The October Awakening!

NinjaSavingKat

Fmess wrote: »

I am definitely going to aim for 25 but think 22 is more realistic as OH needs bread for lunch sandwiches at least twice a week and our freezer is always crammed full with my gluten free bread (which I get in packs of 8 loaves!)

I figured if I do a weekly shop on 31st October (money budgets run 25th-25th) then that'd save me one SFD in NOvember is this cheating?

DO you notice a difference being gluten free or are you allergic to it? I am tempted though...

Regards the cheating I shall turn a blind eye right now since your paydays are a bit skew-iff in regards to this thread. But take a list, plan carefully etc... and may the force be with you! :rotfl:

Fmess

littleskintdragon wrote: »

Fmess i thought of doing the same, but went to my freezer and cupboards and worked out i had 92 meal portions :-/ will be needing fruit/veg (although i do have some frozen) and bread and milk. Dh and dd take sarnies for lunch, and i usually have something toasted or a sarnie for my lunch.
How is bread after being defrosted? Im quite fussy and like nice soft bread, or i suppose i could buy stay fresh bread, usually has a week on it, and buy extra milk to freeze.

Eta: i have bread mix, ill use those up 7 packs :-/ lol

littleskintdragon I always have bread defrosted from the freezer but my OH says he doesn't like it as it's not soft. He has been good with the new food budget and he doesn't get as many treats as he used to so I kind of feel he should get to have soft bread!

Fmess

thrifty I'm impressed your OH doesn't know! Mine notices from the amount of time I spend glued to my iPad atm! He does take the mickey out of me but he also has started reminding me not to go to the shop or I'll ruin my SFDs (he is really competitive!)

NSK I have coeliac disease so it is a necessity but it makes such a difference. I know a lot of people avoid gluten out of choice as they find it suits their digestive system better.

Still awaiting the call from the garage

thriftylass

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Does he now know at all?? How on earth are you managing to manage him...:rotfl:... If you confessed what would he say! Does he have a competitive streak you could throw into the mix ...? I think you are doing such a good job by keeping this secret... hard work though I am sure!

Fmess wrote: »

thrifty I'm impressed your OH doesn't know! Mine notices from the amount of time I spend glued to my iPad atm! He does take the mickey out of me but he also has started reminding me not to go to the shop or I'll ruin my SFDs (he is really competitive!)

Subtlety :rotfl::rotfl:. I got the variable bills like groceries, HH and I am responsible for the savings mostly. He got most of the fixed bills like mortgage, car etc (for which he now learned to shop around - 10 years of subtle nudging, as he used to be an ostrich when approached directly). So he only needs to spend on fuel and his private stuff. That's our agreement as he used to be rubbish with money. So I only really count my side of the finances. And also with the wedding and a new baby coming up it's easy sometimes to say oh but we've got that in and i could magic up x, y and z for dinner rather than buy more without revealing the real reason (this challenge). Or if I want to save an SFD I send him to the shops alone if he wants beers on a Friday, but do the big shop on my planned day (usually Saturday). Also usually I plan my shops well enough to not run out of milk etc. I do most of the cooking, if he'd meddle in that it would much more difficult . Most of the christmas shopping is done by me so I can look around for deals or I make hampers for friends. Some things he picked up himself somehow, like going to TKMAXX now for his branded clothing (most of the skater shops are shut now or he's too old for them) or friend's kids birthday gifts.
He's an ipad addicts too so it's not so obvious . Plus most of the time I check in from work He can be competitive but the SFD thing would still be a step too far. I'm glad I got him as far as to see that going to LIDL is better than Tesco value (which he wasn't too fond off) etc. Give me another 10 years and he'll be here too :rotfl: Atm he'd rip my head off for talking to strangers about our finances. He was always like my house is your house etc when I first moved in with him. But he was never really open/comfortable about his finances till recently and would think what I am doing is completely OTT.
Little white lies help too. I still cycle to work at nearly 5 months pregnant because I enjoy it, it's good exercise and I save the fuel (for him driving me in) and £1.80 for the bus back. But the last two he's not been told I usually just tell him the end result (like we saved x pounds despite having big bills y and z) and name a few examples on how I achieved it. As i said subtlety.

All in it's not as difficult as it seems, but sometimes I give in to the suggestion of a friday night pizza or getting extra bits in if we don't like what I planned for tea. Or he hasn't told me about a visit etc and then it's hard to put my foot down without blowing my cover.

00TL

LoveaDove

Thrifty - Huuuuuuge Congratulations!! How lovely is that?! One of each

:A

clippy_girl

this may have been asked previously and there is a prob a reason for it but just wondered why grocery spends from grocery budget cant count as sfd like petrol and other budgeted for stuff :think:

i mean pure grocery spends on proper foods for meal plan, not counting stuff like booze, treats like pizzas/curries, sweets, random objects that tescimos sell that look appealing etc? :A

have been good today and had a sfd :A i have lost count though

TiptoesDB

ThriftyLass congratulations! that's great news...

SFD 18 here. Nothing else to report here.

Nearly there...

Fmess

As feared my MOT and service was expensive, £385

However, must be positive. I had saved enough money to cover a large bill, so it will not mean I go further into debt (although it does mean I can't pay as much off my credit card ).

Other positives; I was still able to make a small payment off my credit card, meaning I have less than £2000 until it is paid off :T And today was SFD number 20 :T Also sent off an envelope of old gold jewellery so hopefully this will make a little bit of money (they were all light pieces).

Maisie_M

SFDs: 16/20
Food budget: £403.10/£350:o
Donation: £0/£3
Planned outings: 1/1 Meal out for birthday with OH (paid on voucher already)
Takeaway £19.40/£20 - Chinese to celebrate birthday with children,
Take lunch to work: 16/18
Beauty spends £2.67/£10

Another 2 SFD yesterday and today and also lunch to work days. Tomorrow won't be an SFD as have a small spend for hallowe'en party for DS on Thursday. Just hot dogs and ham to make pizzas so not much.

Signed up for NOvember and hope to be a bit more organised on the food budget as it's been a bit battered this month but it was our first month and we did kind of panic buy at the start of the month.

cottage_retreatist

eek - at 17 NSDs!!!

so if I don't spend for the rest of the month - I still won't make 20 but I will have increased my NSDs by 2 from last month which I am happy with!

Next month - got to stay on plan with meals as the money definitely went unnecessarily on food this month - MUST PLAN, MUST PLAN, MUST PLAN- also need to store cupboard stock up so I have the basis for anything!

thrifty - for a long time I didn't tell OH I was on here because he also doesn't like our private lives being aired in public (he doesn't have any online profiles) but now he's behind it, makes my life much easier!! Doesn't reduce his spending on pizzas though! hehe!!!!

2 more NSDs to go! we can do this!!
and amazing those people already at 20! well done!

xx