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

[roguepixie]

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

Boffin- seriously, appeal. I've been let off parking tickets with far less reason than yours. That traffic warden was not using his/her intelligence and compassion, but then I think they're encouraged not to nowadays.

Bad spend day today, but I need to explain why: 16yo DD1 is hosting a fundraising medieval banquet on Saturday to raise funds for her trip into the jungle in the summer. We hope DD1 makes a goodly sum on Saturday!

We have been exceptionally lucky so far and many people have been extraordinarily kind to us: a friend is donating a keg of ale, 20 l of elderflower wine and lending us his benches. Another has sourced costumes from a friend for the wenches (DD and her friends), and proper period crockery from another. A third set of friends is providing the music alongside my DH and MIL, as well as donating the cider we made together last year. A fourth friend is selling us the meat at cost price. We are borrowing trestle tables from a neighbouring village so shall have to give their parish coffers a donation.

Today however, I've had to spend some money:

£70 on mead (gulp, biggest expense so far)
£40 on dried apricots, salt, pepper, beans and pulses.

Also £88 on filling the car before the price of diesel goes up (but it looked like it might already have done- seemed 2p higher than the other day) and going through the car wash. Not a good day.

Forgot to mention the £55 yesterday on stocking up on goat milk formula for allergic DD3. Was 1/2 price on Amazon so ordered 10 tins.

Sorry to hear about your crap-tastic day, boffin. As others have said, appeal that ticket.

And congratulations on the job, fishpond. Great news and a huge relief to you, I'm sure.

My ebay seller man has, begrudgingly, agreed to refund my postage charges. He said he wouldn't normally, as it costs him to post in the first place. Missing the point, slightly. Also, he'll only end up 10p out of pocket, as he charged me almost £2 more on p&p (reused materials, so no excuse of saying it costs to buy them) than he actually spent.

On a lighter note, I found myself counting the heads in the bunches of daffodils in Aldi yesterday. I am pleased to report that all bunches had the same number of flowers and that no-one was being shortchanged.

Almost had a non-spend day, but we need milk so will have to walk out in the rain later to get some for morning.
At least tomorrow will be cheaper, DP is taking DD3 swimming but I have to stay at home as my excema can't take it atm, a pity as it is so much fun and great exercise. I will save on dinner as well which is great.

Congrats on the new job Fish! Bet that'sa weight off your mind.

So sorry to hear about all your grief Boffin, what a pain in the arse, I hope you can appeal your ticket and get everything else sorted.

roguepixie had mentioned changing bank accounts to get more money- I recently changed my account to the Co-op and got a free £100 for the pleasure! It was an offer open to NHS employees but I reckon lots of banks may try to entice you to join with offers with free cash, worth a look?

Today was good, I only spent a grand total of 85p on a diet coke and a wispa :o Made up for my Ikea splurge yesterday!

Wow sleeves, hat's a good incentive.

Apart from post office (Ebay post) and a return bus fare (on Oyster) to collect DS, I haven't spent a bean . Decided against going to butcher and defrosted sausage from freezer instead, therefore didn't need potatoes.

ooh I love these threads.

Am currently doing main shop at ALDI for £40 and top ups at the reduced section of Waitrose in the evenings.

Got wet and cold on a school trip today so feeling a bit flu-ey tonight so not gone out to get bargains.

will have an eat up week before I shop again.

Meatballs with spaghetti and tomato sauce
Butternut squash soup
Veggie soup
Salmon fillets with vegetables
Prawn risotto
Jacket potato with beans and cheese

Ooh boff what a shit time, really hoping you can appeal that ticket, don't see why they shouldn't and I'd fight it all the way.

No spend today, had a big tin of tuna which I made up tuna mayo with and ate that on a bagel with some Swiss for lunch, leftover fajitas tonight (gawd I'm loving me some fajitas recently!). Spent my last afternoon before new job having a lovely nap . Hard part for me will be packing lunches with the lure of lots of shops round where the bank is and I have an hour for lunch which is quite a lot - never had that before. Could easily go home in between but it's on the other side of town and petrol is tight. Luckily I will be paid Thursday after this one for working this week, so I should have enough cash to last me, even knowing I'm going out of town for a girl's day with my sisters on Saturday.

Well I've been paid - yay! - but docked for the strike in November - knew it was coming.

Our electricity bill has gone sky high. We were without a boiler for three weeks and had to use the immersion - plus there are PCs everywhere in this house.

Going to withdraw £120 today. £60 to pay the balance on dd's amazing London trip which will settle the whole thing, phew, and £60 to LAST. £200 worth of sainsburys coming tonight ... I am going to be a paragon on meal planning and cheap treats.

For now, I'd best just get up :)

Good morning all!

Planning a trip to the library with the small one this morning. And a visit to Boots where I will spend my advantage points (have amassed £60 worth since having him).

However, I feel this weekend will be expensive as we need to get a new car seat for the chunkster (can only just do the straps up now) and the one I want to get (Britax 2 Way Elite) costs almost £200. Eek.

