an Ostentatiously Austere October...join here for a frugal month ahead!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

All welcome to join the MN frugaleers for another month of recording our spends, frugal wins and frugal fails!

NSD = No Spend Day (let's have as many as possible!)

LSD = Low Spend Day

I'm hoping to take dcs to chessington in October half term so making severe cut backs over the next 2 weeks! And I could really do with a bigger slow cooker! Will have to avoid aldi now! Nsd today.lemon pudding looks lovely.

Oh and petrol. £55. Should last whole month. We go through about a quarter tank a week.

Every month we get 2 cc bills. The first one that's arrived is half of last month's!!! Really pleased. Hoping the other one is similar.

Hmm well the rest of my day got quite expensive although did quite well with getting dd some very nice boots, there was a slight (not noticable) difference in the shading and the nice lady in Jones gave us 15% off and then my mum offered to pay half so in the end for a gorgeous pair of leather boots I only paid £18!

Then we had a MacDonalds £7.50 and then went to a nice new milkshake bar and bought an After 8 milkshake (yes really) £2.50. Oh and £1 parking so total spend today £83 (includes £54 Sainsbury shop)

Oh and just remembered going to see a friend this wend that I haven't seen in ages so got her a little notebook and some pens that came to £3.98, so actually £86.98.

Oh God and I got £40 worth of petrol

The notebook and pens were for my friends dd not my friend!!

Bad bad day.

£60 in Ikea. I should avoid that place I should aoid it like the plague. Another £6 went on lunch in their cafe. That place just drains my wallet. I really should avoid it

Mum still here. I've told her its bread, soup and cheese tomorrow ngiht but she's saying she wants take away (which I don't thkn she's plannign to pay for). Inclined to stick to original plan and she can get herself a take away.

Scottish Power just shoved my dd up to over £90 from £67.

DD is sick - she threw up all over the bathroom floor just minutes after we finally settled down to eat our dinner. Poor little girl has a dreadful stomach ache, a raging temperature and says shes aching all over :(

DP going away tomorrow with work and not back until Wednesday. I hate it when he's away.

Was off work today but they kept phoning about a problem with a big deal we're doing. Great in Ikea.

Sorry miserable, spent a big chunk of disposable iinccome on crap and my bathroom stinks of vomit.

Tomorrow will be a bbetter day (I hope)

Lists that sounds like a nasty virus she has hope she feels better

Can't you just tell your mum you can't afford it? Or given how unwell dd is soup would be better all round...

Italian I really hope your baby starts feeding soon. My dd was a bottle refuser as well. They can be very obstinate can't they?

Sending you and your family lots of love

trouble is spotty if I tell her anything she'll try to help and then I'll never hear the last of it. Technically we could afford it but there are things I really need to save up for for the house hence being on here. Would rather pay for them outright than with credit. We need a new kitchen as ours is falling apart and some of the window sills need fixing plus we've got damp in a couple of rooms :(

Does anyone know if there's anywhere having a toy sale or some sort of sale? Ds' friend likes Zelfs (trolls?). I've never seen them. Given that I've had 3 late nights for work and worked the whole of last weekend, and ds only told me this on Tuesday? Wednesday? (And Wednesday and Thursday I was late,..) I'm looking online with no luck.

Please help someone!!

Italian - both my kids didn't have bottles. And both bf till 2 and 3 years old. I went back to work at 6 months each time, full time.

Do the Drs know what's wrong?

Let's hope they get to the bottom of it and quickly!!

NK you're better off asking on the Christmas bargain thread.

Hmm lists that's annoying. Def go with the sickness thing! Plus if you get it would you rather vom soup or take away

Italian hope dd is on the mend soon. Are they going to try tube feeding? Have they given you any meds to get your supply going?

Frugal sunny day. ...spent kids inset day in the park, was bright sunshine 22-24c, walked around the woods, played in the 3 play areas and sandpit, had a picnic and bought 3x ice lollies in sainsburys for £1.50.

Then topped up petrol, £52. Yuk. Spent £14 on bits to top up. Off to dps parents tomorrow, they live by the coast so I'll probably lose about £10 on the pier. ...

spotty I just love freebies from online deliveries, you done good. Last time I passed it back (soya milk and strange vegan bits! )

Italian hope dd takes something soon.

lists how long is yr mum staying?

NK - zelfs are 2 for £15 at argos ( the larger size), asda have the tiny ones that come in an egg like thing for around £3

Net gain of £2.50 today ! I was off this morning and resisted Caffe Nero's clarion call, resisted the temptation to buy a sandwich for my lunch At work and ate some cream cheese and toast i already ahd in the fridge. Then tonight at job 2 i got a fiver tip that i split with the other waitress so i have spent nothing and gained £2.50 in my purse :)

Ohhelp you can get thermal pots that you can take soup and beans in etc. Mixed reviews on how hot they keep things I think advice is to fill them with hot water first to warm them up then put the food in. I've offered one to dp but he rarely stops for lunch so would be a waste

ohhelp I've been looking for a thermal pot for dh but they all seem to say that they keep food warm for 3 hours which is no good as he leaves the house at 7:30. If you do find one, please let me know where.

£17ish on milk and fruit. Frugal win, I'm being sent orchard voucher for wine

Hope you've had a better night Italian

Argh I'm overdrawn!! I don't have an overdraft I'm really annoyed I check my bank balance everyday and the available spends is usually completely up to date have had to borrow from joint acct.

Spotty you did way better than me, I got a jar of Thai red curry paste in my Tesco delivery that I didn't order!
Text dh with the bits we needed from aldi & he also bought bread which I'd doubled up on due to a special offer so freezer is packed for next few weeks!
Changing ds from formula to regular milk over next few days, he's cloth nappied & eats what we eat so no more baby stuff in trolley!

The lemon pudding really is delicious. Got a lovely jacket & overshoes for ds from I want but no longer need thread.

Yesterday €84 Tesco €20 butchers
Today credit card payment €45 & put away some money for self employed tax payments due at month end, make payment towards property tax too

Frazzled thank you! Will go look there! Party at 2pm. We have ballet, swimming and tennis before 12! Go weekend!

I got a flask in John Lewis's sale for £5 that keeps food hot 8-12. I fill it with boiling water for 10 mins then I put chilli in it etc. it was their own brand.

The thermos ones don't get great reviews, oddly.

I think the boiling water and filling it as near to the top as you dare helps. Sometimes it's too hot to eat.

I've got a thermal food container but haven't been over impressed despite doing the hot water thing. I use an ordinary flask for soup now.
Italian hope things are improving.
A mixed week here, dh was paid an allowance that he gets paid as a lump sum every year so that should finally have wiped out our overdraft. I've had a stressful week with an assignment deadline so have had 2 takeaways but will get back on food frugality this week.
Dh went out last night to a "sportsmans dinner" fundraiser for a local PTA. He goes with a group of friends and last year won a night at a hotel which was lovely. This year dh was moaning about the cost of going etc but came back having not spent too much and having won an iPad in the raffle (worth £350)!!!
Now we have to decide what to do with it, whether to keep or sell, but wow, well done dh.

Well done dh indeed!.

My pil bought us an iPad out of the blue for Xmas last year so the frugal side of me says we should sell it or exchange for other stuff from PC world but the other side of me wants to keep it and have one each! Either way it's a nice quandary to have for the cost of one raffle ticket.

Still here and still in hospital. No luck getting bambina to take a bottle. So now we look in to other alternatives.