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

[roguepixie]

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

Sorry - I have a nexctar carD for occasional forays - I need the car (wheels) a LOT more than that!!

Another tip I have is that if you go to your local veg market or independant shop just before closing time then they usually discount some of the veg or fruit. Our shop in the centre of town quite often has bags of fruit or veg at a £1 each. With the veg I cook with some herbs and a veg stock cube to make soup then puree and freeze and with the fruit I puree and freeze in icecube trays. You can then make smoothies out of them. You don't even have to defrost they make a nice cold slush for the summer mornings

Having slipped off the wagon a bit towards the end of Jan, I'm ready for frugal Feb. Like some of you did last month, I'm going to write down every bit I spend. For one thing, I'll finally find out whether I spend more than DP or not - we don't have a joint a/c so have an arrangement whereby he pays the mortgage & I pay for everything else (bills, nursery (other than his vouchers), food etc) but then its complicated as, at the weekends, he'll usually pick up the tab if we go out for a meal or something. February can be my month of reckoning!
The month hasn't got off to the cheapest start as I suddenly realised I hadn't renewed my tax disc so raced to the PO and got that done. That was £165 spent.
Those of you who say that I'm only going to spend X on petrol - how do you get around? And where do you live? We live in a little village with a corner shop, a newsagents, a hairdressers & a park. And DD's nursery. DP drives 8 miles to work each day; I drive 7 miles to the station on the days I'm working. I have one friend in the village who I see twice a week but we often meet in one of the local towns as then we can take the DC to the park, soft play etc. And none of my other friends live less than 5 miles away in other little villages. There's no public transport to speak of so I get through a lot of petrol. I can't really work out how to reduce my consumption though.
Groupon have a offer today where you can get £40 of Ocado groceries and a year's pass for £39. The pass is only valid for Tues - Thurs deliveries so I'm not sure I'd use it.

I bought an ebook yesterday. £2.70 on the Kindle store.
Some mentioned Nectar card. We take our car to Ford to MOT and service. They give you Nectar points. Just wish I had remembered when we bought the car!

Not exactly a no spend day yesterday. Spent £2.00 in Sainsbury and £4.70 at the veg stall (not my usual one...wish I'd waited, tbh).

So today I start Frugal February: spend so far £4.05 on oyster bus journey's and £7.80 at the Post Office (Ebay sales so that is covered). No plans to spend anything else today.

Plans for tomorrow: no spending. Have to work in the morning and then plan to spend the afternoon baking - scones, refridgerator cake, banana loaf/buns etc. I need to go to the butcher but hope to make it to the weekend before heading off to buy anything ... may have to though . If I do fish tomorrow and a risotto the day after I should be able to make it and it clears another two items from the freezer.

Lexi, with Waitrose (and Ocado) you can book a delivery a month or so in advance so you can plan your delivery and you get the delivery for free (on Waitrose on orders over £50.00 and on Ocado at certain times, especially later slots). Tbh, I find the delivery pass a bit of a con - they make you pay for something that is free if you plan it in advance (although I do understand the necessity for some to have something in a regular slot ... it just rankles that they make you pay).

jenduck, for a veggie lasagne - sweat off some onions and garlic, in a food processor mince up carrots (add to mix), celery (add) - anything else like courgette, mushrooms etc and sweat off. Add jar of passata (or two tins of chopped tomatoes) and some stock (and a glass of red wine of you want). Cook down until mixture s thick. If you really want to take it ultra veggie (grin) then instead of using lasagne sheets, use sliced aubergine (you need brush them with olive oil and then bake the slices in the oven for 10 mins, each side, to make them a bit soft). Then layer, using bechamel sauce and voila . My DH loves it and he's Italian ... .

MNers, I confess. I have spent $6 today on pasta and breadsticks lunch . all down to the fact I overslept and had no time to prepare a packed lunch for today, all goes to show time really is money! Very sad ive had to start off Frugal Feb this way. Sigh.

Should get $600 back from taxes by February 7 which I shall pay a few bills from and then stick away for furniture for the new flat I hope to have by April. I am planning to do more meal plans and increase my monthly food budget to $50 instead of the $40 last month to allow for a few snacks for work. 9 hours out of the house and 1 meal for a pregnant lady won't cut it! Plus I will have steady income now and don't need to scrimp as much although still trying to save as much as possible.

