Low spend March

[Orcubed]

Following on from February.

I’m trying not to spend outside of our existing direct debits, standing orders, birthdays etc, also trying to keep groceries etc low. I failed badly in February, hoping March will be better!

All newcomers welcome!

And just bought myself a blinking dress. To be fair, I don’t often buy for myself and I just look rubbish in jeans and t-shirt these days (too fat) so dresses all the way for summer. Plus am going to a wedding in July I could also wear it for. Listen to me trying to justify it

I spent quite a lot too.

£30 in boots for Essie nail polish and top/base, pregnancy vitamins and shower gel. Vitamins will last me until end of pregnancy, as I alternate them with others (I didn't find the perfect ones for me, there's always something missing, hence this weird setup)
£47 in shop with natural products- 2 hair masks, beard oil for husband, 2 jars of honey, smoothing hair oil and shea butter for belly. This should last me few months too as one hair masks is enough for me for 2 months of use.

Getting ready for grocery shopping next week, but it will count towards April. All March bills paid etc., so I can sum up the month.

How did everyone's weekend go?

I had an unexpected £15 in corner shop on emergency birthday cake & chocolate for DS birthday. The homemade cake was a complete disaster 🙈

£2 today on prop for dance show.

Only a few days of March left. I'm going to try and keep a proper spending diary for April.

I spent 25 quid in Asda, I will count it towards April. Husband wanted some ready made soups, baked beans etc. to eat after work, as he's dieting now and avoiding carbs and fatty stuff. Baked beans are really expensive, gosh. I think I will check on trolley where it's relatively cheap and will be buying multipacks for the whole month. Only single tins left in Asda, as it was Saturday evening.

I will be going for big grocery shopping in few days anyway. My milk allergy is back, so I had to freeze huge block of cheddar 😓 I will use it at Easter.

Badly!

Some of my vinted purchases don’t fit so am trying to psych myself up to reselling them instead of just shoving in the charity bag.

My shop for this week that in my head was going to cost about £40-50 ended up being more like £90. Not sure exactly as there were some Easter eggs in there that sils have sent us money for. Will work it out shortly. Plus £20 on veg box and £12.60 on subscribe and save items. We didn’t need everything right now but everything is so expensive and going up all the time so I’m stocking up whenever our favourites are on offer. Not the best strategy for keeping spends down at the time though…I feel a little bit like my grandmother who had tins of food and cash squirrelled away all over the house!

Need to get a birthday present for dd’s friend.

Last foodshop of the month and overall Ive spenf £202. Thats everything for DH and me, Dog (pampered) food comes separately at £40 for month. Pretty pleased woth that - the lowest month so far this year

Nearly there, nearly there. £38 left for food shopping until Friday.

Well done @grannycake 👏 very good.

@Orcubed try & find the energy to sell 🤞 it's difficult buying second hand hand it doesn't work out.

@grannycake excellent result

Almost at the end now, last few days.

Have you tried selling on vinted @Orcubed i put a few things on the other week and was surprised how east and straight forward it is. Shame the clothes didn't fit, only downside to buying preloved.

So I think I will be ending the month with a total spend of around 500 for all supermarket spends and eating out/coffee/take aways. I don't think that is too bad, average of about 125 a week for family of 3 for all meals. Hard to track this month properly as we used cash from the sale of our sofa. Will do a more thorough total next month.

Just need to get spending on other areas down.

Booked airbnb for our holidays in Gdynia in Poland. I can't wait. It's been exactly a year since we went away. This time it's our baby moon, before our little boy is here. I am hoping our friend who was our wedding photographer will find some time for us for nice photo shoot with bump.

I think I can sum up month now, as mine's working 25th to 24th, with husband's pay dates.

Food £317
Toiletries, clothes, medicines, cleaning products £133
Cats food and litter £54.78

For April I have planned
£315 food
£55 cats
£80 toiletries, cleaning products and day out

Luckily we aren't going away for Easter, so it shouldn't cost us a fortune. My husband also is working Easter Sunday and Monday 😓

@Orcubed welcome to the club. I bought two pairs of jeans on vinted and they don't fit arrrrgh. I listed them back on vinted to at least get some money back.

March was a reasonably good month for me and I was quite pleased! Then the DC's football lessons needed to be paid for, plus some childcare holidays for the Easter holidays, plus an unexpected car repair... aaarrrgghhh. Count me in for a low spend April!!

Today's spend:

£50 in Lidl today, of which £39 is food, rest is toilet roll, kitchen roll etc.

