A very frugal week

Well havnt spent anything this week - quite proud of myself! At some stage we will need to repair our fence between our front garden and next door as its now so bad there a hole in it but will have to wait until I save up the pennies.

Did another on-line Asda shop - totalled £51.10. Now that its working well I think I might make it fortnightly as from next week. If I did a weekly shop at £4 delivery it would be 52 x £4 = £208 but if I can half that I will be happy (ie £104) Still a waste of money but if I could only train myself when I go for my main shopping that I would just stick to my list it would really help - cant trust myself!!! And as I cant as yet drive (but working on it!) OH always has to take me in the car and he's even worse in the shops than me. Perhaps when I pass my test I will be able just to go once, take a list and stick to it.....

I could cut it down further but I know what would happen - we would all feel deprived and end up going out for treats - so around the £45-£50 mark is fine.

Feb housekeeping left - £16.27 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £4.61)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £19.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £72.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Baking....

Funny day today - my driving lesson wasn't until 12 so mooched around tidying up (the lesson actually didn't go too bad!) and then had a tea with my friend and decided to bake (after the mutterings last week)
Made jam muffins (basic muffins with a blob of jam in the middle) oat/peanut butter slices and tried a new recipe for chocolate and nut sponge fingers. This ended up tasting lovely but I cooked it in too small a tray and it overflowed - still even the crispy edgey bits tasted good.

H/m lasagne for tea - menu plan still working exceedingly well

Feb housekeeping left - £67.37 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £4.61)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £19.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £72.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Meal out

Youngest dd had a sleepover at eldest dds last night so me and oh decided to go to North Berwick for a mooch round the second hand shops and lunch (£12) Got a lovely "kag-in-a-bag" for dd - lovely coloured waterproof jacket that folds into its own wee bag (£5) and the 1st part of the 3rd series of Desperate Housewives which youngest dd loves (£5) - as you can tell North Berwick is quite an affluent area - some of the second hand shops I don't even go in as I know they are too expensive!
Did my Asda online shop - back to Week 1 menuwise so I had saved my shopping list as a favourite and it took hardly anytime at all to do it - £48.74 including delivery. Still don't like paying £4 delivery charge but it really is worth it to keep me away from the shops. I have been using my Asda credit card to pay for it (direct debit set up to always clear the balance every month) to gain points. I always used it when I did a big shop as I would get free delivery but as I am doing a weekly shop I dont get the free delivery. So I have changed to my Tesco credit card - will get less points but by using the Tesco deals will get a better return.
Started reading Dr Faustus as part of my Open University course - hard going but will keep at it.
Have another 2 driving lessons this week - lets see what other bad habits I can manage (last week it was coasting and even freewheeling!) My instructor must have nerves of steel!

Feb housekeeping left - £67.37 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £4.61)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £19.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £72.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Grumbles

There have been grumbles in our house - we no longer have snacky foods (and the disgust when I ordered Smart Price crisps!!!!) I pointed out that I have a budget and am sticking to it - food is getting dearer everytime I do a shop and I cant just have stuff in "in case" someone fancies it - since I have been doing my menus and on-line weekly shop there has been nothing (and I mean nothing) thrown out which is great.

I didn't get round to baking this week as I was busy so will try at the weekend to pacify the munchers!

I was very pleased with myself today - eldest dd wasn't feeling well so I did her housework and went to Tesco for her messages. Normally I would be getting quite a bit for myself and although I was eying up stuff I remained stalwart throughout and came out only having spent £3 on chocolate (time of the month - had to happen!)

Tea is one of the 20p chicken joints I got reduced with onions, parsnips, coarse grain mustard, thyme and veg stock done in the slow cooker with rice -smells lovely!

Feb housekeeping left - £116.11 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £4.61)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Small voucher from Asda...

This weeks price promise was only 64p but every little counts!

Feb housekeeping left - £119.11 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £4.61)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Small greenhouse

A couple of years ago me and eldest dd clubbed together to buy a walk-in plastic greenhouse - lasted well but the snows last year just finished it off so we decided to buy just a small one each. Wilkinson have theirs on sale (4 tier) at £12 so have ordered 2 and also a spare cover for each one at £5 each. Nothing much happening - my driving lesson went ok (well, I didn't hit anything or anyone - only hit the kerb once which is good going for me!) - still havent a clue what I am doing or why but still hoping one of these days it will just "click". Waiting patiently for my Asda delivery........

