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.

Pass DD1 is in year 2 and has only had 1 cardigan. We do have a couple of DS's old jumpers, but they were too small at the start of the year, emergencies only.

One day last year DD1 didn't have a jumper at home, it was freezing and she had a really bad cough. I sent her in wearing a spare PE sweatshirt over her tunic and just told her teacher one was dirty and I assumed the spare was in the classroom. It came home that day.

Just spent £65 in Tesco, but £22 of that was presents for my dad, plus £7 for an extra booster cushion. DD1 will go onto the plain one and DD2 will come out of her stage 1 car seat onto a pink princess booster in DH's car. We use mine for long journeys and I have a stage 2 seat to move her into in my car (stupidly gave one stage 2 seat away and don't want to spend a fortune on a new one. We'll see how she gets on with the cushion. I'll buy one if I have to).

I had a marvellous bargainous teacher present find in Tesco. A beautiful bone china mug in a gift box, checked the price, £1.23! So I scoured the shelves and found 2 more. All sorted for £3.69. frugal (blue gift box, delphiniums on the cup)

I accidentally wrote in the June thread .

£18.50 for DS's logo school jumper and £9.50 for logo polo shirt. We need three of each (2 jumpers and 2 shirts washed Tuesday, to be ready for Thursday and Friday). Fingers crossed, DS is very good about not losing his stuff. I've jinxed it, haven't I?

I've actually had an actual NSD

DD1 came out of school saying she might be selected to go away with the hockey team and it'll be about $900. Can't get my head around the exchange rate right now.

Will try to catch up later.

I thought I had school uniform cracked. ...but forgot about the polo shirts! At least they are cheap enough from tescos etc....argh!

I thought ds might be able ti wear his in sept. ..but I think I might need a miracle to remove the yellow sun lotion stains. ..any ideas?

Thanks for the new thread creme - love the title!

I'm not feeling great today, a kind colleague has offered to cover my first appointment to give me more time to feel better, then I'm really busy 10.50-2.30 with a lull after that, it'll just be a grit your teeth and get on with it day.
Even the thought of getting a shower is overwhelming right now.
It should be an LSD - had to send DH to corner shop for biscuits and milk as it's my turn to contribute these to work but think it was only £3ish

Hope you're feeling better, MissA

Well, I thought I had my money sussed this month, but had forgotten that due to having to take a day off last month to look after my poorly DS I lost a day's pay, so my wages were lower. So having to be extra, extra frugal this month.

Great title Creme, thanks for the new thread. We still have another week until payday so I've signed DH up to John Lewis card so I can have some free cake to cheer me up. I've tried hard this month but with one thing and another we were never going to get to the end of the month in the black and next month will be school holidays and uniform purchases. It never ends!

Birthday I used to have a terrible magazine habit but we re arranged our money so we have the joint account that bills etc come out of and we both have 'pocket money' accounts. When I started having a (small) fixed amount to spend each month I quickly gave them up. I occasionally buy them when we're going away and they are always disappointing. Try getting your fix from Pinterest or look out on freecycle as people often give craft magazines and stuff away.

Can'y remember who asked why we're on this thread but I'm on it because although dh earns a good salary, I'm a sahm and we have 3dc. Quite simply we have to be careful with groceries, utilities etc if we're going to pay for after school activities, cheap holidays (last break was through the sun, cost £135 for 4 nights) etc. I realise those aren't essentials but I want us to have these things so I cut back elsewhere. Also I know as the dc get older they will cost more so we're trying to overpay our mortgage in the hope that it'll be paid off by the time the dc go to uni/buy first home. It's not looking likely right now but we certainly won't make it if we don't try!

Checkoutsmart don't honor online shopping receipts. ....so now I know!

Newbie signing in!

Off work with stress, sick pays covers rent - no more. DH's ESA is about to be stopped. We have £40 a week for Gas and Electric and food.

Tied into a gym contract at £50 a month for us both. DH uses the gym to help with his disability.

I'm a food hoarder so have cupboards full of pasta and tinned toms. Every day is a no spend day recently. Selling some stuff on facebook and gumtree for cash.

Thank goodness for tesco value eggs at £1.35 for 15. We're having lots of omelettes and scrambled eggs. Been getting bread reduced at 45p for a nice brand brown loaf.

If you're in England there is a £5 voucher in the sun for fruit and veg in morrisons. Unfortunately not available in Scotland but they do have a £5 off a £10 spend on meat and fish.

Welcome Judy's Priest (great name). Sorry to hear things are so tough. Apologies if you've already tried it, but maybe speak to the CAB about your situation and see if they can suggest anything that might help with your DH's ESA. It sounds so unfair. Hopefully you will find this thread useful and supportive too.

£14.40 today, treating a friend and I to breakfast at Cafe Rouge. Unfortunately, my code was only valid on cooked breakfast, which I didn't realise until we'd ordered. We had a lovely time though and enjoyed our food, and neither of us were hungry enough for a bigger meal. She has helped me out quite a lot, by feeding my cat and giving DS lifts to Scouts events (I don't have a car), so this was just my way of saying thanks.

How are you feeling now missa? At least the summer breaks coming up soon.

