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?

NSD! Great way to start the month (obviously direct debits went out but they don't count as 'purse spending'!)

Frugal things: have borrowed a pair of shoes for an upcoming wedding rather than buying; rehashed leftovers from last night for dinner; continued with a cardie I'm knitting as a Christmas present.

Spent £1 on bread today.

Frugal things:

Used leftovers in our main meal

Harvested 25 plums off the tree in the garden. Planning to cook them with cinnamon to go with winter porridge

Found loads of apples Hugh up in the apple tree in our garden so will get DH to lift those down at the weekend

We have to go away for a weekend at the end of the month. Did a bit of price comparing and used some loyalty points and got a posh hotel for only £29 more than a travelogue. The posh hotel has a pool!!

Can I join in please? I have just returned to work after a long period of sickness due to depression so had little income which used up my small savings to pay for bills etc. my DH has been the main earner over the last few years but has been made redundant last week. We don't have any savings. We are looking at going interest only on the mortgage, seeing if we can hand the HP car back as costs £300 month. I've been pretty rubbish at spending sensibly in the past but have started to write down everything I buy to keep track and have been meal planning. My wages do not cover all the outgoings (not even half) so I'm in a state of panic at the moment!

Thank you for the advice re: credit card. I will be back from maternity leave by the time the 0% interest period ends and will hopefully have it paid after a month or 2 of being back. I just hate the feeling of "owing" money.

I would love to reduce my overdraft (£1500) to £100/£200 (for emergencies only) but can't bring myself to phone the bank and do it!

Today was NSD as I didn't leave the house. Tomorrow I am having breakfast out with DM and DMiL then we are going shopping for a bit.

I have some clothes that need to be returned so will deal with that tomorrow also! I'm the kind of person that puts it off and then I run out of time to get a refund.

Fuzzpig go somewhere in december with a Christmas market

Ooh nice idea spotty! Or somewhere in january to chase away winter blues?!

Welcome all newbies!

wonderif that sounds really sensible regarding the car - are you able to get around ok without it? I had a year where I had no.alternative but to cycle 10 miles a day for work and I grew to love it!

Don't panic just yet though. If your dh was only made redundant last week there's a good chance he'll find something else quite quickly - fingers crossed for you xx

Can I join please? I have always had problems with my spending but made huge steps over the last year or so and got rid of my debts. I still impulse buy far too often and can't save. Id like to start saving so I have funds for an emergency and maybe even save up for something nice

Ooh a Christmassy trip! That's an idea. I'm not sure if we will get enough time off. We were thinking October half term as we both have the week off, but I will have a look in the diary at work first. I'd need it to be in the middle of a few days off really, as due to my health I find travelling exhausting so can't really fit it into a weekend.

Am in West Sussex and would prefer around 90mins by train - any ideas? :o

I will definitely check the diary at work.

The other option would be to use it towards a trip to Liverpool - my mum is getting me Tate membership for my Xmas/birthday present and it'd be good to go up there. But not sure if we could manage it by March when it expires. I'm torn between wanting to make the most of it, and not wanting to risk it expiring before we use it at all!

fuzz winchester has a gorgeous Christmas market in the cathedral close with lots of wooden huts, fairy lights and an ice rink.
There are a few other nice things to see/do in the town too.
Oxford is gorgeous at Christmas and has lots of museums which are free to wander around (Pitt rivers and modern art museum both v good indeed)

WonderIfThingsWillChange Find your finance documents & write to them asking for the voluntary termination figure.

It's a little known get out clause that after you've paid off a certain amount you can hand the car back with no penalties.

They will try and scare you by saying it shows up on credit searches, which it does, but you are acting within their T & C's not defaulting or being repossessed.

I did it with one of mine & bought a cheaper car on finance.

They will send the car to a centre to be checked for damage so make sure the car is perfect & take photos while they are picking it up ESP of the mileometer.

Back to work today, still without a kitchen, so I have a bag of fruit but will need to splash out and buy lunch for 3 days. It's nice as a treat but I really don't like spending £3odd on food every day. We had tesco microwave meals and a stick of bread (to fill the gap) last night as I decided they were cheaper and smaller (ie better for the waistline) than takeaway. ....hopefully it'll only be another week or so.

