An Avalanche of Austerity for April - Mumsnet frugaleers continue!

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Thought I'd start a new thread for April

I need to do a top up shop , just rice and bread rolls plus any Easter goodies marked down

Welcome lizard, I haven't anything to add to what has been said so far! keep coming here for support and encouragement! and the debt management thread.
Should be low spend day today, NSD yesterday.

See how you get on lizard, without knowing your DH reasons it is hard to think of a comeback but if you are meticulous with your own financial planning he may be more willing to link the two. As there is no chance of ltb he knows there are no consequences for saying no and so it is a kind of stalemate. Keep posting on here though!

With DH being here we are seriously low on food but as we are away on tues night we can't get delivery til wed. Imaginative cooking methinks!

They had balance bikes for 20 on the sains website so i ordered one for DS. Wanted to keep for his birthday but will just give it to him anyway as it would be a shame to keep it in the box til Oct.

Weigh in day today, lost 3lb! Only 50 to go, then I will be marshmallow no long!

Argh it's my little sisters birthday beginning of May. She wants nail stuff, any frugal ideas?!

Welcome lizard Sound like a tricky situation. Money cam cause such resentment. I felt this with my ex and still feel it now but can only ignore it.

Well done gogogo

NSD for me yesterday. I need a spring jacket but will have a look in m&s as I have vouchers.

Well done on the weightloss gogo

Because of this thread I keep thinking if I'd like to pool resources with dh but I keep coming back to "fuck no".

We are too far apart on what's a treat, what's acceptable alcohol consumption etc.

I find it easier to budget this way & I make sure he knows what the household bills are.

Thanks everyone

We ended up doing as sainsburys shop as I had £50 vouchers given to us by In-laws at Christmas towards food which I had forgotten about do felt good to use them. Have meals and lunches for each day, stuff for freezer plus own brand pull ups for nights for dd & wipes.

Was quite careful looking at dates for stuff, getting the largest broccoli I could find for my money etc so not huge leaps but tiny ant steps!

They have good deals on Easter stuff- some nice looking eggs for 80p!

Well done on eight loss Gogo- are you following any particular diet/ plan?

Sorry posting from phone but who wanted to know about Nail stuff? They have lots of nail type accessories in my local pound land- things like stickers, files that look a bit funky/ pretty & little manicure sets. Could get some of those bits & a couple of Barry M nail varnishes from superdrug - always nice colours and last well & think you could do it all for under a tenner, maybe £8.

Dd also has Christmas & now Easter money so would like to buy her some kind of entertainment for the garden. She has £100 so either a trampoline or a swing set. Will of course be ordering through cashback now But it's something I know she will use loads. If anyone sees any deals that aren't too huge that would be great. Have a good BH everyone

spotty my friend found loads of nail stuff on amazon for good prices, might be an idea to search there?
Applied for leasing of car today. Spent 20 euros om Mac for DP, BIL and me.

Today is going to be a NSD! Really indulging last day of hols - still in pjs tucked up in bed with dd watching tv and eating chocolate!

We have enough left overs from roast for bubble&squeak and one to freeze. Will probably run out of milk but wint hurt dd to drink water before bed.

My optimism that I will have money left at end of month was crushed yesterday as a Norton annual payment came out did talk to dh about cancelling it when we recently went through all finances but he convinced me we needed it, we are now going to cancel it, our laptop is getting really old and we only use it for photos! I also miscalculated child benefit - double pay actually next month - so April now scuppered to the tune of 150

Have just spent almost £200 online shopping. Off on holiday in May and needed a few bits. Couple of pairs of shorts, dress, crops, wedges and a couple of Tshirts. Bit excessive. But I'll wear them once I'm back, and have about £600 overtime money due on Friday.

Lizard, Boffin just said what I was going to say.

Do not overlook sorting a pension for yourself.

Is your home in joint names?

And the cans of chickpeas can go in a stew to make it go further, or you could make hummus, or add to a salad.

I will need to spend some money today, broom head needs replacing and one of the DDs, I suspect number 2, left the lid off the shoe polish and it's dried out.

£4 refund off pets at home.

£1 bread I knew I should of put the bread maker on last night

£30 car tax.

www.hotukdeals.com/deals/shreddies-500g-for-1-15-only-15p-with-voucher-saving-2-34-morrisons-1884642 £1 off shreddies, making them 15p in morrisons.

