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

[roguepixie]

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

my freezer is full to busting with Waitrose bargains.

Prawns
Lamb
Curry
chicken
mince
quiche
meatballs
fillet steak

No more shopping til the freezer is empty!

DS is having 10p crumpets for breakfast.

Dan that is great news about the bonus, sadly we will not get ours as the insurance on the door was a big job and then DS managed to wreck the window at the back and it still hasn't been fixed by the dealer. Has led to a very snowy car last week. Will try harder with the next car.

Have got DD1 a prom dress off EBAY.£33 with P&P It's very nice and more elegant then the multi layered frothy ones for £200+. SHe has to try it on yet but am hoping it fits. We are still going dress shopping as we need advice on shoes and stuff but at least the dress is bought.

Having a good week so far but I think that is because this is usually the skint week before money comes in on Friday, and then goes straight back out on shopping, bills, savings, petrol, pocket money....you get the drift.
I also checked my expense manager and food is my biggest spend, then eating out and petrol.

Rogue If I post on Ebay with a starting price under 99p does that mean it is free to list?

Evening all, haven't been about for a bit, no internet where I am working, but checking in now and then on the phone...

Ebay dress sounds great Debs. Have been inspired by all you lot selling on ebay as well and decided I am going to try and make next month Make-Money-March and start ebaying the pile of stuff in the bottom of the wardrobe that is waiting for a new home, and other crap around the house. Also, need to find out about cashback sites and things; there's only so much you can do limiting expenditure, would be nice to feel like I am getting a bit back too.

also signed up to Waitrose Kitchen Table the other day - they send you surveys and for each one you return you get entered into prize draw for £150 to spend at JL/Waitrose. So no guaranteed money but quick and easy thing to do and would be lovely to win and get a couple of weeks shopping for free.

saved myself some money the other night by seeing that thread on the 'mn haircut' - tried it out and very pleased with results - had been planning to go to hairdressers in March, as a year since my last visit, but think I will leave it now. I also have loads of henna still in cupboard, so will try and whack some of that on at some point for a bit more of a new look for no spend...

oh, one more thing - I could really do with some new glasses now DD has irrepairably bent my last remaining functional pair. has anyone tried glasses direct or other cheap online glasses places?

ps fishpond - hope you had a good 20 week scan!

Scan went lovely, had a very chatty Sonographer which is always nice, explained everything to me and was a very good experience. He was moving around like a monkey - was told I have a low lying placenta which not so good, but I will 85% be having an elcs anyway so hopefully won't be an issue. Have another (bonus for me!) scan in 4 weeks to check it again.

Then had to go get oil changed in the car, when I was 16 I had an experience where I left it too long and the car died with a completely dead engine in the middle of a busy highway so I'm paranoid about repeating that experience - wasn't too pricey at just under $30, plus the tire and lube place was attached to a big shopping center so I spent a further $14 on some half priced sleepsuits for baby, some trousers for him, some clearance trousers for me, half priced valentines day candy.

Went to see grandad who lovingly gave me $250 and said not to pay him back so I will definitely be getting my pushchair this weekend, which I am so excited about!!

Ohhhhhh and on the way home got a call from the temp agency - have a new job in the bank full time starting next Monday!! Have had a great day.

Excellent Fishpond- glad the scan was good. There's still plenty of time for the placenta to move away from the cervix anyway- as the uterus grows it can end up further up so I imagine they will do further scans much later on to check where it is.

Lovely Grandad! Will it be his first G grandchild?

And excellent news re job as well. Jobs seem so precarious in the US.

Great news Fishpond re job and scan! Just to tell you my own personal experience, with DS2 I also had a low-lying placenta at 20 weeks, which had moved by the time I was re-scanned at 38 weeks, and I was told that most do the same.

Mackrel I am a devoted member of both Quidco & Topcashback (cashback sites) & can tell you a fair bit about whatever you want to know. It's definitely worth doing, as so far this month I have earned about £75 cashback from an outlay of about £30! Even if you don't make as much as that, it is still a small saving on items you would buy anyway.

