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

[roguepixie]

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

Hi all
Spent £15 on a Lego bin lorry. DS was given a certificate from the head teacher two weeks in a row so we thought he deserved a treat.
I got a huge 400ml bottle of Neutrogena body lotion with my Boots points. My skin is so dry lately and it's the only lotion that doesn't sting when I put it on.
The guest bed i mentioned before was a good buy. DD slept on it and she found it very comfy and it folds up really thin.

I think it took me about 30 minutes, plus a bit of faffing about uploading pictures of the venue and receipt from my iPhone. Bear in mind I do spend all day knocking off reports and papers, so I write pretty quickly and rapidly, though.

I meant quickly and accurately.
Obv not always on MN!

Today was a bit spendy, but not wastefully so - no unplanned random purchases.

Went to pub for FIL's birthday lunch, DH paid so I don't know how much but prob £60 including drinks. Then with the prospect of a long tedious afternoon in their house staring me in the face I looked up local attractions on my phone via Google maps and decided on a local wildlife place with tropical birds and butterflies and stuff. Worth the money (£40 including having to pay for a 2 year old) and would be even better in the summer.

Ocado order coming later this evening which will be about £60. Have cancelled the delivery pass but it is valid until the beginning of March so I will make sure I use it but on offers only!

£35.90 in WHSmith on essential stationery supplies (including 2 condolence cards) including my desk diary for 2012 that I still hadn't got around to buying. Also £5 on flowers for my neighbour as her husband keeled over and died yesterday afternoon (completely unexpected and sudden fatal heart attack). He was a lovely bloke- always had time to stop and chat however busy he was. Still, top way to go. He'd just finished seeing to a cow, climbed out of the pen and dropped like a stone. His son who also works the farm found him within minutes and administered CPR until the ambulances arrived but it was too late.

Oh duchesse, I am sorry to hear your news. I understand what you mean though...it is so hard for those left behind though, no chance to say anything. Anyway, so for your neighbour and, of course, for you.

So sorry to hear about your neighbour Duchesse - my FIL died at work in a similar way 5 years ago. Terribly sad and sudden for the family left behind.

Have managed to have a fairly good weekend spending wise - £4 on milk and eggs and sugar this weekend for making cakes for DS2's party today (had the rest of the food in from Ocado order earlier this week and my mum brought some chicken she'd made for the lunch) and £35 (£10 of which my dad funded) on a takeaway for us and the grandparents (so not bad to feed 5 I though) - so all in all pretty good.

Sorry to hear about your neighbour duchesse how scary, was he old? Poor family who have been left behind :(

My weekend has been quite good spending wise. Didn't do much yesterday other than bake cakes and snooze on the sofa with my boys who were watching a film, so it was a NSD :) Today I took the boys to soft play to meet some friends so that was £8.90 to get in, and I took sarnies with me so all I had to buy was drinks (£1).

I also got all the old baby clothes down from the loft today and we have LOADS! So much that I don't think DS3 will need a single item of clothing until he is about 2 years old- now that's a major money saver!!!

On the down side, I got an email to say that the gas and leccy is due so I predict a huge bill on the horizon, booooo.

duchesse so sorry to hear about your neighbour

duchesse sorry to hear about your neighbour

sleeves what a great discovery about the baby clothes! When they are really tiny they barely wear things, anyway, so you may find some things you don't even remember buying - it will be like shopping without the spending or the hassle!

My week has not got off to a great start - had a row with DH this morning over something very petty, DS1 playing up & now have checked the bank account to find that there seems to be absolutely nothing left after direct debits until DH gets paid next Friday . His work have said he could ask for an advance as it is a month between starting work & being paid, but he didn't want to . I think he is the one that spends the most really - can go days without spending, then splurges £40 on Tesco on things we didn't really need. Makes all this seem a bit pointless on my part

Also, I signed up to Weightwatchers on Thursday as I really need to shift this 'babyweight' & should get about £12 cashback. But now I see that you can get £32 cashback from today, making it more or less free! So have emailed them to see what charges for cancelling & then perhaps re-subscribe. Don't know what they'll say, money hasn't even been debited from my account yet worth asking though.

Today need to pop to Tesco for milk & fruit, hope to spend max £5 as will go in when they are marking things down. Rest of week (except Friday) should be NSDs, as groups we normally go to are not on in half-term, so doing things like going to sister's & having friends over here, instead.

Anyway, sorry for the whinge, onwards & upwards

spew how is minispew today?

Vivian look at megabus.com for cheapest bus/train fares! Also, for printing photos, google "free photo prints" or similar & I am sure you will be able to get free/discounted prints somewhere. Wrapping paper - our market does it for 10p a sheet or 12 for £1 or you could get some plain/brown paper & do/get DC to do potato prints or similar on it & tie with red ribbon. (Sorry if I sound patronising with so many little tips, all just things that occurred to me )

duchesse what a shock that must be, hope your neighbour is getting lots of support. Your description is amusing though - what exactly do you mean by "seeing to a cow"?! I'm hoping in the vet/AI sort of sense!!

I am having an annoyance today with dentists. My 2yo has a big hole in his tooth and needs to have it filled, which has to be done under sedation because there's no chance of him staying still for a normal dentist. I'm bouncing around between our dentist (who took a week to send off the referral) and the drip-feed of conditions that the clinic work under (age means it has to be consultation then treatment, weight has to be over a certain amount or they can't do it, so start all over again to be referred to hospital). It feels like the gods are spinning out this process to keep me thinking what a terrible mother I am for letting him develop a cavity! Still, I can possibly see it as cost avoidance, because I know what an equivalent filling/crown would cost in an adult molar off the NHS doesn't bear thinking about, and it's reminding me to brush and floss more assiduously!!

