We are about to pull the purse strings soooo tight!

Alice_in_Poorland

We have sunshine. :j
I have put 3 loads of washing on the line. Its such a relief not have it having around the house. Kids and OH are off to football in minute and I'm going to start my ironing as soon as I've finished on here.

We've got family coming for dinner tomorrow, there will 12 people all together so will be chaotic but fun and great to see everybody. I wanted to BBQ but OHs Aunt and Uncle are elderly and don't do BBQs so will stick with traditional roast chicken and roast beef with all the trimmings (keeping up appearances and all that!!)

Today should be a NSD, number 10. Yesterday I got all the food for tomorrow, food spend this month so far is £280 which I am over the moon about. As my months seem to run from payday to payday (which is 28th of the month) and I have a small shop coming from Tesco on Tuesday (things that are cheaper and I got free delivery, but must tweak that order a bit) the total for the month should be about £300ish. Its quite alarming to think I used to spend anywhere between £600-£800 per month :eek:

Petrol spend will also be good for the month. OH has spend 40/100 and I've spent 65/100 so far this month. OH is still biking and his 'saving' pot is upto £30 but he does need a new seat for his bike, not sure how much that will be. Will pay for that seperately rather than take it out of the pot. I think my petrol spend is down because there aren't any football/rugby matches to ferry the kids to and from at the moment.

The savings we've made with the food and petrol will go towards extra childcare costs during the holiday but also we haven't got as much money coming in now OH is on reduced hours. Also need to sort uniforms out for DS2 and DS3 so bathroom flooring on hold.

Haven't spoken to Insulation Company yet, will do that on Monday.:(

Another priority must be my car, I will call into the garage and ask them to have a look at the exhaust and then can price up what bit we need, then we must get it serviced (just basic service).

£2 pot is upto £64. :j Currently have 80p in my purse I wonder if that can last until Thursday.....will do my best.

Must put some stuff on ebay this weekend and the shoes I got of ebay are just fab, I'm so easily pleased these days.

Wow what a long post,feeling quite optimistic at the moment.

Hope everybody has a great weekend.xx

Alice_in_Poorland

I thought a heatwave was on its way??? Its just rained here :eek:.

DS2 has gone to cricket, DS1, DS3 and OH still in bed.:)

Going to tidy up all downstairs and then prepare dinner. Don't plan on going anywhere today so hopefully another NSD.

Jobs for tomorrow - call insulation company and call garage to arrange to take car in, I shall be joining the youth of today on McD's carpark if my exhaust gets any louder!! xx

debtfreewannabe321

morning alice

Well done on all the low spends this month! I've managed to keep my petrol spends low too this month but i think my low is yours & your dh's spends combined :eek:!

I've overspent on the grocery budget this month too as ds1 was home and we had unexpected spends with birthday cakes and everything else, bah! better try more next month i guess!

Your dinner sounds yummy we've also got roast beef, but i'm not the best cook in the world lol so i'm hoping it comes out ok

mummytogirls

Hi Alice,

Well done on all your NSD's you are doing fantastic!!!

Hope your dinner with the family has gone well xx

Alice_in_Poorland

DFW321 -hope your dinner turned out OK. Good luck with your getting your grocery budget back under control. I know what you mean about kids eating you out of house and home. I'm sure my kids have just gotten into a habit of opening the fridge and cupboard doors, they can't possibly be that hungry!!!

mummy - thank you I am getting a bit obsessed with these NSDs

We had a lovely day yesterday, it was so lovely that folk didn't leave until 10.30pm, which wasn't a problem it was great to see everyone but it did mean that I didn't get round to putting anything on ebay .

I have spoken to the Insulation Company and have put payment back to 28 August. :cool:

Also took my car to the garage and got a quote for the exhaust - £125 (fitted) and £125 for the service. Have booked it in for a fortnights time to give me chance to get the money sorted.
Better go, I finished work at 4 today :j
xx

Itsadogslife_2

Hi Alice,

So pleased to hear that you are feeling optimistic at the moment. I do think that is half of the battle keeping that positive mental attitude thing going.

I am not doing too badly (apart from the diet side of things.... :mad:), way to go on the NSD's, that is definitely impressive :T

Sounds like you had a lovely family meal. It's nice to have a good old get together like that, although sometimes they make me a little sad that we are quite spread out and there is not many of us so they don't happen very often. My brother has also recently split up with his long term partner which makes me said as I really quite liked her (and her daughter) and so our merry band of family is getting smaller

The car costs don't sound too bad - I have visions of it costing more for a new exhaust.

I always find that in the holidays, my food costs seem to go down slightly as my daughter goes to her nanny's house whilst I go to work each day and stipulates that she will have breakfast there. If I time it just right that I don't pick her up until just after dinner, I am only having to feed her once a day :rotfl: Result!

Alice_in_Poorland

Thanks Itsa, I think I will be battling with the diet even after the debt has gone . Sorry to hear about your brother splitting with his partner, its never nice but its even harder when they seem 'to be the one'. I like the idea of eating at Nannys.

I haven't been on here for a few days, managed to get on here last night, wrote a long post and then lost it...ggrrrr so went off the bed sulking.

It official I'm losing my marbles, we had a delivery from T3sco on Tuesday which I had completely forgotten I had ordered, and nobody told me until after I'd called into sburys on the way home to get some bits so that has put the shopping budget upto £353 for the month. Thats still a great improvement on previous months.

Because I hadn't budgeted for the extra shopping OHs card was declined when he went to get petol....ooops. Spoken to the bank looks like no extra charges, thank heavens. Just goes to show I've got the keep a check on the bank everyday.

NSDs 12 so far.

Better get back to work.xx

Alice_in_Poorland

Another busy day today!!! I have put 3 loads of washing out, fingers crossed it stays dry.

Off to football training in a minute with DS3, then DS3 is going to a birthday party. DS2 has gone the theme park (making good use of his pass). DS1 is at work this morning, he was a work last night and again tonight so he'll probably catch up with his sleep this afternoon.

I've updated budgets, and petrol spends so far this month for me 85/100 and OH is 60/100. Food is still at £353.

I need to do meal plan as well and check budget/money pots as we've got some bigs spends coming up. Car service and exhaust, insulation company at the end of August, also OHs car is due MOT begining of September.

Oh well better get on.xx

fantastiyk

Hi Alice,
You're doing really well.
I am put to shame when I see how well you're doing with the food budget I think there are 100 days in July - hungry ones!!

There always seems to be something needing doing that swallows money - at least when we're working with a budget theres a chance we might have a couple of weeks to come up with the money as opposed to the shock and panic before we joined MSE.

Good luck with it.

Alice_in_Poorland

Thank you fantastiyk, I'm sure my kids have got hollow legs, they eat like a horse and not an ounce of fat on any of them.......certainly don't after me

We took the toilet seat back today which we had brought in February as it had broken. It was all clean and in a plastic bag but I still felt embarassed at the till, anyway we got a replacement. Before our LBM I'd of just thrown it away and got a new one.

OHs car has got a problem with the back brakes, the brake warning light has come on and it's making rubbing noise, so will have to take it to the garage next week instead of mine and book mine in for the week after. Although OH doesn't need it for work he still could do with it to get to sports clubs etc as he's not insured to drive my car. Hope its nothing too major.

I got DS3's school trousers today so didn't manage a NSD. xx