Stampeding through a sensible, scrimping September!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Thought I'd do the honours

With kids back at school and autumn weather drawing in we all need a very sensible September. I'm putting up my thermal curtains and refusing to put on the heating until October. Who's in?

I've had LSD's rather than NSD's and it has been comfort shopping more than anything. Payday tomorrow so I'm going to keep better track of things. Found a great app to help.

Andrex loo roll and bounty kitchen roll. Oh and cathedral city cheese. Expensive yoghurts for the dc

sixfor I have eaten as much as I can, think my tummy has shrunk tho as I get full really quickly.

Our non frugal luxuries are things like avocados, grapes, pineapples etc. In general I won't scrimp on fresh fruit and veg. We don't eat meat at home any more as I'd rather spend the money on good quality eggs, veg, pulses etc.

15 in Aldi on essentials (wine, nuts, nappies). Will still need to do a proper shop so will make sure I pick up the Mirror tomorrow.

Our luxuries are mainly alcohol! DP also likes real coffee.

Thanks all - yes it did turn out to be a misunderstanding! On my part I think

Basically the reason they had it calculated as £11k was that they use last year's figure (which obviously was way lower) and when they were doing their scheduled calculation they realised it was wrong for this year (duh) so they wrote to check. It's not that we missed any info or anything like that. I even asked "so we aren't in trouble then" (I'm such a baby!)

It's basically so we don't overpay this year so we won't have a huge bill at the end, but of course it does mean our weekly payments will go down. Which is still worrying as I honestly thought our current payments were based on our still paltry current income, not an outdated estimate :( we are doing reasonably ok right now while still saving a little, and were just starting to think about freeing up a little money for after school activities or even planning a little holiday next year... Not sure that will happen now. Need another injection of frugality I think!

I will catch up with the thread later. Bit embarrassed I haven't kept up with it. Still things I need to work on - food spending mainly as I'm wasting some and am not organised!

Same here re: luxuries missA - it's all about the exotic fruit here :o

Oh Fuzz that's crap. You'll have to photocopy everything you submit now & send it recorded delivery. If you staple the two together & file it its more evidence in your favour if it goes wrong. They work a year in advance eg this tax year is Apr 6th - Apr 5th 2015. That's why they are talking about 2015.

£5 cat litter
£1.65 sandwich filler. That's sainsburys prices for you
£1.20 parking

Frugal wins, neither my dress or my shoes I ordered fit me so they are going back. They have free postage labels, luckily. £5 John Lewis voucher off the nielsen app on my phone, if you see it become live again apply for it because its about £60 a year in vouchers.

On the debt thread there's a new way of doing insurance quotes so you get a good deal.

Load google chrome and use the incognito browser option, they can't see previous search cookies and offer you the best price.

Talkinpeace put us on to it & it's knocked another £7 off my quote. Which is better than them having £7.

No word from Morrisons yet on the melty microwave. Poor show on their part really. I know who won't be getting my money from now on.

Dh has lost the vaping cig I bought him, he's paying me for it regardless. Not impressed.

£23 in lidl. 8.99 of it on fillet steak but it is my birthday. I put £15 into this months budget for a special birthday dinner extravagant but felt I needed a treat

Happy birthday, listsandbudgets I hope you will enjoy your birthday treat!

70p on cheese twist and the normal travel and parking

I am REALLY craving a takeaway. Pay day Friday. ...Pmt approaching. ...I think there's no hope for me eh

Luxuries for us: Andrex loo roll, Surf detergent and Cathederal City cheese (never pay full price though always get on an offer ).

My luxuries are parma ham and mozzarella cheese. Lovely on crusty bread! We get them both in Lidl though.

Oh and Nescafe Gold Blend coffee. I don't drink tea and I hate cheap instant coffee.

I often wonder how people coped during rationing. Must have been a pretty miserable existence with so many foods unobtainable and the foods they did have were so strictly rationed. We're lucky really.

fluffy our expensive microwave caught fire and melted the inside of the door too. We took it back to Curry's and they said it had to be sent for repairs but we said we wanted a replacement or money back and there was no way we would take a repaired mw that had caught fire. They insisted that we would not get our money back or replacement and their way was the only way. This revolving door conversation lasted about half hour. We demanded to speak to the head office and eventually the store manager relented and let us speak (she kept saying, "But they will say the same thing as me.")

It took head office 2 minutes (of which one and a half minutes was my explanation) to come to the conclusion that we needed our money back. They then phoned me the next day to apologise about the service at the store. We bought a cheap microwave and put the rest of the refund in the bank.

Glad to hear you're home MissA. I hope you're feeling better and start getting some answers soon.

tayto I often think the same thing but it's because I have a 2 year old who regularly says 'I don't like it' when I put dinner in front of him before he's even tried it. And when I was weaning a lot of food ended up on the floor and then in the bin. I can't imagine how stressful it must have been trying to feed a baby with such precious food and it being wasted. In this house the luxuries are that all dairy and eggs are organic. If we want chocolate or wine type treats then it comes out of our pocket money.

I've spent money on gifts this week some were budgeted for and some were supposed to come out of next month but I found things I wanted at a good price so I've got them now. It just means I'll start October with some credit card debt but it should all balance out in the end.

Hello! I'm back from travels. Spent I 80€ but will claim that back. Spent 8€ on presents.

Have just checked bank account and it's looking sad. But have paid all bills so fingers crossed things will last.

The joint account isn't so bad but still quite sad. Am hopeful things will be ok this month. Last month we had to pay holiday cc bill and insurances. And birthday party.

Dd's birthday went really well. 12 little 4 year old girls. A frozen Elsa dress from etsy and a princess clock and a swing set. Swing set was paid for by money from my parents. So all in happy little girl!

MissA glad you are out. You need to be strong and insist on things being sorted.

Cadbury what brand / type of microwave was it? I only ask because a few months ago our door melted on an almost new microwave. We couldn't get Curry's to take it back despite calls to head office etc. I'm wondering if yours was the same

Our microwave is seven years old and still going strong. I would be really scared if it blew up or started melting! Can you not go straight to the manufacturer or would they say your contract is with the store?

Another £30 on groceries, £2.50 -ish on roads and parking FREE because I lost my ticket and instead of charging me a tenner the lovely bloke in the office let me off paying.

Spent 40£ on 2 fisher price toys, but were on sale with 35% off and both will be saved for advent gifts

spotty we did go to manufacturer and they repaired it for free and so far its been working without problems.

lists it was a Panasonic one. Can't remember the model number.

spotty I think it depends on the time frame of when you bought I and in Curry's case, what arrangements they have made with the manufacturers.

Welcome back home MissA and NK5. Aw at your DD, NK5.

My luxury is fresh coffee at home, Expensive instant if I'm forced to go camping, and good quality chocolate although Lindt is out of reach most weeks now.

Can't see now who suggested it but giving DD1 money to buy her things would mean she spends £££££ on chewing gum, sweets and Starbucks and nada on toiletries. So I buy what she needs, shampoo and cleanser from the supermarket, and she has to buy what she wants, 1D magazines and make-up mostly.

Glad DD's party went well and she's pleased with the gifts NK

Forgot to report my petrol spend, £22, it's getting perilously expensive here.
And £2.50 on a bar of organic chocolate with Chilli

I've had a busy few days but on the upside that means minimal spends!. A planned pay rise is going to add about £50 a month to my pay which is nice.

DH is still applying for jobs and contracts. At least this time we have a couple of months expenditure saved up - although much of it will be needed for tax in January 2016 so we'd rather not dip into it.

Looking for frugal half term ideas at the moment. Has anyone tried youth hostels?