Low spend April

[Imabitchimaloverimachildimamother]

Read the March one and really need to cut back here. Anyone else?

I was hoping for a no spend day but really need petrol, dammit!!

I.was given two Ritual reed diffusers last year and they've been lovely in the spare bedroom but they've run out now. Anyone any advice on how to replace but cheaper? Rituals do a recharge with new reeds and scent in a bottle but they are still quite expensive. Maybe I should.just open the windows and cut the grass!

I've managed to pack for my holiday later this month with very little new just a few toiletries and some cheap charity shop buys and new unserwear. Everything else is from my pre-covid-holiday-every-year wardrobe. Cleaning my old.tops suffering from sun tan lotion effects was pretty successful - just two t shirts thrown out as they stayed a bit ropey but the cotton tops came up well.

We've got some euros left over from earlier holidays and this one is AI and paid for so we will have to just watch extras out and about as they probably won't be necessary- we shouldn't go hungry! Pity we can't box it up and bring it home!

Oh I splashed out £4.50 for an.increase in data on my phone as the tripadvisor reports mention WiFi is a bit hit and miss in the grounds and pool area. If I increase now I can just add it for one month. Apparently my contract still stands for use in the EU like in the olden days.

NoAprilFool Petrol is a necessary expense. Don't beat yourself up about that kind of thing. Although of course it's good to aim for NSDs when possible!

Spent £105 at John Lewis for ds sandals and small toy for which he promised to donate 5 old toys that he doesn’t play with anymore plus an exercise tool for DH, and a denim jacket with giant pockets for me. It is soft and lovely. 😍

Also spent £25 ish for a quick lunch because we were starving. But at least we had brought water to drink.

Aiming for 3-4 NSDs in a row, this week.

Oh and well done with your planning and packing for your trip, Moveforward - sounds like all very sensible decisions and well done bringing your older clothes back to useful life. Sorry I don't have any recommendations about the reed diffusers.

I picked up my leggings from Asda. They are decent quality and only 14 quid for 2 pairs. Happy with that.

Other spendings today:

£7.17 in Lidl for biscuits, pasta etc. I think we are OK with groceries for next 5 days
£4.60 in superdrug for husbands antiperspirant x2 plus nail polish remover

Fallen off posting a bit with the Easter hols.
Another £46 spent in supermarket
Couple of trips out, couple of ice creams/snacks out, gave teenage dc £50 each to buy some clothes and have also spent about about £40 on clothes for them and some sandals for dc3

Current totals
groceries £208
Other £330

(I’ve rounded up so should be slightly less in reality)

Need to do another big shop tomorrow but also need to buy milk today

Oh my, it feels like spending on groceries never ends, doesn’t it😵‍💫

I'm trying really hard with food shop but everything else having been away over Easter is really hard. Eating out is extortionate.

My favourite saving at the moment though is Wilko Washing liquid - instead of £7 for one Persil it's 3 for £7. Seems to do the job just as well!

And again I have to hit the restart button tomorrow. I have to shop today but I have a budget of 50quid cos I only need school lunches and wine for us for this evening. I have a full tank of diesel and enough dog food till end of the month. It is ridiculous the amount I spend during the week though.

We've been running our stupidly big freezer down and it's "saving" a fortune but we've realised coming back from holiday we will need a huge shop to refill.

£198 (!) at the vet for dogs animal health certificate for trip tomorrow. I'm sure it was £120 last year. We no longer have pet passports post Brexit so need the certificate for each trip. We do two a year so it becomes a significant cost. Comes out of the travel fund though

NSD and aiming for NSDs until Thursday/Friday.

@grannycake wow that’s really expensive. We have two cats so we have to incorporate catsitting costs whenever we go away too

@grannycake wow, those certificates aren't cheap!! We haven't been abroad for 6 years now due to the cost of passports (plus Covid testing when that was needed) - the DC's had expired and it added £100+ to the cost of any holiday. Hoping to renew them this year though, as PIL would like to go away with us soon (and would kindly contribute to the cost if we went abroad!).

