I'm quite pleased with how Low Spend November went- especially in the Personal Expenses column, I was very restrained!
This is what I wrote at the beginning of November....my version of the depressing Thomas Hood November poem.
Total for the week so far £223 .31
Brought forward £391.05 + £223.31 = £614.36 + today*
IF I'd not bought anything other than what HAD to be spent (ie not left the house for visiting charity Christmas Fayres, Exercise and Over 60's groups therefore NOT needing diesel for the car) and then not bought ANY Christmas stamps, Christmas presents and Christmas food or wild bird food and NOT sent a present for the new Great Niece or NOT bought new jar lids and made Red Relish or NOT had a window cleaner it would have been over £100 less!! But it would have been a dull and mean month! It could be done but I'm glad it wasn't necessary.
(Glad I went to Over 60s group, we had mince pies and I discovered I don't really like them anymore, so won't even bother to buy any - another small saving!)
*There is one hitch with that total above because today I'm going to a Christmas Fayre in Son and DiL's village church.
We've been going together ever since Colin died and the two Grandchildren will want to have a go on the tombola stall and the other children's things and eat cake and Nanna will be treating them for sure!There are 3 other Christmas events on not far from home tomorrow and two on Sunday, I'm not planning on visiting all of them!
These are this months tiny savings................looking after the pennies.............
- Lots of Christmas Fayres visited for fun rather than spending
- Eating batch made meals from freezer
- Huge stalk of Brussels sprouts for £1.50
- Using up card making bits to make Christmas cards
- Beetroot from BiL's garden
- Leeks from my garden
- Making sure to close curtains as soon as it's dark
- Home made bread with the bread-maker
- Bargain butter find - all in freezer
- No coffee and scone out all month
- Dishwasher only used every other day
- Quickly using up one of my stored butternut squash as it was starting to go mouldy
- Reading library books for free
- Found out via youtube how to fix my TV remote when putting in new batteries wasn't the answer.
I'm sure you've got everything so maybe a treat or two for your grandchildren today at the Fayre? It's one of those weekends here too, our tiny village has two markets and a Festival of Trees. I'm not well enough to go out though. Enjoy the day, however much you spend!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely - and cake too.
DeleteHope you get to hear about the fairs where you are and facebook photos
I think you have done well with the budget. I too have done budget buy butter in the freezer. I have enjoyed reading lots of the Christmas magazines online through the Libby app, which is free. They cost as much as a book to buy, and are 50% adverts, so this is a much better use of finances
ReplyDeleteI only used to buy smallholding magazines before moving away from ours- nothing else really appeals - even if free on the library app.
DeleteThe WI magazine comes as part of membership and I flick through, do the sudoku and put it straight into recycling!
Well done I look forward to seeing your Decadent December posts!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Decadent December - which probably won't be that exciting but sounds good!
DeleteDecadent December, can't wait ! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMaguy
Don't get too excited!
DeleteI've discovered I don't like supermarket mince pies any more. Can't stand the mushy pastry. This means I'm going to have to tackle my pastry making and conquer the dreaded soggy bottom. Can't give up my mince pies!
ReplyDeleteI used to make the mincemeat and then lots of mince-pies but they seem too sweet now, so I won't even buy half a dozen and the odd flavours that Aldi have don't appeal at all
DeleteSensible spending in November without making yourself miserable. We have Readly which has saved a lot of money as I used to buy most of the expensive monthly mags and other people benefited from them more than I did! I’m still sewing gift bags for the few gifts I give-we donate to charity instead of gifts within our small family of adults. Catriona
ReplyDeleteThe heating oil and car insurance will be the main expenses of December - boring but necessary - and the rest of the presents which we still like to do and a few coffee and scones when out and about!
DeleteI'm looking forward to your Decadent December posts. We need some cheer for the holidays!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how decadent I can be!
DeleteYou've done very well on holding down expenses.
ReplyDeleteUS prices seem on the rise again just in time for the November and December holidays. Gasoline and oil are at a record low but everything else is high.
The holiday Fayre with your grandchildren will be good fun. Children make the holidays magical.
It was a good plan to really watch extra spending for a month
DeleteWell done on your spending. You will be making memories with your grands today and that is so important.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to treat them to cake!
Delete"Decadent December" - I like the sound of that! We have drastically cut the number of Christmas cards we send through the post - it has become so very expensive. We do e-mailed ones, with an Annual letter included instead. We're heading into summer, that cuts down on heating bills, but is the time to do painting and other maintenance tasks, and they cost $$$! And Christmas presents for the two grandchildren are our biggest expense by far! You did very sensible things about what to spend on this last month. To be strictly accurate, when you put extra meals in the deepfreeze, they should be in a "Carried Over" column, and before a debit when they're used.... but who can be bothered with that! I bought a whole fillet of beef on special and had my kind butcher bandsaw it into two. One was left in the deepfreeze and the other half fed 6 of us (4 young men with hollow legs!) so I was happy about the cost. Much happier than if I'd had to buy a fresh fillet for that meal! I'm looking forward to hearing how decadent you manage to be!
ReplyDeleteDecadent December does sound good doesn't it - not sure if I can be decadent after all these years
DeleteGlad you were able to have some treats throughout the month. I think you made a good balance between watching the pennies yet at the same time being able to do some fun things. I hope you have a good weekend and enjoy the events you do go to!
ReplyDeleteI visited 2 out of 4 Christmas things yesterday - it was fun at the church with grandchildren
DeleteOoh Decadent December sounds lovely. 💖🎄💖🎄
ReplyDeleteFound about 5 of your comments in spam - sure they weren't all there before - very odd
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