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

[roguepixie]

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

roguepixie I'm sure a lonk has something to do with por'n

I checked out loads of books on knitting from the library yesterday - would love to do handmade things for baby before he is born and also if I get good enough by Christmas can do lots of handmade things instead of buying crap people won't use.

I'm a complete virgin though, anyone have any brilliant internet resources or just plain old advice they'd like to share?! Particularly what wool and needles should I start out with?

NSD today. Do have a bit of cash in case I need something before payday but going to try extra hard not to spend it.

Must say, the charity shops near me are excellent. One has a 10p box, usually filled with cars, plastic jewellery, free dvds from newspapers (got a Fireman Sam. one once, very useful!) The other I frequent has a big box of 10p books outside for adults & one for kids, and a 50p clothes rail with good clothes on it (eg Jasper Conran suit-type jacket for DS when age 5-6). Such bargains mean I don't mind the odd overpriced item, which are few and far between anyway. The staff are really friendly, too

Hello all - spent £60 on petrol and £43 in sainsburys this weekend - but that was going up to notts to see my folks and then getting stuff in to tide us over till Ocado delivery (hoping to last out till Thursday with any luck) from local sainsburys, so on the whole pretty happy with frugality. For those who bake alot, we tried out the sainsburys basics dark chocolate in brownies (baked for dad's birthday this weekend) and it was really nice. I was dubious at 35p bars being any good but am a total convert now. Have also grabbed a load of basics apple juices for DS1's packed lunches for the next few weeks.

Ebay is good for selling stuff but if you know what you want to sell for a particular price and you price well (and are based in a city) I really recommend gumtree - managed to raise £500 selling furniture we were getting rid of last year on there. Am going to go on to sell some curtains and an art deco mirror this month which will hopefully bring in abit of cash too.

Re Knitting - get thee over to YouTube. Seriously. I hadnt knitted for years, and when I took it up again about 2yrs ago, I used YouTube videos to get me going again!

Charity shops - yep, agree with everything mentioned. I do try and donate as much as possible to them, but always try selling it first

Spent on milk and oil today. Milk as we ran out and oil as I made yorkshire puds from scratch for the first time in about 2yrs instead of buying frozen and realised I had no oil! (yummy they were too!)

Tesco delivery tomorrow evening, which is coming out of the savings account until get the money on Tuesday - the monday evening slot was cheaper than the Tuesday morning!

Have made buns and shortbread today for the kids for during the week, and also while the cooker was on anyway, did the bolognaise for tomorrow night. Will just need to cook pasta and reheat the mince.

Trying to keep an eye on my electric spending, we are on meters, but have spent £15 on an Owl meter so it tells me how much in pence Im using per hour. Quite scary to see it jump when the oven/washer/dryer/dishwasher goes on!

Otherwise, it should be a NSD tomorrow. Well, I hope so anyway!!!

Planning a NSD tomorrow too. Out for lunch today (won in a raffle!) so will have Monday roast (chicken) and Yorkshires, leftovers on Tuesday with mash and then make a curry for the freezer for next week. Shepherds pie Wednesday, bolognaise (turn half into chilli for the freezer) on Thursday, cod and chips on Friday. Will make flapjacks and fruitcake with dds for the week. Brilliant idea to buy raspberry canes. I have a couple but they've gone quite 'leggy' - is now the time to prune, does anyone know?And when's the best time to plant them?

ah thanks ladyharriet - I wasn't too gutted as it only took an hour or two and was getting very tatty, so I had been planning to replace at some point anyway - still annoying though

fishpond - if I were you I'd see if you can find a pattern in quite big yarn to start with (you could do a very simple blanket like this one for example - www.purlbee.com/super-easy-baby-blanket/ ), or something very small - it's nice to start with something you can actually finish to get a sense of achievement! I keep taking on projects that take too long then abandoning halfway through.

the site that pattern is from - www.purlbee.com/ - is great for inspiration and free patterns - the yarns they specify are ones they sell, which are mostly redonkulously expensive, but just get something cheaper that's the same kind of size and do your tension square to make sure the gauge is right before you start and you'll be fine.

also check out ravelry - access to heaps of free patterns uploaded and tested by users. I have hardly used it but I know lots of people find it really useful.

oh, also I'd recommend knitting in acrylic. the natural yarns are lovely, but I have a couple of handknitted woollen things for DD from my Mum and although the yarn says machine-washable it's warped quite a lot, whereas a little acrylic handknitted cardigan I got in an ebay bag of stuff has held up beautifully through loads of washes and still feels really nice. or maybe cotton would work well too; should wash better than wool at any rate.

re yarn and needles - I'd find a pattern you want to try first, then just buy what ever yarn and needles you need for that pattern. (Just don't do anything that requires double pointed needles!)

