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

[roguepixie]

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

Having done really well in January (before payday ).I have slipped took the dcs to roller disco after school yesterday (£20). Today no spend so far but I am eying up a new bode cardiac (with 15%off but still £43...I am starting a new job in march and do need some smartish things. Its also my birthday next week and have 3 meals.out planned seems a bit extravagant.

Normal spending again. Guitar lesson £11, milk, taking DD swimming later... I am really trying my best. January is nearly over and I reckon I would have spent a LOT more than I have. I will obviously carry on with it.

DH has just gone to buy milk and informed me it has snowed

Have just paid my tax bill - the nice man at HMRC suggested I could put the tax bill on credit cards (for which they charge an extra 1.4% ) so have decided to bite the bullet and pay all from my Feb paypacket (paid today) which means, having budgeted everything and relying heavily on overdraft in Feb, I have £50 a week to spend on food and transport (which costs me £5 a day on the tube) in the month of February. Will be taking lunch into work with me and living on 31p muller yoghurt pots for breakfast (Tesco metro near my office so can stock up) and using subsidised work canteen for soups I think for Feb. Should be a fun, fun, fun month...

Penney - what a pain about the car key. The security key to our back door got bent last year and I was amazed there only seemed to be around 3 places in North West London that I could get a replacement cut - and it cost £20! Hope your luck improves from here on in.

Boffinmum - just think of all the money you saved by not buying those items full price

Hello everyone, ive been watching this thread for a while and im very impressed! I could do with your help! I can be really good with spending for a while making good choices, etc but once i start spending i just think 'oh dear ive ruined it now might as well continue!' Im hoping if i can see what ive spent in black and white i can keep it all under control and stay on track!

Im 37+6 pregnant and moving into a house hopefully by the end of Feb. I get the keys to get started on gutting the place and decorating on wednesday so im going to have to spend and do have money aside for this and essentials for the house but no luxuries. The more frugal i am the better as moneys going to be tight whilst on maternity pay and i need to make savings where i can!

Any advice would be more than appreciated and i'll be watching your posts for inspiration! :)

Hello all

So...January hasnt gone well so far....£2,600 on new boiler, new hob and repairs to the conservatory roof

Oh well, at least I have hot water and heat now! I hate the previous owners of this house with a bloody vengenace now though

I have been ordering from ocado on a thursday (£2.99 per month delivery pass) and spending £60-70 and then topping up at the local co op so not too bad....

We sorted through the chest freezer last night and found 2 packs of mini milks (dc were delighted!!), 2 packs of frozen veg and 4 pizzas we had forgotten we had!!!

So...am thinking lots of pancakes, soup and cheap meals in Feb!!!!
(especially as we need a new fridge freezer too )

On the plus side, ds2 is now potty trained!!! No more nappies/pull ups!!!! (or sudocrem, nappy sacks etc etc)

Have also spent some money on wallpaper and new cushions for the front room to help cheer me up when it seemed the whole house was falling apart last week Only spent £95 though for 4 rolls wallpaper, 4 cushions and a vase!!!!

Hmmm turns out security key was $15 as originally thought, so another $5 to work . No spend today.

Job is both nice and not nice - my trainer is an old biddy who has been doing this job by herself for 8 years (she is one of only 2 people in the country who do it, now I will be one of 3 eek!) so is very particular about how she wants things done. She seems to get frustrated by me very easily and huffs around and won't explain things for awhile if I take too long or piss her off.

Be glad when I can be by myself finally. Anywho - picking up sister tonight and my aunt is fixing supper so no spend needed yay.

Dreading the spend tomorrow but all for a good cause and I'll be paid next Thursday so will be in good standing for a bit. Getting about $630 back from taxes, after I pay off phone and car insurance will have $400-ish left and may spend it on a nice pushchair I'd really like

Thanks Dinky-you are completely doing the right thing by getting rid of the tax bill.Yes ,february will be tough but you will get through it and think how great you will feel when March comes round. The thread will be a great support to you.

Evening all.
Well some good news and some bad news today.
Good news is that we went to view a rental property on Weds, fell in love, and today we heard that we have passed the reference checks and the place is ours, so we'll be moving next Sunday, no more mother-in-law!!

Bad news is that I didn't get the job that I went for so we are going to have to extremely strict on our spending to afford this lovely house on our current incomes. Budget suggests that we'll have about £200 for the whole month to feed us,nappies for DS2 and any other little extras

However, on a positive, with my own garden again, I can start to grow my own, and Feb/March is a great time to start preparing the ground/potting up, so I shall be hitting £land in the next few days and stocking up!!!

