Getting back on the MFW Wagon

Needhelpsaving

The weekend is almost here :j

This week has been more mindful in terms of spends. I have spent money, i'm not going to deny that, but I have made purchases that will save us money in the long run.

Bought both DD's some clothing in the ASD* Sale - £26 total. DD1 will wear her's over the coming months (another growth spurt!) and DD2's will be stored for when she is in that size.

I also found some of those busy box books/tins at ASD* for half price (£3 each), so I grabbed two and popped them away to use when DD1 is invited to class mates party's. On the birthday theme, I also bought some clothing for a nephew's birthday later in the year - £9 instead of £18.

Sold another item on Ebay. The guy tried to haggle me down to a ridiculous price, but I knew I had priced it fairly and stood my ground. He ended up buying it at the price i'd asked :T Shipped and money moved to car maintenance fund.

I have £8 boots points and £5 M&S voucher (from CC reward points) which I will use towards this weeks grocery shopping to minimise cash spend.

Have a great weekend!

Needhelpsaving

Grocery shop done - all within budget :money:

£5 M&S voucher used for lots of fruit.
£5 spent in Boots using points.
£12.09 cash in T3Sco following the list I made from our meal plan.

Needhelpsaving

No spend weekend in the bag :j

Eating from meal plan and have planned a couple of free activities/trips with DD2 this week (trip to Library song & story time and free parent and child swim session). Weather permitting, we will also do a trip to the park :money:

earthgirl

Sounds great - I love free kids activities!

Needhelpsaving

This week has flown by (again)!

The free activities I had planned we're scuppered by DD2 coming down with a terrible cold, so we've been at home most of the week.

It's half term here next week, and we have a couple of days out planned with friends. Both will be covered from the Child Benefit account (we put the money aside for clothing, children's savings and days out).

The trip on Friday DD2 gets in free, so my friend and I will be getting a family ticket, as it works out cheaper than buying 2 adults and 2 kids separately. I will plan a packed lunch for us to take to cut down on eating out.

Other than these two days out, we will be doing free activities - park, baking, games and we have a cinema voucher that could be used if the fancy takes us.

I have started to plan March's budget and will continue to tinker with it so it's ready before the new pay month starts :money:

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

So, the half term week has begun and we have had some great money savings over the weekend that I wanted to document;

- Gifted some new (to us) toys for DD1, including a fancy dress outfit that will sort her out for World Book Day at School :money:

- Picked up a couple of typing jobs over the weekend, which all help in moving me towards this months financial targets, (I have broken the targets down into several chunks so they don't feel too overwhelming).

- My birthday was within the last couple of weeks and I had some lovely gifts and money. The money will go to my personal savings pot for me to use at a later date.

- OH uses the Boots No7 face stuff, so I bought some bits (that were needed anyway) to get the £5 off vouchers. I split the list into multiple transactions to get hold of as many vouchers as possible and then was able to buy the items at a £15 discount. I also used the double points vouchers etc to maximise the points that were collected (i'm sure the lady was fed up of me by the end )

- Received and used £3 Tesco Clubcard vouchers.

Money saving today was a trip to the park with both DD's - free fun :money:

Right, this floor isn't going to mop itself, so i'll love you and leave you

Needhelpsaving

:hello:

So yesterday was a write off in the NHS household - OH and DD2 have come down with a horrible cold/flu type thing. So, spends were needed at the chemist.

I also needed bread and washing up liquid but everything came in under £10 (bought own brand meds for DD2 and OH).

I didn't manage to do any typing work, as I was playing nurse, but did enter some competitions.

Today has been an NSD - DD1 had an extra swim lesson to try to complete a distance badge (paid when booking) and the certificate and badge she attained were paid for by a credit on the account for a lesson cancelled last year :money:

Other than that, we crafted, played in the garden and I caught up on the chores I should have done yesterday.

The next few days will be spendy, as we have days out planned and family visiting. I have tried to find coupons/deals where possible to limit cost. Next week will need to be mainly NSD's to keep us on budget.

earthgirl

Sorry to hear your little ones have illnesses. Great news with the free kids activities!

Needhelpsaving

Good Morning!

After three days of non stop days out/entertaining - I ache! On the plus side, I sat down last night and added up the cost of the three days out and am pleased to confirm they came in under £25! :j

Thursday - Trip to the park and meal at a carvery. Park was free and I took some bread for the kids to feed the ducks. The carvery came in at just over £11, as Toby kindly sent me a £10 off £20 spend voucher for my birthday, so I used that

Friday - We met up with my friend and our god daughter. We had originally planned to go to a more expensive attraction, but when we looked at booking the family ticket, it turned out half of the attractions were still closed after winter. So, needless to say we went somewhere else. A local wildlife conservation park, £12 for DD1 and I (DD2 was free) including parking. We also took a packed lunch, so no food spends.


Yesterday - we went bowling and had a burger out. I had budgeted the spends, but when we got there a family member generously covered the whole bill. I offered to give them the money, but they refused and said they would be offended if I kept offering.

So all in all a successful (but tiring) half term :money:

Needhelpsaving

After taking a couple of days off line for us to get back into the swing of school run/after school clubs etc, I wanted to jump back into things here to report the money savings so far this week.

Monday - £24.47 spent on weekly shop (meal planned & listed only what was needed), a birthday card for a relative, parking and a vase from TK Maxx for a reduced cost mothers day flower arrangement (I'm hoping that the vase and store bought/home grown flowers will be well received).

Also cancelled a lingering subscription that I had overlooked.

Tuesday - NSD :j

Today (Wed) - Weekly shop has been ordered for next week (there is method in my madness). I received a £7 off a £50 spend voucher from Mr T this week, and it needs to be used before I was next due to shop. So I have done a click and collect, using a meal plan, list and then stocking up the freezer to make it up to £50. I went just over £50, but have moved the £5.49 I saved straight into my birthday/xmas savings fund so it isn't squandered.

I have two more vouchers that cover the rest of the month, but will only be using one. I also have another N07 voucher, so will use that for another OH face thingy and move the £ to my savings

I hope that makes sense x

Right, off to get some more washing on the line :T