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!).

Should be nsd today. Dp has given me £100 for dd's school shoes, coat and our day out weds. I won't spend it all. So I've paid £100 off my credit card (yesterday) also bought some school shoes for dd to try £35 but they might have to go back as nothing seems to fit with her insoles...

98p on a long fleece dressing gown in M&S and a summer vest. The gowns only a foot shorter than me. It will keep the winter bills low.

That's my £100 M&S voucher spent now from switching bank accounts. They haven't responded to my email complaint yet to the CEO .

I'm thinking of switching to Santander next, £35 cb on quidco, they have a branch nearer the free car park and I'm quite lazy like that.

£40.43 at aldi for the week (trying veggie recipes this week) and £7.41 at ikea (didn't even buy tea lights!).

Anyone fancy a credit crunchy challenge? :o

Soon we are going to a travelodge in Milton Keynes for a few days. We are going by train and so can't take food with us (apart from sandwiches for the train ride there). 3 full days of non-self-catering, EEEK!

It's 2 adults, two teens and two infant school DCs. Two are coeliac which complicates things a bit - so picking up sandwiches isn't always an option!

Basic plan is to fill up on cheap Toby carvery breakfasts and get by on not much til dinner. We are near various places like a Fayre and Square, and will be in the centre of MK at some point too.

Anyone have any ideas on how we can save money? I will hopefully be able to boost a load of clubcard vouchers for one meal but apart from that is there an easy way I can get coupons etc?

Have you looked on moneysaving expert? Some places do free food for kids if the adults eat.

I'd fill up on a fatty breakfast but keep it low carb, that way you keep going on fat not sugar from the toast/beans etc.

It's worth checking out Asda's in the area with cafes, they are cheaper than sainsburys or morrisons cafes ime.

www.hotukdeals.com/restaurant/deals/hot The groupon offer is interesting, there might be other resturants in the mk area offering similar deals. You and another adult could split the kids between you to take advantage of any really good offers.

Sometimes registering with a chain gets you a free drink. A free drink is always welcome.

I complained to Sainsbury's because I felt they were mis selling credit cards in store/staff got shitty with me when I wouldn't apply for one. Anyway they sent me £25 in vouchers so todays shop was 14p. I bought some cherries for £3.75 as it was 'free money' and dd loves them. Why are they SO expensive?

lilac it's worth planning for your dd starting school but unless she must be in branded items then uniform isn't that expensive. It's the buying it all in one month that's the problem. I would say if you shop in supermarkets then you'll need as a minimum

2 packs tops £5
2 jumpers £10
3 skirts £15
Tights £5
Socks £5
Shoes £20
Pe shorts £3
Pe t shirt £3
Pimsolls £5
Lunchbox and water bottle £10
Book bag £4
Pe bag £8

So less than £100. Name labels cost around £10 but will last a couple of years. Although if you search you'll find loads of threads saying to just use a permanent marker as the labels fall off quickly.

Think I spent more than that on my kids...clarks shoes, logo jumpers, logo pe kit, summer dresses/shorts, maybe £30 more

£4.50 on ice creams in the park, there was a folk band playing (unexpected) so kids and I chilled while dp worked hard at home

fuzzpig fayre and square are doing free children's meal mon-we'd near me if they are the days you will be away. Probably not but worth it if so, esp as other meals can be two for £10.

Spendy day today. Took dd and best friend to wildlife park so admission for 4. Took picnic though but ice creams were still £10. KFC on way home as too tired and hungry to cook. Lots of fun though

Ooh thanks for all the food ideas! :)

Will go to the Fayre and square on the Tuesday then - we are staying Tuesday to Friday. It's just over a mile walk from the hotel and there's a lake there too so we will have a nice walk - think we will need to stretch our legs after the train journey!

Didn't even know asda had cafés, our local one has a macdonalds :o

Off to look at the hotukdeals now.

On another note I'm getting 2 free Disney DVDs for DS' birthday, using the Disney movie reward points we've built up.

£15.75 on Christmas present for best friend
£22 () on birthday present for her dd.

Just got back from DS's birthday treat to Thorpe Park, left at 9.10 this morning, home about 7.30, my feet are killing me!