Good news!

The thief actually proudly returned the phone, having made a full confession!
However as he is only 2 and had hidden it under his brother's bed, the police have decided not to press charges. It has been 'uncrimed', as they put it.

I am now going to write a letter to the council. I am on a roll this morning.

Duchesse, anyone that can spend £70 on mead has my total respect.

Boffin: :)

x post= It was a [gulp] moment, I have to say. I view it as an investment. Hoping the fundraising comes up trumps on Saturday. Wish us luck!

oh, hooray - good news boffin - that made me !

Hi, can I join in? Things are incredibly tight here and I really need to watch every cent. DH is the only one working and between tax hikes for the last few years and a 15% paycut we are really finding it tough.

One area I could really save is on my groceries, I should meal plan and make use of what is in the cupboards more. We have two boys aged 3 and 5 and they never seem to stop growing. It is not too bad with the 3 year old because he wears all the 5 year olds hand me downs but the older one needs a new coat and new jeans/trousers because he has taken a big stretch over the last few months. I was going to get some clothes today but DH did his back in and had to go to Physio which cost ?55 so now I am patiently waiting on my UNEX vouchers so I can buy some clothes for DS1.

The recession is still in full swing here, all doom and gloom on TV and Radio and I am sick of it so I sticking my head in the sand today :)

Oh boffin - so glad the little 'tealeaf' has confessed and return the hot item . At least he hid it under the bed and not down the loo!!!

Good luck with the letter to the Council too, boffin. They should have records of your being a blue badge recipient and will have your current application - it is their fault that you have this ticket as it surely can't take 5 weeks to turn that around .

Got an email yesterday, from Ocado. Offering me a free bottle of wine...yippee, I thought until I read the small print ... I had to spend £120 in order to get it . £120!!!!!!!! Needless to say, it went in the virtual bin. I had just done a Waitrose online shop and struggled to put together £50 worth so I certainly wasn't going to double it!!! Little devils. So it really does pay to read the small print - something I don't do often enough.

Dinner tonight will be spicy chicken and garlic potatoes with a ton of veggies. Dessert ... hmmmmmmmm, maybe ice cream? Or a pineapple upside down cake????

Welcome dublin, lovely to have another scrimper

Further up the thread is a link a great site - here it is www.organizedhome.com

It is interesting and useful - there is a section where you can download and print out larder/pantry/freezer lists, shopping lists and meal planners - it really helps to plan and sort things out - it's amazing what you forget you have .

Can you have a look on Ebay for clothes for the DC? You can get some seriously good bargains at 99p? It might be useful to have a look.

Sorry - www.organizedhome.com

Off to work soon! Worries about spending for lunch, will pack one but not sure what their facilities are for storing, etc. Have to pay $15 deposit for a security key card so I can get into the bank. Seems a bit steep.

I have just noticed that Boffin is both the tip of the day and the quote of the week

No spend day here bar £3.25 bus fare in to town where I was treated to lunch

I think I should get some sort of sticker for that. Both at once!!

Tee-Hee BoffinMinor must be in trouble......

Agree about changing bank accounts, I love the CO-Op as they have a green ethos & support small PO's by having their accounts accessible at your local Post Office which is a boon timewise sometimes. They gained 45% new business last year as folk are so p'd off with the big banks.

We heart Boffin on this thread !

Good luck Fishie !

rouge know what you mean about the unconsious spending. Doing this has really opened my eyes to just how much we wasted on stuff we didn't really need, mostly food in the form of sweets, cakes, crisp and unhealthy rubbish. Re: bank accounts. I opened a similar account, even though I don't have £1000 going in each month. I used to pay in a cheque from the other account for £1000 to get the incentive, then as soon as it had cleared transfer it back to the main account ready to pay all the bills/direct debits. Only works if you have easy access to the bank and/or accounts to do lots of money shuffling though.

boffin Sorry to hear you had such a rotten day yesterday. Definately appeal the ticket. Hope you're feeling better today, especially now the 2yr old thief has confessed. :o

spew lol at you counting daffodil heads

Welcome Dublindoll I have 2 boys similar ages. Ds2 has very few clothes that aren't hand me downs.

Big thanks you to whoever posted this monster face repair link. Sorry i can't remember who it was, the page has been open in my browser for days as a reminder and ds2 now has a lovely new monster face knee patch and is really excited about showing it off :o

No spends today, had to go out in car so it is running on fumes now but i'm determined not to buy petrol till February.

Store cupboard and freezer stock list done, even dh got excited! and starting drawing little symbols all over it to match up foods in the same meal etc

For fellow worshipers at the alter of Aldi, there'll be a £5 off £30 spend in tmrw's Mirror, well, so says the MSE email:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/discount-voucher-codes/aldi

Swapped phone provider this morning. Orange are offering a £5 broadband + £12 something evening and weekend calls line rental. We were paying £10/month for Orange broadband and £14 something BT line rental for the same deal. Not sure if it's just for existing Orange customers though, but might be worth checking out.