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

[roguepixie]

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

I am quite impressed with this article. Lots of voucher codes.

Here

OK, it is all up there. If it all goes for the starting price that's £55, minus 50% to the Teenage Cancer Trust on this recommendation, minus fees. I won't make much money but that's not the point. It is going to be out of my house and it is already out of my head.

Frugal dinners the last two nights from that roast lamb (and there is still some left for DH's lunch!). Simple brunch today for us - saute'd potatoes in what we call "Graham Masala", which is a pepper grinder with mixed whole spices in it like cumin, fennel, coriander, star anise, so they can be ground into cooking to instantly add flavour (is that a frugal tip in itself? Easy ways to make your simple cooking pack a punch?)

Just off to read DS a story which will send him off to sleep probably. Then putting pictures up to make the place look nicer.

Tonight, home made pizza.

Well done, Lexi.

for any of us who are looking ahead to the Feb half term this link has lots of ideas with discounts on days out etc
www.savvymummys.co.uk/deals/?subscribed
and this site I have had a couple of freebies from
womenfreebies.co.uk/
another tip if you are on FB is that all your favourite companies will usually have a page, e.g. Lidl, Asda, Tesco, Sains, Baileys, Koppaberg, Estee Lauder etc and they all usually do daily/weekly competitions which are usually free to enter. I have won a lego toy, teabags, and a couple of other things and you know that old saying "you've got to be in it to win it" all you have to do normally is to like the companies page then you can enter the competition

Aah boffinmum that sounds like a lovely bday for your dh!

I need to get good at that make one freeze one thing spew - just about getting into the habit of saving leftovers for lunch but want to stock my freezer before dc2 arrives! Not used to cooking in bulk yet...

Thanks for other wall deco ideas- love the hand/footprint thing. Also going to keep an eye out in charity shops for interesting fabrics or books (I really like scientific type illustrations of plants/animals - figure I might be able to find an old reference book to plunder for material)

confession time now... Breakfast w friends this morning £6 then food and a magazine for the train £7.75... Mag has a nice crossstitch pattern in I'd like to do to frame for wall but really wasn't worth £5. Should have remembered to bring a book!

I spent £21 in Lidl, mainly on their Taste of Asia food, 2 x Basmati rice, 2 x Egg Fried Rice, 6 x Noodles, Chilli & Garlic sauce, Coconut Milk, 3 packs of Naan Breads, 2 packs of Chappatis, Lime Pickle, 1 pack of Fortune Cookies, their sausage which were the weekend offer, Broccoli & Avocados.
I also received £50 of Love2Shop vouchers in the post for swapping energy suppliers which I used to purchase 2 x bras for DD, 2 pairs of work trousers and 1 work jumper for me, 2 CD's for DD birthday next Thur and 3 bot of wine ! bargain {grin}

Did my 'fruit and veg' shop today and only spent £26, £21 when healthy start vouchers were taken off. I usually spend about £40 every week so I'm looking at ways to cut back. I think I might start using MySupermarket to check which shops have the cheapest as we have an Asda, Morrisons and Tesco pretty closeby I can swap and choose.
Spent another £17 on DD1's riding lesson
£2 in Co-op buyting bread and seeing a pack of Mini Apple Pies on offer
Must remember 'emptying my purse means filling my face'

Just making yet more soup but this time it's for my dsis, off for dinner tomorrow and thought I would use up the leeks and make leek and potato soup

Ocado order was £95. But the fridge, freezer and cupboards are well stocked. Most of it was Essential Waitrose rather than branded. I also got a huge box of Ariel half price which sould last us ages.
I'm going to the cinema with SIL tonight so will be spending some money.

I am reading the Sherlock Holmes books on my Kindle and they are free to download (feedbooks.com). Non-fiction books I get from the libary. If you have an e-reader (not a Kindle), your local library might do e-book lending. Ours in Nottinghamshire do this now. It's something like a pound for two weeks. Bookcrossing is also a good way to get free books. In our town there is a person who leaves books every couple of weeks all around our market square. bookcrossing.com for that, do a search to see if someone left a good book near you. Charity shops are always filled with books. Sometimes you find some good cookery books in ours. Oxfam have a really good bookshop nearby. Most books in there look brand new.

Bought myself a chicken sandwich, chips, and milkshake last night for an eyewatering $10, but I'd been in the hospital A&E for 7 hours with my grandma and had no food, my 15-week-old fetus was not happy and the prices in hospital canteen were crazy. Might have saved by not getting a milkshake but felt I needed a treat after all that.

Oh no fishpond hope all is ok

Ph Fishpond, that is what money is for.
Hope she is OK.

Oh

Hi All, wow you sound like you are all guns blazing, the lot of you .

I am Ebaying tonight - have the photo's just need to spend the time entering all the info. That's my evening sorted ...

Had to get a few essentials today so spent £50.00 on groceries - however, that will last a couple of weeks. Took advantage of an offer on chicken at Waitrose as well (saving £2.50+)

Had to take DS to an appointment relating to him being mugged so gave him a visit to Costa (£8.00 gone there) but worth it as he has had a stressful few weeks.