@xogossipgirlxo i went to Lidl yesterday to get a few things and I expected it to be around £25-30. Couldn’t believe it when the lady said £49!! It was a basket of shopping, I didn’t even have a trolley. No alcohol or meat either. I did buy two portions of fish but still. Cannot believe how much food has gone up, it’s crazy.

Crazy. To be frank, I was expecting less than 40 quid for my shopping. I remember when I used to pay £50-60 for full trolley. Now it's £80 or more, my diet hasn't changed.

Finishing this month slightly more spent than last :/

Fuel budget £60 - spent £66
£104 spent on Miscellaneous items
Beauty/personal care £45 budget - £40 spent

Going to try to do better in April !

This month has been horrendous for spending.

Vets bills, I had a medical bill, 200euro bill for something for kids which cant be helped and I overspent on shopping too. I need to be in for april as it is getting mad.

Me too @Pseudonamed. Lost track a tiny bit as didn’t record exact amounts but think I’ve come in at around £610 for groceries and £390 for everything else. Which is ridiculous. Groceries was under £600 until today but had to buy a load of dairy free stuff as ds is now intolerant and that was £££

It’s my birthday next month and have asked for no presents but a couple of meals out so that will be expensive. Also going camping at the end of April. Oh and we have two lots of visitors so that will bump food up a bit 🤦🏻‍♀️. It’s not looking great but hopefully I can be careful the rest of the time

I am not doing well this month!

yesterday was £6 on soft play for 2 DC, £10,60 a very small petrol top up to get us through until DH goes to cheap garage today to fill up plus 2 x Freddos for the DC. Then £115 in WR (we don’t have budget supermarkets here) but we do have visitors at the moment so feeding 4 adults until Sunday plus booze etc, and needed DW tabs and washing powder, but it is just expensive here. Plus we still need chicken and things from M&S :(

Today will be petrol fill as well. Cheapest here is £160.5 a litre (unleaded).

We are desperately trying to save as our house needs SO much work but just feels like we never really get anywhere as living is just expensive

I have filed up with diesel and transferred money from savings for the mortgage going out on monday - that is how much I have overspent. NOw in fairness some of it was unavoidable.

Next month the only big thing is a braces installment of 600euro (Ireland where even dental care is extortion) for one kid and another payment of 400 for something else so again a huge expense month BUT if I reign it in on takeouts and stupid spending I can actually claw things back by May. Fingers crossed anyway. Cannot face the shops today so tomorrow will be big food shop day and I am driving up to NI anyway so will get cheaper essentials in for us there.

Well I managed the rest of the month not being too frivolous but today I think I can see half a roof tile stuck in the gutter
Part of the loan we took out last month was to replace the boiler which is limping along but now I'm worried we'll need to use it on the roof. This house has a habit of having bigger problems than they initially appear

Checking in. Feel like we have haemorrhaged money this month but we have had a lot of holiday related costs including insurance (which is expensive for me because of my medical condition) and new passports for DCs. However I have just about managed to stay within my spending limits and I can draw from my sinking funds which means I will be able to clear the (massive) credit card - which I do in full each month - and still manage to pay myself into my savings. So although it’s been a bad month I think it could have easily been a lot worse.

Going to try really hard this next month to have a quiet and frugal one which will be a challenge as I have both DC for nearly two weeks over Easter as preschool and childminder are closed. But it’s important because I am going to Italy next month with my sister (child free!) so need to put aside a bit extra to ensure I can afford it.

grateful for any picnic/packed lunch tips or treats to help stop us going to cafes over the Easter hols?

My DC are in holiday clubs most of the holidays @Coffeecoffeeinmytummy but will still need packed lunches, I'm going to do a big Lidl/ Aldi shop at the weekend for the basics and then hopefully will only need to top up with bread/ rolls/ wraps and salad for the second week. Have you thought about getting a Tastecard for lunches out? We used to use our Tastecard loads for Pizza Express but it's not on their offers any more there aren't many places nearby we can use it at all so I let ours lapse, but it's worth checking.

Groupon have some good set lunch offers too, or there's an afternoon tea delivery box which might be good if you were planning a day in?

Also if you have any Tesco clubcard vouchers, trade them in soon for 3 x the value at places to eat, before they're only worth 2 x the amount!!

Expensive yesterday as renewed European breakdown insurance for camper and my annual travel policy but both budgeted for. £9 in coop on bread milk and coffee