Marvellous Money Saving March.

[CremeEggThief]

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

MissA that is really strange, I hope you find out what happened.
spotty how long ago did they come out of the oven? Any chance of popping them back in for a while? I've done the same thing before and it's so annoying!
Had a bit of luck this weekend. A friend who works for a large train co occasionally gets free family and friends tickets and he just gave two to us. We can choose where to go. Thinking Liverpool or Manchester. I really like Liverpool but have never been to Manchester, not sure what there is to do there. We'll probably just go for the day and I don't want it to turn into a shopping trip. Any suggestions?

MissA how very odd.

Spotty - how v odd. I made a banana cake this morning too, and left it in for 15 min longer than the recipe said (according to the comments) and it was fine. Would you be able to put it back?

Spent maybe £3 at pound land, on 4 things. Pastry baster which I wanted for a long time, some frozen crap for dd (I really hate shopping with her around), and peanut butter. I'm going to try and make banana ice cream and for some reason they suggest making it with peanut butter.

No dh threw them in the bin

Can I join in please? This is the first month we won't have my salary coming in so I need to get on top of our money.

I don't have a clue where to start but I'm looking forward to having the time to sort things out.

I've had a LSD on my first day of money saving. Went to NEC wedding show with my friend with our groupon bargain tickets I bought for her birthday last month. £5.80 return train ticket, £2.50 Costa and had to pay £5.95 for a crap jacket potato. But for a day at the NEC I don't think I did too badly.

How bizarre, MissA .

I think you should definitely apply, Sporting. What have you got to lose?

NSD to start the month on the right foot.

Welcome all new folk .

£72 on next block of swimming lessons. We get a week of at easter so it's 8 cheaper this time.
£5.26 in boxes on ribbon and felt for costume. About the same in lidl on yoghurt and lentils. We go through 4kg of yoghurt a week and I often wonder if making our own would be cheaper.
Didn't get to sainsbury for the fresh stuff that's tomorrow's spends.
£32 on my fitness pass for the month.
Phew bad start here.

Afternoon everyone :)

I've spent £20 today on a dolls highchair for DD's birthday on Thursday but finally got round to using that Quidco account I set up years ago and earned a whopping 40p cashback but hey, every penny counts so I'm surprisingly pleased with this :o

I have budgetted my last wage and set it aside so all going well I shouldn't have to dip into the leftovers for the rest of the month.

MissA I think spotty is right. Afghanistans not exactly the type of place you go for a holiday is it?. That would freak me right out.

booty could you swap to Now Tv? Sky run it but its not so good for sport stuff. See what they offer you though.

£2.50 on a venetian blind cleaning thing off eBay.

Hello, I'd like to join in if that's ok, I'm 37 weeks pregnant with dc2 and mat leave pay started on Monday. Don't know how we're going to budget as I have no clue How much is going to be coming in, its so confusing how they work it. I'm just going to budget as much as I can, try to write down what I spend and see how that goes. Dh will be the big problem, he gets cash out all the time and spends it on lunch etc, he works in London.
this week hasn't been great as we've had to buy some baby stuff and couldn't resist little babygros in tkmaxx and w. Had an unfortunate event with the car when someone in a flat bed truck reversed into me and then drove off..so that's £250 down..
However we did sell our old buggy for £35 and I'm looking at getting all dd's old clothes out to sort into bundles to sell too, hopefully will make some space and some cash on those over the next few weeks whilst waiting for DS to make an appearance!
Is there anything I need to know? Any tips? I'm thinking I need to find a notebook for writing down spends, try to have 3 no spending days a week, going to look at bills etc but there's not much to cut there really..

wonder if it's a military passport MissA? (no idea how that works though...do they use their own passports? or have special ones?)

LSD today. lunch at mum & dads. plenty of leftovers brought home (mostly desserts though).

have started a step challenge too. aiming to walk 310,000 steps during march. average of 10,000 per day. Today have walked loads. am up to 18,000 steps already. hooray.

have just made lunches for tomorrow - cous cous with roasted veggies and leftover crispy bacons. yummers.

I love couscous. Ds does too.

Welcome to all the new people. I think the key is having a budget and keeping track of it. It's no good not knowing what you spend a month on food and petrol or guessing about £80 a week but not including top ups. Set your budget and stick to it. Add it all up at the end of the month and anything left over can go into savings/take away/whatever.

