Frugal August!

[Neverinamonthofsundays]

Cos July was a disaster!

Hello!! Checking in!! I agree July wasn't good!

Let's hope this month is better!!

Hi! May I join you? I feel like I've been hemorrhaging money for such a long time and I need a kick in the butt. I need to quit smoking - such a crap waste of money! This is my second day without fags.

Here too! And feeling skint already despite it only being the 2nd of the month... sigh

300 in back to school stuff yesterday.

£300 on school stuff omg. How far in advance do you normally buy? If too early is there a concern of them growing out of it before term starts? Especially shoes - feet seem to just grow overnight!

Well done! I quit 9 years ago and have saved just short of £30k. Madness. I used a tracker app to keep me going when times got hard.

Euro but thats on updated books for their ipads. Non uniform school. Had to pay bus fares back in May for this coming Sept and still have to buy stationery.

My DC are still at primary school @Neverinamonthofsundays so you'd think it would be (relatively) cheap - but current costs are:

Milk & school dinners for DTS2 - cost of both has just gone up
New polo shirts, PE T shirts, socks - all disgustingly grubby pretty much worn out after last term
School shoes for both DTs
Bigger coats - winter coats need replacing after two years

And don't even get me started on wrap around care

Just read that back, how depressing - no wonder I feel skint already!!

Veronica Tesco IRL have 25% off uniforms currently maybe yours might too?

I spent 25euro today on inconsequential things. No wonder I am broke.

Joining in for August!

Good start, although thought we were on track for a nsd today but ended up having to buy pasta in local shop which was annoying as it was £2.15 and in supermarket it's only 75p 🙄

Although most of the day was a nsd as spent the day at a local beach, took drinks and snacks, already have all the stuff like wetsuits and bodyboards, and parking is free as have a blue badge

Ok so today should be a NSD. I have lunches ready and dinner is being handed to us this evening so just to keep myself out of the shops and I shall be good to go.

Found you! Thanks for setting up the new
Managed two NSDs this week, which I'm pleased about after being on holiday in late July.
In August we have a lot of birthdays, plus my two nieces and and DH have theirs in mid-September. I bought my sister a birthday gift 🎁 and ds new trainers because he has outgrown his old ones. I'm not quite ready to buy his new school shoes because he seems to be growing fast this summer! Also need to buy new PE kit and two larger sized school jumpers before the end of this month.
Today may be a wee bit spendy - need DH and ds passport renewals, and we might go to the library and/or the local pool since the weather isn't great here. But hoping it won't be a very expensive day.
Good luck all!

*new thread

Hi All

Just read July thread would like to jump back on. Fell on and off threads over last 3 years. The campervan died and then we were made homeless by the landlord..
But things much better now :). Really enjoyed reading all the familiar names. Going to commit to posting once a week just reading the thread. Twins off to uni next year. Want to get back in my frugal groove.
Want to start making plans again. Cost of living has battered us like you @Collie.
Reading the thread has really cheered me up though. I have posted on qnd off for years.

@Fearofawelshplanet was it the frugaleers thread you were on?

Had a few NSDs so far But I certainly make up for it when I do go shopping!! Yesterday spent £14.79 in Home Bargains and £50.13 in Lidl and then had to draw £70 from the cash machine for a meat delivery due to be delivered today!! Ouch!! But the meat delivery will hopefully last two to three months. I can then defrost the freezer ready for Christmas!!
We're not going away for a holiday this year as still waiting on DHs work pension to kick in but do have some days out planned with some of the GCs including an overnight stay in Blackpool, just a day at the beach, zoo, Gruffalo and that kind of thing. So will be splashing the cash a bit then.
But on the plus side - efforts at reducing our debts are showing some progress and a bit of strategic financial tweaking has reduced interest too. Now we just need to win the Postcode Lottery!! 😉

@Rainbow1901 I often shop at Lidl or Aldi, do find it depressing though when even spending money there doesn't go anywhere near as far as it used to!!

We have a meat delivery arriving tomorrow, DTS1 (ASD) is an immensely fussy eater and mainly lives off chicken nuggets so I try to make them the best quality I can - good pieces of chicken, home made coatings etc. He finds it quite distressing to deteriorate from his routine, we do try but it really panics him, slow progress I feel.

In other sad news my glasses have broken - I was already wearing the spare pair as my first pair got scratched - irritatingly I had an eye test booked for September and was going to change them then anyway as I think I need a new prescription, but have had to bring that forward to this week!!

@MissVeronicaSpeedwell

Oh no! that's bad luck about your glasses - is it possible that the original pair could have the scratch polished out? That might buy you a bit of time before shelling out for new specs!

It's hard work when you have fussy eaters in the house - we have one GC who is funny about textures but as he's dairy intolerant too it can be difficult finding things that he will eat. I have to read the labels on everything!!

Sadly not @Rainbow1901, they're quite badly scratched, no idea how that even happened! I looked at changing the lenses but I have a high prescription so it wasn't cost effective, especially when I might need a prescription change soon

I have spent all day writing a massive list of stuff I need to do at home and work before we go to visit family at the weekend, we're away for just over a week - sorted out an appointment for my eye test and choosing glasses - felt super organised! Then forgot to collect DTS1 from holiday club - parenting fail in my defence he's usually there till 4pm, I'd booked him in for the earlier 3pm finish today to give us more time to collect DTS2 from an activity he's doing today, then completely bloody forgot and got a call from the holiday club. MORTIFIED I've offered to pay the cost difference (it's only £5 anyway!) and they were very nice about it, but even so... what a numpty.

Hi@Happierwithouthim yes it was. I thought this one took over from that?
Back @ work so not spending as much. Expensive week next week. All 3 kids have birthdays 🎂

Hello everyone☺️ I haven’t been on MN, because I had a baby on 25th of July, but I am with you guys trying to be frugal (as much as you can be with baby). We had soooo many spendings since our little boy arrived, as you learn what works for you, but only buying food for myself and husband, no going out, so I am sensing we can save loads in this department😂

Fear no separate thread we usually keep going until it's full regardless of month in title!
This is a good thread too

Ha ha okay thanks Happier. Will lcheck out the other one. :)

Congratulations @xxogossipgirlxo, glad LO arrived safely. Jumping back onto this months thread, last month wasn't brilliant spending wise with unexpected house sale costs and storage so we can hide the piles of baby clothes etc so hoping I can do better this month. I'm going to be ambitious and set myself a 20 NSD target, managed 4 so far so need to be careful. No chance for one tomorrow though as we need to do food shopping