Amazing April Austerity.

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
Taking the liberty of starting a new thread, as I went to post spends on the old one and it's full.

We had a lovely day out at the seaside and visited an old lighthouse as part of it. As we rely on public transport, that's always a big part of our days out spend.
£9.60 bus fares.
£9.60 train fares (with the family railcard).
£6 lunch from Sainsburys ( £3 meal deal each).
£4.50 entrance to the lighthouse.
£7.10 coffee, hot chocolate and cookies in a café afterwards.

Oh and DS needed a haircut, which I think was £6.50.

I'll have to catch up properly later. Spends: £1.66 on chocolate and nuts, mainly to break a £20 note to get change for DS's bus fares to school for a few days.

Oh ok. I don't even know if I paid PPI but they will won't they?!

Yeah they will just check for you. I didn't know I had any at all. It was absolutely baffling to me too. It wasn't even called PPI by one of my banks - they called it "credit insurance". Which confused me even more!! totally worth the effort of contacting them all though.

Hello- wondering if I can join. Have skim read the whole thread!! Just me and hubby, we are ttc baby numero uno and I'm currently having a team review at work so pay is likely to be cut by September. Need to try and save as much as we can. Already shop at lidl/Aldi and meal plan. From this month I am tracking all spends in an app which is eye opening!!

Thanks again lovely people

Ha Em wouldn't I love to come to Jersey :o I've never been! The home ed scene might be a tad quiet though

OK I'm probably being a bad influence again but any Picasso fans need to see this!
www.npg.org.uk/whatson/picasso-portraits/tickets.php
If you book on one of the earliest time slots on a Friday, tickets are £5!
Unfortunately this kind of negates the saving with off peak trains but ah well. I don't care. Picasso is one of my absolute favourites.

Welcome Oranges

£2.80 spent on cake had to go into town despite the rain and I had a card for a free coffee. I thought I'd buy a bar of chocolate to split a £10 note, ended up spending £7.

Then I collected the dogs. £300 ish for two weeks in the kennel. DH doesn't think about that when he makes plans.

Just popping on with spends.

Sunday:
£5.13 DH in Coop (movie night popcorn etc!)
£11.25 next block of gym for DD
£1.60 bus (DH forgot to use my bus pass)

Monday:
£14.40 various snacks etc as I'm disorganised
£11.85 Picasso exhibition! Bargain. DD actually screamed when I told her!
£73.12 Tesco delivery. Not a bargain. It was all done just before midnight and I have very little memory of doing it sooo I've ended up with all manner of crappy junk food and not much else. Last minute shopping, and trying to reach a minimum spend to use a voucher, well they aren't a good combination.

Thanks collie that will be my missions whilst ds is at pre school tomorrow. Im about to leave for work so today should be a nsd.

Welcome oranges

Adora we have similar chocolate addictions...

Cag I don't think it is.....! Things are just starting to be brought in here which yous guys have had for ages - fines for absences, more testing, lunchbox police. All of which have contributed to uk friends pulling their kids out of school. Couple that with the scrapping of free nursery places and I think home ed will be on the up.

(But saying that statistically schools are better here. Better results for GCSEs/a levels. Smaller class sizes. Etc)

Today will be spendy. Booking flights and hotel for ascot. And I have a riding lesson after work. Just me the instructor and the pony.

Dh is doing a food shop this evening.

£16 on passport photos, £7 skatepark,£3.80 zumba.
Nsd planned today.

Hi oranges

Should be a nsd today. Work all day then have to walk the dog and we are off to the mil house for dinner so don't have to use any food either!!

oranges hi!!! Welcome! I'm in a similar position to you. It's just me and Dh. We are sort of ttc (as in not religiously every day if you know what I mean) and are saving for a house. ignore my spendy post above. I'm saving honest!

I love nsds like yours (when someone else sorts out my food!!)

I also have to pay for parking today as will not have time to get walk home and get changed and get to the stables for 6.

It's not even 8am and I've spent £50! Arghhhhhh
Welcome Oranges! :)

Welcome oranges! We are ttc too, #2 in our case. Last time round I had a much better paid full time job so had loads saved for mat leave and got good mat pay. I'm now part time and dropped some responsibility at work so a second lot of mat leave is quite scary from a financial point of view!
I think I need to ask the bank about PPI too, I'm fairly sure I've never paid any but you never know!
Supermarket this morning, need nappies, cat litter and lots of fresh stuff so expecting it to be a bit expensive. I also need to buy my 10 yo niece a birthday present, any ideas? I need to post it. Thinking t shirt or pjs or similar.
Re dishwashers, we got a slimline one and while I wouldn't be without it I wish we'd sacrificed a cupboard to have a full size one as we usually end up having to wash saucepans, wok etc in the sink which uses more water.
Thank you fluffy for telling me about the Nectar surveys, I've already got 250 points for doing not a lot! Plan is to save them up then use them in the Sainsbury's toy sale in October to buy Xmas pressies.

