Frugal February continued....

[SpottyTeacakes]

New thread

Audit DD goes to dance/singing classes too but thankfully we don't have to pay for the costumes - the couple who teach the classes hire the costumes for us. We do a bit of fundraising (the kids sell lines) and they also use the money they make on show tickets. We pay €105 per term (10 weeks) which is about £76. It's a 90 minute class.

Cubs is a lot cheaper at €3 per week

fuzz good luck with the homeschooling. When do you plan to start?

NSD for me again. I saw a dress I like but didn't have time to try it. DD2 bought a top out of pocket money.

Tomorrow it's school uniform shopping in town, I may find time to try the dress on too.

Spendy today going to gunwharf with a friend and the dc. So lunch, parking and Ds needs some new clothes. Have £158 in my account and £20 cash. Won't spend it all...

Yesterday I spent €3.40 on a can of diet coke and a portion of chips. I was late home and had planned to cook pasta when I came home. When I arrived it had been cooked for me so I needn't have got the chips at all. They were nice though

Today €30 to au pair who is taking the kids to soft play and for a bite to eat. I'll probably get half it back.

Marking my spot. Thanks for the new thread spotty

Spendy day today, dentist this morning, need to get some bits in the chemist and do a Morrisons shop, probably need petrol as well

Bank: £964.62 (was £970.41)
Purse: £42.36 (was £18.36)
Jar: £8.20 (was £8.20)
Tin: £00.00 (was £70.00)
Grand Total: £1015.18
Reduced by £51.79
Days to payday: 22

Spends:

£30.00 – to the pest controller
£16.00 – DS1 school shoes
£5.79 – cord skirt from e-bay (no more bids on ebay)

I went to Morrisons yesterday evening and they had reduced a load of Pizza Express pepperoni pizzas from £2.33 to 34p each, so I got six (which ended up costing almost the price of one at full price!) and shoved them in the freezer when we got home.

I bought a week's worth of Slimming World suitable food for about £16 (I'm not going to even try and incorporate the SW Diet into cooking for the family as it's just too expensive). Some of my days are going to have to be quite repetative though. I'm rejoining tonight rather than keeping my old membership open as it's £6 cheaper.

Got a trip to the doctors for an asthma review this aft and the heavens have opened and it's in for the day - great - when I walked down to the shoe shop yesterday it felt like summer!!!

Oh good thought pass! I will try brantano next time.

Went out to a free activity this morning, there's actually another this afternoon at the library (love the library!) but it's rubbish and rainy so tempted to keep them in now and distract them with some baking.

Chuffed to bits - the trainers I won on e-bay for DS have been delivered today and they are gorgeous and in such good nick! Not bad for £6.50 eh? (£2.80 of which was P+P) I almost feel guilty for landing them so cheap

So spendy day as predicted!

£18.50 at the dentist, my teeth are o.kay though so won't have to go again for another year, dds teeth are also good (did anyone see that programme last night on children having their rotten teeth pulled out? ) am going to be more vigilant about her teeth brushing from now on!!

£2 in charity shop on a pillow pet for dd (getting that back though )

£47 in Morrisons, more than I wanted to spend this week but stuck to my list. Was useful having dd with me as she is a stickler for sticking to lists and wouldn't let me put anything extra in the trolley

£4 on some stuff for dds verruca, she has had it for ages and nothing else seems to be working.

£3.99 in Morrisons cafe, just a cup of tea for me and a kids lunchbox for dd.

£40 petrol - full tank for that!

£4 on some gemolene and tcp needed for various cuts and grazes, tcp is useful to have in (the last bottle lasted about 4 years!!)

Only have about £40 left now until the end of the month if the cat needs a biopsy next week will raid the savings account.

Day out tomorrow at Lyme Regis (please stop raining weather ) but will tale own lunch so hopefully won't end up costing too much.

£51.73 in gap on seven items saved £41.20.

£34.90 in joules saved £40.

