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Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Marvellous Money Saving March.

999 replies

CremeEggThief · 28/02/2015 19:53

Hi All,
Thought I'd start a new thread for all regulars and anyone else who is interested in saving money in March Smile.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
SpottyTeacakes · 12/03/2015 15:09

53p on second class stamp for Mother's Day card.

£23.54 on crocs for the dc. Bargain I think (they're the crockband ones so often over £20 each.

needastrongone · 12/03/2015 16:23

Oh northender, I am so sorry that you are your DS are having a tough time. We once paid for an operation for our own DS when he was little (long story), it was a no brainer at the time emotionally but hit us hard financially, just as we were starting to get a little wool on our backs, so to speak. I hope you are ok. x

Spendy day today (again, sigh). £50 voucher for Dsil's 60th, we are very close to her hence the spend. £20 for nails and eyebrows (not needed but the shellac covers the pony dirt!). £19 at farm shop (1lb diced lamb, 3lb bacon, 2lb mince, 36 eggs). £18 membership renewal for local stately home but I walk the dogs there 4 times a week and that's for the year so very good value.

Fluffycloudland77 · 12/03/2015 17:21

North I am sorry to hear that, it'll be worth it when it's done.

I wish I'd taken the M&S card with the food voucher. Snooze you lose & I snoozed.

lady have you heard of laundry gloop? It's very good on coloured washes.

£10 Mother's Day orchid (£5 orchard voucher used) Dh will give me half of that & the card was free so I'm chuffed.

£2 ice cream
78p bread (58p after topcashbacks 20p cashback)
£1 butter, 60p after clicksnap.
£1 cake.

CremeEggThief · 12/03/2015 17:55

Sorry to hear that, northenderThanks.

£7 on doughnuts and hot chocolate and £4.60 on bus fares for me and DS.

OP posts:
bantamgirl · 12/03/2015 18:59

(sorry, long post of end-of-month waffle)

Bank: £65.35 (was £97.95)
Purse: £7.67 (was £8.91)
Jar: £8.30 (was £13.25)
Grand Total: £81.32
Reduced by £38.83
Days to payday: 0

Spends:

£10.00 – Petrol
£4.95 – Slimming World
£0.99 – Pepsi Max
£0.08 – copper put in't copper tin
£1.92 – 3 x stamps
£2.00 – DS1 athletics
£2.30 – bus fares
£12.60 – current account debit interest
£0.99 – Hmmmmm where has this gone, bit of a random amount to misplace....
£3.00 – dress bought 2nd hand from a FB selling site.

Monthly round-up...

Extra money received: £4.75 from a mystery shop and £30 that my friend owed me.

Another expensive month but I ended the month £80+ in credit. Instead of rolling this forward into next month's spends I'm going to have another virtual pot and call this “buffer money” and try not to spend it, but psychologically I know it's there if I need it.

However car needs some work doing to it – it sounds like suspension but DH thinks exhaust...it's going in on Saturday. If it's costly it will have to come out of the proper savings.

Petrol was under budget by £22 at £119 which was due to it being only a short month and having a couple of football games cancelled meaning no long drives. Will keep budget the same for next month as it's 33 days until next pay.

Groceries were under budget by £8.38 at £261.62 and this was after I had also reduced my total budget by £30 nearing the end of the month. There are 5 Mondays in March so I'll keep it to £300.

Incidental spending...highest categories were entertainment (again), my personal (again) and household expenses which replaced eating out last month as the third highest category (no money spent on eating out this month!).

Entertainment was a hefty £190.80 (eek). This consisted of...football tickets to our Quarter Final (£55), the meal at DS1's athletics presentation that DS and DH went to and a bit of spending money for the kitty (£70), £54.80 for my ticket to the darts and spends while we were there, £8 for some tickets to a tribute band and £3 spent at Manchester Arena on a drink.

I spent £129.79 on My personal spends which was mainly food and drinks for work, kindle e-books, stamps, shoes and clothes and Slimming World subs.

Household expenses (£122.39) were an oven repair, some pointing work done at the side of the house and more chuffing lightbulbs.

Other expenses (minimal) were £56.99 on the kids (school shoes, trainers and haircuts taking up the bulk of the money with the rest being on pop and sweets and ingredients for school)

DH managed to get an extra £15.74 off me which was haircut, pair of work trousers and a few bits of groceries.

Spent £14.56 on health related stuff which was painkillers and Kalms.

Only £1.50 on gifts / charity which was an Easter Egg for a collection.

I want to go to a music weekend which is held local every year, DS1 doesn't fancy it but it will be around £140 for myself, DH and DS2, so that is my savings aim. I also need to start putting bits away for Xmas. I have only 1 night out / event planned this month too so entertainment should be much less.

Right off to work out next month's budget now.

girliefriend · 12/03/2015 19:00

Bit spendy in the end,

£4.50 on lunch another £2.50 on a rubbish cup of coffee later

£6 on two baby dresses in Boots, they were half price and very cute Wink one for my niece and one for my friends baby.

