Sensible September

[HowDidThisHappenDinesh]

Back to school and back to budgeting… a thread for us to keep each other accountable in sensible spending.
New posters welcome :)

I'd been doing so well but I just bought some winter clothes from Asda.

A new coat and jumper for me, socks and pyjamas and slippers for DS.

They were somewhat essential, but I could have probably got another season out of my current coat. However, I keep seeing other mums at school pick up looking gorgeous and well put together, and I wanted a little extra confidence.

On the plus side, I bought them through Quidco, and used the JamDonut cashback app, so everything ended up being about 10% off.

I also managed not to buy anything for baby DD as we've got lots of 2nd hand clothes for her. It's so hard to avoid the temptation of cute little dresses and dungaree!

The last 3 days have not been hugely successful.

Friday I spent £35 on bits and bobs at Tesco because I invited my parents over for dinner as it was my Mum's birthday the week before.
Saturday, we took DD to a birthday party and picked up a gift for her friend, but then ended up taking advantage of special offers and spending almost £40, although at least we have presents for a few parties in advance now. Then I paid £40 for gymnastics classes for DD.
Today, we took her friend with us to the cinema, there was no interval for some reason, and we'd promised ice-cream, so we ended up spending £10 on McFlurries at McDonalds.

Tomorrrow is the "big shop" for the week, so maybe Tuesday will be a NSD?

NSD here today. Rare day when we didn't leave the house. Had a very busy day yesterday- play date at friends house in the morning and a child's party in the afternoon. Did buy McDonald's for lunch between though so £18 and an allergy friendly cake for DD to take to the party so she wasn't left out approx £8.

Planned lunch out yesterday but due to extremely poor quality meat that I couldn't actually chew they took the mains off our bill so I had a three course dinner plus bottle of wine for £25.

I'm on the three day NSD challenge today to Wednesday. Then away Thursday Friday so I'll feel justified in spending some money if I've had 3 NSDs. Had a weird half Indian half Chinese dinner trying to use up what was left, a sort of stir fry tofu korma with noodles, but it worked!

I'm off to a good start this week, contacted my mobile provider, I can cancel my contract from Saturday without incurring any fees, otherwise it's £28 early exit charge. Popped it into my calendar to remind me to cancel.

I also went through my haircare/skincare/makeup purchases and estimate that over a year £20 a month would suffice, which is roughly how much my contract was so I'll just transfer the money to a savings pot from next month.I feel I have my budget in control now.

DD had a party at the weekend, we had a gift in the stash already and a card, so no additional cost.

Today is a NSD (13/16)

Saturday and Sunday were no spend days for me as I was at work!!
today was low spend day as only nipped out for milk and veg - £4 total spend.
happy with that.

aiming for another no spend day Tomorrow I think, need to plan something to keep DS entertained though 🤔
this lovely sunshine definitely helps!!

Well done everybody!

This weekend we went to the local pool and then out for lunch because ds was starving and it's DH's birthday this week, so I splashed out £45 or so. And spent over £100 for DH's big present (new running trainers - his choice). Then we saw our friends' new baby boy - he is very cute.

One NSD so far this week, but hoping for another today. I have my lunch and snacks packed already. If I don't eat it all, that'd be better for budget and my waistline...

I've tried to find ways of reducing food costs and a big one for us is to combine a couple of cheap fresh items with cupboard staples - rice, pasta, lentils, etc. to bulk it out. Also helps to keep an eye on the deals at Lidl/Aldi if you have one nearby (not always cheaper for everything of course). We're vegan too, so no costs for cheese or meat/fish etc. but that is probably a step too far for most families!

The sun is still shining here, so hopefully that will make everything easier and more pleasant today.

Fairly successful low spend few days.

Has anyone got any wisdom about emotionally driven spending? DS (and me by extension) is completely distraught (lonely, wants to go to school, has no friends in our new city and is convinced everyone hates him and he’s not nice and that’s why he can’t go to school which absolutely isn’t true) and the urge to go for cake, buy a massive houseplant, order a takeaway, go to the toy shop etc. is overwhelming. All that’s helping me resist the urge to spend is knowing it’s not going to make either of us feel better beyond a few minutes at best and as much as I want to make him feel better I really want DS to grow up with better coping mechanisms than me!

