Nst; fearless february

WelshKitty85

Good evening everyone!

Thrifty your budget looks pretty good, especially since a large chunk was for baby milk. I buy meat from butchers. I find most is cheaper than supermarket prices. Some meat is a little more expensive, but it is all so much better quality and doesn't shrink when you cook it, so we need less of it.

Bobarella well done on the road kill, what a great find! I am struggling to even find pennies at the moment!

Been in uni today. Took food with me, although it was more snacks than proper food, but at least it resulted in a SFD. Tonights meal was hm lasagne ready meal from the freezer and it was lovely! Children's after school activities were cancelled so I was home earlier than expected and managed a little work on my assignments.

Starting to feel a bit nervous about Friday's job interview, so am hoping to be home early tomorrow and get a bit more prep done.

Made some more progress on savings. DH sold a few items for £25 and has also had a car tax refund of just over £30. I have sold an old phone for £40 which is being collected tomorrow. Will pay it all into savings account when I am passing bank on weds.

Credit card payment has gone out as expected so I have now paid £1152.54 off my debts so far this year.

I mentioned a while ago about problem DH had with new (second hand) car. We had a refund through chargeback and he traded in the rubbish car for a different one. We paid the difference on a credit card (not included in debt total below) partly for the protection and partly incase the first garage contested the chargeback. We have not heard anything and I am desperate to use the money sat in the bank to pay off the credit card, but am worried the garage will dispute it at the last minute. I'm torn about what to do but just hate seeing the balance on the credit card.

Synonymous

Hey everyone, hope everyone is well. Thanks for the bike helmet advice thriftylass and bobarella. Still no bike as I read the online reviews for the bike I had in mind and it was totally slated. Going to ring a local bike recycling company tomorrow and see what they have in.

Thrify, one thing that came to mind in your shopping budget was looking into making your own yoghurt? I have never done this but I think it's easy and low-tech - maybe someone here has experience. £144 a year on yoghurt might be a good potential place to save for a little investment in the yoghurt maker and your little one might enjoy helping to make it. For meat savings maybe cooking a joint (in slow cooker even better) and cutting it up for sarnies/freezing? Or having a meat-free day each week, but depends how important meat is to you both. I bought a bacon joint from the butchers the other day for £4, about 1.5kg and put it in the slow cooker for six hours on its own - came out amazing and has done me at least 10 meals with some still left in the freezer. I'm really new to slow cooker and batch cooking so this was a great experiment!

My budgets this month have gone a bit weird but are still collectively under - I'm over in my food but includes things for the allotment and house before new housemate moved in, which didn't have a budget - also missed a trick as I have love2shop vouchers that need using and wilko take them. I'm on 12 SFDs so I can't make my target of 18 now - I had a look back and a meal deal bought in panic and things like petrol, a book and lots of social things not planned to be on the same day have lost the SFDs but I don't regret the spends themselves.

I've also had some unplanned spends that have saved me in the long run - a set of box sockets for £6 to fix the loose kitchen tap myself. It was impossible to do under the sink without the right tools and will come loose again eventually so worth the investment. Also, my Dyson broke so I took it apart with the help of YouTube and have ordered a new motor and filters for it for £35 to repair myself - £300 new so well worth it. The man at the hardware shop called me 'handy' - praise indeed for a Sheila in his case I think My local bakery also ordered me 2kg of bicarb with their usual order and it came to £1.86! Total bargain and I've already used it for loads of cleaning.

One of my spends this week was on a date last night We had a nice time and it was affordable, but he was not the man for me so the search continues

Sorry this post has gone on forever as usual. 5-a-day is going well, but the meditation and physio have slipped this week. Will try and get back on track ready for the new month, and thanks to mothernerd for the reminder to FOCUS!

EDIT: Also cannot take credit for the soup spreadsheet, think it was savingqueen?

thriftylass

welshkitty good luck with the interview on Friday.

Friday is payday and I got a good butcher near work. Will definitely try that. I had a look at yogurt makers before will have a look again. Another problem is maybe portion size. A 1kg beef joint I cooked in the slowcooker last weekend lasted us 1 steak pie and two portions of stew for the freezer. It was £10 in Lidll. Oh is always starving and eats loads. I'm only 8 st so don't want to reduce food intake either. Maybe introduce a veggie day and a fish day. Thanks for the advice

MagicCat

Hello and Happy Tuesday everyone,

Yesterday was not a SFD as I had to get groceries - my brother is going to come to stay for a couple of days before he goes back which is fab, but meant I needed to get some more bits for meals - I am well over my budget, really annoyed with myself, but I'm going to start tracking exactly what I'm buying next month and hopefully get it down a bit.

Mothernerd - thank you for this week's mini challenge. I'm definitely guilty of always busy...not getting done what I need to - it's a vicious circle as I end up exhausted and stressed as important stuff is still not done. Something to think about indeed.

