August's Almighty Advance

fyggy

Evening AAAers!

Still on track here!

SFD 8/20. 2 on the trot. Hoping I can get in a 3rd tomo if DH buys the program at the footie.

Budgets:
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Fuel/car: £13.59/50 - The rest of that shall go into the hubby's fuel tank this weekend to cover the rest of the month.

Food: £94/120. Next and last shop pre-payday planned for Weds.

Milk: £22.99/25. High budget I know. We drink a LOT of milk and currently switching over to 'normal' stuff from Lactofree. Smooth transition so far and if all is well a tiny budget required for next month in comparison.
Kat- Keep the cow


Cash generating: nil further to add. Still awaiting sales of big items. Fingers crossed my 2 items sell soon (hoping to get £450 min). A few eB.ay items ending tomorrow. Carboot now planned for mid Sept due to my shifts. Done my Herbalife training and now started being a distributor... Just need some clients!

Credit card payments: £256.42. Ongoing. Did a balance transfer from one to another as I had a bit that wasn't on 0%. So all on 0% now.

Sealed pot £3 Found a £2 coin in the washing machine which may or may not have been DHs. It is now property of sealed pot!:T

Alcohol abstinence: 6/28 Aug 11th-Sept 7th

I've been looking at next months finances and we have A LOT to payout Off visiting the in-laws in N.Ireland so ferry & fuel to pay for. Our anniversary so staying in a hotel for one night and diving the following day. And also doing a mad event called Tough Mudder which will involve a hotel stay and night out.. It will be the end of my alcohol abstinence! Plus my car tax! :eek:

However, in and amongst that I have an interview for a job which will give me the same pay as I have now but without working 120 of my 150hrs a month doing nights and weekends. Fingers crossed for that!

LoveaDove

Siouxsie - I used Asda (online) to trade in old mobile, very straight forward. Put some details in online, they sent me envelope, got proof of posting, they emailed updates, cheque received within a week. No issues.

Another sfd \o/ 6/20

*Flies out- on the wings of a Dove*

brizzledfw

Frugal day today..again no spend other than fuel as the red light came on....unavoidable really!

wannabee_in_credit

NSD yesterday.

Maybe one today -depends if I do the last of the grocery shopping for the month or not. I've totally blown the food budget this month, but thankfully I'm under with fuel (what a difference no commute makes) so that will balance it out.

The car being so expensive has really made things tight for the rest of the month though so I will need to be very careful for the next fortnight :eek:

littleskintdragon

7/20 sfd 0/£3 charity 3.75/£10 beauty £1.60/£15 days out 0/£10 treat £200/£200 groceries 60/£120 fuel

PDidnt post yesterday because i was angry at spending £1.60 when i could have had a nsd, but ive just realised that i had taken dd out as a treat so it can come out of my £15 treats! :j

Had to buy dd her uniform and shoes ready for school this week which cost a fortune and i forgot to budget for :mad: grabbed a few last minute baby items 2 whilst i was out, like the free baby changing bag with a pack of nappies from Boots.

Also did a food shop on the same day, which took me slightly over my budget but shouldnt need anything now until pay day - friday, went to mr.T to use the vouchers i had through.

Trying to sort my tangled jewellery this morning and hoping to fleabay some unwanted bits! Have got one item finishing today, but no watchers or bids yet. I'm a bit reluctant to put to much on incase i go into labour and cant post it.....

Anyway, was hoping to have around £500 leftover this month and at this minute i'm looking to have somewhere around £480 left so not bad

Munchin

Morning all

I know I haven't been about much this week but I'm back:). My counsellor suggested that I was using my evening activities (exercise classes & reading blogs) as a coping mechanism. I was to lay of the blogs and no exercise . Ok I have to confess she was right and it was a bad week but I came out the other side . I now have to work on accepting myself and relaxing.

Anyhow my Misc budget is gone....how many of you have factored in paying for your Xmas dinner in August:eek:. I heard on the radio that one of the shops in Belfast have their selection boxes out - I kid you not. That will be my last reference to Xmas until Dec. I also used part of this budget to pay for accommodation in Italy in Oct:D ( this was put on the credit card as it is cashback but paid off immediately:A)

I'm heading to the shops but I have £30 of OHs money in my pocket.

Money August

Groceries: £95.84/£150
Misc: £[STRIKE]150/£150 [/STRIKE]
Diesel - £150.25/£180
SFD -6/20

Living_a_good_life

Afternoon all - well we are back in soggy south west!! It is warmer down here though. No more sfds although Im hopeful for one tomorrow. Had to go to big town to pick DH car up from his work so went to A1di. I always forget how much cheaper things are from there - just got to be careful not to pick up heaps of random stuff you dont need! Anyway hopefully petrol purchases now finished for the month and food will be under budget too!! As for SFDs pathetic so far but there are still 14 days left to deal with!

