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?

Not so bad as I feared today.

£7 on the leaving lunch (really good as some spent over £30 having wine etc. I had water and a starter instead of a main course)
50p towards parking ticket as friend gave me lift

Still got DD's brownie subs to pay and may pop into supermarket just before picking her up to see if there are any worthwhile reductions to help fill my freezer.

I've made a big lasagne for dinner and also eeked out the ingrediants to make a fairly small one for the freezer

Just remembered my fixed price deal with Scottish power has come to an end. I phoned and they offered me a good deal until next October to stay with them so I have.

If any of you have never swopped suppliers its really really worth it. I did it last year after receiving a huge Npower bill with the news that my direct debit was going up again to over £160.

Swopped to Scottish power and they stated me on £141 then later refunded me well over £400 overpayments (amazingly without me even asking) and my direct debit is now down to £68 a month for both gas and electric. Took me months of arguments to sort out Npower though please don't swop to them they made me so miserable for so long and getting away from them was just awful. i had to involve the ombusman in the end

£65.81 tesco delivery.

Sorry to hear that Italian but yay for your dh!

Glad you are happy being back in your home country Italian and have what sounds like generous benefits, that must take a lot of pressure off.

I need to get some things today, plus a little squirt of petrol as not enough cash to fill the tank ATM. Have spent a lot of time at home so it's lasted me two weeks this time.

Sounds like a nightmare Lists, glad you got it sorted.

A bit of spending here...£19 in ikea yesterday (bed sheets, Tupperware, large boxes for storage in the loft)...£2.80 on lunch (forgot I was meeting a friend at the park rather than going straight home)...£7 coffee, cake and milkshake at the cafe.

On a more positive note childcare vouchers completely covered nursery bill this month so no extra outgoings.

I'm planning as frugal a weekend as possible - jacket potatos and an early night tonight!

£1.20 in the car park to drop off the kids and my nephew at the theatre. £5.49 for lunch (worked through to 2.15 then a late lunch to collect the kids.)

Tomorrow I need to buy DS a new school jumper, also need to check his trousers still fit as he's worn shorts this week. Also raking the broken iPad into the apple store. That will be expensive

Can I join? Things are really tight here, car needs servicing at end of month, 3 dcs birthdays and xmas!

Today I went to the gym (already paid), put ds in creche (already paid), friend bought coffee

I gave dd £1.10 towards train fare, that was all the cash I had.

Italian I'm really sorry to hear about your job, that is bad news, but congratulations to your DH on landing a new job so quickly. Yes please, I would love the recipe for your Viking sandwich, that would be great

furcoat welcome

I had to fill my car up today but saved £6.40 with the Tesco fuel save so that made it £34. I don't know if this fuel save is an ongoing thing - I thought it was stopping in September? Also £64 on groceries, there were some good offers today

Not an NSD - new glasses came into opticians and I went to collect and pay for them. Also 1.30 on coke and crisps as was knackered and starving on way home from work.

Well, spent £4 on fruit at market. And then because I was wiped out from moving furniture and running about all day, I ordered takeaway for us for tea. £25. But... there are enough leftovers to have them for 2 more meals (probably lunch for next 2 days with salad).

Other than that, stuck to budget, paid a couple bills. Will have to put £ in gas/electric meters, do a grocery order online (as it's easier to stick to budget that way!), put petrol in car, and pay one more bill online. And that is that. I will take £30 out of ATM to cover £10 school fees for various things, £5 parking fee for hospital appointment at the end of next week, and £5 counselling fee co-pay. That will leave me a tenner in my wallet just in case of emergencies.

Good god, spent loads these last few days getting the kids back to school, and other bits and pieces. Have spent £421.19

3/9
£5.89 magazines*
£16.55 stationary
£6;75 99p shop*
£10.30 stationary
£26.97 sports direct school stuff
£20.00 Next school trousers

4/9
£15.00 window cleaner
£1.00 charity
£12.00 barber
£6.30 Greggs*
£14.50 school jumper
£42.00 school shoes**
£83.98 sports direct school stuff**
£1.70 car park
.20p snack ds1

5/9
.20p snack ds1
£2.20 car park
£4.70 mcdonalds*
£7.00 eyebrows
£10.00 school
£1.99 gift bag
£16.40 birthday present
£3.90 birthday cards
£7.50 elc Xmas present
£14.98 tk maxx
£29.20 Aldi
£59.96 H&M winter coats x 2 and gift card**

*nonessential, could have saved spending this
** went on the credit card

Blimey. Got to reign it in.