Not doing so well. I twisted my ankle on Sunday 😫 and have been laid up and/or hobbling around. DH was out so I just ordered takeout. Meal plan is shot to sh*t, it all involves proper cooking and I can’t stand for long enough to make any of it so online shop for easy to eat food gone in, £40 minimum spend.
I think I’m learning that planning ahead is actually not the best way to meal plan for our budget. Planning two or three days in advance is better than a week or so.
My blender went on sale 20% off so I nabbed it. That was still sensible though.
And my airpods broke, I use them everyday for work so I can’t put off buying new ones for too long.
Laid up probably for another couple of days so I need to avoid Vinted and online shopping

Gosh it feels like the month is going slowly!! Bought a packet of cheap biscuits for a surprise for DD after school as I know she’s had a really difficult day, we’ll have a couple with a cup of tea in the garden once she gets home.
Must remember to soak some broth mix overnight, want to make some hearty soup but keep forgetting at night! Suppose I could actually go and do it now, nothing dreadful is going to happen if I start the overnight soak early lol. D’oh!!

@HowDidThisHappenDinesh that sounds sore!!!! Hope it gets better quickly.

Not quite the no spend day I had planned - caved and spent £5 on McDonald’s for myself as a treat 🤦‍♀️
could have been worse I suppose 🤔🤦‍♀️🤪

That’s not bad

What do you mean everything? That is £600 a month. Assuming you spend £100/week on your big shop that leaves £200 a month for bills and everything else? Or have I misunderstood?

Don’t buy AirPods. Aren’t they £200? I bought some soundcore earphones for about £60 on Amazon. I also use them everyday. They are apparently comparable to AirPods.

Pleased to announce that I have (almost) successfully completed the three day NSD challenge! Two tiny slips - I had my hair cut which my mum paid for but had to leave a tip and as I only had a quid in change that went - to be honest I'm not usually a tipper at the hairdresser but as my mum had paid and wanted to tip I couldn't say no really. Then I got a tastecard £1 for a year deal which was ending tonight so I didn't want to risk leaving it - I have used tastecard before to get massive savings on meals/cinema etc so hopefully it will pay itself back and getting 12 months for a £1 is decent - it's usually 3 months.

So £2 in 3 days not bad at all.
I'm away tomorrow on a cheap YHA stay in the countryside but will take my own food, and just need a bit of spending money for tea/coffee/cake/beer plus fuel although it's only about 30 miles away.

Goodness me, failed today, well and truly. Spent £35 in b&m which I absolutely did not need to do.
no idea why I even went in there 😩

tomorrow is a new day. We try again.

What on?

couple of cleaning products, cereal and cake mix my little boy wanted, couple of cars for him, 2 stocking fillers and 2 gift bags! 😧

Those items sounded needed. You would’ve needed to buy them anyway, and it’s nice for your son to have a treat. Presumably he can make it himself? It’s an activity he can do

Checking in post DH birthday spending!

His big present (apart from chocolate) was a pair of running shoes that sadly didn't fit him. So I've sent that pair back today for a refund and got a new one (different colour) 1/2 size larger. Good news is I found a discount code that took £20 off the cost, which was helpful.

We had a delicious Thai dinner out £65 all in - we are quite good cooks but can't 100% get the knack of that one. It was worth it. 😋

Otherwise, spent £6 on lunch at work on Friday as a treat, plus £5 on birthday cards for DH and upcoming ds friend birthdays. And £4 to post something this morning. Staying on budget overall.

Good luck everybody!

Hi everyone, hope this week has gone well for you all.

18/21 NSDs for me. I've been ill this week and focusing mostly on work, I haven't had time to browse online which is usually my downfall for spending.

Cancelling my phone contract proved to be an absolute nightmare, took almost an hour of repeating that I just wanted to cancel. Persevered, and it's done. Hopefully I wont have to contact them any further.

Tomorrow is going to be a spend day as I have some vouchers/offers to use and I need to buy some cards. It's close enough to next month to take it out of next months budget. I need to sell some bits on vinted/ebay so hopefully savings and spends will be on track/even out.

Spent a lot today as shopping with my.11 year old daughter for her birthday but it was mainly budgeted from agreed birthday money from us/ relatives. Only off piste items were a fleecy jacket for her and a folder for her schoolwork plus a breadbin in the next sale.

Personally I was quite good and despite spending several hours in the Trafford centre I didn't buy anything for myself except a coffee and a can of pop. But no crap from the shops, think I was vicariously living through my daughter!

Even lunch we doubled up by getting the mega greedy person deal at wingstop to share between us.. still £14 mind!

Total spend excepting birthday money from rellies apx £65

After last weekend’s disaster setback I’ve had a surprisingly good week. Wednesday I spent £6 in M&S that I could have avoided but I had a rare NSD on Thursday. Friday was my turn to buy coffee with a friend and I grabbed some protein bits from Lidl (their range is so good and 20% off with Lidl Plus this week).
Today we had friends over for a takeaway, we decided to watch a movie instead of going to the pub, and our share of the takeaway was free with our stampcard, so another NSD - on a Saturday no less which is almost unheard of here.
Tomorrow will be the same.
Just over a week to go!

NSD for us yesterday- largely because we are unwell!