Hoping to have a day out with the sisters again this month as we had a lovely time, but stay in town to avoid extra petrol.

I need petrol tomorrow but don't anticipate any other spending. No spend Friday although may treat younger Sis to a frozen yogurt.

Fishy, you are forgiven . It's no fun being hungry at the best if times, leave alone when you are pregnant.

No spend today other than postage and oyster bus journey. Did spend 1hr 45mins standing in the cold waiting for my DS though ...urgh. I was soooooooooo cold - the station staff felt sorry for me and invited me inside the barriers to stand by the heater ... bless 'em

I have registered with Approved Foods and am looking at doing a delivery. DH looked at me very suspiciously and said "yes, but it's that odd stuff from the odd supermarkets isn't it?" .... I explained that it comes highly recommended and that there were some recognisable brands in there as well ...poor DH, he does't do cut price very well

Anyone know how long Approved Foods take to deliver? I'm not around much over the next few days, so stoopidly didn't time the delivery very well.

Thanks!

Feb is off to a bad start, I spent about £60 today on just stuff.

A pack of swim nappies
lunch
magazines
present for ds(birthday tomorrow)
card for ds
extras for tea
socks for the little DD's who have both decided to grow their little feet at the same time
ingredients for ds's cheesecake
£10 taking dog to PDSA

I have downloaded the expense manager app and have been putting things in when I get the receipt so I can really see where I spend big. I still have 3 b'day presents to get, 3 b'day cards, lunch out for mums b'day and london trip for mum's b'day to pay for, just food as travel,hotel is all paid for.

I did spend today, but not the spends I planned! Whilst out on my usual lunchtime walk, I went past a secondhand children's clothes store - fatal! I came out the proud owner of an M&S snowsuit for DS2 for £4.50. Feel rather guilty as it will only last a few months, but I think I was rather influenced by this cold snap we're having!

On the plus side, I did not buy myself a hat, I got paid for the work I have been doing over the past couple of weeks, I got some more work in & I earned 100 Tesco clubcard points for doing a Shopper Thoughts survey!

Also, on a non-financial note, DS2's 2nd tooth is finally making an appearance, which may mean he stops shouting as much & producing such stinky nappies!

Tomorrow should be another low-spend day - will probably buy milk at Tesco for £1 & that's it (unless I see a really nice, bargainous hat ) - oh, unless you count paying nursery fees, but that to me comes under bills, not miscellaneous spending which is what I am logging here iyswim!

Thanks for the Lasagne recipes offered, I will try both!

Happy feb everybody! I did a big tesco shop today for £142 but that should last a few weeks hopefully! Made a packed lunch tonight so aiming for a NSD tomorrow... car insurance is due on the 9th so need to start thinking about that, grrr. seems to be a big bill due every month!

Debs, can't see much wrong with your shop. However, you could buy a pair of proper swim pants for DC - they have an integral 'nappy' but can be washed each time and re-used (John Lewis used to do them) - that might save a few pence. And magazines ... oh, hang your head in shame . Was it 'Heat', was it? You might have to spend a night in the stocks for that . Tbh, I plan to 'splurge' on a copy of 'Delicious' magazine this month ... it's sooooooo lovely but sooooooo expensive. .

My Approved Foods order took about a week,I think. They texted me with the delivery slot and there was an option to reschedule. We've tried the rolls, tuna, biscuits, cake bars and cornflakes to go, and they are indistinguishable from what it would taste like if you bought it at Waitrose.

well I have a grocers total from Monday to compare against ocado...

local fruiterer
round lettuce
sugarsnap peas
two small tubs of cherry plum tomatoes
two red peppers
big bunch of radishes
£5.14 altogether

ocado checked this morning
69p
£1.79
£2
£1.49
70p
total would be £7.67 for the same salad!!

WIN!

