Judiciously June frugal thread now including Christmas bargains.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everyone is welcome.

Ah June! After a spendy May, I fear June will be worse. Holiday in a week, my birthday, dd's birthday, fil's birthday, my grandads birthday, dd's friends birthday, friends ds' birthday and Father's Day! Argh!!

We are having a frugal June

Thank you for the new thread fluffy

Goal for June: save for summer.

After a tough first month back at work where I expected to be spending every weekend I didn't & ended the month quite well with a tax refund which helped pay a few big expenses such as hotel for my brothers wedding in August, a tonne of wood pellets which'll keep us going until I've saved enough for a 3.5t delivery, dress to wear to two weddings and still some money left to start June off on the right foot.

Didn't stick to food budget this week, overspent by about €30 but well stocked up now, will meal plan my way through June!

Thanks for the new thread - bit scared at the prospect of getting Christmas bargains in June though.

We're hoping to move house this summer - waiting for the people we're buying off to have their offer accepted then we can get motoring. Will be very spendy though with survey, fees, stamp duty, etc. I'd also love to start our first home with new bedding and towels and say goodbye to the bobbly faded old sets.

So our frugal goal for June is to sell as much as we can on eBay this month so we don't have to take it with us. Haven't sold anything on eBay for years but I see they do free listings every month now.

Good luck everyone.

Now we've moved we're back on the wagon here.

We had a garage sale yesterday and raised £165!

Strict meal planning starts today.

Hi all I'm back in after keep dropping of these threads! Have been being frugal though. My savings are up to £1k since I started on the January board. Not bad considering I had zero at the end of December! Aim is to get it to £4k by the end of the year. Have been eBaying loads but think I have run out of things to sell now.
Managed a pretty cheap half term but it's back to work tomorrow and don't feel like I have had any time of at all

I'm in. OH hasn't worked since February and the savings are all gone. We have about £400 after utilities for everything else (taking a 2 month mortgage holiday). For us, this is going to be hard.

Got a short term lodger arriving today and she's going to pay board but has various food intolerances so think that will cancel out the gained ££.

Can't try on any dresses as nowhere stocks them! Ridiculous.

Hi all. Thanks for starting the new thread, Fluffy .

Oh Spotty, how annoying! :(. Have you made it to John Lewis yet?

Hello all

Thanks fluffy for the new thread!!

NSD yesterday (Sat). Won't be today as I need a pepper, fennel and hummus, plus some other fresh stuff for during the week. Am planning to spend afternoon pricing stuff and sorting into boxes for the carboot sale.

Need to do a new meal plan too, have a freezer full of planned leftovers so hoping not to have to buy too much.

hey ellis give it a few weeks and you'll probably find more stuff to sell, I go through phases and think I have sold everything and then a few months/weeks later suddenly decide I can part with a lot more stuff!

Yep first place I went! Oh well will have to arrange a special trip somewhen.

Such a lovely day wish I wasn't wasting it shopping!

Thank you fluffy! Hello! Today has been an NSD so far. Because we haven't really gone out. Well dh went to pick ds up from activity and stopped by sainsburys but I didn't part with money so that will count then! :)

To those of you who have managed to save £1k since January.. How?!!!

Serious question here. My pay is actually above average. Dh is self employed but in recent months he's been able to contribute a few hundred to the joint account so that's good. I can't seem to save.

I already do the Aldi shop (so like this week it was £35 which is brilliant). I eat leftovers, I buy in sales or cheap places. Up to recently we never really needed clothes for the dc because we had hand me downs from friends. I have nursery fees but that's always been there and if any thing it's gone down since she turned 3.

So how?? Do you just move any money at the end of the month to the savings account? I tend to leave my money in my current account. When I was much more solvent (with less pay but then with less outgoings due to one less child/no child!) I used to be able to move a few hundred every month without thought, and we still ate out, threw food away, bought clothes etc.

Help!!! I don't really have time to eBay lots of things. I did do ds' bike a few months ago, and that fetched £20. I work ft, travel quite a bit for work. Would welcome ideas.

NSD for me.

I'm saving for Thursday when Aldi get their Bay trees in because I want a pair so that's £30.

NK do a spending diary, is their anything you can trim off the utility bills? Any money they owe you perhaps?.

