Frugal February continued....

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread

Thanks Spotty I was just about to post on the old one but noticed just in time it is full!
I've already spent 26 sodding pounds today! DD had another settling in at nursery so I nipped in Asda to get light bulbs and a few things we need before the shopping is delivered tomorrow. Then it wasn't worth going home as I have to collect her soon so I got a coffee in the café. I am watching a mum having breakfast with her lovely little girl who is chatting away and thinking it's just the sort of thing I want to do with DD when she is older!
I asked on the other post but will ask again here - do dried chickpeas need soaking?
I really need a NSD - maybe tomorrow!

place marked

Thanks spotty!

pointless I didn't notice & lost a post! Grrr
Google gives instructions for cooking chickpeas from scratch in slow cooker, I didn't look further to find out about within a recipe. Says they're far superior this way to canned.

Ok I booked a hol for Jan 16 2 weeks in Turkey for me & dh €660 including visas tours dinner and accommodation that's €13.75 a week until we go!

my lost post said that I hoped audit and needastrongone didn't think I was niggling at them for cost of their children's hobbies I'm just mentally preparing myself for the future. Dd only has swimming currently €65 for 10 weeks which includes unlimited time in pool on day of lesson.

Hi spotty, thanks for the new thread! Sorry you're having to wait so long for referrals and such. Frustrating

Hi, thanks for the new thread

Forgot to update yesterday.....

Bank: £970.41 (was £1105.93)
Purse: £18.36 (was £8.36)
Jar: £8.20 (was £11.20)
Tin: £70.00 (was £0.00)
Grand Total: £1066.97
Reduced by £58.52
Days to payday: 23

Spends:

£9.05 – Home Bargains (enough snacky stuff for 2 weeks, got loads more than it would have bought me in Morrisons too)
£39.41 – last week's online shop.

£6.50 – Paypal for trainers.

£3.00 – gone from the jar
£0.56 – no idea.

I had an interesting phone call from Natwest today. They want me to come in for an “account review” as “I have a loan and a credit card but they reckon they can offer me a loan to consolidate the loan and the credit card and I won't be paying any extra each month” - I can't quite see how that would work as my loan is on 10% (taken out two years ago) and my credit card is on 4.9% but I said I would go along next week when I am back in work to see what they have to say.

Also have made an appointment to make a will for the same day as solicitors is next to the bank as we don't have one and we're not getting any younger. That will be £90 inc VAT.

I had a pay-pal refund for the jeggings I bought as they are not available any more GRRRR.

A pest controller is coming out today to try to make my cavity wall bee-proof, for the last few years we have had TWO colonies of bees living in the cavity wall. They don't bother us, and they're bumble bees so can't sting but last year there were hundreds of them and they still terrify the beejeezus (no pun intended) out of me, so he is coming to block up the hole and put some mesh over the air bricks so that's gonna cost me £25-£30

Also need to go back to Slimming World – I really don't want to have to pay out £5 a week but I've got the weight loss mind frame back and I need to lose two stones and live a healthier lifestyle so I'm going back tomorrow but it will mean my food budget will increase so there won't be any underspend.

Budget looks like this
Petrol: £141 budget / £56 spent / £85 remaining
Groceries: £300 budget / £49.42 spent / £250.58 remaining
Credit card: £12.84
Interest: Don't know, haven't been told yet, was £16.04 last month
Kids activities & bus fare: £83.60
Bills shortfall: £138.50
My bus fares: £43.50
Leaves for everything else....£436.91 (seems high, bet I have miscalculated!)

Ooh, new thread!
Thanks, Spotty .

Just posting my previous two days:

Monday
16/2
£13.85 bus fares as we were out and about. This could have been much cheaper but due to two forgetfulness incidents it cost a bomb my own fault!
£1.50 smiggle notebooks for DCs to practise spelling - on sale so better than I thought
£4 gave the DCs a little extra in smiggle (£1 left which DS hasn't used, but to me it's already spent!)... kind of negates the above saving...

Tuesday
17/2
£39.99 lego set! DH and the DCs are getting it for me for Mother's Day (DH's idea, I'll pretend to the DCs that I'm surprised :o) but I ordered it on my account because I am building up VIP points.
£10.96 2x Mixels and 2x Minifigures for the DCs' stockings - I'd be getting them at some point anyway but I got them now to add up to free delivery.
£9.74 Iceland crap as I was too unwell to cook, including a quid on shite biscuits - why DH why? He should know I'm fussy about that sort of thing

NSD so far today because I'm ill AGAIN. So unless I order stuff online (I've been looking at a few bits for maths/English for the DCs but am reading reviews etc to make sure all purchases are sensible and worthwhile!) it'll stay that way.

