Expensive birthday

My mum is 70 next Friday so we decided to go down and see her today as loads on next weekend - its a 140 mile round trip. Decided to take her out for a meal and we paid for it so there was 8 people altogether making it a dear day out....

Petrol - have a monthly budget for this which is quite high - anything over gets taken out of either the Entertainment budget or Emergencies

Meal out - £120.20 - well worth it cos it was really nice

Present - what do you buy someone who has everything???? Flowers - bought a bunch of flowers every month for a year for her - kids chipped in too so it cost me £99 - well, she's only 70 once! Did pay for it with my Tesco credit card to get the points (I have a direct debit set up for my credit card so always pay it off in full every month) - when I get my Tesco points I always use them for Deals so get the best value from them.

Had a lovely day and am going for a lie down on the couch as I am stuffed!

March grocery spend - £50.32
Holiday fund - £146.76 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £246
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £52.80
Clothes - £37.75

Our Somerfield is closing down

So they were reducing lots of stuff - most of it had gone by the time I showed up but managed to get 3 full carrier bags of shopping for £15.16

Best bargains...

Bird seed - reduced from £2.09 to 78p (got the last 2)
Frozen pizza - reduced to 59p (last 2)
Turkey steaks in breadcrumbs - reduced from £2.05 to 55p (got the last 3 packs)
Washing up liquid - 20P (2 bottles)
Garlic chicken kievs - down to 45p (4 packs)

Everything I bought was at least 50% off and some a lot more - lot of frozen pizzas, turkey burgers, chips etc which I normally only have in the freezer as emergency meals but at those prices I had to stock up. I have a huge freezer in our shed which is a godsend at times like these!

Very pleased!

March grocery spend - £50.32
Holiday fund - £146.76 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £52.80
Clothes - £37.75

I love a table top sale....

First one of the year - it was run by a playgroup but still went along to see if we could get anything...

Entrance fee - 50p
Book for dd - 50p
Electric car windscreen scraper! - £1

and best of all, some fur lined wellies as dd is going away on a skiing trip with the sea cadets in a weeks time and her old wellies have just started to leak - very handy and for the princely sum of £1

Then tea and cake - £3 (we had two cakes each!)

Then popped into Tesco and got some stuff - really need a big shop but only got what I needed as I want to do a big on-line shop for the heavier stuff. I am being a bit clever here and putting today's groceries onto March's grocery budget. That way I can put the little bit I had left from Febs budget into my holiday account! Seems daft to do it that way but it really helps me feel as if I have achieved something!So that's another £23.76 into the holiday fund....

I put money regularly into my holiday fund (its budgeted for every month) but that tends to be for our main holidays - Easter and Summer - but this extra money I can use for extra holidays we normally wouldn't have.

March grocery spend - £35.16
Holiday fund - £146.76 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £52.80
Clothes - £37.75

Another no spend day!

Two in a week - that's a first!!

My home made latte was a success! it didn't really take long to make and next time I might make the coffee stronger but it was every good as the one I buy at work.

I used to buy lunch every day at the canteen - just a baked potato but it would cost about £3 depending on the filling - I work 3 days so it was 3 x £3 + £1.60 for a latte = £10.60

This week I spent 21p on wraps (bought reduced)
£1.00 on mixed salad (I love rocket!)
79p for a packet of luncheon meat that did other sandwiches as well
£1 on packet 6 Cadburys shortcake (but still have 3 for next week)
H/M latte - free

So that was a total of £2.50 so it saved £8.10! Take that over a year (minus say 4 weeks holiday) and that's a saving of £388.10 for the year! We are talking a weeks holiday in the caravan! Not to be sniffed at!!!!!

We were watching the BBC news tonight and they were showing the High Street at Auchterarder where we where with our caravan last week and it was under 2 foot of snow! Definitely picked the right week to go!

Feb grocery spend - £126.24
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £52.80
Clothes - £37.75

Quite a dear day.....

Knew I would have to spend some money today...

£10 - OH's phone top-up
£25 - my haircut - always have a cut and blow dry but will now I have a style that I like I might reduce it down to just a cut - will find out how much cheaper it is

Now is the bit I didn't like - because OH was away for the day there was nothing made for tea and I was getting my hair cut after work so I had to resort to buying a chippie (yes, I know I didn't have to but the chip shop is opposite the hairdressers and the smell was driving me nuts!) and cos I couldn't get a lift home as OH was still away and it was pouring with rain I got a taxi home (its a rare day I get a taxi anywhere as I just cant justify the price)

£9.80 chippy
£4 taxi (was mean and didn't give him a tip!)