£4.33 on a few bits and pieces from the corner shop today. Not too bad. DP is tracking his spend as well now though (obviously the frugal fun is infectious!), which is quite useful as then we can see where we both spend money and where joint expenses fall and so on.

ooh, also just found this pattern for baby bootees - ullenteventyr.blogspot.com/2008/11/babysokker-igjen-og-igjen.html - they look like ones I made for DD, which worked really well, and the pattern is not too hard, if you have a book to tell you how to pick up stitches, knit two together etc.

sorry forgot to link my first link properly...
www.purlbee.com/super-easy-baby-blanket/

link for raspberry cultivation here - cut your canes down to the ground now if they are autumn fruiting and one of the comments says autumns have prickly spines at the base of the plant.

Good day yesterday. Went to Cardiff on the train with the boy to see a uni friend who now lives in Oz but has flown back over for a couple of weeks. Bought ticket a couple of months ago using a £5 off link from MSE.

Then, when there, said friend insisted on paying for coffees and lunch. Felt guilty but she insisted. All I spent was £2.25 on a bottle of water for the journey home (left home in mega rush and forgot to take my own) and a big bar of tolberone from Poundland. Oops.

Glad the soda bread recipe has gone down well. I formed it into rolls this weekend and bunged them in the freezer for husband's lunches this week. He does prefer yeasty bread, but I was short on time and the soda bread is mega quick.

Agree on charity shop comments. Particularly with whoever said it's much harder to find boy's clothes.

Saturday was almost a NSD but had to buy Lemsip as I have a rotten cold. I spent Saturday wrapped up shivering so no chance to go spend money
Sunday felt a bit better so went to Morrisons and spent £23. The snow meant DD1's riding lesson was cancelled so i saved £17 there.
DS is still off school as he has got impetigo and we need to get him to take some antibiotics before he can go back to school. Just hoping it doesn't spread to the others dc's.
DD1 is better so she is back to school.
Need to buy mum her birthday presents today so prob £20 on that and the chippy tea so another tenner there.
Tomorrow we are taking her out to dinner so that could be about £30-£40. Am hoping it doesn't snow anymore as she will only panic and try and cancel on us

I wasn't too bad over the weekend. We are working our way through stuff in the freezer, so I only bought one pack of fresh meat (last minute as my mum and gran were calling, near dinner time, so needed to be able to stretch a pork chops dinner if they wanted to eat). They didn't, so I am going to chop them into pieces tonight, and freeze in 2 bags for making chinese stir-fries 2 other nights. So it was mostly fruit and veg, milk and bread, and a couple of store-cupboard items in the grocery shopping.

We were going to have lunch out as a family on Saturday, as we had to buy a bunch of birthday presents for DD for the next few weeks (I used an Imaginarium voucher I had won at the school fair). But we went into M&S instead as we wanted a quiche for during the week anyway, and bought some nice bread and cooked chicken legs on offer, and had those at home instead for a LOT less and a very nice lunch. DH took DD swimming in the LA pool yesterday afternoon, so that was a nice, and cheap, outing.

I even got lucky this morning. I go to town early in the mornings to avoid traffic and DD being clingy - some mornings I have a swim, others I go into work early, and others I have a nice cup of coffee (no food) in a coffee shop and read work-ish stuff or a book to relax for an hour or so. The coffee shop I go to has a card for stamping with each coffee and you get one free every 9 you buy - the girl this morning mis-read it and gave me the free one after 8 stamps (I did query it, but she said yes so I put my money away again). Yay!! And I had a good session reading an interesting report that will help at work but is slightly off topic so I didn't have time to read last week, and also impressed my most senior manager by being engrossed in it when he came in to have HIS early morning coffee there...:)

Now this week's main aim is to get DH and DD packed up and shipped off by the weekend (DH is due abroad tomorrow but the strike may mean delaying until the weekend, while DD is going to her granny's for mid-term) and get started on some serious decluttering while they are away. And using up some of the strange combinations in the freezer!!

Morning all! Looks like another NSD here today, as I am not venturing out of the house on what will undoubtedly be very 'icy' snow!

Roast pork for dinner yesterday was delicious, but was such a big piece we still have over 1kg left . So, will have cold meat with jacket spud & veg for dinner tonight, perhaps a homemade pie (with potato topping) tomorrow, then freeze the rest before we get sick of roast pork! Have some smaller 'chunks' which fell off when carving, so will pop those in a tub for risotto, as suggested

Couple of surveys to do today (building up towards another £5 Amazon giftcard!), also my translation to plough on with. May munch on the vanilla seeds from my free Graze box (thoroughly recommended if you like free healthy snacks!)

Hoping it doesn't snow any more here as want DS1 to go to nursery tomorrow, as it gives me a day with just DS2 & we have to pay whether he goes or not, if it's open (plus he loves it). His nursery is down a back road & the car park last year was quote "like an ice rink" - I passed my test less than 2 years ago & really don't feel confident about driving in conditions like that!

For you knitters out there (which I would love to do, but am worse than useless at things like that), if you want to be really frugal & have any old woollen items which are falling apart, you can unravel them & reuse the wool, as they used to in the wartime.

Hi all !

Well my Approved Foods order arrived this morning. I am now buried alive in snacks, tortilla wraps & biscuits. May have overdone the biscuits in order to get free delivery! but a chum has said she'll take half for her DD's pack-ups and general nibbling.

