Mrs S, family life and debt

debtaghh

Well done on the surveys and have a lovely day.

MrsSave

I went over budget but thinking realistically, the budget wasn't, well, realistic! I budgeted £25 for a full day out. Lunch, snack, parking and anything else that cropped up. Lunch wiped that out in one go!! So instead of £25, we spent £36.80. I did return a pair of trousers and am getting £15.60 back on the card so it's all good. I've also still got over £50 to last us until Friday night in the budget and almost £15 in our spending 'buffer'.

On top of that we filled the car up with petrol which cost £46.13 after using the money off voucher, and our food shop came to £57.68.

We then went to a firework display. We had a choice between tonight and tomorrow night, but tonight's was cheaper. It was the ds2's first time, but he loved them. It was £10 entry (I'd already budgeted for) and we ate before going so no extra spends.

Tomorrow should be a nsd as we're not going anywhere. I'm making a roast chicken dinner. We have a large whole chicken as they didn't have the medium I ordered in stock. Large for the price of the medium :j The leftovers will fill a few sandwiches and will be part of another meal next week.

MrsSave

The £3 from opinion outpost has reached my account. I've tried a couple of other surveys there today but I keep getting kicked out!! I have managed one prolific one though. I'm just waiting for 3 surveys to be approved on Prolific and then I can cash out as I'll have over £20.

Today is going to be a super lazy stay in pjs type of day. I need to finish my list for Christmas shopping, as we're going this week (all my Park vouchers are sitting waiting!!) and I need to go through and check all our activities between now and Christmas and put then into a planning sheet to make it clear. We're so busy over the next 2 months it's crazy!!

MrsSave

Well I've had a shock. I knew October was expensive, but I have just added up how much our groceries came to. £396.90. :eek: :eek: :eek: I've mentioned a few times recently that the food shop felt more expensive these days, but that's a ridiculous figure. I'm aiming to knock quite a bit off that figure for November.

Excuses: nappies, formula and baby food are expensive. Baby food we usually only use if we're out as it's so much easier, but we do sometimes get lazy and pull a jar out if we haven't planned ahead. Ds2 does eat the same as us most of the time now, but if we're having junk/beige/unhealthy food, ds2 will have baby food. Formula - ds2 is 1 next month so the formula will be stopping. There will be a saving of almost £12 a week there.

More excuses: we went away for the weekend a couple of weeks ago, and took lots of ready made formula, baby food pouches for the whole weekend. We also took alcohol in cans (ready mixed) which are more expensive. I can probably take £30 off the total for that.

That still makes October far too expensive though!

My target for November is to work on this. With how we budget now, the money is there for spending that amount of money, but it just means less for other things and less to transfer to savings at the end of the month. My aim for November is £300 (which is still far too much, but nearly £100 off October!!

MrsSave

On a happier note, I had another prolific survey. It was confirmed pretty much immediately which took my money to over £20. I've requested a payout of £20.63 :j That leaves £1.70 pending.

debtaghh

I am finding my food bill increasing especially with toiletries. I tend to buy toiletries and cleaning products from savers or home bargains ( not sure if you have those where you live)

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

I am finding my food bill increasing especially with toiletries. I tend to buy toiletries and cleaning products from savers or home bargains ( not sure if you have those where you live)

We do have a home bargains, but I'm super lazy and rather than dragging an 11 month old around shopping on my days off I get one delivery a week. We could definitely save money by shopping around. I do tend to stock up on toiletries when they're on offer, though.

I think I've just taken my eye majorly off the ball with this one. That's definitely been a shock!!

One of my vices is diet coke. I have a can with lunch every work day (my treat for work!). I buy the big boxes of 24 which are £7 every 3 weeks ish. I guess weekly it doesn't work out too bad, but I may have to try something different (not another coke - I've tried many and there's nothing quite like a diet coke!).

debtaghh

MrsSave wrote: »

We do have a home bargains, but I'm super lazy and rather than dragging an 11 month old around shopping on my days off I get one delivery a week. We could definitely save money by shopping around. I do tend to stock up on toiletries when they're on offer, though.

I think I've just taken my eye majorly off the ball with this one. That's definitely been a shock!!

One of my vices is diet coke. I have a can with lunch every work day (my treat for work!). I buy the big boxes of 24 which are £7 every 3 weeks ish. I guess weekly it doesn't work out too bad, but I may have to try something different (not another coke - I've tried many and there's nothing quite like a diet coke!).

Have you ever tried Iceland? You can’t get everything but once a month and buy certain bits that are cheaper e.g the 24 pack of cokes are £6.50 and you can do it online with free delivery if you spend £35. I find their cheese very cheap and they have good offers.

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

Have you ever tried Iceland? You can’t get everything but once a month and buy certain bits that are cheaper e.g the 24 pack of cokes are £6.50 and you can do it online with free delivery if you spend £35. I find their cheese very cheap and they have good offers.

We don't actually have an Iceland nearby! There's talk of one coming (but there has been for years!). Thank you for your suggestions - it definitely helps having someone else's ideas.

debtaghh

MrsSave wrote: »

We don't actually have an Iceland nearby! There's talk of one coming (but there has been for years!). Thank you for your suggestions - it definitely helps having someone else's ideas.

That’s ashane. You are doing so well with money and are very focused so don’t be too harsh on yourself!