Just essentials June

[Disneyland2022]

Here we go people..
A June thread to keep us all accountable.
Let’s keep striving for minimal spends.

good luck everyone :)

Another very low spend day here- bottle of fizzy drink to keep my going at work and bread.

Oh no, @Pumpkin40- that's rotten luck, but I hope your tooth is feeling better now at least!

We had a lot of fun over the weekend celebrating a friend's 50th and the £££ wasn't too bad in the end because we all mostly ate and entertained ourselves at their huge, gorgeous house. The old hotel/inn where we stayed had a lot of character (low beams and doorways for DH to dodge, coffee machine leaked a bit, shower took ages to warm up 😅), but it was fine.

My credit card will be quite high and we have a water bill arriving soon, which is kind of annoying right before our 🇺🇸 trip (tomorrow!!). But nothing major anticipated due before payday at the end of the month and we have savings for the holiday set aside due to being frugal since January. I'm pretty sure it'll be enough, even with the exchange rate; if not, DH can have a smaller box of chocs and eau de toilette for his birthday in September, haha!

Meanwhile I've kept up my 2 NSDs minimum per week streak and we're trying to eat up what's left in the fridge before we leave.

Good luck today, everyone!

Another low spend yesterday- a bottle of fizzy drink at work is all.
Today though will be a bigger spend as it's our main shop and we need to stock up on a whole load of cleaning supplies.

NSD yesterday🎉 really needed it too!

Took my son into town as he wanted something from a game shop. I spent £9 in Home Bargains. So a LSD. I’m not planning on spending anymore money today.x

So had my fill of free drinks and nibbles last night, only spent my tube fare yesterday.
Had to get some food bits, we seem to be getting through a lot of salad stuff on the warm weather. Got pizzas for dinner as I can't be arsed to cook later.
Managed to get another couple of days cat sitting!

A NSD today - been to the tip to get rid of a load of wood from an old shed that DH took apart. He's building a new one from pallet wood and timber that was given free via son in law and his job. So definitely money-saving there.
Have had to buy a box of screws and two sheets of polypropylene for the roof and may need to buy a door plus extra timber but all good so far and low cost compared to buying a kit shed from BandQ. Then we will declutter more stuff and duplicates of tools etc to charity or the tip.
As for food - we are still eating our way through the meat delivery which arrived a while ago. Been eating free cake all this week - GCs had birthdays last weekend and we have been eating leftovers. DD gave me a bag of potatoes yesterday so I made some roasties to go with peppered pork steaks for tea along with veg. Now nibbling on leftover crisps and home made dip and best of all lots of free wine!! 😋

Spendier day for us today- weekly shop, £6 over budget today unfortunately. But no other spends

I haven't been on for a while, and I can tell because my finances are a bit iffy this month due to not having full accountability

20 NSDs, which looks great on the surface, but it's how much you spend isn't it. So it's been clothes eldest DD needed, cards for the next year, study books, petrol, makeup and gifts.

I'm estimating that I should have about £100 to put into savings by the end of the month, which isn't bad considering the extra spends. but not enough to feel like I'm on top of things.

5 days left though, I shalt not spendeth.....

Not a bad weekend. NSD yesterday but did spend £30 in the supermarket today on a small top up, some toiletries, a dress for DD and a small toy. Not too awful really.
This week is looking ok- plans for Monday and Tuesday don't involve spending so far but do need washing machine tablets tomorrow. Wed and Thurs I work so should be very low spend days.

Morning all. £97 in Decathlon yesterday on new wetsuits, beach shoes and a bodyboard. Spent the evening putting up our above ground pool which should keep the kids happy for a few days in the hot weather to come.

Also spent £38 in the caravan shop. Not too bad. Did an online order for the night we arrive at our site this week. I was click happy thinking “oh, we’re on holiday, we can have snacks bits and smoked salmon, gin and wine”. £231!!!!!! Will need to amend but that’s what happens if you don’t meal plan and budget people!!!

Should be a nSD today but will be making lists of other bits we need for our holiday.

have a good week all

Wow White that is a lot! It really does add up fast, doesn't it?!

It was a really long journey, utterly exhausting, but we're safely in the USA and having a lot of fun and enjoying gorgeous (almost too hot!) weather. Spent £200 ish so far but we need to buy groceries today, so it'll go up! But worth it to see family and watch ds (7) playing with his cousin (8) - we went to a local beach yesterday and they're playing Minecraft now. Having a blast. 😊

Good luck everyone.

Morning all. Not quite a NSD yesterday as the kids pool needed chlorine salts so that was £11.55 from Amazon. They were in it for about 5 hours yesterday though so worth it!