Have spent £2.85 today on milk (which should last until next week), instant mash for a Quorn cottage pie topping (so much easier ) & cough medicine for DS2 who is still no better & in fact had us up for a large portion of last night

On inputting this into my Excel spreadsheet, I did notice that I have not spent any money on drinks out (except for £1 on 4 cans to take places with me) since 3rd February - nearly 2 weeks! Am quite impressed with this, as before I would have had at least 2 teas out per week, amounting to roughly £5 per week, so that is a good saving! Depending on where I meet my friend tomorrow, though, I may cave & buy 1 tea for myself (and take squash for DS in his beaker, which nowhere seems to object to).

I have also started thinking about Easter (need to think about it early this year as DS2's 1st birthday falls on Easter Sunday). I think I will make Easter cookies for everybody rather than buy eggs, then get DS1 to do some Easter drawings or similar. I have some Easter shape-cutters that I bought years ago & have never used.

Going to have an hour sorting out the tip of a loft while DS2 has a little nap (DS1 at nursery), hopefully. Then will make some soup from chicken drumstick bones from yesterday & some rice pudding for DSes.

Hope you all have a good day!

NSD yesterday but forgot about the £88 diesel refill on the previous day. May have to buy a new pot for my lemon tree today as it blew over in a gale two months and the pot is shattered. Poor thing's been lying on its side for that time as well. Thinking I'm going to have to rescue it.

I appear to be about to go for four restaurant/pub dinners in six days .

Today is a leaving do for my colleague, so that'll be the best part of £25 for his collection and lunch. On Friday we're driving to East Anglia to see my grandparents, my mum's going there too, and we're taking them all out on Sunday to a really good foodie pub (is my birthday Sunday, and my mum's birthday Monday). Monday night there's another leaving do where I used to work, and Tuesday night my dad is here and wants us to go out together. Actually he's in my house all weekend working on our tiling so will probably make a good dent in my fully stocked fridge.

So, not really a very plannable weekend money-wise. We'll quite likely do something on Saturday outdoors like visit a house/estate/garden. Otherwise it's just an opportunity for my DS to charm and entertain them. Need to go and collect a gift for my mum tonight from Lakeland, whose website was rubbish and kept booting me off when I tried to pay, but when I phoned them they could not be more helpful, and they've found what I want in my local shop and set it aside.

I have ebay woes too. One of the things I sent off hasn't arrived (allegedly) so I will have to refund him, dig out the postage receipt and claim off the Royal Mail. Haven't done that before so hope there's a guide on the seller help pages. Also, the person who won the musical potty still hasn't paid, the unpaid item case has expired, and so I guess I can re-list or should I just take it to a charity shop? Would save me the posting bother and there is a Barnardo's shop near me that sells only children's things and is so beautifully arranged inside that if you didn't see the shop sign you'd think it was a kiddie boutique. I like it when charities get the best price for things by making an effort with their shop-dressing.

Got my Approved Food order yesterday - very very pleased. I have loads of instant flavoured couscous packs and soup sachets which will live in my desk drawer at work. Will recommend to the lady that runs the office tea fund that we can get things much more cheaply from there, and get them delivered to work too.

Oh yes, work. Must do some.

Debs, yes it does.

In a month you get 100 free listings - if you start the auction at 99p or under. That is EVERY month.

Sometimes there is a free listing weekend (usually every 4-6 weeks) then you can list you items above 99p and still get a free listing.

Just catching up with the thread as have been dashing about the last few days.

Tuesday was not a NSD as spent £15.80 at Vue for DS to see 3D Star Wars +drink and popcorn ... bloody thieving bastards. So expensive for so little and the boys were not really impressed with the film - as it is a 'conversion' to 3D it really isn't as good, apparently.

Did manage a NSD yesterday - lovely lovely DMum took DS and I to see the new Muppets film. It was a lovely hour and a half, I felt totally transported back to my own childhood. So, tickets and popcorn was paid for. Thank you lovely Mum.