Low Spend Day. £2 on a present, £1.30 for a snack for DS, £4 for donations - it came out of our new pot for "days out/treats/guilt-free spending".

Had a lovely afternoon out at wildfowl centre (we have annual membership) - we have to go once every 4 months to make the membership pay off and now the weather's better reckon we'll be there every month.

About to start work now DS is off to bed. Trying to do as much work as possible when he's not around.

MissMake www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/2270347-Frugal-January-everyone-welcome

Read the links on there, your dh will be the problem though if he's a fritter-er. Cash is very easily spent.

NSD today. We've actually run out of milk but neither of us could face walking to the shop in the rain so we're putting up with it until the milk man comes tomorrow.
I made some delicious walnut bread today. In an effort to make my packed lunches more exciting I searched for ideas on Pinterest so tomorrow and probably Tuesday I'm having goats cheese and honey sandwiches on my walnut bread. I am already looking forward to it! Anyway, making bread reminded me of breadandwine's blog - any chance you could repost the link on the new thread please bread?
Did our budget for the month earlier and now that I have been pad, and with no council tax this month we should actually have a couple of hundred quid left over. We need a few things out of that: DD's birthday present and a stair gate and fire guard (yes I know we won't have the fire on in the spring but DD keeps toddling haphazardly towards it and I'm convinced she'll fall onto it and break her teeth or something). Plus I think we are going to pay someone t do various small jobs around the house as we are never going to get round to them and we are rubbish at DIY anyway.

Wow, got an even bigger bargain than I thought for our travel down to Southampton. Only just over £20 for the train, and I got the remarkably cheap Plusbus so hopefully can avoid taxis. I also got Plusbus for the Thursday in my town (so must remember to pick the tickets up on Wednesday!) - cheaper than the day passes we would need anyway, as I have a hospital appt in the morning before we go. So excluding that (since we would need it even if we weren't going on the trip) travel and accommodation is coming in under £30 :o

Going to see what clubcard vouchers I have to boost for dinner or lunch while we are there - I've got more points than I thought.

And OMG I've just totted up the groceries spends for the rest of the month, and it looks like we actually did come just under budget. Will be more of a stretch this month of course, since it's more than 4 weeks, but feeling slightly more optimistic now.

Bloody Hell! only been away since Friday ane d havsix pages to read..(some on last thread!) /.

I've had a great and Low spend weekend with DGS ( aged 2).. which is good considereing what i spent atthe end of last week

£12,40 n ferry to go and get him, and £3.25 in Pret for some soup as they were late and i got hungry .. Look people, I met DGS and his mum in Gunwharf Quays and only spent £3,25 ,, Respect?

then yesterday , NSD , we had everything in ,

Also today NSD (if you count that I a have pre-paid book of car ferry tickets and used one of them ) as i was taking him back and DH bought a tank of petrol I needed . ( so a result , and makes up a bit for me buying the tyre last week).

This evening has made a veggie curry and a dhal which should see me through a few days , here on my own.. though I am having a sneaky .. a treat, i always forget how tiring small childresn can be !

Right. will now go back and look at the news for the past 3 days ..seems like you have all been busy!

eh up PegLeg cool new name..

Nsd. Woop.

We are with southern water also , and its just gone up from £27 a month to £56 - 3 bed house.. However , most of the time its only me here ..

Last year next door had a leak in between their house and the road , they dug through a pipe and got it fixed by SW (was fixed before I got home to try our water ) but now as our dd has gone up so much according to them out usage went up loads .. so I think they may have dug through out pipe as well but cant prove it

pointless here is Bread and Wine's Blog.. lots of good bread , vegan and 5:2 diet recipes on it!

several new people(welcome everyone!) I see are asking about budget spread sheets: . I use You Need a Budget and I really recommend it . You get a month free (and its a real free trial.. not one of those that you sign up to and have to give your credit card) and they have free tutorials - though its not difficult to understand .. I only did the basics one..

Its $60 (though I got mine half price on Black Friday) but i really do think its worth it ..

Since November by traclking and budgheting ( with the help of this thread) i've not only paid off my £3000 credit card and £500 OD , but now also have £720 in a savings account! ..

This so unlike the old me who used to have a real head in the sand attitude to my bank account ) .

You do sometimes find it cheaper on Steam though currently its £29.95 .. same as YNAB website ..

Laska complain, they can't just double your dd, that's shocking!.