Just say NOvember!!! ( are you brave enough )...

JAMIEDODGER

Back from college and I nipped into sainsburys on the way home.

I can now confirm that my total grocery (cleaning, toiletries, pet, meds and food) total for November is:

£206.89!!! I have saved £33.10 on my budget for the month:j

It has been quite an experience and I am really happy and determined to do even better next month:)

I have also saved £35 on my petrol bill for November plus lots of other pennies on various places in my housekeeping budget.... Which is everything except standing orders and direct debits.

I am pleased to say, with my leftover money, I have put all the 1,2,5,10 and 50p's into my sealed pot ready for the new challenge for 2013, all my 20p's into another pot for the 20p savers challenge which will pay for our panto treat in 2013.

The remainder I have split 2 ways. Half into happy cash for treats for the kids and half into a start of an emergency fund:)

Thank you so much Kat for doing this challenge xx

Siouxsie32

Wow, some of you guys are really unlucky - sending virtual hugs to those that need it. Hope you get a break sometime soon. Cars are expensive, and a nightmare when they go wrong. I recently got rid of my 12 year old car as it was costing more and more to run - expensive tax, completely inefficient petrol wise, always cost a fortune at MOT time and I was always waiting for the next thing to go wrong with it. It was old and fully paid off so I didn't really consider it as an expense. I changed it this year and leased a new one. It costs £150 a month but I got free insurance for 2 years, free tax for a year and there are no MOTs. It uses half as much petrol as the old one so, although it's a monthly outlay that I didn't have before, there are no hidden charges and it's cheaper overall. I know a new car's not the answer for everyone, but for those with car troubles, there are some great deals out there on new/nearly new small cars. Even better if you like a good haggle! Or you could always follow Super-Kat and join the bike brigade

Thanks for the tips about the fruit. I'm still gutted at paying £1.42 for two apples. I usually get my fruit and veg from either a farm shop (not cheap, but not expensive either) or a farmers market quite near me at the weekend. With this challenge, I've been working more so had less time to shop around and Sunday was a last minute dash round the supermarket before it closed so no time for farmers markets. Never again though!

Well, so much for me saying no more spends except boots. I was so cold and wet and hungry (my lovely homemade soup that I took to work in a flask tasted of soap :doh:) that I splashed out on a hot chocolate Now, it wasn't just any old hot chocolate-I walked about 2 miles to get to Hotel Chocolat where I melted into their big leather sofa and had what could only be described as a bowl of Caramel Hot Chocolate - orgasmic! It was without a doubt the best £3 I spent all month. I got a few free chocolates with it too and they let me sit there for almost an hour while I defrosted. I don't know if I appreciated it more because I've spent NOvember saying NO, or if it was because I was cold and hungry (or it was just utterly delicious) but it was a frivolous spend that I don't regret in the slightest.

So, I have no spending days left this month and I don't care :rotfl: Today plus the next 3 days will be NSDs so I'll make the target I have enough food to last the week and I still have half a month's budget left. I think I'll keep it in my Supermarket purse (yip, I'm sad like that. I like to have all my money separate.) and add it to December's budget, rather than just allocate half of December's budget since I have more food to buy than usual. I'm having some family stay just before Christmas so I'll need extra food. Whatever's left shall be taken off January's budget. I think the £20 reduction can be permanent though :money:

searching_me

right ... ive been moppy for longer then usual had abit of a cry .. OH treated me to chips and some cans of cider ... he feels bad about having to go to his sister when i was in such a state i think i just needed to cry and i hadnt so it was all bottled up so had a cry mopped and eat chips ....

now on a further update on the car ... £400 to fix so ccalled around and shes getting scrapped ... tomorrow shes worth £300 if she was running and im getting £110 scrapped and hes picking her up cant say im not gonna shed another tear when she goes but what is done is done ... the bandaid is getting ripped off ...

so thats £110 to a new car ... i have a month left on the tax disc so gonna get that sent back for a refund ..

OH is helping get my car instead of my original xmas present and what ever extra i will give him back when i get paid .. i'll be getting it next week so then i can transfer the insurance over (if i can of course) ... im pulling in all xmas presents (if iget any) as money for said car/insurance/tax ...

gonna shop around tonight for cars .. if not b-i-ls got a decent deal on a car through a not bad car dealer so theres another option ...

anything that can and WILL be sold including a kidney .. well you only need one :rotfl: ... i will snap myself out of it ... im a fighter ive fought for everything in my life im not gonna give up now ..

sorry as you were ... just realised as well another silver lining ... i may have spent but im still under budget .. proving it can be done x

Siouxsie32

Well done searching for pulling through (chips always help ). Gutted about your car. I was in a similar situation with mine but I held on to it (alongside my new car) because I couldn't bear to let it go but I learned to love my new smaller, less powerful car and when I got rid of the old one, I'd fallen out of love with it. I kept it insured, MOT'd and even serviced it when all the time it was just taking up space and losing me money. It'll be tough when they take it away but you know you're doing the right thing. You'll be zipping about in your fab new one in no time

NinjaSavingKat

Good Afternoon one and all..