£2 on 2 red noses

£2.60 on chocolate for making cornflake cakes (cake sale at dds school tomos) and some a box of heros for my brother and sil (they are looking after dd for me this wend.)

£5 on dds tea and a cup of tea in Sainsburys.

so £20 ish with not much to show for it really.

NK5BM3 · 12/03/2015 19:02

Sorry to hear North... Thanks Hope it will get better soon with better weather etc. I hope you can get some answers for your ds' condition too.

Now have to figure out what to paint on ds' face for red nose tomorrow. Argh, I really hate this. I'm not at all creative and dh isn't around tomorrow morning to do the painting....

Not a NSD, but a LSD. £1 for ds for tooth fairy, and £1 for Mother's Day thing they are making at school.

The new job place has offered more money, argh... I was all prepared to say no! Checking them out on Tuesday again.

Laska42 · 12/03/2015 19:35

very spendy day today!

£36.90 on meds and toiletries ..some of which were on antibiotics and corsodol, bonjela etc ..The gum does seem to be calming down a bit with bonjela though.... pills proscribed by Dr not dentist ..am not going near dentist unless I really have to!! Grin

£5.68 in the co op lunchtime, all reduced stuff.. ham, grapes (i love frozen grapes) veggies ,fruit and a big pot of greek yog

then later, £80 in Morrissons of which £29 was on cat food!! ( loads of Whiskas on good offer , cheaper than everywhere else).. also I bought food for the weekend and wine..(but not for me sadly , cant drink on the anti bios, Sad)

Then £40 in the Monsoon sale Blush a lovely kimono jacket and a top .. my other monsoonsummer trousers came and they are lovely.. so ive spent £82 on clothes this week.... (umm..) but now have two great holiday outfits .. and one that will be posh enough for a family party we are going to in the summer...

just had a yummy tea ( needed something soft to eat..) so cauli cheese! fab..

bantamgirl · 12/03/2015 19:41

Bank: £1231.19
Purse: £7.67
Jar: £8.30
Grand Total: £1247.16
Reduced by: £0.00
Days to payday: 33
Buffer money: £103.98
Proper Savings: £794.29

Budget looks like this: £1247.16
Petrol: £156.50
Groceries: £300
Interest: Not sure yet. Was £12.60 should be a bit less this month
Catalogue: £5
Prescription: £10.40
Bus fares & Kids activities: £48.80
My bus fare: £43.50
DH: £190
Shortfall to bills: £37.56 (might be a bit less)
Tesco Credit Card: £15.00
HSBC credit card: £12.84
Leaves for everything else....£414.96

I'm a bit better off this month as I get 2 lots of child benefit in this period (woo) which is an extra £136. Also the boy's football subs have finished saving me £30. DH's phone bill was reduced by a whopping £30 per month. Mine was a bit more as I wasn't entirely out of contract so had a bit extra to pay (GRR) so I won't reap the benefits til next month. Also got a 2.2% wage rise which was worth an extra £22 in this month's wage but I'm putting that with the buffer money to try not get used to it. This month will be quite challenging though as it's a longer one.

northender · 12/03/2015 19:44

Thank you all, this thread is a wonderful place to be. need glad it was worth it for your ds, the money is secondary isn't it, you just want to make things better for them don't you? girlie I did have some counselling but it was fairly low level and I felt okay at the time. I tink there is counselling available through work so I'm going to find out about that tomorrow. I haven't looked into mindfulness but did start on an online Australian free programme (can't remeber the name) and probably need to go back and give that a proper go. Hope you stay well.

Had a lovely day with my mum but then dd came out of school pretty distraught. She is being bullied and the school seem to be treating it as quite low level but it certainly isn't. I came home and emailed the school as I was able to take time over what I was writing. If I had gone into school in the state I'm in at the moment I'd just have ended up in floods of tears which wouldn't help dd much Grin

Had a reasonably frugal day, got 2 carrier bags full of fruit & veg for £6 (lots of reduced things at the farm shop). Got mothers day card and present for mil. Found a floral duvet cover, brocade pillow cases and a pair of shoes in a charity shop all perfect for dd's Sound of Music costume and less than £10 for everything. I just have to figure out now how to make the outfit!! An unnecessary but worthwhile spend was £2.50 on a card for my oldest friend who is having a really rough time at the moment and I haven't seen her for ages.

Laska42 · 12/03/2015 19:46

North sorry to hear you are having a rough time. th e treatment will be worth it , im sure..

I did a 6 week mindfulness course last year.. it might be worth looking into.. we also did a couple of silent retreat days

If im really honest, mindfulness sadly didnt feel right for me in the end (although i do still do some of the the breathing meditations ) , but plenty of people do really like it so perhaps it might be worth checking out .

TeWiSavesTheDay · 12/03/2015 19:50

Flowers northender. I hope your email gets you results for DD. And you are right about the money for the surgery too.

Had a NSD finally.

Lots to do I have some gifts to finish off before the weekend.