I'm going to switch my business account to a personal one, it cost me £15 in fees this month just to pay cash & cheques in .

£30 car tax

28 on two summer dresses in asda. I got one in the same style last year and wore it loads so im sure I'll get a lot of wear out of these ones. Not what I set out to buy but I'm happy. DS back first thing in the morning so super happy about that (although I've enjoyed the peace and lounging).

Afternoon, yes house/ mortgage is in joint names. I have my own pension through work- even though I left and then wet back to same employer the same pension has continued but in different "pots" I think.

In line with what we were talking about before what would happen if something were to happen to DH or me in terms of what is in bank accounts/ savings that we are not joint holders on? Without being morbid DH had some serious health problems last year & investigations are continuing this year- I wonder if this may be a way of me talking to him about things

£60 in Asda Living, on two pairs of school trousers, school shoes (only £9!), sun cream, a denim mini for me and 2 cushions. Also, £2.10 on a cappuccino, 90p in Tesco and £3.60 on travel so far. I will spend another £15-20 on travel this evening, as I have to collect my DS from the airport via public transport soon.

On the morbid side, sorry, as I understand it if either of you were to die then the other could continue functioning financially in terms of bills and food, from a joint account. Much more tricky if have to apply for access to someone else's account.

When DH first went abroad he gave me power of attorney on his personal account so that I could manage it for him and the bank lost the form for a few weeks. In our case it only resulted in charges being applied but DH asked what would have happend had he died overseas and they said without the document they wouldn't have allowed me to access funds.

PicnMix glad you are happy with your dresses. I recently saw George advertised here, can't remember which shop but it was in a mall I don't feel overly comfortable with. Closes 2 hours earlier than all the other malls because of the neibourghood it's in. A lot of UK based brands are selling here now.

lizardqueenie if you do not have joint account and one of you passes away, you do not have legal right to the other persons accounts. These values has to be added to the "inheritage" value and then depending on if you have children together/seperated, they have to have their share of inheritage too.
So if something would happen to your DP, you could be left without money to pay bills ect., if money came to his personal account.
Only way to avoid this, is to make a testament and get it legalized or make a power of attorney as mentioned above.

ilovepicnmix Asda is great for dresses. I bought DD(18) one at Christmas which she has worn loads, and another one a few weeks ago. They were £14 each, and look lovely on her. I do find Asda good for clothes generally.

Hmm, all this talk of summer clothes is making me . Dc3 is due any day now so even if I do go on a little shopping spree everything will have to be bf friendly which is limiting.

£70 on summer shoes and sunglasses but dm gave us £55 and got £6 cashback so only £9 in real money which I'm very happy with.

Fluffy joint accounts aren't for everyone and the set up you have with dh works for you so don't change it but I'm a sahm I need a joint account!

Hello all! Wow some really thought provoking stuff on here today, I had no idea about the problems should you die with separate accounts. I just assumed if you were married it would be sorted quickly. I really hope this is a way in for you lizard.
Thank you for the comments about the weight loss, it is just calorie counting, 1300 per day.
Was hoping for a NSD but DS decided to suddenly develop some kind of weird peanut allergy which made his body look like it was covered in nettle stings. Spent 6 at pharmacy on piriton and calamine lotion. No more peanuts for him!
fantasea i have heard Asda is good for dresses, i wish we had one near us. I remember ordering maternity wear from them online and thought the quality was really good.

Gogo yes Asda is great for dresses, it is a shame you don't have one near you. Asda is also really good for school uniform - 2 blouses for £6 and they last really well, and I think the skirts were £8 each - you can order these online I believe

We get lots of hand-me-downs from big brand shopper SIL for dd, I love the first look through the bag and mire often than not as I pull something out I love, I think 'must be john lewis/verbaudet/m&s etc' and so often the item is from George! Colours are bright and wash well.

Thinking about slimming world. Have only done ww in the past and a very brief fling with 5:2! I need food! Sw seems too good to he true - is it? I would like to lose 1 stone (approx 10% body weight which seems to be the ideal for Sw) is it worth it?

I find sw odd as it's so carb heavy so therefore doesn't change your attitude to food but I know people who've done really well on it

Nsd