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 .

need this quote from urbandictionary explains Pay it Forward better than I can:

In the book the phrase is used as the opposite of payback: when someone does a good dead for you, instead of paying them back, pay it forward by doing a good deed for someone else.

Although yes lilac I did say I would be happy to look after her DCs when she needs it anyway! But it definitely wasn't part of the deal IYSWIM.

Glad she's dropped off now, Pointless. I'm sure she'll settle down again in a few weeks, once she's used to her nursery.

£31.17 in Tesco, on most of the week's shop, although I'll need to get more fresh veg and milk towards the weekend and some rubber gloves and ST's from Lidl, as they were too much in Tesco!

Meal plan:
Tonight was med. veg. pasta bake, from the freezer, with garlic bread.
Tuesday : jackets with beans and cheese.
Wednesday: chickpea, spinach and med. veg. stew with cou s - cous.
Thursday : same as Wednesday, but rice instead of cous - cous.
Friday: veggie burgers and wedges.
Saturday: pizza.
Sunday: Quorn roast, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, broccoli, Yorkshires, stuffing and gravy.
I have two portions of leek and potato soup left for lunches and eggs, waffles, beans and Quorn sausages for another day and I will be out for lunch a couple of days too. Breakfasts: cereal or toast.

Thanks babs - I was thinking of using the council run holiday clubs if we need childcare during holidays, as they do accept childcare vouchers - but they're much cheaper by the day so we might only use say £70 a month in the holidays rather than the £200ish in term time as we hopefully won't need much. Although there's some sports clubs at the leisure centre that would work as childcare too.

So I don't know if it's better to still claim lots of vouchers, but have less actual money available IYSWIM?

Thanks for the kind comments.
girlie who is the costume for? A male friend at work is going to wear jeans and a checked shirt to be a character from Of Mice and Men. I have borrowed a red coat and a basket to be Red Riding Hood.
I was hoping to be the witch from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe but didn't have time to visit charity shops for suitable items at the weekend. My other idea was to wear a Christmas jumper and the Bridget Jones but I decided the kids at school probably wouldn't know who I was and would just think I was confused!

NSD... And I got the job.

I'm very much over the moon and it's good for my ego/soul. I'm not sure though whether it is what I want. The boss is now negotiating money with hr and will get back to me Wednesday. I have 48h to figure out my pros and cons list. Cons is travel (to London), so early mornings and late nights... Unsure what the new work will be like (what if it's from the frying pan into the fire?!!). Pros well, it's a new environment, potentially good move for career...

It will basically mean it's a new career path for me. Eg it will be like moving from being a nurse on the word to being a nursing manager?! Which to me means I'll be in the managerial career path as opposed to nursing (I'm not a nurse. Just using it as an example)...

Well done NK!

It is for dd, she is currently reading Mr Stink so first idea was to go as Mr Stink, then she decided she didn't want to go as a man so I think we have decided on Chloe who is the girl who befriends Mr Stink. Bit of a cop out as she will basically just go in her own clothes!!

I would buy her a costume but she hates dressing up so it would only ever be worn once!!

Wow, fast thread! Welcome newbies

Well I got offered one of the 2 jobs I was interviewed for last week. ...the one I wasn't hugely convinced on. Fingers x I get the other one. ... but I am still happy I have an offer at least!

Dried washing on the line today, was so happy to see it blowing about!

Yay NK! Congratulations :)

Can't post our spends today, I know I spent exactly £5 but DH's afternoon ended up spendy as poor DSD was in pain at college so they met at the walk in, turns out she has whiplash!? :( So got painkilling stuff and as it was a long time til they got seen they had macdonalds too (DCs most pleased!). DH ill too so he's gone to bed, I'll get the numbers tomorrow.

Oh and well done NK.....must've been the week to shine

Well done to both Pass and NK

Well done pass and NK. Even if you turn the jobs down it's nice to know that people value you isn't it?

Well, I'm really pleased that I'm able to repay my DM half the money she loaned me in January when my ouchie tax bill came in. I was hoping to repay it all but still waiting for some invoices to get paid.

NSD - although that's a bit sneaky because DM bought something for me to give as a present and I owe her the money and will pay her back tomorrow.

A friend was asking me about online agencies that offer work from home - she's had a few bad experiences, but I think some people here have had some better ones? Would you mind reminding me which ones are worth registering with please?

Well done NK and pass!

Should be Nsd as I'm working. Aiming for nsd for the rest of the week will be a record for me

Well done NK and Pass.
We need cheese and shower gel today but that should be it. I have a very sore throat, think I'm getting DD's virus

fluffy I don't do standing order method but it's something I should consider. My current combined balances are €3400 €1400@13% and most of the €2000 @ 18.6% as far as I remember, will wait for that statement to come in & pay the €420 off that one bringing total down to 3k
I really want to clear both of these this year which means over €300 a month, this will be hardgoing but I'll keep going.