Welcome judy

£5 petrol
£4 sainsbos on squash while its on offer.

Supermum and Judy welcome

DD is having friends over tonight for films so I have bought some bits for their tea. I spent £16 in asda on cold meat, sausages, sausage rolls, crisps, coleslaw, pasta salad and 3 big French loaves. I have ice-creams already so they can have those for their pudding. There are 2 girls and 3 boys coming and I know the boys eat loads. I honestly don't know how people afford to feed teenage boys, they are like hoovers! I have looked in the freezer and I have a huge sack of oven chips in there which were on offer last week so I may cook a big bowl of them too.

Thanks fluffy I'm still feeling pretty dreadful but Dr gave me new medicine to try. I don't want to miss last day of teaching and end of term supper (tomorrow) and was supposed to be going out for a drink with colleagues tonight which barring a miracle is definitely not going to happen hopefully I'll at least feel better in time for tomorrow.
this is just miserable!

Thanks for the welcome. Things suck money wise but so is life, hoping for some inspiration and ideas here.

I hear you on the teenage boys Fanta, DS is 10 and never stops eating.

Hope the medicine helps and you feel better very soon MissA

Today I need to buy crisps for DD2's class tomorrow, and lemons because I've made pancakes for them. Also need to find the dentist, they moved, and find out how much braces for both DDs will cost. DD1 says she needs underwear which I'm hoping just means she hasn't put her clean laundry away properly again, otherwise I'll have to use grocery money next week.

Realised I had a NSD yesterday! Think today is heading that way too...I was due to go out this evening but dd is poorly so think I might just snuggle up with her.

Why am I on here...firstly I actually quite enjoy being frugal! We earn about 40,000 as a household but pay full time nursery for dd, we have no debts but a money pit of a house - something always needs 'doing', we certainly don't live a lavish lifestyle but I cut back in some areas to spend on nights out, weekends away etc. Mainly I'm driven by fear of a change in circumstance - if I live within my means now, hopefully if anything goes tits-up job, house or health wise I won't have to make too many drastic changes to get by.

Had a very interesting exchange with dh lastnight. He wants to spend 100 on an awning for our tent for our camping holiday in a couple of weeks. Id like one too but think we can't afford it right now. We also need a new garden bench which I recently saved all of my birthday money to buy one with. It happens to be 100. I'm happy to get the awning rather than the bench, which can wait until next year. Dh mulled this over for a while, think he's really starting to see that you can't just buy everything you (think) you need. You have to save, plan and compromise. Anyway, an hour or so later he'd put a few items on eBay to try and make the extra money!

Can I join you all? This weekend isn't a good time to start though because we are off to a wedding...

Okay-not a great day spend wise but I'm going to be honest about it. Bought a magazine :-( and bits for a picnic for after school pick up. Spent £12 in Asda and got £10 cash too. Also bought a sandwich and crisps on way to work £4. I am hoping that feeling uncomfortable about posting will help. Am not going out tomorrow evening as just too bushed so am sort of justifying mag that way but I've got to get a grip.

Adding it all up helps.

Eg working 5 days a week and buying a sandwich etc at £4 is £880 a year allowing for 4 weeks annual leave.

It's how I cured my daily extra tall latte habit.

Well done Six

Welcome to all newbies.

306 hope you enjoy the wedding this weekend.

JudysPriest, great name btw, what does your DS eat loads of?

DD1 wants to have friends over tomorrow, I'm in the supermarket working out what I can do with my fiver without compromising Monday's packed lunches.

I'm on here because costs here make me very anxious about losing DH's income and the vast changes that would cause, which would impact the DDs. Plus he spends too bloody much.

Another new one here- have just done the adding up of coffees bought on way into work over a year! Think I will buy a nice jar to take in.

Spent £12 in Wilkinsons on Lawn weed and feed, a birthday card and some chocolate. But I feel like I have had a fairly frugal week in other ways - I have put the equivalent of four portions of leftover food in the freezer just by not serving up too much.

£15 on picnic food came out of dp's fun money though which he's specifically set aside for such things.

I'm on here as we really need to clear our credit cards. We'd be comfortable without them. Will have to declare dp's pay rise to tax credits soon. I won't know the amount until he gets this months pay slip though so a good few weeks away and that'll be six weeks of pay rise (all a bit confusing) so I hope we don't have to pay any back

NSD and welcome to all newbies! We earn quite a bit as a household, but we have plenty of outgoings. Like nursery ft for dd, after school clubs for ds as we both work ft. Also, seeing grandparents on one side mean spending £5k on flights alone, let alone spending money. Grandparents on the other side will cost 6h driving and petrol, so significantly less but still significant amount to spend.

So, for me, a coffee here and there at £4 is a lot of money for me because I see it in terms of 'oh that's half a swimming lesson' so that stops me most of the time. The kids do a lot of activities.

If I go out to eat, I try and pick something I can't cook myself. So I try not to go to pizza express etc and if I do I eat something like crayfish as I can't make it. Or a ramen shop where they make fab soups that I can't replicate.

I think I need to talk to dh about me having a "pocket money" account. I find it much easier to control my spending by reducing my access to money. I know I'm a fritterer so I need to control it in quiet calm moments and not rely too much on will power in shops.