Jacket Potato July: our frugal year is flying by!

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
I couldn't see a new thread yet, so thought I'd start one for July. The jacket potato is a marker for starting summer off on a frugal note. :).

NSD so far.

So Today: £4 in the chemist for Swim shampoo (kids spending all day in the pool = hair like straw and dd1 has a massive waist length afro ) and two hand held fans - impulse purchase! 80p for ribbon for dd's party bags, £1.80 for bread, £9 entrance to Animal sanctury, £4.90 for ice creams whilst there and £3.30 in the gift shop, £1 on sweets and £7 on a calculator ds needs for school in September.

Around £30 in total - way more than i anticipated spending, over £10.00 of that was on non essentials so feeling slightly annoyed with myself.

Tomorrow we are going bowling - already booked and paid for with Groupon £16 for six people including lunch. For any purchases tomorrow I'm going to write a list and stick to it, hopefully avoiding all luxury things that catch my eye and saving money. I'm hoping to buy loads of snacks in the £ shop to take on holiday so we don't end up spending 10 euro on a couple of chocolate bars.

All DD'S come out of the account tomorrow so dh will not be in a good mood, even though he's booked the day off of work.

So dinner was roast chicken, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage, roast potatoes, carrots and Yorkshire pudding. Dessert was brownies. I think it went down well.

Tomorrow is the start of my annual leave. Which also means the start of the never stopping spend. How much do you guys budget in your heads for these spends? Do you include lunch out? I will have my parents around for 3 weeks too, and we shall spend a week in Paris. I'm hoping that there isn't going to be too much frivolous spending of money if that makes sense. I'm thinking £10 per day if there's no lunch/dinner/entrance fees to pay for. Does that make sense? So £10 to fritter on ice lollies and things like that, or is that too optimistic?

£14.26 in Tesco, £1.90 bus fare and £2.45 in the post office. Also put £10 in a birthday card for an old friend's DS and paid for DS's first bus pass for secondary school, which is £28.50 per month (ten installments per year). Oh and £5 for DS.

No wonder I never have any money!

Fluffy I was too much of a wuss, and too annoyed, to use a wipe. Would have meant DH holding the flap of skin up or wiping under it too. I settled for washing my hand in the bathroom and using bog roll and pressure to stop it bleeding. Sounds dramatic "flap of skin" but it was only 1/2 an inch across, full of mud tho.

Today I spent £16. DDs are having friends over tomorrow.

NK that sounds lovely I love red cabbage! Mmmm I think £10 a day is fine for 'nothing' just stick to it if that's all you have in your purse that's all you can spend

Food shopping coming today and I'm making my own crispy shredded beef so no need for take away

I can't take the lights back, M&S are out of stock and it was hard enough getting them to refund the faulty towel rail because it was end of line & basically they don't want it back. Plus I need to get a fitting up, we've had bare bulbs since moving in.

The light obsession is because dh is terrible at turning lights out, if I had one candescent bulb in the house that would be the one he left on all night.

Cool I spent my last cashback on doing the garden pots, I was convinced I wouldn't need much money for these bulbs, £12 max.

I feel an email to the CEO coming on. You never get this hassle at John Lewis.

Fluffy definitely time to write to CEO and maybe write on their twitter page? (Although I don't do twitter myself.)

Have you tried Screwfix for light bulbs? They are very cheap. The cheapest G9. (Halogen) I could find were £2.99 but I think you wanted LED lights? I think this one is LED and it's £6.99 if you buy 6 or more.

NSD today - am decluttering and attacking DDs toys. Am hoping to find some things to sell in there too as not done it for a while. Sorted out spare room ( a complete tip) yesterday and found a few bits to ebay in there so hopefully will be able to earn a little bit for some holiday spending.

I'd definitely raise it on twitter or facebook.

Just spent £10.07 on... Coke, cheese, dog treats, printer paper, crisps and bacon.

£75 tesco delivery. My coffee was open might get my money back..

Car still not fixed.

NSD today.

Thanks adora dd was fine but was moaning so much I thought I should do something. I usually subscribe to fluffy's school of thought. Many times I seen mums look in horror as I dust dc down and tell them to get on with it and let them eat a packed lunch while playing in the park without scrubing their hands with various anti-bacs first.

Used annual pass today and just spent £2 while there. £12 on groceries.

NSD.

I have sent an email to M&S CEO with a screen shot of the incorrect bulb description.

Yesterday was not too expensive. The mum who was supposed to take the kids to the theatre had a problem as her car failed it's MOT, so I came home to collect my 2 and the other 2 girls, £4 parking to drop them off, saved on lunch as got DH to make me a sandwich as no time left to go out.

£8 to park for the evening, DH bought drinks in pub and at the theatre, I paid £6 for popcorn and sweets

£8 today for lunch, plus big multi pack of crisps to take to Thorpe park (well some of them) for DS's birthday treat.

£12 in Tesco vouchers to get a one day entry for DS's friend who is coming with us. His mum wanted to pay, but I knew I had vouchers.

Spotty that crispy beef sounds nice.

Nugget I'm the weird Gringa who doesn't take DCs to A&E if they scrape their knees playing at school. Sometimes I have to stifle a laugh.

Well done Fluffy and not just on your award

Just spent about £1.15 on bananas and £2 on a coffee .

I've started a new thread for August, but can't link from my phone, so please could someone else link.

See you all over there :).

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/2148297-Lets-make-merrily-with-August-austerity?msgid=48640312#48640312

New thread.