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!).

If you get a reconditioned one it will all be clear anyway.

What is this Tesco Orchard?

I have most of ds2s Xmas gifts :)
And some of ds1s.
I am determined to stick to budget this year!
I have discovered that aldi sell really cheap painkillers and ranitadine!...I used to buy branded painkillers (I know, I know...) so am thrilled with this discovery.

Tesco orchard is there market research site, they send you vouchers to try stuff.

You need a clubcard to link it to but there easy to come by.

I am fed up with this weather too misstired. My kids have loads of summer clothes and they have hardly been worn. I bought a lot of stuff in a size bigger this year, for DD6, so I am hoping to get next summer out of them too.
DS10 probably has enough stuff to last for the winter. He likes jogging sweatshirt material trousers in the winter. Normally, I get them from NEXT but this year I have bought him a couple of pairs from Sainsbury's TU for 1/2 the price (frugal ). I tend to stock up on clothes from him in the sale too (we live close to Asda so often get reduced tops for him). I have clothes for him until he is 13 stocked up in his wardrobe. I find it difficult to do with DD as not so many clothes for her.
I am ashamed to say I put my heating on this morning for 45 minutes!!! Where is summer? It is August!
I want to buy a North Face warm coat for myself this year. Where can I go to get one (at a frugal price)?

Home Bargains sell really cheap painkillers too. I get DH's hay fever stuff from there.
Fluffy, I have a clubcard so I will have to look into that.
Hope Tesco does the double up points thing at Xmas. I am thinking of getting DD a Hudl as she is always wanting the Ipad if we are out for a meal (DS plays with it to keep him busy and quiet).

Sorry to jump on when I have only been lurking (hope to join you next month) but wondering Badvoc how much Aldi's Ranitidine is? Tesco used to be £1 but now £1.40 for 12 and I paid a lot more in our local chemist last week to save going to Tesco.

75p!! :)
The hudl has got really bad reviews :( major tech issues apparently.
The kindle fire and google nexus have good reviews...kindle usually have offers on near Xmas.

75p!!! I will definitely stock up on those.

We got ds3(8) a HUDL last Christmas. By May it wasn't charging and they replaced it with a refurbished one which stopped working within a month. I asked for, and got, a refund and as it was coming up for his birthday and I had Amazon vouchers I got him a iPad mini. It really is great and he lets me borrow it!

I'm not sure who is asking about the Kindle, but the Kindle Fire HD is on at £89 - is that quite a good price? (Amazon)

I don't have my spends to hand but I am noting them down.

Today's frugal things

1. Took the collection of small change to coinstar machine and got £2.86 off my shopping
2. Went to the Library and paid off my fine (£3.90 from about 3 years ago) and got a new card £2. YIKES - but I am going to start weaning myself of spending money on kindle books. I did take one book out too, it's been ages since I read a paper book.
3. Took a list to Morrisons and did not deviate from it

£89 is a very good price IMHO.
I would so for one but we have 3 iPads in the house so I don't really need one!
I am thinking of asking Dh for a kindle paperwhite for my b day...I have a First generation one that has seen better days :( and it is something I use every day and have ever since he bought it for me 4 years ago :)

Spent £4.60 at work today on a few bits for dinner and some snacks.
DH has taken out £50 as he has gone out with the lads from work for a leaving do.
DS1 has decided to have a growth spurt and now hardley any of his clothes fit him so I am going to go out and buy him a winter wardrobe in the next week or so. It's a good job I bought all his clothes for school in the next size up.

I have a kindle fire HD they are ace I havnt put mine down since I got it for Christmas 2year ago. (It's what I am on right now.)

Hi super mum - yes I work full time so I took 3 weeks off (never before! Last time I took the correct amount of leave was when I was on maternity and hr got involved).

