WTBSEs 'Starting From Scratch' Savings Diary.

TM6

JoJoC wrote: »

Morning all!

Anyone have anything nice planned for today?

Yes, I am going to Otley with an old work colleague and we will be hitting the charity shops

JoJoC

That sounds great TM6!

Do let us know what bargains you pick up

WantToBeSE

Good morning everyone I had a lovely lie in this morning so am feeling very lazy

organic_wanabe wrote: »

WTBSE - don't know if you are planning to stock up at Aldi soon, but I believe there is going to be a £5 off a £45 Aldi spend in tomorrow's Daily Mirror.

Thanks OW. I think I will be shopping at Morrisons this week. They have some great deals on at the moment and I prefer that the car park is bigger too!

JoJoC wrote: »

Good evening, I don't know where the time goes these days. It seems that I blink and it's time to go to bed.

Sorry your current method isn't working for you- at least you can say you've tried it and move back to your old ways to see if that helps with the spending.

I'm doing not too badly this week- the only thing ive bought since Sunday is two cartons of milk as we'd run out. Everything else seems to have done us for the week.

Also, we finally got the trade in money back for our phones so that's £200 added back into the savings. Clawing it back slowly but surely.

We have one more payment left on our loan in three weeks time and after that we'll be able to start paying off our credit card (it's on 2 years interest.free in case you think I'm mental for saving when I have debt). It's not much in the grand scheme of things but a few months of paying what would be the loan money into it and it'll be clear. Then we'll be able to save an additional £350!!

Trying so hard to stay motivated and thanks for the reminder about the Aldi voucher. Must remember to pick one up tomorrow.

This weekend I'm going out for dinner with friends, getting my hair done (roots!!) and going to a wedding reception with overnight stay and probably dinner. I'm going to be skint rather quickly this month!

I'll need to work out what we have to spend and try to allocate it to stop us from spending more than we need to.

What do your boys like doing? What about looking for a local vintage car show if they're into cars? They run them near where I am loads in the summer. Biking? Rollerblading? Fruit picking? My boy is only 18 months so sorry I've not got many good suggestions.

You are doing well at getting your savings back on track Jo, so well done

TM6 wrote: »

Don't forget to consider giving Geocaching a try

Thanks for reminding me TM6! I will look into it today.




I had a tour of the gym yesterday. It looks much better than I imagined. I didn't see the changing rooms though, and want to know if the showers are just communal, or if there are some individual ones too.


I am off food shopping today. I should have done it during the week, but never mind. I have a £5-off-a-£40-shop voucher to use there.
I always get £5 worth of savings stamps when I shop at Morrisons. I don't shop there that often, so only have £20 saved at the moment. I don't know if anyone is familiar with their savings stamps- basically you get a card that you stick the stamps to. The card has enough space to save £100 work of stamps. You can use them at any time, not just Christmas.
I tend to save up 2 cards worth (so 2x £100) and use 1 full card during the summer holidays (when the kids are home and eating me out of house and home!), and 1 at Christmas.


I also have a free delivery code for Sainsburys to use in a few weeks. That will be used when its payday and I need to stock up on tinned goods.


I need to buy myself a new bed I really don't want to spend any money, but Argos have some great deals on beds at the moment. I have a TINY bedroom, so have to go for a small double as that's the only way I can fit a wardrobe in my room as well! I really do mean its TINY!! I have finally used the paint that I have had for over a year, and decorated my bedroom. The paint is green, so I am going to accessorize with cream, brown and yellow accessories. the plan is for it to have the feel of nature Nice and relaxing for bed time!





What is everyone up to today? We are having a quiet day at home, getting ready for the boys to go back to school and doing housework.

WantToBeSE

Eco_Miser wrote: »

Spending hundreds at half term? What will you be spending during the summer break?

