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.

£6 groceries in Sainsbury's. £21 Superdrug top-ups, mostly for DS.

£5 newspaper, crisps and chocolate for Ddad in care home. £18 for Ddad's haircut in care home. Not going to talk about the cost of care home stay, which is mental, and can't be sustained, but in the absence of any movement from social services, is what we are doing, short-term.

PT sesh tomorrow. I stumbled across a good, down-to-earth podcaster on weight loss and fitness - Phoebe Cartwright, Fat Loss Fundamentals - who will be accompanying my walks and home workouts for a while.

Sorry you're low at the mo @Imperfectpolly . I hope the sun makes you smile soon xx

NSD today. Which is lovely. Went for a walk at lunch with a friend.
Lidl shop tomorrow and I've tweaked the meal plan.
Picky bits
Homemade pizzas
Out for dinner
Fish and chips and peas
Tuna and mushroom sauce with pasta
Leek and potato soup
Mash bowl

Changed to to fit leftovers and what I had in the freezer :)

I shall give Phoebe a look :)

Hello, can I join you all please? I have been following Dave Ramsey and Money Saving Expert for years and love finding ways to save money.
Today I had a NSD, plus I discovered £14 of cashback money in my Monzo account so I put that in my cash ISA.
I cleaned out the fridge and made a huge vegetable beany chilli with all the odds and ends and there is enough for lunch tomorrow.
Washing dry outside on the line today, rain forecast tomorrow but I will put the washing on the airer under cover in the garden as it will not be too cold.
I must make a white loaf tomorrow as DH has a surgical,procedure next week that needs a low fibre diet for a few days.

I darent even look in detail of everything I've spent this week - haven't put any debt on which is a positive but feel like my card has a little spark this week.

NSD today. Washing hanging indoors as it is storming. Bread made, ironing done and I have discovered 2x grease stains on one of DH’s tops that will need attention. I think I will embroider a football, cricket ball and rugby ball on them to cover up the stains. Nothing wrong with the top otherwise and it will do for quite a few years as the material is nice and thick. Another rugby top needs the hem re-sewing. I did a full day mending course last month as a birthday present and it has changed my whole outlook on preserving clothes, plus reading Patrick Grant’s book Less.

Afternoon everyone 😊
Hope we are all ok 😊
Aldi's £54 , Tesco £9
Welcome @HelloandGoodMorning😊

Coming back after a break, the world got in the way! Need the accountability of this thread to keep me on track as I enter the new world of retirement😀
Spendy day today; but all budgeted for already so it doesn't feel too bad.
Just transferred £100 from Quidco, £50 to M and S and £50 to John Lewis. Plus £150 of vouchers for doing YouGov surveys, so that feels like a bit of a buffer.
I need to do a complete inventory of the freezer when I get home (enjoying a retirement trip away), I'm really good at batch cooking and then bad at remembering what's in the freezer

Don’t think I’ve posted for a couple of days - weds I met friends for a walk and a coffee (they bought), then I was visiting family so I bought some flowers £13.50. Also spent £20 on birthday presents. Today I spent £26 having my hair cut, £1.95 on milk and £14 downloading some documents from land registry (ongoing admin sorting out an estate).

Thanks for the reminder about Yougov @Songlines - I’ll have to look into earning a bit of cash from surveys now I’m semi retired - hope you’re enjoying your retirement 😊

Welcome @Helloandgoodmorning2, I'm another follower of the Dave Ramsey method, we've just finished paying the mortgage off, pleased to say his method with money works well.

Spendy week so far with car insurance, birthday presents, fathers day hamper gifts and cards, petrol, nursery leaving gift, birthday party gift, and two bottles of perfume. Mostly budgeted for with sinking funds, lots of brilliant savings, cashback and points to justify the spend so I'm happy.

Trying to keep unexpected spends low as I have DD15s prom dress to collect and pay the seamstress around £80ish at the weekend and then £78 routine dental hygeniest next week. Should be a relaxed weekend baking with the kids for DH, and a BBQ for immediate family.