Checking in! Bit of a scary start to today as brakes froze on car (but not completely) when I was taking DS1 to nursery Luckily, DH was also in car so took over driving, he reckons it is just the cold (-2.5 here) & it had already freed up mostly by the time we got home. Must take it out every day to try & avoid this happening again & must renew AA this month (2 person cover £101 but £50 cashback on Topcashback.com so real cost £51).

DH starts a new 14-week contract today (he is in TV so pretty much always works on contracts, which can be 'interesting'), & is nearer than before so less commuting costs & more time at home! Yay! I have been working for my dad for the last 2 weeks, leave house at 7am & back at 8pm, so am hugely pleased to be back in my roost & actually enjoying getting some sort of order back to the house!

Shouldn't spend too much today, but need milk, soft cheese & possibly some yoghurts/jars for DS2 (trying to wean him off jars, but could be a slow process). Chicken casserole in slow cooker for tonight & will also put a few portions aside for DSes.

Sleeves, I know I said it to biddy upthread but just seen ad again, if you go through confused.com for car insurance you get 1000 nectar points (but obviously they may not offer best deal for you as there are lots of comparison sites).

Also, Debs, depending on what magazines you like, some have online versions? Or if you & a friend like the same ones could you take it in turns to buy one every other time & share?

Off to check out Approved Foods, then into town to pay money into bank & Tesco, then try to do some surveys to bump up my Amazon points/clubcard points etc

Morning no-spenders: sorry to bust in, but thought that this thread might be of interest to some of you.

Thanks
MNHQ

Argh...not a good day, 100pounds of bank charges have gone out of our bank account Also trying to get a 53pound refund on supplements I ordered at the beginning of the month but I still haven;t received and cannot get hold of the seller! So have just started a dispute via Paypal...really hoping I get the money back.

Not going to spend any money today. More bulk soup cooking to be done!

Zest magazine have a website which basically takes articles from the magazines. If you're a member of Fitness First (I get my membership subsidised through work so works out at £30 a month and as I go 4 or 5 times a week I get the most out of it - look at corporate memberships for your work place and can work out v cheap if they do it that way) you can get the Financial Times, Daily Mail and some magazines (often Look or Womens Fitness) for free with your membership and lots of samples (I picked up a job lot of Nivea moisturiser samples yesterday) which is a good way of cutting back on papers/newspaper expenditure.

No Spend Feb not going well so far - car needs MOT and service so is off at the garage now. I suspect its going to cost best part of a grand so will have to go on credit card which means March is going to be a Meagre March too On plus side, got a refund of £150 into my account yesterday from DS's rugby club being cancelled (good for me, not so good for DS1) and am managing to keep a lid on my spending during the week...

Gahh, was hoping for No Spend today, except for £1 for dd's Brownies tonight - but just found a note in her uniform pocket, from Brownies, requesting their £20 insurance fee contribution to be brought in tonight. That was £20 that was meant to be going towards entertainment for this sodding free trip.

And dh, thinking he'd be helpful, came home from work with a pile of leaflets of attractions in the city we're going to, that we haven't done on previous trips, and now the dds are clamouring for boat trips and fancy pizzas.

And I'll be the one dealing with their disappointment, because I'm the one entertaining the dds while dh is working .

And I remembered that my niece has a birthday coming up - no spare money to buy a gift but I thought I had one in the loft. Turns out I gave her an identical one at Christmas, so the only alternative is an unopened Lush gift set that was given to me. Bummer .

Swishing thread? Too risky. Might be the fattest person there and not find anything.

This is getting worse. Now I get a text from the teacher of the one afterschool activity that we really can't drop for dd2, saying she's had to put her prices up. Might just go back to bed. This has turned out to be a crap No Spend Day.

TheDog - just look at things in the round. Do your DD's get pocket money? Can you sit them down and discuss with them the trip, if they want to do expensive trips they need to contribute towards them etc from their pocket money? May help reign them back abit. And so today's an expensive day - tomorrow may well not be - and these are all expenses coming in the future. As for your DN's birthday - could you make her something (if an adult I find flavoured vodka is a good present and pretty cheap to make - check out the xmas threads for flavoured vodka stuff: if a child, maybe cookies or a cake? Or check out Boots and left over xmas presents as they are pretty cheap now in the sale).