Is your March miserly or munificent? Join the frugaleers sharing news and tips.

[BigSkies2022]

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Oh dear £30 Chinese takeaway ahem

Chinese takeaway sounds good Mary a treat does you good.

It was a difficult anniversary for DH so we went out for lunch £56 but he put £30 in from selling some livestock, so only £26.
£20 Asda. Bought me and DD fresh sushi and a nice candle for tonight
£23 Lidl.
Plus Amazon deliveries £12.80 and £13.98 for toiletries.

No more shopping needed until Wednesday but now we've broken up for Easter there will be social spends coming up. I've got 10 days off work, bliss 😍

Hopefully a low cost weekend this weekend had a fair few immediate gratification spends this week which I definitely didn't need but sometimes a few treats is good for the mental health.

Have a good weekend all.

€77 in coop on plants. The lovely weather is coming to an end. Easter holidays start here today and the good weather is stopping just in time for that.

Thank you @Mochi1fudge 😁
Hope your DH is ok bless him 💐

They do Yankee plug ins?????
Shushhhh. I didn't hear this!!!
£75 in Lidl for weekly shop. Was up by £25 due to buying things for Christmas and putting them away. Yes I'm that organised.
£10 on Easter party at playgroup for DD

Just realised my post from yesterday didn't send. So you have yesterdays and todays!

NSD today. But added a fair few items to my vintage wish list. Sigh.
Hope your DH is ok @Mochi1fudge
Yay 12 days off work for me! DD has been off a week already with mum looking after her, now it's my turn and weather isn't set to be great but I'm sure we shall find things to do 🙂

Away for dh birthday which means I’m paying

Thanks @BigSkies2022 I was looking for London recommendations, that sounds ideal and priced good too for the location.
We booked the airbnb yesterday but DH paid so my bank account is fine. He also found a better deal than the one I was able to find.

Popped to aldi yesterday to get lunch and spent €30!! Disappointed in myself for that and will try to do better today.

This week is my heavy week for bills with mortgage, car loan, visa repayment and electric payment all going out. I usually really struggle this week so it's been good having that little buffer in my account of cash that I would usually have spent 2 weeks ago.

Easter holidays for small child and 2 weeks to payday for me.
Just checked the joint account to see where has all the money gone! Spending is where it’s gone. We’ve had a bigger gardening spend this month approx €200, DH a got nespresso coffee stock up €66. Camogie fees, helmet and gear €220 and we didn’t cut back in other areas to cover these. Last month we did cut back and so could cash flow more of these.

so lesson learnt is that the joint account can comfortably cover €350-400 worth of unexpected expenses as long as we cut back on other areas a bit. We can’t simply have it all!

overall it was a high spending month personally too. While I have the money saved it’s made me realise that when I spend more in one area it’s like the floodgates open and my mental tracking of expenses just goes out the window. Trying to finish off April without too much more expense will be the aim.

I want to keep as much in our sinking fund as possible as I have to pay €1300 on the 23rd may for our holiday accommodation. Currently have €600 in there and we will add €780 when we get paid next. Also due to€500 from revenue for a tax return but they are unusually slow processing this.its annoying as I’d earmarked this money for holidays and want it before I pay for the accommodation so I can keep my sinking funds separate and not have to borrow from another one.

Why does she think it’s ok to walk up on my bonnet? None of our previous cats ever did this!

AHH @lifelongfrugaleer she's lovely 😍
NSD for me and about time 🙄

Love the cat happier
I took have two weeks ahead of me with a 13 year old off school. She's quite sensible though. So far £20 to go out shopping with a friend - will save that from bus fare and school lunch fund!

£20.31 Home Bargains (most of it essential although I did spend £6 new on wind chimes and wall art)
£6.99 Amazon photo frame for DH

Enjoying the last of the warm spell reading in the garden, temps are dropping tomorrow.

Cute cat pic!

£40 today for nails and toes. £25 for McDonalds for us and nephew.

