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

[roguepixie]

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

Not a no spend day here
Youngest has grown and clothes no longer fit. Trip round the charity shops produced
Next coat 2.99 like new
Two h and m t shirts 99p each
M&s Cardigan 1.99 like new also
Daughter also swindled some new jeans 1.99 and belt 50p technically she didn't need them but she is delighted with them.

Super pleased really all lovely clothes for 9.50. Not sure i could justify buying young children new clothes when there is so many SH things available.

Made bread again today the home made pizzas were delish.

Well done on the charity shop haul!

Ours all seem to be going up in price here, although did get an almost brand new winter coat a few weeks ago for DD1 for £6

Severe lack of boys clothes in our chairty shops - its all girls stuff, and I tend to pass DD1's onto DD2!

$10 on a lunch with sister today. Fancied a new book so went to the library and checked out loads. Now have lots of "new" books. Lost my debit card so went to the bank to cancel and should get a new one next week hopefully. So won't be able to spend (have made it so I never carry cash therefore no debit card = no spend) for all next week. Eek. Will be paid Thursday though and if still no card, will get cash out for groceries.

Well I spoke too soon and it's not been a NSD here after all. I just renewed our car insurance but by using a comparison website we have saved £86!!! :)

Weirdly enough it has also satisfied my urge to spend, even if it was a necessity and a dull one at that.

Doing quite well so far...

Bedroom TV (bought from Sainsbury's last April) playing up - rang the helpline, no probs bring it back get a refund. Sorted. New TV bought from Argos £20 cheaper than original, happy days.

Upon returning TV to Sainsbos, end up purchasing £24 of clothes for DS...get a voucher with my receipt for 1000 nectar points if spending £25 on clothing. Hmmm methinks. Trot off to customer services, get a refund on clothes and ''re-buy'' them together with a £2 hat reduced in the sale in order to get the points (£5 to spend). Hat is going on Ebay.

Customer services assistant was very catsbummouth about it.

Well, not a nsd for me today - bought coffees on trip into town w DP and Dd and a hat and earmuffs - £16 in sale - as I left my (handknitted) hat on the tube...

Also been cheating a bit as DP bought lunch out which I'm not counting but really it's our total joint spend that counts...

Home day tomorrow though so apart from milk shouldn't be anything else.

Snow is settling outside - looks v pretty and still!

Good day here yesterday - only £5.06 on milk, squash & cheese at Tesco in case I can't get there in the week because of the snow.

Today should be an NSD, as we are about to go outside & play in the snow (DS1 soooo excited!) then will roast a mahoosive bit of pork (half shoulder joint) for dinner. This was. £5.40ish down from about £15 before Xmas & will do us for meat all this week - so if anybody has any good recipes which use cooked por'n let me have 'em (please!)

I, too, love a charity shop bargain & totally agree that young kids don't really need new clothes - and nor do I! Have had all manner of goodies in the past for a fiver or less & long may it continue!

We haven't been doing fantastically tbh. But I am being more conscious. I have shopped for groceries two weeks in a row now on the high Street and love it - just takes a wee bit more effort.

Plus we all went to the cinema last night - four of us for twelve pounds! We saw Hugo at our Community College cinema - local, no fees for parking - all good!

Lots of cooking from scratch going on. Just needing to curtail dh's desire to spend the extra pennies he's earning on his second job on goodies for himself. :)

Hello all! Did quite well in January, mainly by eating up strange combinations of things from two overstuffed freezers and starting to ebay the self-perpetuating slag heap of outgrown/unwanted stuff on the spare bed. Now just need to continue resisting 'bargains' and basically spend as little money as possible. Two holidays coming up (paid for) but must clear overdraft. Not a bad start to Feb., really glad to have this thread back to keep me in line and inspired!

You're forgiven spew especially since i munched my way through half of it before going to bed.

Spent all of 89p on emergency milk for the ds's yesterday and managed to resist the lure of the dreaded chocolate by the till.

Should be a NSD today as apart from taking ds1 to a party I intend to stay in, all snuggly and warm watching dvds.