Off out tonight for a lovely evening with 2 other couples. We rotate hosting duties for dinner parties, so it is our turn to bring pudding, and in exchange we get full to burst and rather plastered!! I have been especcially sneaky as I have made raspberry jam bread&butter pudding, from old bread, a few free eggs we were given and 1/2 jar of jam from back of fridge, so only had to spend £1.10 on some cream! Not bad spend for a 3 course meal!!

Wow, realise it's old news now as I'm catching up on the thread after a couple of days, but still v impressed with collision's haul! I'd be dancing with glee if I'd found all those bargains. We don't have a big supermarket within walking distance which is why everything is online for me now - good for keeping the shop focused but no real bargains like that...

So, we have heating back, which is lovely! The boiler had stopped because of a leak so had plumber round looking at that today - but as it was repairs to a heating system recently fitted, I don't think we are being charged - all part of the initial cost. Still need to re-decorate where the water has stained wall though and not sure who is responsible for that cost...

Anyway, made me realise we can be quite comfortable with the thermostat a degree or two lower, so turned that down now which should save a few pennies.

Also been pretty good today and yesterday - £2.60 to post a parcel to ILs and £3.40 on a few bits and pieces (bread, salad) from local shop that I forgot to order online, and that's it.

Leilandri - I LOVE jam bread&butter pudding! sounds like a great idea rotating the duties; hope you had a good time. Will have to get some grow-your-own tips off you as we have garden for the first time in this new house and I really want to make use of it but not quite sure where to start...

Fish - How long until the crabby old trainer leaves and you can just get on with it on your own? Sounds very annoying! Hope you have a nice weekend with your sisters

Boffin - I think the clothes sound like good purchases! (but I am really just saying that to justify potential spend for me as I was thinking today how much I'd like a winter coat that actually fits me and how it really made sense to buy it now in the sales rather than next winter full price...)

Today:
5 x oyster bus fares at £1.35 each (4 to get to and from client so factored into charges)
£41.00 in M&S food (essentials, no fruit or veggies - that's from the stall)
£5.00 on designer (haha) milkshake for DS
£0.00 on 2 new pairs of glasses for DS (nil, as they made the mistake with his last prescription so they are changing them free of charge...as they bloody should)

Will pop to veggie stall tomorrow and may pop to garden centre to get herbs. Lei - what do you mean when you say you will be hitting Poundland to stock up in reference to your new garden? Do they do herb plants etc? I've never been in Poundland so don't know

Welcome to overwhelmed - pop onto freecycle to check out what people are getting rid of. Also, reclamation yards can be a good source of stuff (but can be expensive). Canvass friends to see if they have anything they have been meaning to chuck out - you'd be surprised at what people hold onto and would happily pass onto someone who would get some use out of it. When friends of our had a baby (and we knew we wouldn't have any more) then we gave them all sorts: high chair, bouncer, pushchair, toys, clothes et al. The only condition I have ever stipulated to anyone I have given stuff to is that they (a) chuck it only if it is worn out (2) give it to a charity shop or (3) pass it on to someone else to get some use out of. I love to recycle, me.

boffin, sounds like you did well in JL.

I feel less bad about the JL aberration now the MN jury had decreed it an acceptable purchase, plus I noticed the boots were marked down from £95 to £42, not £75 as I originally thought.

Thanks for the tips rogue :) One persons trash is another persons treasure! My friends and family have been generous with anything they no longer need/want so ive been collecting up all the baby gear and any furniture knowing i will have paint, flooring, furniture and kitchen essentials to fork out for, only thing i will need to get for baby is a cotbed mattress.

I need to make sure money goes on things we need and not just want because it looks nice! :o

Morning everyone, I haven't had time to contribute for a while as DD's(age 11) primary school friend collapsed and died from a brain haemorrage(s) two weeks ago. It was the funeral yesterday which was as expected very emotional. Its the first time DD has had to deal with anything like this.
Boffin at the phone, I had a friends whose son did that with his baby brother, rolled him under the bed as he hadn't quite got used to sharing his mum. I have used Approved food before and was quite happy with the products and delivery. I plan to do an order with my chap so that we can share the delivery costs next time.
Collison love your whoopsies, nothing quite like the buzz of a good bargain

Oh moomoo what a terrible thing to happen,only 11??? Hope minimoo and all her friends are getting over the shock. You just want to hug them tighter don't you when horrible things like this happen? My DD's had a teenager at school die in a freak accident last tear and although I didn't know the girl that well, it really shocked and upset me. We had extra cuddles for ages.

Have been watching but not posting much ladies due to birthday spends knocking the budget a bit. (Christmas, DD1's birthday in Jan then DD2's in Feb) Always glad to see March!