Feb housekeeping left - £119.11 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £3.97)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £55.49
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Great Asda reductions

Youngest dd announced at 9.35 that she needed a yellow t-shirt for her school house colours for tommorrow! Mad dash to Asda but no t-shirt (shes now managed to borrow one!) so of course we had to look at the bargain fridge and got lucky!

3 x Mr Kilping cakes reduced from £1 to 10p each
3 x chicken breasts (1 with stuffing and sausage) from £3.87 to 20p
18 sausages from £1.82 to 10p

Totatl - £16.73 for £1! Well pleased!
(also had to get some cranberry juice as I am going out to friends house for a curry and to drink the rest of Tia Maria from Xmas and some chocolate since youngest dd is staying with her dad!)
Total spent - £3.18




Feb housekeeping left - £119.11 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £3.97)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £33.34
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

I cant resisit wool!

Had a look at Kemps woolshop on line at their bargain wools - got some lovely lime green (80% cotton and 20% linen) for 49p for a 50gm ball (got 4 balls) and some lovely baby yarn for 89p for a 100gm ball (got 6 balls) - also treated myself to a set of bamboo knitting needles for £11.99 (all out of my allowance as treats!) Postage was £5 but its really quick delivery - I ordered it late Monday night and it arrived on Weds morning. Got a nice pattern for a summer jacket for the eldest gd (from one of my eldest dds knitting books)for the lime green and am off to look at Ravelry for a nice free pattern for a shrug for babies.
(Also had to pay for lunch today as I was running late and didnt have time to make it!)


Feb housekeeping left - £122.29 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £3.97)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £33.34
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Impressed with Asdas price guarantee

Last week I put my shopping in and I got a voucher for a whole 48p! This week was better - apparently Tesco would have been cheaper so I am getting a voucher for £3.49 - not too bad at all.

Feb housekeeping left - £122.29 left (Asda price match - total Feb refund - £3.97)
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £5.89
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Price of printer ink is shocking!

I have just ordered ink for my printer - nearly £40! and that was the cheapest HP one I could find (have had others in the past for previous printers but have always found that the HP original ones were the best)
Have been using a laser printer for the last 5 years (got it from my old job when I was made redundant) - it was on its last legs then but I managed to buy a cartridge for it (£35) and its lasted all that time - its now officially died...

So was very pleased when I applied for my Open University course that they would supply not only a laptop but a printer too - so cant really complain about forking out £40 - mind you everyone in the house is warned not to print unless really necessary!!!

Driving lesson today - nearly got cancelled because of the snow but it had all gone by the time I had it. 2 weeks since my last one and it showed - for some strange reason I seem to like 4th gear no matter what I am doing! Another one tomorrow - hopefully better!

Feb housekeeping left - £122.29 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £5.89
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £55.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)

Another Asda order done...

Doesn't time fly! No driving lesson at all last week :( but booked 2 this week coming.
Not spent much this week up until the moment I had to put my wee car in for its MOT - new exhaust later but its now passed and I am down £250 which had to come out of savings.

The reason I am doing a weekly on-line shop is to keep me out of Asda - I had to go as I had put sausage casserole on my menu and couldn't get the Shwarz slow cooker mix that my family like on-line so....aaarrgh...popped in for it. It was so hard not to get anything else but what I wanted (sausage mix, tin tomatoes, cheap chocolate) but I nearly managed it (looked at the reductions - cheese strings for 20p and 4 puds for 20p) but managed only to spend just under £4 so was sooo pleased with myself.

Did another online shop ready for Monday - they have put their delivery prices up! Got the cheapest one which is now £3.50 - spent £65.07 (£68.07 with delivery) So Week 3 menu is..

H/M Chicken (leftover) pie and chips
H/M Lasagne (making double bolog for next week)
Beef Stew
Fish and chips
Meatballs and pasta
Chicken tortillas & pud
Roast Pork
Leftover risotto

Looking at it its a lot of meat which is why it costs so much - must do better next time! I am trying to do 4 weekly menus and just rotate them. I am saving each shopping on Asda under a shopping list so it will make it quicker to order every time

Feb housekeeping left - £122.29 left
(£50 goes into holiday fund)
Spent - my allowance - £5.89
Spent - clothes - £14.74
Spent - household - £35.99
Spent - entertainment - £15.85
Spent - Christmas 2011 - £106.25 (saved - £202.45!)