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!).

Definite win fuzzpig

I'm very fuzzpig, although having been inspired from further up thread we're having chilli, which I love.

£9.68 on milk and cheese. Have checked bank account to see what we've got left until payday. I hate 5 week months. It's do-able but I'm grateful for Tesco vouchers!

fuzzpig wow, lucky you

needastrongone I joined Tesco orchard yesterday but fluffy had to wait a few weeks for something to come through so it will probably be the same for us. I haven't read the book A Girl Called Jack but people often talk about it. Teenage boys eat more than most men! What astonishes me with the cereal is that they finish a bowl and then pour out another full one and eat that too. One of DD's friends (a boy) regularly eats 7 Weetabix in one go. Maybe he eats it all in a mixing bowl?

NSD.

My almost 12 year old DS doesn't eat loads, but his appetite has definitely increased during the past year. These endless cereal stories are scaring me! :)

Sounds lovely, fuzzpig :).

Quickie post for me. So far NSD but will be going out for dinner whilst the parents babysit yay!! Thinking curry as we've not had that for a while.

Yesterday went to factory outlet and spent £45 on shoes for kids (would have been closer to £70/80 if in high st shop) and then £9 on mcdonalds. Parents spent omg a lot more.

Well it does sort of make up for the fact I've just spent £62 on some school uniform :( £62 for a book bag, two PE shirts, 3 school shirts and two cardigans bloody compulsory logo stuff.

Loads of other stuff to get too but mostly available at asda thank goodness. And then there's shoes of course. Off to google outlet stores...

I haven't bought any logo stuff. First book bag is free and they don't go down to her size in the cardigans. Need to get a PE top though.

Unfortunately (fortunately?!) I can't find any school shoes suitable for dd to wear with her insoles so she's just going to have to wear trainers for now.

She still needs:

A coat
Tights
Waterproof trousers
Wellies
Cardigan
PE top
Tin for flash cards
Water bottle
Hair bands

I need to sew all her labels in. Argh I'm so unorganised!

Since 4pm this is what DS has eaten. He's 15 next month.

A Magnum.
Large plate of risotto and salad.
Bowl of blueberries and a banana.
Still hungry so two wraps with ham.
Packet of Quavers.
5 crackers with large slabs of cheese on each one.
Huge bowl of cereal.
Another huge bowl of cereal.

Before you question, he's about 5ft 8. So not tall and like a skinny bean pole.

DH remarked tonight he's not sure he can afford DS anymore!!

Logo school uniform sucks. Ours has to be all logo'd and it's financially a bind to say the least. State school too.

Ps. I found a supplier on Amazon that does stick on labels. You just p

Peel off, stick on and that's it. Washable. I just used our surname on the order to cover DS and DD.

I'll find the link.

On fortnights hols but haven't gone too mad with spending. Need to factor in preschool fees and swimming lessons into budget going forward.

Keeping up to date with you guys daily x

On another note, just sold some cloth nappies so have some credit in my PayPal. Do I transfer it to bank acc & pay some bills or leave it sit for treat/Christmas presents at a later date?

needastrongone omg that is so much food! As a comparision, DD (18) has eaten spaghetti bolognaise, a yogurt and 3 Jaffa cakes. I was telling DD earlier that we had all been chatting about the boy cereal consumption and it reminded her of a conversation some of her male friends had had were they were comparing how many bowls of cereal they could all eat. The 'winner' claimed to be able to eat 6 bowls! I would stand by CremeEgg and others with boys and maybe start stocking up when it is on offer

I just use surname too needa - an advantage of having an unusual double barrelled combination :o reminded me I need thread though.

Written the list of everything we still need... argh!

Really really need to be more organised in future. These are predictable spends so why do I not make the most of sales and stuff?!

Lilac my DH saves any eBay income on his paypal as we usually end up buying a few unusual bits on there for Xmas.

Not that we are likely to have any eBay income anymore, as others have been saying, eBay is not a good place for sellers anymore generally. Just can't be arsed with it anymore TBH.

need I hate to burst your bubble but I've used peelable name tags for the last 2 years from different companies and half don't stay on until Christmas. I'm thinking about just using a permanent marker this year, probably cheaper too. However, if anyone does have any success with labels please do let me know as I prefer the look of them.

I have 2 boys. I'm now considering a savings account ready for the food bill when they reach their teens after reading this thread!

Hi,

All of the stories about teenage boys and eating is scaring me. My DS is 10.5 at the moment but doesn't eat a lot...yet.
Went back to work today after 2 weeks off. Only 3 days a week though. Back from Scotland yesterday (4 night trip). Spent £400 but that included lunch and evening meals for 4 of us. We stayed Premier Inn and had already paid for breakfasts...yum yum. Went to Edinburgh zoo one day...major expense.
Tesco online shop came today £115.
All school uniform bought for DS and DD. Got a mix of school logo stuff and Asda stuff.

I gave up using name tags a while back. I just write names with a marker pen. I have been posh this year and had DD's name embroidered on her cardigans as the school shop allowed us to do that.

£11 on a meal out bit of a treat catching up with friends and their dc.

Too rushed to cath up fully, sorry

Lizard sorry that it has come to this but it really sounds like you have made/are making the right decision.

Italian huge congrats on the birth of DD and best of luck for your move. Also the right decision.

Yesterday I got a kilo of organic oats for the same price as run of the mill packet stuff - £2. Will need more before the week is out as the granola just seems to evaporate in this house. At least DDs are eating a healthy breakfast. Also spent £18 in the supermarket, plus £7 worth of Nectar points on half a kilo of frozen prawns for DD1 and me.

Today £12 in the grocers, included half a kilo of almonds, for the granola.

DH has business lunches and dinners all week but I don't think he's funding all of them. Hope not anyway. Dog food and deworming is on his To Do list.

When reading about school uniforms, I get so happy, that we do not use uniforms here... Thank heaver. We just use normal clothes, so no need for uniforms, special school or pe clothes. Tax is a lot higher tho, but I think we get more for "free" than then in the UK.
Spent today 30 pounds on a jumpsuit and a skirt, but both was reduced each with 60 pounds, so think 30 pounds instead of 120 pounds is good buy and its paid with my birthday money.

£35 on dinner and because it's dh's birthday treat the restaurant gave him a free beer and me a free cuppa tea! Win.

Re clothing labels, I use stikins. You can get them on eBay or Amazon - I use the company labels4kids and they are great. They stick on and don't come off. Really. I stick them on everything, clothes, bottles, lunch boxes, lunch bags, teddies... My ds is going to year 2 and his year r and 1 stuff still have the name labels on, hardly wear off too. Oh, stick them on shoes too. I think the only place it does wear off is in the shoe, but they last longer than those start-rite stickers!!

fuzzpig I sold on fb group, my one venture with eBay I lost money so didnt try again. I think its best to leave it there when I purchase later in the year using PayPal balance it'll feel like a real bargain!

€40.22 in Tesco on few essentials. Stocked up on cordial for dd as its only place I can get one without aspartame which seems to cause accidents for her & tubs for ds dinners, his appetite has outgrown the current ones.
€20.78 in aldi yesterday on formula bread cheese and bananas.
€9 on new school bag and water bottle for dd, novelty factor means shes drinking plain water from it so thats a major plus. Just wellies left to purchase for her and she's all set.

Dp's van got broken into last night. Luckily they only took his boss' tools.... Bastards.