No-spend January/Frugal February - the no-spend challenge continues

[roguepixie]

OK - am attempting to start the second thread ... hope this works.

Question - how do you get to know when your local Waitrose starts discounting things at the end of the day?

Approved Food

I am just going to have a look at this and see whether it's as good as the first page suggests.

I spent little bits on food and household stuff. Nothing naughty and no takeaway this week. Today I made dinner with leftovers and apple crumble.
DS new uniform jumpers and PE kit (which I ordered weeks ago) was £23. All with school logo. But got a spare PE bag with it so will use that as his swimbag!

Co-op have a few good deals this week:
Gu cheesecakes (2) half price at £1.50.
Comfort fabric softner half price.
2 for £5 on Lurpak.
Thirst pocket kitchen roll (2) for 99p.

Collision - how on earth did you find prices THAT cheap at Waitrose of all places???

Boffin - I'm always abit suspicious of online cheap food. I follow the mantra of being suspicious of discount sushi and apply it to too good to be true food prices on the internet. Different when you can actually see the food for yourself in store like Collision though...

I had a meeting at school and headed down there at about 7.15pm. It is only 4 mins from home so not arduous and parking is easy too!

I saw the girl with the reduction machine and made friends with her! Her name was Natasha and she joined in with my excitement!

2 friends turned up as we seem to have turned bargain hunting into a social thing! and I sold them a few items from the reduced trolley too!

It was really good fun as I must have had about £90 worth of food for £12.

I really do do my week's shopping at Aldi and Waitrose. The contrast is huge but I get the cheap basics at Aldi and the delicious food from Waitrose.

Wow Collision I am very impressed (and want to come to yours for dinner now :o)

No spend here today apart from the usual diet coke & choc at work, hmmmm I really should stop that habit. I got a book in the post today I bought called 'Not Buying It: my year without shopping', it only cost me 1p! (well and £2.80 P&P). Should be an interesting read!

Thanks for the antivirus info, I will look into other options now...

Did really well today - expected it to be expensive when I remembered dd has 2 birthday party invites this weekend and I needed to get presents, etc. But I found two cards that I'd forgotten I had - then there was a sale on in the shop I went into - and I sorted out my handbag/purse before I went and found a few partly-spent gift cards. So I got £12 worth for a couple of quid, and have a nice tidy bag now as well .

Well, I have checked Approved Food out and it looks worth a punt. I had actually read about it before and it's legit. I've ordered a lot of biscuits, pasta and things like that, spending £25 to get food to the value of £60. I'll let you know how I get on.

Collision ... WOW . That's amazing. I am seriously up for a late visit to Waitrose to see if I can grab some bargains. Thanks for the tip 'cos I hadn't thought of supermarkets as marking stuff down at the end of the day...duh!!!
at boffin

Well done Camel, no spend on cards, cut price gifts AND a tidy bag .

No spend today apart from the oyster bus fare (£1.35) to collect DS and same again back. Had to go to optician's with DS tonight as he had new glasses just before Christmas and has been suffering with blurry vision and pain in his eyes!! After them suggesting he needed to settled into his new Rx I forced them to re-test and his prescription was wrong . The relief that it was something so simple was huge but the anger that they had got it wrong so badly (diagnosing an astigmatism where there wasn't one was one little gem) is similarly huge. DH now on war path to their head office. Needless to say they have not charged for the re-test, for sorting out his glasses (both pairs) with the new Rx and supplying 9 months worth of contact lenses instead of 6! Guilt speaking, me thinks!!

Was going to buy fresh pasta, sauce and dessert to make a quick dinner but decided to save it for another day...it was as quick to boil some potatoes for mash, steam some veggies and pan fry some marinaded chicken. DS less than impressed though...he was after the fresh pasta

Good day here, spent £11 in Co-op, £1 on chocs for me and DD2 and DD3(blasted period) and then £9.57 on 3 bottles of Persil non-bio which was almost half price, will be stocking up on them until the offer runs out.
Pasta bake for tea which was quick and cheap

Going to meet an old friend for cake and coffee tomorrow so will probably wipe out my 2 almost no spend days on that

Bad day here again. £113 in Tesco, £29 in farm supplies shop. Mostly for the banquet. Just some meat to pick up tomoz (cost price) and some salad stuff and more leeks on Saturday and we're done.