My ds usually goes to afterschool club till 6 and dd is still in nursery till 6. So during school hols we end up in summer camp (10-4) at a nearby private school (we live within walking distance of 3 private schools!!). Last year we flew off for 2.5 weeks or so and he was in camp for 2 weeks. This year he went for camp at the start of hols and will do sports camp next week.

In the spirit of frugality (not), we have estimated that both our children will cost us £100k in daycare nurseries by the time they go to reception year. Just nursery fees.

NSD today, about £6.50 yesterday. Tomorrow should be another NSD.

DH bought dewormer and frontline for dogs, can't remember how much.

Should be a nsd today as dp is working and I will just stay in with the dc. I'm going to make a roast.

Is it sad that I'm really looking forward to wearing my brand new knickers and socks?!

£12 on lots of tights for work. £69 on a new winter coat in Zara and £25 on a blouse for work. Not sure if either will be kept. My winter coat will be entering its 4th winter this year and looks quite shabby now. I wear a skirt suit to work very day and am hunting for 2-3 more washable and brightly coloured blouses to mix and match. Also will need 2-3 vests and long sleeve thermals for layering.

spotty I am of new pants and socks! Mine are rather ragged I intend on replacing them wholesale soon but prob not til Xmas - might even get DH to buy me lots of basic pants, socks and a few bras as my gift.

I just got my knickers from primark at £1.50 each you can't complain! No one sees my underwear anyway

Hi spotty, about your knickers - are they the seamless ones? Sorry if tmi, but I'm looking for some knickers which won't show through my work trousers. Let's just say that I believe I've put on a little weight (or have got saggy now that I'm past 40!) and my work trousers seem to show my vpl. I've tried getting new trousers but I seem to be at an in between size. 8 is snug, and 10 is too loose. So thought if I worked on my pants, it might work?

Spent £200 in ikea yesterday. Omg. Went in there for shower curtains and a pole and came out with so much more. To be fair, a lot of it was Dd's birthday decor and invites etc but there were other random things too. Argh..

Some are. I think the best ones for not showing through trousers are the ones with lace edges, got some of those too. I'm an 8/10 but get the 10/12 knickers in primark as they seem to come up small

Hello everyone

Following a very mad summer when I've been so busy I couldn't keep up with the threads things are now settling down again. I'm on holiday at the moment but we've set a daily budget and so far we've "saved" £125 of our budget by using picnics and vouchers so I'm still frugaleering!

DH is still contracting and we've moved to the slightly more expensive house by the beach. So glad we moved as the children have had an amazing summer on the beach most days so I think it was worth every penny! I landed a huge promotion last month so I'm planning on putting my 50% pay rise into paying the last credit card off (balance built up when DH was out of work for 5 months).

DH needs a permanent job and he has four applications in - all of which would need another move.

Can't remember who asked about the kindle at £89 but that's a great price. I paid £120 last year and they've been great for the children. I know several people who have had quite big issues with the Hudl.

I've started Christmas shopping as I've seen some bargains. We're on holiday in Cornwall and lots of the joules/sea salt type shops have sales on as do the National Trust gift shops and these seem to suit the people I have to buy for.

NK I have seen seemless knickers in Tesco on the 3 for 2 offer. I think they are either £2.50 or £3 a pair. I have a couple of pairs and it is really odd, it feels like you don't have any on! Also, if you are between a size 8 and a size 10 you must be really slim, I wish I could fit into that size

Currently at peppa pig world...2nd day so the only frugal things I have are apples, cereal bars and bottles of water. Going to be difficult to br frugal especially as uts coincided with my ds summer growth spurt and he is "starving" all the time. ..argh.

Home tonight at the end of a spendy 9 days. ...bring on school and saving pennies! Dd starts reception so looking forward to reduced childcare fees finally :-)

That's a fantastic pay rise Helena, well done you.

NSD.

I am going to buy membership for the YHA which is about 10 so I can get discount off accommodation. There are lots of youth hostels with private rooms now & some of them have free kids meals offers. So I am looking to book a half term mini break as I didnt get myself organised for this summer.