Frugal Friday

Even though it is Christmas week we have still been looking to cut costs. One of the things I have been trying out this month is shopping weekly to a plan using the local shops. Well, I wasn't impressed that I have almost run out of money ! Nothing left over for bulk buying those 19p vegetable bargains and I had to use a bit of accounting slight of hand to come in on the food budget for the month. I will have £5 in hand if I include the £6.75 credit for school meals that we have sitting in Master Shoestring's account. So it will be back to bulk buying and a monthly shop at Aldi next month !

MrShoestring's plumbing repair for his Mum worked so now he is tackling the slow flowing sink in our bathroom. This will definitely save money as the sink trap is tiled up in the wall and it will need a sledge hammer to get to it. So if MrShoestring and his trusty plumbing 'snake' can get it moving again that will be fabulous.

My brother is coming to tea today and I debated long and hard over buying a few treats but in the end the shopping budget decided that the tea will all be home-made !

We had the car serviced and used a coupon to get a free MOT with the service. This works out really well as the garage does all the work required to allow the car to pass BEFORE the MOT so no repeat testing fees. They are a small, local garage and are really good about warning us about repairs coming up so we can begin to save up for them.

I also inventoried the present cupboard and discovered that together with a very generous book token that I received from work I shouldn't have to buy any gifts next year !

Last thing we did was to run through the budget for next year to check that we will manage with me going full-time studying and it looks like we will be fine as long as we STICK to the budget ! So January will be all about doing just that !