Frugal Feb gives way to Money-Saving March. Now featuring austerity health and beauty tips!

[Lexilicious]

Third thread after first and second

Let's get saving and enjoying our frugal wins!

summary of links so far
www.organizedhome.com
www.supersavvyme.co.uk/
womenfreebies.co.uk/
www.lovemoney.com/
www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/discount-voucher-codes/
www.poundland.co.uk/top-tips/gardening-2012/
www.purlbee.com/
www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/halfterm
www.makeupstop.co.uk/
www.approvedfood.co.uk/
www.goodtoknow.co.uk/money/cheap-food-deals
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions

Forgot one, OH paid -£5 to beat his children at Scalextric, nothing at all to do with me winning the bowling.

chile, I would send my DH to the supermarket to do the weekly shop sometimes - it was useful as it saved me a journey and it made him aware of how much food cost. He would come back with about one third to one half of what I had asked for. When I asked him why he didn't get everything on the list he replied "cos I can't get it all in one basket"!!!! .

I mean...what!!! One basket!!!! I gave him a pound for the trolley and told him to keep it safe and that he was not to come home without everything on the list again . He got all the shopping thereafter .

Men ... can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.

Arghhhh night out last night - took 30 quid, bought the first round (3 drinks) and it cost 29.25!!!!

By the end of the night I'd bought a round of shots -£6 and got another 30 quid out of which I have 4.70 left.
I think unless I just stop going out altogether I'm never going to stop spending in this area

£4.90 on coffee for me and a friend yesterday but otherwise nothing.

Gulp Mrs wobbly- £30 for 3 drinks? Maybe some cans of strongbow in the park next time?

or White Lightning

Ha ha great idea! The 2 friends I was with are trying to save too so we all pooled together our various bottles of alcohol from our houses and made like teenagers mixing allsorts of cocktails before we went out thinking we would then just dance and maybe have 1 drink whilst out. What we didnt account for is that the young now seem to not go out until about 12am so when we arrived at 10pm a bit tipsy and wanting a couple of hours dancing - everywhere was dead! So we have to sit down first and have some drinks etc. The 3 drinks for £30 made my eyes water Then the next place we went to cost £7 just to get in!!!! There wasnt even a decent DJ or anything.
I can honestly say my favourite parts of their visit were the chat and drinking at my house before going out, and eating breakfast together this morning... the bit that actually cost money inthe middle was actually rather tedious.

Waste of time and £60! That's a whole week of food shopping!

Next time, stay in and get some DVDs in! Much cheaper and more fun. Clubbing was never fun anyway, even as a teeanger.

I'm splashing out. Mum gave me £50 to spend. Rules are only on myself and she wants to see what I bought to make sure.

So far I have bought Lush, some kindle books, and still got twenty quid. Feels weird to be spending.

GrownUp enjoy your treat, I think the scrimping makes it more enjoyable when you can spend, like you really notice the new things.

Last week was bang on budget so all good, this week is looking shaky already. We start a week's budget on Fridays so the weekend sets the tone, I found when I started on Monday I would spend a bit too much over the week, then not have willpower to cancel weekend plans so just go over by a tenner here or there all the time.

Last night DH went out with friends for a curry and I stayed in for a takeaway, so we spent £30 between us. I need some genuine NSDs as I have only £18 to last me Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs. But it is totally do-able as the food shop is done already (including masses of milk, our money gremlin) and I have already put dinner money aside. In fact now I have posted this I am relishing the challenge!

Well, a mixed weekend. No non-essential spending (good) but essential spending - £40 on a playpen/room divider (ebay), £14 on new trousers for husband (apparently wearing trousers with holes in the crotch isn't acceptable in the workplace, who knew?).

I almost bought some new jeans at Asda, but there's such a gap between their sizes - the 10 was far too small, while the 12 was too big. So, I guess that's a + for the wallet, just not for the wardrobe.

Income of a princely £1.50 for a DVD I sold on ebay!

I've also learnt that there is soon to be a Hobbycraft and Dunelm Mill within walking distance of my house. This is potentially very bad news for my wallet!

Well done for treating yourself, Grownupninjawarrior. Don't stop 'til it's all gone! :)

Glad you finally found your room divider, spew. Good price too.

