Let's make merrily with August austerity!

[CremeEggThief]

Hello All,
I've taken the liberty (again!) of starting our new thread for August. The merrily sort of ties in with Christmas and keeping an eye on any bargains out there, if you're super organised and like planning ahead.

Today's spends were £5.10 on travel, £1.20 on 2 bottles of water, £4.20 on 2 hot chocolates and £17.25 on a meal out (long story!).

Dd's primary have said she can have a plain cardi. They don't go down to her size in the logo ones anyway.

Fluffy has he paid? Can you just refund and open a case?

fluffy what an ass! Stick to your guns. I got pursued by a psycho on eBay a while back - bought a second hand, sold as seen watch from me, said it needed some spurious "repair" (using language unrecognised by a local watch man) and then refused the full refund I offered (if he'd send the watch back) and kept demanding I pay for the repair!

£35 on tickets to see screening of NT show in local cinema for anniversary. NSD otherwise.

Hadn't considered selling them on eBay thanks!

I think though that we will keep them in this instance - unfortunately there isn't one near here (that's why I wanted to go - there used to be one in Brighton but it seems that's closed?), however there is one in covent garden so I suggested to DH we save them for the next time we go up there. In fact I just remembered I was going to try to book a Mini Maestro concert at st Martin in the fields at some point so would tie in beautifully with that! If I can't get tickets then we can do a trip to the science museum.

Anyway I got another set for Zizzi for the holiday as we don't have one near here, so that's two treaty meals that will be very cheap (just drinks really). Also ordered a set of cinema ticket codes for later in the year. And I still have over £40 clubcard vouchers left to boost!

I also found a vouchercloud exclusive for 25% off at Fayre and square (we will be going to one tomorrow after we've checked in) - found the app a bit weird at first but it seems great now I understand the location settings.

In some ways it feels a bit sad not to be able to do what my parents always did on holiday/days out and basically wander round until we find a nice restaurant, but I know really it wouldn't be a good idea due to my ME (in recovery but still have to be careful) and two hungry children, and besides, they could never truly afford it - they are the ones who had loads of debt from frittering on crap. So although it's annoying not to be able to have that sponteneity I know we will be much better off for some planning!

fluffy what a pain for you, your buyer sounds awful.

£42 on petrol today but that will keep me going for a couple of weeks I hope.

Buyer hasn't paid. It's cash on collection. Buyer is a twat.

traditionalpainter.com/ Blog.

I've bought 14" wooster pro-doo z in 3/8" inch nap, plus a finishing microplush roller & wooster roller frame, cutting in brushes, paint scuttles and I'll be buying Floetrol too.

I reason if you buy good kit it will last & I have the whole house to emulsion.

Oh fluffy, how bloody annoying! READ before you BID! Argh!

£3.60 on travel, £4.94 on lunch and coffee, £1 on a bottle of naice lemonade and £4.98 on some leggings in New Look, as I found an old gift card that had £3.01 on it. Also got £3.50 for a 7kg bag of clothes from my local charity shop that also does cash for clothes.

That is why I will never sell on Ebay. I dont trust people not to be twats. I did sell a car once. I clearly listed that people were bidding to buy and that they were entitled to look at it any time and ask any questions. Anyway the winning bidder came and asked for a test drive, then proceeded to try to make a deal. He was aweful. He bought the car (with £50 knocked off for no reason apart from he tried more) and was such a knob. Never again. Looking back I wish I hadn't sold it to him now. He travelled on a train for a couple of hours to get it too. Im getting annoyed now and it happened 5 years ago!!!!!!

Anyway NSD for me, though I nearly did crumble and buy a pack of crisps from the vendor at work, but then realised I had no change so couldn't. I ate my apple I took with me instead.

I refuse to buy logo stuff for my DCs. They have a jumper each for school photos and any school trips etc, but most of the time they wear neutral tops.

Going to have a look at that Tesco Orchard thing.

£75 on decorating equipment.

£49 in Tesco, mainly on some stationery that was half price (5 packs of pens at £3.50) plus 3 pencil sharpeners at £1.50 each, plus some paper clips and bulldog clips. Lunch plus eggs, loaf of bread, butter, peanut butter and philadelphia

Bloody hell fluffy, the Ebay experience sounds like a nightmare!

Signed up for a Clubcard and Orchard now, thanks for the tips there

Well, yesterday was an expensive day as I imagined. On the positive, nothing was 'frivolous' spending, it was all necessary.

