The super savvy savers continue steering their way through September

[northender]

Thought I'd start a shiny new thread as we've filled the other one so quickly.

Girlie dds swimming is £28 a month I'm too scared to work out what that is for the term

Thanks for all the sunflower love

Collie that's a a amazing bucket list.

collie amazing list I might steal some of those for me and DH. (specially the monster footprints...!)

tonights beef and ale stew was a success. so delicious.

we have had a massive clear out today. i've started 2 recycling stations (one cardboard, one glass). I really want to reduce waste, but we have no outdoors so composting seems a bit futile...

we have a glass bin outside our apartment block, but the nearest paper recycling station is helpfully near the stables i ride at, so can take any paper/cardboard we have as soon as the bag is full.

wardrobe has ben organised so i now know what I'm wearing. I started a challenge with myself this month. not to wear the same outfit twice. so far so good. I realised i had loads of lovely things that i just wasn't wearing and was just spending money on new samey things.

tomorrows work outfitt has been chosen. its a bit of a new one on me so will see how it goes.

hoping for a nsd tomorrow. walking to work (saving on petrol and parking yay!) lunch all packed up (another £5 saving). and will head tot he gym after work. so am using up my membership. yay!

Wow spotty, what a sunflower! Dds offering from school got eaten by a snail/slug overnight

emenem am jealous of your wardrobe if you have enough for a month, I seem to rotate the same 4 things, I hate everything in there, but can't replace as too tall to find things that fit easily

I was proud of myself tues-fri, I probably spent about £3 in total. Then the weekend came, I was let out of work and the spending began! Just food, theatre lessons, swimming lessons, new coats for kids (Asda have some good price ones)....but it's added up to far too much. Though I did talk myself out of insisting on going out to dinner due to the gorgeous weather today so I bought bbq meat instead - spendy, but cheaper than eating out, and dp cooked it . Also got lots of washing dried on the line, got out with kids bike/scooter and did some weeding....how I love days like today as this time of year they are decreasing...

Tomorrow we are off to one of dp's relatives funerals....and 5 of his close family are going...and they may or may not come for dinner? Not idea what to do, given that I am working in the morning as well. Have decided that if they do grace us with their presence it's either hot chicken/French bread/salad from Asda or a whip around for a takeaway. I don't like the not knowing bit and I'm certainly not going to put any effort in as they might not come?

Back now from family weekend. We're paying £100 towards accommodation & food which isn't great for our general situation but better than I thought it might be.
Need Aldi shop tomorrow so I'd better crack on with a meal plan.

That sunflower is fab, dd donated money to hospice and got sunflower seeds in return, we planted & watered them & watched for shoots until we found out that dh had been strimming that area a few times a week!

Thank you for new thread north
Great sunflower spotty
Went to market today £12 for dds haircuts, £2.50 for bunch of bananas and strawberries; went to Range as well since it's next door and got couple bits to make a present and a card for sil and a new Pyrex bowl £8 ish all together.
Made a PE kit bag for ds from old jeans and baked chocolate and cherry buns for lunchboxes, breakfast bars and sweet bread for tomorrows breakfast.
Meal plan done and weekly shop ordered from Tesco for tomorrow after they sent me a voucher £12 off if you spend £60.
Didn't put any washing on so of course we had sunny day today

Hi to telephone and claire :)

NSD for me today, though DH did just have to nip to local shop for bread / milk / pack lunch stuff... tbh he has been eating lunch from work canteen daily for months so I am happy to see him making pack lunches (unprompted might I add!)

Made a lovely sticky ginger cake with DS this morning which we had after lunch with custard. Lunch was chicken thighs (freezer), mash (from huge back of reduced spuds) and veg / yorkies from freezer.

This afternoon we had a softplay birthday party, DS got a hot meal there so didnt make a tea. Lots of free coffee and DS had a great time so we were happy :)

Having a glass of wine now and getting on with some cramming... booking for the oct session of my exam opens tomorrow and Im in such a quandry whether to book and do it now (£490) or hold off til jan as Ive been a bit lax on the revision.. scared to fail it and lose the fee. I think in truth I need to get on and do it now but resent having to try and revise for 2 months of my mat leave. I have another exam to do next spring so I think sense would say do this now... Id better get cramming though argh

my kids swimming lessons are £21 a week

I splurge and have a private lesson between the 2 of them as ds wasn't getting anywhere at all in a group and we have a river running through our town so it's important. Hopefully it'll mean that they become ok swimmers at a younger age and then we can stop the lessons and just go for fun (unless they want to pursue it)

£1.19 on a coffee in McDonalds. DDs funded their own fix and I feel better for the walk.

