could use for the cinema? Did dd1's birthday cinema trip on them.

Ready, thanks. I only have about £3 I think of Tesco vouchers. I might have nectar points - can I use them for cinema tickets? I'll check the nectar points website.

Nothing spent today - yesterday was €30 on diesel and €15 on eggs milk fruit and water just a small top up shop.

Hired a cleaner today though €45 a week but will be back at work soon & working 5 days plus one evening class & hubby doing long hours so want to be able to spend weekends with my two smallies.

Made over €150 at class last night so it'll well cover a cleaner.

Oh dear don't think I'm cut out for this. I'm just tracking the things that aren't regular bills

1st March: A complete write off Deposit for DD's ballet costume £10;Lunch out with DD and DS: £17 ; books for DS and DD: £16.50; top up trip to Asda £9.75 total £53.25

2nd March: NSD

3rd March: Ice creams for DD and DS £1.90 total £55.15

4th March: Aldi £21.56; Asda: £6.85; lunch with friend £8.70 total: £90.36

5th March: Breakfast with friend and DS: £12 playgroup £2 £104.36

6th March (today) aiming for a NSD so far so good

I know where my moneys going. Its awful seeing it written down like that. £37.70 on eating out with friends / children alone in just a few days. Average spend of £26.09 a day or £17.39 if I include the NSDs. I have to rein it in sharpish.

We have friends coming for dinner on Saturday evening and at the moment nothing to feed them so will need to get something for them. DP suggested lamb but I think its going to be pork for cost reasons. Aiming to do entire meal for £15 plus a bottle of two of wine. Still a lot cheaper than taking them out for dinner.

Other than that I should only need bread and milk over the next few days. Unfortunately DS needs more nappies and I've still not got his shoes as Clarks didn't have any to fit when I took him. DD needs new ballet tights.

Sorry for epic post. Off to meal plan for the next week and hoping to do it almost entirely from what we've got in stock

NSD today (apart from eBay postage).

Spottyteacakes I was in The Pound Shop last week and and noticed they were selling little sets of travel bottles

lists it scary when you write it all down isn't it! I know the feeling, but looks like you're already thinking of ways to cut back.

Today I had an 80p unnecessary spend (damn you greggs sausauge roll!)

And 8.46 in also on dishwasher tabs, cheese and a rose plant for each nanny for mothers day. Have blummin left the cheese at work, not in the fridge - will it be ok for a cheese sauce tomorrow?

£10 on petrol but no personal spends.

Tcb matched quidco on the American Express card and added 5% so I got £63 for that. It'll pay the fuel bill one month.

I use smart price vinegar instead of fabric softener, it's meant to be better for the clothes too because fab soft degrades Lycra fibres. So I heard anyway.

Welcome all newcomers!

6.68 on bargainous bargains in b&m. 29p for a packet of gnocchi 5 bags are now in my freezer.

1 for contribution for someones retirement at work. 2 donation to a charity contribution at nursery and 5 for the same at my work. Obviously feeling flush today!

lists You can order Clarks shoes through topcashback and earn a few pence. They get delivered to the store for free and you can check the fit when you collect them. I've found Tesco value nappies really good for the price, £1.41 for 18 (read the review on here) and we always use them overnight and occasionally during the day towards the end of the month. Generally I use reusables or stores own brand. Avoid Sainsbury's value they leak within 2hours.

turnoff your cheese will be fine. I personally would probably still use it 'raw' but if you're cautious then cook it.

I have £1.50 left in my groceries budget for the week. The fruit bowl is full and I have milk in the freezer but I don't think I'll quite make it. All my other budgets are under target though so I'm ok with a small overspend. In fact I'm so impressed with how well we're doing I'll confess to buying a character duvet set from Aldi. Not really essential but ds will have to give up the cot when dc3 arrives and he'll love this. It was only £9.99 starts down slippery slope.

Ok so February we went £16.18 over budget, that was all on food and my new house insurance hasn't come out yet so that gave us an extra tenner

I'm waiting anxiously for my other cc to arrive to see how much money we did spend. We obviously had ds' birthday stuff to pay for like party bags and food but it'll be good to know if I did actually 'save' £400 rather than somehow spending £400 more in other cc!

£5.50 on lunch. Brought water bottle instead of coke so didn't pay for drink. My excuse was an ulcer on my lip. It was quite valid.

Home alone with kids. Dh oop north for a family funeral.

lists it depends on what your goal is. I decided to budget for eating out/takeaway and for outings (including drinks when we're out) and as long as I stick within those budgeted amounts each month, I'm happy. Maybe writing it down will help you see how much you could expect to spend and where you might cut down?

Not posted for a few days as I've been working in the evenings. Spent 1.95 today plus bus fare at client meeting. Yesterday, 3 for playgroup (includes free snacks for parents and kids), 3.50 for parking and a (budgeted) takeaway.

Oh and nsd