We aint no April Frugalling Fools.. There may be Showers ahead, but we'll sail through together ...

[Laska42]

Heres a new thread for the April Frugaleers!

Spring has arrived and summer is a-coming..

Good luck everyone trying to save money, There's lots of good support here..

The Cotswolds.

Feel a bit sick paying all that out but if you leave it until the summer everything's booked up.

€30 online train fare & €81 aldi & €28 for dh/2ds hair cuts. Was delight as train is down by €15!!
Going to concert tomorrow overnight first girls night away in fifteen months! So my share of hotel room only is €75 & we will get 'brunch' before train back as its three hours!

food: £102.80 - this was waitrose - waitrose used to honour 2 for £x deals even when the item you were buying was reduced, eg if you bought 3 items in a 3 for £6 deal rrp £2.50 each but reduced to £1.50 each the till would charge you 3x£1.50 [£4.50] minus the bulk buy savings [£1.50] Total £3. However just noticed on my receipt today that they didn't do this - on the section at the end where the till puts through reductions it just says "xx 3 for £6 0.00" instead of a reduction amount.
Anyone know if they have had a policy change?

Also £18.80 dentist checkup, which made me realise I don't have a dentist/prescription budget and had to add one.

Spotty I'm glad your manager was supportive.

£4.40 swimming, £5 fresh bread and doughnuts

Tomorrow will be a quiet day as ds had a bit of an emotional evening, I think he's worn out from the holiday activities and there are more to come...

Oops - bit spendier than planned today! Weekly shop came to £78 that about 30 more than usual, a tenner of that was a t-shirt DH wanted. Had brunch out but mostly covered by our Easter treat money so that's ok. Our local shop had some of our favourite beers 3 for £5 so we bought 6 bottles - we are total beer geeks and that's a good treat for us! Also each bought a pair of shoes online, I got 2 sizes to try on so one will be going back.
Planning a few spends too eg. A few jobs that need doing in the house and a roof box for the car. Can't see us saving any money this month.
Have also made a small start to water saving by washing veg in a bowl instead of under the tap and we've looked at water butts. Determined to get our water bill down!

Spotty hope you feel better soon.

Hope you have a great trip at Christmas Fluffy

Spotty that's really good, hopefully she'll behave herself next time she needs to see a Dr. And I hope your throat gets better soon.

I spent £2 on a coffee by the lake after Pilates this morning, then another £2.40 ish on after school snacks.

10/4
£26.96 Book people order - used two different discount codes. One small birthday/Xmas gift for DCs (need to figure out which - it's a Lego book), a bunch of curriculum based workbooks for home ed and a thesaurus for DD.
£27.95 - went out for dinner with friends. Friends paid more than half actually, they insisted. Includes tip and DH letting the DCs have a go on the claw machine :o (no they didn't win anything...) was a fab evening with loads of board games too.

Sounds lovely fluffy

Thanks everyone

Food shopping due this morning then dd has a party later.

I have more money in my account than I thought and I've realised Amazon haven't taken out the money for dds new sandals. I haven't got them yet but they were dispatched yesterday. Usually the money shows that it's come out in the 'available funds' immediately

Spendy day yesterday. Train tickets £26 which was v good! With my friends and family card, and dd going free. Then to hamleys (thankfully the small one at st pancreas!!) to get some toys for the kids because they've been so good, really. £25.

I also ordered a pair of lk Bennett shoes, £105 which was done from some other price. I'd been looking at it forever and thought this was a good price. I'll see if they fit next Thursday as I'm in London again and if they fit, I'll take them, otherwise will return on the spot.

Lunch at yo sushi was £46. I couldn't believe how much my kids were eating! V pleased but omg the damage on the cc!

The consultant meeting went v well. She said if things remain the same, we will look into being discharged next year!! Woo hoo!

£5.50 on fruit from m&s and then home.

Went out for work dinner, rushed like mad. Paid £2.40 for parking. Everything else paid for.

Today going up north to see family for a long weekend. Something we couldn't do last week coz I'd just come home from Europe. Should be petrol and lunch on route.

Great news NK

Dread to think how much I spent on holidays as we went a bit mad. £400 ish and still have our share of the electric to pay but that shouldn't be much. Had a lovely time though and it was well needed.
Whoever suggested a summer pot that is a top idea. I will be hoping to do mostly NT and english heritage but we have a fortnight away in Cornwall. I am starting to look for vouchers too. I'm in the north east and without outing my self the local radio stations do half price vouchers for theme parks and other paid for activities. Have to grab them quick but it's a good saving.

babs good idea to start looking out for vouchers / planning cheap days out as well as summer hols savings pot.

nk great news - think you deserved those treats! Apparently yo sushi do a good deal on Mondays? I thought I might take dd there after school one day next term for the novelty factor!

fluffy your Christmas sounds lovely! I admit to having already looked at the calendar to start planning the christmas schedule!

Thursday: £7.46 in Sainsburys on ingredients for an enormous chilli. We have guests at different points over the weekend so hopefully this will keep everyone fed. £4.06 on the balance of mine and dd's meal at hungry horse (using my £10 tesco voucher).

