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

[roguepixie]

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

Littleredant - I have been utterly converted to savoury bread & butter puddings, I now even make them up using only discarded crusts left by DS2, I have got so tight!

I don't know if these class as 'egg' dishes, probably do, but basically buttered bread with any cheese/ham/veg/etc then egg/milk poured over & bake.

Also polenta - use half wet day 1, pour other half onto tray & chill, cut into wedges & use as if it were very chunky lasagne & bake.

Also St. Delia has a lovely recipe for a bread cake thing that uses all crusts, I chuck mouldering fruit in that.

Sorry, error, Delia's recipe uses all stale bread, i add the crusts. Apologies to Delia!

Chair I love savoury bread and butter pudding. I prefer to leave the bread to soak up the eggy milk a bit before I bake it.

mmmm, if I weren't finally confronting my excess weight I would make one for tea!

Afternoon all, day 2 for me and did my top up shop at Morrisons, only shopped for the items on my list. Got bananas, strawberries, pears and apples on offer, dog food and a few more essential bits that will enable us to get through now until Monday. I spent £14.32. Yipeeee. Recently converted to Morrisons from Sainsburys, soooo much cheaper and got lots of own label and offer items. So all meals are planned from the freezer and store cupboard and other than the £14.32 I havent spent anything else on food for our week. Reformed character! £10 worth of petrol too so we're sorted and still got £10 left for a weekend treat for me and DD.

DD (4) asked if we could go for a cafe lunch after our big walk / bike ride with the dog this morning , we havent got enough money today I replied, ok Mummy lets go home for lunch then and make pancakes for pudding. Had much more fun at home flipping the pancakes.

Work and nursery tomorrow, thurs and friday so less dangerous spending days for us, Saturday and Sunday bike ride, museum, park, walking the dog, nature trail, painting, drawing, jigsaws, playing, baking...all the freebies.

Monday is pay day, my budget is £100 per week, food, petrol, clothes, outings etc and I'm desperate for a hair cut this month too (£35). I'm going to budget £40 for our weekly food shop, only DD, me and the dog, but I would like a bottle of wine (or two) next week. I need £20 per week petrol. I'm even challenging myself to save a tenner a week to have an extras / emergency pot in the kitchen!

I love you guys and all your wonderful ideas, so glad I found this thread.

dont need many clothes, DD just kitted out for the summer and I am dieting, got lots of lovely clothes in size 12. 3 stone to lose, wish me luck!

Had a free spend at coop today. Got milk eggs nutella lolly chocs onion and tv magazine for 4p. All thanks to a win on the euro lottery.
It wasnt a big winit never is but still a win

jen, I've send you a message re shop and scan - looks great!

Thanks jen and duck. I'm already WW member and the flexibility does mean I can eat the same as the kids most of the time. I go back to work next week (mat leave) so I'm tempted to go for ready made salads on those days but I'm going to try and make my own the night before. Sadly we have no canteen and no reheating facilities

I was pretty good today £4 bus and £13 lunch. I did buy DD1 some canvas boots and a swimsuit £21. And got myself some trousers for £30. They're just what I wanted for work. I shouldn't have bought them this month but a chance to shop without DC is rare!

I think going back to work is going to save me money and make me money

And I just realised I make quite good crepes. DC weren't impressed but DH and I will be having savoury ones more often!

Have been away!

Sorry for neglecting thread, really must do better.

Ok so the big spend day was Saturday in which I spent $300 on pushchair (only $50 out of my pocket though, thanks grandad!), $50 petrol, $20 science museum and IMAX film, and $30 lunch. So $150 out of pocket, and I actually planned to spend more so am a bit proud I didn't go overboard or venture into the huge shopping mall attached to the restaurant.

Since then haven't spent more than $20, mostly on takeaway food I'm sorry to say - oh but I did pick up a few more bits from that awesome children's shop still on sale and am selling on eBay for profit is that bad??