Today is haircuts for kids, eyebrows for me and last minute holiday shopping. We need underwear, goggles and a swimming costume. No doubt I shall find our old ones tonight when I’ve bought new!

menu today:
B egg on toast
L Lemony lentil salad for adults, cheese sandwiches for kids
T Tuna Nico’s (deconstructed and without dressing for the kids)

I do struggle with what to eat and cook in this hot weather. Also with the kids being odd it’s like a cloud of locusts and the fruit bowl is emptied in days so trying to teach them the lesson when it’s out it’s out!!

@moimichme where in the states are you? Must be lovely to see family!

Back on the wagon after a trip away to a festival. Didn't spend as much there as I have in previous years, but with festival prices for food/ drink/ coffee etc wasn't cheap. We did bring lots of our own food and invested in a camping stove and a bunch of pot noodles tuna and tinned vine leaves..had some interesting meal combos towards the end!

Anyway trying to be frugal now until the next trip away in a weeks time.

What festival did you go to? My husband is just back from Latitude. He applied for a paid position so we should have £400 coming very soon. He said it was a great festival and he got to watch some of the bands too.x

I went to womad. Great for kids! Food prices have definitely gone up with a main meal around £14 now up from £10 5 years ago. Coffee £4, ice cream around £5. Beer a reasonable £6.50 a pint.
We took as much of our own food and booze as possible, although with some room for treats. Still spent apx £200 over 3 days with not much to show for it. That's on top of transport and entry costs. Last year of DS being free, as of next year he'll be on a teen ticket ( half adult price) but kids 13 and under are free which makes it more reasonable to go as a family.

I saw my husband had a meal there and it was £15😳 I will have a look at womad as I haven’t heard of it before.x

Just totalled up for July, 24 NSDs and have put £100 into savings. It would have been more but I had a last minute spend on a birthday cake and some baking and lunch bits.

I've already taken August bills from July's total, so it'll just be my NSDs that trip me up this month.I'm expecting to earn less due to summer holidays too, so although my expenses are lower I still need to keep on the ball if I wanr to add to my savings.

2/2 NSDs, off to a good start.

How's it looking for everyone this month?

Thursday and Friday were a bit spendy. DD got some new clothes and we had a day trip to Brighton (we are getting half the train fare back due to delays). Obviously, we had food and drinks so that added up.
I have lunch with friends later in the week and am seeing another friend on Tuesday who is also wanting to save the pennies so hoping the weather is kind and we can maybe do a walk/picnic.
Cat sitting this weekend so some money in.

Yesterday's walk failed as it was chucking it down with rain so we ended up in the pub!
Taking DD and a friend to the zoo today. We all have memberships and are taking lunch so hopefully a low spend day.
Had 3 possible cat sits which I've had to decline as I'll be away.
We have a few small things to get for going away but that should only be £20/£30.
Hope everyone else is doing better!

Hi everyone, just quickly checking back in after our trip! We were mainly in Michigan, with short side trips into Ohio and Chicago. My ds had a blast with his cousins and it was great to see everybody. 😊

Not 100% sure if I overspent or not due to exchange rate fluctuations, but it was around the budgeted amount. My family also gave us $500 as a gift which was incredibly kind of them and will help with the credit card bill next month.

Right, must get to bed. Good night everyone and hope you have all been on track. 😊

Glad you had a great time @moimichme sounds like you had great fun visiting family.

We went away on holiday for four days, I did well with low spending and we still had fun. 23/29 NSDs although I had budgeted and set aside money already for haircuts and presents from last months pay, so maybe that should be 26/29. I'm unlikely to spend any more before the end of the month now.

I've done next months budget and checked my savings. I've reached my first savings goal; my next target will be end of December and I look to be on track to reach that too. Luckily August was ok work wise, I haven't lost any income with the kids being off which has been a relief. Also my last payment on a phone contract comes out this month, I will be cancelling that as soon as possible which will save almost £20 a month, which doesn't seem alot but it's better in my pocket than theirs.

This thread has really helped with my money mindset this year, usually I'd start worrying about Christmas and how to afford it about now. Not this year!

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Jumping back in because next month's budget is looking dire and I need accountability to stick to it. Is there a September thread?! Or will we continue here?

Well done to everyone who managed so many no spend days over summer. I certainly didn't!

I'm in for a September thread - a new one would be good, but we can also stay on this one. I suppose putting September in a thread name might help new people find us?

I'm starting to think about birthdays that are coming up, including DH's later in September (I have a couple of items set aside for him already) as well as Christmas!

Since payday I've transferred funds to my savings and paid my credit card bill in full. Also spent £7.50 on coffees/ice cream at the local beach yesterday (DH and I took the day off before ds goes back to school and we're back to our normal work schedule next week).

Good luck everyone.

I'm in for September too, it might be worth having a new thread as I think alot of people have fallen off this one over time.

I've got my budget ready, accounts updated and ready to go.