Washing machine is also out of action and sods law is that it's wonderful drying weather. Can't decide whether just to hang on and wait or to use Friday-my day off - at the launderette? It's £3.40 a load, anyone have any idea if the drums are big-ish? Plus would I have to sit and watch it. ...it's literally 5mins walk away.

Ooh thanks MissA. I have started a thread on chat too for suggestions and will put them all to DH later :o

Welcome all newbies and re-joins

Passthecake the launderette near us has big drums and big driers. £3.40 a load is a lot though. It is such a pain without a washing machine.

We have had to buy a new printer as our old one has packed up. We have gone for a Canon one this time as I am hoping the cartridges will be cheaper than the Lexmark one we had. With the Lexmark one, the two cartridges came to £50 a go, which I think is a lot. I am quite mean with printing and DD is careful too but they seem to need replacing more often than I would like.

I had a NSD today. Really happy with that. Was at sports carnival all day but happily took along coffee in thermos, my own sandwich and home made biscuits and doughnuts. They had a good stall but I much preferred what I took as it was healthier. I didn't eat the homemade biscuits either which is another bonus as I am trying to lose some weight.

Hope you all had a good day.

NSD yesterday and had hoped for one today but have given ds1 my £10 contingency money as he is going into town to the doctors and I want him to check the charity shops for Wimpy kid books for ds3. I will ask for the change but suspect it may be used in Subway!

I sold something of dh's on Gumtree last night and it was collected today so + £15. I have put more things on and will also put them on the Facebook selling pages.

I have changed the gas and electric through compare the market, better deal and a safari meerkat for ds3 for Christmas and I have negotiated with BT so now getting Fibreoptic for £6 less than we are paying now. I just have to sort out sky.

Ds3 goes to choir practice on Tuesdays and the shop close to the school where the practice is held reduces their sell by date items just at the right time for me. Last week I got 7 loafs of bread, 4 large packs of mince, 4 packs of prepared fruit, 2 packets of pancakes and a bag of stir fry veg for £7.50. No prizes for guessing what I will be doing tonight!

HelenaGrace I got a present of a big bag of small plums on Friday and they've been in the fridge since so really must do something with them tonight...thinking crumble, stewed plums(baby has stewed fruit everyday) and found a recipe for ww amaretto plum pudding that sounds fab too.

HelenaGrace I got a present of a big bag of small plums on Friday and they've been in the fridge since so really must do something with them tonight...thinking crumble, stewed plums(baby has stewed fruit everyday) and found a recipe for ww amaretto plum pudding that sounds fab too.

May I join please? I am carefully saving my pennies for upcoming expenses including Christmas, but also am going to have to shell out for solicitor for divorce soon. So money is going to be very tight for the next year!

No money spent so far today.

I'd forgotten how good and cheaper menu planning was.

WOOHOO - DS1 has passed his driving test!!! (first time too). I am chuffed for him but even more chuffed for myself that I will now have a spare £21 a week to myself / house / debts etc etc..

Also noticed today that I have gone up an increment despite only working there for 6 months, which gave me an extra £20, so that was a nice surprise. I then start my new job on 8th September, so in my October wage I should be £60-£80 a month better off.

Things are looking up.

Nsd

Hi
Can I join in please, need to really tighten my belt this month, no spend day today which is good start :)
Good luck to all the mums-netters being frugal in September, thanks for having me on board :)

Well done to DS Bantamgirl

Yesterday I spent around £60 between two supermarkets and the greengrocer's. Enough veg and fruit for about 3/4 days but I forgot to get eggs. Oh, and another 93 pence on half a kilo of organic oats. That's working out really well as is much more filling than what the cereal makers offer. DH has yet to grasp the concept. Health food shop has chocolate with Chilli but I know I can't afford it this week. I have tried making it, wasn't a roaring success.

We have an unexpected expense coming up this month. DH got a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign. Said stop sign was not visible from whe the officer was standing but that won't make any difference so we're looking at about £200.

Also DD1 has something wrong with her eye, I'm thinking a sty and have asked her to ask the school nurse if she needs to see a Dr. Really need avoid the cost if it's not needed iyswim.

Can't see now who was wondering about keeping the cleaning lady on. I have someone who does the ironing and find that a huge help. I'd say if the help is real help rather than just convenience than it's worth keeping her.

Cadbury hope your back gets better soon, do you know what's causing it, is there anything apart from medication that would help?