I spent £40.77 on a meal at Pizza Express for DH, DS and I. DS had the kids' menu and DH and I had a pizza, dessert and a glass of wine each, oh, and some olives to share. I got a 25% discount with a voucher I printed off from myvouchercodes.co.uk. I think it's on until next weekend, if anyone is interested.

Went out to buy a new long handled brush for sweeping the kitchen floor..... came back with....

New ironing board (well needed and long overdue) said £18 on item, till rang it up as £14.40!

Dustpan and brush £2.48

Klip Lock storage (set of 3) £4

Had a £4 voucher, so klip lock stuff was free!

And NO WHERE in this arse end of nowhere town that is open on a sunday, sells long handles brushes! (Wasnt that long ago that the shops were shut on wednesday afternoons up here!)

So, although tomorrow SHOULD have been a NSD - I will need to go and find a brush! Also got tesco coming tomorrow night with the shopping, as its cheaper than the tuesday morning delivery slot! £79 for groceries this week, but a lot of that is pull ups as they are on offer at £3 a pack!

Have had an absolutely horrendous start to March .

So, must have a significantly better 'rest of month'. Starting with NSD's - aiming for the whole of the week tbh, as the amount of food I have in the house should see us through until September

I hope everyone has had a good weekend, in whatever form that 'good' can take . Btw, I know what you mean spew. I have a new Hobbycraft just down the road from me ... the temptation is extreme ...

The internet is a bad, bad thing. Just bought a pop-up ball pool for the boy - not got a cardboard box big enough to use. It cost £17.?? - was originally £25 then reduced to £22, then used a 10% off code from Quidco and shopped via Nectar for double points.

Interestingly, it counted as a 'home' purchase, as that is what the code was for - so it's worth trying codes even if you think they might not work, because, sometimes, they will!

I need to join, any tips welcome!

Just got back from holiday (very lucky I know but some of the cost has gone on a 0% credit card - naughty I know but now the mission is to pay it off before the interest is added!!!)

Our long term plan is to be completely debt free by september 2013 and to have saved as much as we can towards a house deposit by then too.

We have decided to start a spending log from tomorrow as we have done that before and it really helped, 1 because we knew whatever we spent would have to be written down and justified and 2 because we could see where our money was going and how we could cut back. Last time we did this we found dh was spending 60p on a can of fizzy pop at work so he stopped and started drinking water from the cooler or we would buy cheaper multi packs of drinks for him to take to work.

NSD day here, but I've just taken the shine off by breaking part of the lid to a brand new food processor. If the OH can't do his magic trick with the glue I'll be sick.

Tomorrow I need to get foil and food bags, thought I was all set for school packed lunches but noooooooo

Sat £17.00 in poundland - 3in1 nescafe(then saw it cheaper in home bargains), Smiths Bacon crisps and Scampi fries, 4 piece wooden utensil set, Grass seed, Sandwich bags, 5 pack teaspoons, money box, hot chocolate, johnsons baby wipes, colgate toothpaste, Robinsons squash, oil burner with cranberry oil, heartburn tablets, Ariel stain remover, white vinegar cleaner.
Sat £13.88 in Home Bargains - Melba toast, cupcake cases, Balti masala sauce, cheese sauce, Maggi so juicy for ribs, peri peri sauce hot, 4 packs of biscuits, silver polish, roasting tin, head torch, one cast iron griddle pan(I have wanted one for ages and this was only £4.99)
Sat £16.00 for DD towards a pair of converse which she had saved £20 for, with the promise of her doing more housework for me.
Sat £11.53 Lidl- Ferrero Rocher(present for friend) milk choc digestives, Lawn repair kit and 2 x diced chicken fillets @£1.34 per pack.

I'm not leaving the house today so will be a NSD and am working Tue, Wed, Thur so that will be three more NSD.

Setting aside DD's party costs, spent £40 under budget for Feb so was really pleased with that. Aldi (for free range chicken & veg) and Home Bargains (cleaning stuff) shop on Sat. First time I had got Aldi's chicken, we had it for lunch Sunday and it was really good. So will probably feature on menu in the future esp as I can no longer rely on getting vastly reduced M&S and Waitrose organic/free range chickens to lob into the freezer.
Am finding that the no/v. low spend day habit seems to work for me. Also, running down my stocks of toothpaste and deodorant - will stock up next time they come on offer rather than having bulging cupboards all the time.

