Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

We had some bad news about the health of a close family member today and I am feeling a little emotional.

I didn't take the mince out of the freezer to make tacos as planned for dinner as was a bit all over the place but have rustled up dinner using some odd bits of stuff from the freezer i.e. 1 x GF pie and 2 non-GF sausages

Spent today on haircuts for all 3 of us but the good news is my hairdresser has recommended that I now wait 8 week between cuts as I grow my hair out. That will reduce the £80 in my SOA for haircuts to £45/month

I checked my soap powder earlier in the week and it seems to have evaporated as I haven't done any washing during the week and it has now gone! Spent £21.73 on a big 70 wash box of powder on offer at Mr S and also 2 YS GF loafs, GF cereal, crisps and a bottle of alcoholic dandelion and burdock for DH.

DH also bought a new charging cable for his PS4 at £4.99 and I spent £4.25 on parking in the city for my haircut.

Update on to do list for this week:

Spend no more than £40 on food (excluding beer) - yes on the Mr T order but have spent on other food and a takeaway on top of this
Stick to the meal plan - nope but most food from freezer
Meals and snacks to work for me and DH everyday (I'm working at home 3 days, lunch provided 1 day, travelling 1 day). May try and get DH to take some breakfast in the car. Yes I will have to make it - I haven't made DH breakfast but have made all lunches except DH's when I was away 1 day

Use my evening meal allowance from work to buy groceries and eat main meal at home at lunchtime. Plan what to buy beforehand. Done
Sort out and iron and/or put away all clean laundry - made a start and will finish this tomorrow as it is doing me 'ed in
Keep the heating turned off - It has been cooler this week so we have had it on for a couple of hours on an evening but a lot less than normal and I haven't used the TD in 2 weeks :T
Have a TV/PS4/internet free night Not done

Send off pack to sell 2 x iPhone for the 3rd time Not done
4 NSDs - Lost count possibly only 1 if I include when DH spent his tenner
Pluck up the courage to post a SOA Done and with the suggestions made by people on here I have made some progress with this

Positives this week

Spent less on food than in previous weeks
We haven't used the TD once
Increased interval between haircuts (saved £25/month)
Used comparison site via TCB to compare home insurance quote (saved £20/month)
Used MSE energy club to review energy provider (saved £55/month)
Agreed to cancel PPI on mortgage as redundancy cover for me is biggest part of policy and I'm unlikely to qualify for it (saved £72/month)
Avoided DH buying a fire TV stick thingy on impulse. Need to research first.
Reminded DH that we agreed no personal spending this month
Read lots of DFW diaries and feeling positive that we can do this

DH turn for a lie in tomorrow so I plan to clean up downstairs before sister drops in for a cuppa and make progress with the massive pile of ironing before he gets up. When DH up and Sister has visited will take dog for a walk in the woods, potter in the garden and play with DS's birthday presents.

apple_muncher wrote: »

You seem to have saved a whopping £172 per month, earthgirl. Or £ 2064 per year. Awesome result!

Ps some of the aldi sausages are gf, and much cheaper than other places.

I wish my finances were as healthy as earthgirl's

All the new DDs will be set up next month which will take some pressure off. What doesn't show on my SOA is the PT we already cancelled last month that was costing us £140/month. Unfortunately that £140 has been converted to lbs and is now stuck to my tum :eek:

I like the GF sausages in Aldi, they are much better than the T3sco premium ones that are GF.

My other parent lives abroad and we have been invited over for a hol as we haven't seen them in some time but DH and I have decided that we can not afford it this year. We have also confirmed that we are going to cancel the NY trip. We will lose the £300 deposit but wont have to find the remaining balance and spending money.

We spent £10 on some reduced plants today and £45 on a reclaimed wooden fish box that we intend to turn into a planter for herbs in the conservatory. We also gave DFIL some money for some work he has done in the garden over the last couple of weeks. I am £65 over my home maintenance and refurb budget for this month but have clawed back £20 from the family entertainment budget so still £45 to find.

DS and DBIL popped in this morning and we sat in the conservatory which has the previous owners furniture, our old kitchen table and our old coffee table in it as well as our weights set! It was the motivation I needed to sort it out the coffee table went to the charity we bought the box off and the furniture has been rearranged so that our kitchen table and the chairs (which have been in the garage since we moved in) have been turned into a dining area. It is looking fab

The previous owners had left a broken old garden seat beside the shed which DH was going to take to the tip last week but decided to keep the metal legs from as they were cast iron. I suggested we took it to the reclamation charity to see if they could re make the seat. They can and when the manager and DH looked at a similar seat on line they were selling for £500, one with the same legs as ours was £800 :eek::T He would have bought the legs off us for £100 alone if we wanted to sell them!

I am away with work for the next couple of days so will not be spending anything although I probably wont be able to say the same for DH I will have 2 x lunch allowances and 1xdinner allowance and will make the best use of this to get a couple of bits for home.