Hi all, my top tip today is to see if you have anything lying around that you could take back to the shop, even if you don't have the receipt. I was clearing out our utility room and found a pot of unopened paint and some light switches in the original packaging. I got an exchange at B&Q for the paint so got me a pair of lovely spotty wellies (much needed!) then in Wickes I got £16 put back on my card for the light switches even though I bought them over a year ago!!! :)

I went shopping today as I am on AL all week and DH has the kids, so I escaped to the shopping centre, mainly window shopping. But I got an £18 wooly hat reduced to £5 in Accessorize and I used a gift voucher for it so it technically cost me nowt. Then I got some bits n bobs in Boots all courtesy of my Advantage points. I went to Ikea and bought a lovely plant and vase for the bathroom for £10 and a sheet for DS's bed (£5), oh and a bath mat from Next for £14. So not great day spend wise but could've been a lot worse!

Plus I got out the house for the afternoon away from the kids, as much as I love them, it was bliss!!!

Where's the recipe for savoury bread and butter pudding??????? Give it ....

Small spends today: £8.00 in Sainsbo's (potatoes etc). Took £50.00 cash out but that will have to last me the rest of the month.

My tip: you can download Kindle softward onto your computer for free, and there are lots of classics to get from the Kindle shop for £0. I got Cranford and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Also there are more recent ones (but from 20-30 years ago) v cheap - I got The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat for 0.89. If you are a very fast reader, you might be able to buy a current book, read it and then get your money back - I think it may be 5 days you have to return it? I don't think they can tell it's been read, and presumably Amazon wouldn't like it if you did it all the time, and it's not really fair to author and publisher, but maybe once in a while...

Savoury bread and butter pud: make sandwiches (I have used cheese; and cheese and marmite), cut into quarters, overlap in a pie dish or baking tin so they fit fairly snugly. Mix up quiche-type filling - say 2 or 3 eggs to 1/2 pt milk. Pour over and leave to rest for a bit. Grate cheese over top. Bake uncovered for about 25-30 min, 200deg./Gas 6 or slightly lower temp according to oven or your own taste. (I like mine crispy)

Thank you pussycat - I love cheese and marmite so will give that a try. Will be for one though as DS can't stand cheese and DH can't stand marmite.. So, it will ALL be mine evil

need a new thread soon...

I survived the rest of today without spending more but DH came home with one of those bendy foam sticks for DS learning to swim. And a bag of lychees (wtf?!)

Just bought some kids' clothes - M and S are offering £5 off if you spend over £30. I was pleased with the quality of what they had.

Lexi, I have posted up the financial 'Crisis Diet' on the blog - £35 a week to feed a family of four.

here

Checking in to record the saddest expense ever - have locked my keys in my car and am waiting for towing service to come unlock it - $45 down the drain.

Vivian I can't remember the exact procedure, but you have to register elsewhere then they send you an invitation through the post - spew registered yesterday, I believe

Agree savoury bread & butter pudding sounds yum, but probably not great for my diet (now 4lbs lost in 2 weeks!)

Fishy hope you get your car keys back, blame it on pregnancy brain

I was wondering what to give up for lent... and thought how about "spending money". I think it's impossible to stop spending entirely but I thought I might try to make it so I only buy things on one day of the week, so I have to set purchases up beforehand and have time to reconsider. When I have put together a shopping list on Ocado, for example, and then gone over my menu plan again and removed unnecessary elements, I can often shave 25% off. Or put the same shopping list into multiple places.

Oh, fishpond, that's horrible - it's the kind of thing I would do, and the worst kind of expense; something you know you could have avoided.

I've just baked a couple of loaves of soda bread as I found some out of date yoghurt in the fridge. So, rather than chuck it away, I used it in the bread. I'll freeze one of the loaves. We've eaten enough cakes, but if we hadn't, yoghurt is a great way of making cakes really moist. That's my top tip of the day.