@Moveforward there was a kitchen tips thread recently which included lots of info about what people froze - today I've been cutting up over ripe plums and pears to add to the freezer for autumn crumbles, and will do the apples tomorrow!

Found time to go to Lidl and spend just over £100 though - sigh - even there the prices seem to be more than they used to be. Found the same at Poundland yesterday - DTS2's favourite crisps used to be a pack of 6 for £1, now it's 12 for £3.50 just very depressing when I need to save some money...

Out of my yesterdays 50quid budget I only spent 37 so I have 13euro in my purse here now that is a bonus. Today is my reset again day. I have a full on day in work followed by a wake after work as I cannot make a funeral tomorrow. I have dinner prepared for this evening so when I am out dp can put it on to cook and unless I spend that 13 on a bottle of wine for with dinner there is no reason for me to spend a cent today.

£159 on groceries 😭
Some of that will last longer than the week though

£367 total grocery spend
£330 other

hoping for a no spend week apart from
tbat 🤞

For got I was going out for dinner for friends birthday tonight. Oops. That will be quite a bit I didn't budget for.

Had economical day out yesterday, took picnic & thermos flask so just ice cream money spent £13.

Running low on food already and it's only money. I'm fine for dinners, I think it's fruit & snacks that I need to plan better for.

Those dog certificates are a lot!!

And well done everyone on NSDs!

NSD as planned. My sister will borrow from her SIL baby carrier, some sleeping bags and some clothes she bought for her baby, so that will be a bit of saving. I am really happy with carrier, man these things are expensive.

I can see everyone is struggling with food bill. Prices are horrendous.

£12 on M4 yesterday evening. £20 for overnight stop at tunnel and £90 on a weeks food shop in French hypermarket. £8.50 on overnight stop overlooking Boulogne beach and channel.

Off to Delft tomorrow but decided dog needed a day where we could let her have a decent amount of exercise before moving on

Low spend £4 ish yesterday for a coffee and catch-up with a work mate who I've not seem much recently.
NSD managed today and hoping for another one tomorrow. Would be great to get a 3-day streak. We have (expensive) food in the house already until the weekend.
Well done everyone and hope your holiday is still going well, granny.

NSD today

@grannycake hope you’re enjoying your holiday

I have spent way too much so far this April what with half term and two school trips to pay off. I have hardly anything in my freezer but i have a bonkers idea to set aside £5 a day for food to team up with whatever we have in the house. I think I can get a weeks worth at least out the freezer but ideally I want to empty them both completely.
I spent £2.30 today on bread and milk so have £7.70 to go wild with tomorrow 😄. I also need two new tyres. I wish we could eat air. On that note, I'm going to use up a few tubs of slimfast I have I the house. Like air I guess. April gas been a tough month for me money wise.

I am trying to have just the one weekly grocery shop which is online and arrives on a Friday before the weekend. I find this quite helpful as you can change the things in the basket and get offers etc.

Then it is just a case of topping up with e.g. milk and bread during the week.

Used to go to a community food pantry nearby mid week but it has got too busy now.

£38 in bots for baby stuff and toiletries

Need to gear up with baby shopping, I don't want to panic that I'm not ready. I'm not buying crazy amounts, but I don't have necessary stuff like socks, nappies, baby wash&shampoo etc. Still have time, but I am trying to purchase at good prices. Boots had Weleda products discounted etc.

I didn't buy any food as just used what was in the cupboards and freezer. But did do coffee and cake with dh and dd which I felt bad about but dh was off work and it's a regular quantity 1:1 time with dd ( she has three siblings). Also ordered a air tag as need to find ways to track my son with sen on his journey home from school. Not great really. If I can get a few more days of freezer diving it should be fine. New tyres isn't looking hopeful

£39 spent on vinted for some baby clothes and play mat (new one in Ikea is £45, someone was selling for a tenner).
£26 spent on amazon for some baby stuff too!