Significant Summer Saving, significantly less spending, super (non) splurging. Frugal folk continue being frugal here. All welcome.

[needastrongoneagain]

Making a new thread!

Please check in regular posters and welcome new people.

This is a super friendly thread to contribute to. We are all wanting to be as efficient as possible re spending but all have different budgets and priorities. No judgement here.

NSD (no spend day) for me.

Thank you @Happierwithouthim l have bitten the bullet and bought one from Amazon today . It was in the Prime deal £133.
Also spent £13 on a parasol and £13 on mascara for Dd2 birthday . Also bought a shoe cabinet from IKEA £45.
Spent £35 on grocery and perfume in M&S and £65 in Tesco on grocery .
Am all spent out now. l need to wind my neck in and shut my purse 🤣

Peak sequin fetish phase 😆 best line I've heard today.

I’ve spent a lot today - but mainly because I’ve been booking and paying for holidays. Today I paid for accommodation for 3 nights in Paris in Autumn and 5 nights in Austria at Christmas. The Paris one was good value but the Austria one was a bit more than I’d hoped. Not the end of the world though and I’ve enough money in my holiday pot to cover it all.

Other than that I spent £65 on a Sainsbury’s order.
Am aiming for a NSD tomorrow.

Today was a LSD, €6.30 at work for coffee break. Definitely didn’t need the food I’d ordered but I enjoyed it.

sent back 2 of my returns by post and did another in person. The in person will be €70 back and my expenses will be paid tomorrow. Very quick turnaround for which im very grateful as talking to colleagues in other organisations it seems to be the exception.

dinner was pasta sauce from the freezer either sausages and pasta. I did some great batch cooking a few weeks ago and have been using these this week when I’ve less time did to less childcare and it’s so handy. This was accidental but I must do it deliberately next year.

tomorrow we will bbq and I have everything we need for that in the freezer and fridge to make salads. So hoping for a NSD.

Saturday I’m going to a nearby lake and will bring a picnic, again using items we have already. We are also invited to a bbq so fingers crossed the expenses will be low.

i must go through the garden snd pick what needs to be picked and make a plan to either use or preserve it.

Here you go.

my spends yesterday.

£7.50 on a sandwich and Diet Coke from coffee shop over the road from work. I took a box of strawberries grapes and cucumber with me but it wasn’t cutting it.

£35 coop - chicken nuggies bread crisps and drinks - we had dinner on the beach last night home made sort of like kfc. The tide came in at 7. So it was just beaut.

£14 in shop next to garden centre - cute hair clips for dds teacher. I’ve also bought her a super nice notebook from https://www.papier.com (don’t visit if you’re a stationery addict like me….)

today I’m going for coffee with a friend between school drop off and starting work. Then may take the kids to dominoes to grab pizza for dinner and sit on the beach. High tide at 8pm. So a Friday night pre bedtime sea swim might be on the cards.

Good morning everyone 😊
Looks an absolutely beautiful place @ememem84.
Love the boots too 😊
Hopefully a NSD for me , have a lovely day everyone 😁

Nice boots em. And yeah to getting back on the beach

£110 Sainsbury’s. Some cos I’m too busy this week to get to aldi

£1800 decorator. Half the house done and in house pot

Lovely @ememem84
yesterday I bought 4 bales of haylage. Not nearly as exciting 😀

NSD on Wednesday and £1 in Iceland for DD on yesterday.

Well I've just done a Claire's accessories haul.
My daughter wanted a hat we saw so have ordered it online as a suprise for her birthday in the next few weeks but happily they do buy 3 get 3 and I had 25% off coupon too so ended up with 5 lots of hair ties and a hat for £16 when the hat was £12 alone I'm fairly satisfied we get through hair ties quicker than I have hot dinners.

I have to ask a nosey question...
How much is Hay?
I always see huge stacks in the countryside and wonder this.

@pistachiosanscream @SockHop I’ve been using Trello for goal setting and tracking progress, and it’s honestly made a big difference. I told ChatGPT what I wanted to achieve, and it gave me step-by-step guidance on how to set it up in a way that works for me. Now I’ve got a daily checklist, weekly tracker, progress log, rewards system, and even a section for appointments, tailored to keep me on track and motivated.

So far, I’m on track and down 3lbs by the end of week 2, next weigh-in is Sunday.

It was a bit of a spendy week, but nothing wild, around £100 on haircare, skincare, and vitamins (thank you Prime Day deals), plus £25 for my eyebrow appt. I used part of my tax refund, so it feels justified. Also grabbed a few gifts during the sale, all within my gift budget.

