Low spend April

[Imabitchimaloverimachildimamother]

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

Can I join in please?
Just been to the shop and spent £12, topping up drinks for packed lunch, milk, bread and potatoes.
I’ve worked out I’m spending almost £35 a week on milk and bread. I’m down to £18 to last until Monday. Even then I’m going to have to re look at cutting back as so much is needed, youngest DC needs a new bed and mattress.

@IsThisIt2021 hello!
@Moveforward have you tried Aldi for reed diffusers? They have a lovely range of Jo Malone dupes - I’ve only had the candles but am sure there were diffusers too.

I am over the moon to report I had 2 NSDs!! Baby steps.
I’ve spent £178 on car insurance today but it’s an essential and I saved £90 on my renewal quote so taking that as a victory.

@IsThisIt2021 welcome to the thread😊

NSD yesterday (after spending loads 2 days before on baby stuff! I am having separate savings pot for these things, they don't go out of current account, so at least that's something. I have rule that not even a single penny can float in my bank account without purpose. Whatever's left, goes to savings😂). Today shopping in Lidl planned for this evening. Supposed to be a little top up, but it's been over a week and we ate most of the stuff.

My mum's friend got lots of baby clothes (from family), they're going to look through those together and will send nice ones to me. Yay. Prices can be a little overwhelming, this is why I don't say to 2nd hand things or hand me downs from family or friends. Especially with SMP on the way which will reduce our income a lot.

@xogossipgirlxo Passed on clothes are great. Babies grow so fast they don't get worn out and you need plenty because of the amount of washing babies generate.

All going to plan here - we are now in Delft and moving on in the morning. Our big French supermarket shop has lasted so need to do another on Monday - need to avoid Albert Heijn supermarket as they are similar to M&S or Waitrose so Jumbo or Lidl for us

Oooh, I could eat baguette and cheese now😋 Hope you enjoy @grannycake

53 in Lidl today for food, some cleaning stuff and treats for cats. I locked my cat in wardrobe for 6 hours yesterday and these treats were bought out of guilt. Cat is fine btw😂 My husband finishes work early and let him out.

Good plan for baby stuff @xogossipgirlxo but at the same time don't feel guilty for passing stuff your not keen on, onwards. I got in a funny spot once where someone gave me nursery things like baby mobile, bedding etc and I didn't like it but didn't know what to do. I held on to it then got rid about 5 years later! Can't have to many spare clothes though! Lol

Last shop of the month planned tomorrow.

We had Chinese (£31!!!!!) To celebrate DH first paycheque since December. Woo hoo! He's been paid for April which means it's quite a long time until next pay at end of May but so happy. We paid off credit cards & have about £900 for bills & grocery until end of May. I think it's definitely do-able. Phew!

@livingthegoodlife thank you for the advice, I need to keep it in mind. You kind of feel guilty when you don’t like something, but it’s so easy to get cluttered. We don’t live in big house, so it’s easy to be overwhelmed

I had delivery day today. Boots, vinted and amazon arrived. I am so pleased with baby mat, it’s in perfect condition and so lovely. Big so it will grow with the baby.

What is everyone up to this weekend? We don’t have any plans as husband is studying, so I will keep myself occupied with cleaning and jigsaw😂

I'm decorating our lounge & driving kids to dance classes. Go go go!

No impressive streaks managed, but I had a NSD yesterday and today.
Need to send gas and electric readings. 😩 At least it'll be coming out of next month's pay.
All we've done today is go to the park. Lovely weather later this afternoon, much appreciated after so many gloomy days!
I've apparently spent £31 more this month compared to last, but I get paid next Friday so I'm not too worried. I think we can manage with one more grocery trip between now and then, which helps.
Good luck all.

NSD yesterday and hoping for another today.
Tomorrow DH will be going to the office (once a month, he has to go in), so we may have a quick and easy dinner of pesto pasta or pizza.
Hope everyone is well. Only a few more days until my payday!

Fantastic @livingthegoodlife so pleased for you and your dh. Must be a huge relief to have him working again.

I’ve fallen off the wagon again. Bought myself some summer dresses on vinted. Two don’t fit well so will sell on. I went on there to look for clothes for ds who will not stop growing at the moment and got sucked in. Tbh I think I just get really annoyed at being really careful and not buying myself anything then having to spend ££ on teenagers! I haven’t actually added it up yet 😳

£49 on 18th birthday present

£26 ish on groceries this week so far, includes £9 on some batteries. Doing well at using up for the beginning of the week but will need to do a proper shop for the second half.

Morning everyone. I called in sick today as I’m having a cold and very painful throat and slightly higher temperature. It’s the first time in ages, so not feeling guilty about it.

£14 yesterday paid to window cleaner

some baby stuff on vinted and boots (bedsheets, muslin squares etc.) total of around £40-50. Need to have a look properly and add to excel

I think we will have enough groceries until
end of this month. Husband is going away for 2 days so falls off the feeding list😂

Another spending. Cat food for May and litter for May and June. Total 95. In June I will buy food only, so will be around 60 quid.

Hope you feel better soon @xogossipgirlxo - not fun to be ill!
NSD yesterday and LSD today. I saw a friend today for coffee + cake and also bought ds a new notebook for his drawings, £1.50.

@moimichme thank you😊 I called in sick today as well, I hope it doesn’t look like I decided to have very long bank holiday weekend😂 We will see about tomorrow, hopefully I will be ok by then. I’m never cheeky with days off sick, it’s just unfortunate timing. I’m glad it’s before my holidays though

NSD planned for today and tomorrow. Cat food and litter arrived today, within 24 hours WOW (even though I clicked I’m happy with delay to reduce carbon footprint). It needs to wait for husband to bring it home as it’s too heavy for me at 27 weeks pregnant.

Payday yesterday! Just in time for the Bank holiday weekend.
Seems like every £ is already allocated in my budget, though I guess that could be seen as a positive. Quarterly utility bill needs paying - could have been much worse, but it's £250 less available for other spends or saving.
Hope you're feeling better now, @xogossipgirlxo, and happy weekend all!

Hope everyone has a great bank holiday weekend and that @xogossipgirlxo is feeling better. We're still on our travels (& managing to keep to budget). We're in Denmark at the moment - crossing to Copenhagen on Monday. The bridge cost is over £100 return!!

Thank you @moimichme and @grannycake feeling much better now 😊I am not in agony with my painful throat anymore, even managed to get out of the house yesterday for a little bit.

Hope everyone's having nice bank holiday weekend.
We had unwanted surprise with our water bill yesterday. We used 55 cubic metres in 3 months! (Normally we use around 30). Husband started investigating if there's any leak at home, went to the garden and noticed leak in garden tap that we haven't noticed because there was a hose plugged to it. There was small stream of water going (I wasn't even able to hear it) and watering our lawn, probably from January when husband was putting fat balls for birds and washed his hands afterwards. So to sum up, feeding birds costed us 80 quid😂😬

good afternoon 😀

Is there an existing thread for asking what’s a cheaper similar alternative to certain products?

Have been searching but can’t find it if it exists already. TIA

I don’t think there is one here @Peachy2005

@Peachy2005 there's a beauty dupes one in the style and beauty section if that helps

Is there a May thread?

Well thank goodness that’s over. Spent far too much in April (although managed to keep groceries down)

Onto a fresh start for May