£45 - walking boots for DS (he's doing his D of E Bronze)
£36 - rugby boots for DS (he plays 3/4 times a week)
£45 - trainers for DS
£55 - farrier (refit rather than new shoes so slightly less expensive, although all relative with ponies!).
£12 - prescription (can claim back on health insurance, I have a very dodgy back and this was a consultant appointment
£15 - on a scarf and necklace for MIL Xmas pressie (organised!!)

I NEED a less expensive day, just family hair cuts pre holiday on Saturday.

The DC's school uniform is only available on site and all has to logo'd (secondary). Luckily, they don't need everything every year now.

Great morning here catching up.
My weekend was a lot less expensive than I thought my mother paid our hotel bill as my birthday present, my husband paid for lunch out yesterday so my only expenses were lunch for kiddies on Sunday, some socks & undies for everyone and alcohol sat night.

Covering an extra class this week & next so hopefully that'll pay my property tax & my contact lenses subscription.

Car giving trouble so hopefully not a big problem dh tried something with it today & it seems to be going ok since.

Talked to dh about putting €5 away weekly to save for dd starting school next year and he agrees it's a great idea so I'm thrilled as its a new good habit which we'll continue over the years.

Ebay is a right bugger, I sold a few bits and pieces on there earlier this year but gave up after a while as it just seemed like a LOT of hassle for relatively little gain.

Not been v good with the NSDs, though it's possible that today could be one. Sunday we had friends to stay so went out for a lovely lunch but ended up shelling out £70 for me, dp and ds (which actually wasn't too bad but it felt like a lot at the time!) Yesterday could've been an NSD but I got called into work when I thought I was having the day at home [grrrr] so ended up spending money in the canteen on crap...bad planning.

Should be ok for NSD tomorrow though... [fingers crossed]

Am currently in a dilemma about moving house... we really, really need some more space but the big hike in rent is making me wibbly. The flat that was ok for me and a 5-year-old is no longer really fit for purpose for me, dp and an 11-year-old... but the thought of spending all that extra moner per month is just.....argh.

Everyone talking about uniform buying reminds me about how expensive it all was. Tesco and Asda have a lot of uniform in at the moment but it is all plain stuff so when it has to have a logo that really bumps up the price.

£56 here on DD's glasses for 2 pairs and she is really pleased with them. Tesco are doing buy one get one free plus she had an NHS voucher as she is still a student so I am very relieved it wasn't a lot more. Also £32 on food. I am still trying to run my freezer down so I can defrost it but am not doing very well on that!

£3 on a top up shop but that's the last of the shopping money gone now.

£5 meat voucher in the sun on Thursday according to hotukdeals.

Tesco optitians are brilliant on price plus everyone gets free eye tests there.

£13ish on toliet roll, stain remover, cheap treats for cinema, some paints for ds1 and a small stocking filler for dd. Planning a couple more lsd tomorrow and Thursday.

56 pound for 1 jumper 2 cardigans a book bag and reading folder for dd for school ! Just need to get her some new underwear and tshirts now.

eBay are cancelling my selling fees. Thank god for that.

Oh and £15 on my post office christmas savings card. Determined not to struggle this christmas/winter.

£7 in Tesco buying lunch, lettuce and mushrooms for dinner.

Yesterday my iron (9 months old) starting spewing brown gunge. I tried to open the boiler (following the instructions) to de scale it even though it wasn't saying it needed to be descaled. Even using a wrench, neither DH nor I could open the screw. Fortunately, knowing what my cleaner is like I paid an extra £25 for instant replacement insurance.

Today I took it back, I left with a new iron. I had to lay the difference between what I paid for the previous iron (£110) and the one they had in stock (£150). He gave me the instant replacement insurance for half price (£15 instead of £30 but definitely worth it for 3 years cover). Also, I can claim back the 2 years and 03 months left on the old instant replacement cover (should be about £18)

So, overall a cost of about £37 for a brand new £150 iron. Frugal win.

Spottyteacakes, we are going 12th Oct at Newcastle Arena

Only, £8 today for dog food for our 5 day trip on Thursday plus one of those fish feeding holiday blocks. Have been stuck in most of day waiting for an IKEA huge delivery and the Sky engineer.

NSD.

Good about eBay, Fluffy :).

Fluffy good news on ebay

Audit pleased about your iron . It doesn't seem to matter how much I spend on an iron, in a few months it always starts to leak brown water. I think it must be the hard water we have here.

€37 on food and €,5.50 @ butchers. Will do proper food shop tomo & spend ,€20 at butchers too and hopefully that'll sort us out for the next week or so.