Gah. Would have been a Nsd today but found weevils in a bag of sugar and flour. Out went all my baking stuf. Have bleached the Cupboard. Need to get some more now from aldi or lidl. Do you guys use storage containers or freeze your flour?

Congratulations pass and NK.

Peg I think iswym. Tricky one cos if you go the 200 a month in vouchers you may end up with a surplus in hols which you can't access to get the cash back. Then again the ni and tax savings are good on the vouchers. Hmm. Not sure what I would do. Guess having the surplus could be an emergency fund in case you need more children care. Hmm. Sorry not really helpful was it.

The standing order trick is really easy and knocks years off a debt.

Say your monthly payment by DD is £100. The next month it might go down to (for example) £99, £98 after that etc.

This spins the repayment of even small debts to 15-20 years.

The standing order trick is to set up a SO to pay the debt at £100 every month. Talkinpeace says it cuts debts to 3 or so years repayment & she's an accountant so she's worked out all the maths.

Well done on the jobs pass & nk.

peg blimey. How did she get whiplash?.

I xposted earlier - well done pass too! :)

Fluffy we/the GP have no idea how she got whiplash TBH! She does 2 days a week placement at a nursery so could have been a toddler running into her or something? (I say that because my teacher friend dislocated her hip when a reception child launched himself at her!) I have no idea though, I kind of thought it was just in cars that you got it - her big brother does drive so maybe he had to brake too quickly or something, they haven't had any accidents. She's insistent on still going to college today though as she has a load of work to hand in bless her.

Babs thank you, yes that's the quandary I'm in - really not sure what's better. I'm erring on the side of claiming slightly less, since we are near/in the overdraft as it is and we get charged for that, so may be better to avoid that than save a bit of tax? Hmm. What is there, about 40 termtime weeks a year? So that'd be 40x£55=£2200 a year for the CM, divided by 12 months is about £183 a month average. So would perhaps be worth claiming that amount in case we don't need holiday childcare. Or something.

Neither of mine are by direct debit so I choose my payment. I thought I was saving €30 a week for each in my budget but when I reviewed it this morning I can afford €40 per week. Will do €60 to smaller interest one monthly & €260 to other one. This means I'll have both repaid by end of year as planned.

I'm back to living within my wages now so my self employed earnings can be 'saved' this will pay income tax & hopefully buy us a new dishwasher also up to now in Jan/Feb it had been covering extras.

babs I found weevils in all my pasta and rice last year - was so annoying, I went into Dun Elm and bought loads of air tight containers and keep everything in them now!! I have a large air tight tin for flour and baking stuff, pasta, rice and cereal are all in air tight containers.

Haven't had any more weevils since

Was heart breaking having to chuck all that food away - bloody weevils

Yee haa well done nk and pass. I am sure you will reach the right decisions for each of you, and a great confidence boost for both

girlie Was going to suggest black leggings and top, then sticking red spots, or couple of pairs of stuffed black tights for a ladybird or spider respectively. Not too much dressing up and I am sure there's 1000's of characters in books to suit.

Dropped dogs at groomers, which will be £60. Then fed the pony (in a snow storm). Also, last night, booked tickets for DD and myself to see To Kill a Mockingbird, which is her favourite book. She reads it, then starts in again. Then were £50 and I feel this week has been very very spendy. Good job it's the start of the month and we can rein it in for the rest of the month (or something) The tickets were an indulgence though.

Menu planned but I don't follow an order, just know what I will cook

Jamie Oliver drunk chicken.
Pasta Bake
Chorizo Risotto
Veg Chilli
Chickpea and butternut squash curry
Thai fish curry
Roast pork
Shepherds pie and veg
Tomato pasta
MN pasta sauce
Laska pie
Ribs
Stuffed peppers
Veg soup

This will still leave me with tons of vegetables from my delivery!!

And, peg, thank you for the explanation

YW need I'm just astounded by her kindness! :) I may have hugged her and made a twat of myself Anyway I really need to start paying it forward myself. I think since I got very ill (2012) I've been a bit take-take-take IYSWIM? Always being the one who needs the help. I want to change that.

My mouth is watering at everyone's meal plans. My family's food is so dull and repetitive!

peg I honestly don't think you need to think that about yourself. Life I think is a bit of a cycle. There will be times when you are strong and can help others. I am sure there have been loads already, there will be again. I have spent a long time supporting DH through bi-polar. I will admit it's been very hard. Very hard indeed depression is to some extent an introspective illness, almost selfish for want of a better word. I came close to leaving a year ago. But he's on medication now, and the support and love he is able to give me back now makes amends. x

Dogs look amazing. They will look less amazing after a muddy walk this afternoon.