Forgot it was my 2 nieces birthdays next week. Had to rush lunch today so went to mcdonalds before picking up ds2.
Ds1 had a growth spurt (he's 12, god help me, he's going to grow like stink) so he needed so much new stuff.

Tomorrow will menu plan for the week ahead.

Will read back the thread now, quite rude I've been as have not read since I last posted as I'd spent so much money. But you know, I will never get a grip on it if I don't keep up with it on here. So bit the bullet!

£2 for beavers subs but nothing else today.
About time I had a LSD

Do you like the tassimo coffee ohhelp? not that I've been worried you'd hate it

The M&S outlet has lots of thermal tops/long johns & you get 15% off if you register for emails plus a bit of cashback.

Trust me, you NEED thermals.

£10 for DD's brownie subs for the term so total of £17.50 today (£7 at colleagues leaving meal and 50p towards a car parking ticket)

£182 so far this month. In five days :(

Never going to get a NSD at this rate.

Wirecat my sympathy. Its amazing how quickly it runs away with you. Doubt any of my wisdom will help but:

The Pound shop sell 3 gift bags in varying sizes for £1 they also sell birthday cars at 3 for £1 as well

I get the DCs coats from charity shops. I start looking at the start of the summer. They're too young to care though. I spent £3.50 on DSs and £5.50 on DDs and they're both lovely coats in great condition (DSs is mothercare and DDs Monsoon)

Eyebrows - love the fact that they're not marked as non essential :)

Listsandbudgets, I forget about the £1 shop. Will start going in there.

Our charity shops are crap. I do look. I think I need to go to the nicer areas though.

As for my eyebrows, well I'd look like Denis Healy if I didn't get them threaded, and I try and maintain them in between. Lady is astounded at how much they grow! I am a gorilla throwback I think

Dd needs a winter coat and at nearly 15, there is No Way she will entertain charity shop stuff (I wouldn't have at that age either) so need that. It's also her birthday in November. And Christmas is coming. And we've booked a holiday abroad for half term. That's paid for but need suitcases and spending money.

It's never ending.

Quite agree no self respecting 15 year old would tolerate such a fate. I've got that to look forward to then. Yes to trying a better area for charity shops. The richer areas certainly seem to get rid of some lovely items.

Can you try asking on Freecycle for suitcases? You may be lucky

NSD at last!

I got ds3's winter coat (next) and fleece lined waterproof (trespass) from eBay. The coat was 99p + postage and the waterproof much the same. They are as good as new.

£82.50 for streetdance subs, £16 in sainsburys and £7 chippie. Still living on convenience food due to new kitchen but I have electricity and running water now...hopefully gas won't be far behind!

£8-ish spent. Birthday present, tub of raisins and biscuits for DDs. Oh, and £20 on petrol. Nearly forgot that.

NSD on extras. But spent £43 on groceries for the week, online order to be delivered today. Was only £3 over budget (and that's the delivery fee), so not too bad. If I'd spent £3 less, the delivery fee would have been £4 more, which meant £44 spent. Weird the way it figures out sometimes.

Probably be a nsd today. I need a knee support and more mascara but the nearest big boots is forty minutes away and I'm not sure I can be bothered! Get 10% nhs discount there though.

With charity shops I'd say it's worth checking wherever you go and IME it's not always the nicest areas that have the best ones. I used to volunteer in a charity shop in town (relatively poor, looked-down-on type town) and that year it was the most successful of their branches (huge household name charity) in the whole country - but their branch in a neighbouring rich town is absolutely shit! It does partly depend on staff etc and how carefully they maintain their standards of what they put out for sale vs what they reject. So worth checking everywhere IMO, I always look in the chazzers wherever I go :o

charity shops are totally random in my experience - I have several hobbs cardigans and jumpers and other nice bits from charity shops and often it's been a really run down one where I have found something amazing. Also, try eBay - it's a buyer's market for clothes and I have received tops and skirts for 99p plus postage, often cheaper than a charity shop as many are very overpriced these days.