Frugal February continued....

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread

Oh we don't own our house so won't be paying a penny

£10 petrol
£2 tea bags
£1 hair remover cream.
£1 almonds
£1.50 face mask.

Afternoon all

Bank: £605.10 (was £625.10)
Purse: £5.99 (was £10.98)
Jar: £5.80 (was £9)
Grand Total: £616.89
Reduced by £28.19
Days to payday: 16

Spends:

£2.24 – pop & sweets (I must stop this!)
£2.75 – Lunch (packed and then forgot to take my own!!!)
£20.00 – trip to darts
£3.20 – bus fare

Oven fixer hasn't been yet so I don't know what damage that is going to do to my budget, and I don't need to pay for my will until it has all been done so that might budge over into next month's budget.

My work's Social Club sent out an e-mail today trying to flog the darts tickets at £20 each which I was gutted about as I paid £55 each for DS1 and DH's and £35 for DS2. I don't really like darts but after I had a think about it, I didn't fancy the idea of being sat at home all afternoon and evening on my own so I said I'd go too – it's pushes the average price paid per ticket down to £41 which isn't too bad, and coach fare is included so I don't feel too ripped off. Ah well it's something different, I might even enjoy it.

Was kicking myself today as I wasted money in the newsagents buying pop and sweets before work and then once I got to work I discovered I had forgotten my lunch. I'm wasting quite a bit of money on pop and sweets lately!

Budget looks like this
Petrol: £141 budget / £109 spent / £32 remaining
Groceries: £300 budget / £149.15 spent / £150.85 remaining
Credit card: £12.84
Interest: £12.40 (woo, this was £4 down on last month)
Kids activities & bus fare: £71
Bills shortfall: £138.10
My bus fares: £29
Leaves for everything else....£170.70

NSD.
Best of luck with those interviews, folks .

Fck fck FCK FCK!!!.. (sorry), but I am truly gutted to have had to have to replace the effing tyre THAT I BOUGHT BRAND NEW ONLY 4 WEEKS AGO! because of a sdding puncture down a sdding country lane and which that split the tyre so badly there was no fixing it .. (and as I was only there because of a effin work report i had to go and investigate , which proved unfounded )

Well there was no fixing it anyway because when it went i couldnt get any air to stay in it so had to use the ' tyre gunk' to fix and reflate the darned thing to get me back to a tyre place in town 12 miles away

Can you tell im a bit annoyed? .. Work wont reinburse me (public sector) and as it was a one off I probably wont even be able to claim milage (or it wont be worth it ) ..

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR One s*dding month from a tyre ( it really wouldnt have been so bad if it had been one of the other three, but no,it had to be the new one !!

Good job i cancelled the Waitrose order last night. Was it a premonition , I wonder ?..

so Spends today ( remembering I had £5.77 left in current account, but had decided to a have a 'small' planned OD within my free limit to get the groceried today and save a trip friday as I was going out that way anyway ) ..

£28.45 in Sainsburys , ( This was just buying the 'really need' stuff , except - cat food - I had on the cancelled Waitrose order ..

so I was feeling quite frugally pleased with myself ..

THEN..got the puncture ....

£148 .... car tyre and tracking .. (grits teeth hard again as being preferable to taking it out on the cat who is asleep here on my desk ..(i could have got a cheaper tyre i supose , but then it would be different to all the rest and probably worn quicker or put things out of tracking ..

Right .. ok its a bit early .. and (there really should be a chocolate emoticon dont you think ? ill lobby for one with MN

OK Ill stop going on about it now and go back and read the thread.. ..

Ouch laska I have bad car luck too so you really have my sympathy

Someone keep me away from the fat face sale they have a lovely coat that would be perfect for dd next year.

Its past 5, not to early for. 4 is wine o'clock at mine.

Will catch up later.

ALDI VOUCHER DAY TOMORROW

annielostit
and thanks spotty

Good to hear some good news though today ..
Lots of interview luck to Pass and NK* for the interviews.
Lottie on etting british gas to play nice..
and to girlie for great pusscat news.. my cat has hardly any teeth, but loves a Dreamie!!

needastrongone .. its me who raid DHs wallet not the other way round usually (thoughthat may change once he has retired ) , though i do record it in my 'cash' spends in YNAB.. it helps me track just what we ar epaying for food etc..

Mmm.... Lasagne .. I want....

Before it became bad tyre day , I was dreaming of what frugalling could do for my future ( I want to retire in just under 3 years when i'm 60. so I made a decision to up my savings on my Additional Voluntary Contributions on my pensionfronm £400 to £500 a month as my dream is to buy one of these.

Its going to put my take home pay down a lot , but as you can see it will be worth it.. Ive been saving in AVC fo rsome years nad the last statement said that I already have about half the cost saved (and its one of those funds that i can take out the lot on retirement and still have the original pension )

Im public sector and dont earn huge anamount , but luckily we have just about paid off our mortgage now , But Dh is about to retire early ..so we are going to have to be really frugal on day to day stuff..