Then when I got home my order came from New Look (well, my dds order!) she got jeans and a top (pays for it herself) and school clothes (I pay for them!) I even made her pay 1/2 the postage!

£13.75 from clothes budget

Put everything else on this months Household budget as I have money left in that one....

Normally on a Friday I treat myself to a latte and buy my lunch at the canteen but I wont be doing it tomorrow as I have nothing left in my allowance so off to make up my packed lunch. I am sure I have some ground coffee somewhere (I don't drink a lot of it) so might attempt to make my own latte and take it in a flask....will see how I get on with that! Probably will taste better as I get a latte with an extra shot of expresso (the odd time I drink coffee it has to be really strong) Somewhere I have got a one-cup cafetiere that I got from Lakeland (keep me away from that catalogue!) so will make up some really strong coffee tonight and heat it up with milk tomorrow - will see how it turns out....

Feb grocery spend - £126.24
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £52.80
Clothes - £37.75

A no spend day!

Apart from bus fare to work which is budgeted for - that's been it today!!!! yayyyyy!! at long last I have spent zip, nadda, nowt, not-a-penny.

I am sitting in my wonderfully tidy back room feeling very proud of myself...and only 4 days to go to the end of the month and I can put what's left from the grocery budget into the holiday budget (not a lot but every penny counts!)

Feb grocery spend - £126.24
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Another day - some spends, some saves

My eldest dd had to have a scan today and fast for 5 hours before hand so myself and OH decided to take her to the pictures to take her mind off things (and we wanted to see Solomon Kane too!)

First had to go to Somerfield to get more bits (including stuff for my packed lunches) so spent £9.52.

When we got to the pictures popped into Boots first and got some drinks/sweets and by using luncheon vouchers I get from doing surveys on the net only had to pay 92p.

Pictures cost £11.30 for the 3 of us (eldest dd has a card that allows one in free since she claims disability living allowance) OH asked for a pack of Maltesers and was told I wasn't spending £2.90 when I had just got him sweets!!!!(Film was great btw!)

Then went to the hospital - had to hang around for a couple of hours so had to buy 2 coffees and 2 cakes (£5.49) When my eldest came out she was starving so we ended up going to McDonalds and again by using luncheon vouchers it only cost £6.32 for 4 meals (youngest dd wasn't with us so had to bring her one home!)

This all comes out of my entertainment budget which is blown this month but luckily I have a balance in this account so I am still solvent!

Feb grocery spend - £126.24
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £96.11
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

And my back room after......

Gawd its nearly killed me! I have stuff all over the house waiting to be put away now - few bits to go on Freecycle, stuff to go back in the caravan - the golf clubs, chair cushions etc in the corner will be going into the shed when the rabbit vacates it. I am not going to let it get this bad again! Off for some lunch....

The shame of my back room

Here it is in all its glory - the only way I will actually attack it is to publish these before photos (hangs head in shame....)







Now lets get busy.....................

I would love to have a minimalistic house....

I really would but fight against my untidy nature all the time! So the first picture is of my sitting room - its long and narrow and I don't like the furniture but its all in decent nick so it will be staying for quite a while!I am now going to shame myself and actually put photos up of my spare room - it has gone from bad to worse and now you cant actually see the bed! It doubles up as the computer/sewing room but you can hardly even get in the door. Quite a lot of the xmas stuff is still to go back into our shed but as we have the rabbit hutch in there during the cold weather it might be a while before it leaves the building.

(while all this excitement has been going on I have ordered an Xmas pressie from the net - 18 dvd set for £12.88 - cant say what it is as there are prying eyes read this blog! - comes out of my Xmas budget)


Feb grocery spend - £116.72
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Wee bit of spending

Somerfield - £15.61 and my eldest dd came for tea and brought in cauli, spuds and cake - £6 - hopefully that will be if for the week (mind you, never say never!)

But we will have to fork out £140 - my youngest is in the sea cadets and has a chance of a skiing holiday up at Aviemore - she was on the reserve list and found out tonight that she has got a place! She's dead excited!


Feb grocery spend - £116.72
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

More money into my holiday account!