This w/e the DD's are with their Dad so I'm doing freezer eat-ups for me, then out to lunch & supper with friends tomorrow so a no-spend w/e for me on food, although I do need a prezzy for the birthday supper tomorrow. It means I can put off the next big shop till Monday when I have some more money coming in!

lexi that lasagne recipie sounds fab and i could easily adapt it for my veggie daughter so thanks!
fishie hope you sake of the old biddy soon! Your job sounds intriguing

moomoo - such terrible news. What a terrible thing to happen. I hope your DD and all touched by this shock are beginning to recover. Big, very unMN-like hugs to all.

moomoo how awful and distressing. Hope minimoo is doing okay. Big hugs X
rogue £land do a great range of seeds for grow-your-own, including herbs, but not many actual ready to go plants. They have potato and onion sets ready to plant, and various fruit bushes at the moment, as well as pots etc.

www.poundland.co.uk/top-tips/gardening-2012/

Thanks everyone, yesterday was awful, even for the adults let alone the kids. DD is off out today with her friends spending her birthday money, apparantly she has seen a T-shirt in Jack Wills reduced to £12 so she really is a minimoo
I shall be off to Aldi to use my £5 off a £30 spend voucher, my mate is very kindly taking me so saving £3.20 on bus fares. Still worth it though for the bargains. And I too shall be in Poundland checking out the seeds to grow salad, kale, spinach and herbs(for Nutmeg the rabbit lol)

leilandri thanks for the link

moomoo what a shock, hope your little one is okay and giving extra cuddles to Mum at this time. Oh, I do miss Jack Wills - not only having the money and leisure time to stroll around one comfortably but also the ability to fit in their clothes

Boff I used approved food a couple of times when back in the UK, mostly for squash / drinks and packets of biccies / American candy, but also for some tinned items that kept well. Was always v pleased with my haul and good customer service.

And now, off with sisters for the spend day. Only problem is I'll have to leave $30 in my account as it takes it for savings every other Wednesday (ofc, I end up pinging it right back into checking the same day ) but I only have $60 in my account and need $30 for petrol!! Not sure how all that's going to work, may need to borrow $20 off my nan which wouldn't be so nice given current situation. I get paid the very next day so shouldn't be an issue, but still. I hate asking to borrow money from anyone.

Thanks Leilandri for the link. I am near to a £land next week so will definitely pop in to check out the seeds.

Have made some refridgerator (sp?) today (all from store cupboard stuff) and some meringues from left over egg whites so good so far.

Didn't visit my fruit and beg man today as I am going to use up all that I have in the fridge before restocking as I have had to chuck half a cabbage that got pushed to the back of the fridge ... not so good.

Spent nothing on non-essentials today, but an eye-watering £242 on the new car seat. Still, it should do him until he's 8 or so (25kg). Last SMP payment comes in next week, then we're penny-watching big time. I have been good in recent weeks though, so shouldn't be too hard to go on. Also, I think we have enough nectar points to convert to an Amazon voucher soon. Hurrah!

Oh, and rogue, £land is ace. Went yesterday and picked up a few things (roasting tin, Vimto (slightly addicted), Original Source shampoo, blah blah blah) that would cost loads more in other shops. There is a lot of tat to contend with, but actually, it's great for garden/home stuff. We've got friends coming round with their young kids tomorrow, so also got a huge colouring in floor mat for them.

With my Waitrose splurge so far we have had

30p minced beef cooked with half bag red lentils, Aldi tinned tomatoes, Aldi grated cheese = lasagne!

Lamb and pork koftas - 19p Indian starter
Duchy lamb, Aldi tomatoes = Lamb curry served with 19p Indian naan breads

£4 chicken with 40p yorkshire puds = roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings
29p pheasant will be roasted with the chicken too.

Still got salmon, prawns, wood pigeon, lamb, joint beef, sausages, quorn, minced beef for the next fortnight!

Went for a birthday meal with friends to Strada. We joined the VIP club with our smartphone whilst there, and got free desserts. Plus I had £60 in ClubCard vouchers that made a massive dent in the bill. They were seriously impressed! one friend is joining me in my quest to save even more money.

Didn't go too badly today - $4 on petrol (my sisters each gave same to top up for trip), $7.50 on pizza buffet which filled me up all day, $7.25 on cinema ticket, and $3 on ice cream treat for the way home, still have $15 I can use for petrol if needed next week (going to try not to need it if poss) them paid next Thursday, although that will go on petrol, phone bill, and oil change for the car.

Can't wait for my tax money to come back, will be a nice little cushion.