Have to fill up with diesel, post some letters and get a leaving card for a colleague at lunchtime. No other spends required, and this morning I made packed lunches for both DH and myself. He'll still buy more but he has a fridge at work so buys the constituents rather than ready-made. Usually.

Hoover died yesterday, so I went onto various websites and discovered I could get a Miele hoover from Very for £69.99 with a discount code, which is half the price on the Miele and John Lewis websites.

I felt epic and somoneysupermarket and all that, and had to disturb DH's bath to inform him of my money saving triumph.

Lexi- . I think he had his hand up her rear end in some way given how he was found- still with gloves on. He was 67- not especially old, and apparently in peachy health accoridng to his checkups.

Minispew is much better, tummy wise, but still a miserable git with the teething; thanks, jen. He's eaten a small breakfast and lunch, with no ill effects. About to try him on dinner...Just hoping to god he sleeps tonight as we've barely slept more than an hour in one go since Thursday night.

Spend-wise, been a good-ish day. £8.40 on cat food for a couple of weeks, and £2 something on some red food colouring and muffin cases (making red velvet cupcakes for Mr Spew, not that we really care about Valentine's, I just want to bake something).

Lunch out with parents, so just fuel costs.

Duchesse, so sorry to hear about your neighbour. This cold snap killed someone on our road (he had chest problems). I had never actually spoken to him, despite having lived a few doors down for a couple of years.

and Jen, hope your day rapidly improved

I don't care what doctors say, I do think that teething makes them more susceptible to infection. Hope your baby is on the mend Spew.

It was a big shock our neighbour dying so suddenly. He was very hale and hearty and still running his farm as much as ever. He even had a clean bill of health from his doctor a couple of months ago. His family are being amazing about it- I'm not quite sure it's all sunk it yet though. When we popped round yesterday they were in the milking parlour as usual (bad timing to go around then).

Sorry to hear about your neighbour duchesse

Had a good day today 95p on a VD card for DP and £9.30 on chippy tea.
I've spent most of the day making heart shaped biscuits and mini chocolate whoopie hearts for tomorrow. The kids will scoff them for after tea tomorrow so will save on a pudding

I've had a BAD spend day!

£5 on toothpaste in Boots (3 tubes as were on 3 for 2 offer)
£30 in TKMAXX of all places on sundry kitchen items (baking trays, new broom etc).

£9.00 in M&S on impulse purchase food.

Then £57 in Waitrose this evening on essentials but also lovely bouquet of mixed yellow flowers for £1.99 and bunch of interesting purple/white crysanths for 35p. Bargainous. Apparently the best day to go for the reduced stuff according to the girl on the staff there who is becoming my friend is Wed/Thurs evening. I did manage to get 3 packets of prawns for 85p each (gone straight in the freezer) and some chicken fillets (£2.99/pack) and 600g of monkfish for £4. Pretty good haul all in all.

Haven't been on here lately but checking in to update totals for myself:

Yesterday: $30 on petrol

Today:

$35 on my (only!) food shop this month

and I bought GORGEOUS clothes from a boutique for the baby - original price of everything I got would have been $114.29 - I paid drum roll $18.00 Got an incredible snowsuit, 2 christmas velour outfits, a snap up striped velour babygro, a chunky knit cardigan, and a fleece jacket for him next winter. I'm so so happy as I think most of his things will end up being secondhand and I think I can get much more than what I paid on eBay after he's finished with them!!

Hmm, would you do this - someone is advertising for life models (so means getting all my clothes off) but £20/£30 per hour. I am seriously tempted...

I might if it was a known art college sort of place. Not if it was a random person in their own home/studio.

Well done fishpond on a great haul! Most of my DSes clothes, toys & equipment are secondhand & it is great as you get plenty of wear out of most things & then you certainly can sell them on for more if you are clever about where you pick them up

spew glad minispew is getting better, hope he slept better for you last night. I certainly agree that teething can cause all sorts of problems!

My day did improve yesterday & we spent a lovely afternoon at my sister's with my Mum, grandparents, sister & her 2 girls, so they were all happy to see us, kids played nicely together & I got free babysitters

I also popped into Tesco on the way home & got a bit of a bargain haul at the bakery section - 2 loaves of bread (Tesco's own), 2 packs Lighter Choices Hot X Buns, 2 packs Finest cheese scones, 1 pack choc chip muffins & 1 pack iced buns for £1.74 (muffins alone should have been £1.50, so a true bargain!) Also got a few other bits & bobs such as milk, kids' medicine & healthy food for my diet so total spend £7.26 after vouchers.

However, one thing I bought was Tesco Vapour Rub (like Vicks but cheaper!), as both DSes are coldy & rattly & my Mum said she used to use Vicks on us when we were little. DH put it on DS2 at bedtime & then we noticed it said on pot not for children under 5 . Managed to wipe it off & change sleepsuit etc, but £1 down the drain & we have no cold remedies we can give him. Will try steam in room/wet towel on radiator tonight (doc said it will go on its own, but horrible to hear him rattle so much in the meantime).

Shouldn't spend anything today, am stopping in to get house ready for my friend & her DS to come over tomorrow (at least we have plenty of cakes for their visit )

Oh, and I stepped on the scales this morning (cheating as weigh-in not till Thursday) & I have lost 2lbs since Thursday! Yay me!