The Ultimate February Challenge

YORKSHIRELASS

Congratulations Thrifty!!! Lovely news.

Ouch thats some car bill PJ, still at least you have managed to juggle things around to get it sorted. Hope yours isnt too expensive Poodlegal. Shame about the bag too PJ, but at least you are doing the sensible thing and sending it back. Better that than keep it and never use it!

I went to Aldi yesterday and did my big fortnightly shop. Have spent £248 out of my £280 food budget so I am pleased with that. Should come in under budget, even with the kids at home next week.

Confession time. I bought a top reduced to £7 in Sainsburys yesterday. I will get some money for my birthday though. And we were going to go in the cafe for lunch but DS said we should get a sandwich instead and eat it in the car so saved a few quid there.

Off to make everyone a big cooked breakfast/brunch this morning so that the kids arent wanting to graze. Then hopefully do some gardening as its looking like a nice day. Enjoy your Saturday everyone!

Ninno820

nannygladys wrote: »

Been speaking to DD3 tonight, only 10 weeks to go until I see new DGC3, cant wait, it seems strange that my baby is having a baby, shes going to invest in a travel cot so I can him/her overnight at some stage, but as shes planning breast feeding it wont be for a while:) Will have to get ar*e into gear and get
knitting.

OOOH - I bet you can't wait! Enjoy the peace and quiet - and get knitting!

Today is a rather grey day but I have lots to do. It should be a SFD but I'll confirm this later on. Being the first day of half term I am not only focussing on mse but also on sorting out some form of exercise - the bad weather has gone (hopefully) so my excuses for sticking to short walks should have gone with it. So thats my plan for today - an extra long walk, batch cooking, washing, cleaning and then collapsing with a nice glass of wine:rotfl::rotfl:

All the best everyone xx

ps - is it me or is it quiet at the moment on here? I do hope that we haven't lost anyone on the way.

Learning2Budget

SFD for yesterday and today and picked up some overtime today. So that should be £160 into the pot. Off to update my signature now and hopefully can now chill with the kids n watch a dvd. L2B.x

Ninno820

Okay - so I said that i would update - I have managed another SFD here, walked the dogs for an hour, made a batch of soup for the week, brought in the logs and coal, listed 5 items on ebay and am about to tackle some washing. It must be the nice weather that makes me ready to tackle the workload!

May I just make you aware of another money making opportunity? If you have a child then their school may have signed up with eduvoice (www.eduvoice.co.uk) and they will have a registration number. When you sign up for the surveys they will ask you for that number and then at least 50% of your earnings will go to that school. That doesn't sound like a good deal but the surveys pay out anything from 75p to £3. There are only one or two surveys per week but they soon add up and when you reach £10 you can redeem it for a £10 amazon voucher - just a thought. I am nothing to do with the company so have nothing to gain. However if you do not have children and want a code then pm me and I'll give you our school code. Hope this helps someone.