Friday: £1.50 bus fair in to town. £25 primark (some stuff needs to go back, tried a skirt on over my trousers to save going into the changing rooms and of course it's too big when tried without the trousers!). £3.17 on tea-bags and a packet of crisps (horrendously expensive as I stopped at the only shop on my long walk back from town - generic newsagent).

Frugal things:

I've just invested in a year's membership of a city centre attraction and took dd there again yesterday (2nd time in two weeks - think it's already paid for itself!) we took snacks and ate in the picnic area rather than cafe.
Whilst making the vat of chilli I kept aside some onion, pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and tomato purée, made a pizza dough and we had home-made veggie pizzas for dinner.
I ran out of plain flour for pizza dough so used a bit of SR instead of popping to the shop and they turned out fine!

I actually considered writing Christmas cards yesterday, I mentally slapped myself.

Last year we wrote them on the day we went away so I need a happy medium.

Bank: £58.50 (was £61.23)
Purse: £0.00 (was £0.00)
Jar: £7.05 (was £11.35)

Grand Total: £65.55
Reduced by: £7.03
Days to payday: 4
Proper Savings: £574.29

Spends:
£2.73 – Tesco

£2.00 Athletics
£2.00 – DS2 for the shop
£0.30 – unaccounted for.

Think I will just sod the budget for the next four days. There's actually about £54 left because I went to Morrisons yesterday and we have a wedding reception to go to tomorrow night. DH wants his hair cutting due to going out. There's nothing spendy on Monday or Tuesday although I do have a day's worth of bus fare to pay out as I don't get paid until Wednesday.

God, it's been a long month. My own fault for spending so much on clothes I didn't need at the beginning of the month.

Fluffy you should just do them every coulpe of years - like batch cooking.

NK that is great news.

Roll on pay day... I am with you Bantam too much early month spend and now too much month. Even my emergency meals and spice cupboard are looking empty.

Well we have literally run out of money for this month! We've done a massive shop, filled the freezer and have about £30 left to last us top up shops of bread and milk. So that's not too bad. We've lived on nothing when DP was out of a job and I was on maternity leave so fingers crossed we can remember our ultra frugalness.

Myself and DP however are mega broke. Lots of spends we weren't prepared for. DP had to order £40 of stuff for work, but will get that back on Friday.

I managed to completly forget that my professional registration comes out this month. So I was £40 down before I even started. Lots of party's and two long journeys which have zapped the petrol. It's going to be a poor few weeks in the Binglet household. Have put some things on FB selling site, got someone coming today to pick one item up so there's another £15. Going to have to raid the savings this month to just survive I think.

Good news is I start my new job on 20th and that's a massive pay rise so end May payday will be a good one.

fluffy impressed with your Christmas planning.
spotty glad work have supported you.
NK great news.
Had a good day with dd in Manchester and came back with green DM boots which she's really happy with. Spent £10 on train fare £9 on lunch £30 towards the boots (she paid the rest), £6 in fat face where I bought a cardi and scarf with gift cards from my bday and Christmas so not too bad all things considered.
Dh is away this weekend, ds had a sleepover last night so dd and I had a takeaway pizza for tea. The rest of the weekend shouldn't be too spendy.
Have a lovely weekend everyone

£66.32 tesco delivery minus £1.19 as they sent smokey chipotle sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce also forgot pasta.

BUT GUESS WHAT??? Just received a letter with the four dates for training and getting an insulin pump! I'm so bloody happy!

This weeks meal plan:

Lasagne with salad
Chicken and avocado wraps
Veg and feta tostada with salad
Pasta and sauce with garlic bread
Halloumi skewers with couscous
Veg casserole with quinoa

Does that sounds frugal and healthy enough?

That sounds lush spotty. Do you take orders for dinner guests?

Top frugal tip (if you don't do it already) for garlic bread - use half baked bread and cut slices almost through. Add your own garlic butter & cook for 10 min in the oven.

I have spent hours putting vege seeds in at my parents - I see it as my own personal allotment that they water & weed. Loads of really interesting, can't buy at the supermarket or expensive vege. The fruit trees we put in last year should be croping this year. My weekly vege box should be good. I also planted the herb seeds for my garden - next weekend weeding where they are to grown.

Lsd today. Couple of pounds at the beavers open day.

Of course unescorted, no one else seems to like what I make

Very healthy and frugal, Spotty.

Mine is:
Tonight- lentil Bolognese.
Tomorrow- veggie toad-in-the-hole, with mash, broccoli, peas and gravy.
Monday- leftovers from Sunday.
Tuesday- leftovers from tonight.
Wednesday- veggie shepherds pie (leftovers from the freezer!)
Thursday- gnocchi, pesto and spinach with veggie sausage rolls.
Friday- veggie burgers, wedges and possibly salad.

Today's spends: £16.17 in Lidl; £11.40 travel for me and DS; £5.50 Sainsburys café; 99p on wrapping paper; £3 DS pocket money. Total: £37.06.