Hello @Helloandgoodmorning2 welcome 😁
Love Dave Ramsey!
Will also take a look into yougov.
Finished week one of rebel finance. I started off thinking I knew it all. Oh boy! But excited so this is a positive.
£81.33 in Lidl.
£3.50 on a whole day out with DD which was cheap for me and fun for her. Win win
Bread made here also, how satisfying?! Washing on the line today and dried so fast. Beautiful.
Tomorrow should be a LSD. Just need grout to go with tiles and that's me done.
Four items on vinted sold

Spent €25 yesterday, unbudgeted, on a few DIY bits Getting the final garden bits sorted before DS birthday today.

Couple of planned spends too, a balloon, cake ingredients.

Should be a LSD today as I have everything needed now for today, bar a lock nut that we need to replace on the lawnmower.

The sun is shining so I am very grateful. We have hired a bouncy castle for the weekend and I thought it was going to be a huge waste of money as I was watching the weather outlook.

This week has been low on spends.

today i had to go buy coffee because we'd run out at home. need to reinstate my subscription from local shop. they deliver a bag of beans every week.

spent £50 in waitrose yesterday on things for dinners for yesterday and today - ds's friend is sleeping over tonight so i bought pizza and snacks snacks.

I've had 2 NSDs in a row. The wallet will be happy with this. Though personally its ben a low personal spending month for me as holidays jave taken up he time i would usually spend online shopping!

We will have to fund the joint account more this month to account for Holidays spending but thats ok and to be honest its how we have worked this the past few years and i see no reason to change it.

Hope you have a great party @Imperfectpolly and glad the weather is playing ball

Welcome @Helloandgoodmorning2

Thinking of you @BigSkies2022 the care of our elderly relatives can be such a difficult time.

Welcome @Helloandgoodmorning2

I just had to spend THIRTEEN POUNDS to get my dad's small handmade gift posted and delivered tomorrow. My own fault for missing the post office yesterday but URGH.

I also got an email from Edinburgh Playhouse to say Mamma Mia was coming in Dec, so I had to buy tickets. Had to! An essential purchase!

£18 on a chicken from posher butcher than I usually use. Jointed into 10 pieces and barbecued. Fed 4 adults and a greedy dog.

£14 in Sainsbury’s, can’t really remember on what, was hot and sweaty after 7k steps and chat with DMum. I know I needed all of it!

tidied front garden, did a pile of ironing, waved off DS for weekend, prepped his room and bathroom for DPILs (one night only!) and just about to start dinner for us all.

NSD for me today yay!
Have a smashing weekend @Imperfectpolly 😁
Can only empathise with you @BigSkies2022 my Mum is in a self funded care home and her house has been taken as collateral to pay for the bill eventually. It's unbelievable the cost for the simplest of things .
Bless you l so understand.

Ah Mary- did you have a deferred payment agreement? This is all new financial administration I’m getting to grips with!

Can I join? Or re-join... I was briefly on these threads last year but then we had a holiday trip that just cost a bomb and I sort of lost heart.

I am actually OK with putting money to savings. On payday, I put away £300 as soon as my salary hits my account. The problem is that I give myself an allowance each month to wither away into fun stuff, and I tend to spend it carelessly. I could actually save more if I wasn't so lazy. Sometimes I get to the end of the month and go, Ooh, I stillage £50, what should I get?? And really I should just save it.

I'm not a fan of Dave Ramsey at all, but hope I'm still able to join!

£29.76 on grout for bathroom floor tiles next week.
£13 on batteries for a toy my DM bought my DD and throw in oven pizzas which I begrudge as I had stuff to make pizza and I was home too late to make as was buying grout. Urgh.
But redone budget to create gap like rebel finance told me to.

You’re very welcome to (re) join @Pigtailsandall - and I’m not keen on Dave Ramsay either!! And I totally get what you say about feeling you need to spend money that’s left at the end of the month!!