Morning all.

Thanks for your thoughts re: my mortgage payment - there always seems to be some kind of crisis here at the duckpond! The payment is actually not due until 26th March & DH gets paid on the last Friday of each month (so the 30th this month). I did call Santander on Saturday & they said they could change our payment date to the 1st of the month at no charge, but this time that would cost an extra £65 as we would be borrowing the money for an extra 5 days, so that is the extra interest that would build up, iyswim. So, we think we will do that & also overpay by literally about £15/month to build up some tiny cushion.

Yesterday was an NSD, as was the rest of Saturday. We had dinner with my parents, sisters & their families, which was lovely & great fun, as it always is. We stayed overnight despite only living a 10 minute drive away as it meant we could both drink a few & also not have to worry about getting back to put the DSes to bed. Did feel a bit like the poor relative when DSis2 (middle sis of 3, I am the youngest) turned up with a £500 TV for my parents . We only took a box of choccies & some mini fish pies from the freezer as nibbles! In fairness, it was to say thank you to my dad for doing the conveyancing on their flat & business, but even so, we would have to save for months for something like that! Never mind, hopefully our turn will come & in the meantime, we are all happy with secondhand stuff!

So, after a lovely cooked breakfast yesterday, we accompanied my parents to a garden centre (where we all resisted the tea rooms) & then nipped over to see my grandparents to take away their old TV that my grandad couldn't lift on his own. They paid us with a bottle of M&S irish cream liqueur that they wouldn't drink, some mini Twixes to bring home & a few other bits! DSis1 also gave me some yoghurts that her DD can't have any more, so with all that plus last week's mega shopping trips I really shouldn't need to grocery shop ever again!

Today will most probably be an NSD as DS1 was up half the night with a slight temperature & poorly tummy. He feels better today but tired, so will laze on the sofa & watch Fireman Sam all day. DS2, the most laidback baby ever, is happy trying to crawl & bashing things together

Ladies
Money saving is all well and good but who's applying for the Chelsea job this week? Put your hands up!

If you don't I'll have to put DH forward for it - FGS he's a teacher, has taught PE, good with discipline. I think: Why not?

THEN THEN we could all split the proceeds of his payout when he gets sacked.

What do you say? Does it sound like a plan?

Anyway, this weekend was NOT NS - in fact, I've realised I've been behaving like DH already has the Chelsea job.

Sigh and must do bbetter.

Harriet, what a splendforius plan!! I think it could be done. My OH has an in-depth knowledge of all things Chelsea, so he could assist on the bits that Mr Harriet might miss out on. All the rest of us at this thread could sort out anything outstanding.
We could all easily survive for 600 years on the payout, no probs.
I might get to meet my fave ex-Chelsea player/boss as well, clue Italian, lovely voice....

Had to spend £50 on 6 week's worth of goat milk formula for DD3 yesterday. She appears to have a problem with cow's milk (diarrhea and eczema) and fresh goat milk no better. Goat milk formula seems a lot better. Since she looks like a famine victim a lot of the time I like to be sure that she's got a little bit of spare flesh on her (she's at her fattest at the moment but is still in some age 9-12 m clothing, and none of her clothes are bigger than age 18-24 m) and the only thing that seems to work with bulking her up is formula. I'm stumped and would welcome any other ideas. She's not a desperately good eater- more of a take it or leave it kind of person.

Well, my OH couldn't do the Chelsea job, he hates football and all involved in it. Outrageous really, you'd think he could just pretend for a while to get the pay off.

Today, in addition to my top up shopping, we have to pay for wood to be delivered, £20, OH never buys bits small enough to go in the car, tut tut.

Vet bill is still outstanding, I have tried to pay it, the only person who can accept the payment is also the one who does all the running around and so is hardly ever available.

Jenduck, hope DS feels better soon.

Duchesse, how old is DD, and what does she eat when she can be bothered? I have one similar, "never mind dinner mum, just give me a glass of water"