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!).

Karbea go to aldi or lidl if you've got one, even if its just till he gets a job.

Thank you FantaSea, needastrongone, Iamnotanugget I am getting more ready for the move for every day, todays task packing and a bit more packing :) I have myself a really close relationship with my mom and grandmother, so would absolutely love for my daughter to get the same.
Today spend is going to be on food eating out, no point in really shopping any groceries giving that we are off Saturday... My PIL are on holiday (yep the 2 last week their granddaughter is in the country, they decide to go to Turkey, great... Hmpf)

Aldi and lidl are both a long drive from me, are the things really so much cheaper when you take into consideration the petrol and my staff discount?

karbea Aldi really is cheap - we actually struggle to spend enough to make the £40 voucher apply! And usually our shop in Sainsbos would be £60-75. Worth doing a trial at least once I reckon - see how much cheaper it is and factor in petrol. Esp if you used it for canned and dried goods you could go once a month or fortnightly and then use a closer shop for fresh things?

In other news, I sat on sofa last night with a blanket, long sleeve t, vest, jumper and thick socks on and was cold. I am NOT putting the heating on in August.

Ok I will do.

I did too, I had a track suit on thermal socks, a blanket and two dogs and was still cold :(

Buuuuuut it's suppooossed to be summmmmmerrrrrr

karbea - DH gets £5!! If he got £50 he would spend it. If he got £500 he would spend it, if he got £5000 - you get the picture Which is terrible really, as he is a high earner, but works for us.

Do you have eggs? I would try an omelette or risotto with your ingredients.

Aldi - one very close but I SOMETIMES find false economy as the DC won't eat their stuff as it tastes 'cheap'. I find some of their goods amazing (cheese, fruit and veg, their beauty range, meat). But agree in some instances with the kids too.

Friends say Lidl is excellent but I haven't been.

Struggling to keep holiday food bill down due to 15 yo DS. Made a shepherds pie last night, thought we would have some left over. He ate all his portion, plus peas and and carrots, the leftovers from the dish (not even using a plate!), two peaches, a packet of crisps, grapes and then a family bag of peanuts. He's like a skinny beanpole too. Beware the teenage appetite!!

I've made spicy parsnip soup for lunch.

Needastrongone , I've got one of those teenagers, they'd eat the entire fridge if you let them. Mines just munched 2 choc Danish and asks what for breakfast!!!

I have had the heating on....but as I'm not paying (in holiday let) it doesn't count. ...at home I'm waiting until at least. ..October? ?!!

Frugal day planned as going to the Needles in the IOW with £40 clubcard vouchers and a picnic. Will buy ice cream

needastrongone is that a week (£5)?

It's 10 degrees here in the North East. As in late morning. In August :(.

I got through to the 2nd week of November without any heating last year. Not sure that's happening this year!

needastrongone and annie teenage boys eat loads don't they? I only have a DD but when she has had a mixed group of friends over, I am always amazed at how much the boys can eat. I honestly don't know how people afford to feed them. I saw a post a while back from a lady with teenage boys and she was buying so much cereal, milk and juice that the checkout operator asked her if she ran a café

MissA pleased you are home and hope you are recovering well

I am freezing! When I got up this morning I thought I could do with the heating on, but that is not happening in august. I have a jumper on today and I still feel cold. When DD and I were watching TV last night I seriously considered getting out the quilt to put over me, but then I am worried I won't feel the benefit when it is really cold!

Still nothing from Tesco Orchard - ladies who have joined, how long until you get anything?

It took a few weeks to get my orchard coupons, be patient they'll arrive. You usually get an email to invite you to join campaigns.

Karbea there's a very boring way to check if aldi will save you money. Get your shopping list and put it through my supermarket.co.uk. They will give you comparisons from each supermarket plus Aldi.

The problem with this country is that we don't insulate houses very well, we've got loads of draughty pre WW2 stock that doesn't have cavities that could be insulated, we store crap in lofts on top of the lagging which stops it insulating, old methods of keeping draughts out have been forgotton (like door curtains & shutting the curtains at night, my neighbours all leave their curtains open at night), and it seems to be the norm these days to wear summer t shirts in the winter at home & then be completey astonished that the winter quarter bill was £400.

I know people who've had free lagging in the loft & then boarded over it .

