Finding the right mix.......

Zeddy

A good day today, took the girls to the cinema using my free tickets, so no cost and then took drinks and snacks. Went out on their bikes to the park, back kills from trying to help the youngest learn without her stabilisers though!

eBay item sold for £20 tonight so will add that to the holiday account.

Zeddy

Today was a long day, was in the office 7am-7.30pm, but at least managed to pop out to the post office and saw the sun. Posted two eBay parcels and home made card by the kids for my friend. Transferred to eBay money, £33, to my holiday saving account.

Zeddy

Plodding along nicely here, working from home today so quick white wash put on and hung out to dry in the sun to see if it helps whiten the clothes.

I'm not planning on spending anything today but MrZ will take MM out for a swim tonight. MrZ has never been much of a swimmer, he didn't have lessons as a youngster so his technique isn't great but it's good as part of his cross training. MM has been swimming since she was 4 weeks old and has always had lessons, she's 9 and not the fastest, but she has stamina, she once swam 2.5km in one go, it took over 2 hours, but she was determined! So they keep each other company swimming lengths!

Depending which pool they go to I may ask them to get some fruit from the shops as we're out of apples and bananas.

I've realised I've been much more mindful of silly spending this month, we've only spent £700 on the credit card in two weeks (one of which included half term) so that's down on normal. March shouldn't incur much additional spending as there's only Mother's Day, no birthdays, insurances or celebrations, so I'm going to try to have a super cheap credit card month (which runs mid month - mid month).

In very exciting news, we've just booked a holiday for over Christmas, it's unusual for MrZ not to be working, so we're taking advantage and jetting off, this will be paid for from 2018/19 holiday budget and my March bonus, then I just need to sell/use MrZ overtime/cash back around £900 which will mean we've covered the holiday and spending money. This will be the kids Christmas presents, Father Christmas will only bring a handful of presents and we'll buy no Christmas food/tree/crackers etc so this should save at least £500 I would guess.

Zeddy

Summary of Feb
£450 normal mortgage over payment
£449.02 extra mortgage payment into savings
£628.73 into general (mainly hols) saving
£400 into S&SISA

Feb was a quiet month with regards to big items, we had half term and two short trips away. As the credit card was under where I expected it to be we did buy MM a reconditioned iPad as she has mone from 2011 and I think it's giving up the ghost. Even with this I got the credit card down to £1800 from £2k just being mindful. I'm aiming for £1700 this month and will do my grocery shops at Aldi or Lidl rather than Ocado to see what that does.

Busy_Mee1

Some great figures there Zeddy. It sounds like you are really getting the bug for the MFW life...it gets quite addictive.

We switched to shopping at Aldi a few years ago and it has saved us £1000s. I went from spending £130 a week in Sainsbury's to around £65 a week now. We tend to shop mainly at Aldi's and Homebargains, with a bit of Lidl/Sainsbury's and M&S occasionally.

Zeddy

Busy_Mee1 wrote: »

Some great figures there Zeddy. It sounds like you are really getting the bug for the MFW life...it gets quite addictive.

We switched to shopping at Aldi a few years ago and it has saved us £1000s. I went from spending £130 a week in Sainsbury's to around £65 a week now. We tend to shop mainly at Aldi's and Homebargains, with a bit of Lidl/Sainsbury's and M&S occasionally.

It does seem to make all the difference. It also helps there stores are smaller, I switched to online shopping as it would take me about 1.5 hrs to do a shop in the supermarket door to door but 10 minutes online, but with smaller stores it's quicker. Also my kids are older now so easier to take shopping.

Zeddy

Quiet and cheap weekend here, on Friday I hired a Harry Potter film for the kids with a free voucher.

Did a shop yesterday at Lidl and a bargain place where the food is short dated or past it's best before. Also popped to the bank to pay in the PTA money, passed greggs so spent my Vodafone reward voucher for a sausage roll we shared. In the afternoon we went to the park and did crafts as I wanted the kids to make cards for a relative.

We have dancing this morning and in the afternoon we may go to the cinema using my free tickets but it depends on what times the showings are compared to when we'll be passing.

Zeddy

A good selling day today, sold a lamp for £40, ski trousers for £14 and single duvet and pillow case for £14, all for the holiday savings pot.

Also moved a large cupboard from the spare room into MC's room, plenty of extra storage for her small room and extra space in the spare room which gives people more space for their suitcases when they stay.

Zeddy

A few more sales over the last week which totalled £28 which has been paid into holiday savings, plus £23.40 I won on the postcode free lottery! Which I was very shocked about.

Moved £112.45 into saving as expenses were reimbursed which we had already paid for.

Credit card is looking positive, so hope at the end of the month I'll be able to increase savings.

MrZ did an extra private session at the weekend so that can go into holiday savings when that us paid.

I made an Amazon order today, three books for MM which her teacher thinks will stretch her and a cookery book for me. Used a £20 voucher so cost only came to £4.50.