No spend January?

[corinewmoon]

After he festive blowout and considering ive got some big bills in January, (MOT, car tax, insurance) I have decided to try a no frivlous spending month. There is nothing i really need to buy, (apart from new school jumper and coat for DS) .
So I will be taking my lunch to work every day,
I will avoid costas,
and i will limit my self to one bottle of wine per week
I will aim to spend £200.00 on food shop for the month
I will not go for leisurely stroll to the shops during my lunch break.

Any one else want to join in. ?

I changed my energy supplier through Uswitch back in Dec and ended up saving £20 per month, with a £100 M&S voucher and a free 6 bottles of wine

spew if you had the money to do it now, and it's something that you need, then that's a good spend.

curly definitely do a car insurance search through quidco - sign up if you aren't already a member and get cash back. It's great. You can normally get £60 or so back from insurance, and get money for using sites like 'Go Compare' through them.

more swap you for my 'I want' DS (just turned 3). Although, he did relent and let me take his Happy Land stuff to the Children's Oncology ward before Christmas to make space for next lot .

I think I'm doing okay. I put a very strict budget in for shopping compared to what I usually spend, and I'm within it, but I was supposed to be avoiding the shops as much as possible and I've still been twice this week. This, in an ideal world, is once too much. I've also spent all my Christmas vouchers on tat which I probably don't need. Sigh. It's a hard habit to break. Still, not doing to badly.

kinky my dc are 5 and 3 and everytime I drag take them to the shop they want something new!however,we had a day out before Christmas and when my niece said "i want a cake" sil promptly said "i want doesn't get!" My 2 took this on board straight away and pick everyone up on it straight away,inc me and dh when we announce "i want you to (insert task here eg brush teeth,tidy toys etc) and respond with "i want doesn't get mummy!"

fecking hell DD1 has nits. I think. Or else it could be fleas from my parents' dogs (please dog lovers don't flame me, I love dogs too!) We're off to boots now. so - thick conditioner and not the medicine they normally recommend????

HOw long do I have to keep her off school?!

Oh Lordy help.

I have:

1. Remembered that there is a leg of lamb in the freezer, and I am defrosting it for dinner today, and sandwiches next week.

1. Refused to spend £10 on a gift box big enough for SIL's Xmas present next year (the Whittard teapot, mugs and Xmas tea I got for £18 in the recent sale), and made my own rather nice one out of a battered storage box from the garage, covered with some of my 75p sale gift wrap and some lovely recycled ribbon from this Xmas.

1. Eaten some crunchy peanut butter on my toast that was at the back of the breakfast things cupboard.

Feeling virtuous again. However Ebay things have only made me £2.99 so far - then again, there is a week to go.

LadyHarriet, she doesn't have to miss school. Spend quite a long time combing them out today, wash all her bedding, pyjamas and towels at a temp of at least 60C and preferably 90C if you can get away with it, and get up early and do her hair once more before school tomorrow, blow drying it carefully on each occasion (that helps kill the blighters as well, I find). I would be assiduous and do the rest of the family this way today as well.

morecoffee

week 1

food: £108.33
household stuff: £51.67 (included 4 new cushions for on sofas)
entertainment: £2.99 (sudoku book)
school: £20 (archery lessons & DVD of Christmas play)
DH guitar lesson: £22 (paid for last week too)

total: £204.99

That still seems way too much.

Can I join in, please? I have been following this thread for a while. I am definitely trying to have a 'no frivolous spend' month. Luckily, I have some Next vouchers to spend, so I can indulge my frivolous side without guilt.

DH and I are writing down everything we spend in an attempt to see where we can cut back. I have also made a list of all our outgoings. We use Utility Warehouse and it costs us £157 per month for everything, although that includes paying something back because we were undercharged initially. I notice that other people's utility bills are much cheaper than ours though. We live in a three-bedroomed house and there are four of us. DH and I are both working at home at the moment, which means we often have the heating on in the day. I have friends who never heat their houses in the day and so their houses are freezing. I don't think I could put up with that. I also use a tumbledrier at this time of year, which must be pricey. Does £157 per month sound unreasonable? That covers phone (mostly free calls), gas, electrical and broadband, plus whatever it is we are paying back (sorry, that doesn't help much, but I don't know how much extra we are paying back).

I also use menus4mums.co.uk/Menus4Mums, which I pay for, but I think it saves me money (and time) in the long run and I like most of their recipes. I was paying £6.95 per month, but have just changed to £60 per year, which saves me around £24. They provide balanced five-day menus and take into account the latest supermarket deals. Their menu for this week comes to £29.

