Frugal January, part two.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Everybody is welcome.

No feedback just that they'd call of first choice fell through... Things that I don't have going for me are that I'm under 30 (rest of the team in their fifties), live 20 miles away and am not particularly flexible what with the dc. I don't care really no point looking for another job anyway.

£5 getting ds' hair cut.

£5.50 lunch out, £1.50 on a small jar of locally produced honey and £1.27 in Tesco, totalling £8.27.

Onwards and upwards, Spotty .

Ah, sorry about the job spotty :( still, it's good you are next choice especially given the stuff you have 'going against you'. I would keep looking at childcare now though, you never know when another job might come up. I'm sure the childminders etc would be happy to keep you on a waiting list for an after school space.

I told DH about the ISA idea and he's on board :) however he did say that the overdraft charges are more than credit card charges so he would rather keep it all in his bank account instead. I do see his point BUT I know from previous experience that it's really hard to get out of the overdraft regardless, whereas the CC is more easily left unused! So I'm concerned that we would just keep spending it because it was there. Anyway, I had more than I thought in the ISA - was able to transfer £670ish leaving exactly £5k (sorry it seems really vulgar talking about these amounts but it's really helping me to discuss it here!) - and we'd have almost half left after paying off the CC. I'm going to suggest paying maybe £200 off the CC straight away, and then hopefully pay the rest in full as soon as the next bill comes. The tax rebate will have cleared by then so we should see more clearly where we are.

By the way, was it on this thread somebody once mentioned using Amazon.de to get some things cheaper? I'm sure I saw it mentioned a few times on MN around Xmas time.

There's a German product I like that I want a few of and I think it might work out cheaper but not sure about delivery etc as I speak no German...

spotty I was second choice for my current job 8 years ago, 6 months later when I was 6mths into an apprenticeship for another job they rang me first guy didn't work out, I was apprehensive - after putting 6 months into a 2 year apprenticeship but the hours, days, pay everything was better & I went for it. Despite being on short time for a couple of years, it was still a great move - I was making more on a 3 day week here than I would be on a 5 day week with other job and I love it!!

spotty sorry to hear you didn't get the job, think of the positives. ...you had interview practise and now are aware of the childcare issues - for when the next one turns up!

Nsd....again! All I have spent since Sunday is £42 asda delivery pay day Monday - last pay day was 18/12 so it's been a loooooong month (will be even longer once my gardening leave is finished if I don't get my finger out!

Hi all, thanks for all the supportive posts I am still felling sick and have been sick a couple of times today so am thinking ADs may not be for me. Have read a really good self help book link which has made me think about anxiety slightly differently, in a good way! Got an appointment with a counsellor next week as well so hopefully that will help.

My mum has been a Godsend this week, so fortunate to have her support.

Anyway back to spends, £4.50 on a few food bits in Tescos and £5 on two teas at a nice cafe.

Can't wait for payday!!!

Afternoon all

Bank: £657.48 (was £750.98)
Purse: £57.94 (was £33.10)
Jar: £55.20 (was £56.60)
Grand Total: £770.62
Reduced by: £70.06
Days to payday: 22

Spends:
£1.16 – Tesco, Creme Fraiche
£10.00 – Pound Shop (£9.00 on pop / my work snack & breakfast stash, £1 on biscuits for home)
£47.50 – Petrol
£1.40 – gone from't jar, must be one lot of bus fare.
£10.00 – short, but I think DS2 owes me it from his Xmas money as I paid the coach fare to the football game out of my current account last night.

Still to budget for....
Normal monthly stuff to come out: £57.66
To Transfer to Bills account; £35.58
Bus fares & kids activities: £58.40
Petrol: £78.28
Groceries: £238.80
Incidental spending: £301.90 (with DS2's birthday 9 days before payday and not a clue what to get him!)

I also have the £120 from scrapping the car still unaccounted for, and I also received a cheque for £15 from cancelling my work's savings plan which I will send DH to pay into the bank tomorrow. We are off to London to a football game at the weekend, it's all paid for, but stopping at McDonalds and pubs might be quite spendy so I'll just keep it in my purse for London.

55p on a mirror paper.
I say rewired but that was here way of explaining the changes in the chemical balances in the brain. There are some excellent doctors at our practice.
There are a number of Ads girlie. Maybe another will suit you? It can take a few weeks to adjust.
Sorry about the job spotty.

Sorry to hear about the job Spotty. Onwards and upwards, as my dad always says...

DP spent about £2 this morning on bread and a Mirror. Cash though, his own, so I don't count it.
Then he spent £6.63 in Home Bargains of deodorant, vits etc. and took £10 out to buy meat at the butchers.
Then I went off to Aldi armed with my vouchers and spent £53.89, including vouchers off worth about £7. I am pretty happy with that, it's got all we need for meals til next Fri (payday) except top ups of milk, bread, bananas. I broke it down (sad, sad person that I am) and £30 was food, £10 was dog food, £9 was luxuries (wine and ice cream...essentials really) and £5 was toddler stuff. We're well under budget for food this month

Never mind Spotty, they don't deserve you. Not meant to be and better luck next time.
£16.00 on various tackle to stop kittens trashing our house ie another scratch post for upstairs, catnip spray to make it irresistible, another spray to put them off the arm of the sofa and wallpaper and some dried food. Goulash soup from left over roast beef with hot bread and cheese for dinner. Party sarnie and cake type tea to do for Sat so off to make a list of what's in the freezer, hopefully will only have to buy bread, salad stuff . Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Thanks everyone.