When I was a boy (50+ years ago, so things may have changed slightly ), we would go to the beach or into the country (North Yorks Moors) and the only costs would be the petrol to get there, and an ice-cream, assuming the picnic food was much the same as we would have been eating at home. Actually, now I've retired, I go to the same places, and I don't even have to pay the petrol, thanks to the NCTS pass! :beer:

Sorry EM, I missed this out on my last post.
I know, its a lot of money. But in the end we didn't do ice-skating or the cinema so the cost was less than I anticipated.

atush

About beds, do you ever shop at Tesco? Get points? I bought 3 beds with them a few years back, saved me hundreds. Esp if you use them during a Boost period where they are worth double so a bed that costs 200 quid will only cost 100 of vouchers etc.

The decorating sounds nice.

I was over on my Tesco spend again this week. I am disgusted lol. I will have to tell the OH he can't afford to retire

WantToBeSE

Gooood Morning


I am in a cheerful mood this morning. So, its already Sunday...where did the rest of the weekend go? I am only working 9.30-12.30 tomorrow, so not too bad.
Then I will come home and book my induction at the gym.
I have decided on the fitness class that I want to try- its called AeroBiking, or Spinning as its called in other places. It looks brutal and may kill me, but in a oh-my-god-I-have-to-try-that kind of way! I was watching a class while having my tour and just WOW!
I really want to follow some fitness blogs but cant find any good UK based ones. Recommendations appreciated!


I did the food shopping yesterday. The result was £80 (inc. £5 of saving stamps). Not too bad I guess, especially since I bought LOADS of F&V.


Sunday means meal planning day. Today we are having Roast Chicken with all the trimmings (Broccoli, Cauli, Carrots, Peas, Roast Potatoes, Yorkies, Stuffing Balls and Gravy). I did forget to buy Sweet Potatoes yesterday, so will have to go and get some from Tesco, but apart from that I should have a no spend day!
I need to give the bedroom a final coat of paint today too, and then get everything ready for the boys to go back to school tomorrow.


atush- How much do you budget for food shopping? Re the beds - Yes I have looked at Tesco, but I think that I am better off with Argos at the moment as they have some good deals on.
But I am also going to look at Trago Mills (if you live in the SW you'll know what I am talking about). Its basically a huge warehouse shop that sells everything from books to bed, to sinks to camping stuff, to food, paint, toys etc etc. They are doing some good deals too at the moment so we'll see.


Have a great day everyone!

JoJoC

WTBSE, what about waiting until you move house to buy a new bed? You might find you have a bigger bedroom that'll allow you to buy a bigger bed so you don't have to worry about going for a small double?

Atush, sorry you went over your Teach budget, get your husband out to work more to compensate

I'm having a lovely weekend with my little boy- had a bbq last night at my sisters and now off to get ready for a wedding reception tonight. We're having a night away so going to have a wee explore and some dinner layer before we go too.

Managed to not spend as much as I thought I would the last couple of days so that's good!

Just found out that I should be getting the second half of my bonus in a few weeks so that'll be a small boost to the savings.

WantToBeSE

Jo, I would love to wait, but I am currently sleeping on the floor after my bed broke in spectacular fashion. I knew it was coming, so its not really surprising.
I bet you are looking forward to getting the other half of your bonus! Have a lovely time at the wedding reception tonight


My Roast Chicken didn't go to plan, when I opened it, it stank to high heaven! So it was obviously bad and I had to chuck it in the bin (and then put the bin at the end of my path at the bottom of the garden, the smell was that bad). So instead, we are having all the roast dinner bits with chicken pie. I'm not complaining! I love chicken pie!

JoJoC

Ooh, I didn't realise it had broken! Need to find a bargain then!

Shame about the chicken too- had you only just bought it? Can you take it back for a refund?

JoJoC

Good evening, how is everyone?

I've done a big overhaul of our finances so I'm a lot more on top of what's coming in and out. Feeling much better about things! Positivity!

Also another £3 in my £ tin