Trying not to get into more debt

joedenise

@Toonie the Santander Lite account has a minimum monthly payment of £500, costs £2 a month but you get Cashback on your bills paid by DD.  Might be worth considering and as @savingholmes says you can recycle the same money throughout the month.

Hopefully the SMs will be having the cheap veg wars again shortly which should help with your fresh Christmas stuff!

Toonie

Unfortunately the only DD out of my account is my phone bill, everything else is from my DPs account.

I'm hoping for cheap veg wars. I managed to get several bags last year after Christmas as well and made a huge vat of veggie soup which portioned up very well in the freezer and meant lunch cost pennies for several months.

Went and did a big shop and stock up in Aldi. Got a few Christmas items (mince pies, chocolate, and a Christmas pud). We got coffee and tea for the next month which was needed as we were running low, plus have got meat portioned up for at least 18 evening meals. Spent £107 but that means any other shops in December will be fruit and veg (from the market) or from Lidl so should be able to keep to my £160 budget for December (we've got a separate budget for fresh stuff for Christmas dinner which has been saved from Swagbucks and the £25 win we had from Premium bonds).

savingholmes

Sounds very organised and great portion control

Toonie

Thanks, I've been setting aside money from Swagbucks for a while, after it's paid for Netflix (basic level) I put the other money towards Christmas and special occasions (Xmas/SO). Before that, in order to save for Christmas, at the end of every week I would round my account down to the nearest total ending 0 or 5 and that money would be transferred to an online account. It always meant I had Christmas sorted without having to worry too much about finances.

This year the Xmas/SO fund has £91 left which is great. The last month I've managed to have quite a few things work well on Swagbucks so I've ended the month with some good totals.

savingholmes

Well done. Always great to come under budget.

nannygladys

You seem to be sorted Toonie, I wish I was so efficient, after next pay day I'm really going to knuckle down as I need to do some house repairs next year and would like my front room decorating, so some really serious saving will happen, well I hope anyway!!
Nannyg

Toonie

I've always been fairly penny-pinching as I've never had much to begin with so I've found various schemes to save money over the years.

Today I had an interview for another nannying job. This one I was recommended for my previous employers who know the family well. Things seemed to go well but they did say that they still have a few more people to talk to but they want to have things in place by the end of next week. Childcare roles seem rather thin on the ground at present.

Otherwise I've managed to get a present for DP and I had a 25% discount code, so that was useful and tonight we are having sausage and mash for supper (and veggies and lashings of gravy).

savingholmes

Hope you get the right job for you soon. Meanwhile - well done on the bargain / discount code hunting. It all helps.

Toonie

Thanks, it definitely all helps. I've got a mornings babysitting tomorrow for my old employers whilst they take their new one to a health screening. It will be nice to catch up before Christmas and I'll get a bit of extra money to pop aside for the new year. I'm still waiting to hear about the other job and applying for jobs as and when I see them. I've also managed to get my booster vaccine booked in which I'm happy about.

savingholmes

All going in the right direction.