Just got ds' nursery invoice. Ouch.

22/1
£6.42 DH coop (I swear that place - well two of them, one in our village and one where he works - take most of our money!)

NSD for me as I stayed in my pjs all day! Luxury as DH was off and did both school runs.

€60 for cleaning service for the apartment we're in this week apparently it was on the web page when DH booked, so they say

Spotty sorry about the job.

Girlie glad you have support from your mum.

NSD

Thank you, clippity. I always thought veg had to be blanched before freezing too. Good for things like celery that are good in soup but never get eaten up in our house.
I've frozen chopped garlic before. I make lots of curry paste and freeze in small portions as things like fresh ginger are quite expensive.
Just spent £1 today on playgroup and also got a letter from our now ex-energy supplier telling us they owe us £24 so that's good.
Made frittata for tea to use up manky potatoes and egg surplus. We still have a lot of eggs and loads of milk so going to have pancakes on Saturday

Pay day and a verrrrry spendy day. Here goes:-

€2 for muffin to get change for travel card top up also it was white chocolate and raspberry

€20 for travel card top up

€20 x 2 Smyths gift cards for family birthdays

€10 for a top in M&S. The top was actually €42 but I had a gift card for €25 and a €7 off voucher I got from someone in work last week.

€30 for a handbag

€21 for 3 pairs of leggings for DD in Next

€2 for 2 birthday cards in discount shop

€1.84 for bread in local shop 'cos we haven't done our big shop yet

Grand Total €126.84

It was all stuff I needed and had budgeted for, though. Except for the muffin.

Spotty sorry the job didn't work out but well done for coming second. You never know, their preferred candidate might turn it down or not stay very long with the company.

Sorry to hear about job spotty but at least you were second. This happened to my phd student once. She came in second for a job and they liked her so much they created a job for her!

NSD.

Sorry about the job spotty
Forgot to get the Mirror today, gutted, I hate doing a shop there without a voucher!.
£10 on lunch with my mum
£11 on a couple of things that were needed for the house
£3 dd's hockey
£10 fruit and veg
Had HM soup for tea tonight and made a meat loaf for tomorrow's tea using a recipe from the frugal recipe thread.

I've been looking into this blanching business - one of my library books at the moment is about how to store garden produce which I'm applying to fresh veg I buy too.

I thought it was a food safety thing, but it's more about preserving the veg nicely for longer. You don't have to blanch before freezing, but if you do (as long as you don't boil it to pieces) it should mean the veg keeps its colour, flavour and vitamins longer. Apparently the enzymes carry on doing their work despite being frozen unless you blanch first.

Spent 7.50 this afternoon buying bits to make birthday party decorations (paper straws, banquet roll, balloons, etc.) - partly for the party, but also for craft fun with DS in the run-up to his birthday. I'm recycling the Advent Wreath into a Birthday Wreath too - he doesn't want balloons on the door in case they fly away!

In that case it would make sense to blanch things that you want to eat as a vegetable eg broccoli but not bother with things that are just ingredients eg celery, onions. I haven't put that very well but hopefully you know what I mean!

Morning all. Hoping for an NSD today after yesterday's spendiness. DP will spend £3 taking DD to Cylch (Welsh playgroup) and possibly a little bit in the pet shop later (one of DD's fave activities).

Hopefully nsd. Dh just defrosting my car. Working today and just remembered one of the nurses said she's going to make a cheesecake yum!

I've been awake since 3am worrying about money amongst other things. Realised we have to pay nursery a month ahead which will be before I get paid and I can't see how we can do it. DH doesn't seem to worry about it, it's so frustrating.

Wednesday I think was NSD (i can't really remember!).

Yesterday £3 parking at the hospital for DD1 eye appointment. They want her glasses checked, so I suspecpt on Saturday I will be buying new glasses, the last ones were £40, but I can claim that back from our healthcare cash plan. Will do a claim as I have used all my dental allowance, as has DH.

Also £50.15 in Tesco. I only went in for my lunch, but saw a Kiddizoom watch reduced from £30 to £15 for DD1's birthday in March, plus DS is going to a joint birthday party on Saturday for his cousin and a friend, so bought vouchers (£10 and £20 for his cousin). So given that it was £45 on presents, I'm quite happy about that.

DD1 has a party on Sunday. I think I will grab her a voucher in Tesco as I don't feel like shopping for real presents. There are no shops where I work, so will take lazy way out. Another friends mum is going to take her.

We gave a dancing rehearsal on Sunday, getting ready for shops in April. I hoped I had most of the costumes, but I think I still need 3 or so for DS, two for DD2, and I suspect two for DD1. That will probably be about £200! Of course, I am only guessing at what I am missing.

I have a tax bill to pay next week of £1830 which I have the money for, but only by not paying my credit card bill. I have at least £100 in my Quidco account, so I'll transfer that over to help. Money in the bank, about £2650, I missed the deadline for submitting my £265 expenses claim, but they may pay it this month anyway, if not it will come next month. Credit card bill £4k! So, will clear tax bill, pay as much as poss off credit card bill, (say £1500) then just try to minimise any spending to clear credit card of next couple of months.

Unfortunately DD1 wants a party, so will look at costs and give her a couple of choices, potentially including a sleepover to reduce impact on my purse!