I love Feb - there's only a week to go to the end of the month and I still have £154.89 left in my grocery budget!!!!!! And we have quite a bit in the old cupboards/freezer so I am taking the grand step of putting £100 of it straight into the holiday account and see how long it is before I can dip into the rest.....(wont be long as we need loo roll!)




Feb grocery spend - £95.11
Holiday fund - £123 ( last hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Thinking about more holidays!!!

Spent all day tidying the caravan out (mucking it out would be more the phrase - gawd, we can make some mess!) and so of course my thoughts turn to our next holiday. The original plan was to have a long weekend at least every month but that may change. We spent quite a bit this holiday so our next one is going to be more eating in the van and taking out a picnic wherever we go (even a cake and a cuppa can add upwards of £10 per day to your budget)

One of the last bits of Scotland that I haven't actually been is up at the very top - from Scourie to Thurso (been as far as John o'Groats up the east side) After discussions with OH he reckons it would be more cost effective to rent a caravan or cottage instead of hauling the caravan up there (he's thinking petrol costs) Bit of chummering from me as that is the reason we bought the van - so we could go touring but I do see what he means. So we have been looking at cottages (they are having a laff - we don't want to buy the buggars!!) and static caravans seem to be few and far between and booked (looking at Easter now) The cheapest one we can find is £240 for a week inc electric, linens etc - this is too dear for my liking but we will have to see - if we don't spend too much on going out it will be do-able - we are mainly going for the scenery and to have a relaxing time.

Was also thinking about summer holidays . Would love to go down to the Yorkshire Dales (went 2 years ago in our old tent in September and had a great time) again so got out the map and had a look......OH suggested not as far down - the area round Barnard Castle across to Middleton-in-Teasdale - I have been to this area years ago (Bowes Museum and High Force waterfall are all I can remember) so am off to look at caravan parks in the area....

(ooo - forgot to mention - no spending today as I never left the house!!)

Feb grocery spend - £95.11
Holiday fund - £23 (hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Back from holiday

Had a great midweek break in our caravan at Auchterarder near Gleneagles. Bitterly cold so went for a drive to see snow (never seen frozen lochs before!) The picture was taken at the top of Glen Coe. Had a great time and best of all, actually came in under our holiday budget! (most of the money went on petrol) and that is with eating out a lot as OH's tum still hasn't settled down. Didnt switch the heating off in the van until we actually left the site - our outside water barrel and waste water barrel froze over and we had to use a jerry can for water in the van. Even the standpipes on the site were frozen! (and dont even get me started at the toilet/shower block - WITH NO HEATING!) The only other campsite open in the area was an extra £10 per night but did have heated loos - on hindsight at this time of the year maybe the extra money would have been worth it.....

Feb grocery spend - £95.11
Holiday fund - £23 (hol cost £442)
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

The spending continues....

When I first started this blog I actually thought there would be days when I simply didn't have anything to blog about i.e. when I never spent anything - HOW WRONG WAS I????

So I admit to more small spending - my Friday latte (£1.60) and lunch at the canteen (£3.45) which will have to come out of my grocery spend as I have run out of my allowance.

Now in the good old days of paying back all my debts and not spending a penny I would have been horrified at the idea of buying a latte - if you add 1 latte up for, say, 48 weeks (give or take a holiday or two) its £76.80. If we got a cheap caravan site (say £15 at the most per night) that's £30 for 2 nights which leaves £46.80 which could got towards petrol and if we stacked up with food from our cupboards - THAT'S A LONG WEEKEND IN THE VAN.

These little things add up.........so I am torn.......do I deserve a wee treat on a Friday?.....or a long weekend in the van with my family?........mmmmm

Feb grocery spend - £95.11
Holiday fund - £475.28
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Nearly a no spend day and free money

Gawd only knows if I can ever do a non-spend day - really thought today was one...feeling very chuffed and then realised I had actually had a small spend (a collection for someone's birthday) - as I have nothing in my allowance it will have to come out of my grocery budget!

As for the free money - my youngest dd has been merrily borrowing money from me since last year and I told her today she has to get it from her bank account - she's great at spending but not good at paying back! So that's £229 I have never really missed so that will be going into my holiday account (I now this is kind of daft - I know I paid it out but not all at once so I didn't really notice it - strange kind of logic but it works for me) And, before Xmas I managed to gird my loins and sell some stuff on ebay - did quite well but certainly cant be bothered with it again (all that wrapping and taking stuff to the post office - too much work!) I didn't take the money out of my Paypal account (basically cos I thought it would got straight into my bank account - d'uh) so have now transferred it - and guess what? straight into my holiday account! So after I paid my ebay fees I made £146.16.

