An Avalanche of Austerity for April - Mumsnet frugaleers continue!

[MissAnnersleyismyhero]

Thought I'd start a new thread for April

NSD

Clearly not all to good at this not spending money, really want to get my hair done and I know no hairdresser at all here in NL, so went on to Groupon and found a deal for a wash, cut and blow for 19,99 Euros. Saved 32 euros, so OK deal I think...

Springbright- I'd have the meazl deal but oh don't like them as I'm a chef. What about pasta baby mushrooms chicken Philli cheese or chilli main course. nice bread,salami, cheese,pate. No cooking evening? Nice flavours minimum effort food.

springbright how about minute steak on ciabattas rubbed with raw garlic & toasted with mushrooms & onions - cheap but tasty dish & something for pudding?

€20 today mince for us & some cheap mince for dogs, marinated pork chops & some chicken Stirfry for lunch plus wraps to go with Stirfry, water, isotonic drinks & smarties for my dd who is still recovering from vomiting bug, going to doctor soon cos I can't keep her temperature down.

NSD for me today .

lilac hope DD feels better soon - my DD suffered with high temperatures with every illness she got, I know what a worry it is.

£30 for petrol. Could have been a nsd but dp's taken dd to the drs and so petrol couldn't wait

Just spent £18.50 on a pair of New Balance trainers. Very good value but I am still a bit as it wasn't budgeted for. Better adjust my YNAB then.

Annie and Lila they are both such delicious suggestions. I'm now really that I've opted for pizza! There was a slight mix up in dropping dd with the grandparents and i had forgotten to pack a few essentials so I ended up in Asda, 4 for pizzas, 6 on other random tat including a cbeebies magazine which are totally overpriced and not usually in my usual shopping basket but it did keep dd happy as she drive off with grandparents for the weekend.

Wine and snacks = not a NSD. Hey ho, will try for 3 NSDs next week.

Happy weekend everyone! Well I managed to get to Ikea, I stuck to the list and spent 71. No furniture and it was good to have DS with me who wanted to leave as soon as we arrived so I had to hurry. I also opted for a bag rather than a trolley so I couldn't add much, only what I could carry!
So this plus 61 in M and S has put me way over budget. Nevermind.
I haven't downloaded YNAB yet as DH tends to use pc and i have my i pad which it doesn't seem to work on?
potbelly we did venture into the cafe for a huge cake!
italian thank you for the advice, I didn't see your message until we got back but will def join next time or will try online.
spring I am the same! We are in a small flat with very little storage. I really need an expert to come in and help me plan our storage better. We tend not to hold onto anything but still feel like we are in a mess all the time. I guess two lively DC stops me from cleaning/tidying in a meaningful way. That's my excuse anyway!

I always end up getting pizza spring when I want something easy and treatish.

4.06 on jar of coffee and a few random bits. 1 on grand national sweepstake. Fingers crossed.

Every time dh & I go to ikea we have a massive row & don't speak to each other for an hour.

Oh no fluffy does the row involve getting too many wine glasses, bath mats, tea lights or enlarged shoe horns?

No it involves us having totally different tastes and me being wrong but refusing to admit it.

Maybe time to order online! Although their delivery charges are extortionate.

Just spent about £6 on waffles, tuna on offer and chocolate.

Will catch up later, due at school in 15 mins.

No spending since the weekend, but bit of a blowout today. Booking for the RSC's winter season went on sale today. Annoying as their summer tickets only went on sale a few weeks ago, so I shelled out 100 quid for wolf hall / bring up the bodies then, and more today.

So, unplanned spending = not good. On the other hand I was working near the Barbican today so was able to be at the box office when booking was open to bag some ten pound tickets. So two tickets for each of henry fourth parts one and two, for forty quid all in. The woman in front of me in the queue spent 250 quid on the same double bill. So not frugal exactly but damage limitation at least!

Need the rest of the month to be super frugal now!

insideleg you need a desktop/laptop and a Dropbox account in order for the YNAB app to work on your iPad/iPhone and Cloud Sync between PC and the apple product. It's explained here.

(It almost sounds like I know what I am talking about)

Spendy day, but worth it. £20 for DS' s Scouts subs and bus fare; £28 on a manicure and pedicure; £17.78 on a few bits for the weekend from Tesco, and £1200.05 clearing my credit card debt. An immense relief.

Hope everyone has a good weekend :).

Ii've been madly busy this week so now I'll try to rack my brain for what I have spent this week (well, since Tuesday).

Wednesday £2 on a couple of drinks and some Maltesers for DD2 while waiting for DS on a school sailing event. Then £7 for DD2 and I to have McDonalds for lunch.

Thursday £5.50 for lunch in Tescos, then had to go in the evening to buy dog food, £3 plus £2 on travel bottles for holiday.

Friday £15 lunch out for work, £80.65 on this months child care, after our holiday DD2 will only go to nursery one day a week term time so covered by her EYFE hours and DS and DD1 will get picked up by daddy. I suspect this will lead to friction, but I will point out it is saving about £200 a month.

Went to Lidl tonight, really only because I need suitcase padlocks and they have them in this week for £3 each (£6 in Tesco). Also got a camera tripod for £6, a few other bits and it came to £30. It does mean I have blown this weeks shopping budget but I won't be food shopping for the next 2 weeks.

Glad you're ok Adora.

Thank you cool I will definitely sort that out. You are the expert!

Wow cremeegg what a fantastic achievement! Congratulations! 300 left on our cc, will pay it off next month.

I have a 6 dollar voucher off ynab if anyone would like it?

4 NSD this week - Tues, Weds, Thurs, today. Not bad, but still went over food budget thanks to blummin food technology ingredients for DD on Monday.

Big day out for DFs big 65th birthday tomorrow, so definitely going to spend.