Fluffy thank you I wasn't aware of the time scale - I am naturally very impatient!

I have to say I am grateful for my little mid-terrace newbuild and having no clutter in the attic, Fluffy.

FantaSea, get that quilt out of a night and enjoy being cosy!I always have a throw over me on the sofa at night, as I get cold lying down.

I didn't know that about storing things in the attic, fluffy! We have no access to ours anyway and it's just been re-done last year by landlord so hopefully we're ok on that front. Our main issue is a large patio window in living/dining room. It's like heating the whole northern hemisphere, even with thermal lined curtains and draught excluders.

CremeEgg you have made me feel better about it - the thing is though that if I start with my 'downstairs' quilt in August, when it is November I will be pulling the quilts off all the beds to take downstairs to watch TV!

Afternoon all....

Today's spends:
£1.38 on 2 x birthday cards
£7.15 in Morrisons

Frugal things I have done

1. Remembered the birthdays in time so that I was able to go to the Card Factory instead of having to dash to the corner shop where the cheapest card is £1.79.
2. Updated my spreadsheet and checked internet banking
3. Homemade Steak & Kidney Pie for tea tonight courtesy of meat vouchers. The pastry isn't home-made but I noticed Morrisons own brand was 50p cheaper than jus-rol.
4. Felt a bit cold in the house yesterday but I resisted turning the fan heater on (23p per hour) and just put a cardi and my Ugg boots on
5. Kept up to date with washing to that I didn't have to put the tumble drier on. Washing is now on the airer in my bedroom.
6. Bought tickets to my clubs big cup game, and bought an under 11 ticket for my ds2 saving me £7 (he is 11) - I do feel a bit guilty about this though. DH has also relinquished going and will watch it on telly. If we'd have all gone and paid full price it'd have cost £68 but instead it's £41 (which is still excessive).

Nsd.

I reduced my hours at work today I don't do many as it is but for example on a Monday I don't get home until 7:10 with the dc and am out the door at 6am the next. It's OK but will be too much when dd starts school so I asked to stop my Mondays and they said yes. It was such a spur of the moment thing I only thought about it this morning and asked right away I haven't even discussed it with dp anyway it's five hours a week so hopefully he won't mind and it will stop me moaning

www.window-insulation-film.co.uk/ For missA.

Pressed post too soon.

Meant to say obv not this supplier because its sold out but you get the idea.

£20 petrol.

£33 babyliss big hair, tescos are selling off the new model cheap, it's usually £45

£5 cat food.

Made soft cod roes on toast for lunch on my free bread from Tescos. Promptly dropped it into the cats litter tray as I took it out of the microwave

Fruit and veg voucher in the sun on Thursday.

Free 3 course meal today! :o

New restaurant opening in town and they were grabbing people off the street the other day to book in return for detailed feedback. Friend booked it as she was passing at the time but then couldn't go so suggested we used it instead! Only spent £12 for drinks and tip. WIN :o

Yes karbea, £5 per week. Caveat is that he does live on his expenses account iyswim? He drives around 30k miles a year, so gets lunches and coffees etc on the move. He's just really bad at finding some money in his pocket and nipping into Tesco etc on the way home. Even nice stuff like flowers for me or a magazine for the kids, but it's all completely pointless spending. Better he has nothing at all!!

That said, big spends we sit and discuss etc.

OK, sorry, but I am sat in my vest and shorts in Scotland and it's glorious! Chalet patio doors are wide open. We live in Yorkshire, in a new (ish) house. Much larger than the last house we had but lower heating bills so the insulation issues you mention must be very efficient, as it's newer.

We've had a low spending holiday day. £5 on ice creams. Home made spicy parsnip soup for lunch and risotto for tea. Long walk on the beach with the kids and dogs, played a lot of board games. So pleased, teenagers but still happy doing family/simple stuff. Long may it last

I haven't received anything from Tesco Orchard yet, joined last week.

Fanta I like the blog and book A Girl called Jack. Love the ideas etc. I love cooking and we eat really healthily and use lots of fresh veg and pulses, not too much meat and rarely have frozen meals. But she has a small son. No way would you feed a teenage son on those portions. So, happy to enjoy her ideas, but it's unrealistic for DC of the age I have.

And the ability to eat cereal and pints of milk leaves me in awe