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

[roguepixie]

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

well I had a great night out last night on my pizza express voucher. Three starters between six of us (not to economise but half hadn't arrived, a pizza each, couple odd desserts and five bottles of wine... £27! Then went to another bar and my friend on the pop star wages bought bubbly all round. Oh and the oyster fares were less than I expected too.

might need to spend small amounts at the post office today but that should be all.

I mean half the party hadn't arrived)

Morning all.

Quick top up shop this morning for bread, ham and cheese.

Car going back in 15 mins, DH going on his own....... am nervous! Looking forward to having a go at driving it though!

Need to go to florists to pick up the posy for the cemetery, would have been my mums birthday tomorrow, so am going up in the morning.

Should be a NSD tomorrow!

Morning all. A very sleepy duck here as DS1 woke 4 times last night (very unusual, normally an 11-hour boy) & DS2 woke once (again, normally a 12 hour-plus boy).

Anyway, yesterday ended up spending £6 on nappies (should have been £13ish), £2 for soft play entry & £1 on 4 cans of Pepsi Max (at Farmfoods) to take into soft play yesterday & the next 3 times (thus saving about £2 per visit).

Today, will take both cars through car-wash as have found a link for a 50p car-wash at BP (happy to share if anyone wants it, valid until March). Also, looking ata 2nd car seat for DS1 for DH's car as then DH would be able to drop DS1 at nursery 2 out of 3 days & save me lugging DS2 out (also saving petrol in the long-run). I think you can probably get a decent one for about £30, will get it on internet & get cashback. Other than that, will see how today pans out spending-wise!

Hmm, not such a good day today and it;s still only 11am.

£4.50 on special revision exercise book for DD1
£76 on pooch nosh (!!). The puppy gets through 15kg in 5 weeks it seems.

Well, old car gone, new one in possession. From what DH could see, the dealer was marking all the criteria for the old car as mainly "good" and some as "fair wear and tear" so heres hoping for the £250 bonus!

As a treat, we went out for a drive in the new car, popped into tesco for tissues, and ended up spending £48! Ah well, kids got some bits and bobs and we got seat protectors for the new car etc.

Then we went to a local cafe for lunch To be fair, in the last 2yrs, we have only even been out together for lunch as a family once! £27.50 total, for 5 of us, so not bad.

Oh and we filled the new car with fuel £56! (About £20 cheaper than the old one would have been!)

All in all, MEGA spend day!

vivian it was £27 each, silly!

today I started reading the book by the organizedhome.com lady in the bath. Is quite good - I chuckled at the clutterer personality types.

DH and DS have been to softplay which they both really enjoy - I don't know what it costs but they get about three hours of value out of it. I sorted out a new ebay/gumtree pile and might take some things to a charity shop this afternoon. There is a nice cafe/bakery near the charity shop I'm thinking of so I will also be tempted to get us a treat for later maybe. Or do baking with DS.

Hello all,

I haven't forgotten you all. Have moved into our new home last weekend, and we have no internet til the 21st :-(

Hope you are all doing well with frugal Feb.....
Chat soon xx

I'm rather hoping that Meagre March or Miserly March(whichever we decide to go with) is better than February. Personally this has been a hellish month and I'm supposed to be a Penny Pincher lol. I am definately not going to buy any non essentials in March. There you are I have said it out loud now

Spent about £6 in Tesco's yesterday whilst waiting for dd1 to finish her music lesson. I was really good and spent ages finding the 3-4 things I actually needed, then ruined it by buying some caramel shortbread.
Today just got my usual from Morrisons, £21

I have a major expense coming up though, DD1's school prom is coming up in July so we went toi look at some dresses and they said they stop stocking from March and most of the girls start buying from December. Plus they only sell so we are looking at £215 upwards. The local hire shop charges £200 so I would much rather buy one but on top of the other major spends of the year am not sure how I will get her a nice one

DAN I think if you have gone through the insurance you don't get the £250 bonus. As for tyres you can have 4 new ones each year, anymore then that you pay for them so that shouldn't count against you

I have a kindle as well but I only tendf to put free books on it atm or books I can use for college and Uni. You pay tax on them as well so they sometimes don't work out very cheap

Deb- £200 is a ridiculous amount just to hire a dress! I am truly shocked. Have you tried looking on Ebay (or would she absolutely not go for that at all?). Or can she make her own?

