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!

Hi @Veryfaraway welcome!

Thank you @Orcubed just hoping so much. We've got enough to pay the mortgage for about 2 more months. He's talking to a company with a start date of 3rd April at the mo 🤞

Went to get a few extra groceries today. It's so expensive. I've earned £10 on qmee so used that to buy a birthday card for DS, chocs for my dear friend, a tiny plant for my mum and some sweets for DS. It sounds a lot written down but it doesn't look much for £10!!

Picked up some eggs & some olio bits for lunch. Had grilled cheese on baguette, with salad and taramasalata (all free except cheese). Eating from olio makes for some interesting meal combos!!
Kids at home today because teachers on strike. And it's boring & raining yuck.

Quick check in. I'm doing OK this week. NSD yesterday and today. Hoping for another tomorrow! March seems like such a long month...
Good luck on your DH job interview living and hope the kids haven't done your head in at home today!

Much needed NSD for me. I have planned meals through until Monday 27th and will blitz Aldi tomorrow. Will need bread, milk & fruit but should work

I have to seriously reign things in come April. Another bad month here. I have no idea what I have spent as I had extra few quid in my account from something. Just realised mortgage rates have gone up again and already my mortgage has gone up 250pm since last year. Its crazy.

Argh - power company took an extra £130 on top of usual DD today. Tried to claw it back but it was too late. Submitted meter reading and we are in debt. Really could do without such big extra spending.

BUT GOOD NEWS! DH has work from Monday 😁 only likely for 2 months but it's better than nothing. Still need to keep an extremely tight rein on expenses but what a relief that the main bills will be paid. I almost cried. I nearly had a panic attack this morning after the gas/electric bill. I've got about £400 ish to last until end of April when he'll get paid to cover all food & petrol & other expenses. I think we can do it with help from olio.

NSD today.

@livingthegoodlife that's great news about your DH's job. I aways say it's easier to find work when you're in work, so hopefully he can keep looking for the right job during the next two months.

As usual I've spent no money all week, but it's Saturday and I'm starting to dread them now. I need to buy dog and cat food, so immediately that's 20 euros, I need some more pellets for the wood burner, 2 bags, so 20 euros and then food for me, which, no matter how much I try always comes out at around 50-60 euros.

I got such a shock last week, I went to buy a tin of tomatoes in Lidl and it was 1.29 a tin. How can a tin of tomatoes cost that much?

My son is a language student and he's really struggling with his German so I've suggested that he spends a couple of weeks in an immersion school in Germany but it's so expensive. I feel I need to support him as my oldest son is in a private art school and I pay for that every year, but just as I seem to find my feet savings wise something comes along takes them. I've also suggested he try and find work in a German theme park. I think he'd love working in Playmobil land

Morning all. Just catching up with latest posts. How was your Mother's Day?
It was my husband's birthday on Friday:

£4 for birthday cake cream and milk. Cake wasn't perfect, but it wasn't a disaster too. Husband inhaled it, so I assume he liked it 🤐😂I am having second attempt on Easter, will do the same base, just more casual decoration, like chocolate, and some mini eggs on top.
£56 in sports direct for husband's new shoes as his old ones started to fall apart. I'm actually quite pleased, he bought nike air max, but because they weren't this years collection, they were much much cheaper.
Some clothes on vinted which was around £20-25 quid. Two pairs of jeans and maternity blouse from h&m.
£1.50 on amazon for rose water

I will need a little top up of fruit and veg very soon, but hopefully no big spends apart from this.

Ok so I spent 115 euro on shopping yesterday. Today is my day one AGAIN as I am a disaster.

I admit we are currently looking at holidays but we got some money that was due so that is going towards that so out of the normal day to day pot I have 30 euro in cash and that will have to do me till the weekend.

£9 for coffee in coop and £5 on ice-cream for freezer. We go to Netherlands and Denmark in a months time. We'll be away for 6 weeks so I need to start stocking up the van. Fuel and campsite costs are already saved for

@grannycake The Netherlands is fabulous. Stunning country, amazing people. I am well jeal.