I have avoided any unnecessary spending so far this month. This afternoon, DH and I are taking the DC out to a museum because it's free. I can't say they are overly enthusiastic at the prospect, but they have no choice. I'm sure it'll be fine once they're there .

Or even set up a domestic nit farm to make money!

Bit baffled as to the appeal of Menus for Mums ... all that info is freely available on supermarket websites.

moomoo that link is fabulous thanks, easy to read & far less twee than a Flylady type site! What with that & Boffinmums blog I am full of ideas & plans!

Your FB sale group sounds a good idea- I don't sell that much on Ebay or for high profit so I really resent the fees. How does it work?

morecoffee don't you hate it when they parrot stuff back at you?!

LadyH If its nits it will only be itchy heads, if it's fleas it'll be on the body, esp legs. Save your money & keep combing with the conditioner, sometimes adding a bit of tea-tree oil is effective. It doesn't kill them but it does knock the little buggers out so you can catch'em on the comb.

A bit of tea-tree dabbed on any spots anywhere else can soothe too as can lavender oil, which helps scarring.

I just got fed up with menu planning for myself, Bossy, and then finding fussy children or DH wouldn't eat it. Now at least I can blame someone else .

£1 per louse!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lord, in could have made a fortune a few years ago when DD kept getting re-infected at the grim school she went too then.

I not in and to not too.

Might seem obvious but when supermarket shopping

1. Always make a list
2. Have a meal plan to prevent impulse buys
3. Pay in cash and take the amount only with you that you plan to spend, you will be amazed how this alone prevents you from sticking extra impulse buys in your trolley because if you are like me you are so worried about not having enough when it all goes through the checkout you actually end up spending less!
4. Watch the buy one get one free, 3 for 2 and other offers that are not always the good value offer they seem to be. do you really need the multiple amount any way ?
5. Dont be a food snob often the supermarket own make or value products are just are good!
6. cook meals from scratch quit buying ready meals that are very expensive. I am amazed at the number of people I know who cannot even make a Shepherd's pie and pay megabucks for supermarket ones!

boffin thanks.

in case anyone is wondering nits have come up on this thread earlier.

was thinking i could offer combing out nits for a fee...(instead of nit farm...!)

Oh sigh.

oh I have lavender oil as well but only the kind that i put in my burner.

Do I have to GO BUY SOMETHING put in it cream before I use it on her skin? can I use it in both DDs hair. (sorry for sounding thicko.)

Must agree with bossy - thanks to moomoo for the link to organised home. That combined with boffins fab blog and I am all set. Once I have finished listing on Ebay I will get on with sorting my pantry and freezer - it will be good to know what is actually in there!!!

DH spent £5.00 for Mass collection this morning but we have forgone the usual Sunday paper.

LadyHarriet - be careful about putting essential oils directly on skin. They should be added to a carrier oil (such as almond oil) before being applied to skin. Putting in a cream would be ok as well. Not sure about applying to hair - would it not touch the scalp?

Organised home link is great. I am sure I used that site years ago, looks much better now.

Feeling VERY virtuous today. For lunch today I made pot roast beef (only bought a tiny peice for £3), we used half and kept half for a beef and veg madras tommorrow, tray of roast veg (parsnips, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, onions), cabbage and home made gravy. Homemade rice pudding for after made in the slow cooker- yum! Leftovers: half a tray of roast veg, cabbage and water the cabbage was cooked in used to make soup for tonight. Some extra cabbage frozen, left over gravy frozen and half the soup frozen. Also planty of rice pudding left over for tommorow.

Not made bread today. Decided to send dcs to school tommorow with some tuna pasta salad for packed lunch which has used up a few odd salad bits in the fridge.

LadyHarriet like Rogue said, you should use a carrier when applying to the skin. Almond is ideal, but you can also use olive or sunflower.

Question for all: have found a packet of falafal mix in the back of the cupboard that has a BBE July 2011. As it best before not use by, do you think this will be ok still? . I think yes!

I also have a pizza whirl mix in the cupboard that I bought for 5p on new years eve as it was BBE dec 2011. Will make those this week for dcs packed lunches this week for a change from sandwhiches and it will help me avoid going to the supermarket

morecoffee - I would use the falafel mix, even given the BBE of July 2011. Can't see why it wouldn't be edible. Have no idea what a pizza whirl mix is but the BBE wouldn't put me off. Go for it .

Yes, the falafal mix is fine Im sure. I have no prob using the pizza whirl mix as its BBE date only ran out last week (it is just a dough mix and tomato sauce... only cost 5p, reduced from £1.99, couldnt resist!).

Loving the idea of £1 a nit... I could have made enough for my whole food budget on the amount ds1 had in his hair last week!