Ah yes, when Waitrose mark stuff down to seel, they don't do it by halves. I still have a few packets of meat balls (75p/packet) and some really nice Heston sausages (90p/packet) in the freezer. The freezer is my friend.

$6 on lunch. Ashamed but had to break a $20 for the $10 price of a security key card at work (I work at a bank yet they had no change for a $20 ).

Felt crap today so not too guilty feeling. Nothing yesterday. Nothing tomorrow then Saturday have a planned day out with sisters, but they are each paying some petrol as told them I was skint so shouldn't be too bad.

How was your first day at the new job Fishie?

Wow Waitrose do good markdowns, must go there late one night. Bloody Tesco had loads of stuff yesterday marked down but a mere 10p which is stupid as they'll not shift it. They are buggers as well for marking things that are 2 for one down, eg so meats that are 2 for £3 fresh will apear singly as £1.60 ??? I'd rather have the fresh ta!!

ASDA are quite good for bakery mark downs. I often get loaves for 50p and french sticks for 5p. Lovely with a salad or made into garlic bread. The french sticks aren't quite as good next day but warmed through they're great for breakfast & the rest goes as breadcrumbs in the freezer or out for the birds!

Wish I lived near a Waitrose. The nearest one is a trip round the ring road and I don't want to make a special journey. Good day yesterday, but not got high hopes for today - friends coming round for Sunday lunch, so got to buy supplies for that. I did get a whole, free range chicken for £4.99 at Aldi earlier in the week, but having never cooked a roast before in my life (please don't judge), I need to get a tin big enough to hold the bugger (going to have a look in £land) and ingredients for stuffing and dessert.

On the plus side, rather than buying some cakes to take to a NCT meet today, I've made some. At 7.30am this morning. It's acceptable to have cake mix for breakfast, isn't it?

Morning all. Today I am relaxing the no-spend and will be buying a hearty lunch to treat myself because I am giving blood this afternoon. Also got to fill up the car which will be £70 on diesel. That lasts two weeks with normal commuting (50 miles, four days a week plus a few short trips at weekends).

Last night I made the ragu part of this lasagne doubled in quantity which has made four portions - each portion feeding 3 people if it's in lasagne, 2+DS if it's bolognese. I used good mince (£6, 800g), English pork lardons (£1.69, 200g), and about 2/3 a carton of Passata (£1). Onion and carrot from store cupboard but about 20p, garlic/bay/herbs from the garden, dropped the wine and used lamb stock I made earlier this week, two hours of running the hob/oven (£1.50). So, about £1.00 per person, or 85p plus lasagne sheets and white sauce which I'll make from creme fraiche and parmesan.

We had a sneak preview... It's bloody delicious, very rich and moreish. Definitely going to be one of those which matures over a day in the fridge, too.

Of course, now I realise I could have made it for 7p a head if only I'd gone to Waitrose at 7.55pm!!!

Hello, do you mind if I join please?

Feeling pretty skint atm as had DS1's birthday, then Xmas, then a break at Center Parcs. Now am definitely ready to start saving & stop spending!

I see you've all been talking about "yellow-label" reductions. I always go for these at our Tesco & Co-op & know a couple of tricks...

1. According to the till-girl I befriended , reductions are always better when the weather is miserable or there is a football match on mainstream TV in the evening, as people are less likely to come out then. So, on these evenings, my Tesco will reduce things by 90% instead of by 75%. They also do this if they have just bought too much stock in & it's not sold as well as they would have expected.

2. At my Co-op (but not my Mum's, strangely) if you buy reduced price goods that were in an offer eg 2 for £5, the money that you would have got off in the offer, you get off anyway! Eg pack of salmon steaks £3 or 2 for £5 would mean a £1 reduction at full price, so when the salmon is reduced to £1.50 (so £3 for 2 packs), you get £1 off, making the total price £2!

Hope these help somebody!

I expect to spend a small amount today as need to complete FIL's 60th birthday present (massive toolbox on wheels, with a small gift in some drawers eg box of chocs, socks, smellies etc)

Hope you all have good & frugal days!

Hello ladies, have been reading/following your thread with interest. I know it's not exactly no spend, but I have an online Body Shop code for 40% discount and free delivery, valid today only, just type FRIDAY40 as the promotional code when you check out. Have been waiting for a discount code to get a new tinted moisturiser, so got mine for £6 instead of £10, with free delivery
Thought someone else might find it useful too...

Morning all.