beckyboo1980_2

Oh pants!!!!! I am doing sooooo badly this month. Have already completely blown food and misc' budget. Food budget is horrendous. Feeding 6 of us plus nappies, pet food, cleaning materials and basic toiletries on £40 per week was just a joke - just couldn't manage it. However over £300 in two weeks is a nightmare. Have been doing lots of batch cooking and buying up of specials offers that I would usually buy anyway when were'nt on offer but still feel very guilty.
Have lots of food in now - its just fruit, veg and milk that I need to top up with before the end of the month. Shouldn't be too many other spends before end of month even though it is HT this week:j:j:j:j:j. Get to spend whole week with all my babies and have lots of free treats planned - Crealy with Tesco vouchers, 'Squirrel day' at local outdoor woodland centre, baking day, bike rides, craft day making all the crafts the children got for Christmas and a 'Superhero day' making all the costumes and props for my 'Superhero headquarters' role-play area at school. Kids love getting involved in making things for my classroom so thats helpful!
Hubby is still on the mission to make going freelance work. Have spent so long this week trying to sort with HMRC what we need to do to sort NI payments and taxes etc... Want to be putting money aside from day 1 so that we don't get stung later on. Have set up two new accounts to do this - one as his business account and a savings one attached which he will transfer a third of everything he earns into. Think we are all sorted now but its one of the things about him being self-employed that makes me really nervous - just want to get things right.
Ebay is rubbish at moment - had loads of items end last night but only 3 sold (making me £5:(). Better than nothing though and just in process of sorting items to sell at NCT Nearly New Sale in a couple of weeks. With twins I have a mountain of things to sell but takes absolutely ages to get it all washed, cleaned and priced up. Still, i look on it as a day or twos work with the profits being my wages for those days.
Car went into garage for new brakes and tyres - imagine my amazement when they rang and said I didn't need either, they had cleaned my brakes and both should last at least another 6 months:eek::j. How fab - £21 for labour. So chuffed as had put aside £500 for this so that can stay in account now ready for MOT and tax in August. However, next day hubbys exhaust fell off:mad:. Cost £120 to replace but at least that was still less than I had anticipated for car repairs this month.
Hope everyone is well - We do seem to be rather absent last couple of days don't we - me included - MUST TRY HARDER!!!!!
Beckyboo
XXX

nannygladys

Hi everyone, well another SFD for me but as Ive been at work and just called in on a friend on the way home it wasnt difficult:)

Dinner tonight was stew that I took out of the freezer last night to thaw out and I have a portion of curry that said friend gave me to try - two weeks on the run, I enjoy going and being a guinea pig for her:) I do make cakes for her as well so its not all take and no give.

Anyway thats all really, just plodding on and trying to keep inside budgets, I think next month I will have to allow more food money as my cupboards and freezer are getting empty but I will have to work out a budget for that when the time comes
Jxx

PurpleJay

Today was a spends day for me. Son has a party this morning (pressie and card from my stash) at a play centre so I bought lunch and coffee for me and then we had to buy a birthday pressie and card for a second party this afternoon. Also bought lemonade and wine to take with us And a few foodie bits, plus taxi home. i will do my sums tomorrow.

Had a lovely sociable day though and looking forward to half term

Hubby is making supper and we are going to watch a bit more of the killing. Drinking tea now!

rosiecheeksblossom

Congratultions Thrifty, marvellous news!!!

thriftylass

Thanks for all the congratulations etc. Still can't quite believe it that after 8.5 years I'm finally a fiance and not a girlfriend any more

Anyway, financially this months isn't going too good despite it being a short month etc. eBay not looking too good yet either but got another day to go and found more items for which I made the listings yesterday. Wanted to wait and put them up next weekend hoping that it would be free again but won't have the time then so I'll do it tomorrow and just accept the listing fees ( these things I believe will sell more likely and for more than the ones I got listed now so might be ok).

Better get my act together though if I want to have a chance to afford a wedding next year (and an engagement ring which we'll choose together next month)

I'll update my numbers on Monday (not looking fwd too it, umph)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

squinky

Ninno820 wrote: »

ps - is it me or is it quiet at the moment on here? I do hope that we haven't lost anyone on the way.

Aw yeah I hope the enthusiasm and motivation showed at the beginning of the month isn't fading too much...we are over half way through now!

I'm sorry I've just realised how long my last post was...yawn!

I was keen not to damage Friday's SFD so instead of nipping over to the shop to spend the best part of £1 on a chocolate bar to satisfy my sugar craving I ended up making biscuits from the stuff I had in, they won't win any prizes but they did the job and I can happily report a second SFD Today I only spent 98p on ys items on a food top up shop

Am struggling with my eBay listings as having computer and photo issues but plodding on. Had a lovely day with family and friends today and now just getting in and going to bed to catch up with all my sky+'d trash tv whilst he's at work and won't judge me!!