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.

@ememem84 I'm so sorry, a week already and until when? I love my own space so completely get it.
I guess from her pov she comes from a place of love? But from your pov, you know the data and have the knowledge so this is all unnecessary. Can the OH or someone else say something?
As I do on many occasion, smile and wave darling...smile and wave.

@ememem84 hope the visit flies over! Sure she means well but it can be too much (far too much 🤭)

@MaryGreenhill good luck with the air fryer.

I forgot to post but yesterday was a NSD. Today won't be, need food plus some holiday shopping.

Wishing you all a happy Yorkshire day aparinately!
I'm off work today and going to Betty's for a lunch with a friend whose in town with work who I've not seen in ages probably £30ish.
Not much else planned this weekend hopefully I have a date with the sofa the TV remote and a blanket it's been one of those long ass weeks.

Afternoon everyone 🤗
Hope you are feeling less stressed today @ememem84. l get not wanting to keep on about your health ad infinitum, hope your Mil has stfu now 💐
@Mochi1fudge ah thank you yes l am very pleased with the air fryer , cooked Tofu for Dd1 and Fish and Chips in it last night , so much quicker than the oven 😱
Happy Yorkshire day to you and everyone too @ChipshopPickledEgg ☺️
Your lunch sounds wonderful enjoy 😋🤗
Bit of a spendy day today , cafe for coffee and cakes for 4 of us £26 with tip but it was gorgeous l don't begrudge a penny if it and Mum loved it bless her ☺️
Waitrose £38
Aldi £55
Morrisons £9
All for groceries and sundries , box of paper straws for Mum her paper and her sweets, cakes and biscuits .

Sending solidarity em

spends couple of days. £100 Lakeland flagship stores Windermere. Plus £35 lunch, £22 + £35 youth hostel, £33 lunch + £15 ice creams Keswick. £55 ds jeans + T. Plus £50 on jeans that will be going back as got multiple sizes

Mil leaves on 27 august.

Omg you poor thing 😭

27 more days of your MIL??!!! On my days I hope your DH does something nice for you! I had a cousin stay last week for 3 nights and that was plenty.

Im going to try and post on here every day in August as this is a month where particularly in the end half I seem to hemorrhage money with summer hols plus back to school plus manic at work.

I thought I’d had a NSD today but actually it was £52.56 on a Tesco delivery to last till Tuesday. £12 on kids pocket money and £1 on chicolate for DD.

Tommorow the aim is to have a garden sort out day. Might reward with a walk to our local pub for tea but not sure yet.

27 more days with the MIL.
Be strong my love.
Thoughts and prayers.

Count down!!! 27!!!!
£13 on a photo frame to frame a gorgeous print of OH and DD for his birthday this week. That's it today though.

Sounds like a beautiful day with your lovely mum @MaryGreenhill

@WhitegreeNcandle I'm with you on the hemorrhaging money. I hadn't realized until this year (DD being older and me being more educated on money and being frugal) how much the summer costs. Wow.

This week has been hard because DH has been working. He’s now off until 26th aug.

im off work until 11th aug. So it won’t be too bad.

hopefully.

Afternoon everyone 😊.
Glad you are feeling less stressed re your DMil @ememem84.
I think there was a collective rush of empathy from us for you bless 💐
That picture sounds gorgeous @Frugal25 😍 they will love it l am sure ❤️
We had a lovely time with My Mum yesterday ,thank you @Frugal25😁
Trip to the pub sounds fabulous @WhitegreeNcandle ☺️
Spent £14 in Morrisons on a bottle of Kylie's Rose, some lagers and dog treats for my friend , l popped up there for a coffee this morning.
She was telling me how much her dogs cost her a month . Nigh on £250 with everything.
3k a year , that's an awful lot of money . She loves them of course and they are gorgeous, a lovely black lab and a Yorkshire terrier. Still it shocked me tbh l had no idea .

£20 on some trainers for my little girl needed as her feet are growing quicker than the weeds in my garden oddly they've not claimed the money on my bank yet ...
£12 Starbucks
£4 chocolate

£114.04 Lidl yesterday. Needed a full shop. That was it for Friday.
Today was £2.40 for a drink at the hotel I do my gym class at. Get 25% off. Virtually a NSD. Nearly ordered a takeaway tonight but then figured making fajitas was less stressful than ordering takeaway in this house! Allergies and indecisions!

@ememem84 that sounds a bit more manageable. 💐

We have been tortured by the neighbours BBQ wafting in our windows taunting us , so we had a Chinese takeaway.
£40 but l had to do it 😁

@MaryGreenhill ooh that sounds lovely. I've been thinking of Chinese food for weeks. DS has a sesame allergy so that rules Chinese out when he is around then none of them will share dishes so isn't a cheap event! Maybe during our holidays in a few weeks 🤔

£4.16 in a new music bag for DS. Was going to spend £12 on an Amazon one but found one on Vinted. It’ll only be thrown around lockers and playgrounds so doesn’t need to be fancy, just hold his music!

£164 on 3 tickets to see Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcast. Expensive but we live a musical and it’s half the price of seeing it in the west end. Came out of our days out budget which still has £50 in.

£110 on dinner out. Three gins and three beers seemed to make up about half of that.

so yeah, my plan not not hemorrhage money in August is going really well 🤣🤣

I've been following everyone and their comments but been too busy to do more than make sure money is where it should be.
Being the summer holidays - we have been busy with the GCs which have and will include a few overnight stays. I'd rather have the GCs here than have to get up at the crack of dawn to trawl down to their home to get them up - it's different on school days. But not much point to early rises in the holidays when they can play in their PJs and have breakfast before cracking on with whatever has been planned. We did have a day out to a farm park with a friend and her GS - we were out all day and it wasn't too spendy as we took snacks and bits and pieces to eat. It's easier really as two of the kids have food intolerances. This farm park is one of the cheapest I have been to and I was impressed with how everything was set up from stroking chicks, feeding goats, sandpit playing, crafts - it was great and filled the whole day. Really enjoyable.
In between looking after GCs we have started re-decorating the dining part of our kitchen. Ceiling and walls washed down with sugar soap, Ceiling is now painted. DH has been filling/smoothing out dips and bumps. He has ordered new light fittings and we have decided to splash out on new modern radiators. There's nothing wrong with what we have but they have yellowed and we looked at radiator covers which were only lightly cheaper than new radiators. So the crusty pensioners continue to update their home!! 😁
The GCs are back later for another overnight - so I think I might do a Sunday roast but need to go shopping to do that. It has been ages since we had a roast - quite looking forward to it!!

Good morning everyone 🌞
I know @Mochi1fudge takeaways are so expensive and Indian would set us back about £100 for the four of us , very expensive here 😱
Off to see my Mum early today.
My bum will be welded to the sofa when we come back from watching the Grand Prix 🤣
So consequently a nsd for me
Have a lovely day everyone 🤗

Oh my goodness the thread has been busy since I last posted! Have read through all of your updates and hope those of you going through tricky times are doing ok.

Much excitement as my pension transfer finally happened on Thursday, so I can now start the process of withdrawing to cover my budget instead of eating into savings. Am also on the verge of claiming my two 'work' pensions - still giving that some thought.

Has been a spendy few days as I did a big shop on Friday then have had to top up at two other supermarkets as couldn't get all I needed from Asda. Also had a catchup with friends yesterday so bought food to take with me.

Have treated myself to a few bits that have been on my Amazon wishlist for ages.

Planning a NSD today and probably tomorrow too. Out with a friend on Tuesday but we will take a packed lunch, and then eating out with another friend on Wednesday. Need to update my budget today and move money around in pots.

Have also (finally!) started to exercise (I put a mat in the spare bedroom and moved my equipment there too - found a pair of brand new trainers I'd forgotten about in the process.....). Just doing a simple, short, full body workout on alternate days and yoga/stretching on the other days. Hopefully means I won't have to shell out on a gym membership (that I probably won't use....).

£10 at Church today for a cooked breakfast. Comes out of my Charity pot. £1.10 on a tin of custard for tea. Tea was cottage pie and cheesy leek bake followed by the last of 2024 plum crumbles. Needed custard. This morning was rainy and dull so felt like an autumnal meal but by tea time it was really quite warm.

Am eyeing up tickets to go and see A Man for All Seasons. It'll be expensive and not really DH's thing so I might see if I can sneak off by myself for the evening. We're about an hour and a half door to door from the West End (which is quite impressive as I live on a farm!) so just workgin out if it's worth the effort.

£13 on cards, balloons etc for OH yesterday. Balloons mainly for DD as she will enjoy them and for her birthdays mean cake and balloons.

£16 today on coffees for everyone as we saw OHs children from first marriage which is rare and as they brought gifts for his birthday I treated it as part of his celebrations.
£87 on garden chairs for OH balcony as he has wanted some for years and never treats himself. This was out of a pot I had put aside though and they will be his big birthday present.

Hoping tomorrow is a NSD, we are off swimming but I've already paid for that and shouldn't need anything else.

Sold 2 items on vinted so will post them tomorrow too.

Spendy day with holiday prep but at least a few Bargains

£30.30 Primark for basics
£37.37 Home Bargains, mainly toiletries
£18 Amazon (Jack and Jones polo shirt for DH reduced price)
£20.99 shirt for Dsis birthday, bought online in the sale.

Coop £4.79

Long week ahead at work, roll on Friday 😂

Hello all! Well, August's budgeting has been dictated for me by a stupid accident with my laptop - knocked it to the floor dealing crossly with Ddog, broke screen, and had to pay £350 to get the whole monitor unit replaced. Bugger. Why do these things always happen on the back of a spendier-than-usual month?

Have allocated money to savings, investments, travel fund and, after everything has been paid, and savings made where possible (deferred skincare sub, opted for cheaper stylist at hairdresser) I will have ... £12 left to get me through the month! Am doing Prolific surveys like mad, and leaning into my free treats and distractions, but it's gonna be a long month of self-reliant frugality. The reward is the holiday in France, and then the holiday in Devon, so y'know, swings and roundabouts.

Lots of admin with a financial angle today: chasing down a better insurance renewal quote on my rental flat; sitting on the line to Transport for London to try and get my Oyster account reactivated so I can apply for a 60+ card.

Joint account also taking a hit this month from increased water rates, increased broadband (DH! this is your job to sort out the switch!), Ddog's animal health certificate for travel...ha! it never ends.

Oh @BigSkies2022 def do your surveys! I started doing some and then found that they dried up and when they did come through for me to do they were for very small rewards. Can I ask what one's you do?

Spendy day today and I so wanted / needed a NSD.
£8 for a crystal that will hang in a window and create rainbows. My dear friend lost her mum this morning, so a gift for her.
£3.99 oh a soap dish. Trying to wean off soap in plastic bottles.
£1 on a stamp but this was out of cash from my purse
£2 for the guy down the road who collects for the local paper and we pay towards it. Again out of my purse.
£8 on new knickers as I've realized now that I'm not organized that I don't have enough! This was paid out of a pot though so didn't touch wages.