I'm impressed with collisions waitrose shop. Might be tempted to go myself but since i'm refusing to buy petrol till Feb I won't be going anywhere yet. Probably a good thing really as knowing me I'll tempted by stuff not on the bargain shelf.

Bad day wednesday, dh tempted me into getting some red wine and we both got a bit tipsy :o, but no spends yesterday or today so far although i've got a girls night out tonight.

Of course spew, cake mix is perfectly acceptable at ANY time of day .

Fishy, hope your first day went well. It does seem ironic that a bank couldn't change a 20!!!

Welcome jen, the more the merrier. It's a brilliant thread.

I am definitely going to pop to Waitrose late, now. I had to stop off at a supermarket today and spent £41.00. That will do for the time being and I won't have to go to the butcher and will only do a small veggie/fruit shop tomorrow morning. TRbh, before joining this thread I would have happily spent £100+ and got a taxi back - now, only the essentials and the bus .

I am going to try and get to the garden centre soon to buy some herb plants...I don't want to buy any fresh herbs this year - I will grow my own this year.

I am following this thread avidly every day so I decided I will pop in and say hi every now and again.I think you are all doing amazingly well and as a result of reading this every day,so am I.Like you say roguepixie I too would always spend a fortune on a mediocre supermarket shop but I have reduced enormously since just getting essentials. Its funny how guilty everyone seems to feel when they 'fall off the wagon'.I too feel this-went mad in poundland today and spent 22 pounds on stuff.All good value and way cheaper than in other shops(fatballs for birds,few cosmetics ,biscuits etc)but I feel sooo bad cause I hadnt planned it.Oh well,its good to see everyone else feels the same after an unplanned splurge.
I had a freak incident with my car key and a strong gust of wind(wind slammed back door shut,bunch of keys in lock,car key somehow gets wedged in door jamb ,have to get passing builder to prise door open ,etc and free bunch of keys),but car key is bent rather badly.I have a spare but now need a second one and it will be minimum of 30 pounds.WTF for a bloody car key for a -wait for it -1996 golf.Its these unexpected bits that really throw us off course.On a positive note,I am going to make a huge pot of home-made veg.soup later and use up loads of old veg etc.I am also going to challenge myself to spending no more than a fiver a day for all next week.I will have some money coming in the following week so am determined to do it.Keep up the good work girls-everyone doing fab.Thanks for the thread!

Took some stuff back to John Lewis and got £20.95 refund. Then got a bit distracted ... the sale rails were saying 'come to momma' and before I knew it I have bought some £95 trousers for £20.70, a £295 Damsel in a Dress coat for £88 and some £75 Gabor boots for £42. I don't know whether this is good or bad.

On the up side I have got 3 more loaves of bread for 49p each, loads of Juice and Water F Sh for £1 per pack of four, Persil for £4 a big box, posh chopped tomatoes for £1.60 for four tins and Pampers £15 for two packs of 36. Does the virtue of this cancel the rest out?

And the coat does look amazing. And I actually didn't have any boots at all, and snow is forecast.

Oh Boffin, John Lewis was my downfall too a few weeks ago!!! However I thought it was notable that they gave me full price back for an item that had since been reduced - I took back a pair of PJs (say £30 ish) I'd bought for DH for Christmas that were too big, to do a straight swop for a smaller size (then marked at £20 ish) and they gave me £10 credit. which I immediately spent as part of £150 on three frocks in the sale

I am rubbing hands with glee that the coming cold snap might validate the £12 I spent on a snow shovel, £4 on Eazy-melt non-toxic path grit, and £deargodonlyknows that DH spent on TEN cans of de-icer... Hoping these aren't a waste of money in a mild winter after all! Any day the weather means it's unwise to attempt to drive to work would also save me money (because I can work at home just as easily)

Met my friend in starbucks today and spent£6 on hot chocolate, muffin and fruit toast for dd3. then posted my Ebay sell and spent £2,96 on postage and an envelope. Must remember to include packaging costs in my P&P. Then another drink and some bread cakes for tea£4 so not too bad today.

I'm skiving online while I am meant to be working, it's that time on a Friday where all motivation goes out the window! I am annoyed as I prepared my lunch this morning and then left it on the kitchen table ARGH so I have had to spend £2.75 on a sandwich & diet coke today. It just seems so much when you get used to the cost of packed lunches! I also need to get petrol on the way home but other than that I hope I don't spend any more today....