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

981 replies

roguepixie · 19/01/2012 19:41

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

OP posts:
Fishpond · 24/01/2012 03:37

Aww thanks everyone for the congrats Smile Brought a (perhaps hormonal) tear to my eye. I go in tomorrow to collect my time card and talk through the hours, etc - then start training on Wednesday for a week. So all getting started very quickly which is great!

Was really craving the fajitas from last week again but had no chicken so spent at grocery:

$3.70 - chicken breasts
$3.00 - box of brownies and box of oatmeal cream treats Blush
$1.00 - jug of buttermilk for pancakes tomorrow
$1.99 - half-gallon of milk
$0.67 - HUGE bunch of bananas - on ridiculous offer

naughtymummy · 24/01/2012 07:10

Post just disappeared ! Well done fish pond! Must be a.weight off with the lo one the way,my sis is due in July also :).

Well heyday today so got through Jan. £89 under budget so really cuffed. I know it's not much but it pleases me :). Would like to improve on this in Feb. I know the.challenge will be.half term week. We are going to Mums for a bit so that should help. Also kids club cinema is only £1.50 per child adults free so will definitely do that, any other ideas ?

naughtymummy · 24/01/2012 07:35

Payday not heyday !

Meglet · 24/01/2012 08:00

My no spend january has been thrown into chaos. Car insurance has shot up again Sad.

Leilandri · 24/01/2012 09:41

Ventured into Dunelm yesterday, looking for curtains for DS's room. Spotted some pirate ones in the sale down to 25.99 :( Then my mum spotted the same material in the made-to-order section. After measuring up, all the stuff needed for curtains came to £19.27 and Mum will make them :)
Then after showing material to M-i-L she offered to pay for them, as long as we leave them behind when we move - result!! Grin

No spend needed today. DS1 at nursery, DS2 being looked after by cousin while I get ready/go to interview. Leftover pizza for lunch and sausage casserole for dinner from cupboard and freezer.

duchesse · 24/01/2012 10:47

£10 yesterday to the DDs for train fares, plus money for breakfast and lunch at college for DD1 who had an AS exam. With the change she bought two litres of rice milk in town for DD3 who had no more bottle milkie.

Dlamis · 24/01/2012 12:27

Congratulations fishy :o that's great news.

leilandri. I made 2 duvet covers for our ds's rather than buying, also have enough material for curtains although i haven't actually got round to making the curtains yet.

Done really well this weekend, no spending at all.

Also found £15 in 1p's, 2p's and 5p's that I'd forgotten about. I used to save them all and then when I had enough bag them up and take them to the bank to change to nice crinkly notes, but i'd stashed these ones away and forgotten about them till I tidied up in the spare room and there they were on the bookshelf. Bonus:o

£7 spend today on school lunch/milk money, and shopping will be delivered later £40 but that should be it. Car needs petrol but I am determined to hang on until Feb before I buy any more. Will just have to walk everywhere

Lexilicious · 24/01/2012 12:53

Hmmmmm. DH is scuppering my attempts at no unnecessary food spending. Worked a bit late so he was hungry and bought a big tub of Wasabi chicken curry at the station on the way home. However, he didn't finish it and put it in the fridge when he got home, so there was enough of it left for my lunch today! (Am working at home again).

I've just done (in about 20 minutes) the larder/pantry inventory lists, except for baking and spices, which I'll do separately. Haven't tackled the freezer/fridge yet but I will do later tonight.

Cleaner was here today and took away details of the size of pull-ups DS wears, to see if there are any deals at Costco. She's going to put us on her account so next week I think there's a subscription spend coming on that.

I've also used the organizedhome.com sheet to do menu planning with shopping list. Have put in my online order which came to £75 but that is probably enough to keep us going two weeks if we eat from the freezer. We hardly ever run the freezer down to empty though, as it's less efficient. DH will have to buy a couple of things Saturday morning which are best as fresh as possible, and hopefully he won't pick up other things on a whim.

Three extra adults in the house on Saturday (lunch party), then my dad on Monday and Tuesday nights doing some DIY work for us - so that's a few extra mouths to feed! Plumber this Thursday to help finish a few things about the bathroom fitting and we will need to buy a diamond-tipped drill bit for him to use to get through rock-hard porcelain tiles - probably £10 to 20ish for the drill bit, £50-80 for his time.

What with the lunch party and the clean up I expect we won't find ourselves out much spending on activities. Maybe swimming for DS if he still isn't showing Chicken Pox. Then I'll be baking for my lunches/breakfasts/treats.

Lexilicious · 24/01/2012 12:54

two weeks, pfft - I meant three!

Dlamis · 24/01/2012 13:29

Thanks Lex I knew there was something I was supposed to be doing/had planned for today.

roguepixie · 24/01/2012 13:39

Well done to all of us supersavers ... we are really doing well. I know that I am well under budget ... my problem is unconscious spending so this has been an amazing exercise for me to really focus on what I need to spends rather than what I want to spend. Smile

£10.50 spent today on postage - Ebay sales. Have more items on so really hopeful that there will be more income next weekend.

Changed my building society account yesterday. If you upgrade your account (no charge to do this) then they will give you £5 extra if you deposit £1000 in a month. I know this is a huge amount and there is no way I can deposit that each month but there is no fee and, as I have managed to out away £1000 in January, I will get an extra £5!! So, all smile. They do try for the big sale but I stood firm and didn't opt for anything with charges.

I will be popping into the butcher on my way to get DS this afternoon. Want a joint of meat and some potatoes ... yes, potatoes again Grin

Maypole - do you bake at all? Scones are cheap and cheerful and they may satisfy your hunger. If you have ripe banana's then you could make a banana loaf?