Bobarella - amazing roadkill find! I think the most I've ever had is a stray 20p!

Welshkitty - sorry, I seem to have missed you have an interview on friday - hope preparation goes well.

Synonymous - I am v impressed that you are repaining your own Dyson - such a good saving.

Have a good day everyone...2 days til payday...

SFD: 12/15
Groceries: £240.37/£200 + 8.99 superdrug
Dentist/optician £5/£20
Petrol and travel: £81.05/£110
Birthdays: £25.76/£30
Social: 42/£40
Food bank donation - done
15 mins/day - this will be decluttering or mindfulness meditation 7/28
Exercise 12/25

shyspender

Hi Turtles,

This is just a quick post because I am at work.

Unfortunately something has come up with work and home and it means that I am not going to be able to run March's challenge.

Hence why I am sneakily logging on at work. I wanted to give everyone as much notice as possible.

I'm hoping someone else can leap into the lurch and I will take over another month later in the year, I just can't give it the time that it will require this month and sadly the people that pay the bills and my home life have to come first.

I'm really really sorry and hopefully somebody will save the day.

shy

Bobarella

Hi All

NSD 7 for me. I managed this by walking so far 2 hours today to the dentists and back, & using some of the free fiver I found yesterday to buy bread.

Have spoken to the carpenter I was waiting on to help finish off work at my shop. Hes booked in for Thursday. After that it is just down to me & my husband, and possibly a day labourer, to kick it back into shape. So thats my focus for today.

I also focused (again) on sorting out my BT situation. After saying it was fine to move my payment date to accomodate my husbands new pay day, they have twice sent me harassing letters/emails demanding immediate payment and threatening suspension of my service. So I've just got off instant chat with them and again been assured its fine & I will be left in peace. Hate having these things hanging over my head even though I know Im in the right.

Meals/snacks all planned for rest of day so should just be a smooth run down from here to bedtime

Sorry to hear things have gone a bit pear shaped Shy Spender. Hope you will be ok.
Where are we with the rosta for this thread? Is it a simple case of we all shuffle forwards a month if that works for whoever is hosting next?

Bob

Calling14

Oh No I was just going to post on here I am down for April challenge and not having a laptop at the moment going to struggle. Usually would try and pop on in work but don't have a great deal of time free lately. Work for house builders and just started on 2 more sites!

If struggling will try and get a short challenge prepared for April but internet access at home not great. I can't do May as away then.

thriftylass

Hi,

Shyspender don't worry, we'll figure sth out. Concentrate on what's important just now and I hope things get easier soon.

I could do March. Would maybe not be as creative as others (although I try my best) and I'm not here from the 26th, but I'm sure as long as I get it going you can cheer each other along towards the end?

I maybe start having a wee think and get sth together just in case.

sazzlebgood

quick post not been around much but finally made my decision about my frog so the other day i took a deep breath sent an email and its done. Huge weight from shoulders just got to deal with the fall out but decided i don't have to justify my decision and they can knickers if they don't like it:eek:. Also paid off one of the credit cards so only one to go. Its larger than it was because we paid for the new bolier on it and kept the cash t we'd saved for it in an ISA. Decided it can stay there until our 0% interest runs out.OH keeps complaining its now to hot can't win! Mothernerd i must of read your mind started looking at how i can make more time and decided to start jogging with the dog so gone from a 4 mile walk to a 4 mile jog, b@@@@y legs are killing me. lol not sure how long it will last as i hate running:rotfl:. Turned out a longer post than planned. Take care everyone.

stewby

Hi there.

Hope you feel better soon shyspender.

I would be rubbish at doing a challenge thing, sorry. I have the utmost respect for people who can do it, especially for those who are imaginative and creates several different mini-challenges too.


All our direct debits have been changed over and we are now ready to rock on 1st March. Am actually quite nervous about this to be honest.
I trust my dad 100% so know the maths will be all good, I am more scared that we (OH and I) haven't sorted the direct debits out properly and they will fail and cause problems.

Went shopping today to buy some food. Each of us contributed an extra £10 each to buy stuff.
Plan for March is to basically plan better. We need shopping lists, meal planners and just budget better.


A bit disappointed just now to be honest as OH has just turned round and asked me about all his car bills. They are all due in April and he wants to use the new joint account.
I know that is what it is meant to be used for but there won't really be any savings in it. I had hoped he would have offered to pay his car insurance by himself (just for this year) seeing as I have already paid mine.
I think I am probably being unreasonable as the account was designed to pay for all car stuff as well. I am just a bit scared as we are only going to start saving in March and then we have this big outgoing in April (MOT, insurance and tax).
Please just tell me that I am being daft.
:undecided

Hugs to everyone. (Sorry for being so me-orientated in this post, I am kinda rambling).