Chanie fabulously looks after her pennies...

chanie

Another naughty purchase - I bought some fireworks for new years eve and spent £36. It's more than I planned on spending, but we aren't going out, so that's literally all we will be spending.

Other than that, Xmas was nice - it involved lot of driving, so petrol costs.

Kitten868

So did you get all your shopping done on time? I think you had two presents to go last time we spoke.
Naughty you on the spends! But like you said you can't make the kids go without because of your mistakes.
Hope you had a brilliant Xmas and your Elsa doll was a hit.
X

chanie

I managed to get my Xmas shopping done and it didn't cost a lot of money, so I think Christmas has been pretty successful.

I have £90 cash to pay into my savings - I buy stocking fillers for my sisters children and she gives me the money back. As its only a couple of pounds here and here, I don't miss it and it means I get a chunk of money for my savings out of it.

I've come into work today (unplanned - as OH wasn't working, so I thought I may as well) and I've brought in breakfast and lunch from home, so it will be a frugal day for me, which I'm pleased about.

chanie

I bought my Mum's birthday present today, as her birthday is next week. This is a planned spent, so not over the budget.

She once commented that she liked my make up bag and they were reduced in sale, so I have saved £15. Its a big birthday for her, so I wanted to get her something nice. I'm really pleased with my saving on this.

chanie

Now it's time for a frugal January. I've pretty much paid all of my January expenses, so is just a matter of keeping things ticking over until pay day now.

I haven't achieved all of my 2015 goals, but I have made steps in the right direction and I do think that you can't be complacent with these things.

As I said in a previous post, we aren't going out tonight for new years, so it will be a quiet and frugal night in. I'm going to use the opportunity to start knitting scarf no 2, which will be an Xmas present for my mum (Xmas 2016, not the one just gone). I'll probably knit a few more as presents throughout the year.

Kitten868

How did you do percentage-wise on your target. Going to work mine out now lol x

chanie

I didn't set myself a target. I was doing really well with my overdraft, but OH had a period of time when he didn't get much work, so it went back up. I hope it doesn't happen again.

On a less pleasing note, OH got a parking ticket, so that's an extra £65 to pay. I'm to see if I can offset the ticket against something else, at some point.

Today, I diverted a couple of the children's Xmas presents to my present box, so they can be regifted. They were given some clothes, which are a size smaller than they normally wear, so whilst they fit, it won't be for long. The supermarket wouldn't let me exchange them without a receipt and OH says, we should just let them wear them, but I think it's a waste. If I can regift them, it will save us some money.

Kitten868

Why is it they never have to find the money to cover their messes? Good idea with the clothes. I've had the same thing happen and just sold them x

chanie

This is my 5th attempt at writing this post, so it will have to be brief now.

In terms of the parking ticket, we don't get them often, so I can't be harsh on OH. He's much better at not spending than I am, so I should learn a lesson or two from him.

Today, I popped to the train station to buy my train ticket for work as the ticket office isn't open when I get there. I managed to save £4 through claiming back for train delays in 2015. The train companies put so many restrictions on claims so there are times when I've been delayed but couldn't claim. I will definitely claim as much as I can this year.

I was also given 2 x £2 coins. OH and I save them for our holiday fund, so they went into the pot. They always seem to come at the worst possible times, although it is nice to see the funds build up.

chanie

a set back

Had a couple of big bills to pay, which have to cone out of savings.

One of which is our washing machine is playing up. We've had it about 8 years and it wasn't expensive, so I don't think there is much point in getting it repaired. OH suggested we wait until it breaks down before replacing it. Whilst I'm tempted, I think will be too stressful to manage without one, as we have youngish children.

So, I popped into town to do some banking. I parked really far away from the town centre so I wouldn't have to pay for parking. I normally don't mind parking and walking, but I'm time poor, so it's no always convenient.

spends
Fries -I bought Dd some McDonald's as the walking meant we were out for a couple of hours.

I exchanged some unwanted Xmas gifts which came to £2.50 over and this included a couple of stocking fillers for the children.

I think that's pretty good going in terms of spends. I always end up spending when I go to town, so I was going to limit my trips now that Xmas is over, so I won't go next week if I can help it.

I'm going to set up a standing order to rebuild the savings.