OP posts:
roguepixie · 24/01/2012 13:41

Also, like lexi and Dlamis - I am halfway through mine ... it's a good thing to do, I have found sooooooooo much stuff I didn't know I had.

OP posts:
reckoner · 24/01/2012 14:19

I spent £16.40 on two cinema tickets. I went with SIL. She drove and got the drinks & popcorn.

BoffinMum · 24/01/2012 14:32

Bad week. DS1's bicycle stolen from the station, so although it's insured, I will have to pay a £50 excess.

iPhone pickpocketed out of my handbag on Saturday (we think). Luckily only just insured a few weeks ago thanks to it being included in a new bank account I opened, but another £25 excess.

£35 parking ticket, because I needed to park near my rehab class and my Blue Badge has expired. I applied for a renewal five weeks ago, but the council were very tardy in organising my assessment due to Christmas, and it has taken forever, although I got a letter on Saturday saying I was entitled to a new one. There was absolutely nowhere else near the class that I could have parked - it would have meant I couldn't have gone if I didn't park there. And I had left all the paperwork on the dashboard explaining and verfying the situation, but the private contractors had decided not to take any notice of anything like that at all. I am very cross about this. The council works for us, not the other way around, and these schemes are meant to be there when people like me need them for good reason. Even the traffic warden saw my point of view and was apologetic.

However I have a new supermarket wheeze for you all. If you set up new online delivery accounts, with a new email address, you will find you will be able to use the new customer voucher codes that seem to be very prolific at the moment. Use My Supermarket to import lists of favourites and to set up each of the account.

This is what I have so far in terms of 'new' customer codes:

Waitrose: PCSTJA12 20% off first shop, free delivery over £50
Tesco: XXRXTY £10 off first shop
Ocado: VOU2932343 £15 off first shop

roguepixie · 24/01/2012 15:06

Oh boffin, what a horrible series of events. Is DS1 very upset? And your Iphone...just what these scummy little b**ds look for I'm afraid. So sorry - and to get a parking ticket as well when you went to your rehab session. Can you get in touch with the blue badge people and say they are responsible for the charge because 5 bloody weeks is long enough to wait? Can't hurt to ask?

OP posts:
BoffinMum · 24/01/2012 15:22

DS1 will live, luckily I did not buy him a new bike for Christmas as planned or we would have all been a lot more upset.

The scummy bastards that took my phone at least left my purse, which I would have been a lot more cross about.

The traffic warden was pissed, obviously miserable, and I felt quite sorry for him out there in the rain. It was hard to be too incensed. Although I will write to the Council as it will have taken well over 5 weeks to arrange something that could have happened in a week.

BoffinMum · 24/01/2012 15:23

Plus I am assuming that I am about to have a really good dose of excellent luck now I have got the three bad lucks out of the way! Grin The Mother Of All Voucher Codes, perhaps. GrinGrin

roguepixie · 24/01/2012 15:32

boffin, can't fault you for being positive and seeing the silver lining GrinGrinGrin. I can imagine that a new bike would be even more annoying but it's just the fact that someone little scrote has taken something of yours...just because they can. I really really hate it. I mean, they probably didn't want to risk another 'dip' in your bag to get your purse...bastards.

When you write to the Council tell them you are holding them personally responsible for the parking ticket as they have left you without the means to live your life to a generally acceptable standard??? GIVE 'EM HELL GrinGrinGrin

OP posts:
janek · 24/01/2012 15:55

boffin try writing to the company with supporting documentation and see if you can get out of paying the fine. i did this once when i got a parking ticket in stratford - i didn't realise the streets were pay and display (neither did any of the other three sentient adults in the car) and we didn't have to pay, even though we had parked illegally.

BoffinMum · 24/01/2012 15:58

OK, draft me the text of a letter to smeggy council and I will cut n paste it and sent it off!

BitterAndTwistedChoreDodger · 24/01/2012 16:14

Hello, not been online much so thought I would pop in and see how you are all doing.

Great news about the job Fishy- congratulations!

I have managed to slightly increase my hours at work - it will be about an extra £30 a month but a gain is a gain right?

Spent £48 in Aldi today, but that will last us until a week Sunday so am happy with that - should only need to top up milk.

Plus after reading Boffinmum's post on another thread, I have decided I will save some money by inviting myself to hers for afternoon tea Grin Wink

Mackrelmint · 24/01/2012 16:45

what a pain boffinmum! I hate stuff like that - both the thefts and the unfair fine. It's not just the loss of stuff/money but so much admin putting things right again... good luck with the council!

and thanks for the supermarket tip. will try that one next week I think - can just use dp's email address to create new account. logged in too late to use today unfortunately - did £52 shop earlier; didn't have too much to buy as the cupboards are quite well stocked so thought I might as well start stocking up on newborn nappies for when dc2 arrives in april.

been buying a few clothes recently - about £60 I think for two cardis, tights, maternity leggings, knickers... I could probably have got a few things cheaper via ebay if I'd been dedicated, but only bought stuff I really was missing having (was having to do washing every few days to have enough understuff!) and nothing outrageous or impulse buy-y so not too bad.

My food/household bills are still too high I think this month, but random little bits of cash spending much lower than normal so I'm pleased with that. It's very sad but I am really impatient for the end of January to come so that I can do a final tally for the month and create some targets to work to for Feb!

dinkystinky · 24/01/2012 16:54

Boffinmum - definitely appeal the parking ticket (one way or the other the council should bear the cost for it)! So sorry to hear about your phone and DS's bike getting stolen

BoffinMum · 24/01/2012 16:59

You are right about the admin, I spent most of yesterday chasing the insurance companies, police, phone providers and so on, and lost a lot of work time. It was a right pain.

BitterAndTwistedChoreDodger · 24/01/2012 17:28

Sorry BoffinMum, I completely missed your post Sad Hope it gets sorted quickly .

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