Today I’ve spent £1 at Tesco (on a coupon offer on Fairy Max washing up liquid) and then, I was doing so well but I spent £29 at Amazon. I was sorting out my paperwork and my old files (which, tbf are VERY old) are falling apart so they need replacing. I also discovered I’ve run out of lemon essential oil and I bought some glass spray bottles as I’m making my own cleaning products using Nancy Birtwhistle recipes.

Tomorrow I’m grocery shopping for the next few days and then I’ve had an invite out tomorrow night with a friend (won’t be an expensive one - hope that’s not famous last words!)

Rejoining
my username is my planned retirement
so very interested @Songlines in your new life
@BigSkies2022 my mum is in a home 1600 per week
my credit card goes 16th month to 16th so budget
500 food and petrol
150 annual expenses like car tax
150 animals
400 other
this is what I want to stick to

Welcome lots of new and rejoined.
bit out of control here and savings have taken a battering. But will get back into it from now

Had a mix of LSDs and NSDs this week - pretty much on bits and pieces for the holiday and keeping us going with odd food items without doing a big shop which I have purposely avoided.
Just doing a few last minute banking things to keep things ticking over while we are away and now need to pay grass guy as he did the summer treatment for the garden yesterday. The grass actually needs cutting now but we couldn't cut it because he changed his appointment three times this week so the the grass will probably be two foot high when we get back. But there is slush money in the household account so even though not budgeted for it's covered.
I did actually manage to start some packing for the holiday yesterday but my mood has been very meh!! for the last couple of weeks and at times I have felt like sacking the whole thing and not bothering to go on holiday. But hopefully DH will stop driving me mad and my mood will pick up once we are actually on our way.
Looking at how everyone is coping with their own problems is a great way to move the focus off me and my miserable thoughts @BigSkies2022 we had a aunt who needed a care home and even though my brother was LPA for her we were all shocked at how much everything cost - sadly her condition deteriorated quite badly and in the end she her nursing home costs were taken over by the local authority as she became nocturnal and they had to employ someone to specifically look after her on night shifts. But she was happy and comfy which is what we all want for our family. Hello to @Pigtailsandall I get what you mean by the extra money at month end but I try and split the balance to savings and a bit of fun money. Less guilt that way. @Imperfectpolly those low moods can drag you down - I hope you're feeling better soon.
I will still need my MN and GN fix while on holiday - here's hoping for a reasonable wifi signal while we are away. 😎

Good morning.
I've had a hectic week with OFSTED at work and DDs transition meetings for secondary school. Spending has mainly been controlled - although I had to shell out on a few Ubers to get me to the right place in the quickest possible time (£20 total) and an emergency dog walk (£15). We also got an unplanned and unnecessary takeaway last night (£17) which was DDs suggestion and I was too tired to put up a fight.
Other than that my planned spends have been £48 on 2 fans for our bedrooms (they were reduced in John Lewis so spent less than I thought) and £80 on a food shop. I don't think I'll have to buy many grocery items other than milk and veg for me for the rest of the month for eating at home and my work lunches. DD might need some more cheese and veggies sausages at some point. However we are going to Center Parcs next weekend with some friends and I'll need to buy for that to avoid overspending in the onsite shop.
Oh and I replaced DD's expensive cleanser too which was £21. It came out of her allotted spends for the month - but I need to be more careful about what I spend from her pot from now on. DD is definitely my weak spot for spending. She's really low at the moment and missing her dad hugely and I hate seeing her sad but obviously teaching her that 'spending money = happiness' isn't doing either of us any favours.

Couple of things -

• Desperately need McDonald's to stop their biscoff frappes. That's become a bit of a diet breaking money pit this week!
• I need to work on stopping at home more again we've been out a few more times recently and it just seems to cost money all the bloody time.
• need to work on my daughter's wardrobe today, working out what we need for the rest of the summer and hopefully putting outfits together to avoid spending money, she's a money pit!

Happy Saturday all.