September savers/frugaleers continue into October

[574ejones]

All welcome!

Dd needs new 'party shoes' and I've just won some worn once from monsoon on eBay for £5.99

I'd have risked the chicken for adults but not kids. We've all done it though.

£2.75 work stuff.

No personal spends.

Forgot, Aldi is going to start online shopping, wine first then groceries.

I never need to leave the house again now.

Aldi online get in!!!!!
We have a distribution centre near hear so fingers crossed for North England being included as we don't get occado

Hope you are both OK Collie and Fuzz.

NSD today and I got paid! It was my first pay check since going part time and it was a but less than I was expecting but not a total disaster. We can manage for now but I'm a bit worried about if and when we have another baby that maternity leave will be very tight. Last time we managed to save enough to cover the mortgage for the last 3 months when I had no pay, I don't see us being able to do that this time as I took a massive pay cut when I went back to work in the spring with less responsibility and now I've taken another massive cut by going p/t.

The tin opener broke today so that needs replacing now. Shall I get one in Asda tomorrow or will it be like garlic pressers and peelers when the cheap ones are so bad that they drive me mad and I end up getting a more expensive one anyway?!

Need to finish meal plan but it will be mainly things from the freezer with potatoes this week as we have ended up with rather a lot!

Sorry, fluffy's post just sank in - Aldi online - hooray!!

How I wish we had aldi, nevermind aldi online!

Pointless I should be getting paid my part time wage at the end of this month, not too sure what it'll work out at :/ there is a flow chart somewhere, must dig it out. We are considering TTC #3 though before I go self employed so (who knows!) it'll definitely have an impact on future maternity pay. Ah well, I'd rather have my day a week with the kids I guess and cut back where possible.

£51 groceries today, £11.50 on lunch out for me, DM, DS and DD. £3.30 on some chicken and we hosted my folks for tea.

Looking now at xmas bits, heads up anyone looking for fisher price stuff, 1000 pts on a £50 spend at tesco, lego 1500 points on a £75 spend, and boots last day of 500pts when you spend 50 code is tomorrow and they have their 3 for 2 on

Naturally I have settled on nothing so far but will definitely be getting a few bits sorted if possible (hard when the budget is pretty much zero this month so will have to come from other areas but I'd like to take advantage of the offers!)

Havent read back very far but I see people are discussing NowTV - we have virgin in the sitting room but in our room we have a nowtv box (no freeview signal where I am or we'd have neither, grr!) - the nowtv is fab, but we careful - Nb it streams over your internet so make sure your broadband has no download limits (inlaws got caught with this last month having cancelled sky to save some money and ended up with a whopping overuseage bill as their broadband was limited).

Would you be interested in a switch to something like virgin taking advantage of some cashback too? When we moved in here we signed up and got it half-price for 6 months and then £160 quidco on top made it very cheap for the first year? Then contract was only 18 months so I rang at that point recently and they've lowered it down for me again. All ideas lol

We don't have Virgin where we live. Will check broadband limit, good point!

Aldi online? Yes, please!

I haven't stopped all day, between admin, housework, laundry and getting DS's presents and card ready for his birthday tomorrow. On the plus side, it's been another NSD.

I have been on 10 mg citalopram for anxiety for over 2 years and I can't imagine coming off it. It's been a miracle for me.

I made a nice kale and potato soup for lunch today too and have 3 more portions in the fridge.

Pointless i went through lots of tin openers and I can say with some confidence the best one is the medium priced Wilkos one

I bought a quite expensive one prior to that and it rusted really quickly.

Meals
Mon- spag bol
Tues- veggie cashew but stirfry (dh made cats bum face that it doesn't have meat in it)
Wens- toad in the hole
Thurs- jacket potatoes
Friday- tomato pasta (might add sausages if there's any left)
Saturday- root veg curry (another cat bum face...)
Sunday- all day breakfast for lunch as dh is working late.

Do any of your dhs struggle with the concept of not having meat in every single meal? Its not like giving him a bowl of salad. He has beef sandwiches for work everyday so it's not like he's having no meat at all but its so expensive and we could all do with a bit less meat and a lot more vegetables.

crème egg - I have half a bag of kale left, what else went in the soup?