£5 for parking, and I had about £12 of change which got used for drinks, DH changed some money up, which is now in my purse, but I'll give that back to him.

I spent much less than I expected to.

Going to have pizza for dinner, I have suggested we use the ones from the freezer rather than ordering in.

Ohh spendy day. £19 at Lakeland. £45 at wagamamas. £26 at m&s but that was with my vouchers. This is a terrible start to the hols.

Not quite an NSD. 68p in Tesco, on a cat food pouch and a nice bread roll to go with my tinned tomato soup for lunch (both bread and more cat food are coming in my order tomorrow, hopefully!)

Passthecake I tracked the mag down in Asda, it was £3.75 but the best money I've spent on dd for a long time, the free gifts were the pirate hat, a small plastic treasure chest and five Gems, dd almost passed out with excitement, it appears that she knows all the words to the song and she now responds only to the name Captain Sinker.

I've spent far too much again today, My first purchase was a Lemon Yankee candle for 55p and a jar holder thing for £2.10, I also got a wild passion fruit small jar for my sisters birthday, half price to £4.00 in Debenhams.

£33 in Primark, on one of those statement necklaces - Large beads arranged in a flower shape, 2 Beach towels, Pug duvet cover and Pillow case for dd's birthday and a dress for dd1. £3 in card factory - again cards for dd1's Birthday, £2.50 on a lipbalm (dd), £3.75 for dd2's magazine. £6 on eyebrow wax and £10 on lunch for me and dh. That's way more than I thought.

I've no plans to buy anything else at all this week, I'm hoping I manage to stick to it!

Thanks nikon for the IOW tips. ..will definitely track down some of those pubs/playgrounds etc. Not everything fun has to cost a fortune eh! !

thatgirl thanks. ..will definitely track it down (and put it in the holiday bag. ..)

£3 on a snack for DDs, we went bowling and DH bought drinks. All meals at home today. A small victory, but a victory none the less.

Marking spot. Will catch up later

pass when you visit the iow are you staying with friends or family? It's just that if the iow has a national trust of its own it would be cheap for them to join and give you the tickets & you'd get entry into all the uk properties then.

Hello everyone! I'm back after a crazy few weeks of term-end, holidays, festivals etc. I can't lie - it's been horrendously spendy. So, here I am, Monday morning, ready to start afresh!

Beginning positively...
*lots of Christmas presents already bought and money in Christmas savings to cover end of year expenses.
*lots of food in cupboards and freezer left from stocking up at the beginning of last month should make this month's meal planning cheaper.
*still finding bits and pieces to sell on FB and ebay. Think we've sold over 30items so far this year!
*no nursery fees to pay this month and our cleaner is away for the whole of August so that saving should pay for our spends whilst in Devon next week (at pil's house so only petrol and spending money to pay!)
*ive started moving the odd pence over to savings every time I check our bank balance - weirdly exciting!

fluffy tell me more about the 98p dressing gown - I live in mine in winter too! I'd actually like to find more of a glamorous house-coat so I wouldn't have to whip it off every time someone knocks on the door!

Oh and finally...I've been hankering after a lovely turquoise bistro set in tesco since early June, finally bit the bullet and went to get it last week. It was reduced from £70 to £52.50 but when it scanned it went through at £17.50! I did query as it was such a low price but the check-out person just said if that's what it's scanning at that's what you should pay. Best bargain of the year!

Pass Ignore me, iow doesn't have it's own national trust. Sorry.

six I changed my bank account to an M&S one and they give you a £100 gift card. I got two light fittings and had enough for a long fleece gown plus there's an offer on of £5 off a £30 lingerie spend so I put a cotton vest in the basket for the grand sum of 98p.

I wouldn't of queried the bistro set, your obviously more honest than me. I bet it looks fab.

Fluffy I got my £10 tesco gift card from mighty deals. It says it can be used at tesco direct online or in store but not online groceries so can I use it for in store groceries?

I really don't know, I forgot to get one.

Try asking customer services in store, if you can't use it on food keep it for Christmas present buying.

I will certainly be able to use it for something

60p on sweets after a walk to the shop.