Went out to see King Alfreds stone after school pick up, its on loan to our local museum. That was nice but £3.20 parking and £7.30 McDonalds, was only going to get one for dd but I was starving and could't wait till I got home!!

Am trying not to think about over draft at the moment

Will do my millage claims tonight to make me feel better.

Laska that is so annoying re your car tyre, not surprised your swearing i would be to and def not to early for

Oh laska, that's shite. 4 bloody weeks too. Things like this tip the balance between a good month and bad don't they?

Maybe if the money is gone before you even have it, it will feel easier? Especially if you are saving towards something you want so badly. The £250 I save towards decorating/tiling etc goes out via standing order on pay day, into an account which needs notice, so I don't ever feel it's mine iyswim?

Actually, I have £130 in my bag, then £80 will have been for the cleaner, probably £20 on car washes, £20 on window cleaner, surprising how quickly you can account for it when you think about it. Although, DH will have had his hand in too!!

Good news, Lottie and Girlie but sorry to hear about your tyre laska, how annoying.
Just £1 on a few cat food pouches today to tide us over until the shopping arrives tomorrow.

£1.91 on a sand timer to spur dd on in the mornings and at bedtime. Hopefully will be worth it!

Sorry to hear about the tyres laska!! Bummer.

NSD today but had a bit of a boo boo at work. As you all know have been vv busy at work. Has an appointment booked in for tomorrow at 3pm at work, which was the reason why I had to do the interview first thing in the morning to give me time to get back to work for it. Well, my meeting arrived at my office this afternoon.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. Plus he's a really big shot - ie, he's the CEO of a multinational... Of an entity that we would all be very familiar with. I was caught off guard, and wasn't dressed too professionally either. Sigh.

Thankfully he was v gracious and I swiftly went onto what we wanted to talk about which was good.

Which means that the reason to wake up at 5stupid o'clock tomorrow is pointless given that there's no need to rush back here!!

Sigh. The train fare was of course double too, given that it was during peak time. Thankfully they will pay for it.

£15 on emergency baking stuff as I have guests coming tomorrow. Would have been cheaper just to buy cake but I enjoy baking and so do dc, and there'll be loads left for freezer . Plus I won't use up all those ingredients so they'll be there for next time desperately tries to justify cost

Laska I'd be raging and crying over tyre. Wine time in after 4 here

I know I'm very late adding this but my tip for becoming frugal is check, check and check again on all your bills. 2 years ago our gas and electricity was £90 a month we switched for a saving of £2 per month but also got £100 cash back so averaged out at about £10 a month saving. We've switched again and now pay £80 per month and got £50 cash back so about £12 a month cheaper.

I had an S2 with a 24 month contract costing £35 a month. I bought an S5 out right for £330 and have 200 minutes, 500MB data and I think it's unlimited texts with giffgaff for £7.50 on payg, which is better deal than I had. Over 24 months that's £21.25 so 1/3 less and I can switch when I want. Although I'm now considering following Fluffy's lead and signing up to a 99p a month contract.

£6 on birthday and mothers day cards. I don't really like cards but others do.
Checked my payslip today and my pay is wrong. Will have to wait until end March for the catch up so will consider that savings for easter holiday after a tight March.

It's always my pay that is wrong think I'm jinxed.

Bugger about the car. Hope work help you out.

Yep need thats been the idea . the money goes out before I see it , and its very tax efficient as you only pay tax on 80% of it.. . then its taxfree when you get it our ( Yes .. i found it hard to believe also ) /

If anyone here is in Local Govt pensiion scheme or any nhs . teachers fire etc, its really worth looking into .. especially if you start early (ididnr t rellay as was lone parent low income.. however , if you start in your 20s and 30s you dont need to save much every month.. I am only putting in so much because im older, started late (and have an expensive travelling dream....).. and yes , am able to make sacrifices now for it , as kids have left home

(Although my l/t unemployed DS is a bit of a worry.. but these days i try and do 'tough love' around money unless its looking desperate.. Ive pretty much stopped 'helping him' find jobs etc .. he seems to manage and my main sadness around that is that he seems to be in a group who are all 'helpless and hopeless'.... )

I have an nhs pension. I hardly put anything into it as I hardly earn anything (I expect you all earn more a week than I do in month) but every little helps and all that

Yes of course spotty it does depend on all sorts of things , i cetainly couldnt have saved ( and never did when younger /kids at home) ... (im only an officer not a manager)..

I figure once the dc are older (if we haven't won the lottery ) I can up my hours and therefore up my pension contributions. I'm only young...

I've started my campaign for a bar of chocolate smiley

Do please go and sign up ..

Ordered the £20 revision guide plus £8 on 2 CDs which have been in my basket in Amazon for a few weeks. Had to do a small top up shop and realised that afterwards that they didn't ring through my bottle of wine - feel guilty, but not enough to take it back!

Girlie I think we might live in the same area! So pleased about your cat.

Good luck with the interview tomorrow NK.

Oh really 574? I probably know you

sinuses are playing up (again) so am feeling sorry for myself. haven't gybed for 2 days

spent £7!!!! today on new inserts for filofax. and £6 on parking for work sigh.