Worst mum ever. Forgot to give dd breakfast this morning frugal though, I suppose didn't realise until 11 when we were at my friends and she was saying how hungry she was!

All, I am in awe of this thread! Have been lurking since last November but thought it was time I said "hello"! I am SAHM of a lovely 2YO DD. This is all new to me as only started being a full time SAHM last Year.
This morning I've managed to eat 1/2 pack custard creams catching up on this thread...supposed to be 37 servings in pack!

We have been hit with a electricity bill of £710 as BG gave us two credits in the last 6 months that we should not have got,the meter has been faulty which took them 6 months to change, the usual engineer not turning up or no record of the booking etc. its been a nightmare trying to get to bottom of all the estimated bills and not having much luck getting any discount. Any ideas/suggestions? My advise is always give meter readings monthly!!!!

Coming to terms with not earning and therefore not able to spend is difficult but this thread has been a godsend. We now have meal plans each week and have our groceries down to £50 instead of silly amounts at Waitrose.
Just need to reign in the outings and afternoon tea @ cafes!

Thanks everyone!

Hi thanks for new thread spotty

Audit your kids look great in their costumes but my eyes still water at the cost of the hobbies and pony!! My dd just has swimming club which is about £50 a term, she does some other clubs with school but they are free!!

Nsd day today so far....

Thanks for the new thread spotty
Audit your kids look so cute in their costumes, dd1 had a few after school dance classes but there wasn't a lot of interest so the school stopped them after 4 lessons. I need to find somewhere else that offers lessons and isn't too far away.
I thought I was doing well in terms of saving money, turns out dh has other ideas. When putting the washing in earlier I found a receipt for a car phone charger, £32! I almost fainted, his excuse was that he had forgotten his and so bought an extra just incase he ran out of charge I am still speechless and I'm ill too. It won't be a nsd either as we need to go shopping as we are running out of milk.sigh

Thread 4 in less than 2 months how frugal are we.
Lsd today £7 at the indoor skate park. Kids at someone's house to play this afternoon so no more spends on them. £32 for my hair cut but it hadn't been done for ages. Need eyebrows too but need to see if they can fit me in

Hello everyone. I've been reading for a while and making small steps to try and cut back on my food shopping spend

Tried aldi last week, been back again today:)

I've just inputted my shopping into my supermarket. I spent 44.35 in aldi, the equivalent shop in Tesco would be 63.75 and 62.94 in sainsburys

I am very happy with that result.

Lots more tips for me to pick up, so thank you for posting everyone.

Welcome newbies!

£9 entry soft play and £20 for lunch there which my mum paid. We for there for ages, got our money's worth.

lila I certainly didn't think anything of your comments re DC and their hobbies To some extent, the pony is a bit of a red herring. She's all consuming and takes a massive amount of our cash, but it's hardly an activity accessible that is realistically on the cards for most folk, we have had to make a lot of sacrifices. This is a vocation for DD to some extent and it's taught her more responsibility and maturity than I can describe.

I actually found that the KS2 period, when both DC were doing loads and loads of activities, sort of before they settled on their main ones the most expensive and time consuming time. In primary, we had at least one club a night during the week then swimming on Saturdays. It was expensive and exhausting but good fun too.

Welcome Lottie and ItsaTen

NSD due to working.

We will be spending more on clubs now the DCs are HEd. While at school they were too exhausted (as much mentally as physically) to do much at all, so the only thing we paid for was DD's Brownies which started in January. But now it seems there's loads going on for HE children locally! I'd thought we would struggle to find things to do but there's so many daytime clubs and lots of one-off outings too. It'll be hard to resist so it's probably a good thing we don't have a car, which limits us a little. I am also wary of doing too much too soon, which would defeat the point of HEing them anyway if it overwhelmed them.

Anyway, DD is certainly staying at Brownies, and DS will hopefully start Beavers in September. At that point both will be able to start Badgers (St John's Ambulance) - thankfully all 3 seem pretty cheap. They are really excited to start HE gymnastics which at £3.75 each per lesson is a major bargain round here.

I think from now on we will follow the oft-suggested idea of asking for hobby fees/equipment etc for the DCs' Xmas and birthday presents :) our relatives prefer giving money anyway and never dictate what we do with it, so I think everyone will be happy with that. Not to mention the fact they have oodles of toys already so will be perfectly happy with a few bits from us (as long as it includes some lego :o).

Thanks for the new thread Spotty! Am determined to post every day for the rest of the month, makes it so much easier to track my spending. I forgot to give the DC's breakfast one day last week too, easily done. Did wonder how we had managed to get out of the house so early for school, and was congratulating myself for being so organised until DD2 asked what she was going to have to eat. This was as we walked through the gates at school!