I feel like a bit of a vegetable at the moment. I could go home and sleep for a week I think. I have had two bag of crisps donated to me and a small pot of custard/rhubarb sweets. I feel kinda sick though.... still gonna eat more in a bit...

I am worried though about the badness that seems to be seeping into people unconscious. Searching - i am glad you are feeling better.... sometimes we just need to let it all out to feel relieved... but why are you suddenly considering another car??? I spent two years traveling to work by train - this took a round trip of 3 hours and cost me £180. It won't be as bad as you think. You will never have the worry of petrol, break downs again, other accidents, insurance hikes etc.. trams are great fun ( for me anyway ) - you can read A LOT, you can have groceries delivered to avoid "naughty impulse" spends, TrainLine ( via Boots TreatStreet ) for tickets on days out and family&friends will have to be a little understanding about visiting not being as viable... TRUST ME! It's not going to be as bad as you think.. what is your main worry??.. You could treat yourself to a proper outdoor coat, with a big hood, fluff on the inside and deep pockets...?

Siouxsie - £3 for that level of comfort and goodies is NOTHING! Well done for weighing up the benefits though. I was going to do this on Friday as it would have been after my 25 NSD's were in the bag ( by Thursday ) and have a proper cooked breakfast from my canteen at work - naughty but WOW its nice and epic for a very small rate... might tell everyone to do this...

Actually yes.... On FRIDAY I want you all to buy yourself something under £5 that will make you happy - a reward for getting SO far, being strict, being switched on to blatant consumerism and in mental preparation for DDD. I can't have you going from one tough challenge to another without something to make you happy... I am having a fry-up.. you could buy a magasine / Starbucks / Costa / anything you want...

DDD will not be as tough I don't think but I want you all to be just as ruthless!

GelMC - Mum, Dad, CC on the 1st January. 1 extra month of interest on the card won't be anything that will amount to the extra £140 they will add on to your insurance should you choose to pay it monthly..I just upped my overdraft a month ago to accommodate my £500 insurance..as did MancMan86...it's simply something less to worry about in 2013 and not worth the extra money you will have to pay... and sometimes those sparkly golden twigs are just too tempting ...NOT. you won't have a house to put them in if you don't knuckle down. No more dresses.. start swapping or re-cycling.. although TK Maxx is a good enough start... but this month was introducing you to a brand new concept of money so I am still proud of you!! Don't let this get you down - let it spur you on to do better in DDD.

Missyv30 - I am rally sorry things are so pants for you at the moment. It may all seem horrid and clearly coming up to Christmas just doesn't help.. answer me something, how many people you cooking for on the day, how many you buying gifts for... and how many kids do you have...?

CandyCupCake - sorry to hear about the overtime .. I am looking to get some over the holiday period as well although I refuse to work New years Eve like I have done for many a year. The graze box is just too much fun to be honest.. I still have mine - determined to fill it with something and cover the boxes in clingfilm...:D

More later I am still at work and am hoping to leave a little earlier...

searching_me

i do alot of travel ninja i go to london at least once every 2 months and its made it easier being in touch with family ... as much as in a way having no car may work out abit cheaper (not by much on the train fares at the moment) the cost of my freedom and getting home to see my kids before they sleep is worth budgeting for and by the looks of my maths im still gonna be looking at the same surplus at the end of the month x

searching_me

i know what this thread has done for me ... made me start looking through my cupboards more ... dying for some chocolate all week for womanly monthly sorta reason but i cant eat dairy as it gives me headache so i pulled through my cupboards and found cocoa powder and made dairy free chocolate cake ... saves some right money at this time x

CandyCupcake

Kat my Graze box lasted all of 10 minutes it was delicious! My OH is going to sign up for his free one so we can share that one too

I am totally up for the DDD challenge, I only have a couple of presents left to buy so I want December to be as spend free as possible so this may actually be a stress free Christmas for a change - well that is if I get my vouchers from work in time to do the last of my shopping!

Candy
x

thriftylass

I just realised sth. Am I meant to include nappies, catlitter, toiletries etc in my grocery budget for this month? I added up everything and was about £50 over after my last spend day today. But if I take off what i think i spend on non-food items I'm in :T. Need to keep all the receipts next month to really see what we actually spend on just food.

Also only just realised I can program our central heating and hot water, doh. CH is only on when we turn it up but the HT advance was on all day, which wasted probably quite a lot of gas.

abundant1972

Hi everyone...

I want to just send out hugs and positive vibes to everyone having a tough time...

Last year I decided I'd try something different and it's worked well...

I wrote down month by month all additional outgoings and estimated cost - these included birthdays, road tax, car insurance, MOT, a reasonable amount for a service and work insurance.

I totalled it up and divided by 12 and made an automatic monthly payment into a separate account called "Annual Expenses". Each month I've known the money is there and it's taken a lot of stress off saving up for big items. It might be tricky if your bigger payments fall at the start of the year (as you'd only have a proportion saved) but once you get rolling it balances out.

Ok - today marked NSD number 22 for me! 3 more to go!!!

Hugs again everyone!!!

:grouphug: