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.

I managed a NSD. Yesterday. Almost went on Vinted but I wanted to cone here and write NSD so I resisted. Thanks group.

I've got bolognaise defrosting and was going to make soag bol but inspired by @Mochi1fudge I'm switching to nachos. It does mean I'll spend a little getting the chips and crème fraîche and avocado though.

Also off to a cafe to meet some friends later. I'll get a couple of pastries for the kids (should cost about €1.50) and a diet coke for me which frustratingly is double the cost of a glass of rosé 🙄 thanks France.

@Mochi1fudge a bigger fridge freezer will make a huge difference I’m sure. It just helps having space so you can see everything and nothing is hiding!!

@SockHop those trainers sound like a good buy with 25% off and using budgeted money!! And it’s nice to treat your kids.

@radioactivekumkuat the launderette sounds a great idea - and I totally get you on the extra Aldi spend - I had to keep putting things down when I was in Lidl at the weekend! This thread (and my current financial circumstances) have been great for keeping me on track.

@Frugal25 I think the rebel finance school might be helpful for you - in week 1 they talked about finding your gap (income less expenditure). Although I thought I was mostly on top of unnecessary spends it made me reevaluate and I’ve gone down a level on my Netflix subs and I am cancelling Now at the end of this month. Also rethinking my expensive gym and have found a much cheaper one I might move to (giving myself a month).

Well done @Vacuummyblub on resisting the temptation so you could have a NSD!!

That’s a good idea about the 0% balance transfers @pistachiosanscream - I used to pay the balance off in full every month, then there were some unexpected expenses and it’s just crept up. I shall have a look.

Rebel Finance sounds useful as well, plus the Star Wars reference made me laugh 😀

Im aiming to update weekly, so here’s my update for the first week of June (1-8 June). Out of my £1,691 monthly income:

• £1,056 committed for mortgage, bills etc

£645 remaining, split out as follows:

• £300 groceries main shop: £130.67 spent
• £120 commute/ travel: £13.20 spent
• £20 coffee at work: £5.60 spent
• £50-60 credit card payment: not charged yet
• £143 for everything else: £11.50 spent (bus fare to town & trip to cafe with DD after running errands)
• Total: £160.97

Happy Monday all!
NSD here as at work and have things with me.

Credit card isn't fixed but I was overpaying every month to get rid asap (1 year 1 month)
But I shall have a look at the rebel finance school thank you. I did go through everything at the beginning of the year but I reckon I've missed things :)

I’ve just realised there’s another £7 a month I can save which is to stop having my wheelie bin cleaned!! My rubbish only goes in there in bags so it’s relatively clean. The one I could really do with having cleaned is the garden waste one but they don’t do those - I’ll have to get the jetwash out soon 🤢

£20 spend on lunch with my friend it was lovely too . Just a little bit of Home made quiche and salad and a cuppa blooming lovely 😍
Hope everyone is ok 😊

Evening.

Enjoy your mum visiting @PearlsPearl

Hope you find a use for a giant courgette @pistachiosanscream 🤣

Hi @EllieQ. Could you spend half the amount on coffees at work? Just a thought, small savings I appreciate but they add up. You are far more organised than many folk re finances and it's amazing how just going a tiny bit over monthly income then leaves you with that bit less the next month, and the next month etc. Mission creep. You're in a good please here.

I'm another one signed up for the Rebel Finance School.

@chimichangaz small expenses add up and make good savings. Good for you for cancelling the wheelie bin cleaning.

Spends.
Today NSD.
Yesterday - circa £50 at Amazon (anti histamine tablets, a couple of face creams, some glasses cleaner)

Most of you probably know, but you can get incredible savings on anti histamine tablets online. I've spent £6 on 6 months supply of Lorotadine (ie Clarytin). It's about that price for one pack of the stuff in Boots.

Menu plan
Spiced chicken, ginger, sweet potato and chickpea stew with rice.
One pot sausage, beans and peppers, potato wedges
Chorizo orzo and sweetcorn stew.
Something easy like breaded fish and oven chips
Chilli
Mexican chicken
Veggie curry.

A pretty much NSD today, just £2.50 on the way home for a bag of apples and bottle of squash. My sandwich was a better option than the canteen food today, and between that and bringing my own coffee and milk I’ve not spent about £10 today.

Got a few things I’ll need to order soon though- screen protectors, tips for the water flosser, toothbrush heads. A few lightbulbs have decided to die at the same time too, so we’ll need to replace those. It’s crazy how it all adds up!

Spent £30 today on more garden supplies - another bag of compost, a tomato grow bag, house plant compost and three perennials as I noticed my border looking a bit gappy. All in the budget and hopefully that is no more compost for me!!

I’ve finished planting up all the annuals I bought a couple of weeks ago (or was it last week? 🤪), and also planted out my tomato plants. I think I’m going to plant some lettuce as I use quite a lot over the summer so I think it might pay off.

NSD for me and joint account today, although DH took us (me, DS and DSGF) for birthday dinner at a really good Indian tonight and paid. Have promised DS a shopping expedition when he's ready to go. He has some work via an agency lined up for tomorrow and has got through to the second round of an interview for a 'proper' job. That lad might not have been the world's greatest student, but there is nothing wrong with his work ethic.

Tomorrow I plan a mostly quiet day, workout, errands, and a quick visit to Ddad. Bit weary of it all, TBH, but hoping we're inching towards a new equilibrium. If so, it would be the first time since about spring 2022 we'll have felt normal!

Gloomy day back to work after holidays. Cleaners came so €70 for that and a lovely clean house which raises the spirits a bit.

then €32 moo pig for Father’s Day gift. €15 Amazon for painters tape and a set of Apple Watch bands. €42 on paint.

decided the room I call a utility is getting a glow up. I keep a tumble dryer and freezer here but there’s no plumbing for a washing machine or sink. They were there previously but were removed by the previous owners which I find very annoying. It will cost too much to put them back in just now. it’s also my main pantry storage but it’s all kept on open shelves and boxes so it’s time for me to make it more functional.

ill clear it out, clean and paint it. Then rearrange the appliances I have in there and paint a shelved wardrobe unit I have to use as the actual pantry. It’s been in our shed for a couple of years now so I’m glad I’ll finally use it. I just need to find the time!

Spendy start to the week
£35 parking fee. Didn't know the council had installed cameras pointing at the school bus stop and dropped DD off there after an appointment. Anyway colleagues were saying there should be signage so I'm annoyed I paid it as it sounds like I could have appealed.
£92 Halloween tickets for an event.
0.50p for a curly wurly at the shop
£1.70 stamp - card for friend.

Spendy day yesterday, picking up lots of little bits in preparation for DS birthday.

Booked an online delivery with the ingredients of his cake, it's so expensive to buy ingredients now!

Ready for work and have my lunch ready to take. I've given DS €16 for a bus to a match. I will also be making a charity donation in work for a charity event on today. To be honest it won't be a big donation as it's the same charity I already pay towards monthly and I gave them a significant donation last week.

Hoping for a couple of low spend days after today.

Opticians for a free eye test . Apparently l don't need new glasses 😁 so that cost me
Zilch hooray !
£45 Lidls for the basics .
Not succumbed to Marks and Spencer online yet 😁

Spent £10 on lunch with a friend, £6 in the charity shop on fiction books (realised last night that I have next to no fiction books that aren’t thrillers - for bedtime reading), 5.75 in Poundland on low calorie snacks and a fiver in Aldi on berries and no sugar orange drink cans. As an aside, disappointed with the quality of the berries from my Lidl shop at the weekend - about a quarter of the blueberries had gone off.

No more spends planned today - currently sitting in the garden with a coffee reading one of my new books 😊

Also meant to say - proud of myself not buying anything from the middle of Aldi - I had this thread in mind!!

£13 in Sainsbury's. £8 in Chinese supermarket. Resisted the crazy sweets, but have made a mental note of their whereabouts next time I have a niece to impress.

€2.70 on tea and toast in work, €6 on bagels from farmers market and €17 in Lidl. Only meant to buy hummus but replaced some of the items I used up in my batch cooking

Signed up for rebel finance so thank you!!

A big spend today. Which made me feel slightly sick but it was all needed or budgeted for. Mostly.
£28 on grass man (he comes four times a year to feed and deweed grass)
£17 on soft play. My DD has asked for three weeks to go. And I've said no. She has patiently waited which is good going for a 3 year old. Anyway, we got there and it was shut. Cue tears. So we found another place which was £7 more expensive but it made her day. I cancelled yoga for me tonight to get the money back.
£275 on tiles for bathroom. I had my bathroom fitted last year by a cow boy and I'm now having to get it redone. So I'm now paying double. Which makes my blood boil but I've learnt my lesson with traders. I had to put this on my credit card which means I now have 1 year and 2 months left until I pay it off but there we go.

Oh. Meal plan
I finally remembered what I had planned for tomorrow night. Buddha bowl.
This week I have:
Picky bits like hummus and spring rolls etc
Homemade pizzas. One plain cheese. The other feta and sun-dried tomato.
We are out so OH will pay.
Pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce
Mash bowl by deliciously ella
Celery soup
quinoa with veggies

Yesterday was a LSD £4.40 at Aldi for cooking sauces.

Menu for this week is roughly
Teriyaki chicken with sides (in slow cooker right now, finish on BBQ later)
Pork and red onion marmalade sausages in buns (again BBQ later)
Chicken butter curry
Chilli con carne
Got a bag of king prawns to do something with - not decided yet.

Meeting a friend later for a coffee, shouldn't be more than £10

LSD yesterday and today but my mood is low at the minute so I am spending silly money on things like sandwiches and coffee at work.

£4 Morrisons for an Asiatic lily plant .
Nothing else though .
Shopping tomorrow Aldi's .
Beautiful day here hope everyone is enjoying lovely weather 😁

£8.25 Starbucks. Sat outside with my friend in the ☀️ so worth it. Although we were sitting next to a busy roundabout but that doesn't matter when the sun is out!

Oh. Also £163 for accommodation on a weekend away. That came out of a savings account so I forgot!