Laska42 · 12/03/2015 19:51

Nice problem NK! are you going to tell us what the job is? im dying to know!! Wink

bantamgirl · 12/03/2015 19:51

Laska – glad to hear your dental pain is easing a bit. It's the worst pain ever and made worse by knowing that the treatment to make it better is going to be painful too.

Northender – I hope you can get some answers about your son's condition. It's a crying shame you won't be able to turn to the NHS when you really need them. Sound of Music sounds great, I think I'd really enjoy that! Have a lovely time with your mum and daughter.

OhHelp – good idea about three shops a fortnight, just keep on trying until you find something that works.

Sporting – I agree, I know that feeling! I could cry when I think about how much money I have on credit cards that I am still paying off and now I have to think about every penny we spend.

EEEK - I forgot about a potential Wembley trip! That'll need to come out of the proper savings if we get through. I also want to try and do something with DS2's box-bedroom to make a bit more space for him......GAH so much that needs doing now I have a grip on my finances and actually have some money to spend on doing it

girliefriend · 12/03/2015 21:28

North thats rubbish re your dd, its horrible seeing them upset Sad hope the school gets its arse in gear!

The thing I found useful with mindfulness was 'noticing' feelings and acknowledging them but not necessarily having an emotional reaction to them iyswim? Likewise with thoughts, just noticing but not reacting or judging them.

I'm finding the counselling useful but I think it very much depends on if you can find a good one!!

Have just made another 12 cornflake cakes for the comic relief cake sale (I promise I haven't eaten any Blush)

PegLegAntoine · 12/03/2015 21:35

Oops a bit behind on the thread now!

Girlie I'll check out that insect lore thing, thank you!

Thanks north

Just popping in to do the last few days' spends:

10/3
£8.99 eBay - replacement toothbrush heads
£7.90 DH coop
£3.67 Me coop (included cat food for Brownies)

11/3
£55 CM
£10.19 DD birthday present (monster high doll on lightning deal)
£10 DH Haircut - Shock at cost but I have no hope of replicating the swoon inducing style he has myself!
£2 bus

12/3
£5.83 snacks/tea
£15.35 lunch
£7.85 bus fares
£4.05 Train - DH took DD to neighbouring town after home ed gym club (they loved it BTW :))
£24.99 Tent (for some reason DH had promised to get a pop up one for DD's sleepover?!)
£1.50 ruler (needed a big one and DD noticed one with hieroglyphics on! :o)
£26 board game (out of my pocket money) - so glad I held out for this as it was on sale in the lovely indie game shop!

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 12/03/2015 22:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Passthecake30 · 12/03/2015 22:46

Found 20p on the floor, it's usually ds who finds moneySmile

Ordered some sports bras to try on, having a mini wardrobe overhaul before I start work as once I'm back in the ratrace I'll have no such time. Some things were long overdue but due the uncertainty of whether I'd find a job or not I'd stopped spending and it had begun to show!

Breadandwine · 12/03/2015 23:01

sportinguista, it's taken me a while, but I've finally got around to posting my hot cross bun recipe.

About time I made a batch myself, I reckon! Grin

Breadandwine · 12/03/2015 23:41

sportinguista, it's taken me a while, but I've finally got around to posting my hot cross bun recipe.

About time I made a batch myself, I reckon! Grin

SpottyTeacakes · 13/03/2015 06:13

Today will be £1 for dd for Red Nose Day.

Binglet · 13/03/2015 08:13

NSDs since Monday!!!!! Apart from an emergency purchase of a better thermometer for DD who had a temperature. Going to baby class today so will spend on lunch at the amazing cafe. Managed to sell a table yesterday that we no longer wanted. So + £20 Grin

NK5BM3 · 13/03/2015 09:43

Already £3 down for Red Nose Day.

And will be spending on an Indian meal with lovely girlfriends tonight... Have a good weekend!

sportinguista · 13/03/2015 10:00

Oooh bread I am going to have a bash at those, starting to get excited at the thought! I might make a batch as Dsis and Bil are coming up on Sunday.

Girlie that insect lore sounds really exciting DS would love doing that, they did something similar in nursery and he loved having 'his' caterpillar and butterfly to check each day.

So no NSDs but some fairly LSDs. Also gained 2 more clients one of them will actually turn into 3 largeish clients so could be really busy. Also have the interview for the maternity cover so things looking up and I keep getting offers of jobs (some unfortunately too far for me) but it seems to be creating interest. Got my website working as well so all in all a productive week.

Small scare as DS lost his hearing aid at school but it has been found by the cleaner in the class room. £1 for red nose day to buy a nose. Housework tomorrow and then hopefully a nice chilled day with Dsis and Bil on Sunday, think we will be going to a local pub which does gourmet burgers and jazz on Sundays so looking forward to that. Smile

lilacclery · 13/03/2015 10:23

€40 saved by not doing a weekly shop this week & cupboards got a bit of a clear out too, no odd meals though so i think there's scope in what's left. I'll meal plan though & do a list & get organized tomo. Dh might panic if I let things go too low & shop himself & then we'll have lots of somethings & nothing of what we actually need!! I ate very well on what we had & lost 4.5lbs Grin