Still trying to stay in the black

PinkHairbrush

Oh gosh spendy day today. 

I had to buy some cat litter - big bag cost £26.99 but should hopefully do us to March. While I was out nipped next door to home bargains and got a couple of multipacks of chocolate bars. They also had all their Easter stuff in so I grabbed what I needed to fill a couple of brightly coloured baskets I got in the works last year for the children. Thought it would make a nice change to the usual egg - got a mix of small Easter eggs, chocolates and jelly sweets. All in came to 9.24. 

Treated my parents (who are our bubble) to fish and chips for dinner tonight. The kids got stuck in as well. It was an expensive dinner at 29.35 but the least I can do after they raised me and everyone enjoyed it!

Ordered some photos tonight which was something else off the never ending to do list and 6.99. 

Roll on tomorrow for hopefully a less expensive day lol. 

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on the weight loss. I use nutracheck to keep track of calories. 

IzzyBee

Well done on your weight loss hopefully your purse will stay shut today but not a bad spend for the Easter eggs 

PinkHairbrush

Thanks enthusiasticsaver and Izzybee. Hoping for another pound or two this week so better get my head back in the game after the weekend. 

Yesterday was indeed a better day money wise. Set aside collection for church and that was it. Helped along by the fact we had a serious snow day!

Will need to venture to the shops today as the fridge is bare. Still have about a tenner of our food budget left. Let’s see how far we can stretch it!

PinkHairbrush

Spent 4.18 in Tesco on milk, houmous, passata and a block of cheese. My mum gave the kids a pound each and they were able to get quite the haul of sweets and chocolate so that should last a few days. 

The sun was out so we walked but I near wrecked myself pushing the buggy in the snow. Thought there would have been a little thaw at least but I was wrong. It was good exercise to say the least lol. 

Also saw a great fire engine in the half price sale so got my dad to pick one up and will put it away for one of the kids birthdays. They will absolutely love it. So £25 from the present fund but well worth it!

All meals made at home again today. Threw together a quorn bolognese for the dinner for everyone and there are enough left overs to do tomorrow night as well. Home made gingerbread dinosaurs for dessert - yum!

PinkHairbrush

2.80 spent on fruit and crisps today. 

Looks like there is a bit of wiggle room left in the budget. I know, shock horror. Just as well because DC1 needs a couple of bits of clothes and I was trying to hold off to exchange some unwanted Christmas gifts but with the lock down being extended I might just have to bite the bullet. 

Funnily enough, after realising things weren’t just as tight as I had thought, we found our way to the McDonald’s drive thru earlier! Only 6.97 spent though which I think is pretty good going lol. 

Going to have a look at the budget tonight. Think I might be able to up the grocery fund slightly and stock up a bit for coming in to February. 

Cleared out a small amount of old papers today and listed a couple of things on gumtree. Hoping for a bit more organising in the roof space tomorrow. 

PinkHairbrush

So added £35 to the grocery budget and hit Tesco this morning for a ‘big shop’. Cupboards and fridge freezer looking very well stocked for starting the new month. Should help us stay on track again in February. 

Got an extra item and put it in the food bank basket. Writing this here so I remember to do it more frequently than I currently do. So many people in need, especially just now. 

Got a big whack more done in the loft. Lots of rubbish, mostly empty cardboard boxes, brought down and got rid off. Well, crowbarred in to the shed that is full of stuff awaiting a skip - at some point!

A girl also came and collected the baby stuff I had listed on gumtree so that’s another box load of stuff out of the house. Wahay!

Cleaned the downstairs bathroom and vacuumed, as well as keeping all the washing and dishes up to date. So house sitting lovely - always helps everything else!

PinkHairbrush

Children up extra early this morning, which is never good for my spending or my waist line!

Managed to avoid serious damage to the budget and got away with about £3.50 worth of treats. 

Also had to pay for a new term of extra curricular activities for eldest DC. They are being great though and knocking off 50% as thanks for sticking with them through lockdown. Super!

My direct debit for my electricity had been reduced to £8 - I know we don’t use a massive amount but come on! So phoned up and got that raised to a more realistic monthly figure. 

Also submitted some tax deductible work expenses to HMRC so got my tax free allowance raised a bit. Result. 

PinkHairbrush

Yesterday was again a more spendy day than planned, but in a good way. 

Went to Tesco to get just pombears, honest! But they had a ridiculous toy sale on, so got some stuff for the children to put away for Christmas. Paw patrol Dino rescue, play dough candy shop, Lego case and Sylvian family raspberry house - all for 30 quid! Also spent a pound on a multipack of pombears lol. 

Little one has also taken an interest in the oven so ordered a child lock off Amazon. Got my sister to put it through as she has prime so free delivery scored. 

Was clearing the boiler cupboard out in the morning as it was getting serviced and found a leak! Hopefully sorted now and £55 to pay at the start of the week. But that will come out of February’s budget. 

Can’t believe we are at the end of the month. Will be doing a bit of a look back and totallying up my spending diary categories to see how January has gone. 

PinkHairbrush

Have insomnia so drinking tea and totalling up my January spending. 

Between it being a five week month and a couple of bigger Tesco deliveries (as well as a trip in to home bargains yesterday!), the food shop has come in at 150.98. This is a bit higher than I had hoped for but I still think good.

A whopping 132.15 spent on presents this month but have got both kids’ birthday presents and started on Christmas, as well as buying for three new babies and putting stuff away for another couple later in the year. 

Petrol was high also at 134.67 but unavoidable with a few extra long trips to work. 

Decent spend on clothes at 38.50 and tiny spends on the house (14.28), clearly helped by most shops being closed with the lockdown!

Overall very happy with how January has gone. Good start to the year. For February I hope to bring the food and petrol in slightly less and the present spends a good deal less!

Also finishing the month four pounds lighter - let’s repeat this also!