I heart Lidl. Their half price Sat&Sun offer was Scottish Beef meatballs reduced to 74p for a pack of 12. I bought 4 packs, put 3 in the freezer and made a Bolognaise Meatball bake with the other using peppers and other ingredients already in the house. Yum, also homemade garlic bread using a bread mix out of the cupboard. Not leaving the house today as it is so cold so a definate NSD. I also bought from Lidl 11 chicken drumsticks for £2.25 so will be making a Chicken in Mustard sauce casserole for lunch today. Also some Feta Cheese and onion bread

mackerel v sorry to hear about your handknitted hat...as a knitter I feel your pain...

welcome issimma!

had a splurge day yesterday. Haircut (planned) was 38.25 after 10% discount they offer for employees where I used to work. Then DH wanted me to get pastries because we'd both been awake multiple times in the night with pox-boy. So that was a few £ in waitrose. Then later I decided to buy comforting food for the cold snap, so spent £6.76 on two bags of veg I won't bore you with the details from my new favourite shop then meat and dairy from co-op using some of the £30 of vouchers we got for renewing our contents insurance. Also bought four raspberry plants from the garden centre for £20 which will save us untold amounts in the summer when they're "on special" in the supermarket for £4 for two punnets...

NSD today though. Took the boy out sledging and going to just chill out here the rest of the day.

Listing on eBay today - including my Jo Malone . Have promised myself that when we get the debt paid off and a bit in the bank, I will replace it as a priority.

Spend today approx £12 for dh to take the girls swimming. He takes them every week as Daddy bonding time. Dds wanted to go to a cafe afterwards, but we decided instead to have a pretend cafe at home, with real food. Dd2 has been making the menus and I cunningly steered all the food (toasted sandwiches, mainly) to be with things that we already have in the house.

With all the menu planning and table-setting, it's been most of an afternoon's entertainment, and we'd have been having tea anyway, so food expenditure is minimal. Result!

Just re-read my earlier post and . Obviously was requesting recipes for cooked pork, not anything else!

Waves hello to Issima

Lexilicious, you've reminded me that I was going to look into growing raspberries this year. We've got enough space outside and the price of soft fruit at the supermarket is ridiculous. There's a bit of outlay for the plants, etc., but speculate to accumulate, eh?

That'll be pork with a K, will it?

I usually put leftover cooked pork in a stir-fry, because it crisps up nicely and a little meat goes a long way. Also maybe Mexican-style wraps or a risotto?

Just marking my place before I catch up

Expenditure so far for Feb

£42 in Aldi, but that will take us right up to the 16th which is pay day
£2 in Blockbuster hiring 2 DVDs so a cheap Saturday night's entertainment.

Have just remembered the Dog is over due his booster injections.

sadly agree charity shops are not what they were:-( i had to go round about 8 for yesterdays haul. I don't even buy for myself anymore as i can get new for only a small amount more, so sad.
the charity shops got greedy i think, the forget they help people two ways, with the proceeds and the purchaser. It stops me donating, which is very sad.
I did tell the overgate shop that i thought 50p was too much for kids ladybird books( old and scruffy) they were very put out! I can't even go in a heart foundation as john lewis is cheaper.

Sory rant over.

Hello, can I join? I am sick of spending ridiculous amonts of money on daily trips to the Co-op and am going to do better! Today I made the soda bread from a recipe that someone posted earlier the thread, it was very tasty and my 3 year old DD loved it (and making it) so thank you.

Yes, noticed the Por'n from earlier jenduck - it made me {grin]. What about fajita's with some of the leftover por-k .

Welcome issima and ouroboros, nice to 'see' new faces . Ouroboros, there is a link here to organised homes which includes various sheets you can print out that help you catalogue the contents of your freezer and larder etc. They also have meal planners - I've started using them and they really do help - stops all sorts of 'off the cuff' buying.

Had a NSD today - yaaaaaaaay . Took DS to the park to sledge and build snowmen and have snowball fights with his friends so managed to wear him out a bit as well .

Dinner was chicken, roasties and various veggies. Chicken will do dinner tomorrow as a risotto and will make stock form the carcass. Dessert was apple and pear crumble with the excess apples and two ripe pears I had.

I have also searched out my wool supply. Not too much in reserve, will have to raid MIL's stash . Started a lovely scarf for DS last winter but didn't get it finished in time for Christmas so have re-started it and will finish and put away ready for an 'extra' present for next Christmas. Think I will also do a few knitted presents for family as well - any ideas??

Sorry - here is the lonk to organised homes:

www.organizedhome.com

link even ... have no idea what a 'lonk' is

chickens, agree with you regarding the charity shops. So sad that they seem to think they should charge so much. They do seem to have forgotten who they are benefitting???

Not so long ago there was a charity shop near to me that sacked all it's staff as they found out the staff were 'skimming' the good stuff from the donations and keeping it for themselves . Tbh, their attitude reminds me a lot of Ebay - it used to be about getting a few pennies, not getting greedy and selfish and feeling good about passing stuff on/recycling. Now it's all about overcharging and not caring about helping others get a bargain . And I Ebay!!!! It's nice when I earn a few quid but it's equally as nice to know that someone is getting a good deal and decent stuff is getting another home.

- sorry, rant over for me too ...