An Avalanche of Austerity for April - Mumsnet frugaleers continue!

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Thought I'd start a new thread for April

Yes Adora per year.

I used to have a latte everyday & a biscotti. It was around £15 a week 9 years ago.

I don't even buy instant coffee for the house.

Thanks for the tips for the citric acid. Like the idea of elderflower cordial

Has anyone heard something about National Trust planning to charge its members parking at some of its places? My friend told me that one near her (Wakehurst I think) will be.

£12.25, on food and travel. Our budget for our week in Lanzarote is 300 €, so should be do-able. Can't wait now! :)

Our local national trust place charges for parking. There's loads of other places to park for free though so doesn't matter.

Hi adora
Paris was fine... Didn't see much as was there for work but the weather was great, and got to have lovely meals with colleagues at rather posher places...!

Was also in Brussels... Of course, we had mussels!

School holidays are nightmare for money as we have to get ds into holiday camp. Dd still in nursery so I guess it's money already spent.ll.

I've had one of my best meals in Paris

Morning all, I've been awol for a few days - wildly spending money I need to tot up the amount today but its not pretty. On the plus side, we only squeezed lots of socialising into one weekend as dd was staying with granny - saved about 60 in babysitting costs (clutching at straws)!

I have had two really satisfying frugal wins though so things are moving in the right direction...our virgin bill is down to 50pm, we've adjusted the package but have also used facetime for calls which has cut call costs by about 10pm. And most celebratory of all...I began this process after a shockingly high gas bill saw our dd jump from 42 to 101pm. I know its been a mild winter but we have been so frugal with heating and electric. Our quarterly bill arrived yesterday - dd now reduced to 78pm! [Grin]

Am taking DS to library today as it's free. Will have a look round to see what other activities are on. Find holidays hard to keep the costs down both because of finding things to do but also the more time spent at home the more the TV, cooker heating etc is on

On the bright side potty training is progressing. Every time I go to the toilet DS claps and says well done mummy! So at least one of us is getting the hang of it

Well done on the heating bill spring, with the summer quarter it should drop right down & then hopefully when they work out your yearly consumption for next year it will be more manageable.

There's a national trust place near us that charges parking, it's not near to any free parking so we don't go to that one anymore.

Well done Ellis

We're stuck in doors again today as I have to go out for the next three days and I can't afford petrol to go anywhere. It's shit.

Oh spotty, not even to the park? (Weather is gorgeous here)

The playground we have here is beyond rubbish. The baby swing tips up, so nothing for ds, then they just have a slide and a weird obstacle course thing which neither dc can do and the ground is too uneven for ds to walk on they just get frustrated. Can go on a walk but only round to the shop and back (5 mins) as the roads are too dangerous to walk on (narrow and windy). Going to make flapjacks though.

Id have a moan at the council, you paid for that park to be built after all, it annoys me when the council doesn't provide amenities.

I've had 9p in cashback come through. I'm not going to let it change me though.

Fluffy. Well the parish council kindly put a new bench in and the baby swing is in fact new

Ooh lovely I love flapjacks spotty. I made some the other day but didn't put enough butter in so they turned into granola! i styled it out and pretended that is what I was intending to make. Aiming for a nsd today

insideleg well done, must feel great.

Yesterday was spendy day, spent 72 euros on groceries, which should do us for a week, so was under our 100 euro budget.
Spent also 25 euros on gift cards to buy apps.... I had seen a Danish app, which I really wanted, only coasted 1,29 Euro but of course the app store only takes giftcards or mastercards, so we ended up buying a gift card for each phone, so we can get some apps once in a while.

We are off to look for a car later today, find it so confusing deciding on a car. I dont want a too big of a car, I rather like the smaller one more, but we are soon getting DD and her and her Stokke needs to fit in the car too. We have already bought the Stokke Xplory, so need to match car to it, lol. Should have been the other way around. And we need a car, that has a big enought boot for driving abroad a couple of times a year, because all my family lives abroad and it is so much easier to drive to there than with flying ect. Anybody has any good recommendations regarding cars, please share :D

My water bill has gone up by £3 a month

italian I like fords, dh has a posh car but preferred the ford focus loan car he had.

spotty is it an estimated reading or an actual reading? Do you have any water saving devices like shower regulators or tap inserts or cistern hippo bags?. You can get some of them free off the water board website.

We're not metred here just a big standard bill for the year!

fluffy we are actually looking at a ford b max, it should be quite similar to Ford Focus I think. :)

Spotty if you can be metered try it, if you find it pricier you can revert back if you apply in the first 12 months.

Do you think a meter would be cheaper? We're paying £30 a month now.

Spotty - if it helps we saved about £50 a year going to a meter. We are in a 3 bed house 2 adults and 1DC

Adora feeding lots of teens can work out expensive - is it just snacks you have to feed them? Crisps and fizzy drinks can work out expensive and not very healthy. When DD has had groups of friends over, I have done them buttered French bread as a loaf cuts into lots of pieces, small sausages, jacket potatoes with beans, that sort of thing. I give them squash to drink too. Are there just girls coming? If there are boys too, you may have to supply more .

Italian is the b max the car without the side panels when you open the back door? That could be really useful for you when getting the baby in and out.