Circus trip today, tickets paid for last month. I spent £6.04 at the spar shop on the way on snacks and drinks, rather than pay for their overpriced ones. And successfully resisted demands for glow sticks and fluffy tail things they were flogging.. Had a picnic afterwards on the park and just got home with three exhausted DC's after 3 hours in the park so have stuck frozen on for them to veg in front of while I get something together for tea.

If I pay off my credit card with £200, I have £300 to spend this month. I have a weekend in Devon next week, maybe £50 for some wine and food but friends are not flush either so no big spending there. Then following weekend I am going to London on my own for the day (BIG treat!) which will be another £50 for train fare and lunch. Also 2 christening presents required but then my mum is coming for the weekend and she spoils the children so that should be an easy weekend. No ballet lessons to pay this month which will help.

Lots of packed lunches and NSD's should make it work - with the hope of saving an extra £50 for a savings pot by the end of the months. I have £30 in my wallet which is my total spend allowance for the month on food outside of the house.

Can I join. I have just spent a good few hours with a cup of tea reading through last months thread. I've downloaded the Supermarket Checkout app and will be looking at YNAB later.

We really need to tighen our belts. DH has just lost his job and unfortunately due to my re-training we have some quite large debts. He was the main breadwinner too so not sure what we are going to do going forward. This thread is my first move forward trying to find positive ways to solve cashflow crisis.

Did an online shop today as had a voucher from Tesco for almost £10 - almost everything I bough was half price or has some reduction instead of the normal shop from favourites and I send DH to the shop for the eggs that I forgot so I wouldn't be tempted. Just had to redo my car insurance as couldn't afford to pay outright, was shocked at how much extra paying by DD is, but all that we can afford at present. Tried cashback sites but these were mega expensive. Did manage to get a cheap quote and then get a price match from current insurer though so not too bad.

I'm back in, hello everyone

Fluffy thank you for the new thread

trinity I am interested to hear about your lodger. What are you expected to provide in terms of food and what are the intolerances you have to accommodate? Would it be possible to work that into your normal menu so you all eat the same, or would that work out more expensive?

I am reaching the bottom of my freezer finally! I have been making a huge effort to use up a lot of the stuff in there and then be much stricter with myself with buying and freezing. So the big defrost day is in sight

£1.40 on bread today.

Hi MissA I will try and get the will to go through DS baby clothes. We got given a lot if expensive stuff when he was first born which I could sell as well.

NK I am as amazed as you at saving that amount! I have been selling in eBay and Amazon and anything I make no matter how small has gone into savings. I have budgeted and anything left over goes to savings. Also as soon as I get paid I move over some I also took some overtime and that amount also went to savings. It sounds a bit daft but it's lots of little amounts that have added up. Also my savings account is a sainsburys bank one and everytime I do my shopping in there I get them to round it up to the nearest tenner and put the difference in the savings account.

Thanks fluffy, I'm in too!

Oh what a spendy day! Visit to retail outlet to meet some old neighbours resulted in:

£13.11 in Pret for lunch
£4.98 in Cadbury shop
£2.49 on a jumper for Dd (will be put away for Christmas!)

And I also treated myself to a pair of running trainers - £72 ! It is my birthday this month so that's my little treat to myself. Earlier this evening I went out for my first run in ages and it was ace.

I had a look at wedding dresses! Nothing in Phase Eight. A couple of things in Monsoon and Coast but way too many that looked like prom dresses.

We have meals for the first few days of this week, may need to top up fresh stuff mid-week.

We're going out on Friday to a friend's 40th but I've decided to ask another friend if she can babysit and then drive there and back.

Welcome trinity and making. Sorry that things are so tight for both of you. Hope that both your DHs find work soon. In the meantime, you will get lots of support here, together with lots of hints and tips.

NK pay yourself first - don't wait till the end of the month to put into savings. As soon as you get paid, put £X amount into savings.

Thanks spring!

Think of the nice coffee machine you could have bought with that £200 ohhelp

I washed some clothes on a cold cycle today & they are just as clean as normal. I might try it on a main wash, you know, just to really live life on the edge.

I didn't make vegan crumble because dh used my worktop as a work bench all day.