Spendy day yesterday, approx. £30 in the shops on bits and pieces (rug/jogger/tshirt/slippers - boring but essentials) and £50 in Frankie and bennys - my fave...and we did save £25%...so that's no more eating out for a few weeks!

29p on a card and £7 in Holland and barrats today. I've needed to eat pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on my breakfast for years - as soon as I stop my nails break/split.

Annoyed with my ds as he has lost a school jumper and he showed no remorse about leaving his other one at school too up until the moment I said that he is paying for a replacement

annatha my dp likes meat in every meal.....but sometimes it's literally one rasher of bacon diced up each

Passthecake Bacon is a good idea! I tend to dice meat up to mix into whatever we're having instead of serving whole chicken breasts/steaks etc to make it go further, because he'd eat a whole packet of chicken fillets or a joint of beef on it's own if I gave him half the chance.

Pass, I sweated some onion and about 3 potatoes, chopped in chunks, in butter and seasoned with Paprika, for about 10 minutes. Then I added veg stock and the kale and simmered for about 20 minutes. I also seasoned with a squeeze of lime juice and ground black pepper before serving.

Thanks "crème", that sounds healthy....

annatha I do a lot with mninimum meat eg risotto with a couple rashers bacon, chicken and veg soup with stock and not much chicken, chilli with double beans and peppers to pad out the mince. My DH has adapted though he hates tofu no matter how hard I disguise it! he tends to prefer spiced veggie food for some reason.
£34 for osteopath today. Feel much much better though.

I just had the best parent's evening in history. The teachers said that the school system has changed and it is all now about the kids taking their time and learning the stuff properly and enjoying it rather than racing through the levels to reach academic stardom by the age of 9. So ds can relax a bit and actually learn stuff now instead of being panic stricken about homework perfection constantly.

ds's new teacher also says it's okay that he's got a chest infection and just to keep him off until he is well again, instead of rushing back so he can spend the whole term ill, as seemed to be the plan before.

On both of these points I could have hugged her right there and then. God Bless the woman. I think she must have fallen here directly from Heaven.

I'm so happy that I feel like spending a whole lot of money to celebrate, but I will try very hard not to. I can't totally guarantee that I am going to succeed.

Aw, Ipsos, that's brilliant! So happy for you both.

Great news ipsos and hope you ds feels better soon xx
annatha I made dopiaza curry with butternut squash, green pepper and tomatoes for dh and ds for lunch today and we had beef chow mein for dinner. They liked both meals but told me straight away the curry would have been better with some of the beef we had in the stir fry
They both really like their meat but I do bulk the meals with lot of vegetables and beans.

Excellent news ipsos

Ipsos that's great! My step brother is a teacher and he said so many of the basics (like my dd holding her pencil properly!) are being missed because of the pressure put on by the govt.

Should be nsd today as I'm working 6:45-6:45. We need bread but I have a 'your shopping was £1.09 cheaper elsewhere' voucher

Should be lsd today. I have my sewing class later. So will need to buy materials for my project (Christmas stocking).

Also I need to collect a pair of Dhs boots from the shoe repairers but I have money from him for that. £30

collie the spiraliser is great!!! I just couldn't believe the kids eating those veg and declaring them the best thing ever (they are 7 and 5)!

Spent £3.60 on parking yesterday but that was coz my boss took us out for dinner. Dinner was on her.

I feel slightly bad - took a call from another head hunter yesterday in oz. I'm very tempted this time and if it all comes through we will go. Obviously v early days yet. I sent her my cv after she sent me the job spec. It will mean a huge upheaval but I met up with some career coaching trainers on the weekend and they basically said that my work place was toxic. Funny how it takes externals to see things we can't see.... Or refuse to accept.

blue I never thought about the broadband limits! Good job we have unlimited.

NK I definitely want one. Will wait until DS is a bit older though. Also - my DH is often getting headhunted for jobs in Oz. It's SO tempting! I'm just scared of doing the big move. And I'm unreasonably terrified of spiders.