Just ordered an on line shop, £60 after an e voucher. I still have half a freezer full of protein options and I'm back in the cooking frame of mind. DDs are taking sandwiches tomorrow, no facilities for reheating so I'll prefer them to have a hot meal once it turns properly cold but sandwiches will suffice for now.

I'm going to look into spin dyers.

Great news on the toddler's group collie. Fantastic!

Fluffy LOL about your friend's water tank.

Love the sunflower spotty. It's huge. Also fantastic news that the dishwasher is up and running.

Welcome to new people.

You would have been proud of me this weekend. We had family visiting who are difficult, and who become more difficult if we ask them to adjust their behaviour. dh, ds (age 5) and I worked as a team and we stage-managed them all day subtly so that the day was okay, but without being overt enough to trigger a meltdown. They are gone now.

It was a hard weekend, but I spoiled myself this morning with a trip to TKMaxx and bought a lovely parka jacket for half price. I've never done anything like that before. I usually wear dowdy practical washed out martyr clothes and this one has a lovely feminine fur edge on the hood. It gave me a real thrill to buy it and ds and dh like it too.

Definitely a watershed weekend for personal growth.

Well done on managing the family ipsos, you deserve the coat for just getting through that. And even better it was half price, bargain!

Our swimming is £80 every 10 weeks for both but it's a none negotiable for me.
Today's plan is jam and pickle making, sort the toys to make birthday lists and allotment to harvest more goods.

May I join please? DH and I are at the absolute pointy end of a fucking awful financial time but we just have to get through 6 months and will be in the clear. there is a good chance that it won't all work out though so DH and I have had real conversations about what to do if that happens. It's grim and worrying tbh.

The long and short of it is that I need to do a short course so I can try to work from home and we need to massively watch every penny.

Hello! Jumping in. Spent £12 on Saturday for lunch. And £2.40 on parking. Sunday was £18 at McDonald's for lunch. And £20 on trainers for ds. Old ones can go to school for a little while before they get too small!!

Have a good work week everyone. Another week of struggling with juggling (reception daughter only in next week full time) and it'll be back to normal.

Lila that's really funny! Silly dh.

I'm going into town to get ds some new clothes he is desperate.

Can't get dd to eat breakfast. Managed to get some raspberries into her but all she wants is crap and I refuse to buy it.

Sounds hardwork ipsos but your coat sounds lovely. You definitely deserve a treat.

I'd love to forage more. I never even considered hazelnuts!

We've decided to relocate in a couple of years. I'm very excited.

we found second hand Venetian blinds for £10 locally! What a bargain. We will probably buy it later but no other spends planned.

I'll be meal planning today for 2 weeks. So so so boring but at least I can control the shopping.

That's a bargain babs for both dc.

Welcome digger sounds really worrying

Welcome digger. You've come to the right place. :-)

Thanks collie

Colllie your bucket list reminds me so much of an old job I did in my teens. I was working on a nature reserve and we used to advertise an event where kids could come and make plaster casts of animal footprints. What the kids didn't know was that the chief ranger had a goose foot in one pocket and a deer foot in the other and was going ahead of them making the prints. (Eeeep!)

Morning what's everyone up to today? I need to do the housework and some baking.

I need your opinions ladies. We have Virgin TV and it's ok but you have to pay for movies and I find it a pain in the arse to use. Our contract runs out in 17th September. I've been looking in to sky which can get for the same price but with the movies. We don't go out so this is our entertainment really. Well sky are offering a 12 month contract and you get a free laptop. Ds2 has asked for a laptop for Christmas. I mentioned it all to dh last night and he said I would be 'right' to give him the free laptop. Would I? I know the laptop won't be top of the range but it would have everything he needs for school. Dh is from a 'wealthyish' family and Christmas he got everything he wanted. I don't see a problem with it would you?

Well done ipsos and jacket sounds lovely too. You don't need to dress dowdy because you're a mum
welcome to digs if we can help you out we will.
Lots here highly recommend ynab - my September resolution is to get stuck into it

I'd give him the laptop, he doesn't need to know it's free.

Can you get the same deal with cash back too?.

Welcome digger.
Relocation sounds exciting collie
Spotty council run lessons, massive waiting list so not giving my place up. Ds hates it but I want them to be able to swim and I figure he will thank me later

I would give him the laptop sounds like a win all round.
Meant to say digger shout if you need help, we are a friendly and rather resourceful bunch.

lilac thank you, that's a good reminder to get it out.

Just had a notice that we are a week behind in rent and 2 months behind on a mortgage. And there isn't enough money in the account to pay this weeks rent. And we may not get paid this Friday. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. I'm waiting on a cheque which will clear the rent arrears and 1 month of the mortgage but it's not here yet. Fuck.