£26 lunch

£5 parking

Ouch.

spotty but you didn't spend all your money right ?

bantamgirl I'm intrigued to know how it would be more expensive to feed all the family sw recipes? I'm a unislim leader & I preach cook once for everyone family friendly dishes as that's what works in my house.

That's true I like Gap because their clothes actually fit my skinny children. I stupidly bought Ds some pjs in tesco and the bottoms fall straight down

Thanks Tayto :) well, we met the main CM (who also homeschools her own children) today and it seems she can start straight away. The other (only need alternate Fridays) can't start yet but my parents and DH are doing the next two. So... we are starting now! They don't have to go back at all after half term :) EEEEEEK!

Just writing yesterday's spends
18/2
£1 DH chocolate
99p DH chips on way home

We are considering changing AGAIN to two smaller deliveries a week. Maybe it'll work better now especially as we have a set budget so may be less likely to overspend? We have a delivery saver so don't need to worry about that cost.

Also hopefully DH will be able to find out about childcare vouchers tomorrow. He's been totally snowed under at work due to staff illness etc and hasn't had the chance yet. So I think we will be paying cash for a bit until it's sorted.

Can I just ask, as I am easily confused by financial stuff can't remember, is the limit (of how much you can claim) just a standard amount, or is it a percentage of your childcare costs?

I think the fees will average around £80 a week in term time, so will we be able to save anything on that?

Fuzzpig Do you have to spend a maximum amount for home delivery? If not, then I think two deliveries a week is a good idea

We have a delivery saver (which already saves money as our current deliveries are on Sundays), it's free as long as it's over £25. However we are spending £70-100 on the weekly shop, so I guess we would just divide in two. I'm getting a bit annoyed with the weekly feast and famine cycle as that's what leads to expensive top up shops so hopefully this will work better! But we must be careful to stick to £400 a month total (that's what we are starting with anyway) :)

Fuzzpig I get what you mean with the weekly feast and famine. We get our shopping tomorrow and my fridge is bare!

Thanks Spotty

NSD yesterday.

£29 on shoes from shoeaholics. Feel a bit guilty about that but I got 15% off and 5% cashback. They are orange patent leather so who could resist?

Welcome newbies.

British Gas, can't remember who asked about them but do a comparison on moneysaving experts energy site and get a better deal. They are a horrible company.

Yep Spotty I frequently have to apologise on a Saturday when there's bugger all left!

What I've been meaning to do for ages is have a list of stuff we need twice a week/once a week etc... just want to take as much thought out of it as possible.

I'm really getting the hang of batch cooking now (although need to use my slow cooker to truly embrace it!) so that's definitely helping, and now with a monthly budget it will be simpler to incorporate a more expensive week when we are getting the ingredients etc.

I really hope we can get the £400 a month down, but we are starting with that for now to try and get used to it!

That's great news fuzz about He.

Lsd here £3.49 in morrisons on cashew nuts and cherry tomatoes

NSD!! Dont seem to manage many but love em when I do!!

fuzz my minimum delivery is £40, so maybe 2- 3 weeks a month I get 2 deliveries and the other weeks just one (otherwise I have too much). With a £25 minimum it'll be easy.

Spendy day, dragging mum and kids round shopping centre. £3 Card factory, £10 smyths on reduced sets for parties, £10 Game voucher, £30 primark kitting dd out for summer (we don't have a primark locally so today's spend up will save a splurge), £30 Harvester, £30 petrol. That'll be it now for half term spends.

NSD here.

Fuzzpig
Re childcare vouchers - if dh works full time and earns a certain amount (I think), he can claim the full £243 a month. If your childcare is less than that, you can bank it and store it up if that makes sense. So he gets £243 tax free per month. It sounds like if your childcare will be £80/week then it will be £320/month which will mean he can claim the £243 and then you pay the rest. If there's any leftover it gets banked so you can use it for other things like summer camps etc.

£14.80 for work lunch which I can claim back. £34 on Chinese takeaway. Happy new year!