Austere October continues here!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Impressive that we've filled a thread already

£2.10 on a paper and sweets, ended up staying at a friends for a bbq (can't believe how warm the weather is!!) so saved on food I guess. Am feeling smug pleased at how little money I have spent over half term, talking to a friend earlier who reckons she has spent £50 a day on activities for the kids

I have spent less than a tenner all week and done nice things every day.

Thank you need that is really helpful. Agree - my DH does end up getting a few things at the weekend which really pushes up our monthly spend.

I think food and clothes (for the kids) are the biggest problems so am tackling these two head on!

No spend daytoday - managed a decent picnic and took a flask of tea so no cafe spend.

Thanks for the lovely welcome guys

Today's spends

£9.90 at Slimming World (I missed last week without booking it as a holiday so I had to pay).

Erh - that's it for today :-)

£21 at Tesco, inc Halloween costume etc for DS and a small ceramic pumpkin. £60 for petrol, but DP will give me half of that as we used fuel to visit family.

I've changed energy company to the Energy Club's deal through E.on. Should save me around £96 a year.

And I've been asked to work full time for the coming half term, which I'm very happy to do.

Finally a nsd!

£50 a day? Blimey. I suppose once you've paid admission, coffees, lunch, ice cream etc its loads.

Dh's cousin says disney Florida has a gift shop at each ride & one as you leave too, just in case you didn't get what you wanted at the other 200 gift shops. Not sure if he's joking or not.

If the children are doing some sort of activity/camp, that eats up a lot of money too.

I forgot £18 yesterday buying 3 single sheets as I hadn't been organised enough to check I had 3 clean sheets ready to go on the bed for our guests.

I've been reading almost daily but not getting a chance to post. £50 a day in half term is easily done but we've used annual passes, trips to the library etc and activities at home like cooking to keep the costs down.

Italian I hope your friends baby is better. It's terrifying having your small child in hospital.

Whoever mentioned First Utility, we switched to them last month as although the reviews aren't great they are the cheapest. We switched on the 25th and the £50 cash back I got through Quidco is in my account now.

Fuzz We're going to Bella Italia too. Very excited

Didn't sell anything on our crowded fb pages but made about £40 on ebay although I need to deduct fees. I have a few other bits to list so hoping to make another £20.

sing if you really sit down and plan you'll be amazed and embarrassed how much you've been frittering. We live in a perpetual state of just about having enough these days and although I miss the splurgy post pay day days, I really don't miss the next 3 weeks wondering how we were going to pay for things and watching the debt creep up.

Finally NSD yesterday.

The gym called me this eve with a offer...I currently pay £30 a month and they said if I pay up front I could pay £220 for the year. ...I asked if they had cash flow problems lol and snapped it up!

Like iamnotanugget I've been reading most nights while in bed but not getting a chance to post.

I availed of a €1 delivery slot today from Tesco and did a shop of €50, this includes ingredients and toppers for my son's birthday cake next week & will make my time in town tomorrow so much less stressful. I do need to go to Aldi for yogurts, water, a ham for cooking and petfood so probably €25 plus €20 in butchers & €9 on 0% Total Greek yogurt which is on offer in Dunnes Stores & up to now not been available in my locality. This is a total of €95 as opposed to our usual €140 spend, I'm running down the cupboards & freezer to make room for food bargains around christmas time & intend to put the extra money into a separate wallet for foodshopping.

I also got a tesco delivery tues eve on my delivery saver - €50 but that was last weeks shopping budget.

Does anyone use Brita water filters? Our water has a lot of lime & we currently buy water in Aldi but at about €10 a week I think we'd be better off with a jug. Or should I save for a filtered tap at about €200 cost?

Long term a water filter tap might be cheaper but hard water has protective properties for the heart so we don't bother.

£6.50 tesco on cat litter and sunscreen.

They didn't mark down the champagne like I thought they would, so no champagne for us. Yet. I'll get that refunded to my cc anyway.

They are getting wise to people like me.

I'm kind of leaning towards that idea too fluffy will discuss with himself.
Outlay on jug is €20+ cartridges are half price until end of today @ €10 for 3. hmmmm

iamnot yes I am too ashamed to look back at what I have spent so am determined to look forward. Spent 1.20 on parking and 7.15 in Costa but have not been for ages and wanted to give the children a treat. No more spending today.

passthecake what a brilliant deal! I wish our local gym did something similar

Hello all, only a few hours til I get to see my specialist and hopefully get this stupid pain sorted.

I am panicking a little as my GP. Put me on tramadol for the pain and I took 2 tablets every 4 hours as instructed, had a total of 8 in 24 hours but now feel extremely dizzy and lightheaded, almost drunk. And feel very sleepy too and kept falling back asleep this morning which is so not like me. Worried I may be having a reaction to the meds but not sure... Anyone experienced his before?

New thread here for tomorrow! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/2223368-No-Spend-November-sign-up-for-a-frugal-month-ahead?

Good luck MissA. Sounds awful.

We have a Britta filter. And we've had it 11 years and still going strong. Obviously buying filters etc but it's worth it. The water that isn't filtered just leaves a lot of residue in the tea and other liquids.

Can't really remember what's been spent. I'm just going to move on to November.

Cc came and it was a bit more than last month but included some presents and the massive spend at the outlet place last weekend.

MissA it's quite a common side effect of tramadol you could try taking one each time? Then gently increase by half once a day each time?

spotty yes that sounds like a good idea, will only take 1 next time - have been avoiding taking more all day but pain is starting to make itself known again so will have to take something soon.

£61.35 tesco delivery BUT I declined four out of the five subs so will get £4 back and have complained because five items were apparently completely unavailable with no subs at all

£5 on work stuff so the accountant will get the receipt for that.

missa yes! same reaction as you I'm afraid as well as having weird hallucination type experiences, but it kept the pain at bay. What did the specialist say?

£10 on DS hair cut and £50 at Gap with birthday money. Bought work skirt and apartment pants.

Fairly frugal day, kids washed and hoovered car, saved £10 there...

Spent £15 ish in asda on breadboards, floor mat, cake decorating bits.

NK what filters do you buy, I found generic filters on Amazon much cheaper than Brita.

cool I haven't taken any more all day as I hate the feeling, good news is pain has diminished enough to allow that. Bad news is I am not feeling very nauseous!

Specialist wants me to have an MRI and possibly a contrast test where I drink stuff and they watch it go through me on a nuclear camera, MRI first though. And he wants me to see another consultant to have a second opinion/fresh eyes on the issue.

So I am waiting for a call from radiology to book MRI and from new consultant to book an appointment with her. And hoping that the pain stays away in the meantime.

I need to try and eat, I have had 1 meal since Tuesday lunch, but it was soooo painful when I ate that. I really don't want to now.