I was very impressed with the site, basic but easy to use and they keep you updated on where the order is. I tracked it this morning so I knew when they'd be here, time to walk the dog after first hours work before they came. Delivery slot was 10.15-11.15 and he was here at 10.22, told him I was impressed!

Best of all was I bought over £70 of food for £33. Just to give you an idea.
Crisps- Walkers 6 pack £1
Tuna-20p
Dolmio pasta sauce £1
Hobnob flapjack bars £1.99 for 24
Colgate toothpaste 99p lge tube
Fox's bisquits -8 pk £1.20 (normally only buy on special as expensive)
Tortilla wraps-lge 6pk £1each
Loads of other snacky bits too.

It's these sort of bits that push up the price of my shopping. I try to make cakes too which are obviously better for them but time is my enemy.

I think this would really work too if you could order with a chum who has similar tastes & share the cost as the bargains change each week.

Can I join in with this one?. Finding the thread really inspiring as it's reminding me of all the things I should be doing to maintain my frugal ways.

Morning everyone, sort of an NSD here.
I used £5 voucher from the Daily Mail to get milk, bread and flavoured water. I also still have £10 left from the £50 from switching energy suppliers.

Now I have mastered the art of taking the dough out of the breadmaker before it starts to bake to make rolls, I am today doing sun-dried tomato and parmesan rolls. Then tomorrow maybe a feta cheese and onion, doesn't have any yeast in though but uses SR Flour so we shall see

jenduck, which surveys do you do? I've been signed up to PureProfile and Opinion Bar for a few months. Currently have £4.50 on OB, but you have to have £10 to withdraw. Annoyingly, I'm not the right demographic for half their surveys, so the ones I can do are few and far between.

I also do a bit of freelance copywriting and translating, but since the boy is only 9 months old, I really have very little time to do it. I can't afford childcare, so can't pay for someone to look after him while I crack on with things.

I'm really trying to think of ways to generate a little extra cash, using skills I have. But I'm stuck. I like baking and making bits and bobs, but none of it is to a level where I feel I could charge people for it.

I have nothing left to eBay/car boot so I'm stumped. Any suggestions?

spew we sound like kindred spirits! My youngest is 10 months on Wednesday, so I also only do the odd bit. I did transcription for a while from when he was 3 weeks old until just before Xmas, but looking back I don't know how I managed that, 2 under 3s (as they were then) & housekeeping! What languages/subjects do you translate?

As for surveys, I do loads: Valued Opinions (pay in various giftcards, I get Tesco giftcards!), Panelbase (pay by BACS), Brand Impact Panel (various BBC magazines, pay in Amazon vouchers), Bounty Word of Mum (pay by BACS) & Tesco Shopper Thoughts (oay in Tesco Clubcard points) - and I'm sure there are more! I also am a member of Tesco Home Panels & Tesco Mum's Choice panel, who send me various products to test - between them, anything from nappies to baby food to clothes to cleaning products. I generally find if you answer that you do not work in any of the industries specified in the first questions, you will probably complete the suvey, as they don't want people in those industries taking part.

Thanks so much Lexilicious - will go and check for prickles right away! Raspberries are our favourite soft fruit so will make the most of canes we have and get more. NSD here apart from £1.40 at lunch. Have another stack of stuff to Ebay. Take care in the snow all!

Bloody hell, dh's employer have booked us into a 5 star hotel for the weekend .

I'd been planning to take tins of tuna down, to make money-saving packed lunches in our room for the day out. Or to nip back to the room for Pot Noodle...

Have saved my regular $8 a month for netflix subscription (I dont have TV so that's my only entertainment spend for the month) as it's linked to my debit card, which I've had to cancel. So will wait and reinstate that when the card comes. My tax money says it will deposit into my account on Wednesday, yippee!! And then I'm paid Thursday, won't have had that much money all at once for a year, if I'm honest. Want to save as much as possible for furniture and baby bits, but may very well treat myself to a nice dinner

Envisioning a NSD here, first day on new shift at work so we shall see! Plenty of time to pack a lunch, I refuse to spend on crappy fast food. May buy a bottle of Coke if I'm lagging later in the evening.

Still haven't bought groceries and won't until about the 9th or 10th of the month!! So looks like I'll only have to go once this month also - so happy and proud I've managed to really trim costs in this area and stay well fed.

Thanks for the knitting tips, going to buy wool on Wednesday and will start with the blanket that was linked as currently garter stitch is the only thing I feel confident enough to try! Does anyone have a very easy pattern for a baby hat - that's what I'd really like to make is a few little hats for him, like little beanies.

Well, the NSD didnt quite happen.... £5.02 in the chemist!

I am poorly, have spent most of today in bed DH went to get me vicks and cough meds.

Shopping arriving tonight, and cant wait - I bought ice cream for the first time in months and I want it to soothe my throat!

Spent 89 cents on a coke for work, and a further $8 on bread, ham, wool, and cheese crackers at Walmart - had to go buy my grandmother some stamps so figured I may as well get a few bits instead of scrambling all at once on Friday. Now have plenty to eat at work and no need to buy any pre prepared stuff. Yay!