Lilac, that is such a good deal for your holiday! I love Turkey, have had some fab holidays there, pre-DC, and used to go on the odd work trip to Istanbul which was amazing. And so nice to have a holiday to look forward to already for 2016.

Lottie, I know what you mean about having to adjust to not earning and reining in spending. I've been a SAHM for 8 years now and still struggle. Hate having to discuss money with DH. He sees it all as shared money and admits he couldn't stay at home with 4 DC's, but I still feel guilty and weird about not earning. Totally my issue, and it certainly doesn't stop me spending!

NSD today, but spent £33.35 in Aldi yesterday and £17.86 in Waitrose. That should feed us all until payday on Feb 25th, apart from bread. Need to get my act together and start making it again. Maybe once I've had my 6 week check..... Off to soft play tomorrow, should be around £18 and will take snacks with me. We're meeting up with friends and it has been in the budget all month so that makes it a bit less painful!

Inspired by you frugal lot and by Fuzzpig's (I think, apologies if it wasn't you Fuzz) thread over on Reviews, I've spent the afternoon registering with mystery shopping sites and survey sites in the hope of earning a bit of money. Most of them pay out in vouchers and I plan to save as much as I can towards Christmas. One of them pays in John Lewis vouchers and along with the JL vouchers we get back from DH's work credit card I'm hoping to do all family presents this way. Hopefully it will work out! Am now going to try and get my head around Top Cashback and Quidco. That may take me slightly longer!

On another note, if anyone is near Newbury, Berkshire, there is a Boden clearance sale at the Racecourse next Tues and Weds, if you fancy a bargain. I will be there feeding my Boden habit and convincing myself it is a SAVING!

Phew, epic post! Haven't spoken to anyone but the DC's today and needed to get it all out.

Fuzz, also meant to say I'm so pleased you've taken the plunge to HE. I'm sure your DS and DD will thrive.

We've got a meeting with the head on March 2nd to talk about how the school have handled DD1 being bullied. After 18 months of misery and very little action taken by the school we seemed to have a breakthrough last week. Hoping everything will settle over half term and that next week will be the start of a new chapter.

Wow Fuzz hadn't realised you had made the decision - how exciting for you and the kids, I bet they are thrilled!!

So went out to play tennis this afternoon at the local free courts, was really good fun. Spent £2 on parking and £2 on an ice cream for dd. Think will make a lot more use of them this summer as dd seems to enjoy it and really good exercise, to make it properly frugal need to cycle not drive to the courts though

I think if dd had a strong desire to do a club I would find the money but she seems happy with what she is currently doing, however now she has had a taste of tennis might look into some local lessons to help her improve.

Its Miranda box set night here tonight, am probably a lax mum as in theory it is for ages 12 plus but dd loves it

Thanks expecting :) I'm glad things seem to be improving for your DD at last!

I'm excited and terrified at the same time.

Hi all. Marking my place, will update later!

I love Miranda :o I let my DCs watch some Big Bang Theory so I'm not going to judge

Yep we are taking the plunge, eeeek! It's happened so fast, and yet feels really natural too, I guess because we very nearly HEd from the start so we've always known it could happen if needed.

I am actually surprised DD said she wanted to (I knew DS was desperate to stay home), but it makes things easier too as we won't be restricted with school runs etc.

Even more need to be frugal now of course! I seriously wouldn't manage it without this thread though - honestly my outlook has changed SO much since I joined.

For example when DH was saying how we would have to buy lots of supplies... I basically replied erm, no - we have lots of stuff already which we can use, and anything else we can get very gradually once we are absolutely certain we need it and that it's a good buy. His face was a picture :o :o

I'm so grateful for the straight talking I got in the previous thread when I was pondering quitting my job - we can make it work with me keeping it and I'm really happy about that. I will still have days when I worry and feel too exhausted or unwell but overall I love it, so I'm glad my fellow frugaleers told me to keep the health issue separate.

Anyway, my current aims are to sort childcare properly (DH is finding out about childcare vouchers etc), and get the house sorted too because I really find now that mess makes it harder to be frugal, as well as obviously wanting to be more organised for the DCs. Once we've settled into HE, I'll be doing the things recommended like surveys, mystery shopping etc and finding any other ways to make even a tiny bit of money! :)

Fuzzpig you sound much happier now

Dd is on antibiotics again. Last lot in December. Anyone with dc who have asthma? Do they get frequent chest infections?

Thanks for the new thread Spotty

Will report any spends later, off out soon.

Audit V cute DCs, look fab in their costumes.