Hello all .

Once again, I drop in. It's the holidays here still so £££. I'm trying to not spend anything, but we are with family and going out to do things together, so it is hard.

I am 100% getting back on the frugal bandwagon as of next week. I think I mentioned before that I've asked to cut my hours, which would potentially be a drop of hundreds a month if I lose other aspects of my job too. We also face the end of maintenance and CB for DD next year.

I'm still debating over cutting hours as it will hit my pension too. I never planned to work PT, however health has been awful this year so might have no choice.

Out for the day today, hoping to avoid cafes, shops and other spendy places. Not holding my breath though. DM likes a coffee.

Free Ice-cream

Purple I have a 10yo dd, things that are popular at the moment are anything to do with crystals and things like hama beads or aqua beads.

hama beads

mining kit

Otherwise any of the David Walliams books!!

I was randomly sick last night, not sure why that was wondering if a combination of stress and eating something dodgy Meant to be back to work tomos so planning a quiet day, need to take car to garage as have 2 warning lights now on one saying something about oil and also something about a brake light. Hopefully won't cost too much.

Dd bought a letter home about pro coaching football ystd, its a 12 week course and they get a trophy at the end of it. Dd quite keen but it is £5 a lesson and 7.30-8.30pm which seems late to me! Will let her do it though.

Ooh I love ice cream but I'd have to park or get the train into the city centre which would cost more than an ice cream
£67 in Asda, noticed the price has gone up on a few of our regular purchases.
I have loads of little bags of things like coconut, sesame seeds, pine nuts, ground almonds etc with just a bit left in each one. I'd like to use them all up, any ideas? I thought maybe some sort of energy bars.

LSD as I just need to get some carrots. For some reason, they keep freezing in the fridge even though the setting isn't super high or anything. Same with cucumbers. Everything else is ok. I just buy them the day I plan to use them and only buy enough for one use. We've had our fridge for 17 years though so I can't complain really. It was a present from DH's uncle when we bought our house. We're planning to replace it soon so I've been googling fridges and drooling. One of the shelves broke a few years back (glass shelf) so it will be great to have an extra shelf when we get the new one.

Lsd yesterday, just needed milk £1.49 (although it was the 4th day in a row I'd been to a grocery shop- I really need to plan better)

Nsd today.

Our bank switches tomorrow so I'm seeing that as clean slate time and really time to knuckle down. Groceries is definitely our biggest flexible spend so need to cut down and not give in to temptation!

Sainsburys order just came. They tried to substitute a pack of vinyl gloves for £2.70 for the 30p basic range rubber gloves I ordered. Luckily, I spotted it in time. I knew I shouldn't have tempted fate by recently sticking up for their swaps!
Menu plan, subject to some swaps:
Today: macaroni cheese with spinach. I'm trying frozen spinach in it for the first time. I'll make one for today, and one for the freezer.
Wednesday: falafel, houmous, olives and cous-cous.
Thursday: quiche, new potatoes and vegetables.
Friday: quiche, wedges and salad.
Saturday : pizza.
Sunday: Quorn fillets with mozzarella and pesto, new potatoes and vegetables.
Monday: pub meal out, after parents evening for DS.
Tuesday: macaroni cheese (from the freezer).

creme you really stuck up for Sainsbury's too! Luckily you noticed it. I hate how they don't price match their swaps.

I'd love an ice cream today. It's so warm here. proper t shirt weather!

purple When I was 10 I was addicted to stationary. still am pretty A4 notebooks, sticky notes, pencils and erasers. My Auntie used to send me stationary goodie bags! Best thing EVER! I'm always drooling over the stationary aisle in Sainsbury's. luckily I no longer live near Paperchase.

Girlie hope yo don't get poorly

I have no energy. At all! Time for a Vitamin B12 top up.

Still catching up!

Back to 'proper' school term now, DH is able to be much more involved now which is brilliant - due to having shifts he is often around in the morning so we can share the 'teaching'. :) It does mean he's often out in the evenings but I'm managing ok so far with dinner/bath etc, and it means I get the telly to myself. :o

Also another epic frugal win - another family have passed on their tickets for a play about history, as they could no longer go. Incredibly generous, and there's no way we could've managed the cost. It'll mean a little money on travelling, and the DCs will miss a couple of their regular clubs (Thursdays are crazy!) but totally worth it I reckon. I'll stay home (it's 1 adult 2 kids) so a rest for me and nice quality time for them with DH as he's off that day. They're going to take a picnic for the train (or might see if bus is cheaper)