@grannycake are you off for holidays? These are very nice countries

@xogossipgirlxo @Pseudonamed Yes it's a holiday. We retired last year and have a travel fund. We can do long trips each year as long as we remain relatively frugal. We barbecue or cook in the van but it's worth it for the luxury of extra time away

We'll be away for 6 weeks and our Border terrier comes with us

@grannycake sounds idyllic! have the best time :)

Sounds idyllic @grannycake - enjoy!

I like the sound of the chocolate cake with mini eggs too. I love mini eggs!

I'm still doing well with my spending. DH and I have looked at our spreadsheets & I think we need to be extra frugal until May time. Then we go on our fancy holiday of a lifetime (the long long saved for trip that my in laws were horrid about). So that is something to look forward to.

Had a lovely mother's day. The children gave me a bunch of daffodils and made me a homemade spa and a lot of paper "creations". It was adorable.

I bought a veg box from Lidl on Saturday- £1.50:
Mango
Blueberries
Leeks
Cabbage
5 apples
Potatoes
Cherry toms

Such good value. I've made leek & potato soup and coleslaw.

Another NSD.

@grannycake your travel plans sound amazing. What a lovely way to see the world. Retirement goals for sure.

Low spend for me, just 2.30 for hospital parking and 3.00 for a swimming certificate.

Feeling stressed so impressed I didn't cave on a takeaway tonight. Been told DS is likely to need casting to correct toe walking. He didn't take the news well so it has been quite a day.

@grannycake ohhh this sounds amazing, I hope you have the best time

@livingthegoodlife does every lidl do these fruit and veg boxes? I haven't seen any in mine, maybe it's not participating or am I always too late?

@xogossipgirlxo I think all lidls do them? It's called a "no waste box" or something, the contents are all short dated but perfectly useable. Too be honest it all seemed as fresh as anything i usually buy.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/our-products/fruit-veg/waste-not

@Veryfaraway welcome. How’ve you been getting on since you joined the thread?

@livingthegoodlife that's gutting about the energy company, just what you didn’t need.

I did badly at the end of last week, went on vinted to buy something dd needed and to replace a jumper of mine that had got a big hole in and ended up buying lots of summer clothes too. I got a lot for my money but it’s money I wasn’t intending to spend just yet.

Also had to fork out £167 towards our first camping trip of the year (it had better bloody warm up in the next few weeks!).

And we moved the gro-clock into ds’ room to try to stop him getting up before 6 am which meant buying dd a new clock. There’s always a reason to spend money!

New totals (after another huge grocery shop that will hopefully see us mostly through til the end of the month)
Groceries £467.96

Other £357.28

@Orcubed I like your grocery running total. I might try and do that next month. I've tried to retrospectively calculate it but it's too difficult.

I agree there is always something to buy.

Still feels like a lot of march left....

Not too bad thanks @Orcubed. I did have to buy more heating oil. I last topped up in August and was just really careful with it over the winter. But it seems we will only get the £200 alternative fuel payment (we have to apply) if we have a receipt dated since September. I'm pretty annoyed about it but we do need more and that'll probably be us until the end of the year.
I went to lidl today and splurged a bit, spent £36. I just got carried away a bit only went in for loo roll and washing up liquid.
There is always something isn't there?
Dd still doesn't pay much attention to her gro clock and she's 7

I think I'm always too late then. Going to lidl tonight, need to have a closer look.

@xogossipgirlxo they are past the tills in our Lidl. I usually check whilst I'm waiting for the checkout then just take it back to the conveyor belt. I have no idea what time they are usually prepared as I go at different times.

Tsk 33euro gone in Tesco. Wine, dog food and cotton pads. In my defence I needed the cotton pads as ran out and have a stye that needs watering in my eye, im mixing bakers with the royal canin dog food to get the dogs onto cheaper stuff as the large bag i buy of it has gone up a whacking 15 quid so they are going to get used to the cheaper brand. The wine, well fuck it why not.

@xogossipgirlxo I’ve never found them
in our Lidl either, good luck this evening!

@Veryfaraway ds has had it for three nights now and every time he’s woken up and told me that the clock is wrong because the sun isn’t up yet but it is up outside! Dd is also 7 and didn’t pay much attention when younger but luckily now she usually doesn’t wake up so early anyway.

@livingthegoodlife the running totals help shame me, otherwise it’s easy to do lots of top ups of £5 here and £20 there and not realise how much I’m actually spending!