£23 distributed between butcher and Sainsbury's.

Back to the garden - weeding, pulling out thuggish excess growth of Japanese anenomes and rudbeckia to give breathing room to the veronicastrum and heleniums. Dumped a straggling hebe and rosemary bush. Putting down compost as we go and hoping the earthworms come to the party and help improve the soil.

Planting plan is pretty basic: veronicastrum, helenium, verbena bonariensis. Fill the gaps with repeats of what has already been successful.

Jealous that you have verbena @BigSkies2022 I'm trying for a second year to grow this.
Well, now I've discovered vinted it's game over. Bought about £20 of stuff on there this morning. Which I wasn't planning on spending so I'll have to tweak budget to fit. Very much like you @pistachiosanscream that if the flood gates are shut I'm fine, open them a little and a big flood happens. Need to stop now as still a week until pay day, a week for Easter holidays to go and car finance still to go out. But it's Saturday night and I'm chilled after a lovely Easter egg hunt with DD and OH, pre paid last month so was free today as we didn't stop for a coffee. Came home and made one.

Spendy day today - tescos £45, petrol £45 (both budgeted) TikTok shop laundry basket £5 (not budgeted but I did think only this morning that I needed one!), then five guys £20 tonight…..

It was NSD until we ordered Chinese Takeaway - £34.20 but there's enough to cover tea tomorrow xx

Thank you all, it feels like we are a bit more financially secure now.

No spends last week. This week has been £48ish for four people at restaurant, large mains, three thick milkshakes for the kids and a prosecco for me plus tip, which feels good value. Also £28 in other shops. I need to order my daughters prom dress this week but will check vinted incase the same one gets listed in her size perchance, and I need more petrol,

A few small wins. I ordered Gousto for around £18 to feed the kids as we have five with us this week, yesterdays dinner stretched to feed both of us too Nationwide £50 thank you bonus went into our accounts today too which helped cover the restaurant spend.

Had a few spends yesterday. Couple of sports bits for DC €43, things they needed so couldn't avoid.

We were out around lunch time and were really hungry. I really wanted to go to a Thai restaurant but instead we opted for the McDonald's eurosaver and lunch at home. If we went to the Thai restaurant we probably would have spent an extra €50.

Just going through my budget for the next 2 weeks and realised I didn't budget in the double childcare cost needed this week because of easter holidays 😕so that has wiped out the bit of disposable income I set aside for the next 2 weeks.

We are going to see the minecraft movie this afternoon followed by eating out. With the above mess up, I may have pay for the meal out of my work bonus that I have been leaving untouched.

I also overspent on my food shop yesterday.

NSD yesterday but ate out unexpectedly on Friday plus did food shop and put fuel in the car. My share of that was 75€, already budgeted for shop and fuel so the extra wasn't too bad.

We had fun in the sun with friends yesterday, spent on coffee which is an absolute waste as I have a professional machine at home.

husband brought us cake and scones to bring home £17 - but the scone was huge and actually became dinner!

Overall worth the spends a bit over budget this week so hopefully a no discretion spend day today.

Think we might go to a park though which will be a car parking spend. Friends are in Wakefield for the weekend from London so be nice to pop over to see them.

I love this weather lovely and warm in the day but come night time chilly enough for a blanket and a cuppa.

Have a great Sunday.

NSD for me today yay!
Apparently legs of lamb in Aldi tomorrow @£6.99a KG if anyone is interested 😁

£250 on plants at two different garden centres, but all paid for by a leaving gift voucher for DH. So I am taking that as a NSD. Nice walk with DDog after, now we're back home (and it's raining!) and DH is raring to go. I don't particularly want to dig and plant just yet, so am lobbying to water the plants and let them sit in their pots until tomorrow. Now I want to drink tea and sit on the sofa!

Informed DH and DS yesterday that they were in charge of dinner tonight. Don't care what they feed me, just as long as I am not involved in thinking about it.

Right. better join DH in the garden!