Don't know what style she likes but there are many here.

I have dresses to sell. What is teen prom style like just now? Mine are from my days at uni balls in the past ten years.

Well, today has been a bit of a disaster with regards to spending. DH decided it would be good to head up into town - to let DH visit Hamley's (I bloody hate that shop) then head over to the Lego shop in Westfield (very nice shop). DS has friend with him so lunch is for 4 instead of 3 and costs £30.00 - for rice/noodles and topping (crispy pork, chilli chicken sort of thing), and it wasn't even that good. Managed to suggest home-made pizza for dinner (instead fo planned takeaway) which meant a stop-off at Waitrose for parma ham and mozzerella and DS decides to pick out trifle for dessert , however, DS's friend doesn't like trifle so has a chocolate mousse instead, then DS wants chocolate mousse too ... £15.00 later we get out of the store. Have no problem with additions to our number at any time (and this particular friend is absolutely lovely and adorable and is like a second son to me) but I wish DS's friends weren't fussy eaters ... friend doesn't like mushrooms or olives either so ended up making a separate pizza as well ... also spent about £10.00 jumping on and off tubes which means I need to top up my oyster again next week ... and breath

Meant to say that I did the veggie run this morning and indeed spent £20.40 (so good estimate there - I'm getting better at this ).

Dan - I have a Kindle. Have heard of those bundles, but not got one. Think my husband's colleague might have bought one of those CDs, but not sure what kind of books are on them.

Yesterday's total spend was 60p for The Times (place in town gives student discount to all). Today might have to spend on medicine - baby still being sick, not that much, but not keeping all that much down. He'll only sleep being held upright on a chest, so think he may have trapped wind. Does anyone know if the infant gaviscon is any good?

Boffin, I'm signed up to Retail Eyes, but haven't done one yet - how time consuming are the reports you need to write?

Dh was very pleased with the CC statement this month and says we are doing well!!!

spew is your DS' sick 'foody' (sorry to be gross) or smooth in consistency? If it's smooth & he has a bit of a cold, it could be mucus. That would tie in with needing to be upright. Have you raised the head of his cot (we put rolled up towels or a pillow under the cot mattress for our DS). Tis horrible when they suffer . Don't hesitate to go to your local walk-in/out-of-hours surgery if needs be (they will also prescribe you any necessary meds

Sorry your DS is still ill spew. As jen says - it's awful when they are sick and suffering. I don't have any experience with infant gaviscon but would second jen's suggestion to not hesitate to go back to dr's or to a walk-in - they should be able to give you something to settle mini-spew's stomach.

Just wanted to share a bargain with you all - DH has just booked himself a single train ticket from London to Leicester for £7 + 50p booking fee, with Megabus.com. The same journey would have been about £17 using trainline.com. It's a great site for bargain train/bus fares, obviously the further in advance you can book, the cheaper it is. It also allows you to board/alight the train earlier/later than your booking, which means you could eg get to Leicester by booking for a destination further on if it's cheaper, then just get off at Leicester (something you can't always do with other train tickets). Hope this makes sense & helps somebody!

jen and rogue, thanks .

He hasn't eaten any solids since Wednesday night. Well, a little Weetabix on Thurs, but it came straight back up. His cot is already propped up a little. Last night he was just guzzling water, so he brought that back up. It's kind of reflux-y, but doesn't happen every time he drinks water/milk.

I think it's just taking him a while to shift this stomach bug, which combined with teething, is no fun for him (or us). Going to see how he goes today then back to doc's tomorrow if necessary. Phoned NHS direct yesterday and they just said to keep his fluids up, which we are trying to do. Not worrying about solids too much.

Sorry, that was nothing to do with money-saving

spew, even if he brings it back up just keep the liquid going in to keep him hydrated. Hope he feels tons better soon.