House news - our potential buyer has ruled themselves out so we are now at the mercy of the estate agents etc. A bit gutting but it's good to know where we stand and Ive bought a bottle of wine to help. Unhelpfully someone viewed middle earth yesterday morning and really liked it. After our mammoth house decorating /tidying efforts its all beginning to feel a bit of an uphill struggle that we have no control over. Going to keep going and see what happens. Will probably leave ours on the market even if middle earth does get sold and take it from there....

Love to all, LAGL xx

Jonesy88

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

How cheap does that make it?

Cheaper than OH going the pub to watch the footie!

Littleskintdragon - well done on having that much left over! i'm a pay off the lump sum on payday and leave myself with only my budgeted cash left kind gal.

Yesterday was a SFD but today i drove a couple of friends to an underground cavern type thing for my friends birthday. £25 spent (but budgeted for and also included lunch) and despite a 50 mile round trip my petrol gauge hasnt moved

Moneymash

Been awol recently, work has been naff and it had put me on a downer. I cancelled all of my extra shifts and phoned in sick. When I eventually went back to work, my line manager did little more than tell me what she thought I wanted to hear. I still got asked to pick up another shift, which I felt I couldn't refuse, partly because they'd indulged my hissy fit and because I need the money. I really shouldn't have cancelled those shifts, but I had to make my point!

Anyhoo I just watched a 'change your attitude' clip on You tube and strangely it was about a woman who hated her job...let's just say it did the trick and I am grateful not about the clip but about the job.

In other news. I have purchased a slow cooker. In the last few weeks I have spent £12 on ready meals Tesco doing any 3 for £6. I got the Italian ones, which were ok, but not great, so I tried the Indian ones and they were so, so also. I then went to the Co-op for a little shop and considered another ready meal that was half price at £1.50, I put it back as I have packets and packets of flavoured rice at home, which cost me 40p each. It occurred to me that rather than trying to find cheap but tasty ready meals I could cook exactly what I want in a slow cooker and much cheaper.

I checked out Argos and they have one for £12, it had 422 reviews most of them 5 star. However, I wondered about the size as I would be cooking for just me. I checked out Amazon and they do 1.5 ltr and 2.4 ltr slow cookers, confused; I posted on the OS board.

A poster said it would take me about 10 days to eat the contents of a 3.5 ltr pot, someone else suggested the Aldi electric multi-cooker which is a bargain at £39.99 (Aldi is a far distance from me and it was an 'only while stocks last item') Argos do a multi-cooker but it is £59.99 ( I could ring and reserve, it's easier to get to, I could pay on my card over 3 months and I would get £5 voucher for my next shop). Then someone suggested wilkos they are doing a 1.5 ltr slow cooker for the amazing price of £8. It has a low, high and auto setting and in the blurb it said about keeping the food warm (although there is normally a setting for this which I didn't see in the photo) not sure about this, but still good value. I have requested it be delivered to my nearest store so no delivery charges, I just have to collect and pay for it, which will come out of my misc budget.

I have found some cheap recipe books on Amazon I want. I won't start using the slow cooker until next month as I will have to stock up on ingredients which I hadn't budgeted for, I can't wait to start using it though.

Today was a SFD for me taking my total to 12. Signature updated.

judi24

Just checking in - having a bit of a busy time - 3 bedrooms painted and hall stairs and landing done too - but so easy to let spending run wild when decorating - it is all budgeted for but was doing a spreadsheat today and been overspending a little! Must be reigned in!
Other spending is ok but not as good as it could be. Got load of fruit and veg in the market yesterday for just £15 - a lot less than I would of paid in the big supermarkets. Then did an Aldi shop - younger kids back from dads tomorrow so needed to stock up with lunch stuff and snacks - but trying to be healthy and stay away from junk food. Spent £52 in aldi making a total of £67 - but shouldn't need too much else this month - maybe some fruit and veg and milk next week.
Today was not good - been so busy running around that resorted to getting a takeaway for tea- so £10 for that - which I could of lived with! but nipped into co-op and they had loads of things on offer so ended up spending another £15 - did get cheese, bread, diet coke (I am an addict!!!!) but the rest was junk!

So grocery budget this month stands at £179/200
Fuel 30/50 - but fuel is getting low so will need some more before the end of the month
3/20 NSD - not getting far with this but that's because the decorating needs me to buy things most days - but all budgeted for!
0/3 Charity - still need to address this - might involve kids
0/10 beauty spends - don't need anything
0/15 - cheap days out - was going to use these when kids get back

I might not make the NSD challenge but this challenge really has helped me think about my spending and I have got better at buying 'bits' I don't need - except for today that is!!!!