Spicy oven cooked chicken tonight, with spicy potatoes and veggies. Dessert will be the end of the mississippi mud pie. Am making cookies as well as DS wants to munch his way through Jaws tonight.

fishy, hope grandma is ok? I know how stressful it can be...my Dad is not in the best of health and the hospital visits as endless. Fortunately my Mum is still able to go with him but it is a long day. Don't stress the spend today...it was necessary .

fish, I hope your gran is ok, and pixie i hope your son is ok!

today I spent £13 at the coop on sunday papers, fruit, cream, milk, bread, sweets for the boys, a huge 24 pack of crisps which was half price &a huge bag of cashews that was reduced to £1. Not great really as didn't have to buy all that but on the plus side today we stayed at home & took the boys out for a walk & on their bikes to the local park, then home for hot choc & reading papers. So saved on petrol & crazy coffee shop prices :o

Here's a 20% off at Waitrose code (for first timers):

PCSTJAN12

I know Waitrose isn't cheap, but I 'saved' a further £19 on offers, and delivery is free. Definitely makes it cheaper than my Ocado shop.

It's valid until 18 Feb.

Fish - hope your grandma is going to be ok. So sorry you had such a stressful time at the hospital. Rogue - also v sorry your DS got mugged - is he ok/

My parents kindly offered to babysit last night so DH and I went out for dinner which was lovely but an unexpected treat and expense. Still didnt spend any other money yesterday - and took both DS1 and DS2 to free trial dance classes in the morning. Today with our free childfree time was great too - sis insisted on doing the boy's picnic lunch today so all DH and I had to pay for was lunch ourselves (£20 on that). Picked up some badly needed knickers from M&S - put paid for it with a voucher I'd unearthed from years ago (it was a PAPER voucher to show you how old it was - they still accepted it though!). So spend this weekend was dinner last night (£80) and £20 today - must do better next weekend!

Thank you sleeves and dinky - yes, he is ok. He got mugged 11 days ago -money and phone gone (but that's irrelevant really). He was threatened and truly traumatised...so frightened. He's not even 12 . The police obtained the CCTV from the bus and have good images of the scummy little * who did this so they wanted a statement from my boy so that, if they catch him, the testimony can stand in court and my DS doesn't have to go. So, so . He's fairly sensitive so is fairly resistant to getting back on the bus but we will be lead by him and what he wants to do and when.

Well, we treated ourselves to a trip to Costa as we're trying to spend more 'fun' time together, as we just seem to be stressing at each other a lot more now. For two drinks and a pack of biscuits, it came to just over £5. Plus there's a double points promo at the moment. Husband wanted something chocolatey to eat and I flat out refuse to pay ~£2 for a muffin (I can make a batch for that price, probably nicer), so he had chocolate biscuits, which were much cheaper.

Bunged the slow cooker on for dinner, which will do us both tonight, baby tomorrow lunch and some left over for freezer.

Mackerel, I've just made it my habit to make more than we need for one meal. To be honest, since there are just two of us (plus baby), I follow recipes to feed 4-6 people. Then I know there will be more left over. If I'm doing something free-style, without a recipe, then I just chuck in double what I think we'd need for one meal.

Just finishing putting a few things on ebay. Nothing that will make loads, but the few quid here and there all help.

No spend day today. :)
Spent the morning doing some chores, and putting up travel cot in DS1's bedroom as a practice for when DS2 moves into there.
Picnic lunch on lounge floor in front of Toy Story
Long walk for us all along the canal to feed the ducks (M-i-L's bread!!!) and then to the train station to see my dad who works there, super excitement for DS1 and we didn't even have to buy a ticket.
Home for a lovely tea of chicken thighs cooked with lemon and rosemary, roast potatoes, cauli cheese, broccoli and green beans. Yum yum yummy!!

Your poor DS Rogue - he must have been terrified. Really hope they catch the guy that mugged him. Sounds like the police are taking it seriously.

£64 today on pet supplies- chicken feed and dog chew toys to prevent the giant puppy from snacking on our shoes and rucksack straps and chickens. (naughty bad puppy). The chicken feed is kind of an investment as DH takes all surplus eggs to work to sell but tbh at the moment there are too many non-layers in my flock for it be viable as a micro-business. What I ought to do is cull the old birds but I can't quite bring myself to do it.

Sounds like your puppy is trying to do the cull for you Duchesse!

Stoopid mutt picked the wrong one though! Picked a tender not yet laying teenager chicken vs any number of crotchety old birds.

Oh no! Still good to know the puppy has good survival instincts

Oh duchesse - silly pup . Bet he's a lovely boy, though? What breed is he? DS is after me to buy another dog.

dinky - yes, he was hysterical - the message he left on my phone when he was calling me when he got home (I was at work) will be burnt onto my brain forever. Poor soul. He's a really gentle boy, big for his age, really tall but young, you know? The police seem to be quietly confident but I am realistic - I grew up in a family of police officers and know that with all the best will in the world the chances of catching muggers is low . It would be great to think he might be caught. I think they are also quite pleased to have a young person willing to stand up and say something.

Dinner was all freezer and store cupboard today and using up leftovers. Have some leftover curry and rice for lunch tomorrow. Might do sausages and mash for dinner tomorrow, with homemade cookies for afters.

Don't know how much stale bread you guys have but if you dry it out in the oven and then grind it up i the food processor it makes excellent breadcrumbs and far cheaper than buying packets of the stuff.

Just finished putting some more stuff on Ebay. That's a job in itself. Sold some stuff from last week ... pennies really but it all adds up . Have made close to £400 in the past month.