Blinded by the LBM...!

lizzieknit55

Hi Been
It's payday for me too! I've put £60 of petrol in my car and I need that to last me all month so that means refusing to give DD lifts (I hate saying no). I'm going to do an online shop when the cupboards are looking bare probably next week. I am cooking from scratch and because I'm not very organised we are eating a lot of pasta!!
I have listed a few things on Amazon today and am going to have a go at ebay over the weekend to help me with my £5 a day challenge.
have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.
Lizzie x

Beencounting

turfy6 wrote: »

That is quite a saving, plus it will save the wear and tear on the car too a winner all round no contest :T ps you can also read, or snooze whilst you travel too.

Yes, love the idea of being able to read on the train, I can't manage it in the car as it makes me car-sick (even at my age )...I love to read

Beencounting

lizzieknit55 wrote: »

Hi Been
It's payday for me too! I've put £60 of petrol in my car and I need that to last me all month so that means refusing to give DD lifts (I hate saying no). I'm going to do an online shop when the cupboards are looking bare probably next week. I am cooking from scratch and because I'm not very organised we are eating a lot of pasta!!
I have listed a few things on Amazon today and am going to have a go at ebay over the weekend to help me with my £5 a day challenge.
have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.
Lizzie x

Thanks Lizzie, I'm looking forward to a warm, dry weekend, it'll give me a chance to catch up on some washing !

I know what you mean about lifts. I've been playing Mum's taxi service tonight because DD couldn't bothered to walk home from her friend's house, which is just a few streets away . Trouble is I feel guilty about it and also a bit nervous about her walking home late on her own. Anyway, she's in a sulk with me now as even though I picked her up, I was a bit short on the phone when she asked , can't win eh?!

Been

Beencounting

Well the good news today is that the payment for the car has cleared into my bank account :T. My account has never looked so healthy - car money and payday, looks like I'm rolling in it :rotfl:, shame it'll be mostly all gone by Monday :eek:.

So, to get the ball rolling, I've made a payment of £2,500 off my T3sc0 card . There will be a bit more tomorrow once I've finalised my figures, but I just couldn't resist making a lovely, big payment today :D. I've put the figures in my signature .

Been

tabby_cats_mum

Do you shop at Aldi? I've knocked loads off my shopping bill shopping there, I even use the £1.99 face cream and I've been a £30 face cream gal in the past (probably why I'm in debt!)

Beencounting

tabby_cats_mum wrote: »

Do you shop at Aldi? I've knocked loads off my shopping bill shopping there, I even use the £1.99 face cream and I've been a £30 face cream gal in the past (probably why I'm in debt!)

Hi Tabby, thanks for popping in

Yes, we do our weekly top-up shops from A1di, and like you we've been amazed at the difference it makes to our shopping costs. It's frustrating to think how much money we've 'wasted' over the years by shopping at the major supermarkets. But the important thing is that we're making savings now.

As we're looking to change our travel arrangements to the train, we're now going to have to find an A1di close to the station, as we used to shop on the way home from work. My Mum told me that there's a new one just opened up quite near to the station, so another recce there to check it out too .

Been

Beencounting

Just logging the weekly 'cash' spends/potential spends.

My budget for this is £53 (it's a 5-week month :mad:), plus, for this week only, and extra £10 as we had a bit more pay than I originally budgeted for.

So far I have spent:

• birthday card - £1.00
• stamps - 92p
• DD & DS pocket money - £10

and then we are committed to (or want to spend on )

• sunday lunch out for family birthday, up to - £30 (this will depend on who will be coming, OH and DS will be elsewhere, and I'm waiting to find out what both DDs will be doing)
• OH and DS, charity event - £17

So that leaves me with £4.08 for the rest of the week , let's hope it lasts, somehow .

Been

mandragora_2

Did you have any luck on freecycle for the boots? If you haven't got round to it, I'd definitly recommend it.

If no luck, this is a bit of a far out idea, but it might work for you. I work in a secondary school, and we're well aware that some of our families are struggling. From time to time I meet with parents who can't afford things like boots or a blazer or new trousers. We can usually do something to help - second hand stuff gets donated by the older kids as they move on, and really good football boots linger unclaimed for years in lost property, long after the original owner has grown out of them, and now and again I'll dip into my budget quietly to get a kid a new pair of trousers to see them through their last year in school, because otherwise the family would be thrown into more hardship. One other thing I've done is paid the bill for an item, and then the parents have done a payment plan over the next 20 weeks at, say a pound a week, just to get them over the dip, they pay in full so don't feel like they're accepting 'charity' and it works for me because I think that sometimes if they feel they haven't lost face, they'll be more comfortable with the process. For me as a teacher, all I want is for all the kids to be the same, and not to be made to feel different or awkward, so from my point of view I'm always happy to help out if I can.

It's not a widely advertised practice, for obvious reasons, but if your child's school is sympathetic and discreet it might be worth approaching them.

tabby_cats_mum

Inspired by you Been I dug out a 100 Euro's left over from a long ago foreign holiday and got £80 for them!! (I've lived in hope of spending them but OH doesn't do abroad.)

Beencounting

I've just made another payment of £475 to the T3sc0 card . Balance is now £1,173 (or there abouts, depends on interest).