A NSD here today.
Love the boots and the beach picnic. You're so lucky to live by the sea, this is my dream!

Had remortgage MTG today and it's going up in November by £300 a month. I need to pay down some of this debt fast as the current repayments would cover the extra and then some. I am on a mission and trying hard not to freak out.
On a plus note. This time next year to the day is when all my debts will have gone. I am on countdown now. Happy Friday all!

@ChipshopPickledEgg
this is a kind of treated hay to make it high fibre
its 7.50 per small bale
it is for my 3 donkeys
we only use about half a bale a week this time of year
there is plenty of grass but they need a bit of roughage

Love the silver boots! I want some too....

Wednesday spent £32.75 on dinner with a friend, plus £7.50 on a pint at the pub before dinner. Delicious and fun, so absolutely worth it. But annoyingly left my lunch at home so also spent £5 on Waitrose meal deal.

Thursday, £4 on iced coffee while waiting for dc to finish swim class. £20 on another theatre ticket as it was a preview bargain. My autumn self will thank me for the advance tickets bought this summer.

Today, ordered trainers for dc from Clarks outlet -£13. Also £14 on lunch and few nice treats, again from Waitrose. Popped into a bookshop amd got dc a book theg will love for £8.99. We have a long train trip coming so will give it as a surprise then to kill the journey time

The booking treats were a bit superfluous so need to do better - both were an impulse buy.

Donkeys! sounds wonderful.

Spenny couple of days: £35 in Waitrose (seductively situated between home and Ddad's care home) mostly on wine and steak, consumed greedily last night. Back on calorific and budgetary restraint today!

£211 downpayment on new glasses, second payment on collection in a couple of weeks. Came out of savings and will be replaced next month, but it's one of those tasks which has been long overdue (last replaced glasses in 2020, and my prescription has changed since).

Planning a quiet, LS weekend. Garden looking very pretty at the moment, helleniums, veronicastrums, persicaria and hydrangea all going great guns, just need to brave the heat to get out there! I would love to join em on an evening swim!

Ah, also £11 on a small housewarming/good luck in new job gift and card for DS' GF. Added bottle of champagne, gifted by visiting mate last weekend, so she and DS can toast each other this weekend before they head off to the Oasis gig.

Found shoes to go with new dress from existing wardrobe, so feel that I have saved money by not buying new!

Today has been a NSD.
Well I say that but I actually bought a a rucksack for dd online, however she doesn’t need it after all so it will be going back.

The whole weekend should be low spend. Dd and I were going to go into london as she wanted to try a new dance class - but it’s going to be so hot we’ve decided to leave it this week and she can do it another time. Really not the weather for unnecessary tube journeys! We'll probably go out for an icecream or bubble tea for her and I think I might experiment making Frappuccino style drinks at home. I think I’ve got all the ingredients.

Dog inoculations today. Expensive but worth it

Aww how sweet three donkeys!

Was just about to say it was a NSD then I remembered I popped to the garden centre on the way back from taking my sons dog out….£60 on some plants, compost, and a bird feeding station. Have also booked myself in for a pedicure (my heels are shocking, it’s all the open sandals I’m wearing in this weather I’m sure) and a bikini wax next week. I’ll use the money I made on Vinted.

Planning a quiet weekend - fingers crossed (almost half way through the month by Monday….)

I've not got anywhere with sorting out cheaper house insurance (this is on my list for the weekend) but I have just got a better deal on pet insurance. I got a renewal quote in yesterday and it had gone up to almost £100 per month. I've found cover that I'm happy with which is less than half that. I'll be saving £40 a month on what I'm paying now. I'm going to keep putting the £40 I save into dDogs pot each month.

@ememem84 i adore those boots. Where are they from? I’m off to the seaside next week - putting our caravan awning up on Sunday with a family that hates the heat so am very much looking forwards to a Sunday night swim in the sea!!

The big stacks of bales you see now will be the early barley straw. Lots goes into plants like Elean to be burnt for energy which has only come online in the last 20 years or so hence why you see so much more of it than in days gone by.

This week has been low spend. Around £100 at the beginning for groceries, but then have done all meals from that.
Have been trying to catch up with all the weeds that thrived while we were away. Garden is looking good and colourful though.
Have been viewing bungalows with parents and yesterday put an offer in on one, just waiting for the response now. It's hard when dad is fixated on prices, not what they are actually like and mum can't remember which was which from one minute to the next. The one we have offered on is overpriced but is perfect for them and needs nothing doing to it. Here's hoping for a positive outcome.