It's time to begin.....

Kakiste

Thanks. I'll see what the prices on ebay/fb are like. 

Excellent money saving today. Sorted all of her uniform at end of July/beginning of August. However still needed to buy school shoes and new trainers. Went to Clarks today and got her feet measured- had a look at some styles in shop (had no intention of buying new but wanted to see what her preference was for styles) Got home armed with new size and bought literally the exact same shoe as she had picked out in the shop on EBay. Including p&p I paid £7.40- the price of the shoes in store? £40.00. Feel like I've won there. Got a brand new pair of clarks trainers for her for school and paid £9. Have also bid on another pair of trainers so she has a new home pair in her new size- currently winning at £2.30

Kakiste

Won the trainers and also picked up a copy of Luigi's mansion 3 (thanks @greensalad - it looks great) for £30. 

Off to the gym tomorrow morning and then heading to stay with our very good friends. Spending 3 nights there and then heading back via my sister in laws on Monday. (We're breaking the journey by stopping at hers for lunch-gives me the chance to pick up the bike she collected for me for sprog's birthday present)  

Nice way to end the holidays.

missymoo81

Oooh Kakiste just caught up. Well done on the sewing and the school shoes! Hope you have a lovely time with your sister.

Kakiste

Had a lovely time down in Wales. Loved being able to slip in some off phrases of Welsh as well - I went to a Welsh uni and half my family live there so I speak it a bit. 
Absolutely loved seeing my in laws this afternoon- caught up with my husband's aunt- who is one of my favourite people in a 2 hour chat at the bbq. 
Back to work for insets tomorrow- can't wait- I've missed my work friends loads.  

greensalad

Kakiste said:

Thanks. I'll see what the prices on ebay/fb are like. 

Excellent money saving today. Sorted all of her uniform at end of July/beginning of August. However still needed to buy school shoes and new trainers. Went to Clarks today and got her feet measured- had a look at some styles in shop (had no intention of buying new but wanted to see what her preference was for styles) Got home armed with new size and bought literally the exact same shoe as she had picked out in the shop on EBay. Including p&p I paid £7.40- the price of the shoes in store? £40.00. Feel like I've won there. Got a brand new pair of clarks trainers for her for school and paid £9. Have also bid on another pair of trainers so she has a new home pair in her new size- currently winning at £2.30

I used to be a shoe fitter for Clarks. I can give you recommendations on how we fit, if that helps with your second-hand search.

I used to get really frustrated with parents "fitting" their kids shoes when I could see they were just poking or prodding with no thought to it. It's not really that hard to learn.

1. Put the shoes on, and make sure the heel is fully in the back of the shoe by tilting it so their heel is on the floor and push the foot fully back (or in the case of little boys, tell them they can smash their heels on the ground to get them to go in lol)
2. Make sure they're laced tightly. Much much tighter than you think, because they loosen quite quickly.
3. Standing up, test the growing room which should be 1.5cm and no more than that, or they will cause issues. Typically the way we were taught was to measure the width of your thumb and then use that for an easy comparison. One thumb width of room at the front is enough growing room. No more. 
4. Check the width by grasping the front of the shoe and firmly running your thumb over the leather, one side to the other. There should be enough to show a gentle ripple of the leather as you move your thumb but not enough that you could pinch the excess. 
5. Rub where the little toe is and the big toe joint bone (though it's not always that present in kids). You shouldn't be able to feel either bulging out of the width.
6. When doing the "walk" test you're really just looking for any slipping of the foot back and forwards, and any awkward stumbling. The feeling tests will give you most of what you need.

It's really important to remember the size measured isn't always the exact size we would sell. I would say only 60% of the time we sold the shoe that had been measured for, so be careful. 

Kakiste

Thank you for that- really helpful

Kakiste

Another month another updated signature. Whilst I haven't broken through the next thousand barrier yet (next one is super exciting!) 
I am really pleased to reflect that I've lived within my means for 18 month and not had an overdraft and put nothing further on credit. 

astrocytic_kitten

I’ve lived within my means for a similar amount of time and I think I’m almost prouder of finally doing that than I am of the debt progress - you’re doing great!

joedenise

Well done @Kakiste, that's brilliant.  Nothing better than seeing black numbers in the bank account!

Kakiste

Did the weekly shop today £28 to cover the following meals;
Today- Beef Quesadilla
Sun- Cauliflower cheese with green veg
Mon- Chicken Katsu
Tues- Spanish omelettes. 
Wed- Chinese noodles 
Thurs- Bami goreng (really nice frozen meal from Lidl- Indonesian meal with pork pieces, noodles and kale- really tasty)  
Fri- Homemade pizza
 
I've mowed the lawns this afternoon as it's apparently going to rain every day for the next week. 

Managed to get my energy deficit down to -122 by increasing direct debit for the last 5 months- it was -500 odd at that point. Next payday (1st October) I will be back to 0. I'm going to try and keep the heating off until the end of October if I possibly can as then I'll go into November with about £100 in credit which should then offset the increased gas usage for the following few months.