Today has not been NSD. Two oyster bus fares to hospital and back (DS opthalmic appt) and an £8.00 spend in the cafe there to rehydrate ... DS had drunk all the water I had taken with us, thank you DS . I even took scones but he ate them as well ... it's like filling a bottomless pit at the moment. If he wasn't so bloody healthy I would suspect a tapeworm .

Tomorrow should be oyster fares only as I have to go train clients and then dash back home.

Great news fishy. Congratulations on the scan news and on the new job. Good news all round. And what a lovely Grandpa - he sounds wonderful. Kudos to him for being a sweetie.

I am planning to go to Waitrose on Sunday at about 3.30/4pm which is the time I have been clued in to being the best time to go for reductions - in my local store. I have been shopping there for so long that I know quite a few of the staff there to say hello to - I asked when the best time to go was (to get those bargains) and one of them replied "why?". I was a little at her question as I thought the recession was fairly big news .

Ah one of my ebay nauses has resolved itself. Bloke has successfully taken delivery of the thing he said he hadn't received.

I am fed up with Ebay. Buyers have been messing me about a lot too, and the prices I am getting doesn't make it worth the bother of selling. I mean, 99p final bid and then a person haggling over the 50p you spent on the padded envelope to pack the thing in as they only want to pay for the stamp and not the packaging? Plus I had a fantastic buggy with all the trimmings and that would have gone for 99p as well had I not set a reserve. My as-new top of the range car seat (£120 new) with optional extras only went for £20, and even then I had to wait in for a courier to collect it for the buyer as well as they refused to collect it in person. I think I am not alone in stopping bothering as Ebay sent me a survey to complete asking about my recent selling experiences.

I was thinking about a possible March thread. How do people feel about us diversifying into ways of looking after our own health and beauty at minimal cost for the next Month? I ask because I think we have all been working hard at making an effort for our families, but mums count too.

Definitely Boffin - generally replacing 'pay-for' activities or products with free pursuits and self-generated value is a great philosophy.

Selling off stuff to create physical space and emotional freedom from clutter falls into that category as well, and getting the family on board so it's a way of life spreads the load. There was a thread I was on ages ago discussing the fact that often all this money-saving and organising falls to mums and therefore becomes that 'wifework' thing - women in low income families tend to bear a lot of the strain of making the family unit work and making good financial decisions about the boring domestic things, and I think that's true even on average incomes.

Defo boffin, I'm on board for that.

Yes it was very lovely of grandad - he and my grandmother raised me from age 10 and I never knew my own father so I consider them more as my parents. I'm the eldest grandchild and this will be his first great grandchild so he is very excited - unlike most of the rest of the family but thats a different story.

Will be paid my final pay from last bank job, won't be much as only 2 days but will take it with me this weekend as "free" spending money since I only have $50 to foot myself for the pushchair. Planning on taking Sis and going to the fab science museum and IMAX there - at $18 hardly a bargain but shes never been to an IMAX and it will be rotten weather so no hope of anything outside. Plus I will be spending $35 on petrol as it's a 4 hour round trip in the car, so that's $105-ish alone never mind what lunch will cost! I am planning to take us to a really nice place that sells over 30 types of cheesecake for dessert and make a really fun day of it. I wouldn't be so free with the cash had I not scooped new job yesterday but I feel like I've been budgeting and worrying for 6 weeks and time to have one day of letting loose and not worrying about the bill, and be so thankful that I'm in the position to do so right now.

Hi, just logging back in to say thanks to all who gave suggestions for DD's b'day party. Pizza and cupcakes and crafty things enjoyed by all today and it's fair to say event was a success. Also, the guests were as nice as pie and no signs of madamish behaviour. Best of all, last night the child's father (aka DH) found disposable table cloths in Sainsbury's for 1p!! So, the clear up was a breeze. He also found sparklers for the cake for 1p and table confetti for the outrageous sum of 10p. On the other hand, I can't locate my house keys..... so that may prove expensive in the long run.... Life eh?

Chuffed that the party was a success.

I had my job interview this afternoon and it seemed to go well. Will find out soon if I will get it.

Reckoner, hopefully you'll get it.

Re health and beauty tips: You might be interested in the free haircut thread in case you missed it.