So that's quite a decent amount in our holiday account so we have booked a mid week break in our caravan at a site near Auchterdar near Crieff - lets hope the weather is nice - don't mind cold but nothing worse than sitting in a caravan in the rain. My eldest dd isn't coming this time so we have invited one of my youngest DD's wee pals to come and keep her company. This will be our first trip of the year in the caravan - hope to be many more!

Feb grocery spend - £90.06
Holiday fund - £475.28
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

I didnt know how much I can spend!

Another day - thought I could actually get through it without spending (just bus fare to work)...but no......realised I was down to my last few days of Royal Jelly so had to order some more - also ordered Ginko Biloba which is great for my memory (if I remember to take it!!) Only been taking these since New Year but have noticed a marked improvement so I class them as needs. Bought from Healthspan there was a £2 voucher off (which I shared with my friend Carol who is another "lady of a certain age" and she has ordered Royal Jelly too!) So it cost me £9.90 but not sure which account to take it from (cant do from my allowance as there's nowt left - I have ran out of month!!)
so I will take it from my grocery spend....

Feb grocery spend - £89.06
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Another busy Tuesday...

Zoomed off to Marksies with my eldest dd as I was in desperate need of a decent bra - I have been buying them from our local Asda and yes, they are only £2 in the sales but I really need better support.

I hate bra shopping with a passion but after only the third bra I got a perfect fit! Very pleased so am now the proud owner of a white one and a turquoise one and what a difference they make (the girls were indeed travelling south on their own accord!) This will come out of my clothes budget.

Then had to have lunch (well, its a Tuesday!) so that was £7.15 (from my allowance)

DD wanted some new foundation which she got and I asked if I could try some on - bad move as I got a perfect colour and really nice on my skin so that was another £15 - sadly to say it was a want not a need as I have been using up some makeup that wasn't exactly the right colour. I have now been brave and chucked it out. Then as I was in Boots (and on a roll) I got 2 spray in conditioners for my hair (which at times looks like a birds nest) - buy-one-get-one-free so it was £3.69 (I'm being naughty and taking that from my grocery budget as this includes all toiletries)

So tonight is Aquafit so that will be another £4.20...is it never ending???? lol - so looks like I have no allowance left - help jings ma boab - that one good thing this blog is doing is showing me where all my money is going....

Feb grocery spend - £79.16
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - all gone and am 15p in debt to March's allowance (help!)
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5
Clothes - £24

Bargains

Popped into Asda because I really needed mugs - I seem to have either a glut or none at all (at the moment I have 3! - they all seem to crack at once!) - a definite need.

So got the cheapest ones - plain white -4 for £1 - will do me until the car boot season starts and I can get some nice patterned ones cheaply.

Got some reduced chicken drumsticks - 3 packets for 50p each! so that's a saving of £4.50 (guess what we are having for tea!) and 2 ready meals reduced to £1.74 each. These consist of 2 chicken breasts each with stuffing, sausage and gravy - so work out at 87p per portion. Also spent 94p on chicken roll, £1 on salad (for my packed lunches) and 99p for a tin of corned beef as OH is sick of eating fish and is now moving on to stovies. Also got 8 batteries for the price of 4 for the Wii (o boy is that a need!!!!) - £2.99

AND THAT WAS ALL I BOUGHT! YAYYY ME!

You have no idea how hard it is not to keep putting stuff in the basket just in case (note the word basket here - much easier not to get too much stuff if you don't have a trolley!)


Feb grocery spend - £75.47
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £26.20 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £5

Cheap seeds at Lidls

For the princely sum of £3.70 (included in my grocery shopping!) I got the following seeds at Lidls..

Nasturtiums
Sweet peas
Sunflowers
Asters
Snapdragons
Peas
Carrots
Cherry Tomatoes
Courgettes
French beans

My eldest dd has a greenhouse (plastic variety) and last year was the first year we decided to grow vegetables - everything was going swimmingly until I hurt my back and was unable to do anything and she had a major health problem - so basically everything died.

So we intend to start again this year! Must start saving up the inners of toilet rolls as they are great for seedlings....

Feb grocery spend - £64.57
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £26.20 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £4

I luurve Freecycle!

I took my 2 dds to a Freecycle shop! Excellent idea - you simply bring stuff you dont want and take away stuff other folk dont want! Anyway, it was actually quite good -thought it would either be nobody turn up or full of dealers pinching all the good stuff and it wasnt like that at all. It was at a day centre and anything that wasnt taken away was to be sold in their second hand shop to raise money for the centre - brilliant idea! Here's what we got...

Hamster rotastak
Brown leather handbag
Brown material handbag
6 books
2 necklaces
1 ring
1 puzzle (still in wrapper - will be an xmas gift)
1 shirt (still with tags)
Fleece hat
Makeup set (still with tags)
2 photo frames
1 bra (still with tags)
Coloured pencils

I got rid of a bag of books and 2 black bin bags of old clothes and shoes.

Then popped into Lidls to get shopping (including loads of seeds) and got some picnic stuff and had a lovely picnic in the car followed by a nice walk along the beach.

Feb grocery spend - £122.80
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £26.20 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £4

Not too bad....

Not too bad today (its always better when I am at work as I keep away from the shops!) - £1.60 for a latte with an extra shot of expresso (really needed it this morning!) and around £3 for lunch for a wee treat - been very good about taking in lunch so far. Chicken curry for tea tonight -normally I make it with chicken breasts (which was over £4 a time) but have been buying Asdas packs of cooked chicken which works out at £1.50ish and happily serves 3 just by adding extra veg (curry sauce is the only sauce I buy and even then sometimes its just the Asda 9p stuff which is fine!)


Feb grocery spend - £64.57
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £26.20 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £4

Nearly another no spend day....

Then I went to work and forgot I had ordered an under bed shoe storage thingy (£4 - holds 12 pairs of shoes) - still its a need as at the moment all my shoes are just chucked in the bottom of the wardrobe - will sort it out at the weekend......

But I did resist the Avon catalogue (another weakness of mine!) so all in all not too bad a day.

Feb grocery spend - £64.57
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £30.80 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73
Household - £4

Nearly a no spend day.....

Had a lovely Tuesday - normally go out but stayed in this time as my friend Jackie came for lunch and my eldest dd came down - had a lovely natter and went for a nice walk round a frozen lake admiring the snowdrops - really nice day....no spending at all....

Then youngest dd came in - needed £20 to pay for a trip with the Sea cadets (a weekender to learn first aid) - its the only thing she really does so dont mind in the least.

And I forgot I was going to Aquafit so that will be £4.20.

Feb grocery spend - £64.57
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £30.80 left
From Savings - £27
Entertainment - £73

New baby

Welcome to our new granddaughter Skye - born 3 weeks early by section - 6 lbs 2oz and a little beauty....

February is a new month - already spending!

Is there no end to spending???First thing I did was put £50 into the holiday account from my grocery budget - leaving £250 (less what I used from last month!!!)lol - first we did an Asda shop - grand total £48.53.

While we were in there Oh mentioned his mobile was playing up and wanted to look for another one. Bear in mind his mobile has lasted him in the region of over 5 years and cost the princely sum of £10 I really think he got his money worth! Anyway, he got a basic Samsung for £27 on Orange and swapped his sim card over. He only ever really uses it for emergencies (so I do class it as a need not a want)

Then I hit Amazon again.....We have a subscription to Napster-to-go for £15 a month when you can download as much music as you want to your MP3 player (seems quite a lot but you can use it for up to 3 people and me, Oh and youngest dd are all music fans and download quite a bit - works out much cheaper than buying cds...) Anyhoo, there are only certain MP3 players compatible with Napster - Creative Zens are what we use. I have been buying re-conditioned ones but I have now gone through 3 (oh and dd's ones are still going strong!) and have decided enough's enough. Sometimes you have to spend money to save money. Now this, for me, is definitely a need. I get the bus to work and back 3 times a week (20 mins each way) and would crack up without my music. I listen to audio books, take it on holiday to help me sleep - I even listen to it through my Pure radio in the kitchen so I get the music that I like.

So after much humming and hawing....I got a red Sansa Disk Fuze and mains wall charger for £53.

Feb grocery spend - £64.57
Holiday fund - £100
My allowance - £35 left
Savings - £27
Entertainment - £53